Kurei's Loyal Uruha Cels

Hrm. The title of this page didn't quite turn out the way I meant it to, but I can't complain (*drifts off into imagining Raiha being loyal to her, suffers a heart attack, resumes work after a stint in the hospital*). Eventually in the manga a group of individuals who have always been loyal to Kurei semi-forms. They are at least semi-considered to be his Ura Uruha. These worthy individuals are Raiha, Neon, Joker, and Jisho (while he's around), with an annexation via Neon of Aki and Miki. The main ulterior motive behind this grouping is that Kurei, Raiha, Neon, and Joker are all amongst my top favourite characters in the story. Most of Kurei's loyals are Jyuushinshu, but I didn't want to wind up sticking the likes of Mikoto in the same section as Raiha and Neon. Poor Jisho isn't around long enough as a human to be part of the formal grouping in the Tendojigoku stretch of the story, but he is still with them through Kurei.

Next up: At least one more Raiha, maybe a Kurei. Most of the Neon, Aki, and Miki I'll be scanning will fall under fight groupings but there will be some for this page.

Episode #: 25: Shock!! Lightning Quick Conclusion!! Stats: 1 layer, A7 Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck Comments: Raiha, while watching the Koganei Vs. Shiju fight with Kurei, suddenly realizes he's left his precious Fuuko in the water pit for quite some time. Oops! Oh how I love this cel. It's one of my absolute treasures. So of course the colouring turned out blotchy in the scan. Wah! I'll try it again at a higher resolution very soon. This cel would be a little over halfway through the sequence (he's turning his head while gaping).

Episode #: 32: Invisible Enemy/Battle Against Fear!! Stats: 2 layers, B6 KEY END + FX/outline Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck, + 2 layout sketches Background: Matching, unstuck Comments: Eeeeeee, yes, I came up with a Jisho cel despite the odds. And such a nice one it is! He's having a bit of trouble here, getting zapped by Magensha's Houmashin at the Ura Buto Satsujin. SPOILER! Ok, so he's actually having more than a little trouble. He's about to disintegrate flesh-first, and then entirely, from being shot by it. Since Jisho barely appears in the anime his death was largely unnoted (only Mikagami and Kage were there to gasp about Uruha Kurogane's captain being killed so easily). In the manga, Neon and Raiha both at least bother to have issues with Magensha over it. Kurei keeps Jisho with him, as flame, by using Phoenix (same way Kurenai became flame) and heavily uses him against Recca in the final round (not in the anime). It's one of the reasons Joker has for pointing out to Kurei's other friends that he really does care no matter how he acts.

	Episode #: 41: Round Two!! Recca Vs. Kurei!! Stats: 1 layer, A4 KEY Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck Comments: And a nice Joker action moment, even showing a little of his perpetual good humour. As noted below on my older Joker cel, he's pretty much left out of the anime. Grr! SPOILERISH! Here he's in his very very brief skirmish with Koganei (a full fight in the manga) before he walks away from it under the pretext of wanting Kurei to be able to fight Recca. Had Joker won, the Ura Buto Satsujin would have been over with Uruha Kurenai being the victors. Poor anime-only viewers will never know how absolutely cool Joker is.
	Episode #: 31: Cursed Fire/Kurenai's Past!! Stats: 1 layer, B2 KEY Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck Comments: Neon's sisters, Miki and Aki, tearfully hug her, relieved that she didn't succeed in killing herself along with everyone else (but them) around her. On a technical level this isn't the greatest cel ever, but on a character and story level it is a lovely one.
	Episode #: (30 or 31) Stats: 1 layer, A2 Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck Comments: Neon
	Episode #: 41: Round Two!! Recca Vs. Kurei!! Stats: 1 layer, D8 Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck Comments: Joker turns his back on the fight with Koganei, because the animation studio was short on funds. So we didn't get to see the 6th form of the Kougan Anki animated. Read the manga! It's a shame that Joker was so hideously under-used in the anime.

Flame of Recca Cels | Cels Index