Asuma Shinohara is the secondary protagonist of Mobile Police Patlabor, being featured in Patlabor the early days, Patlabor: The Movie, and Patlabor 2: The Movie. He is also a supporting character along with Noa Izumi in WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3.
Personality[]
Asuma Shinohara He has a sarcastic and blunt personality, but he shows caring consideration towards his partner Noa. However, sometimes his excessive concern can become counterproductive (as shown in the manga). Off duty, he often pokes and teases Noa at her expense, though will sometimes get his comeuppance. Asuma is a very good officer, although he's often used by Goto as a lackey. Due to his background, he has a wealth of knowledge about Labor machines, from their hardware to software. During missions, he makes precise commands by utilizing this knowledge, but his down-to-earth colleagues, Ota and Kanuka, often find it difficult to control him.
Biography[]
Asuma was born sometime in 1978 in Maebashi in Gunma Prefecture and is the son of the owner of Shinohara Heavy Industries, the company that makes 90% of the labors in the world. After a falling out with his father, Asuma joined the police force and specifically requested to be assigned to the labor units (in the OVA he claims that his father didn't think he was responsible enough to join the company and he rebelled and joined the police force but his father used his connections to get him assigned to SV2 where he would still work with them). Noa and Hiromi's commanding officer in the field, he has a soft spot for the former. Goto recognizes Asuma has some talent in diverse fields, as can be seen in various places throughout the series. As stated before, from being the heir to company, he is also a highly skilled labor pilot, nearly being comparable to Noa.
He seems to have a romantic interest in Noa and has asked her out on several dates throughout the series. In the final chapter of the manga, he made a casual confession. In Patlabor 2, he and Noa were transferred to the Equipment Development Division, and the novelization reveals that they have been continuing their "pure courtship."
Trivia[]
- Character designer Akemi Takada says she got the inspiration for the character's name Asuma after seeing the name on a patent card for an old man in a hospital.
- Asuma alludes to having a past interest in American Football, primarily being a bench warmer
Gallery[]
