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Anime Expo 2003 Collector's Gallery

One of the primary reasons why we attend conventions like Anime Expo is to meet the industry guests. As avid fans of the Japanese animation industry as well as serious collectors of production art (cels, sketches, etc.), Fredy and I are more likely appear at guest panels and autograph sessions than anything else. Maybe we do tend to go a little overboard; but then again, you really can't argue with results, right?

* Some of the pictures below may appear dark or hazy; I apologize for their quality but I needed to work with low-level light when photographing sensitive art (particularly cels). I wasn't able to find the ideal lighting many times, but after 2 hours of taking shots I decided just to live with the current results. In the future I'll strive do better, though. *

Our annual tradition: a portrait of all the autographed stuff from AX; sadly, no matter how hard we tried we simply just could not fit them all in one shot! A slick TRIGUN cel of Vash The Stampede signed by Kuroda Yousuke (screenwriter), complete with a ~Love & Peace~ message written in Japanese! An unusually light-hearted cel of Iwakura Lain from SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN, autographed by both Ueda Yasuyuki (creator) and Abe Yoshitoshi (character designer)! Bow down with us in reverence as you gaze upon this gorgeous final episode cel of Deedlit and Parn from LODOSS TOU SENKI, now signed by the incomparable character designer Yuuki Nobuteru! Fredy was ecstatic to have this stunning cel of Kanzaki Urumi from GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA (GTO) autographed by the director Abe Noriyuki! Taniguchi Goro may have been a little surprised to see Jesse back in line again to get his first DVD volume of GASARAKI signed; Taniguchi was the floor director for the series! Another fantastic opening sequence cel of Kuruta Kurapica from one of Jesse's all-time favorite series, HUNTER X HUNTER, autographed by Furuhashi Kazuhiro (director)! Easily the most accomodating Guest of Honor at the convention, director Hongo Mitsuru finished off Jesse's third OUTLAW STAR cel, this time featuring Gene Starwind and Melfina! OUTLAW STAR production cel of lead hero Gene Starwind, autographed by director Hongo Mitsuru! Although it was released only weeks before, Jesse got his hands on a special edition copy of THE ANIMATRIX to be signed by Mahiro Maeda, who directed the epic ~The Second Rennaisance~ prequel! A great HUNTER X HUNTER opening sequence cel of Gon Freeks autographed by Furuhashi Kazuhiro (director)! Pretty MUGEN NO RYVIUS cel of the enigmatic Neeya signed by Taniguchi Goro (director)! Jesse couldn't resist having this RUROUNI KENSHIN TSUIOKUHEN OVA cel of Hiko Seijuro (the suave swordmaster of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu) autographed by director Furuhashi Kazuhiro (with a personal ~Kanpai~ greeting to boot)! A ferocious Aisha Clan Clan sparks off this OUTLAW STAR cel, signed by Hongo Mitsuru (director)! With nothing else handy (but still hungry for autographs), Fredy grabbed this Studio Pierrot promotional frisbee in order to get the YU YU HAKUSHO producer (Nunokawa Yuji), director (Abe Noriyuki) and character designer (Kitayama Mari) to autograph it! With a signature from director Furuhashi Kazuhiro, Fredy completes his RUROUNI KENSHIN TSUIOKUHEN OVA cel of Yukishiro Tomoe, which was already signed by series creator Watsuki Nobuhiro the previous year! RUROUNI KENSHIN TSUIOKUHEN OVA cel of the tragic heroine Yukishiro Tomoe, signed by director Furuhashi Kazuhiro! A very rare INITIAL D cel of Iketani Kouichirou, leader of the Akina Speedstars, autographed by original seiyuu Yao Kazuki! Hongo Mitsuru (director) was pleasantly surprised to see a cel from the charming SPIRIT OF WONDER ~ MISS CHINA'S RING film, which he worked on almost 10 years ago! No one at the entire convention knew (except Jesse and Mahiro-san himself, of course) that Mahiro Maeda once worked as a key animator and dragon designer for the famous LUNAR ~ SILVER STAR STORY role-playing game! Always willing to grant autographs, Studio Pierrot president Nunokawa Yuji inked his name on this classic KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD cel of Ayukawa Madoka! Series director Akane Kazuki was amazed to find this TENKU NO ESCAFLOWNE opening sequence cel of the Ispano guymelf in front of him to sign! With words of admiration, seiyuu Yao Kazuki autographed this INITIAL D cel of Kenji and Iketani (whom Yao provided the voice for)! Mahiro Maeda autographed this DVD insert from his personal favorite project, BLUE SUBMARINE NO.6 (which he directed and co-produced)! Fredy was able to add the signatures of Abe Noriyuki (director), Kitayama Mari (key animator), and Nunokawa Yuji (producer) to his hilarious cel of Onizuka Eikichi from GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA (GTO), already autographed by the creator Fujisawa Tohru the previous year! That's right! It's an opening sequence cel from TENKU NO ESCAFLOWNE signed by series director Akane Kazuki, with ~Yakusoku wa Iranai~ written on top! An action cel of Urameshi Yuusuke beating up disguised demon Rondo from YU YU HAKUSHO, autographed by Kitayama Mari (character designer) and Abe Noriyuki (director)! Jesse scrambled in the dealer's room to find this cel of Tsujimoto Natsumi from TAIHO SHICHAUZO [YOU'RE UNDER ARREST] for Nakajima Atsuko (character designer) to sign! Fredy couldn't be happier to discover that Hongo Mitsuru directed one of his favorite shows, MEGAMI KOUHOUSEI [PILOT CANDIDATES], and made sure he brought his art book for autographing! This extremely rare production sketch of Excel and Hyatt from EXCEL SAGA, signed by series creator Rikudo Koushi, drew murmurs of praise by Rikudo's staff! Once again, director Hongo Mitsuru was impressed to see this cel of Jim Floyd and the flirtatious florist from SPIRIT OF WONDER ~ MISS CHINA'S RING! Not to be left out, Jesse also had his GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA (GTO) cel of Onizuka Eikichi (previously signed by series creator Fujisawa Tohru) adorned with the signatures of director Abe Noriyuki and Studio Pierrot president Nunokawa Yuji! Convention-exclusive postcard for the EXCEL SAGA manga (featuring Hyatt, Menchi and Excel) signed by the creator Rikudo Koushi! Taniguchi Goro, director of MUGEN NO RYVIUS, remarked (as he autographed it) that this cel of Aiba Kouji was extremely difficult to find anywhere! One of the extremely rare copies of Kajiura Yuki's debut solo album FICTION (only 500 were available at the convention and all were sold out by the second day) signed by the popular singer/composer herself! A wicked cel of Knives from TRIGUN autographed by Kuroda Yousuke (screenwriter)! Caught up in the enthusiasm, director Hongo Mitsuru also signed a page from Fredy's MEGAMI KOUHOUSEI art book featuring the main character Zero! More ~Oohs~ and ~Aahs~ from nearby spectators as Rikudo Koushi (creator) autographed this wacky production sketch of Excel and Hyatt from EXCEL SAGA! Kuroda Yousuke signed his name between Vash The Stampede and his trusty gun on this TRIGUN cel! Although she didn't appear at Sunday's open autograph session, Kajiura Yuki did appear at the Pioneer booth later on to autograph this shikishi [sign-board] for Fredy!

