We are a married couple who collect animation cels and other artwork. ^_^
Her
My interest in anime reaches back to my childhood, starting at the age of seven, the first show I can remember obsessing over was "Spaceketeers." Once video tapes (and video stores) became common (do you want VHS or BETA ma'am?) I started to rent early tapes of Captain Harlock, Starblazers, Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, and (of course!) Robotech. The eighties were the early days of anime, and everything was trimmed of anything offensive, dubbed voices (of course), and when someone happened to notice that these were Japanese "cartoons" they were labeled as "Japanimation". The years passed, and I remember being dragged to various Dr. Who, Blake's 7, and Star Trek conventions by my parents, and there always seemed to be a table there with some Japanimation goods. I persuaded my parents to buy me the "Macross: Perfect Memory" book. That was the beginning of my fascination with cel art. "Macross: Perfect Memory" was laid out so that you could see individual frames of animation, and I realized the skill that went into each and every sequence.
Being somewhat obsessive (if you ask anyone else, they would probably say VERY obsessive), I have stuck with with this hobby all this time. I have now converted fully from "japanimation" to anime. I started collecting cels in 1996 after my friend pointed out a very nice cel of my favorite character, Trunks (Dragonball Z), at Nichibei Anime's table at AX 96. I soon got hooked, and I now find myself in possession of a rather large anime cel collection. My favorite series to collect are: Please Save My Earth, Dragonball Z, and Gundam Wing. I also have a great fondness for anything CLAMP, anything by Rumiko Takahashi, Kimagure Orange Road, Slayers, and (of course) Sailormoon. I prefer couple cels, such as Sakura/Syaoran, Ranma/Akane, Madoka/Kyosuke, etc. I also tend to collect cels of gorgeous guys, really amazing gals, and non-canon couples (Miwa/Meiko forever!).
I hope that you will enjoy your visit to our gallery, and please visit again soon!
Him
When I was a kid, I remember running home after school every day to watch Robotech and Starblazers. I started to really get into anime in high school when I saw Akira and Fist of the Northstar at my local comic shop. After that it was all downhill; I started buying CD's, Posters, and Videos like mad.
I first started collecting cels in 1996 at Fanime Con when I bought 3 Sailormoon cels from Nichibei Anime (Thanks David and Miyoko ^_^!!). I was really into collecting anime cards at that time, and there were character designs on the back of cards for my favorite character, Sailor Iron Mouse, but no cards of her. I really liked her character design, and Nichibei had 2 nice cels of Sailor Iron Mouse, so I picked them up along with a Nephrenia cel. I still have all 3 cels, and I will probably never part with them. I had a large lag time before I started buying cels on a regular basis, but I picked up a few over the years, and I also received a couple as presents.
After we met in 1998, I really started to buy cels on a regular basis. It is hard to watch somebody buy cels, and not get sucked into it. I have been fairly choosy about what cels I buy, but as soon as I see a series that I like, all of a sudden I have to go looking for cels on the net. Mostly I try to get one cel that I like from a series, but there are some series that I am always looking for new cels from. It does not hurt that my significant other knows what I like, and will buy cels as presents. It is funny when a site will update, and we both order the same exact cel.
So, anyway, please enjoy our gallery, and let me know if you have any comments. Thanks ^_^!