Introducing Riven . That's me.. or.. it's my pen name online, anyways. :) I've been going by Riven for about 5 years now, and I take it as naturally as I do my real name. When I go into #anime-cels on IRC NewNet, I am usually using the nick Riven or Miaka, so you may see me there, as I am hanging around the channel pretty often.

In The Beginning... I started collecting anime cels on or around Spring of 1999, when I first got into anime. Before, my only knowledge of cel collecting came from looking at Disney cels (which I have 1 of) and it completely blew me away that these awesome PRODUCTION cels were so much cheaper (and nicer) than Disney cels and the cost of collecting them. Thus I began collecting by purchasing my Allen Schezar cel from Nichibei Anime for a steal of $50. Sweet, huh?

Fushigi Yuugi cels are my ultimate weakness, I'm sure of it. Just take a glance at my little FY Cel Collection if you haven't already. ^^; I am absolutely MAD about Yuu Watase and her wonderful works, which includes Ayashi no Ceres. Though I MUCH prefer the Ayashi no Ceres manga over the anime, that doesn't keep me from collecting some it's gorgeous production art. I'm really picky about Ayashi no Ceres cels, however. I only purchase the ones that I am extremely fond of, particularly of Shuro, Ceres and Yuuhi.

My favorite characters to collect would have to be Tamahome, Miaka and Nuriko. My favorite seishi are Tamahome, Nuriko and Hotohori, however the price of Hotohori cels keeps me from collecting many cels from him, unfortunately. Nuriko is also pretty hard to get ahold of, but I love him so I do get what I can. I've had considerable good luck in the Tamahome cel department, and I'm really thrilled with a few particular cels of him that I've managed to acquire, and of the fact that I managed to get one of them signed by Hikaru Midorikawa. (Tamahome's voice actor.)

Dream Cels are the absolutely pinnacle of every cel collector's cel-collecting-life. I feel very grateful and fortunate to be able to acquire some of them. It's always a spectacle to come across a cel that you pointed out on the screen and said to yourself "I want that cel".. and then in real life, you actually find it. I've never been able to acquire an EXACT shot of a scene I want, unfortunately, but I have come very, VERY close, and the cels from those scenes that I managed to acquire are very dear to me.

Favorites? Yeah, I have some of those.. but I have so many cels that I love, it's hard to choose. So let's say I was FORCED to choose. In that case, the following are the cels I'd want to take with me to the grave.