Where can I buy anime cel sheets?

Question

I'm somewhat interested in buying cel sheets for some of my favourite shows, but it seems to be very hard to find somewhere that stocks them.

I have had the opportunity at a convention once, but I'm pretty sure they were counterfeit, so I decided against it. I unfortunately don't remember the retailer's name to look them up.

I have been looking for a while, but almost every website I come across has been shut down.

Looking on Cels.org, all the websites are down. The ones that aren't, have a live website, but with a closure notice:

Are there any companies (preferably based in the West) that sell cel sheets?

Answer 1

1. By "cel sheets" do you mean hand-painted animation cels? In Japanese, these are called seru-ga (セル画). When searching, "anime cel" will give you more search results than "cel sheets" (which is not a common phrase). The line drawing that corresponds to the seru-ga is called a douga. When purchasing, ascertain whether your purchase includes the douga and/or the background. Some do, some don't. If you get all three as a set, that is more valuable.

2. Instead of searching for online shops that sell only cels, search for online retailers that sell a variety of anime merchandise, especially used. Anime produced from the late 1990s to the present are computer-animated, so hardly any animation cels have been produced since then (which is why cel-only shops disappear: not enough stock available to flow in). Thus, you are generally looking for pre-owned cels that a previous collector has re-sold to a used goods shop.

3. There are licensed anime cels produced by the production company but which are not from the anime series itself, and which greatly vary in value (or lack thereof), such as these: hanken-seru (版権セル) a.k.a hansoku-seru (販促セル) which are cels hand-painted for promotional artwork such as posters and toys, sericel (セリセル), fukusei-ga (複製画) a.k.a. rirezu-seru（リレイズセル), and chroma-cel a.k.a. ripuro-seru-ga (リプロ・セル画).

4. Doujin cels (同人セル画) are fanart cels made by Japanese doujinshika (doujin artists) and look just as real as the original ones, so take note of the word 同人.

Some places to buy authentic anime cels are:

• Mandarake (stores in the U.S. as well as in Japan, ships internationally)
• Yahoo! Japan Auctions in Japan, but you can use a proxy service to bid and ship internationally, such as Celga (which has staff in the U.S. as well as in Japan and specializes in proxy bidding for cels)
• Cel-Ga (U.K., ships internationally)
• Entertainment Hobby Shop JUNGLE a.k.a. Anime Jungle (shop in U.S. as well as in Japan, international shipping <--- they sometimes show up at conventions; if you see Jungle's booth, rest assured that they're selling authentic pre-owned anime cels)
• Asylum Anime
• Animegame.com (which is now selling on eBay)
• Takamura-Store (exporting from Japan)

Answer 2

Have a look at my gallery on http://www.kochigallery.com/#!comics-japan/c1r18. I offer hundreds of original anime cel and sketches from anime such as Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Captain Harlock, Akira, Sailor Moon, Galaxy Express 999, City Hunter and many others! You may find something you like there!

Edit
we have updated our website, which now comprises more than 200 anime celluloids and sketches!

Answer 3

We are a London based retailer selling authentic anime cels via our online store www.cel-ga.com As we purchase Cels either directly from the production companies or certified dealers, we can guarantee the authenticity of the items we sell. Our stock includes including some rare items from Studio Ghibli, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and others.

Sorry this is a bit of a late reply but hopefully this will be useful for anyone looking at this later on.