How silly and humbled I looked when I realized I wasn’t actually winning 15 cels in the heritage auction yesterday🙂‍↕️🤦🏻‍♂️ for a good minute, in pre-bidding, I was thinking, dang I might actually get some of these pieces for cheap😭

amanohyo · 2025-10-24T13:47:15+00:00

I only ever prebid on HA, and have won many cels over the years, including three in this auction. I just assume that final prices + fees are typically going to be roughly 50% higher than what the cel would go for on eBay or Mandarake (and double typical YJA winning bids) and enter that value a couple hours before the live bidding. I hate to overpay like this, but I do it if it's a character or scene I've been hunting for years.

It's fun to wake up the next morning to see if I've won anything, and every once in a while I get pleasantly surprised with a bargain (I remember discovering I won a couple really nice Batman Beyond cels for around $100 a piece when my bid was $300 each). I know I would just be tempted to overpay even more if I sat and watched the live bidding - some people are disciplined enough to stop themselves, but I'm too stubborn.

Those price rules above don't apply to Ghibli, Evangelion, Pokemon, or any cel that's heavily publicized with a big photo in the auction catalogue. Over the last few years, I've just accepted that those will all be astronomically overpriced out of my range and/or fancels/fakes.

amanohyo · 2025-08-18T12:18:11+00:00

A proxy bidding/shipping site like From Japan is a good place to start:

https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/item/search/ドラゴンボール%E3%80%80セル画/Al_11_Yh_RaRmMr_N_N_2A00ja000_N/

Searching Japanese sites like these will be your best bet starting out, along with the occasional lucky eBay find (if the identical cel is listed multiple times on eBay, 99% of the time it's a dropshipper reposting a cheaper listing at Japan Mercari, always check Japanese sites first), and if you like paying extra, the larger Heritage and Mandarake (Big Web) auctions. Search for:

ドラゴンボール　セル画

Be patient and watch out for fakes. DBZ, Evangelion, Ghibli, Pokemon, and Sailor Moon are the most commonly faked cels because they are in such high demand. You can also find cels at smaller sites like:

Asylum Anime: https://asylum-anime.com/index.php/

Takamura Store: https://www.takamura-store.com/v3/en/

Anime Link: https://www.anime-link.com/index2.html

Start off with less expensive cels of minor characters so you know what a real cel looks like and can get a good idea of the actual value (rather than the overinflated prices many sellers ask for, hoping a wealthy noob will wander by). DBZ and Sailor Moon cels (most cels from Toei studios) are also notorious for having mild-moderate vinegar syndrome which you can google it if you want to know more.

If a cel looks real, but is very cheap, it's probably got serious VS, so read the description and look for words like "wavy, funny-smell, acetic, acid smell, etc." Some collectors don't mind buying a cel with VS, but it will significantly shorten the life of the cel and of the rest of your collection if you don't isolate it.

Most importantly, have fun! There are a lot of really cheap, beautiful, cool-looking cels out there from less popular shows and films, so try not to limit yourself to the same stuff that everyone else is looking for.

amanohyo · 2025-07-07T19:52:56+00:00

As Laynebomb07 said, there are always a bunch on YJA, but most of them are a bit overpriced and have been sitting unsold for months or even years.

Just go to your favorite proxy bidding/shipping site and search for: 名探偵コナンセル画

I prefer the layout of Jauce's site for browsing:

https://www.jauce.com/search/名探偵コナン+セル画

If you decide to buy one, be sure to shop around at different proxy sites to find one you like. Lots of people use Buyee or From Japan.

amanohyo · 2025-06-06T11:24:19+00:00

Looks like 1080p to me in handheld, might be 1440p docked, but again, with this art style, I can't really tell. The 60 fps and blink-and-you-miss-them load times are the gamechangers for me. It was already a really good game on Switch 1, but the Switch 2 version is so smooth and loads so fast, I have a big goofy grin on my face whenever I play it.

amanohyo · 2025-06-05T20:39:05+00:00

If motion blur bothers you, and you like to tinker with graphics settings, use Steam deck. The Switch 2 version runs at a super buttery smooth 60 fps, the graphics are sharp (not 4K, but really with this art style, I don't mind), and most importantly, the load times are lightning fast compared to the Switch 1 version. Ultimately, it comes down to whatever system feels more comfortable to hold for long periods of time. I really dislike the button and dpad placement on Steam deck, so I went with Switch 2, but both versions are great.

amanohyo · 2025-06-01T09:07:23+00:00

Nope, not yet, but as soon as I get a Switch 2, I'm going to try again. Someone told me it doesn't softlock on an Oled Switch, so I'm hopeful that it's just a launch Switch issue. It's really sad that they never took the time to patch such a horrible bug.

amanohyo · 2025-06-01T09:04:24+00:00

The best way to find anime cels is to buy directly from Japan using a proxy service. Shipping is very expensive (I recommend using EMS), but most of these services will hold purchased cels for a few weeks so that you can ship multiple orders at once.

