2024 Year in Review & 2025 Cel/Sketch Resolutions

[sensei]

It's time for the YiR/Resolution thread! I began this post back in 2006, and with Cutiebunny's substantial help, it's become a Rubberslug tradition for almost 2 decades. Now it returns for its 19th year. Hopefully, everyone is doing well, and now that the old year is thankfully wrapping up, it's time to look back on the year's events and make some plans for 20253.

1. What was the best thing that's happened to your gallery/collection in 2024?

2. What was the most surprising thing that happened to your gallery/collection this year?

3. Which piece were you most proud of acquiring in 2024?

4. What's something that concerns you about your collecting experience?

5. What cel/sketch-related resolution do you want to make for 2025?

6. If you posted a cel/sketch-related resolution for 2024 or for 2023 (or any year, we're really not picky now lol), how true did you stay to it?

I'll post my responses in a little while, but meantime, take a moment to look back and hope for what's to come.

[jiangdc]

1. What was the best thing that's happened to your gallery/collection in 2024?
I finally done with school, which means I will be able to attend more cons or events. I think it will help with my gallery lol.
https://ntmarie.weebly.com/2024-2418032456.html My 2024 pick ups.

2. What was the most surprising thing that happened to your gallery/collection this year?
I was able to meet Chiwa Saito on anime NYC, she is Aika from one of my favorite series named ARIA. I told her in China I organized a group chat of ARIA fans and everyone love Aika, I also show her some cosplay picture of Aika from our group members. She was surprised and was very happy to see a fan of ARIA. When I was about to leave, she used Aika's voice and said " 恥ずかしいセリフ禁止" towards me, which really made my 5 hours drive to New York more than meaningful.


3. Which piece were you most proud of acquiring in 2024?

Got this one form Curt on Anime Boston 2024. I compare the handwriting and this was Dezaki Osamu's work. Speaking of him I will be thinking something like Sugino Akio style of character. It is really hard to find him drawing Bishojo like Misuzu Kamio. But lucky enough, he happened to be directing AIR the movie. Also this project was initiated by Yokota Mamoru. I happened to ordered a shikishi of Misuzu from him couple years ago.

I feel like it is Karma.

4. What's something that concerns you about your collecting experience?
Space is becoming problem for me, I am also buying some figures and my rental place is getting more occupied.

5. What cel/sketch-related resolution do you want to make for 2025?
Hit 1000 series and go to more cons.

6. If you posted a cel/sketch-related resolution for 2024 or for 2023 (or any year, we're really not picky now lol), how true did you stay to it?
982 by the end of 2024, goal was 1000, so I failed. But its ok, just slowly slowly get there next year.

[GuyvarIII]

1. What was the best thing that's happened to your gallery/collection in 2024?

Nothing happened to my gallery. I have noticed that some collectors have been inline linking images to update their RS galleries. I guess I should do that too. I already did that earlier to add animated .gifs to some sketch sets… but, I think I might run into trouble with broken image links in the future if I have to keep track of linking image files from all over the place.

2. What was the most surprising thing that happened to your gallery/collection this year?

I really have to thank Ryo for this Dallos background:



It’s just amazing! It’s a great Sci-Fi image, from the first OVA series, which was directed by Mamoru Oshii. It is the only piece of production material I have ever seen of the titular character from the work: Dallos. And, I think Dallos is the best interpretation of God in anime. To the faithful miners who believe in him, Dallos shelters, protects, cares, and sacrifices himself for them, but to everyone else it’s just some ancient alien structure on the moon. It’s left to the viewer’s own interpretation to decide if Dallos has any sentience or will at all, or if it’s just some old automated system that the hopeless pray to.

3. Which piece were you most proud of acquiring in 2024?

The coolest piece is the Dallos background. However, I’d also like to mention the following pieces from: Fight! Iczer-One, Midnight Eye Goku, and Iria - Zeiram the Animation.



I thought Cobalt was a very endearing character… especially when she was destroying the Self Defense Force ; the Kawajiri cel is vey nicely posed in how the silhouettes fit into each other ; and it’s a very expressive shot of Iria .

I got some other awesome cels, including:


(Brave Police: J-Decker, Metal Jack, Sailor Moon, Maps, Akai Hayate, Guy: Awakening of the Devil, Fatal Fury, Weather Report Girl, Blue Sonnet, Mezzo Forte, and Akai Hayate (again))

some very nice sketches, including:


(Drifters, Midnight Eye Goku, Ruroni Kenshin, and Bastard!! - 2022)

And, among other items, I also have to thank Ryo for this great complete setup from Detonator Orgun:

4. What's something that concerns you about your collecting experience?

It’s really the same things as always: Cel prices are all over the place, but trending on the expensive side. Sometimes it is hard to tell the condition of cels from a seller’s photos, and I have become more wary about cel condition, because the cels are expensive. Production materials are not available from newer shows. And, even though prices seem to be going up a lot of the time, there seem to be less new collectors in the hobby.

