Sensei's "May Madness 2008": AMG, CCS, KKJ, MKR

Post by **sensei** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:06 pm

May Madness 2008 (my annual event in which I show how I spent the money I saved during Lent) has begun with a gallery makeover to highlight early spring colors and pushed on with a splashy update in four series.

One highlight is a new Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne gallery, this one devoted to a batch of sketches from Episode 34 (Confession of Separation!) when Maron breaks up with her boyfriend Chiaki because he discovers that he’s really a Satanic magical guy who's living with a teeny black-winged demonic angel. (Huh. Who could have forecast that plot twist?) Anyhow, the break-up results in quite a few dramatic opportunities.

Don’t miss the genga of her memory of them kissing passionately on the rooftops while the camera pans back, the music plays, the full moon rises, their magical robes flutter in the breeze, etc., etc. (IM, in a genre when a 3-second animated scene is considered long, how many cuts can you think of that are planned to last twelve whole seconds of running time?)

I’ve taken one Open House suggestion and installed YouTube links on the home page of this gallery, so people can watch the fansub before (or after) looking at the sketches. Let me know what you think (yes, I know it means you have to scroll down and down to see the thumbnails). I have six more sketch sets from this episode yet to come (including another smoochie one), so keep watching that space.

To my modest Ah My Goddess! gallery I’ve added my first cels from the classic 1993 OVA, one of Skuld squashing a system bug, and the other of a beautiful, gentle-hued Belldandy, something so precious that I didn’t even expect to wish for one.

Magic Knight Rayearth picks up three very nice new cels, two of them of my favorite 2nd season character, the feisty pixy Primera. One shows her in the grips of jealousy over her Knight Lantis’s attention to the disgusting human Hikaru, while the other (maybe from the same scene) is a dramatic image of her flying and shaking her fist. The third is an lovely muted-colors OVA cel of Hikaru, during a flashback to the moment when she met Umi and Fuu.

But, for the first time in three years, Cardcaptor Sakura takes the “May Madness” spotlight, thanks to the best selection of cels I’ve seen in years. An almost perfectly matched set of sly smiles features Mirror impersonating Sakura and about to cause her a lot of trouble by trashing a stationery store, and Sakura herself, acting as co-conspirator with her Dad on a little trick they’re playing on Tomoyo’s mom.

From Episode 1 comes a set-up from the climactic moment when Kero-chan announces that the new Cardcaptor has at last been born! (Hoeeeee!) Another compelling cel comes from a key moment in Episode 40 (the Dream episode), at a moment when a badly frightened and tearful Sakura sees something outside the Tokyo Tower window that surprises her to her core. (Nooooo, it’s not Guru Clef, come to give Fuu the power to destroy the Tokyo Dome, though I admit that’s a pretty eye-opening moment in Tokyo Tower history, too.)

An especially satisfying addition are two bookending original backgrounds from Sakura’s travel back in time to meet Clow Reed. One shows Clow’s garden just at the height of early spring, with that darn cherry blossom tree that just won’t bloom; the other appears at the end of Sakura’s tour of the seasons, showing the same garden at the very end of winter just as Clow turns and tells her, “Look, now winter is finished!”

(Doggone-it, just thinking about that moment gets me, every time!)

And you’ll not want to miss my new cel of Yue staring at Touya in utter lack of comprehension, just after he’s told him “You and Yuki are so alike!” (“Alike?” How???) A nice extra with this cel is the original background, which isn’t precisely matching (it comes from a cut a few seconds before this cel is used) but which contains the precious little picture on “The Scene” wall with the flower arrangement surrounded by peaches.

There are some extra items that I’ve gotten that aren’t ready to go up yet, including a nice batch of Tonde Buurin cels + BGs and a couple of good Tree of Palme cels. But this is enough to feast on for now.

Enjoy!

Edit: Heh. Left out one link. Gomen.

