List of Series that Have Been Targets for Scams

Anything popular enough to get a good market price can be a target for a scam so know that even though the series isn't listed here, it may be in the future.For a list of official reproduction cels check out Keys' very handy list. It's a very useful and thorough page.(Thanks Keys for letting me use the link) Most fancel artists are very scrupulous at signing their names somewhere on the cel and will also raise a fuss if and when they see one of their cels for sale as production. But don't just rely on them. If you know of a series that is not listed here, please e-mail me. Thanks!
 

• Ah My Goddess -- This is a very tricky case. Several years back, AIC (AMG's studio) printed the lines of a bunch of cels from the series in order to test new painters. AIC sold many of these in the 90s at AnimeExpo in order to promote the series. Now these cels are on the market (both in the US and Japan) and are passed off as actual production cels -- although the seller may be just as clueless as the buyer about authenticity. These aren't technically "fan cels" nor are they "repros." Marcus used the term "test cel" which seems to fit best. Also according to Yann Stettler, none of these cels were kept track of by the studio so there's no official list anywhere! The best thing you can do in this case, is to ask somebody on one of the cels forums and look very closely at the cels' paint job and colors. There you might be able to detect irregularities.(thanks to Marcus for much of this information who says he got his information from Yann -- so now everybody pass it on!)
• Dragonball -- Fortunately a lot of the fancels I've seen for sale, have been easy to spot as such but I'm not looking that hard. The biggest tip-off to a fancel for Toei cels in general, is if there is absolutely no fading whatsoever on the trace lines...I'd be very suspicious of those unless the seller is particularly reputable and can trace the cel's history.
• Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli -- Lots of professionally looking fancels make it to the market somehow -- including the infamous Nausicaa cel.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion --  Gainex didn't release the cels for this series officially and has only put out repros (both hand-painted and machine made). There are some production cels that have made it out to the market, however.
• Sailormoon -- I've seen several repro cels of the more expensive bank scenes as well as portrait shots. These have been passed off as production cels.

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Last Updated: June 16, 2002