Patlabor 2 – The Movie

The most overtly political anime ever made in Japan, this apocalyptic coda to the Patlabor series asks if the concept of an unjust peace is any more tenable than the concept of a just war. Some years after the disbandment of the Patlabor police unit, a series of terrorist attacks (the first real, the second virtual, the third...) panics the government, sets the police against the army and opens the way to a civil war or a pre-emptive coup by the Americans. Captain Goto comes out of semi-retirement to figure out what it all has to do with the near-annihilation of a UN Labor team in a SE Asian jungle - and with sightings of unidentified bright yellow blimps in the sky over Tokyo. There are none of the usual manga heroics, just an expert deconstruction of the 'peace' and 'stability' Japan has enjoyed since the end of the Pacific War. A genre masterpiece.