I think this is a both yes and no answer. Yes: beacause people will break an arm and leg for an older series that's out of print. I've seen people sell them for big prices and people buy them cause it's worth it. No : because tons of people will also have the same collection as you and it won't be worth to sell it.i mean people dont really like buying things second hand if you can just buy it for $12.00 in store or online. I cant speak on what it would be like 50 years from now but I'm 50/50 on this topic. I love collecting mangas it's fun; use to collect pokemon cards but stopped, so this was a fun alternative.
Just had a thought; If you wanna be a JERK and a menace to society it's a ' okay ' investment short term. I'm talking about scammers who buy popular main stream mangas just to sell them for a higher price cause people can get desperate. For example JJK; it's a ' meh ' short term investment cause these people take advantage of desperate people...long term though? Nah. Some people are willing to wait months for reprints, so yea
I don't collect nor buy to sell , the titles are once that i like and wanna read. Since west manga fans are mostly broke like i am , looking at prices and titles that i rarely see - i wanna buy as fast as possible before they sell them and then i won't be able to find them. My unemployment doesn't help but i do what i can. I don't see manga buying as a business Investment. Get it if you enjoy it not just because it's there. Good topic ECM.
mangas definitely not a good investment, but god it's a very fun and rewarding thing to pick up volumes of your favorite series and display them and read it all. If you're collecting manga for profit, your out of a luck, but if it's a passion and hobby that makes you happy, it's well worth collecting and spending on, (responsibly of course).
I think most manga can lose it's value very easily if you're looking to resell, some series become more expensive but it's not as common as a series losing value. that being said, compared to regular books, they hold their value way better XD and yeah like you said anime and manga are way more mainstream than they were even 5 years ago and thats definitely a driving for it's price going up or maintaining after it's gone oop rather than in the past where it'd typically go down.
Well, I collect manga for like 3 years now , the single thing that pisses me off is Brexit... I m living in Eu and after the Brexit and Covid took place , all the vols I was buying went a lot higher in price and a lot of series are unavailable rn , all the boxsets are like 30% more expensive then they were before and a lot of sites stopped shipping manga here...
Manga can simply just be a hobby or an investment strategy to fund your hobby. I’m huge proponent of your hobby must fund itself. If you find a gem, buy it and flip. If you have a series you didn’t love, sell it for money to buy new manga. I definitely wouldn’t ditch your FA or robin hood account for manga investing. We are in a bubble and it will burst once the pandemic is over. Majority of hobbies are not a good investment outside of flipping cards.
Whenever it's a good investment or not, it depends on everyone's situation. I'm in college and all the manga I buy is from spare money, left after I get all the necessities I need. But I do read scans, too. If I wanna read a manga / manhwa series and it's licensed in English, physically and around here, I buy it, if not, I read online. I prefer having the book rather then reading online and it's also a way to support the industry. Sure it's an expensive hobby but as long as you can afford it without spending money you might of needed for something else, and as long as it makes you happy, then go for it. I doubt it can be an investment, but knowing how some buy out of print and sell them for crazy, it's possible but I wouldn't recommend it. There's so much more to invest in, rather then that.
I have been collecting manga for about 3 years now, and I can say that manga can be either a good investment or a horrible one depending on your circumstances and how you play things. I'm still going to college and only get money through helping my family around the house, so buying physical manga for me is a challenge. If I do buy at all, it's usually series that I love and would go back to multiple times. Most of my manga is read either on Shonen Jump or scan sites, mainly because those are the cheapest and most convenient ways for me to go. Two problems with scans are that the translations can be really bad, or that they're not available for every series. I love Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin, and I just bought volumes 4 and 5 on sale. I remember kicking myself for making that kind of financial decision, especially with everything else I had going on. I don't care for losing value on manga as much as it is more me being preferably a physical reader. With how toxic parts of the community can get on this discussion, everything said here couldn't be more valid.
I own the full Higurashi set, and i find it interesting how lot of people were commenting how lucky I am with those. I didn't know they were oop until recently cuz i bought them in 2017 when they were in print. It's kind of crazy how manga u buy can suddenly become oop and rare. now i could sell them for several times the amount i bought them for xD (I wouldn't though, my fav series!!).
really agreed with everything you said 🗣 that was a great video lol a lot of people aren’t thinking about how everyone’s going back to work/school now so things might change
I like how you bring up how many people started collecting during the pandemic. Such an interesting thing we all collectively did. I myself like anime before but got Interested in reading it during The beginning of Covid. Perhaps was the sense of Community singe we were isolated for a while. Reading and talking to others about it was fun
I agree, any return you can make selling manga is marginal compared to other investments especially long term when you take compound interest into consideration. Instead I like to use my return from other investments to pay for my collecting hobby.
