La Madonna is a splendid collection of character illustrations from the immensely popular 80s anime Kimagure Orange Road. The artist behind the illustrations is Takada Akemi, who is also the character designer for the Patlabor anime series.
The illustrations include those used for CD, laserdisc jackets, dvd box covers, posters and more. Quite a few of these ( including the top image above ) I remember vividly as an impressionable kid growing up with anime.
Flipping through the book I seem to see some visual affinity in the illustration style of Takada-san and the Taiwanese artist Pinfan – although the latter utilizes a lot of photo references.
The book is a little on the pricey side, but it’s certainly the best collection of Orange Road art work out there. I wish only for a similar book with Takada-san’s equally beautiful illustrations from Patlabor. Highly recommended.
“La Madonna – Takada Akemi 高田明美画集” art book details :
Dimensions – 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
Soft cover with clear plastic slipcase, 120 pages
In Japanese language ( contents are mostly images )
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Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation – The Select Art Book Review
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The Birthplace Of Totoro – Miyazaki Akemi Art Book Review
July 22nd, 2015 at 2:09 pm
I actually own two of Akemi Takada’s Patlabor artbooks – Air and Pulsation. Both are great, although I like the latter a little more.
Akemi Takada was one of the best character designers of the 80’s, and I’d say her art has aged better than a number of artists from that era (Yasuomi Umetsu and Mutsumi Inomata, to name a few).
July 22nd, 2015 at 2:41 pm
Daniel – Thanks for the heads up, I managed to locate both on Amazon Japan. They’ve been out of print for the longest time so brand new copies are impossible to find, but I’ll settle for used ones. Thanks again !
July 25th, 2015 at 3:20 am
I actually own Air. I don’t go to conventions very often but I went to one and found it at a book dealer. I told the guy I’d buy it for $5 and he said ok. I don’t think he knew what to do with a Japanese book and I wonder how he even got it.
July 25th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Jason – Definitely a steal. :]