With the rapid development of Hyper Technology came the Labor...
a multi-purpose, humanoid construction machine whose use...
spread into almost every field.
However, this gave rise to a new threat to society: Labor crime.
The Tokyo Metro Police founded the Special Vehicles, Section 2...
within the Security Division to combat these ever-growing crimes.
This was the beginning of the SV2 Patrol Labor... Patlabor... units.
You really threw a wrench into my works
If I can get my heartbeat under control, I think I'll make it
We're futurists, you and me; technicians of love
Higher, faster, I'll love you if I want to
I think I'll get to like
The way I get flushed at the touch of your metal body
Oh, don't stop this gravity-defying feeling
That goes way beyond mere imagination
You really threw a wrench into my works
When I hold him tight, my Alphonse can do anything
We're futurists, you and me; technicians of love
Anytime, anywhere, nothing's impossible
Nothing's impossible
Sorry that took so long...
Unit 2, prepare to fire!
Fire!
Whoa.
Holy shit.
This'll do. This'll do real nicely.
That thing's just too dangerous; I don't think we should use it.
You can't be serious!
Do you know how hard it was to scrape together those spare parts?
It took me 4 months and 16 days...
- You stay out of this. - But...
Chief! You have a phone call from the Investigations Division.
What? The Investigations Division?
I'm Inspector Matsui, with Criminal Investigations.
I know this is sudden, but it's about that.
With that recent cutting of an undersea cable used by the...
Babylon Project and an unmanned buoy disappearing soon afterwards...
the Maritime Safety Agency borrowed it...
from a civilian outfit to investigate the cause.
I asked you here because nobody at HQ knows how to operate it.
Why is someone from Investigations doing a job for the MSA?
Actually, I was working on another case...
trying to find a car that had apparently fallen into the bay.
Well, it's a strange case.
Strange?
A couple had parked their car...
on a pier near the Battery to make out.
The boyfriend went to buy a drink, and he says that when he came back...
the car... and the woman inside it - had vanished into thin air.
The woman was found unconscious nearby on the beach this morning...
but whatever she saw, it gave her such a shock...
that she's in no shape to give a statement.
Now here's the problem: there were tire tracks left on the pier.
They went sideways.
"Sideways"?
It was like a big hand had grabbed it like this...
and pulled it into the sea with enormous force.
I've spoken with them about my investigation...
so I was wondering if I could trouble you to help out.
We don't have time to tag along afterwards, but all right.
Thank you.
Maritime Safety Agency
So you can actually catch fish out here?
Heck, I caught a bunch of creepy giant flounders just the other day.
And now there's nothing?
I've been fishing here for ten years.
This is the first time anything like this has happened.
Let go! Let go of me! Let go of me, all right?
Enough, already!
If you keep this up, we'll have you arrested!
Go home, okay?
You'll regret this someday! And when you do, it'll be too late!
Don't you understand?
Oh, sure.
- What was that all about? - Beats me.
Hey, sorry that took so long!
Sorry about that. The Old Man and I won't be going back today.
- I'm really sorry. - So you're gonna pilot that, Shige?
- Yep! - You're lucky.
Hey, I'll trade with you.
But the Old Man's gonna be looking over your shoulder the whole time.
Pass.
40... 45...
50...
Touchdown.
Visibility's bad. Can't be more than ten meters.
Could you head towards the Battery first?
Sure thing.
Tokyo Bay is awfully big. This is gonna be a tough job.
Well, if we don't return this Labor tonight...
they'll charge us an overdue fine.
Hold on. What was that to the left?
Oh, that.
That's one of those excavation trenches left from construction.
They're not uncommon in the bay.
No, farther over by that deep area.
Adachi plates, 33-9586.
That's the one, all right.
It's towards 2 o'clock.
Use your fins... don't kick up any mud with the jets.
Damn! I can't see a thing.
This pattern's not from a machine.
It's big. It's gotta be 12, maybe 13 meters!
It's still closing in!
An Unknown Creature In Tokyo Bay
Takes Out Construction Labor In One Shot
Monster
"Unknown sea creature in Tokyo Bay," huh?
But a sea monster? These sure are strange times we live in.
Noa!
It's calling! Tokyo Bay is calling Alphonse!
What's with you?
I'm gonna go get the OK to use the riot gun.
Are these cool times to be living in or what?
We've got giant robots walking around, sea monsters popping up.
Nonsense.
China's interior lakes or Loch Ness, maybe, but Tokyo Bay?
What would a sea monster be doing in a boring place like that?
But if it isn't a sea monster, what on earth...
It's a whale.
That was no whale, that's for sure.
A Buchiyama Heavy Industries Nautilus 9800 Marine Labor...
isn't so flimsy that a whale could take it out.
I was at the controls... I know.
It was down there, 50 meters below the surface.
It was careful, coming at us hidden in a cloud of kicked-up mud.
