Back in January we published a list of the highest selling manga zasshi over the course of the past year as a primer for what this burgeoning collecting hobby looked like at the time and since that article several major sales have occurred. Out of nowhere the hobby has seemed to explode, with classic issues containing major first chapters and character appearances or even just cool looking covers spiking in demand on platforms like Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari.
The first appearance of Dragon Ball in Weekly Shonen Jump 1984's issue 51 is easily one of (if not the) most desirable collectibles in the hobby, and in just the past couple days it has broken the record for highest public sale twice. At the start of the year the record had been set by a different copy of this same issue, sold in March 2025 via Mandarake for ¥3,800,000. Over the weekend this issue marked 2 separate sales breaking ¥4,000,000 each.
The first copy ended on Saturday, March 7th with 400 bids and an ending price of ¥4,101,000. One could attribute this ending price to the overall condition of the magazine, but then the next sale which just ended about an hour ago as of writing would dispell that idea somewhat.
Ending at a whopping ¥4,601,000 this second copy presents very nicely, but has a tear on the front cover which would otherwise be a major mark against it to most collectors.
While the prices are staggering to see, it's still not clear if they're going to stick or if this is just the result of a gold rush. Recent private sales of graded manga for upwards of $275,000 USD has definitely shined an even bigger spotlight on the first print and first appearance manga hobby with some seriously deep pockets coming out to play.
