Sensei's 2017.04 Update: Harvest Time (mostly sketches)

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sensei
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

Post by sensei »

Keropi wrote:Woh, the Yumeria finger pointing scene from the Opening. That's pretty neat.
It is -- and oddly I got no competition on YHJ. Yumeria art used to provoke quite a sharkfest, but I'd guess all these bidders are currently locked up in pedophiles' prisons with no web access. Either that, or they're all bidding against me now for YamiBou art, which still has quite a following.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

Post by Keropi »

Some anime have left more long lasting impressions than others that's for sure.

It's good to see that people still appreciate Carnelian's artwork.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

Post by Trudy »

Sensei, I wish you a quick recovery!
Actively Collecting:
Escaflowne, Gokinjo Monogatari, Infinite Ryvius, Record of Lodoss War, Revolutionary Girl Utena
Looking for select cels from:
CardCaptor Sakura, Daria, Fushigi Yuugi, Gall Force, Gokinjo Monogatari, Gunsmith Cats, Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl, Kaito St. Tail, Magic Knight Rayearth, Oniisama E, Please Save My Earth, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Looking for production artwork from:
Ashita no Nadja, Full Metal Panic!, Juuni Kokki, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, NANA, Princess Tutu
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

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Trudy wrote:Sensei, I wish you a quick recovery!
Thank you, Trudy, and thanks for others who expressed concern last month. I was very lucky as I could see in the rehab. center when I'd go in for physical therapy. I'd been fairly active in the months leading up to the event, so I was able to participate in all the exercises and do "laps" with my walker around the gym. (Q: before your sickness, how far could you walk without getting out of breath. A: About three miles.) But I could see that many stroke victims had much more significant handicaps, in speaking and in being able to walk, and they were going to have a longer, more challenging road back to normal life.

I'm already recovering well and able to do a lot of things (such as make supper) that I enjoyed doing before. But the drs. looking at the CT scans are cautious that a fall at this stage could make matters worse, so I'm on a very tight leash. No going outside unsupervised, no driving, no alcohol, etc. etc. The Internet is one outlet but our smallish house is not much space to exercise in. Probably a good time for some standard maintenance on the collection...
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

Post by KuroiTsubasa4 »

Oh no, sorry to hear you had such a rough holiday :( Welcome back to the boards though! I know it's shocking, but my favorite out of your new additions is Princess Syaoran ;)
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Re: Sensei's 2017.01 Update: Christmas and Birthday Catastrophe

Post by sensei »

Thank you, KT4. Equally shocking was that I asked my family to bring my newly arrived Rinkya box to the hospital (along with other essential medical and housekeeping supplies). One unpleasant side effect of the event was chronic insomnia while my brain settled down and got off crisis mode, so I wiled away the nights by gloating over said Princess Syaoran cel. Back in the day these images only rarely popped up, and almost always showed him in SD form. So this was a real, long-earned treat.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by sensei »

Those who have been watching over at Jadeduo's Facebook group know much of this already, but now that the update is (with one exception) now uploaded and the annotations done, it's time now to invite folks in to see the new additions.

It's nearly all a "Classic cels" affair, though with the usual emphasis on sketchwork, as I'm sensing that, for all the immediate impact of cels, the paper products are going to be more durable in the long run and certainly easier to maintain (once that dang celotape is off!). Probably the highlight is from Cardcaptor Sakura, a dramatic image of

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Princess Syaoran refusing the Prince’s kiss at the first climax of Episode 42. That's a crucial episode, which I've made the topic of an academic essay (in The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture), and I've returned to it in another essay now in press for The Routledge Companion to Fairy-Tale Cultures and Media. So snagging a crucial moment like this for my collection is a thrill and a reminder that, even if the "good old days" are no longer here, not all the good auction opportunities are truly past and gone.

While Tennimon cels are still around and about, this one of

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Raphael playing his guitar at the start of Ep. 25 seems not to be common. Jadeduo snagged a close sequence-mate at about the same time, and while there are other cuts where this roguish one-winged angel plays his country guitar, this one is especially moody, given its dark context at the start of this zany series' surprisingly dark endgame.

Magic Knight Rayearth art does seems to be rather scarce these days, aside from a set of unwanted items that circle around and around on YJ. So spotting this nice setup of

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Presea being scared by Mokona was a welcome change. I'd hoped that the background I saw in the dealer's scan was original and matching, though I could not mate it in any way to the screen cap I made. Then when I got it, I realized that even though the cel was in portrait orientation, it went with the background in landscape orientation, actually placed a little diagonally on the watercolor. So all was well. Also added: a nice shuusei genga of

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Hikaru centering and focusing during a chaotic moment in Ep. 27. MKR sketch art is nearly always worth grabbing, mainly because the project was largely done by animators moonlighting from AIC visually lovely Vampire Princess Miyu TV series.

