Once again I begin to collect cels from a series that no one has ever seen or heard of. ^_^ More cels for me! Karakurikiden Hiwou Senki was an interesting series with a historical bent. Set in the time leading up to the Meiji restoration, it follows the travels of a group of kids. These kids were from a village of people who for many generations had made karakuri - clockwork devices. After they begin traveling to find Hiwou's dad, the kids find themselves getting caught up with some of the most important people and events of that turbulent time. This is Hiwou, the main character. He's a really upbeat and cheerful kid most of the time, and the one thing he loves above all else is making and fixing clockwork devices. He hates killing, hates the war, and doesn't want to allow himself or his family to be used by either side.

This is a fantastic group shot of almost all the main characters. Starting from left, the tall kid is Hiwou's brother Sai, the oldest and most responsible. In front of him is Shishi, Hiwou's best friend. Next to Shishi in the green kimono is Yuki. Likewise, in the red kimono is Hana, Yuki's sister. The two of them were not from the village, but they ended up travelling with our heroes for a large part of the show. The girl holding the baby is Mayu, the only girl in Hiwou's family and the mother-figure, and the baby is Joubu, Hiwou's baby brother. The short kid standing between Mayu and Hana is Tetsu, Hiwou's younger brother. The kid that is hard to see behind Hana is Hiwou himself. And the girl on the far right is Machi, Hiwou's other best friend.

There's one more character in the cel above, but he's completely hidden behind Mayu and Yuki. He calls himself Saitani, a friend of Hiwou's dad. But in truth, he's actually Sakamoto Ryoma, a real-life hero of the Meiji Restoration. The cel is completely stuck to the others, but here's the douga so you can see what it looks like under there.

This is from a scene where Hiwou and Shishi were trying to break into the castle through the water system to rescue Hana-chan, with the help of a certain ninja named Hattori. ^_^

The object of the quest! When they finally found Hiwou's dad, they found a lot more than they expected to, to say the least.

This is supposed to be upside-down. This is Arashi, one of the leaders of the bad-guy ninjas who are after Hiwou's giant clockwork robot. This is a really spiffy cel of him in a karakuri body that transformed into this spider-like form.

Just a nice cel of Hiwou and Sai. I really liked Sai - he was always the responsible one, looking after the other kids, always having to apologize for them. Poor kid had a heck of a time looking after them all.

Cute cel of Tetsu.

Machi grabbed Tetsu by the hand and dragged him along. There was another cel at the store with Machi holding Tetsu's hand - without the rest of his body! Spoooky...

This is a really nice cel with an original background. This is from very near the end of the series - you can tell by Hana's outfit. Homura is the giant transforming clockwork robot she's standing on. Sometimes he looks like a large festival parade wagon - when he transforms he turns into a giant humanoid robot. The background is uncropped, but I only scanned to the edges of the cel.

Nice cel of injured Arashi.

How can you resist a cute ninja boy? Especially one named Hattori Hanzou? (Probably supposed to be a decendant of the original, not 100% sure since it's been a while since I watched the series).

Another cute Hattori cel, probably from the same scene as the cel below.

This is a lovely cel of the main group in Homura. The guy facing backward is obviously Hattori, and the rest, from left to right, are Saitani (Ryouma), Shishi, Yuki, Hana, Hiwou, and Sai. Once again, the background is larger than my scanner, and I didn't bother to scan twice. This cel is a multi-layer, complex book cel. The first background is the mountain in the distance. In front of that painted on a cel is a foreground layer of trees on the left side. In front of that is a second background of the wooden floor, rails, and the roof. The characters are then on the front layers. It's pretty impressive. I'm also happy I got a cel where you can actually see Ryouma.

That's Ryouma on the right. Not sure about the other guy. The little wind-up doll either belonged to Shishi or Hiwou, not sure which without rewatching the show.

It's the elephant! The elephant episode was silly! This goofy cel includes Sai, Mayu, and a toppled Homura. And an elephant. Or at least its leg. The ground is painted on background stock.

This is kind of cool. Those wooden contraptions that Sai has are the wind-up mechanisms that power Homura. When they wind down, the giant wooden robot stops. It takes forever for them to rewind them all, but it's necessary to keep it moving.

Hiwou and Shishi are falling!

Same sequence as the cel above. Since Homura was meant to be used by a full-grown man, Hiwou has to stand on Shishi's shoulders in order to work the controls.

Homura looks to be a little tied up right now. It's a really beautifully designed transforming mech.

Using built up static charge, Homura is able to use a special electrostatic weapon in fights.

Hiwou's kind of got that "deer caught in the headlights" look.

Machi with the bird. I can't remember the bird's name, but I just usually refer to it as "that d*mn annoying bird" anyway.

This is from one of the cutest, sweetest parts of the series. Tetsu and ??. It's so sweet! I love it!

I'm not sure what scene this is from.

This is a great cel of Ryouma. It looks almost like his statue. ;)

A good cel of Arashi's father.

I think this is the karakuri doll given to Hana-chan towards the end of the series.

Ryouma fighting.