Abe Yoshitoshi (creator; character designer) and Ueda Yasuyuki (producer) spent much of their time at the Pioneer booth autographing these HAIBANE RENMEI sign-boards! By the time he's talking with Fredy on a first-name basis, director Hongo Mitsuru had absolutely no qualms signing this shikishi complete with a sketch of himself bowing to Fredy in appreciation! Kuroda Yousuke autographed this large clear poster from ONEGAI TEACHER, which he wrote the screenplays for! With nothing else to offer, Fredy presented director Taniguchi Goro with this nifty shikishi to sign! Although Jesse really wanted a chibi-sketch of Deedlit (LODOSS), Yuuki Nobuteru misheard him and drew a funny doodle of Dilandau (ESCAFLOWNE) instead! Hey, both characters are equally popular... but soooo opposite from each other!

At the Pioneer booth, Hongo Mitsuru (director) was autographing these sign-boards from SAKURA WARS THE MOVIE! ONEGAI TEACHER screenwriter Kuroda Yousuke signed this shikishi for Jesse, which included Kazami Mizuho's famous catch-phrase: ~Saiyu sen jiko yo!~ [This is top priority!] Jesse had to wait 2 hours over 2 days for an autograph by Abe Yoshitoshi, but to reward his patience Pioneer also gave him a bonus autographed poster with an original Abe design! You just have to love it when someone messes up their English, such as when seiyuu Yao Kazuki wrote ~Happy to Fredy~ on this shikishi! Just when you thought it was over ... I believe that director Hongo Mitsuru also meant to include his contact info on this sign-board so that he and Fredy can swap drinking stories after the convention!

TOTAL NUMBER OF ITEMS AUTOGRAPHED: 48

TOTAL NUMBER OF SIGNATURES COLLECTED: 57

PHEW!

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