Where do retailers get cels these days?

I spent the past two summers in Japan, and as an avid artwork collector (really have to put all the stuff i have on RS--i've been too lazy to get around to it but have lots to post), got the lay of the land. At Nakano Broadway there's a guy on the same floor as the top floor of mandarake. he sells nice cels and also has online listings on YHJ. His shop is called Commit (http://www.nbw.jp/nbwcgi/emb/shops/detail/260/backurl:@nbwcgi@emb@shops@index).
If you go in and you speak japanese and ask if he knows a gaijin who asks him every year or so for Geass, Gundam 00, Fate/Stay night, Yugioh, etc. he will surely laugh and say he remembers me. He has tons of genga now, but not from the popular series.
Go in and browse. He said he did not have any of the 20+ new series i asked about once but after searching every bin in the store i found a full cut of the showdown between Kaiba and fake Pegasus from YuGiOh. It was beautiful. He has Naruto if you're into that.
Anyhow, apart from that you're really SOL. Mandarake sells most cells only at auction online. They display it at Nakano in the window but only let you buy online.
Best to stick to YHJ, now that you're there.
hgeek
It's over 9000
Apr 27 at 2:43 AM
THEY BURN THEIR ARTWORK?!!??! That is really an absolute shame. Doesn't make me hopeful that some series I was looking for will ever have pieces sold...
RePete
RePete's Gallery
Apr 27 at 7:49 PM
Thanks everyone for the discussion. Lots of stuff to think about. I've definitely been keeping my eye on YHJ and there are some great deals to be had there... but not as great as they were at Mandarake in 2001... sigh. I guess most cels these days are just move from collector to collector vs. from dealer to collector, or studio to dealer to collector. I'm sure there are still cels out there waiting to be released, but presumably that's a rarity unlike in the past. What a shame.

I've little interest in other paperworks like just the douga. They are very cool, and I have bought a few, but without the cel I feel that I'm missing a large part of the puzzle. I guess I'll keep looking and trying to make friends in the biz. I did find some Fushigi Yuugi cels at Mandarake last weekend, along with some other not completely crap stuff (Master Mosquiton, Tenshi ni Narumon, CLAMP Campus Detectives, Ayashi no Ceres, etc.) Nothing jaw-dropping by any means, but it was certainly nice to flip through the stuff they had and come across a Tamahome cel.
justvan
Van's Cels
May 05 at 12:25 AM
Welcome! Login or Register