Another favorite of mine, Hyper Police, got two cels and two sketch sets. The cel showed

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Human Natsuki from the Ep. 25 "alternative reality" episode, in which she envisions what life would be like if she lived as a real high school student rather than a half-human, half-monster bounty hunter in an anime series. (She gets to choose which world she really wants to inhabit -- any guesses which she chooses?) The sketch sets were especially welcome as the both showed Sakura and were both from episodes subcontracted to an up-and-coming Kyoto Animation studio. The nicer shows

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Natsuki first hearing the koi bells in Ep.18 and includes shuusei gengas by Yasuhiro Takemoto, who later supervised some important KyoAni projects, notably Full Metal Panic.

In terms of number, the biggest addition was in the gallery devoted to sketchwork from the 2001 Nakamura film A Tree of Palme. That addition meant that I now house sketches and backgrounds in different galleries. Admittedly less vibrant than the gloriously oversized cels from this film (of which I have too many already), they give interesting insights into the animation process and are often engaging in their own ways. Included are:

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Palme distracted by a jar of crystals

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Palme and his faithful companion, the "crowsnake" Baron

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Palme telling his human counterpart Popo “I know I’m strange!” (matching a cel I've enjoyed for ten years already)

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Laala appearing in the final scene. Who or what Laala is, other than a doll that the rogue AI Soma creates and tries to turn into a real little boy, remains a deep mystery. Nakamura's plot, originally planned as a TV series, was radically condensed in the film, resulting in many loose ends and inconclusive moments. But Laala gets one indelibly memorable moment when the doll gets temporarily possessed by the restless spirit of the bloodthirsty warrior-woman Koram, so that she/he/it can say some last words to her son Shatta.

Randomly, I picked up some interesting rough sketches from Inuyasha showing

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Sango in a bad mood. Sadly, the set did not come with any identification (I think it's a batch of trial drawings saved from an artist's discards). Anyone who recognizes this scene, please let me know so I can put them into context.

Finally, in my one tribute to CGI-era anime, I added two sketch sets from Fruits Basket. Both show signs of having been scavenged for items that could be sold individually during the great popularity of this series. But they are both fuller than most sketch sets from this interesting series. One shows

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Tohru and Yuki watching for the New Year to dawn in Episode 9. (Kyo is there too, but you can't see him in this cut.) The other, more splashy one, is a huge pan genga of

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Tohru leaving her tent for school during the opening moments of Episode 1. That set, unfortunately, had seen some rough days: all the sketches were discolored toward one end and were dinged and battered. Still, it's an immediately identifiable moment for Furuba fans, and one I'm happy to have in any condition.

There is more to come: I was unwise enough to invest in a storyboard for Ep. 11 of the newish Studio Bones production of Snow White with the Red Hair. It is, of course, the whole episode, mostly photocopy (though a very good copy that looks like pencil sketching) with a few original comments, probably by the gengaman who did one particular series of cuts. That will take some real work, and so I will be scanning excerpts from that over the next month and putting it up as I have time. With original art now becoming more and more scarce for emerging series, having an artifact like this reassures me that old-style pencil-on-paper art is still giving form to the phenomenon.

Meantime, enjoy!
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by KinoLRB »

Nice to see such a big update, Sensei. Particularly impressive are the Sango sketches. You might've had some competition on YJ if I had come across them. :)

To answer your question, that shot of her is from episode 132 at around 15:15. Sango becomes possessed by a water demon and fights Miroku, hence the spooky eyes. It's a super quick shot. Hope that helps!
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by sensei »

Thank you, Kino! I'll look up that episode and revise the description accordingly. That would make the artist Mamiko Nakanishi, who "brought a very high quality to the episodes she worked on" according to the animation director guide that I've bookmarked. I don't often go for random batches like these, but something said "go ahead -- bid!" and I don't think it was (just) the meds I was on in the rehab center. :flower :hippy :flower I'll give you credit (and a link to your gallery) if that's compensation enough. :D
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

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sensei wrote:Thank you, Kino! I'll look up that episode and revise the description accordingly. That would make the artist Mamiko Nakanishi, who "brought a very high quality to the episodes she worked on" according to the animation director guide that I've bookmarked. I don't often go for random batches like these, but something said "go ahead -- bid!" and I don't think it was (just) the meds I was on in the rehab center. :flower :hippy :flower I'll give you credit (and a link to your gallery) if that's compensation enough. :D
You're very welcome. :) Her eyes tipped me off, and that episode had always left an impression on me, particularly for its beautiful artwork and the emotional fight scene between her and Miroku.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by sensei »

http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=405484

RS entry on the Sango sketches has been revised and moved to its proper place, thanks to Kino's help. I have moved the reanimation too, but not revised it yet as I want to scan the two extra sketches (which I now see do fit the same cut) and incorporate them into the .gif.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by KinoLRB »

Thank you for the thoughtful credit, Sensei. :) Glad I was able to help. I enjoyed your comments on the piece and the episode. It's really a gem of a set.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by sensei »

And Sango agrees to at least seriously consider the prospect of having Miroku's children!