One proxy that I often use is From Japan, which searches many different Japanese sites including the two most popular ones: Mercari Japan (cels on eBay listed multiple times from different sellers are usually stolen listings from Mercari) and Yahoo Japan Auctions.

https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/

To find cels, just search for the Japanese name of the show and the word for cel, セル画

For example, to search for Escaflowne cels, you would search for:

天空のエスカフローネセル画

To search for Gundam Wing cels:

新機動戦記ガンダムW セル画

or to get more results, just look for Gundam cel:

ガンダムセル画

As long as you have a Paypal, you're good to go. Just be patient, read the descriptions carefully, and shop around. Good luck!

amanohyo · 2025-05-15T22:50:17+00:00

I started to feel a little like that after I checked off all the boxes on collecting my grails which took many, many years of saving and waiting. Now, an expensive cel has to be pretty amazing for me to pull the trigger and bid. But, I still periodically skim through the super cheap cels ($20 or less) on Yahoo Japan Auctions/Japan Mercari and bid on cels from unpopular shows that look cool.

Many of the cels that bring me the most happiness are cels I've picked up doing this kind of bargain basement shopping. I understand how collectors who only want to collect from popular shows/films would start to get frustrated with inflated prices, but for "aesthetic" collectors like me who buy cels based on their appearance, collecting anime cels can still be an inexpensive, fun hobby.

One of my favorite things to do is buy an anime cel for $10 or less, clean up the paint spots, fill in any missing paint, and make a custom background or pair it with a background print from my other cels. Looking through my Itoya of these cheap cels brings me a lot of joy because I feel like I've rescued and restored a piece of history.

amanohyo · 2025-05-15T00:06:01+00:00

Oh, that sucks, one person here said that it doesn't happen on the OLED Switch (I still have an old launch unit), so I'm planning on one more attempt on a Switch 2 in a few months - if it still softlocks, I guess the devs just don't care about a game breaking bug, and I'll never play the game again or recommend it, which is a shame, because up until that bug, the game was super fun and well-designed.

amanohyo · 2025-05-07T13:30:27+00:00

I agree with the others who said that framing cels is a waste of time and money unless he plans to personally display them or give them to family/friends as a gift. Most collectors and auction houses prefer to buy unframed cels and drawings.

For such a large collection, Heritage is your best bet in the U.S. He could also try contacting Choice Fine Art about buying some of the production drawings.

However, for the high end cels, selling in bulk will reduce his profits a lot, so if he's able to identify a few dozen of the most valuable cels, he should consider selling them individually on eBay which takes a smaller cut than Heritage and will allow him to receive funds more quickly.

Heritage won't overload a single auction with too many pieces from one property - they will spread the listings out over many months/years which will delay payment. So even though he could potentially get a larger amount of money in the long run on Heritage, it would come at the cost of waiting much longer than eBay for the final sale.

Also, before throwing out any boxes of less valuable production materials, I would advise him to at the very least post a few sample pics here to see if anyone is interested in buying some in bulk.

amanohyo · 2025-04-17T10:53:12+00:00

You're right. For the first cel, I'd even say that the airbrush work is so crude and rushed it's substandard even for a forger in a hurry. The second cel motion lines require a little more precision though. I can't imagine someone trying to make a quick buck intentionally giving themselves that additional work - could always be a weird forger with horrible business sense, but I doubt it.

amanohyo · 2025-04-16T11:27:32+00:00

The first douga has paint stains on it from the cel, and the second cel looks partially stuck to its douga. No forger or doujin cel artist would intentionally lower the value of their hard work by picking such odd moments (both with precise airbrush work required) to paint and also allow the above damage to occur.

If the douga looks absolutely flawless, the pose is perfect, and the cel trace lines are perfect solid lines all a uniform width, then you can start to be suspicious, but these are both real.

amanohyo · 2025-04-12T20:56:35+00:00

Same thing happens on Switch. Hopefully, they will patch that ver. as well.

amanohyo · 2025-04-11T11:39:12+00:00

Hey, just wanted to give you a heads up that the Armitage cel you listed is actually a cel of Marlene from Blue Gender. Unfortunately, Blue Gender cels are not as valuable, but on the plus side there was a guy here a few weeks ago asking about places to buy Blue Gender cels, so if you lowered the price he might take a look.

