Patlabor: The New Files Ep. 11: The Day Goma Came in From the Rain

On a rainy day at the SV2 station house, Noa looks outside a window and Hiromi recalls that it was on a day like this that Goma appeared. Earlier, Noa rides her scooter to the station house in the rain and finds a soggy box outside the gate. She cautiously peeks inside and finds a weak kitten. She brings the kitten inside and asks Hiromi for help, who comments that it’s called a goma because of its fur. He thinks that it looks pretty weak and isn’t sure that it’ll survive, but Noa says that they won’t know until they try. Noa wants to raise it, but Hiromi thinks it’ll be tough at the station house. Noa thinks they can do it if everyone takes turns, but then she thinks that Goto probably wouldn’t want a cat around. She decides to keep it secret, but Asuma then strolls in and casually names the cat Taro. Noa says it doesn’t have a name yet, and Asuma picks it up and comments that it looks weak. Shige walks by while picking his nose and asks what they’re doing. Asuma smuggles milk and a towel to a shed where Hiromi and Noa are hiding the cat. Division 2 gets deployed on a call at the Babylon Project, and Noa complains to Asuma that if they don’t wrap things up soon they’ll miss the cat’s feeding times. Asuma calls Goto and asks when they’re going to be sent in, but Goto tells him that if the riot squad can handle it, they won’t have to. After returning to the station house, Hiromi runs off to feed the cat. Later, Asuma has noodles with Shige and toys with him about getting his help for a secret mission. Intrigued, Shige demands to know what it is, and Asuma asks him to help with the kitten. Shige is brought in to help with the cat, and Hiromi decides to take it to a veterinarian in the morning because it has a cold. Noa wakes up and runs to the storage room, where she finds Hiromi crying over the cat’s box. Noa looks down and is surprised to see the cat meowing and moving around. Hiromi tells Noa that he stayed up all night and the cat drank milk on its own. The cat makes rapid progress and starts eating regular cat food. Noa wonders if they should give the cat some human food, but Hiromi thinks they should stick to cat food. Shige thinks they should finally decide on a name, and Asuma again insists that it’s Taro.

At night, a couple of mechanics take their dinner break and hear the cat meowing nearby. Shige tells them that Hiromi is being haunted by a cat spirit, and the mechanics freak out when they see Hiromi acting like a cat. Noa tells Hiromi that he doesn’t look so good, and he says it’s getting harder to keep up with the cat. Shinobu tells Goto that she wants to clean the hangar from top to bottom. Goto complains about his itchy feet and says it feels more like fleas than athlete’s foot, which is a complaint Shinobu has also heard from other people. Goto informs everyone that they’re going to clean the entire hangar, and Ota asks if they’re exorcising the cat ghost. Goto asks Noa and Asuma if they’ve had trouble with fleas. Outside, Noa wonders if Goto knows about them, and Asuma thinks that he certainly does. Hiromi theorizes that Goto may have mentioned fleas as a hint to take care of the cat before the cleaning. Noa doesn’t want to abandon the cat, and when Shige asks how long before it can survive on its own, Hiromi answers two weeks. Asuma thinks they should stick the cat in the greenhouse to hide it during the cleaning effort. As everyone starts cleaning, Hiromi tells Asuma and Noa that the cat escaped. Ota then storms in and demands to know about some cat food that he found, to which Asuma answers that he eats it. Ota calls his bluff and says he wants to see Asuma eat the cat food, but Division 2 gets a dispatch call. Division 2 reaches the scene, where an officer tells Goto that a Hercules H21 has stationed itself above a series of fiber optic cables. Goto informs everyone that the criminal wants multiple wives. Noa gets inside Unit 1‘s cockpit and is surprised to find the cat inside. Asuma tells Goto that the Hercules H21 could run a full day, and Kumagami reports that the cables can’t be switched to another line. The cat jumps around the cockpit and pees. It then jumps on the controls, which causes Noa to touch them and send Unit 1 out of control. The Hercules H21 prepares to attack the cables, so Ota draws Unit 2‘s gun and blows off the labor’s leg. Back at the station house, Goto tells everyone that he’s going to give the cat to a former mechanic, but they should apologize to Sakaki. The cat scratched Sakaki in the face and ran away. Asuma calls Noa and Hiromi over, and they see outside that the cat has grown up and has kittens of her own now. Noa wants to name the cat, and Hiromi suggests Goma. Goma and her four kittens leave, and Noa thinks they’ll survive just fine.