Investment? No. Worth it? For me, yes. Manga and anime have been an escape from crappy circumstances. I started buying manga in 2003. I stopped for stupid personal reason and sold half my collection. I regret that so much. I started buying again around the time you mentioned, during lock down. It’s been so great for my mental health during this time.
Depends on the series but typically yes. I know a bunch of oop series that go for $5 a volume or less though because they aren't super popular or wet known.
Personally I don’t think people should go in expecting to buy and resell manga down the line but for someone like me who’s getting into collecting if I have a series that has gone up in value a lot years from now I’d sell it if I don’t like the series that much. But my intention is just collecting manga I love and want to own not to sell.
Not a good "investment" in my opinion, but collecting is a fun hobby! I read widely but I only purchase physical volumes for my absolute favourite series (and even then I wouldn't bother collecting a series as long as One Piece even though I love it)
I don't think it's a good investment either. Maxing out a Roth IRA every year in a low-cost index fund is probably a much better idea. As someone who isn't planning on flipping them, I put it as part of my budget every month and pick up my favorite series to support the mangaka and publisher...and may have overpaid a bit on a copy of Chainsaw Man Vol. 1 due to being impatient for reprints lol.
I had similar thoughts but in a different vain. I think we had a sort-of-gold rush into manga collecting, but I am assuming it is ganna die down, considering the amount of people doing it for bandwagoning or FOMO. But I could be wrong. I saw those videos with $$1000 price tags on haul, and my jaws drop. If they got money like that more power to them, but I would not consider manga an investment. I love it to death thou. Anyways nice video
I kind of got lucky with Ultimo as I collected it as it released starting in 7th grade. It was a manga you could find in a bargain bin for a dollar sometimes and now it's OOP and just spiked. Not that I'll sell my set but really cool to see them appreciate. I sold my rare DS collection to fund my manga collection this last month. I'd say games are probably a better investment lol I have flipped some stuff though like Rosario Vampire and Claymore box set a few times which are constantly OoS so sometimes I do see it as an investment.
Yeah Im not rich nor poor just middle of this 2 sides.. And I only can afford 2 manga a month or even just 1 so I really need this kind of video very helpful
I think you make a lot of really great points and after 13 years of collecting I agree that manga is a terrible investment. Manga is only worth as much as people are willing to pay and I think that series that lack a major following will bottom out and series with a major following will also bottom out if there are too many editions or printings of the series. Only series with a major following and very few printings will hold value which isn't the majority of manga. Think about what the Berserk re-print did to the value of Berserk or how the old Tokyo Pop series hold little value outside of Fruits Baskets and Battle Royale. Shaman King is still worth money for the singles but most people won't be after those no becuase of the new edition so the value will either remain stagnate or will decrease. What people have forgotten is that it's the collectors that set the price of the manga, not the sellers. The only reason a lot of the series hold value right now is becuase the publisher's can't keep up with the demand and becuase people think that they will hold long term value. I think your recommendation is a good one; I personally only buy what I like and it's what I recommend to everyone. If I like a series it doesn't matter to me if it goes up in value or not and even if everything goes oop as time goes on I will own the series that were the most important to me to own leaving me with little to regret. I sadly was unable to collect Jormungand back in the day but I don't regret choosing to collect series like Voice Over or Kamisama Kiss instead since if it was the other way around I'd be far more upset not to own those. Great video, I really enjoy topics like this and I can't wait for the second one to drop!
no its not a good investment lol but at least it holds value so if you buy it you can at least sell it back for what you bought it at or like 20% less so its good as a hobby. It could be good for flipping rare series but not investing, just buy stocks, crypto or real estate if you want to invest, buy manga for fun that you like to collect and if you made money wee thats a plus
My sister has her early 00's Lady Oscar manga she call her "retirement money" as a joke... but other than that, I never saw my collection as an investment, and I've been collecting for a very long time. Pretty sure there's some stuff I could sell at a good price, but I really don't want to part with any of my manga.
The vast majority of manga is produced in mass quantity and will never be worth thousands. Sure you'll have some OOP series but the majority will decrease in value over time. My vol 1 of Naruto is not gonna be worth hundreds of dollars or anything in the future. You wanna invest? Put that money into stocks, a 401k, Real Estate fuckin anything besides manga. Buying and reading manga should be a hobby not an investment.
