Patlabor Ep. 36: Noa’s Big Adventure

At the police academy Okutama branch, Noa and Ota engage in a mock battle with their Ingrams. Ota vows that he won’t be an easy target and charges toward Noa. Asuma tells her to step out of the way, but when she does, he hits her from the side and knocks over Unit 1. Shinshi tells Ota that a move like that will damage Unit 2’s actuator, but Ota screams that sometimes you have to improvise in combat. Noa gets up and attacks Ota. Goto calls Shinobu and asks her to keep an eye on things until Division 2 returns in seven days. Instructor Sakuma asks Goto if he’s going to let the fight keep degenerating like this, and Goto assures him it’s quite realistic. Noa and Ota hit each other with a cross counter. Jitsuyama complains to Asuma that if the Ingrams keep getting abused like this, he’ll never be able to get good measurements of movement and stress under controlled conditions. Asuma asks if it isn’t good enough that the Ingram can do what it does, and Jitsuyama says Asuma’s father would cry if he heard that. The point of studying the Ingrams is to help develop the next generation of labors, he says. He then comments on how SV2 used the Ingrams well at Harumi and the Castle Gate, which impressed Shinohara engineers. Later, Noa complains about all the scratches on Unit 1, so Ota tells her to practice more and cry less. Noa tells Asuma that Ota moved better than she expected him to. Later, she takes a bath and looks at all the bruises she received during training, which makes her wonder if she’s any good. The next day, Noa and Ota perform target practice with the Ingrams, and Noa thinks she did well, even though her shots were all over the board. Asuma asks her why she doesn’t use the gun more and says it could be useful. He comments to Shinshi that he doesn’t understand Noa because she cries about any scratches to Alphonse, but if she used the revolver it would cut down on hand-to-hand combat. Shinshi says it could be worse and she could be too eager to shoot like Ota, who wastes too much ammo and has to fall back to hand-to-hand combat. Ota demands more bullets, so Shinshi yells at him to stop wasting ammo because the bullets are expensive. Goto tells Asuma that perhaps Noa’s reluctance to use the revolver is good since her accuracy is terrible. Asuma counters that Ota doesn’t hit his targets, but Shinshi points out that he hit the center spot on the board with each shot. Asuma wonders why he misses targets so often, and Goto tells him it’s hard to hit moving targets, especially limbs. Later, Hiromi asks Noa what she’s doing and notes that she doesn’t look happy. She asks him about his classes, and he tells her that since he can’t train as a pilot, he’s learning how to do emergency repairs. When it’s time for dinner, Noa volunteers to go to the convenience store down the hill. She stops on a bridge and runs down to the stream, where she finds 20,000 yen in bills floating in the water. Asuma wonders what’s taking Noa so long, and Ota gets out of the bath. Noa keeps exploring the area and finds more bills in the water. Goto asks Asuma where Noa is, and Ota presumes that she’s AWOL. A local officer tells Goto that there was a robbery in Itabashi, and they think the suspect is hiding in the mountains. Noa spots an abandoned car and heads into the forest, where a hand grabs her by the leg.

Local police and SV2 search the area around the bridge, and Ota gets ready to hunt for criminals. Asuma wonders where Noa is, and Shinshi comments that she’s been acting strange all day. Noa finds herself at the bottom of a hill with a mysterious man who asks for help. Goto divides the team up and has Asuma, Hiromi and Ota look for Noa. Noa helps the man with his sprained ankle, and he offers her money in exchange for her silence. She gives him back the 20,000 yen that she found in the stream. Ota complains that Noa is undisciplined and should’ve asked for help when she found the money. The man asks Noa again to keep quiet, but she tells him she can’t. He tells her she’s as stubborn as a cop, and she tells him she is a cop. Asuma and the others spot Noa, and Ota demands to know where the money came from. Goto tells them that they already caught the burglar, and Asuma asks what’s going on. Ota pretends like he was only focused on the criminal and didn’t care what happened to Noa, which leaves her confused. Back at the academy, Goto tells Noa to fill out a report by tomorrow. Noa asks Goto if he’s going to reprimand her, and he tells her not to get in trouble out of sight from her backup. Asuma asks Goto if Noa said anything and says she’s not the type to run off. Goto asks Asuma if he knows what’s going on, and Asuma has a suspicion. In another room, Ota, Shinshi and Hiromi wonder about the man with a bag of 50 million yen. Goto tells Asuma to deal with Noa, and Asuma asks him if he thinks everyone is in the right position on the team. Goto responds that he doesn’t have to answer and asks Asuma if he thinks he’d make that kind of mistake. Asuma asks Noa about what happened and why she didn’t notify them, and she says she felt like she wanted to find the source right away. He asks if she was trying to prove herself and tells her a story from his school about a benchwarmer playing rugby who got a chance to score, but failed. Noa thinks everyone else is better than her, but Asuma tells her that she proved herself when fighting the Griffon. Asuma tells her to believe in herself and make the best of what she’s got. After returning to the SV2 station house, everyone greets Kumagami as she returns to duty.