“Time Bokan Series: Itadakiman” (タイムボカンシリーズ イタダキマン), Seven Original Hand-Painted Production Cel-ga (“セル画”) Group, including Itadakiman / Kusaku Magota, Yan-Yan and Dasaineen, Tatsunoko Production / Fuji Television, 1983

A group of seven original hand-painted production cel-ga (“セル画”), each measuring approximately 27 x 23.5 cm, from Time Bokan Series: Itadakiman (タイムボカンシリーズ イタダキマン), produced by Tatsunoko Production and broadcast in 1983. The group comprises individually hand-painted animation cels on transparent acetate, preserved with visible registration holes, studio sequence markings, pencil guide lines, and, in several cases, red pencil paint-department colour callouts.

The group is especially appealing as a multi-cel character and sequence archive, rather than a single isolated cel. Several sheets carry matching or closely related production notation, most notably “#4 / C229”, with visible layer and sequence numbers including B2, B6, C13, and C14 END. The presence of “END” on the C14 sheet indicates the final cel of that particular layer sequence. Other cels in the group are marked A3 or carry independent production notation. Therefore, the group should be described as a seven-piece associated production group centred around the C229 sequence, it is not seven consecutively numbered frames from one uninterrupted cut.

The present group belongs to Itadakiman, the seventh entry in Tatsunoko’s celebrated Time Bokan franchise released in 1983, as the seventh work in the Time Bokan series, incorporating elements of Journey to the West and the search for sacred puzzle pieces or plates. 

The series occupies a distinctive place within Tatsunoko history. Itadakiman was a return toward a more comedy-oriented line after the more serious direction of preceding entries, with a setting inspired by Saiyūki / Journey to the West, and a central twist in which the transforming hero spends much of his time in the company of the villain-side trio. This makes the present group particularly evocative: it captures not only the transformed hero, but also the comedic interplay between Kusaku Magota, Yan-Yan, and Dasaineen.

The seven cels comprise:

1. Itadakiman / transformed Kusaku Magota action cel — a strong colour cel depicting the hero in full transformed armour, with blue, red, yellow and black costume elements, riding or positioned against a large purple mechanical form. The upper margin retains production notation, including a visible sequence marking at the upper right. This is the most visually assertive “hero” cel in the group, preserving the series’ hybrid of action-hero design and Tatsunoko mechanical comedy.

2. Yan-Yan profile cel, A3 — a clean side-profile portrait of Yan-Yan, shown with orange hair, purple costume and a composed expression. Marked “A3” at the upper right. The sheet has strong character-design appeal and functions as a crisp portrait cel of the villain-side female lead.

3. Kusaku Magota cel, #4 / C229 / C13 — a smaller-scale cel of Kusaku Magota in civilian form, with red sleeves, blue vest and determined expression. Marked “#4 / C229 / C13”. A faint unpainted guide image of another character is visible behind him, indicating layered production planning or alignment with another cel layer.

4. Kusaku Magota cel, #4 / C229 / C14 END — a related cel of Kusaku in a similar pose, marked “#4 / C229 / C14 END”. The sheet includes red pencil colour callouts and shading notes, making it one of the most technically informative pieces in the group. The “END” notation gives it particular production interest as the terminal frame of its C-layer sequence.

5. Yan-Yan and Kusaku Magota interaction cel, #4 / C229 / B6 — a two-character cel showing Yan-Yan leaning forward and pointing toward Kusaku, who appears low in the frame with an anxious or defensive expression. Marked “#4 / C229” and “B6”. This cel captures the comic dynamic central to the series: Yan-Yan’s assertive presence and Kusaku’s reactive, child-hero energy.

6. Yan-Yan and Kusaku Magota technical cel, #4 / C229 / B2 — a two-character cel marked “#4 / C229 / B2”, with extensive red pencil colour and shading instructions around Yan-Yan’s hair, face and costume. The annotations include numerous paint references and directional notes, making this a particularly desirable technical production sheet within the group. It reveals the practical working process behind the finished broadcast image.

7. Yan-Yan and Dasaineen comedy cel, A3 — a strong gag-composition cel showing Yan-Yan beside Dasaineen, the green-clad, long-nosed member of the Nisokusanmon Trio. Marked “A3” at upper right. Dasaineen is identified in character references as a member of the Nisokusanmon Trio, and his visual design corresponds closely to the green outfit, cap and exaggerated facial features seen here. This cel is especially representative of Tatsunoko’s comic-villain tradition.

What makes the group especially compelling is the way it preserves both the finished visual image and the technical architecture of cel animation. 

In this group, that production process remains unusually visible. The collector can see the practical layering logic of the sequence through the A3, B2, B6, C13, and C14 END notations; the red pencil callouts used for ink-and-paint direction; the registration holes used to align the sheets; and the ghosted underdrawing or guide outlines visible through several cels. It is not merely a group of images, but a compact archive of Tatsunoko’s early-1980s studio workflow.

For collectors of Tatsunoko Production, Time Bokan, Yoshitaka Amano-related character design, Kunio Okawara-related mechanical design, and original Japanese cel-ga, the present lot offers unusual breadth. It includes a transformed hero image, character portraiture, multi-character interaction, comedy villain material and technical colour-callout sheets. The series’ relative scarcity is also significant: Itadakiman ran to only 20 episodes, making original production material less commonly encountered than material from longer-running Time Bokan titles such as Yatterman, which Tatsunoko records as a 108-episode production. 

Provenance
Acquired in Kyoto from the same seller as a single seven-piece group; all seven cels came together in the same plastic envelope.

Condition
Overall very good for period production material of this type, with strong surviving colour and excellent display presence across the group. Please review the photographs carefully, as they show the exact items for sale.

Authenticity
This is a group of seven original period hand-painted production cel-ga (“セル画”) from Time Bokan Series: Itadakiman (タイムボカンシリーズ イタダキマン), produced by Tatsunoko Production / Fuji Television in 1983. The group includes cels of Itadakiman / Kusaku Magota, Yan-Yan, and Dasaineen, with several sheets bearing related #4 / C229 production markings. These are not reproductions, printed cels, sericels, modern replicas or digital prints. Certificate of Authenticity Included.

Age
These works date to circa 1983 and are now approximately 43 years old.