Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation – The Select Art Book Review

Posted By yonghow on November 9th, 2017

Published way back in 1993, this Patlabor The Movie 2 art book from the “This Is Animation” series is likely the first dedicated art book for Mamoru Oshii’s highly acclaimed anime film, and a much earlier predecessor to the Patlabor The Movie 2 – Perfect Establishment Data book.

I found this volume while fishing around for used art books at Nakano Broadway’s Mandarake earlier this summer. The art book features the usual contents – a thumbnails recap of the entire film, character and mecha design sheets. There is however a substantial background art section that is hard to come by and a great delight to look at.

(below) The first page is a foldout poster of Section 1 chief Shinobu Nagumo.

Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation - The Select Art Book Review

These small thumbnail reproductions are usually considered fluff in an art book, but they can be great for studying the color palettes used in each sequence of an anime or film.

Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation - The Select Art Book Review

The background art section features plates that are rather hard to come by in Patlabor art books.

Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation - The Select Art Book Review

The last few pages feature illustrations from the comics by the great Akemi Takada, who is also the character design for the series and films. Definitely check out her Patlabor art books Pulsation and AIR.

Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation - The Select Art Book Review

This really old Patlabor The Movie 2 art book has been out of print for a long time, but used copies can still be found on Amazon Japan and Amazon.com. If you are shopping around in Nakano Broadway and chance upon a copy, don’t miss it either. Recommended.

“Patlabor 2 : This Is Animation – The Select 機動警察パトレイバー2 ザ・セレクト” art book details :

Dimensions – 29.8 x 21.2 x 1.2 cm
Soft cover, 168 pages
Color, B&W, in Japanese