Cardcaptor Sakura bank cels

[Charoncaori]

Hi, I'm looking for cardcaptor sakura bank cels, specifically from the first clow key "release" sequence. Any costume is acceptable and I'd be more than happy to look at other sakura art too. I'd love to be able to collect every cel in the bank sequence, so any angle and quality is fine. Please let me know if you have anything you're willing to sell! My twitter handle is the same as here if someone finds this in the distant future.

(I'm also interested in cels of Guy/Gai Shishioh from GaoGaiGar, haha)

[sensei]

I'd love to be able to collect every cel in the bank sequence.

That would be (as you know) quite an endeavor: from the sequence numbers I've seen, there must be more than fifty of these. However, one thing that stands to your advantage is that, from what I can tell, Madhouse had bank cels painted for every costume, rather than reusing one bank over and over as in Sailor Moon. So if you're willing to mix cels from different episodes, you can likely get quite a variety of actions and perspectives from this iconic bank.

There was at least one set, maybe more, that were done with poor Sakura (inexplicitly) nude and often with a bald head where the bonnet-of-the-week would be placed. Evidently this was a precaution that the studio took in case they needed to produce a bank sequence in a hurry and could have just the costume/bonnet painted on a B-layer. In fact, my friend Rallihir does have a bank cel from the Second Movie that is on two layers, with a naked Sakura on the A-level and her final second-movie battle costume on the top B-level. But that cel is (I think) movie-sized and my two "nude banks" (with no costume layer) are TV-sized. Over the years I've seen several of these pop up on Yahoo Japan, and you might be lucky, though in the current marked I'd have no idea what they would go for.

Good luck!

[Charoncaori]

Thanks for the response! I actually took some frame-by-frame screencaps of my blurays, and the sequence is 100 frames in just the first two cuts! It's just under 200 frames of animation in total. That's not even counting the wand and effect layers (which I'm definitely not going to be able to bother with). It also has multiple pans...

There should be a total of 15 different outfit variations of the normal clow wand pose (she uses the original pose for the first few episodes of the sakura card arc, so I included them in the count).

I think it would be more realistic to collect her card summoning or sakura wand poses, but even the sakura wand summoning sequence has a pan cel (and I believe fewer outfits to choose from)... Well, it's something to aspire to, anyway! It would be so cool to make a cel "flip book" of all her different outfits. It's a shame that I'm only in a position to try to collect CCS cels now, after the prices have jumped up... My dream cel would be something from the 2nd opening but I don't really have thousands of dollars to spend on one cel!!

Also, I absolutely adore your galleries, especially all of the long, detailed descriptions you give of everything. I've been admiring it for years!! And I'm aware of the nude bank cels (the ones where she's half-bald are amazing), but I wish I could see what Rallihir's cel looks like underneath! What a unique piece of art.

[sensei]

Thanks for the good words, Charoncaori. You've obviously been around for some time, including when really nice CCS items were going for very nice prices. There was a fine release of Movie 1 cels in 2016 that netted me some long-wished-for items, including two "Possessed Sakuras" (which I can remember sharks scrambling over back in the early boom years of 2000-05). And a portrait of "Princess Syaoran" from the cross-dressed "Sleeping Beauty" play (Ep. 42). But, yes, the sequel has meant quite a boost in prices for CCS and other CLAMP-related series. However, you might keep an eye out for gallery offers, as some of the collectors from the time that anime was "the next hot thing" are tending to reduce or release their collections. Patience has its virtues, especially if teamed with a quick pounce when opportunity at length knocks.

I do think that anime is starting to get the academic recognition it deserves. I thought it somewhat cheeky to write a formal scholarly article on Princess Tutu, a series I dearly love, but being retired, I don't have to say "Mother May I" to promotion committees any more. And -- bingo! -- another erudite essay on the very same series shows up a year later. So we may look forward for "Anime Studies" to have its own wing in the ivy-covered walls alongside "Cinema Studies" and "Ethnomusicology and Media Studies." Always happy to be on the upswing of a fascinating topic rather than gleaning the backside of a tired and over-studied subject.

Good luck and keep us informed about your collection. We may meet again during a heated bidding war, but I'm likely to back off, knowing that even without this particular wishlist item, I still have a collection I can love.

[Charoncaori]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! Yeah, I have some serious buyer's remorse over not buying some of the first movie cels when they were flooding ebay for dirt-cheap prices, but I felt like I wouldn't have been able to store them properly and I'd never have forgiven myself if I ruined any of them! I was pretty shocked when they all seemed to dry up around the same time... Still, I've been collecting CCS merchandise in general for well over a decade, and plenty of other items that I used to consider impossible to obtain have bottomed out in price over the years, so I'm sure they'll come around again - if only I can find them! I will keep a closer eye on gallery offers, generally people don't want to part with their Sakura cels in particular so I've been pretty shy about trying to make offers, but hopefully one day. I'm going to be able to visit Japan over the summer, too, and while it seems like one or two cel stores in Nakano Broadway have closed, I'm looking forward to being able to browse again with a better eye for cels and prices in general.

