My small haul from Nakano Broadway

[JustVan]

I just got back from my first trip to Nakano Broadway in Tokyo. Ah, how the cel market has declined since I was last in Japan in 2001. Really sad. Mandarake had a pretty paltry selection. It's really best just to keep an eye on the auction site because not much in person was worth buying. The other cel dealer (formerly Commit, not sure what it's called now) certainly had a bigger selection and I found some nice stuff but I had to dig for it. Many of his folders were out of date. I was extremely disappointed in his "Escaflowne" folder... but then I found several more Escaflowne pieces in his "Misc." folder... which also had Sailormoon, Dragonball, Ranma, Urusei Yatsura and other things which were not in their own folders.

The highlight of my haul was an awesome Unico cel of Toby and Melvin I found in one of his many "Old Stuff" folders. (He'd told me he was "Sold out" of Unico. Based on the very, very cheap price of the cel, I'm 100% sure he didn't know this was a Unico cel.) I also found another Escaflowne piece in his small over-sized cel section. Overall there was nothing there that I found especially jaw-dropping, but there were some lovely pieces from shows I don't collect. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to visit him, but if you're in Tokyo it's worth stopping by. I also picked up a nice CCS piece and an 800 yen Aa! Megami-sama cel of Skuld and Urd which I still need to add to my gallery. I also picked up 3 backgrounds, which were all I could find. If he had more I couldn't communicate my desire to buy them to him.

Here's what I got:

The amazing Unico cel:


CCS:


Two Escaflowne cels:




Skuld and Urd... no idea which episode/series this is from, but couldn't resist:

[KuroiTsubasa4]

That CCS cel is amazing!! I would consider the trip worth it just for that XD Man, I miss Commit. It seems like he still has some gems but who knows if he'll return to YAJ Congrats on your finds!

[Jadeduo]

@_@ Wants to thieve the CCS cel! I love that scene!



Good haul! ^_^

JD

[frozentime]

I'm surprised you could still find Escaflowne cels of that quality there. Congratulations on your finds! You had much luck that I had my last few trips. There is a huge difference between now and what it was like in the mid-to-late 90s.

[cutiebunny]

I agree with the others about that CCS cel; I love Li's sisters.

I always view Mandarake's dollar bin cels as a novelty and they make great gifts for friends who also collect. I usually like to go in there with a 10,000 yen bill and see how much stuff I can get. I'm also glad that Commit had some good stuff, but most importantly, that you found some nice stuff and enjoyed yourself there.

[Gabe]

Nice catch.
Did you also check out the CCS OP cels he had? ^^


Just a reminder about the RS Image linking.
Somehow this should be a Admin/Mod job to remind people.

[JustVan]

That CCS cel is amazing!! I would consider the trip worth it just for that XD Man, I miss Commit. It seems like he still has some gems but who knows if he'll return to YAJ Congrats on your finds!

Thanks! I was very happy to see the CCS cel, especially as it came with BG and all the douga. It was the only one I got that he had on display in his locked case. I'm still not totally overwhelmed by his store but hopefully his stock is improving slowly. I can say though I definitely wanted to help him organize a bit!

I'm surprised you could still find Escaflowne cels of that quality there. Congratulations on your finds! You had much luck that I had my last few trips. There is a huge difference between now and what it was like in the mid-to-late 90s.

Neither of them were in the "Escaflowne" folder he had, which is probably why they were still around. The Van was in the oversized cel area and Hitomi was in one of his "Misc" folders, which also had several Ranma and other cels that were much nicer than what were in his folders for them. He really needs to organize those! lol Also neither came with the BGs, I added them later from BGs I already owned. But I'm glad I came away with some nice stuff. The cel industry was booming in 2001 when I was last in Japan. Really sad to see it now... and really makes me wonder where all those cels ended up.

I agree with the others about that CCS cel; I love Li's sisters.

I always view Mandarake's dollar bin cels as a novelty and they make great gifts for friends who also collect. I usually like to go in there with a 10,000 yen bill and see how much stuff I can get. I'm also glad that Commit had some good stuff, but most importantly, that you found some nice stuff and enjoyed yourself there.

Thanks! And that's not a bad idea for gifts. I didn't think about that, and I don't have any friends that collect cels sadly but it would make a novelty. I actually did end up buying three super cheap cels from series I didn't know basically to steal their backgrounds. So I guess I could always regift those if I ever found someone who wanted them, haha...

Nice catch.
Did you also check out the CCS OP cels he had? ^^

He did have some nice CCS cels, but I don't collect Sakura herself (which saves me a lot of money lol) He had some awesome Ghibli ones as well, and Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, etc. but lots of stuff I don't collect. I spend enough as it is on the few things I do still collect haha.

Just a reminder about the RS Image linking.
Somehow this should be a Admin/Mod job to remind people.

Oops thanks! They have been switched to imgur.com links now. Sorry about that!

[Gabe]

Oops thanks! They have been switched to imgur.com links now. Sorry about that!

You're welcome.
No problem from my side. ^^