First Cels of the New Year - Cel #1

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Pixel
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First Cels of the New Year - Cel #1

Post by Pixel »

Back in late December, I found some cels I liked that AnimeJewell was selling, but did not conclude the transaction until after January 1. So I consider these acquisitions the first of 2018. I bought a few things, so if it's okay, I'll divide it into multiple parts.

I will say that I am very pleased with how things went, and I look forward to doing business with her again. Any issues I mention with the cel are no reflection on her. Rather, I mention them because they could affect how I should maintain the cel.

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Cel #1
Marmalade Boy
Episode 45 - "Meiko's Turnabout/I'm going to Hiroshima." Congratulations, Meiko. (This title mine.)
Single Character - AKIZUKI Meiko



Scanned Image
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mb_meiko_e45_zoomseq_a9_sm.jpg (298.83 KiB) Viewed 861 times
This is a nice cel. Meiko is Miki's best friend and often times her counselor, particularly on matters of love. Meiko, Miki, Ginta, and eventually Yuu all go to school together at Toryu Academy. One of their favorite teachers is a young man surnamed Namura. He seems generally kind and friendly, and they all hold him in high esteem. Meiko in particular-at some point before the show begins, she and Namura-sensei fall in love. While their relationship is kept secret at first, eventually it comes out. He resigns, leaving for Hiroshima. He tries to get Meiko to forget him. For awhile it seems to work. MIWA Satoshi, Yuu's friend, strives to make Meiko fall for him. She writes a novel, and Miwa submits it to a publisher without telling her. This novel wins the Asahi Literary Award (perhaps a reference to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper?), resulting in Meiko and friends going to an award party in her honor. The announcer begins reading congratulatory telegrams on stage, while Meiko, Miki, Yuu, and Satoshi (MIWA) discuss the surprise of Meiko's winning an award. Suddenly, the announcer reads "This one comes from NAMURA Shin'ichi from Hiroshima. When they hear his name, all of the friends eyes dart to the stage.

Once the announcer reads the message, the screen fills with an effects background and a vertical pan shot of Meiko, pausing briefly with a close up transition of her face, which goes directly into a zoom-out sequence, followed by a pan around to show all four friends. Through the entire sequence, she does not move, though the highlights in her eyes dance. After a few seconds in which Meiko still seems frozen from shock, she runs out of the room. She decides to go find Namura-sensei in Hiroshima.

(At this point Yuu and Miki have been boyfriend/girlfriend for some time. As part of a group it's simpler to just call them all friends.)

This cel, labeled A9, is part of the zoom-out sequence. I had no clue where it was until I finally found it in Episode 45 after some days of searching. I don't know how I keep getting pieces of effects/dramatic sequences like this, but I love the cel, so I'm cool with it.

Based on the level of detail, I think this cel is probably from about 9-19 frames from the first zoom level from the close up. It can't be from beyond 21 frames, as her hands become visible about the 21st frame-her hands are not drawn in this cel. I suspect it may be have been used for two zoom levels, but I'm not up on animation where I could have a better idea.

While her hands could be on another layer, she doesn't move.

The matching douga is stuck to the back. It says A-9, that's how I know it matches. Interestingly, the douga is drawn with her hands on it, so maybe there was a B-layer with hands after all. I don't know why a separate layer for hands would be needed for this sequence though. Note that you can't see her hands in the image below. My scanner is too small to handle animation art, and I forgot to take a picture of the douga.

Digital Photo (cropped), showing what the scanner missed.
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mb_meiko_45_zsa9_cmsm.jpg (497.11 KiB) Viewed 861 times
Scan of douga.
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mb_meiko_e45_zseq_a9douga_sm.png (721.48 KiB) Viewed 861 times
I love the outfit, it suits her well. The colors are beautiful. I don't quite read the expression though. I think it's supposed to be shock, but she appears to wear a faint hint of a smile. I wish the douga wasn't stuck, but it seems too risky to both it and the cel to remove it. They came in a mylar cel bag. (AnimeJewell warned me to only use mylar bags for cels with stuck douga and stuck BG, not with just cels on their own.)

I'm conflicted on removing the douga. I hate the thought of losing it, plus it might damage the cel to remove it. Not sure what to do.
Last edited by Pixel on Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:37 am, edited 6 times in total.
Pixel
Kishin - Fierce God
Posts: 310
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:22 pm
Contact:

Re: First Cels of the New Year - Cel #1

Post by Pixel »

Adding a link to a video showing the cel in context, plus the frame I think was made from this cel.

Video Link -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1arQUAl ... sp=sharing

Single frame, possible match for cel.
mb_meiko45_zsa9_frame.png
mb_meiko45_zsa9_frame.png (875.56 KiB) Viewed 860 times
Pixel
Kishin - Fierce God
Posts: 310
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:22 pm
Contact:

Re: First Cels of the New Year - Cel #1

Post by Pixel »

Like an idiot, I didn't include enough context to say who was who, other than of course Meiko. I was trying to keep the video short and to the point.

Here we go. NOTE: I do not have a cel of this, I'm just using it to show which character is which. As you've already seen Meiko, she is not in this cap. I think it is supposed to be from her point of view though.

About 20-30 seconds earlier.
Left to Right: KOISHIKAWA Miki (series female lead), MATSUURA Yuu (series male lead), MIWA Satoshi (Referenced in subtitle. Meiko's would-be suitor.)

mb45_zsa9_tresamigos_sm.jpg
mb45_zsa9_tresamigos_sm.jpg (110.35 KiB) Viewed 845 times
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