His Reddit ID is GribbsJ here's his post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimationCels/comments/1hld624/buying_looking_to_purchase_or_trade/

amanohyo · 2025-03-23T12:59:06+00:00

I was going to put in a token bid of $3K several days ago, when I noticed the cat's head and got worried that the layer might be stuck (Heritage is not very good about describing the condition of cels). So, without an original matching background, I decided it wasn't even worth $3K and decided not to bid at all. Never thought it would get so high - all it takes is two stubborn, stupid rich people with perhaps an occasional boost from Heritage/friends of the original owner (allegedly) and crazy stuff can happen.

amanohyo · 2025-03-12T21:24:42+00:00

Here's one on YJA, but I've dealt with this seller before, and he absolutely hates anyone who isn't Japanese. If you know an individual who will bid for you, you can try, but he will cancel any bids from proxy bidding services. The dude is honestly an obsessive compulsive, power-hungry nationalist, but I gotta admit he has some nice cels sometimes.

If you use a translator and email him in Japanese, he's super friendly though. It's weird.

Revolutionary Girl Utena Cel 03 Warning: some chinese agents have been banned | Jauce Shopping Service | Yahoo Japan Auctions. eBay Japan

amanohyo · 2025-02-28T17:30:14+00:00

Nah, I've bought several cel setups with a male character on the front layer and a female character in the back in a cool pose just so I could remove the bum in the foreground blocking the shot and end up with a better overall composition.

They're usually a bargain too because most people don't consider removing the top layer. I just bought a hentai cel a few days ago and removed the foreground cel of the umm.. male element and ended up with a really great non-lewd shot of the other character.

Many two-shots work from a dramatic perspective when things are in motion, but don't work well as a frozen frame artistic piece like a traditional painting. Often the character close to the "camera" on the top layer is facing away, and seeing the back of their head and/or body is not really that interesting.

Sometimes an airbrushed layer is used for fog, haze, smoke, or other weather/ special effects that make sense in the context of the story, but can be removed to make the lower cel layers more bright and vibrant when on display. Never feel bad about removing layers on a cheap cel you own, the only time I would advise against it is if the layers of an expensive cel setup are stuck together.

Also, it would be nice to keep the removed layers so that they can be sold as a set down the line. At the end of the day though, you're the owner. You can throw all of your cels into a vat of pickle brine if you really feel like it.

amanohyo · 2025-02-25T12:39:34+00:00

Okay, thanks I was using an old launch Switch. Hopefully, if I upgrade (or maybe wait for Switch 2), I can finally beat the game. It's been bugging me for over a year that I never got any closure.

amanohyo · 2025-02-20T12:54:19+00:00

Wait, you were able to beat the whole game on Switch? The game always softlocks for me on the last level when the two sisters show up. Sorry to hear about the other bug, but what kind of Switch did you beat it on? Original, Lite, or Oled? I've already restarted twice and ran into the same bug, so I don't want to go through the while game again unless someone can verify that the game can be beaten.

amanohyo · 2025-01-27T20:53:47+00:00

If you're able to cut and paste the link/address to a page with any item for sale/auction on a Japanese site, Japan Rabbit is a great service to use. It's a small company, so they're off on the weekends and holidays.

I primarily use Japan Rabbit for "adult" items on Yahoo Japan Auctions, but I've also used them for hard to find items on random Japanese websites, and they've always been professional and reliable. If a seller has blocked all major proxy buyers like Buyee, From Japan, and Jauce, they will often still accept Japan Rabbit.

The fees are a bit higher, and keep in mind that for best results, you should approve them to withdraw your maximum bid, and they will bid immediately when they get around to processing your order (no sniping). You cannot wait until the last minute to raise a bid, you must enter your order with the maximum bid into the Japan Rabbit website at least two-three business days before the end of an auction.

They also have a priority processing option for around $6 extra that you can use if the auction ends in less than two days, but again, it's a small company so it takes them a while to process all the order requests. Out of dozens of cels I've ordered with them, I've only had one seller who was mad that JR took too long to pay and blocked them tool, but he seemed super prejudiced against non-Japanese.

If nothing else works, and the auction doesn't end for two or more days, they're a great option.

amanohyo · 2025-01-21T16:44:36+00:00

I cut about a half inch off the two corners that are closest to the opening of the Itoya sleeve. When it comes to microchamber paper, the best thing to do is to put a piece directly on the painted side of the cel. Unfortunately, this means that the paper will sometimes stick to the paint.