(Though the combat leaves M. with no illusions about what she's likely to do to him if she finds him cheating on her, assuming said proposal is actually entertained.)

Very interesting series: I was surprised in teaching it (for a unit on gender issues linked to Susan Napier's interesting deconstruction of Takahashi's mangas) to find that the anime was not more highly rated by ANN. (Most of the series I used were "top 100" items on their list; IY rates #1890 at last look.)
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Re: Sensei's 2017.02 Update: Spring is here!

Post by KinoLRB »

sensei wrote:And Sango agrees to at least seriously consider the prospect of having Miroku's children!

(Though the combat leaves M. with no illusions about what she's likely to do to him if she finds him cheating on her, assuming said proposal is actually entertained.)

Very interesting series: I was surprised in teaching it (for a unit on gender issues linked to Susan Napier's interesting deconstruction of Takahashi's mangas) to find that the anime was not more highly rated by ANN. (Most of the series I used were "top 100" items on their list; IY rates #1890 at last look.)
I'm surprised it's rated so low on ANN, but considering the huge number of people who've seen it and rated it, I can see where its rating might've suffered some. It still remains one of the most universally loved series of all time. Definitely in the top 100 series IMO. I mean, who hasn't seen an episode of Inu Yasha? Really.
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Re: Sensei's 2017.03 Update: Midsummer Madness!

Post by sensei »

My "May Madness" updates have (like everything else in my life) diminished in size and magnitude, and now take until June to process and upload. While nothing will bring back the hefty and wonder-filled batches that arrived in my post-Lenten flurries of acquisition in the previous decade, still it continues to be a good time to look for and add some really nice things. And so, with partial thanks to a fellow Slugger who let some of his prizes out on eBay, I've now reopened with my May and June booty.

Pride of place this time goes to cels over sketches, with the most impressive additions being two fine OP cels from Hyper Police:

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Hyper Police OP: Batanan

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Hyper Police OP: Natsuki

These two impressively oversized cels introduce these two main characters during the first part of the OP (before the theme song begins) and now flank another prize of my HP collection from a previous auction, my series title card.

Another top prize is another OP cel, though admittedly a post-production rilezu:

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Haibane Renmei (OP): Kana

That one is also impressively oversized, and in any case gives us our only chance to see production art from this series, if only at second hand. (For copyright reasons, all the original art from this series was destroyed.) And it is hard to find: allegedly only 25 of these rilezu were made, though in truth they do keep popping up, so I think it's probably true that only 25 were made at a time. (Kinda like those Beatles commemorative plates that they sell on QVC.) Oh, hell, they are super nice, and I love the series, and even if there are 75 of them out there it's nice to have as many as five in one room.

Also new on the "Golden Age" front are some new items from Fushigi na Koala Blinky aka Noozles, one of the products of 1984's "Koalamania" and one of the first anime series to be dubbed and widely seen in North America thanks to "Nick Toons."

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Blinky and

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his sister Pinky

And . . .

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The Golden Bird (Madhouse, 1981): Hans meets The Princess

This quirky anime film, now available on YouTube (search under the Japanese title "Kin no Tori") really deserves to be better known for its adventurous action animation, a predecessor of effects Disney got (using early CGI) a decade later in Aladdin. But it has its funny moments, as when poor Hans finds that "rescuing" a pretty princess has intrinsic risks.

Also on the cel front:

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Tenshi ni Narumon (the great Ep. 26): Noelle after the fall

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Inuyasha: Shippo, Baby Fox Demon of Justice

Now the pencil-on-paper part of the update has one important landmark:

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Secret of NIMH (Bluth, 1981): Jeremy and Mrs. Brisby

That's the first actual piece of American animation art that I've obtained to date. Why now? Frankly, it looked so much like "rough" anime art that I had, where a talented artist made his or her first effort to give life to a scene. I don't know that's what this is, for sadly the piece came with no provenance or COA. But -- damn! it's nice! -- and I can't think what else this kind of sketch could be. Anyhow, it sparkled for me, and now I cherish it as much as my cherished Shouko Ikedas and Ikuko Itou's.

Art from NieA_7 has never been plentiful, so it's nice to pick up as many as three new sketch sets after a long drought, including

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Mayuko headed for Cram School and

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Mayuko doing a slow burn (thanks to you-know-whom]

And Angelic Layer art is likewise elusive, so it's nice to find even a slim sketch set showing

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Hotoko urging Misaki to fight

The hauls of yesteryear are no more -- but che importa? For there's still nice stuff out there. Enjoy!
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