Ninja Scroll - any recommendations ?

Hi all,

I am a newbie looking into getting my first anime cel. I am interested in getting a low price Ninja Scroll production cel.

Is it true that these are quite rare and hard to get by as 90% of original production cel were destroyed by the studio ?

What would be a good place to by from ?
I was impressed by http://www.anime-link.com and anime asylum - any feedback will be appreciated.

I Would like to hear any specific Ninja Scroll cel buying tips - what to look for ? what to avoid ?

What would be considered a more unique cel ? Jubei or any of the 8 devils of kimon or other character ?

Does that fact that a character appears for a short time in the film makes his cels more rare and hard to get or is the hero of the film will always be considered more sought after even if he has the most screen time and therefore much more available cels ?

Thanks for helping - I am really getting excited toward buying my first celga.

BTW: My cel is intended for framing and display and should be below $150

Glad to be a member here ! Members are of course welcome to offer me NS cels in this range if they wish

Hello, first thing do not expect any Ninja Scroll cels to be cheap. I am not sure you are going to find any for $150 and under.

As far as rarity, I tend to think Ninja Scroll cels are far more scarce than cels from the average show and, of course, the less the character appears on scene the fewer cels of that character were produced. I have seen very few if not no cels of the Devils of Kimon while most of the cels are of Jubei or Kegaro. I would suggest looking for a cel of your favorite character or scene and go for it. Don't worry at all about which ones are rare or "valuable". Trust me, you will enjoy this hobby much more that way.

I have not ordered any cels from the websites you listed but I have ordered from others and I have yet to have a bad experience with any of them. Yahoo Japan is also a good source and does have Ninja Scroll cels from time to time.

Hope this helps some and I look forward to seeing your first gallery entry!

Hello,
Welcome to Rubberslug.
I've seen NS cels on this site.

http://www.nichibeianime.com/cels/ninja.html

He may be sold out right now but he may be able to get what you are looking for,he has had a few on his site from time to time, Email him he may have some stashed and not listed on his site.
I have bought from anime-asylum.com a few times and he has always done good by me, He is out of town alot so keep emailing him he will get back to you as soon as he is back in town.
Always buy what you like and you will never go wrong, Cost go up and down so much it's hard to buy cels one at a time to make any money on them if you intend to sell thats is.
If you need some links just let me know and I'll send you as many as need to check out.
I look forward to seeing your new gallery grow over time.
Cels come and go so much take your time looking for your artwork, New cels pop up all the time.
I hope you find your dream cel, Good luck.
Roy

Hi Alon3232, I too am on the lookout for Ninja Scroll cels but they are very scarce. As you correctly mentioned, the vast majority of the cels were destroyed after the film was complete which makes me feel sick just thinking about it.

The characters I see most often are Jubei and Kagero but I'd really love some Demons like Mujuro and Tessai. Due to their rarity and strong fanbase of the film, most cels are very expensive, in excess of $300-$600. The few cels out there are currently held in personal collections so getting anyone to part with them is tricky. Rick from Anime Link reinforced this to me last year when I enquired about these cels. Anime Link, Asylum Anime and Nichibei are great retailers but I doubt they will get more Ninja Scroll cels in. Always keep your ear to the ground and build up relationships with retailers and other fans so they can let you know if something crops up.

Seriously, starting your collection with such a high-end series will be difficult due to finance and availability of artwork. My honest advice would be to start with more affordable series you enjoy so you can gain knowledge of the medium and know what to look for. You wouldn't want to obtain a few high-end cels then find out 6 months later that cel collecting isn't for you.

Given time, you'd also apprecaite the 'special' cels a lot more and it'll allow you to settle into the hobby, confident that you want to invest more time and money into it.
If I was learning to drive, I wouldn't start off in a EVO6...

As Roy mentions in his post, if you're looking for NS cels, don't just buy anything you see because it may be rare, buy something because you like it. Resale value is likely to be about the same so you can't loose. If you enjoy the art, chances are somene else does too ^__^

One alternative I will mention- have you considered getting a fan cel made? For $50 you could get a great cel tailored to your specifications worthy of framing. I've thought about this myself; may be the way to go?

Hi there AG, sent you an email yesterday but it was returned to me "User Unknown" so I'm not sure if you received it. You may have mis-spelled it by accident, heh. I'll post my reply here as you don't yet have an alternative way for me to contact you...

Hi there AG,

Thanks for your email. I can definately see the appeal of that Benisato cel, I love Kawajiri films a lot anyway!
At $90 I think that is the best price you could pay and it's from a reputable dealer too. I've dealt with Anime Link before and can recommend them.
This cel is also a Key cel which is a bonus- have you swatted up on terms like this? It's done by a more senior animator and is often considered 'slightly' more valuable to collectors.
Don't worry, I'm not about to buy any of the the NS cels for a while, I recently made some big purchases on Japanese auctions including some Mezzo Forte artwork and Akai Hayate Hankens.

Feel free to go for it, you'd have money left from your $150 budget for framing if you wish.
Ah, another tip is to look for forum posts regarding framing as it should be done to conservation standards for cels. There is a page about this on Nichibei, www.nichibeianime.com to get you started.

If you want to ask more Q's feel free to ask, I'll try to help with whatever I can.

All the best, Krafty