Also, I admit that I was hyped for the newer JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Bastard anime. However, now I wonder about the new Ranma 1/2. It hasn’t been updated to the modern age, it was originally a long running show, and it is so much like the earlier anime that I wonder why it even exists. I thought with Blu-ray releases like Animeigo’s Kickstarters and Crunchyroll’s Macross Plus that older anime was still being watched, but now I’m not so sure. Does anime need to be in a wider aspect ratio and a bit sharper for people to watch it?

5. What cel/sketch-related resolution do you want to make for 2025?
6. If you posted a cel/sketch-related resolution for 2024 or for 2023 (or any year, we're really not picky now lol), how true did you stay to it?

Like last year, I'm more about the YiR than the resolutions...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[cutiebunny]

Thanks for continuing the proud tradition for the 5-ish of us who still continue to post on this topic, Sensei. I really wish both this board and Rubberslug had been able to keep up with the times, though I don't miss trying to organize the Anime Beta Awards. I really don't like any of the alternatives to RS. Might be the old in me, but IG is far too toxic for me to feel comfortable sharing artwork on that platform. I tried, I really did...but there's only so many "I own something better than you (yet I'll never show it!)" comments I can take before I just want to groan and burn the internet down.

1. What was the best thing that's happened to your gallery/collection in 2024?

I had a really great experience with HIroshi Nagahama this year at Otakon. The man drew for 6 straight hours and I happened to be last in line. Nagahama is one of those few artists that I say is a total pro. I've seen him at several conventions over the years and, if at all possible, I always try to go to his panel/autograph session out of respect.

I told him to just draw me a circle because I knew that he was tired. 20 minutes later, I ended up getting some SD Marvel characters instead.
(Gonna have to figure out how to upload this from my iPhone one of these days...)

2. What was the most surprising thing that happened to your gallery/collection this year?

I went to Japan with my mom in November. It was, by far, the most difficult trip that I've ever been on...not because of my mom's personality, but rather her health. Between dealing with her (possible) dementia, foot ulcer, limited mobility and a filling that just happened to pop out an hour prior to landing in Tokyo, there were so many issues that came up that, despite having been to Japan several times in the past, took me for a total surprise and were not things that my planning for most contingencies covers. On the other hand, I learned that the dental system in Japan is not only really good but, compared to what a similar procedure would cost in the US, super cheap. With Uber, mom's dental crown was glued back into her mouth the next day for less than $90. So, the lesson here is that, if you need some major dental work done, even with a round-trip ticket, it's probably cheaper to just have it done in Japan.

How does all this relate to the question? I bought a total of 0 artwork items while in Japan. This was the first trip where I did not find anything that I wanted. I advise some level of caution if you're visiting Twin Angels/Apple Symphony's store in the Nakano ward of Tokyo. The cel books absolutely reek of vinegar. Many of the cels that I saw in these books had visible signs of VS, so please keep that in mind if you're planning on dropping a few hundred on artwork at this store. I also didn't see the big stack of backgrounds that I had seen in the store in the past - Maybe those are mostly gone now as most anime is entirely CG, including the background. It really makes me treasure all the binders of backgrounds that I own. I've said it many times, but if I were to start collecting today, there is no way that I would have the collection that I do now.

On a side note - Y'all need to go to Costco in Japan, particularly if you enjoy trying the foreign versions of American institutions. The beef bulgogi bake in the food court section is fantastic.

3. Which piece were you most proud of acquiring in 2024?

I bought an original Naoko Takeuchi sketch. I never thought that I'd ever see one for sale but one popped up one night and I had a few close art buddies furiously text to inform me of the item, one of whom offered to just buy it for me since I was at work while all of this was occurring. To date, the most expensive art piece I've purchased, but one that I could easily turn around and sell for 3x what I paid. I was on pins and needles while that sketch was in transit as I bought it using Buyee, and they lost some sketches of mine that I'm still grouchy about losing.

Other than that, I also added a pencil sketch by one of the CLAMP artists of Doumeki from xxxHolic and a few nengajo, so that was neat as well.
 
4. What's something that concerns you about your collecting experience?

What haven't I talked about by now? That VS is real. I was surprised to experience it as much as I did at that store in Nakano Broadway. I didn't even have to open the book to be hit with it. I know that I'm slow when it comes to replacing cel bags and microchamber paper but honestly, I was really sad to be in that shop. I had bought a lot of nice items there over the years and now...everything was being ruined by Itoyas and bookcases that were permeated with that vinegar scent.

But you know what bothers me most...? Paper quality. I bought some sketch pads from the same company I had used for years and loved because the paper was acid free, marker ink absorbent and just felt nice...and now, the same pad from the same company has paper that's maybe half as thick as it once was.


5. What cel/sketch-related resolution do you want to make for 2025?

I want to complete rebagging my cels. I'm about 1/3 of the way done but I really need to motivate myself to get it done.

6. If you posted a cel/sketch-related resolution for 2024 or for 2023 (or any year, we're really not picky now lol), how true did you stay to it?

I said I wanted to buy a large protector for the Izumi Matsumoto sketch, and I failed to get around to doing that.