Episodes 25-26:
Mikagami Vs Mokuren Cels

Series: Flame of Recca

All of these cels are in the order that they appeared on screen, so this can work as a partial recap of the fight. Hopefully I will extend the boundaries eventually by coming up with new first and last cels (I do actually have cels from earlier in the fight to add, and will get around to scanning them soon). I would love one of the last cels to become one of Mikagami chopping the jerk. I would also like the pan cel of Mokuren's branches reaching out to Koganei to become one of the earlier ones. Who knows, maybe I can find those cels one of these years.

Why do I have so many cels from this battle? Well... I absolutely love Mikagami, I absolutely loathe Mokuren (though at least he's still a cute little girl scout next to Mori), and I care immensely about Koganei, so all of that makes it a good one for me. It's not my favourite fight in the series, though.

There are only two episodes, 25 and 26, that can fall into this section (and Mikagami only fights in 26). I'll ID them nonetheless. Might's well. But I'll put the titles here, to avoid pasting them over and over. So far I don't have any cels up from 25, but I will be rectifying that during the next scanning session. At the least, I have one of Koganei gawking while Mokuren claims he doesn't want to fight him.

SPOILER TEXT! Best not to read the text if you don't want to know any details of this fight's progress.

All of these cels occur during A Block's second round of the Ura Buto Satsujin, within these episodes:
Episode 25: Shock!! Lightning Quick Conclusion!!
Episode 26: Mokuren Revived!! Menace of the Human Tree!!

Episode #: 26
Stats: 2 layers, A1/B1 KEY
Sketches: 2 matching, unstuck
Comments: Ganko and Kondo. As Koganei is being sucked into Mokuren, Ganko (squeezing poor little Kondo a bit too hard) says with much worry "What's going on? I knew Mokuren was a freak, but I didn't know he could turn into that." (the latter remark is in reference to him having become a tree).
Episode #: 26
Stats: 3 layers, stuck, A1/B10/C3 (all) KEY END
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Koganei accepts defeat after being suckered and pulled most of the way into Mokuren, telling the others that he was sloppy but he believes in them. Seconds after this, he is sucked the rest of the way into the jerk. This image fills the entire screen, no room for a background.
Episode #: 26
Stats: 2 layers, A1 KEY/FX
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: After poor Koganei was pulled inside of the disgusting Mokuren, Mikagami stepped in to prevent Recca from quickly handling the situation. *phew* This cel is from the moment Recca realizes what would have happened if Mikagami had not made him fall aside for being a twit. He pictures Mokuren burning, with Koganei burning inside him as well (hence the red face and agonised scream). There would be another layer of flames on top of these ones. The details in the sketch are nicely intricate, so I'm including it.
Sketch
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A17 KEY END
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Mikagami takes a few last whacks at cutting the constantly regenerating Mokuren. After this is another regeneration moment, then Mokuren laughing, and then the eyecatch. After the commercial break, Mikagami switches to the method he's using in the two cels below this one. Mikagami's tiny in this cel, but he's adorable and both my daughter and I love this one.
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A4 KEY
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: When Mokuren's branches first come down at Mikagami after he's come up with his plan for dealing with the regenerative ability. He dodges this one, and then begins chopping again. The next three cels are part of the same sequence. You can see how many frames apart each are by looking at the sequence numbers. Aside from the last one, I seem to have an even number theme going. I scanned the sketch because it looked nice, but unfortunately the shading that made it look nice chose not to scan. Hmph.
Sketch
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A6 KEY
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Mikagami is still dodging in this first part of the freezing sequence. He would begin cutting in the next cel, which I sadly (?) don't have. Doesn't he have a cute sneer in this one?
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A8 KEY
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: This is when Mikagami first begins freezing Mokuren's limb tips upon cutting them off. He seems to be wasting time and energy by uselessly hacking away, but that is not at all the case.
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A9 KEY END
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Still hacking and freezing! I love the way Ensui looks folded in half! This one is at the end of the sequence, as you can tell by the number, and cuts into Fujimaru complaining that Mikagami's just doing the same thing over and over while Saicho informs him that he's wrong and should look closer. There is some line fading and paint loss, but I love this one anyway. It's considerably more gorgeous than the lousy scan reveals. Hrm. Perhaps I should find cels from other sequences at this point?
Episode #: 26
Stats: 1 layer, A5
Sketches: 1 matching, stuck
Comments: Mikagami is kind enough to let Mokuren feel a sense of accomplishment through slapping him around for a while. Oh, ok, so that wasn't the reason. It's not like Mikagami would do anything out of kindness, though he did let people gullibly believe for a while that he was doing it out of consideration for Koganei. The real reason... will be noted if I ever find a cel from the moment. Gotta love a prettyboy who doesn't throw a fit over getting his lovely face battered, ne? This, btw, is the first slap of the scene.

Flame of Recca Cels | Cels Index