Noa and Alphonse

 

When I was young, anime was rare. In-fact, we didn't even call it anime, we called it manga. Primarily because Manga Entertainment was the largest distributor of anime in the UK. Even rarer than anime was subtitled anime. Yes, I have a problem with dubbing - it's been controversial at times. As has my love of anime. Anyway, I digress. I managed to record two animes that were shown late night on BBC 2 some years apart. The first was the phenomenal Akira. Akira was the first anime I ever saw. I loved everything about even though I didn't know what was going on (I actually loved not understanding as well - it was a breadth of imagination I had never experienced before). The second was Patlabor. I loved the atmosphere of the film, the pace, the plot and the characters. The characters were so well developed it came as no surprise when I found out that there had originally been a TV series. I have been fortunate enough to be able to watch both TV series' and the OVA. It took years for me to find a way where I was able to do this. The TV series is absolutely fantastic. I really don't understand why this franchise isn't rated more highly. I would put it up there with the Ghost in the Shell franchise (which is probably my favourite).

So I decided to my little homage. During my research for this I realised my original idea of having Noa on Alphonses shoulder had been done to death and I seriously considered ditching Noa altogether. In the end I felt I needed to try at my character painting again after doing all those ABC Warriors. I'm glad I did, Noa turned out great.

I don't know who owns the copyright to Patlabor - one of the distributors maybe?