I do love reading articles about anime. I read the sakuga blog quite often (I was so happy when I realized I was right about the first clear card ending being animated by the same person who did the old Fruits Candy ed! That one ed justified clear card's entire existence for me), and I have some old mechademia books, some random books by japanese authors, and I love reading various analyses. (I also love princess tutu!) I actually wrote a paper on Utena and Campbell's hero's journey for a mythology class one time! That's why I especially love your gallery, because I really appreciate your analytical eye on some of this stuff.

Thanks again for the advice, and while I'm kind of prone to lurking over posting in forums, I do look forward to meeting you at the auctions, haha.

[cutiebunny]

There was at least one set, maybe more, that were done with poor Sakura (inexplicitly) nude and often with a bald head where the bonnet-of-the-week would be placed. Evidently this was a precaution that the studio took in case they needed to produce a bank sequence in a hurry and could have just the costume/bonnet painted on a B-layer. In fact, my friend Rallihir does have a bank cel from the Second Movie that is on two layers, with a naked Sakura on the A-level and her final second-movie battle costume on the top B-level. But that cel is (I think) movie-sized and my two "nude banks" (with no costume layer) are TV-sized.

It was also done during the first outfit Sakura used in the second movie while battling The Create. The Movie 2 cels are oversized.

I'm going to be able to visit Japan over the summer, too, and while it seems like one or two cel stores in Nakano Broadway have closed, I'm looking forward to being able to browse again with a better eye for cels and prices in general.

I recommend going there with very low expectations. I was there in October and the cel supply has dried up. Mandarake Nakano had maybe 30 cels in their bin from unknown series. Those items that are on display in the shopping center are what is currently being auctioned. The store next to it has a decent supply of cels but I did not see any CCS bank cels while I was there. With twin_angel's shop, the listed price does not include sales tax. Other than not paying deputy/shipping fees, it's not that much cheaper.

I wish you luck as well with trying to buy every cel from a bank sequence. I tried doing that with the 'RU' section of the first OP around the time that CCS cel prices began to skyrocket. The first purchase, which included Sakura on 1 layer and the cherry blossom layer on another, ended up being cheaper than the two additional Sakura layers I bought months/years afterwards. I've given up on owning every cel from 'Ru' as, with prices now being what they are, would be too expensive.

[Jadeduo]

I second everything Bunny said up there, Japan’s inventory in the shops is super low. We only found the mostly complete Mercury genga set cause I spied her tucked away in the way back of a display case on the bottom shelf. And it was super pricey.

As far as CCS inventory the pieces twinangels/apple symphony had in his story are basically the inventory on YJ right now. He has also upped his prices because of the increased demand. Mandarake was downright depressing . Nothing to be had in store at all.

A huge problem with the bank sequences you will find is that they were among the first things that hit the market. It will be a long and arduous process to grab them all from other collectors all over the world.

If you are truly serious and the outfit doesn’t matter as much I would pick one of the less famous/beloved outfits because I know for a fact the more beloved an outfit the harder a time you will have prying the individual pieces away from other collectors. I have a couple of the attacks from both movies and I know I wont sell them personally.

Best of luck in your endeavor but I would recommend going after a few key shots from the banks you like and call it a day.

[cutiebunny]

Look what popped up on YJ -

https://shoppingmalljapan.com/cgi-bin/s ... f330322004

[Charoncaori]

Oh, that's such a shame hearing about Nakano... The march of time goes on, I guess. I'll temper expectations. Mandarake opened some kind of pop-up cel shop the last time I was there and I managed to get a very nice cel from GaoGaiGar for 1500 yen, so maybe I'll get lucky again. (It's the only cel I own!) There's a store in Kanagawa called セルコレ that I'm interested in visiting, but it's a bit of a hike from Tokyo. They also don't put their inventory online or anything.

Also, I'd like to collect a mix of bank frames with ALL of sakura's outfits - so that as she moves she switches between outfits. That way, it should be easier to find rogue keyframes. I think the Prince outfit will probably be the hardest to find one of - I don't think I've seen many cels of this outfit in the wild at all. There's actually a pretty nice frame from episode 40 on yahoo auctions right now but it's too pricey for me sight unseen - I can't tell if it's badly faded or if the seller's camera just sucks. https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/w205364700 It's also about 10000y more expensive than most of the other bank cels I've been looking at!!

Related question - does anyone know if anime world star is still selling online? Their site says they are, and they have a cel in this sequence that I emailed about but they haven't responded - I might try emailing them again in japanese. If they get back to me, I might buy that episode 40 frame because it means I'll have 3 frames right next to each other.... then I can maybe limit my focus to the cut where she grabs the wand.

