Patlabor Ep. 30: The Griffon Has Arrived!

Noa has a nightmare about Unit 1 being destroyed by a mysterious black labor. Elsewhere, a Samson unit from the SDF comes under attack in a forest and are all defeated by the Griffon. Soldiers find that their communications are being jammed, and one of them wonders if it’s the labor they fought in Oshima. Fuwa’s Helldiver unit patrols the area and also comes under attack from the Griffon. The Griffon grabs Fuwa’s Helldiver from behind and smashes into her cockpit to tap her head with one of its fingers before vanishing. Fuwa sees that the pilot was just toying with them. In the morning, a helicopter patrol spots a message written in the sand stating that “the Griffon has arrived.” Kurosaki tells Utsumi that he shouldn’t let Bud do stuff like that, but Utsumi dismisses it as harmless fun and says it doesn’t give any clue to their identity. Kurosaki thinks Bud needs to be kept under control, so Utsumi agrees to speak with him. He walks over to the hangar on their ship and congratulates Bud on a job well done. He tells Bud he has to get a medical checkup because the Griffon affects him more the longer he pilots it. One of the team members wishes they could publicly show off the Griffon, Utsumi says the world will eventually see the power of the Griffon and cause its value to skyrocket. Kurosaki thinks they might be able to sell the basic technology, and Utsumi suggests that Shinohara could use it in their AV system. The team member thinks that Shinohara’s control system is better than theirs, but that code is guarded like a military secret. Utsumi then says he wants to capture a working Ingram so that Bud can prove he’s number one. At the SV2 station house, Noa tells Asuma about her nightmare and hopes it never comes true. Asuma tells Noa that she takes such good care of Alphonse that she is afraid of it getting damaged in combat. Ota wonders what they’re laughing at, and Kumagami chides him about finishing his overdue reports. Ota then messes with Shinshi’s hair and says he wants to get some practice. Shinshi tells Ota that he overheard Goto talking about there being more divisions. The top candidates for new captains are Kumagami and Gomioka, which they suspect means Kumagami will be riding Ota hard on anything he does.

As they leave police HQ, Shinobu asks Goto what he’ll do if everyone gets new labors, which means he’ll lose the Ingrams. Shinobu then leaves and meets Fuwa for drinks and okonomiyaki. After some small talk about work and family, Fuwa suddenly asks how many labors there are that approach human movement, and Shinobu says the only ones she knows of are the Ingram, the Brocken and the SRX-70. Shinobu asks if something happened, but Fuwa says it’s nothing. Fuwa comments that Shinobu has changed and was never so mellow in school. As he prepares to leave in a taxi, Fuwa asks Shinobu if she’s ever heard of the Griffon, but Shinobu says she hasn’t. The next day, Goto asks Asuma to gauge Noa’s reaction at losing Alphonse. Asuma says it’s already clear what her reaction would be, but Goto wants to be sure. Later, Asuma and Noa take a break on the roof, and he shows her a picture of the Economy, a newer mass production model of the Ingram that his father’s company is working on. He tells her that he thinks HQ wants to shift money from their Ingrams to the Economy, which causes Noa to freak out. She runs down to Goto’s office and insists that she won’t accept any change now that she’s been working with Alphonse for so long and improving. She gives Asuma a dirty look, and he tells her that Goto knew all along. Goto agrees with Noa and says the brass hasn’t made a final decision yet, so he’s going to talk to them about it. Shinobu asks Asuma if he’s heard of the Griffon, but he says he hasn’t. Goto asks her what that is, and she says she doesn’t know, which is why she asked. Noa continues to complain to Asuma in the office about the plan, and Asuma says the Ingrams are too expensive. Ota points out that it’s time for Division 1 to get an upgrade, and Asuma thinks HQ wants to standardize with one model. Noa asks Asuma if he thinks the cheaper Economy is as good as the Ingram, and he says it isn’t. Ota wonders why they’re pushing junk like that on them, and Shinshi says it’s probably to make new divisions. Asuma says it’s a quantity over quality argument, with HQ believing that lots of cops with cheap labors will be better than a few really good ones. Ota doesn’t like the idea of new divisions. During a meeting Shinobu, Gomioka, Kumagami and Sakaki, Goto explains that if they give up the Ingrams they’ll get two new divisions, to be headed up by Gomioka and Kumagami. Every division will receive new labors, and while Goto doesn’t agree with ditching the Ingrams, it’s what HQ wants. Goto asks Sakaki for his opinion, and he says Shinobu would have to approve of a new labor. Shinobu does want to upgrade from the aging Python, but she doesn’t want to sacrifice quality. Shinobu and Sakaki are skeptical of the Economy, but Sakaki says they’ll have to see it in action. Asuma tells Shinobu that if Shinohara wants to sell the Economy, it’ll probably debut at the Tokyo International Labor Show. As the show sets up, Utsumi tells Kurosaki that it would be the ideal place to debut the Griffon to the world.