First off, one of the main arguments regarding why manga grading is silly and dumb is the classic, “ manga is for reading .” How can you read it if it’s trapped in a plastic slab? I would simply ask you the exact same thing about grading a TCG card: isn't a trading card for playing? You certainly can't play your favorite Charizard once it's slabbed, right? This argument misses the entire point of collectibles. Yes, you can't read it once it's encapsulated, but you wouldn't grade a 50th print English Manga Volume 1 just like you wouldn't grade a regular common playable Pokémon card. We are preserving history, not everyday utility.
Sure, I can clearly see the argument about grading and authentication in general being a hassle due to fees and wait times, but that's a completely different debate. Grading is—and has always been—a vital way for buyers and sellers to verify the exact condition and authenticity of an item being sold. The markets routinely prove that a PSA 10 authenticated card trades at a much higher multiple than a raw card. In fact, after a certain price point, most heavy-hitting buyers absolutely won't even look at rare items unless they are slabbed and authenticated. The “I can’t read it” complaint is ridiculous. Yes, you can't read that specific vintage 1st edition copy, but most wouldn't dare risk damaging it anyway! Manga is readily available in almost any volume for extremely low prices. Especially in English, if you can't read Japanese (which are the highly sought-after 1st prints anyway), you're buying English to read. All of your manga favorites like One Piece , Dragon Ball , and Naruto can easily be purchased in cheap box sets, single volumes, or on Amazon now and well into the future. If you want to read a physical manga volume, there will always be an affordable reprint option to do so.
So, onto collectibility. Is manga actually collectible? Just to clarify, this focus is aimed entirely at 1st print editions and massively popular foundational volumes. What makes a collectible, and what makes collectors crave them? Do they hold deep significance in the IP or story? Let's focus on One Piece , since that's the manga currently making the most headlines. Would a 1st edition copy of a manga book that is the highest-selling comic of all time be valuable? What about from a time before most of the world even knew who Monkey D. Luffy was? This is an IP that dominates world news, has a hugely successful Netflix live-action series, a strong ongoing manga, and the longest-running top anime. Would the original source material that is almost 30 years old be collectible? That is obviously a resounding YES! You can apply this exact same thought process to other original works like Evangelion , Dragon Ball , Yu-Gi-Oh! , and even newer modern juggernauts like Jujutsu Kaisen . Yes, it makes total sense that high-end collectors would want to own a piece of literal, foundational history.
When comparing a high-grade Vol 1 1st print One Piece manga that is selling in the five-figure range to something from its TCG—like a highly sought-after Red Manga Luffy—it makes logical sense that the manga commands such a massive premium. If a TCG card of that IP, which was literally just printed last year, is going for such a staggeringly high amount, then the original genesis manga of that entire series logically deserves a sky-high price tag. This may be a hot take, but we firmly believe a BGS 9.8 1st print Vol 1 manga of One Piece should be worth an even higher multiple than it currently is. These vintage manga volumes are exponentially rarer in high grades compared to the pristine TCGs of today, even though TCGs currently boast a much stronger ecosystem for the cards to thrive and are much less niche than manga collectors, for now.
Let's talk about the actual price of grading mangas. When looking at the BGS price for grading manga, it's really not that bad at all. It currently sits around $30 per manga for the lowest tier. Some critics loudly argue this is a scam, but this directly mirrors the skepticism seen early on in the TCG grading world. The fact is, the service is worth the price for grading and authentication alone just to comfortably place the item on the open market. Many collectors interested in grading manga simply don't understand how incredibly hard it is to actually secure high grades on fragile, older paper items.
The new volumes of One Piece and newer modern mangas usually score an easy 9.8 high grade because they are readily available in fresh 1st printings directly off retail shelves. But the older manga volumes from the 80s to even the early 2000s are far more valuable—and rightly so—because it is tremendously hard to get a high grade on these. We actually sent in 10 vintage volumes earlier this year and received our graded order just last month. Unfortunately, our early One Piece volumes graded very poorly, landing somewhere around a 5.0 to 7.0 . We genuinely thought they looked to be in fantastic shape, but we vastly underestimated the natural discolored pages and aged wear that occurs even from being kept in good condition over the decades. Just a word of advice if you're thinking of going this route: it is extremely difficult to find authentic, raw older and rare edition mangas to send in hoping for a high grade. Most have probably already been purchased off the market and submitted by now, and we believe new submitters will discover similar harsh findings.
Because the newer editions get higher grades so easily, they are going to have a much higher overall population compared to the vintage grails. So, if you are interested in mangas—especially older vintage editions—we would strongly suggest buying the graded ones already on the market . The grade is already locked in and guaranteed, and as we've learned firsthand, the raw grading game is highly risky. We believe these high-grade older editions are still undervalued at this time. As the graded manga market grows, they will only get more valuable as people wake up and realize there are virtually no new pristine copies coming to the market. Unearthing a flawless one today would be exactly like adding a new PSA 10 Base Set 1st Edition Charizard to the overall population—it just rarely happens.
We vividly remember when graded manga first started becoming a recognized thing a couple of years back. We specifically recall high-grade One Piece Volume 1 1st prints coming to the market and being sold for around $600 to $1,800. I thought it was way too high at the time and didn't buy in. To be fair, there were literal single digits of graded manga available across the whole market at the time. But I still severely regret it , as those exact pieces have sold for 10x multiples and beyond since then. One Piece is the easiest to track because of all the current media events it has going for it, and it will continue to have massive catalysts along the way. This explosive trend is also shown in series like Jujutsu Kaisen , which has recorded massive high-grade manga sales even though the manga debuted 8 years ago. And even though the JJK manga series has officially ended, the anime adaptation is still ongoing for the next few years, bringing sustained attention to the series as a whole and showcasing the sheer power of popularity and value applied to products like graded manga.
But for strategic investment suggestions, you might want to look at solid manga series that are perhaps slightly less popular right now and maybe not dominating current events just yet. Dragon Ball is a prime example. The Dragon Ball TCG is rapidly growing in popularity, and when the hyped anime series inevitably returns, it will bring massive additional attention and fresh eyes back into the Dragon Ball vintage ecosystem.
Furthermore, there are critically important manga staples that don't have any series currently in the works or in today's mainstream media spotlight. These are priced very low comparably to their immense historical value and could be fantastic strategic pickups. The future value would most likely depend heavily on future catalysts like a rebooted series or new media adaptations. We are talking about legendary works such as Evangelion , Berserk , Hunter x Hunter , and Inuyasha . These 1st prints will most likely be exceedingly rare in high grades, yet they currently go for much lower prices than One Piece or Jujutsu Kaisen simply due to lacking immediate modern media relevance.
Overall, we believe graded manga is niche right now, but it will inevitably continue to grow as more slabs slowly enter the market. There needs to be a higher volume of buying and selling to really solidify its permanent spot in the collector marketplace. The modern manga early volume 1st prints with 9.8 grades will become the main standard since there will be plenty available, but the true undisputed leaders of the hobby will be the early-year 1st print first volumes with high grades. Those are the headliners and the true diamonds in the rough. The sheer lack of availability alone shows how rare these pieces will be as their individual IPs grow and the Western audience continues to boom in anime popularity. The TCG market heavily echoes this exact sentiment, as we've seen with the massive boom of the Pokémon TCG , followed rapidly by One Piece , the growing popularity of the Gundam and Dragon Ball TCGs, and the highly anticipated release of Naruto . The audience clearly wants more, and the skyrocketing sales verify this completely.