Edit: Ohh, I think aws might have some really old broken links on their site that they never took down - they seem to have updated their store at some point, so I suspect the cel in question was already sold off. Too bad!

Look what popped up on YJ -

https://shoppingmalljapan.com/cgi-bin/s ... f330322004

I knoww, I'm gonna try my hardest to go after this one but I'm really worried it'll go out of my price range. This showed up right after I made the thread!! I'm gonna wait until the last day to bid in earnest. Also, I bet your "ru" cels are absolutely lovely, I know you have some absolutely gorgeous cels in your gallery.

Thanks for all the advice and discussion, I really appreciate it.

Edit: in case anyone's curious, here's a cel I bought last week, the frame of the cel I'm trying to buy from world star, and the cel on yahoo auctions: https://imgur.com/a/IlxMzL9

[sensei]

For general interest and reference, this is what could be done if you watched carefully for genga sets in the day. The .gif is a combination of holograph and photocopy layouts plus a little fooling with the color saturation of the final image (photocopy base with heavy holograph work in colored pencil).

[Charoncaori]

That's so cool!! From episode 1, right? What a neat scene!

[sensei]

Yes, that was a fascinating set of paper. It came with a copy of the timing sheet, which showed that Madhouse animated this cut at the premium top speed of 24 frames per second. (12/sec is usual for action scenes and 8/sec for most other scenes.)

In another set that I got around the same time (hardly anybody was interested in CCS gengas or backgrounds) there was a background showing a dark blue sky with stars, plus a book layer of the side of Sakura's house. That was used once to introduce The Fly as it passed high overhead for the first time. Then, without the book layer, it was reused (with a bunch of post-production effects) to back Sakura sealing The Fly with her bird-headed wand. The bg came with a fat stack of paper, again part holograph, part photocopy, that showed how the studio planned that moment.



Years ago I did a little compulsive collecting of my own, as I'd noticed that there were quite a few cels of The Fly "melting" into its card form in this scene. So as they appeared, I scooped as many up as I could. The more-or-less complete sets (with Sakura in front and the power rings included as a middle layer on top of the melting Fly) could mean some competition, and I lost some of these auctions. But the singleton Fly layers went for nearly nothing: I got some in a grab-bag purchase for about a dollar apiece.

Then in the middle of one Lent, when I used to give up auction-browsing for six weeks as my religious sacrifice, I woke up one day with something whispering in my ear, "Check Yahoo Japan -- there's something you really want up for auction!"

"Get thee behind me, Satan," I said wearily, as I did whenever I had similar compulsions during this holy time of year.

"No, no," the voice said. "I mean something you reeeeeally want! God will forgive you for this one. I know he will! But if you miss this auction, you'll never forgive yourself!"

And so I looked, and the entire genga set for this cut was up for sale. (And I think God liked what I did with it in my gallery; anyhow it's one of my top-50 most-visited pages.)

Anyhow, that came with a photocopy of the timing sheet, which gave me a sense of what it would be like to try to reassemble this cut: the studio ordered 200 cels on five layers, with the melting Fly Card going from A9 to A109 END. (There was a cut just before that shows The Fly crashlanding, and that evidently used the same perspective and so was worked out as part of the same sequence. That accounted for the missing A1-A8.) In all, I ended up with 23 of these 200 cels before the market went dry, including 12 of the melting Flys.

[Charoncaori]

Something really neat just popped up on yahoo auctions - https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/d347119341

It's too rich for my blood, haha...

By the way, I did end up winning that auction with the op cel... I'm so ridiculously happy about it. I also managed to grab a bunch of bank cels for a pretty reasonable price, so I'd say I've been pretty lucky lately.

And sensei, thanks for all the gifs - those are always so neat. Even if I had a scanner I'd never be able to make everything come out that well!


Edit: to explain why these are interesting, the seller claims they're studio photocopies sold by a friend of someone who works at madhouse. They used to overlay them on thin paper so when light was shined through, you could combine the parts like cels. It looks like it includes a bunch of copies of cels and storyboards - from the looks of it, ones from the first episode!! I personally haven't seen a lot of ccs storyboards, just settei (I own those beautiful book-bound doujin settei collections!), so seeing this up for auction is pretty cool.

[sensei]

Congratulations on your OP win, and also in adding to your collection of banks. That is an interesting lot, though from what I can see it is all photocopy. Still, as you say, even photocopy storyboards have not come up for auction often, and this seems to have a full set of the infamous "nude banks" (photocopies, and yet... and yet...)

As you say, too pricy for me on my retirement allotment, but it is always educational to see what is out there in dresser drawers, now coming out for public view thanks to the inflation of CCS prices.

[Charoncaori]

He lowered the price...anyone wanna split the lot? Haha... If they were originals I'd jump on it but I'd just want to scan everything and that'd knock the value of the copies down to pretty much nothing...

If he cuts the price in half again I'd actually put some serious thought into it lol