Must be really good artwork then. Personally I would rather have a figure or poster than a pencilboard but to each their own. That's a nice picture of Ruri by the way.
Just wondering how do you guys obtain your anime? Is it through television, fansubs, DVD purchases/rentals, or a mixture? Personally I use to watch fansubs but got tired of d/ling so I just buy now.
I wouldn't really consider myself to be a big fan of anime, but I do watch some of them. I love all of the Studio Ghibli films, of course, and I also like Satashi Kon's work. Millennium Actress is one of the best movies ever!
Do you mean where I get the Anime I watch? Or the merchandise? Well I sometimes buy them, I used to rent off netflix. Or I would download episodes. I actually saw Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Witch Hunter Robin and many more through my comp. I get my merchandise off this man named David who sells pencil boards. And yes $200 is insane, but you're right "to each their own", some people have the money and that's good. Although I never see myself spending that much. Trust me if you were really into collecting pencil boards you would too. What has stopped me is the thought of using that same money to buy clothing and stuff I truly need.
I consider many things to be my most valuable merchandise. Excluding everything but Anime, I would say a couple of rare pencil boards I managed to win on ebay and other places for very good prices. I also have this really rare Rei board from Evangelion it's holo foil. I would say it's rare since I've never seen another like it. I have this Chii figurine that needs to get air brushed, it's super tiny and needs to be put together, but looks so beautiful painted. What do you consider to be more most valuable collectibles? I can imagine the fortune your figure/statue collection must be worth. I know of a couple of sites that sell resin kits of beautifu animel girls, if I find them I'll link them to you.
^Heh I see you are a Rei Ayanami fan. I can imagine you keeping your pencilboards in a folder. The Chii figurine - was part of a resin kit or a gashapon (a figure that is sealed inside a capsule ball; easy to assemble)? My most valuable merchandise are my Bleach and One Piece figures. They're pretty big and detailed looking. Here some pics:
Oh my gosh that Bleach figurine of the girl is soo stunningly beautiful. I've seen it up close and it's just amazing, that pic does it no justice. My chii figurine is really hard to assemble and has to be professionally air brushed. I still have it as I bought it. For some reason I thought I was gonna be able to paint it, but boy was I wrong. Plus it's super tiny how hard must it be to paint? Oh sorry I think it's part of a resin kit. And yes I just started putting them in a folder. I'll post pics tomorrow.
I tried to take pics of my favorite pencil board, but the flash just makes it look horrible. Heres a pic of a pencil board I hope to find someday. Tell what you think?
^ The board looks nice. She kind of looks like Yomiko Readman from ROD but it's most likely an original character right? It looks like a good addition; good luck finding it!
Which Bleach girl are you talking about? There's 4 of them in the picture (Rukia, Orihime, Yoruichi, Rangiku). That's one of the main reasons why I don't bother with resin kits because I have no confidence in my painting skills. Did you make an attempt or just thought about how you would do?
Thanks I hope I do. And she could be from ROD Anime can be very surprising somethimes. I'm referring to the big breasted girl with the same matching outfit as the two guys with swords, she's beautiful. And no I didn't try, why ruin a beautiful thing?
The Chobits resin kit I have is of Chii sitting on the floor hugging the leg a blue couch. It's really nice, unfortunately I can't find a pic. I do plan on getting it professionally painted someday so I need a pic of the color palette. It's suppose to be painted in deep and light blues.
Here are some pics, hey what do you know? It's in stock and only for $15.
The Bleach figure you are talking about is none other than Rangiku Matsumoto. I agree she looks nice but she's too *ahem* well endowed in my opinion. I believe I have a pencilboard of Miss Yomiko Readman...I'll post a pic up tomorrow for comparison's sake. I see the resemblance in the hair and glasses so it could just be a fluke. I've seen that Chii figure before! For the U.S. release of the manga, Tokyopop (the company) released a special box with the last volume and the figure. It is already painted and assembled, unlike this kit. Now that I know the size of the figure, I don't blame you at all! Do you like Chobits? Do you collect manga?
Yes I liked the series. But Manga has never caught my attention for some reason. Do you read manga? Have you heard of Nana, there's a pencil board that I want from the manga.
I think Chobits is one of CLAMP's strongest titles. In my opinion, it's better than their current titles, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xXxholic. They sure love giving Chii elaborate outfits heh. I have a manga collection myself and I have the first 4 volumes of NANA so far. Do you enjoy Ai Yazawa's art/the characters?
It's amazing how you know the names of all anime/manga artist. I guess I haven't really made an effort on that, but I have been a fan forever, it's kind of dumb of me not to know the names. Sort of embarassing. I don't really like Ai Yazawa's artistic style. And I agree Chobits is a very nice heart warming story. Do you like X's art?
I don't think it's particularly amazing to know the names but thanks for the compliment. Don't gloss over details like this because appreciating it (anime/manga) is enough in my opinion. Hmm...just a question, if it's not Yazawa's art that compels you to get the pencilboard, what is the reason? The potential value? Just curious here. As for X, I rather like the detailed art but sometimes the elongated arms and legs look strange.
I don't know I just realy like the board I'll post a pic, I think it's a mini board ( I really like mini boards). And yes you're totally right about the long arms and legs. Clamp tends to animate their characters like that, I wonder why. But the backgrounds and color palettes in the film are soo stunning.
That's a really nice picture of Nana Oosaki (the punk one). If you haven't read it, Nana is about two girls with the same name (but different personalities) who become roommates in the city. The long arms and legs is something artists for girls comics like to do (not all of them do it though). I guess it's to accenuate a model look. Not to nitpick CLAMP is a group of manga authors, not animators. I agree with you on the color palettes because it's not totally exaggerated and suits each title they make.
So the animators who animate cartoons for Clamp are considered typical animators? They're not part of the Company? It is a company right? Or a circle? I also really like to draw statuesque females. I don't know why but I love to draw them thin and tall, I consider a tall woman to be quite elegant. I have a doujin board of Sakura, it doesn't look like Clamp's style at all, it looks like her but drawn in a different style.
Yes, the animators are typical people at work. Most anime titles in Japan are usually based on a manga/game and an animation studio that expresses interest in producing it adapts it for television/movies/straight to video release. There will be one person in charge of producing character designs that will try to resemble the original work but at the same time is simplistic enough to animate. A problem I see for most popular titles on TV is that after covering a considerate amount of content from the original source (manga), the studio has to slow things down by producing fillers, which are episodes that do not contribute much to the main storyline. Character development may suffer and people may grow impatient with these unimportant stories. Naruto is one title that has been in filler mode for a LONG time and Bleach is currently at this stage.
In the case of CLAMP, it started off as a group of many women doing amateur comics. As years passed, the number went down to four and they began publishing professional works. They also like to experiment with styles (I think the group alternates who does the character designs). Fans who enjoy the work may create fan art, which could be the reason for the Sakura board looking different. I try to draw by mimicking but I can't seem to stick to one style!
Personally I would rather have a figure or poster than a pencilboard but to each their own. 
That's a nice picture of Ruri by the way.
There's 4 of them in the picture (Rukia, Orihime, Yoruichi, Rangiku). That's one of the main reasons why I don't bother with resin kits because I have no confidence in my painting skills. Did you make an attempt or just thought about how you would do?
If you haven't read it, Nana is about two girls with the same name (but different personalities) who become roommates in the city. The long arms and legs is something artists for girls comics like to do (not all of them do it though). I guess it's to accenuate a model look. Not to nitpick CLAMP is a group of manga authors, not animators. I agree with you on the color palettes because it's not totally exaggerated and suits each title they make.
What do you consider your most valuable merchandise(s)?