New kid (Dad) on the block

[AnimeDad]

I've been poking around on anime-beta for a while and thought it would be fun to introduce myself and just say hi and a big thank you for keeping the site up and running.

I watched some animes when I was a kid like Gigantor, Kimba and Speed Racer and literally got my hands into animation doing clay-mation way back in elementary school. I've always been fascinated by animation art and techniques. Especially things like walk cycles, background loops, long still shots and other techniques used for efficiency.

Fast forward to me being a dad. I often joke that my daughter knew she wanted to be an animator about 15 minutes after she was born. She has always been constantly drawing and painting, and is now an animation major at Laguna College of Art and Design. Pretty much everything they do there is using old-school, 2-D, paper and lightbox techniques. Wonderful, amazing stuff.

She discovered anime at a pretty early age with Full Metal Alchemist being the first she asked me to watch with her. It was great! Then we ramped up with DeathNote, Number 6, Hunter X Hunter, Angel Beats, and on and on... It's been an absolutely wonderful thing to share with her. We even once did a 3 hour road trip to see "Conqueror of Shamballa" in a theater when it first came out. Then we got into cons and buying fan art (we love meeting the artists). And she's sold her own art at a few as well.

Last year, we went to Anime Expo for the first time. And that's where it happened: cels! There was a dealer there with books and books of them and I was immediately, completely hooked. Intellectually, I knew they existed, but to see them up close, and actually be able to buy one? Wow.... My daughter laughed. She said "You have the exact look everyone does when they first discover cels ". I bought my first one there -- Killua from Hunter X Hunter with a matching douga.

So, while we aren't rabid collectors (who can be in this day and age, at least in my tax bracket? ), we try to pick up a cel or two whenever we finish a show we really like. And, the matching sketches? YES, PLEASE!!! She can see so much in the sketches -- decisions made by the artist, an eraser mark here, a touch up there -- that all tell a story about how the piece was done.

Unfortunately, time doesn't wait, so we do most of our anime bonding via text these days ("Dad! What episode are you up to in "Bubblegum Crisis?" "17." "Cool!!!"). But, we watch together when she comes home and are talking about a con or two later this year. We actively try to watch older animes done in traditional 2-D. So we can buy cels

One of the most fun moments in our cel collecting was when she left a "Yu Yu Hakisho" cel with me. I was watching the series (without her, unfortunately) and I sent her a picture of that exact frame on the TV with my hand holding up her cel next to it (in a protective sleeve, of course - lol). She and her friends (all animation majors) lost their minds - they LOVE that show. A dealer we met at Comic-Con told us "Wait until the first time you freeze-frame a show and go 'that's my cel!!!!'" He was SO right - lol

So, we're kind of late to the cel world and it seems that a fair number of collectors are moving on. But, we're just getting started. For old-school animation and art geeks like us, this is the coolest thing ever!

AnimeDad

[oxypetalus]

I loved reading your post! I dream of that day that I can go to a con with cel dealers and drool all over of them. Anyway I don't post much here but just had to respond to your story. Your bond with your daughter with cels/anime is really adorable. Welcome to the board!

[sensei]

A newbie! A newbie!



Welcome to the madness, AnimeDad. I too had a close relationship with a daughter who was deeply into anime in the last years of the 20th C, though both of us later found we had a common introduction to the genre, as I would watch children's cartoons with her during her early grade-school years. Nick Toons had an intriguing lineup then, including "Noozles," "Adventures of the Little Koala," "Mysterious Cities of Gold," "Maya the Bee," and our common favorite, "Grimm's Classic Fairy Tales." (And boy were some of them seriously Grimm! No watering down of the sex and blood!) We didn't know then, but these were the first generation of Japanese anime. "Little Koala" was done by the same team that stayed after dark and animated Miyazaki's breakout film "Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind."

She did not go into art (though her doodled pictures on birthday and holiday cards continue to amuse us both). Rather, she became a journalist and editor of audiobooks, then took a variety of jobs involving her ability to communicate and use technology. She is currently the Publicity Manager for Renaissance College, a K-12 academy taught exclusively in English for young people in Hong Kong, where her husband (whom she met in anime club) teaches classic Chinese literature at a nearby university.

She loved action-oriented anime and was a special fan of "Cowboy Bebop," "Gundam Wing," "Speedgrapher," and "Heat Guy J." I watched much of this with her, but, being a professional folklorist, I was drawn to series that had a more direct connection to legends, myths, and folktales. First drawn to "Ah My Goddess!" I happened on "Cardcaptor Sakura" and found myself deeply enthralled by the mix of psychology and fairy-tale in it. And -- oh really? -- there were cels from it. I remembered a time years ago when I saw some cels from the Beatles movie "Yellow Submarine." I had enough cash with me to buy one -- but I passed them by and invested in 33 rpm classical recordings that within a decade were obsolete and passed on to a needy library.

This time I determined not to make the same mistake, and I bid up the wazoo on eBay for a cel of Sakura (and Kero-chan! -- way overbidding for a cel of that quality, I later learned.

Nevertheless, when I saw it, I was hopelessly hooked. And as I got better at finding where the better cels were, my collection got bigger and better. And then I found Rubberslug and learned to make an online gallery. Then Beta, which then was a dangerous, edgy place to hang out where your bidding rivals lurked and enjoyed discomfiting you -- and you them! (It's much quieter now, but still an enjoyable place to read and comment.)

My daughter still finds it amusing that her dad is into "girly" anime -- but I got her back by turning her husband on to "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." (And yep we both have our collection of Brony toys to keep us company.)

And -- dang! -- it turns out that there's an audience for professional academic folkloristic analysis of CCS and MLP and (yes... ) even Anime-Beta, on which I've published in an erudite collection examining "Folk Culture in the Digital Age." Though retired now, I'm still finding it a good time to be collecting, watching anime (my wife and I celebrated Thanksgiving by watching "Spirited Away"), and hanging out online.