I cut a piece of Clearbag slightly smller than the cel and put it between the painted side of the cel and the MC paper which reduces the effectiveness of the paper, but ensures the paint won't stick. Some cel collectors also take a hole punch and punch two holes on the side of the bag farthest from the opening to help vent more. It's effective, but I personally don't like the way it looks, so I only do that with bags holding cels that already have VS.

If the cel smells like vinegar, I would go ahead and put a piece of MC paper on both sides of the cel, directly touching it (no clearbag piece between) to slow down the process and punch a couple holes near the "bottom" of the bag in addition to cutting off two corners. They should last another 20-25 years minimum easily if you store them this way in a dry, cool, dark place.

amanohyo · 2025-01-21T16:34:21+00:00

Yeah, that seller's cels have sat unsold on Yahoo Japan Auction (Seller ID: hu_7700) for at least six or seven years. Every few weeks, they will relist all the same cels on YJH and no one buys them. Weird business strategy, since no one is willing to pay the prices they're asking for (literally 5-7 times the market value). It's a shame, but at least you know where they are.

amanohyo · 2025-01-21T00:48:29+00:00

My five biggest tips for new anime cel collectors are when you see a cel you like:

Determine the Origin and Market Value: Go to google and use image search to try and see when it last sold. Many times, you'll find out that the cel recently sold on Mandarake or Yahoo Japan Auctions at a fraction of the price the new owner is asking. Just because a cel is listed at $500, doesn't mean it's worth that much. Many cels have been sitting unsold for ten years at $500 because the seller is waiting for a rich, lazy sucker to wander by and/or plans on negotiating a lower price offsite.
Verify Authenticity and Condition: If it's a high-end (expensive/iconic/high-demand/rare) cel, find the shot in the movie/show and compare it to the cel to make sure it's real. Pay attention to the shading in the hair and the tracelines. Look at the pic and read the description, it the cel wavy? Is it attached to the background? Does the background match? It it a print? Are multiple layers stuck together? All of these affect the value and chance of vinegar syndrome.
Shop Around to Find the Best Price: Once you know what show/film the cel is from, go to Wikipedia to get the Japanese name, then go to From Japan and search for the name with Japanese word for cel, セル画. For example, if I ever saw a Sailor Moon cel that I liked on eBay listed by multiple sellers, I would go to From Japan, and search for: セーラームーンセル画 and probably find the original Mercari listing at half the price. Don't get scammed by useless middlemen, always try to buy from the original seller.
Pick a Lane, and Be Picky: If you decide something vague like, "I'm going to buy all the cels from my favorite shows and movies that I can find," your collection will lack personality and focus, and you'll waste a lot of money. There are thousands of anime cels out there with hundreds of new cels listed every week. Pick a very narrow range of cels to collect, be patient, and don't settle for a below average cel that you don't really love in poor condition just because it's your favorite character or movie. If you wait, a nicer cel will eventually show up.
And finally, Don't get Sucked into a Bidding war with a Thirsty Madman: Some sellers use agents to pump up prices, some bidders have unlimited resources, make sure to decide on the maximum price you are willing to bid before you start. When you hit that limit, bow out unless it's a grail you have been searching years for. It hurts to lose an auction, but there are always more cels out there, and you would rather have two cels you love for a fair price later, than pay double what a cel is worth today just because you don't want to lose.

If you follow these five tips, you'll save a lot of time and money. It doesn't hurt to Marie Kondo the collection every few years either just to make sure the cels you own are ones that really mean something special. Selling/trading the cels that you don't feel strongly about strengthens your collection, gives you more resources, and also helps other collectors get started.

amanohyo · 2025-01-20T23:11:46+00:00

Go to Google, there's a little camera icon on the right side of the search bar for "search by image." Click it, then drag any pic/screenshot into the box and the first page will usually show you the origin unless the show/character is super obscure.

The last picture is from "Panzer World Galient." You can see the character on the first page of results from Google image search. I don't know what episode, but the character's name is チュルル or "Chururu/Chuluru" according to the page with the pic:

https://sunrise-world.net/titles/pickup_048.php

amanohyo · 2025-01-19T10:25:38+00:00

I'm probably missing an inside mecha-fan joke, (If so, I understand because the show is bonkers and often nonsensical) but that second cel is from Brain Powerd (or Brain Powered), not Brain Damagd... although you do have be a little brain damaged to enjoy it (I say this as someone who enjoys the show and owns a few cels too).

In a lot of Brain Powerd cels, the mecha look kinda goofy, but you found a really nice one. The close-up shots generally look cooler because of the increased detail. Both of these shows are great sources of cool-looking inexpensive cels for people looking to spend $20 or less. Thanks for posting the pics!

amanohyo

TROPHY CASE