The Duality of Licking Rice

While I’ve spoken at length as to why the character design in Patlabor is an excellent representation of what the show can be, I came across what’s probably my favorite shot in the franchise thus far and it’s my favorite for the exact same reason.  In episode 33, there’s a shot of Noa, isolated from the rest of the group.  It’s in the middle of a conversation about the most significant threat to date, the music is deathly serious and everyone, including Noa, is wearing a grim expression.  We get a close up on Noa, and almost comically, she has rice on her lip from her dinner.  Then comically, she licks it off while still holding a venomous gaze as she listens to the plans for how to deal with the Griffon.  I adore this shot because similar to the way the character design perfectly describes the tone of the show, this shot functions the same.

Patlabor is a show about a group of bumbling police piloting 26-foot-tall giant robots that use equally proportion revolvers.  If that isn’t one of the clearest definitions of ridiculous and silly, I don’t know what is.  This is a show where an entire episode is dedicated to the Chinese restaurant they always order from was late with their delivery and is narrated as if it were some grand fantasy bed time story.  A grand fantasy bed time story that ends with the entire section of a police section getting food poisoning after spending the entire day not working to preserve the peace but waiting for the food to arrive and declaring war on the restaurant.  This is a show about a haunted mansion in the middle of Tokyo where the ghosts cause earth quakes and kill visitors.  This is a show where a mutated dragon lives in the subterranean chasm beneath Tokyo city and was blown to bits in the Tokyo Bay.

Patlabor is a show about a group of peace keepers of varying personalities growing, interacting and trying to make Tokyo a better place in their own ways with powerful, realistic tools.  If that isn’t one of the clearest definitions of deep and interesting, I don’t know what is.  This is a show about the clash of humanity and technology, old and new technology, generation and generation, talent and practice and doing one’s job and following orders.  We see in countless episodes where division 2 is only trying to do what’s right but is tied down by the red tape of bureaucracy, we see the dynamic between Noa and Kanuka as one is a naturally gifted pilot and the other worked and studied to be as good as she is, we see the very clear message of the old Japanese regime and older generation’s ideals against the younger generations in the evolution of technology and its endless march forward.  Again and again we are shown that all we can do is live now, do what we can at this very moment with what we have.  Untested new labors appear and are consistently put down thanks to a more skilled human piloting the machine, while simultaneously we are shown that even though the human in control can be great, the tool needs to be on par with the user.

One sign of greatness is having this duality.  One can pick up Kyousougiga, Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Mob Psycho 100, Flip Flappers, Princess Principal, Kill La Kill or Gurren Lagann, or One Punch Man and watch any of them simply for the sheer spectacle and humor to it all.  Or, one can just as easily pick one up to analyze each episode frame by frame, line by line, word by word to uncover some truth that was previously missed or unknown, be it something in the show or something that simply resonates on the viewer’s personal level.  Neither viewing of any of these examples is wrong and are as equally respectable.  It’s awesome to watch Yutaka Nakamura animate Mob utterly destroying a guy for beating up his little brother with some of the coolest psychic powers to date.  It’s awesome to watch Mob struggle with his powers, emotions and loneliness as he tries his best to make some connection somewhere and protect his family and loved ones.  Patlabor is a show that is on this list, being able to walk the line between ridiculous and serious.

This scene of Noa licking the rice off her lip is, on paper, comedic.  Here we are in the middle of one of the most tense moment in the TV series so far, and we get this almost Edgar Wright level of visual humor meant to break the tension.  A close up to single Noa out, and then we cut to a super close up of her face.  The music is telling us this is serious, her face is telling us she has a personal vendetta against this machine, the rice blatantly sitting on her lip is telling us that this is still a cartoon.  Then, without blinking, changing her face, or even the music changing, Noa very slowly and seriously licks the rice off.  It’s so out of place that it can’t be anything other than a joke used to break up the tension, right?

Except, the joke doesn’t feel out of place in the slightest.  It doesn’t even break the tension all that much, really.  Here’s why:  Noa’s face is extremely cat-like.  That was one of the first things I noticed about her design in the TV series.  Not only that, but she does have a genuine vendetta against the Griffon and its pilot.  She blames herself for allowing Asuma and Takeo to get hurt and the root of that problem lies with the Griffon.  This is the first time in the series that we’ve seen Noa get this serious about anything that isn’t Alphonse and we can practically feel her anger from this closeup.  In this moment, she’s a predator awaiting her prey.  It would be out of character for her to just lick her lips in anticipation, so the rice is there to give her a reason to do it but the way she does it is very similar to the way that any predator does in anticipation of its meal.

The beauty of this shot lies in its ability to send both messages so well and at the same time.  We get something extremely funny to laugh at, and something extremely in character and interesting that we haven’t seen before.  A fun reminder that Noa is a goof-ball, a grim reminder that she’s pissed off.  Patlabor is a juggernaut of this duality and this shot is a shining example of how well it can show both sides of a coin at the same exact time, an accomplishment very few stories in general can claim.

Thanks for reading, friends!  This was originally going to be about a bunch of metaphysical "what is art and why do we analyze it" nonsense like I said last time but, that was something I wrote in an insomnitic frenzy at 2 am and it was awful.  So I decided to write something else but then work happened and here I am, two days late.