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:38 pm

Congratulations on a wonderful CLAMP-filled update! My favorite piece is Clow's garden in winter --- such a lovely background.

funshine · Post by **funshine** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:07 pm

such an awe inspiring update! i can't pick a favorite! love the ccs stuff (duh), the hikaru, and mini primera, and the kkj stuff is absolutely stunning (the kiss! and the close-ups).

syan · Post by **syan** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:34 pm

A great update! The kiss sketch is fantastic, and the Clow season backgrounds quite pretty. And Kero! Cute!

Cordelia · Post by **Cordelia** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:18 am

Monotone cels are pretty charming; I like this one as it has a rather poignant feel to it

http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=240733

ryoendymion · Post by **ryoendymion** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:21 pm

i love your updates and this one is fantastic as always!

i especially like the yue cel and the bg ^^

Post by **sensei** » Tue May 06, 2008 4:51 pm

ryoendymion wrote:i especially like the yue cel and the bg ^^

That one wasn't cheap (as you might expect) but it was fairly priced. If it had had the actual matching bg it would have been a record-setter, I'd expect. As is, the bg doesn't look bad with the cel, it is a genuine "The Scene" production item, and that hard stare is so absolutely Yue at this moment.

Cordelia wrote:Monotone cels are pretty charming; I like this one as it has a rather poignant feel to it

Thanks for looking at this one. The Rayearth OVA is an odd series, kinda CLAMP crossed with Neon Genesis Evangelion, with many unintentionally hilarious results. (I love it when Fuu destroys Tokyo's version of the SuperDome.) But the cels are to die for, and this one actually comes from a very touching moment that intervenes just before Umi gets to wreck Rainbow Bridge.

syan wrote:The kiss sketch is fantastic, and the Clow season backgrounds quite pretty. And Kero! Cute!

Kisses back to you, syan!

And I really wanted those two Clow Reed garden bgs, especially as Madhouse developed a really pretty French impressionist look for all of these scenes. (Gomenasai to the SMJ user whom I bidwar for one of them: I don't do this often, but I really really wanted this one.) And thanks for looking at Kero-chan. It's been a long time since I got a really nice Ep. 1 set-up, and this one fit perfectly between two cels I already had.

funshine wrote: i can't pick a favorite! love the ccs stuff (duh), the hikaru, and mini primera, and the kkj stuff is absolutely stunning (the kiss! and the close-ups).

Primera is a great creation, and the mini one is so dynamic: she's almost a floating ball of blue foxfire. Thanks too for looking at KKJ. I'm surprised that this series is still under the radar here. It gets into some dark stuff, but, thankfully, never takes itself too seriously. (IM, how could anyone not know that these two are running around nights as Jeanne d'Arc and Sinbad the Satanist?)

ReiTheJelly wrote: My favorite piece is Clow's garden in winter --- such a lovely background.

Yeah, and I can't ever think about that scene without my glasses fogging up. I remember when I watched this episode for the first time and kept hoping that the studio wouldn't screw it up -- and at this point I simply stopped thinking about whether it was good or not -- it just was what it was.

And thanks to everyone for stopping by for a look!

purple-plum · Post by **purple-plum** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:41 pm

I love the new Yue...it really makes me laugh...such a strange face. I also love to see other fans of Arina Tanemura, I've loved her artwork forever. They're beautiful sensei

~Kt

moonrabitt · Post by **moonrabitt** » Tue May 06, 2008 8:08 pm

I really like the "KKJ" it's on my "to watch list"
It's funny how they re-did the scene instead of using the one they already had. I thought both screencaps where the same, but the moon looks different as well as the legs.

I also like the one with the rabbit thing getting whacked

-great update

Post by **sensei** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:07 am

wwwpurple-plumcom wrote:I love the new Yue...it really makes me laugh...such a strange face.

Yeah, that was my reaction when I pulled it out of the box: I actually had to laugh out loud. The manga image is also funny: I love the "trouble lines" that go through him when he's deciding to accept Touya's terms.

I also love to see other fans of Arina Tanemura, I've loved her artwork forever.