Anyhow, welcome aboard, AnimeDad. Please flaunt your cels and screencaps and exercise your enthusiasms. We are (happily) all different in interests and emphases, which means that we all can learn much, much more from each other.

[AnimeDad]

Thank you, oxypetalus. I have only found cel dealers at Anime Expo and Comic-Con. We generally go to smaller cons where pretty much everyone dresses up, but I've never seen a dealer at one. Here's a photo of the dealer and my first cel from Anime Expo. I was SO excited I wish I had taken a picture of the stacks of art books he had, all filled with cels. Many were really high-end -- last Unicorn, Kiki's Deliver Service, stuff that costs more than my car

There aren't a lot of bargains at cons (although, we picked up a couple of really nice Devil Man cels for a good price at Comic-Con) and only a couple of dealers, but the selection and quality are fantastic. I hope you have a chance to see some someday!

[AnimeDad]

Sensei -- "My Little Pony"? Yay! That's been a staple in our house for years. Both of my daughters (17 and 19) still break out the DVDs on occasion and we still have an obscene number of actual ponies (we bought whole collections of used ponies on Ebay back in the day for dirt cheap). I can't begin to count the number of hours that I played My Little Pony with them

We love everything from the sweetest sugar-coated animes to action. "Cowboy Beebop" was fantastic (watched it a few years back) and I just started watching "Outlaw Star". There was a guy at a dealer table at Anime Expo and he had his private collection of "Cowboy Beebop" cels. It was stunning. Scores of them. And anything from Miyazaki is absolutely treasured around here. The cel that was the biggest deal in our house is one from "The Last Unicorn". She looked forever for one she could afford (she makes her own spending money selling art), and finally found one of just the unicorn. The picture makes it look a lot bigger than it is, but it's a great pose and she is really proud of it.

For sources, we currently look here, on rubberslug, and all the usual places like Ebay and various dealer sites. It seems like there are a ton of sites offering to sell them that have become orphaned -- no updates for years. I got a good chuckle out of a notice to help out Netscape 3.x users on one. I can't imagine that site still being in business.... . We also just started poking around some of the Japanese sites as well.

BTW, she and I both loved your posts about telling if a cel is counterfeit. Really interesting and informative. Thanks for doing that.

[oxypetalus]

That last unicorn cel is gorgeous. I'd love to own one too but also couldn't be bothered due to the price those go for.

As for cons. I live in NY and it seems the cel dealers don't usually come up here for conventions T^T ( I could be wrong though?). I've only been NY Comic once ages ago and there was one book with american animation sketches in it. That's the closest I've ever gotten. Maybe someday I'll make it to Anime Expo or even better yet Japan!

[AnimeDad]

I'll pass that on to her. Thanks. BTW, I checked out your rubberslug gallery and your Ayashi No Ceres cels are wonderful. I haven't watched that one yet, but with art like that (especially the Touya cel), I am definitely going to check it out.

BTW, I have a friend who lived in Japan 20 years ago or so, and he has a fantastic cel collection. He told me he even got some by dumpster diving! They were just not valued back then like they are now. I would love to go there sometime as well and see what they have to offer. I hope you make it some day

[Pixel]

Hi, and welcome.

I'm actually a newbie myself. I've just started collecting. I've gotten a lot of help here with animation collecting, and I've learned a lot about animation itself too, even in the short time I've been here.

I'm about the only person I know of around me physically that cares about the inner workings of such things. I live in a part of the country where such conventions are not close by.

On the plus side, the internet places things within reach that simply would not have been accessible perhaps even 10 years ago. It also gives you a place to find people who share
such interests, when those close by don't.

Anyway, have fun and enjoy yourself.

[sletia]

*wavey* Hey there! I really enjoyed selling some of my old classics to you. I hope they reach you safely! Your enthusiasm for the hobby and starting collecting really made me smile!

[cutiebunny]

Welcome to the board. I know the seller whose picture you posted. He definitely won't give you any deals, but he does get a lot of sketch artwork from various mangaka and character designers. If collecting those original sketches interests you, you might be doing a lot more business with him in the future. I've bought several sketches from him in the past.

I live in a part of the country where such conventions are not close by.

There's quite a group of us that meet up at conventions, Pixel. Some of us, like Jadeduo and I, are members of this board, but our group includes a lot of people that collect artwork (mainly shikishi) that aren't on this board as well. I'm not sure where exactly you live, but there's some good conventions pretty much everywhere in the US now. Going to conventions with people who share your interests and are good friends is the way to go because even if the convention blows (and we have horror stories to share!), you still have your friends to help you get through it. Also, I bring lots of Japanese snacks. So you know, there's that too

[AnimeDad]

Welcome to the board. I know the seller whose picture you posted. He definitely won't give you any deals, but he does get a lot of sketch artwork from various mangaka and character designers. If collecting those original sketches interests you, you might be doing a lot more business with him in the future. I've bought several sketches from him in the past.

Yep, no close-out basement deals, but we did get the "Last Unicorn" cel from him, which my daughter thought was a bargain. I picked up a fantastic Kiripika from Hunter X Hunter from him at another con as well. We try to stick to a tight budget when it comes to collecting, but I figure paying a bit more at the cons for the two Hunter cels was well worth the money for the experience. Kind of like going to a pricier restaurant that's on top of a mountain .

[AnimeDad]

*wavey* Hey there! I really enjoyed selling some of my old classics to you. I hope they reach you safely! Your enthusiasm for the hobby and starting collecting really made me smile!

They came yesterday!!!! It's official. This new kid (Dad) on the block has made his first purchase from a fellow site member!

Thank you!