But I knew it was out there.
Right.
It had to be an advanced creature, one evolving towards life on land...
evolved from the exceedingly rare aquatic reptiles that lived...
from the Jurassic Period through the Cetaceous.
I saw it! It was a...
Shige! There's a package here that's addressed to you!
I'm coming!
Sorry about that!
What're you gonna do with this dry ice? Become an ice cream man?
No, I uh...
So that's the way it is.
If it's really a sea monster, it's way out of our league.
We don't have any handcuffs that big down at HQ.
We don't have 'em here, either.
- "Matsui," was it? - Right.
Don't you think we'd be better off calling in the Self-Defense Forces?
No, that wouldn't be a good idea.
It'd set a precedent for, you know, dispatching them to keep the peace...
and that kind of thing.
So, um, would you mind?
Why not? This sounds like it's right up the Second Unit's alley.
You should do it.
I don't know what the Chief would say about this.
He'll okay anything. If you're going, I can pass it along to him.
Patlabor
And now, in regards to the destruction of a Labor...
that was conducting an investigation in Tokyo Bay...
the government announced that they couldn't help but tentatively...
provisionally, acknowledge the existence of an unidentified...
creature in Tokyo Bay.
This has been the 12 o'clock news.
So do you really think it's a sea monster?
It's a whale, I'm telling you.
The disappearance of a lover... Fishing areas drying up...
A destroyed underwater Labor...
Heck, with all that...
all we need to make the story complete is one of them.
- Yeah! A mad scientist! - Yep.
Hi.
Give me a mackerel combo with some fried Vienna sausages.
And a large rice.
Coming right up.
Hirata Biotechnology Laboratory
The "Pan-spermia" Theory?
You've never heard of it?
It was a theory that had to do with the origin of life on Earth, right?
It began with Svante Arrheniuso, a Swedish Nobel Prize-winning...
scientist, who proposed that life on Earth originated from...
spores or virus-like micro-organisms from space.
It came to be called the Pan-spermia Theory.
In the 1920's, it fell into disrepute under the criticism...
of Oparin and others, but it's now undergoing a revival.
Was I close?
I proved it.
Yes, it was. It's been ten years now.
One of Oparin's objections was that it was unthinkable that...
the seeds of life could safely reach the surface of the Earth...
after being assaulted by long exposure to cosmic rays...
and the intense heat of entry into Earth's atmosphere.
But meteorites...
Many organic substances exist inside meteorites...
especially within carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.
And so I wondered if I could discover surviving cells...
or cells in a state of suspended animation, within a meteorite.
And then you found it!
It was within a meteorite recovered from...
a stratum dating back 450 million years.
It's a strange signal, don't you think?
The Cambrian Period was 450 million years ago...
during which there was an explosive appearance of species on Earth.
We call this The Big Bang of Life. The Cambrian Explosion.
Um... Are you sure it really came from the meteorite?
Yeah, maybe it got stuck there by accident during the experiment.
I am Doctor Hirata! I make no mistakes!
I washed my hands with cresol soap before the experiment!
But to err on the side of caution, I performed further experiments.
I pushed genetic engineering to its limits...
which were constantly being pushed back at that time.
I hoped to use those cells to trace the path of evolution on Earth.
I split the cells' nuclei, repeatedly performing...
genetic manipulation via chemical agents and radiation...
cultivating those with promise through alternation of generations...
and then manipulating those genes.
Years passed before I produced any- thing that could be called "life."
But it definitely began to evolve.
I forgot about eating and sleeping...
spurring on this new life-form's evolution.
I cut back on my sleep...
abstained from the mackerel combos that I liked so much...
and threw myself into the experiments!
Eight years.
After eight long years, it set out on the path to the great reptiles.
But...
I was shocked to find that after those countless experiments...
it had actually learned how to evolve!
Its evolution not only accelerated, but proceeded at such a speed...
that I couldn't hope to control it.
It slipped out of my grasp and became a monster!
The sea water in Tokyo Bay, polluted with waste liquids...
probably brought about further mutations.
It's clear that it's grown into an aquatic reptile.
But that's not all.
If it's grown to the point where it can reproduce on its own...
rather than through cloning in a lab...
It will continue to mature, and then lay eggs!
Eggs?
The offspring hatched from those eggs will grow...
mature, and then lay more eggs!
Their numbers then increase, and still more eggs are laid!
The oceans of the world will overflow with its kind...
and then they'll march towards land, and... and then...
It's the end of mankind!
Mankind will become its food! It's the end of the world!
What kind of horror have I unleashed?
But how did it get into Tokyo Bay?
Well, I...
You got scared and threw it away.
Bullets! Get me all the bullets we've got!
Okay! Once you get the shells loaded, put it on the trailer!
You got the okay to use it?
I'll take full responsibility.
Since we know it's not a whale, there's no need to hold back.
