As a matter of fact, I personally had 2 Noir 
production cels autographed by the director, 
Koichi Mashimo, at Anime Expo this year.  He did 
not raise any objections to them or voice any 
skeptism over their authenticity.  In fact, he 
was delighted by them and identified the exact 
episode that cel belonged to.  Also, another 
person waiting line at the autograph session 
with me also had 3 high-quality Noir cels 
autographed by Mashimo-san.  The director

So Noir cel collectors have nothing to worry 
about.

Although probably the largest and most 
overbearing anime company in the United States, 
ADV is NOTORIOUS for screwing up their treatment 
of great anime titles.  I'm not just talking 
about their technical handling of anime (even 
though there's already a lot of horror stories 
in that arena)... they have many times rewritten 
and edited anime titles in unacceptable ways 
(eg., Orphen).

But more than anything else, ADV representatives 
know surprisingly little about the titles they 
license.  For a company that licenses so much 
anime, they are generally ignorant about it 
compared to other large anime companies.  This 
case is just one illustration of that.

One year at Anime Expo, the director of Spriggan 
was a guest of honor.  At his panel, I asked him 
about his feelings about what ADV was planning 
to do the movie.  He had no idea even that ADV 
licensed the film and was very angry that he was 
invited to the convention but was never informed 
nor consulted about the treatment of Spriggan.

Just like I don't have much respect for anime 
fans with big pockets BUT no knowledge or 
appreciation for the anime they collect... I 
don't have respect for big-spending anime 
companies who don't treat their products with 
respect.

It just goes to show what kind of company ADV is 
(although I heard they have improved somewhat in 
some areas, overall I would much rather have 
Bandai or Pioneer handle most anime titles).