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FRANCOIS EPIN ART & DESIGN CONSULTING

144 - Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ) Bulma and Vegeta Hand-painted cellu…
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Estimate €250 - €450
Sale commission
Description
Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ) Bulma and Vegeta Hand-painted celluloid sheet used in the production of the Dragon Ball Z anime, based on the work of Akira Toriyama (鳥山 明). Executed in ink and gouache on an original gouache background. Produced by Toei Animation 1989–1996, Japan H23.7 L27.4 cm This cell is the most technically unique piece from the Dragon Ball Z series in the Collection — and one of the most revealing of the inner workings of the Toei studio. The lot consists of two cells layered on top of one another to depict Bulma’s hair: the main cell depicts her with blonde hair — a colour she never has in the official continuity of the series — whilst an overlay in turquoise blue corrects this to restore her canonical hair colour. This double cell is most likely evidence of a colouring error that was corrected during production. In Toei’s weekly animation workflow, colourists worked under intense time pressure, with instructions that were sometimes incomplete or poorly communicated from one episode to the next. Painting Bulma’s hair blonde — possibly due to confusion with another female character in the series, or simply a failure to pass on the colour instructions correctly — resulted in a visible error on screen. The solution was to superimpose a sheet of celluloid showing only the hair in the correct colour, without having to redo the entire cell. This batch thus preserves both versions of the shot: the error and its correction, superimposed and inseparable. It is a document from the animation studio at a specific moment in its operations — not the shot as it was broadcast, but the shot as it existed before and after the decision to correct it. In collections of animation celluloids, pieces featuring a documented colouring error and its superimposed correction are of absolute documentary rarity: they exist only because they were preserved as they were, without the correction being redone on the original celluloid. Blonde Bulma and turquoise Bulma in the same lot, on the original gouache background, alongside Vegeta: three production layers combined into a single piece.
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About the sale Knights, Armour and Samurai + Animation Art Selection
Auction location
Auction time 06/28/2026 at 3:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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