Make mincemeat out of that disgusting, egg-laying sea monster...
and feed it to the fishes!
But you'll only fire on my orders. Got it?
Yes, ma'am.
To all cars: The SV2, Second Unit will now leave...
to exterminate the unidentified sea creature in Tokyo Bay.
Go for it!
Hey! Where's Shige?
Shige? He left a while ago, holding a package really carefully.
Hey, wait up!
Don't tell me he... That idiot!
Hello.
- Thanks for your help. - Will it come?
It'll come, no doubt about it. Animals have a homing instinct.
It'll try to go up the Sumida River to spawn.
Just like a salmon, huh?
It's coming!
200 meters from the Takeshiba Pier!
It's heading for shore at a depth of 10 meters!
Hey, wait! I never said you could use the riot gun, Kanuka!
- It's okay. - What?
Noa! The second you catch sight of it, cut loose!
Aren't you scared that we'll kill it?
Who cares? I want to see it go berserk!
Hey, now.
Still closing in! Estimated length, 15 meters!
Still closing!
Huh?
What happened?
I lost the target.
It must have dived. There are countless holes...
in the sea floor around here that it could hide in.
So I guess we have to wait.
You always stand watch until your target shows up.
That's a rule of thumb for investigations.
And so the night of our long, hard struggle began.
But we didn't just wait idly with our arms folded.
We marshaled our brains and guts...
and resolutely answered the challenge!
The High-Voltage Current Plan
Run a high-voltage current through the mouth of the river?
True, if we took the batteries from your carriers and squad cars...
and ran them in a series with the local street vendors' generators...
and pass it through a Labor's condenser, releasing it in one burst...
we could theoretically produce a million-volt electric current.
It would be possible to capture it alive.
What a great idea!
However, it would probably kill all the fish within several kilometers...
and would critically damage any undersea cables.
We'd better not.
The High-Frequency Underwater Sound Wave Plan
Draw it out with high- frequency sound waves?
Yes, sir! If we use the amps for the Labors' external speakers...
to amplify the sound waves of the underwater radar...
I'm certain that it will do the job.
It's true that certain species of insects, including cockroaches...
and grasshoppers, react and are drawn to certain sound frequencies.
What a great idea!
However, it's also widely known that sounds of certain wavelengths...
have the effect of accelerating egg-laying in aquatic reptiles.
We'd better not.
The Tearful Persuasion Plan
Reason with the sea monster?
But who would do it?
It doesn't have a mother or...
an old high school teacher that we can bring in.
It has a parent who gave birth to it and raised it: Professor Hirata.
If he put some love into it, sea monster or not, I know it'd...
If its brain has progressed to that stage...
it would certainly be possible to communicate with it.
But what if it harbors misgivings about its own existence...
and curses its misshapen body?
Seeing me, the man who gave it life, may reawaken dark memories...
of being abandoned, making it go insane with rage.
I'm all for it! I don't care what happens to me!
But if it turns into a creature of hatred and comes ashore...
there's no telling what it might do! We must think of the consequences!
I'm all for it, but think of humanity! Think of the Earth!
And so, just when it looked like all our ideas had been rejected...
A small craft has entered the security zone!
That's...
It was the genius engineer Shigeo Shiba, the pride of the SV2.
And the dimly glowing object he held resolutely in his arms...
The invention of the Devil: a dissolved oxygen destroying device!
An Oxygen Destroyer!
What?
So the day to use this has finally come.
Shige!
I thought you'd try something like this, so I tailed you!
What's with that get-up?
Let me go down there, Chief!
What's a pipe with dry ice in it supposed to do?
And you call yourself an engineer?
- Let me go, Chief! Let me go! - Idiot!
It's coming!
The sea monster is rising rapidly and coming this way!
H-Hiromi?
What's the matter? Open fire!
But... But it's...
I can't believe that it's evolved so far!
Yamazaki! Where are you going, Yamazaki?
Yamazaki!
It was a strange sight, indeed.
Was it some horrible coincidence? A prank played by God?
Heaven only knows what exchange of souls passed between those two...
who stared at each other like they were looking at themselves.
A little time passed, and then a lot.
It's leaving.
No, it's going home.
Back to the depths of the sea, the homeland of its soul.
It was a dramatic, and all too unsatisfying, end to the story.
The giant sea monster turned its back to us...
and disappeared into Tokyo Bay's dawn.
Several days later...
after it was seen heading south into the Pacific...
by an American recon plane, it vanished, never to reappear.
Looking back on it, we never even had a chance to give him a name.
It was almost like a dream.
The 450 Million Year Old Trap
The Labors' Den: A training school for Labor unit members.
When ordered there for re-training, we saw...
a ghostly Labor wandering the mountains...
as well as a reawakening of a blood-soaked tragedy from the past!
This is all kinda scary, don't you think?
Next time! "The Tragedy of L"!
Target, lock on!