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--- lb:patlabor [2025-11-17 19:36:20] – [Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 (1993)] ninjasr
+++ lb:patlabor [2025-11-17 19:36:53] (current) – [Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 (1993)] ninjasr
@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 This film takes place a few years after the first one and portrays the Division 2 cast having moved on from the SV2, now working in different jobs. The first major mistake! and one that would negatively affect the rest of the film continuity. Here though, as a standalone, it's alright.\\
 Shinohara and Izumi are portrayed as working for Shinohara Heavy Industries: Izumi as a test pilot. Ota still works in the police, but now helps train new recruits for Patlabor piloting. Shinshi works in a bureaucratic position in the police. Yamazaki, Goto, Nagumo all still work for the SV2. Kanuka left permanently. Shigeo is now the head mechanic.\\
-The motivations of the antagonist are poorly presented to the audience, making it difficult to figure out what the hell he's trying to do. It took me a re-watch and a lot of thinking to figure it out. My initial thinking was that he was aiming to <wrap spoiler>place Japan in the same position he ended up in: essentially, behind enemy lines, no permission to retreat and no help coming</wrap>. I'd guess the audience would naturally gravitate towards this conclusion, considering the opening scene. However, the reality is <wrap spoiler>that his goal was to create a <q>“state of illusion”</q></wrap>. More specifically <wrap spoiler>the antagonist probably got PTSD or something similar from the situation depicted in the opening scene. The evidence in favor of this is what he says later in the movie: when he came back to Japan, it felt ‘unreal’ to him, which is a symptom of PTSD. He decided then that he wanted Japan to experience the same thing, which is why he does what he does in the movie.</wrap>\\
+The motivations of the antagonist are poorly presented to the audience, making it difficult to figure out what the hell he's trying to do. It took me a re-watch and a lot of thinking to figure it out. My initial thinking was that he was aiming to <wrap spoiler>place Japan in the same position he ended up in: essentially, behind enemy lines, no permission to retreat and no help coming</wrap>. I'd guess the audience would naturally gravitate towards this conclusion, considering the opening scene. However, the reality is <span wrap_spoiler>that his goal was to create a “state of illusion”</span>. More specifically <wrap spoiler>the antagonist probably got PTSD or something similar from the situation depicted in the opening scene. The evidence in favor of this is what he says later in the movie: when he came back to Japan, it felt ‘unreal’ to him, which is a symptom of PTSD. He decided then that he wanted Japan to experience the same thing, which is why he does what he does in the movie.</wrap>\\
 Now, the film isn't intentionally constructed to make it difficult to figure this out...it's just constructed poorly. All the needed information is in the film (I mean, I was able to figure it out), but what makes it difficult to figure out is that the audience gets zero hints as to this motivation until it's revealed. If the film had included a scene of him in Japan, shortly after he returned, that would have been enough. He doesn't even need to speak, because the film is capable of depicting <wrap spoiler>the state of illusion, considering that they did it perfectly when they showed the JSDF in Tokyo</wrap>. The audience would then be able to connect this scene of him in Japan with the scene of the <wrap spoiler>soldiers in Tokyo</wrap>.\\
 I don't think there are any serious storytelling issues outside of this failure to communicate properly and the film is well-constructed. If it weren't for that, the film would have a solid story.\\