I wish there was art for "Full Moon o Sagashite" available. That's another series that manages the same mix of serious theme plus zany can't-take-it-too-seriously wit.

moonrabitt wrote:I really like the "KKJ" it's on my "to watch list"
It's funny how they re-did the scene instead of using the one they already had. I thought both screencaps where the same, but the moon looks different as well as the legs.

You noticed that in one she has the left leg forward and in the other it's the right leg. Jeanne's hair and ribbon tassels also blow a different way. Odd.

I also like the one with the rabbit thing getting whacked

When that came up, I knew I had to have that. I used to have a "system busy" cursor on my laptop that showed one of the AMG bugs running around on six legs.

Thanks again for stopping by.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Thu May 08, 2008 5:54 pm

May should come around more often!

Love all the beautiful new cels and sketches!

But I really really love this one!!!

http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=240727

rallihir · Post by **rallihir** » Fri May 09, 2008 6:47 pm

Wonderful update. I always enjoy your CCS additions, and the Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne sketches are well detailed. Interestingly, the older CG shows seem to have heavier line drawings and more detail than some of the more recent CG anime. Wonder what the reason might be.

Princess Nadia · Post by **Princess Nadia** » Sat May 10, 2008 1:44 am

I really enjoyed this update

I can't pick favourites because they're all so beautiful!!!!!

You must be very pleased!!!!!

Post by **sensei** » Sat May 10, 2008 7:38 am

RoboFlonne wrote:May should come around more often!

Amen! But it's nice to be able to generate a little extra margin so that I can go after some things slightly nicer than the norm.

But I really really love this one!!!

The KKJ "Kiss" really seems to have caught Beta's attention! Wait till Vamppy finishes doing the reanimation of the dougas. (I hope she can splice in the Andrew Lloyd Webber music in the background...)

rallihir wrote:Wonderful update.

From you, that's very high praise. I've gone through several cycles of collecting, but on the whole I've always wanted more cels like the ones in Rallihir's gallery. It was a real pleasure to get a sequence-mate to your squished bunny-bug from AMG![/quote]

Interestingly, the older CG shows seem to have heavier line drawings and more detail than some of the more recent CG anime. Wonder what the reason might be.

It might be a studio preference. AIC, Toei, and Pierrot all have very attractive, detailed CGI sketches, even for very recent shows, while other studios' sketches just aren't as immediately impressive. I love both the Fruits Basket manga and anime, but the sketchwork just doesn't grab me like the others. And I gather more and more of even the sketchwork is being done on touch pads rather than on paper. Anyhow, Toei did a superb production job on KKJ, and I'm glad to get some really high-end stuff from it. (The secret's out, though: only MKR sketches have cost me deeper in the pocket than these latest batches.)

Princess Nadia wrote:You must be very pleased!!!!!

Thanks, Nadia, for your compliments. I'm very happy with this batch, the more so in the wake of all the grumbling about how "the bloom is off animation art collecting" since all the good cels are gone. Nope; there are still a few out there. (Fewer, though, in the wake of my Easter expedition.)

I did get up the rest of the cel part of my "May Madness." This includes two nice Tree of Palme cels (including this intense close-up of Popo from near the end. It's been reunited with the original bg, which I got in an earlier lot; as the cel is painted nearly corner-to-corner you can't see much of it, but you can tell the cel is happy.

Also seven attractive set-ups from the zany series Tonde Buurin, including some wonderous "WTF" moments. You'll not want to miss Tsunami Time from the series' "Summer Field Trip to Heavenly Hawaii" sequence, or a scarce naked Buurin cel. (Fortunately for Karin, pigs are normally naked, so no proprieties are transgressed; however, it obviously bothers her to have lost an important part of her superhero outfit.

And can anyone provide any guidance on what is going on in this odd cel? The text bubble seems to read "Bikini" but I'm not sure. (That's normal schoolgirl Karin talking to the rest of her family, btw, I think from the episode when Buurin's Evil Twin comes on the scene.)

And thanks again to all who stopped by (looks around a little nervously for the sixteen open housers who are yet to visit -- cookies are starting to attract ants.)