Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 1 and 2 - The Coup Trilogy - Anime Analysis
Society’s Mirage
(Major Spoilers Ahead!)
By 2002 Japan has known peace too long and has fallen asleep. Tsuge, Patlabor 2’s villain, is the country’s self-proclaimed alarm clock. After he suffers great loss in an unwinnable due to international beurocracy and feels that he must pay them back by dismantling that same beurocracy by force.
Tsuge wages a war on the illusions built up by Japan’s government and the media for the mindless masses. His weapons disable and maim Tokyo’s ability to communicate with itself and the world. Without the safety net of mass communication the city transgresses into a chaotic state. Society’s fragile illusion of safety is shattered in real-time, real-life, not through the filter of TV. Any rationalization one could hide behind is disintegrated by so much yellow gas. This strategy in storytelling, destroying what is most precious, is pure genius on the part of Oshii. Bridges, TVs, transmission towers, and even the Labors themselves are all destroyed. All the cinematic elements that make up the fabric of Oshii’s future and most of our present become martyrs in their absence. We learn how much we really appreciate the networks that define how we have access to our conveniences. Tsuge tries to send Tokyo into a dark age full of TV snow and dead air.
All of the above is so inhuman. Why should we care what happens to Oshii’s fictitious Tokyo? A love affair really drives Patlabor 2: Tokyo War’s (I don’t know if this is really part of the title, but it is a novel written by Oshii) story. Back in the academy, Nagumo had an unfortunate fling with the film’s villain, Tsuge. She alone must bring him to justice and back to reality. The emotional level that this story ascends to is very high. Both lovers have everything to lose when their paths crash. Nagumo must overcome literal, and physical barrier to reach her former lover and crush any hope he has to regain her love or achieve his goal of chaos. Before the sortie, Goto warns Nagumo to avoid “falling on swords.” This statement foretells the tense and touching scene where with hands clasped and cuffs tightening the ex-lovers say goodbye, shotgun in hand and a menacing flock of sea gulls witness.
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