Keep searching, keep hunting, keep scouring.  My 
first Nuriko cel came after FIVE, count em, FIVE 
years of searching.  And it was an OVA.  I am 
completely and utterly grateful to the collector 
that sold it to me.  He was very nice, I sent him 
a tiny email telling him my reasoning for wanting 
his cel, and he was very generous to even 
CONSIDER my offer.

You see, I lost my Nuriko a year ago when my best 
friend was killed in a car accident.  She was my 
opposite, my Nuriko.  She was stronger than she 
showed, she was kind, and the best friend I could 
have ever asked for.  Like Nuriko (who most knew 
was going to pass on in the series), Sarah was 
living the same life, I nearly lost her three 
years ago prior to her third kidney transplant, 
many say she was living on borrowed time.

  Not only did she survive through it, she was 
stronger than she ever was.  She and I shared our 
dreams together, and even though I wasn't strong, 
she was strong for me, and she always pushed me 
to be the best I could be.  I was the klutz, she 
was the hero, I was weak, she was strong, I was 
shy, she was gung-ho!  After she passed away, I 
searched for some semblance of closeure, but 
couldn't find it.  I began a crazy search for a 
Nuriko, any Nuriko cel I could find...

This May, I stumbled across a cel on ebay, and 
bid like MAD.  In the whee early hours of the 
morn, I finally got it.  It was from Ep. 33, with 
his eyes looking so contemplative, it scared me 
how much it reminded me of Sarah, it screamed 
Sarah, and it was partial closeure for me.

  Not even an hour after the auction ended, a 
girl from these same forums pleaded to me to sell 
the cel, however, I couldnt and explained my 
reasoning, that it was partial closeure for me.  
She accepted her defeat but I told her, keep 
looking, keep searching, keep scouring, because I 
had a strange feeling she would find her Nuriko 
cel soon.  Two weeks later she got a beautiful 
chest up shot of Nuriko dawning his bracelets.  
Not only that but she and I became friends.

Yes the hobby is aggravating, yes finding good 
cels of characters you like is hard, but one of 
these days, you will find one.  Just keep looking.
All the cels I have of Nuriko, they are so 
special to me, and I couldn't imagine not having 
them.  

-Karen