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The year is 1998. With the rising sea levels the "Babylon Project" is conceived. It is designed to reclaim land and eventually fill Tokyo Bay, but the project has its critics. Militant environmental groups such as the Beach House and the Earth Defence Family use protest and sabotage to try and halt the progress of the project. At the same time came the development of the Labor, a type of robotic construction tool. With anti Babylon Project terrorists using Labors and other Labor crimes on the increase, a police until was set up to combat it. Captain Shinobu Nagumo and Captain Kiichi Gotoh of this police Labor section are out on construction site at the Babylon Project scouting a new recruit. Shinobu is shocked to discover that the person Gotoh is scouting is a woman. Her name is Noa Izumi and she soon proves her worth to the two captains when a terrorist attack causes several people to be injured, and she immediately helps rescue the victims. Noa is working part time as a security guard, but is actually a cadet in the police academy.
The following day she is put on a new assignment in her security guard job guarding the Shinohara Labor Factory. There she meets Seitaroh Sakaki, the head mechanic for the police Labor division. He shows her the new AV-98 Ingram, and she is extremely impressed. Later that night at the police academy, she is told that she will be taking the exam for the Mobile Police Unit the following day and is rather surprised that it is being held so suddenly. The tests go well for Noa. In the Ingram AV-98 simulator only Noa and another cadet, Asuma Shinohara pass. All of the other cadets, including Captain Gotoh who decides to test out the simulator as well, soon throw up due to the Labor's movements. Noa is soon being trained in mock battles with training Labors, which are in fact just repainted construction Labors, but despite the equipment she is doing very well.
Meanwhile Captain Nagumo's Unit 1 are called to the Tokyo Harbour Warehouse district to take on a stolen rouge Labor. One of riot police team members, Isao Ota, a complete gun maniac tries to remove the unit's patrol Labor pilot so he can fight the criminal Labor. To add to her woes, the engineers who who built the stolen Labor can't give her any useful information on how to beat it. The police hierarchy watch the situation on TV and are worried about the formation of the new police Labor unit. Captain Gotoh's list of candidates for his team doesn't seem to calm their fears but heighten them. Later that night Noa is told by her Captain that she is being transferred to the training academy for training with the Special Vehicles Unit 2. She is going to be a Labor pilot.
The beginning chapter of the manga is quite different to all anime versions of Patlabor. Detective Matsui and his partner make their debut at the very beginning of this chapter. Also Unit1 has Labors called AV-95 "Gorilla", which is only seen in the manga version, although a Super Deformed version of it appears in the eyecatches of episode 20 of the TV series. This type of Labor doesn't appear anywhere in any of the anime versions. Humorously the candidates for the Mobile Police Unit are told that the unit will change it's name to Special Vehicles Division 2 as of 1st April. This first chapter also has Masami Yuuki having several digs at the tabloid Japanese media.