Patlabor Ep. 18: I Love You, Miss Noa!

The members of Division 2 and Shige stand outside the station house waiting. Shige overheard Goto on the phone talking about Kana Matsumoto joining Division 2 for a week. Noa asks Asuma who she is, and Ota jumps in to scream that Kana is the most popular singer in Japan. Shinshi comments that Noa is more interested in Alphonse than idol singers, and Noa asks why a big star is joining them. Shige explains that headquarters is having a labor safety parade in Aoyama, and Kana will be leading the parade in an Ingram. Goto then pulls up in his car and introduces everyone to Kana. The mechanics then unfurl a massive banner and chant in unison about how they love Kana. Asuma shakes hands with Kana, and Ota awkwardly gives her a bouquet of roses. Goto tells everyone they’ll have to teach Kana how to pilot an Ingram and puts Noa in charge. Ota wants to trade places with her, but Asuma comments that he’s too reckless. Later, Noa nervously watches as Kana starts up Unit 1, but Shige says that he turned on the autopilot during the start up sequence. Noa says that’s cheating, but Asuma counters that a beginner needs to build up confidence. However, Kana nervously presses a bunch of buttons and accidentally turns off the autopilot. She begins walking and falls down while trying to load Unit 1 into the carrier. Noa runs over to cry about Alphonse, while Asuma checks on Kana and finds her crying. Noa tells Kana to stop crying because it’ll take a long time to fix all the scratches on Alphonse. Noa complains to Kanuka in the bath that everyone is spoiling Kana, but Kanuka thinks she might actually have talent. Noa asks why Alphonse has to be used, and Kanuka explains that Unit 3 is being used for spare parts, and Ota has customized Unit 2 too much for a beginner to handle. Kana comes into the bath and apologizes to Noa. The next day, Ota supervises Kana’s gun training, and she misses her practice shot. Shinobu asks Goto what he’s going to do if Division 2 gets mobilized while they’re so busy training Kana, and Goto answers that headquarters wants the media to see Kana at the parade, so they probably won’t get called out for anything. A man named Ryu watches Kana from a distance with binoculars and gets a call from his boss. He doesn’t understand why after smuggling missiles he now has to kidnap a girl, but the boss tells him they’re going after something big. Noa and Kana jog toward the Shanghai Restaurant at night, but Kana is tired and wants to give up. Ryu follows in his car.

The boss calls the SV2 station house and tells Asuma that he wants an Ingram in exchange for Kana. Kana then walks into the room, and Asuma calls the boss a prankster. The boss doesn’t get it and tries to check if he really has Kana, but it turns out that Ryu accidentally grabbed Noa because it was dark. The boss says that kidnapping a cop is useless, because the police would’ve traded an Ingram for Kana to avoid embarrassment. Ota doesn’t want to trade an Ingram and says that Noa should’ve committed suicide after being captured. Kana blames herself for what happened, and Asuma agrees to the trade. Asuma tells everyone they have to do this on their own, not even telling Goto. Noa tells the boss that kidnapping her won’t get him an Ingram, but he tells her it will. He then says that he’s going to strip it and sell its parts to a foreign army. Asuma pulls up in the carrier to the burger shop for the trade. Ryu poses as an employee and slips Asuma a note demanding the system disk. He then punches Asuma in the face and runs off with the system disk and steals the carrier. Asuma then jumps into Kanuka’s car as they follow the carrier. They follow Ryu to the warehouse, where Asuma jumps him. Ryu says he can’t guarantee Noa’s safety if something happens to him, and Kanuka threatens to kill him if they’ve done something to Noa. The boss then drags Noa out at gunpoint, and Ota smashes through the ceiling in Unit 2. He tries to attack the boss with his baton, but a Grau-Bear slams into him from behind and grabs hold. The boss tells Ryu to use Unit 1 to take down Ota. Unit 1 activates and uses its gun to take down the Grau-Bear because Kana is the pilot and not Ryu. Noa then bites the boss’ arm and breaks free. Kana trips while trying to chase the boss, but manages to catch him. The Grau-Bear tries to escape in the confusion, but Ota tosses his baton at it and knocks it over before shooting it. Back at the station house, everyone tries to sneak in, and Kana says she’s giving up on Noa because it’s clear that Asuma is nuts for her. They both protest, and Goto whispers and tells them they’re early. He then offers them coffee and fries from the burger shop.