Finally the combination of losing several Raphael cels on Yahoo Japan, coming into a small windfall of money, and seeing this particular cel go on sale caused me to break down and shell out. Somehow it's still one of my most expensive Raphael cels to date.

Well, I guess it's a good thing that I have such a close-up of Raph's eye, (He has such gorgeous eyes, doesn't he? Usually I'm not a big fan of red eyes, but his are really quite lovely) since alot of my Raphael cels feature him with closed eyes. It all balances out, see?

I actually scanned the cel in upside down since I much prefer it that way. It comes from episode 15; Mikael is suspicious of Muse who has invited herself over to Yuusuke's home. He's peering at the house through the telescope when Raphael slides down (upside down!) in front of him. Here is a screengrab of the scene.

Oddly, instead of having one cel slide across the telescope the animators made many cels of Raphael's head, each one centered slightly differently as the telescope lens pans across it. Here is a scan of the cel right side up, which is rather upside down. You can see one of Raphael's awe-inspiring powers here-- the ability to hang upside down with nary a hair out of place! That must be some strong hair spray he uses!

*the lights go on* Must be crazy glue.

Now, now, Mikael, just because you were sniffing it doesn't mean that I would put it in my hair...

What?!

Although now that you mention it... *the lights go off*

The paint nearly covers the entire layer of the cel even though only a small part of it would show up on the screen, My cel is the A-6. I wonder if the telescope opening is an actual layer or just a computer effect? This is also one of the few cels that scanned in properly.