Lest be honest. East caught us red handed when he said that we read manga during online school. 😂
LMAOOOO
Fr I was like 👀
I really don’t see buying manga as a investment but love collecting as a hobby
Agreed!
It's not necessarily a "'good investment" but honestly, if you enjoy it and you're not struggling to buy more important things, go for it lol
I think the weight is on the word "investment" - money investment.
100% a great hobby
Me: wanting to start a manga collection
My wallet: NOOOOOOO
my wallet already dead after 2 months
@@MarcoGarcia-pl6mf same bruh those first few months deadly because you have all the manga you’ve been wanting your whole life to get
amazing!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔝
I think this is a both yes and no answer.
Yes: beacause people will break an arm and leg for an older series that's out of print.
I've seen people sell them for big prices and people buy them cause it's worth it.
No : because tons of people will also have the same collection as you and it won't be worth to sell it.i mean people dont really like buying things second hand if you can just buy it for $12.00 in store or online.
I cant speak on what it would be like 50 years from now but I'm 50/50 on this topic.
I love collecting mangas it's fun; use to collect pokemon cards but stopped, so this was a fun alternative.
Just had a thought;
If you wanna be a JERK and a menace to society it's a ' okay ' investment short term.
I'm talking about scammers who buy popular main stream mangas just to sell them for a higher price cause people can get desperate. For example JJK; it's a ' meh ' short term investment cause these people take advantage of desperate people...long term though? Nah.
Some people are willing to wait months for reprints, so yea
I don't collect nor buy to sell , the titles are once that i like and wanna read. Since west manga fans are mostly broke like i am , looking at prices and titles that i rarely see - i wanna buy as fast as possible before they sell them and then i won't be able to find them. My unemployment doesn't help but i do what i can. I don't see manga buying as a business Investment. Get it if you enjoy it not just because it's there. Good topic ECM.
What do you guys think?? I love collecting but idk about as an investment
Well is any entertainment a good investment? If you enjoy it then it’s a great investment IMO
i pretty much agree with everything you said. If you want want to buy manga do it because you want to not for investment.
Honestly with anything. Comics, funkos, ect. Unless it's a limited exclusive things probably won't go up.
mangas definitely not a good investment, but god it's a very fun and rewarding thing to pick up volumes of your favorite series and display them and read it all. If you're collecting manga for profit, your out of a luck, but if it's a passion and hobby that makes you happy, it's well worth collecting and spending on, (responsibly of course).
I read scans mainly but I buy the series I love in paperback
Ditto, I read online, and only get my favorite books. 😊
That's a good way to support the industry and reducing the risk that you're not gonna like it and have to sell it.
I respect it. You're still doing more than the average scan reader to help support the industry
No. It’s not a good investment. However, it is freaking fun!
YES!
I think most manga can lose it's value very easily if you're looking to resell, some series become more expensive but it's not as common as a series losing value. that being said, compared to regular books, they hold their value way better XD and yeah like you said anime and manga are way more mainstream than they were even 5 years ago and thats definitely a driving for it's price going up or maintaining after it's gone oop rather than in the past where it'd typically go down.
Well, I collect manga for like 3 years now , the single thing that pisses me off is Brexit... I m living in Eu and after the Brexit and Covid took place , all the vols I was buying went a lot higher in price and a lot of series are unavailable rn , all the boxsets are like 30% more expensive then they were before and a lot of sites stopped shipping manga here...
Manga can simply just be a hobby or an investment strategy to fund your hobby. I’m huge proponent of your hobby must fund itself. If you find a gem, buy it and flip. If you have a series you didn’t love, sell it for money to buy new manga. I definitely wouldn’t ditch your FA or robin hood account for manga investing. We are in a bubble and it will burst once the pandemic is over. Majority of hobbies are not a good investment outside of flipping cards.
Whenever it's a good investment or not, it depends on everyone's situation. I'm in college and all the manga I buy is from spare money, left after I get all the necessities I need. But I do read scans, too. If I wanna read a manga / manhwa series and it's licensed in English, physically and around here, I buy it, if not, I read online. I prefer having the book rather then reading online and it's also a way to support the industry. Sure it's an expensive hobby but as long as you can afford it without spending money you might of needed for something else, and as long as it makes you happy, then go for it. I doubt it can be an investment, but knowing how some buy out of print and sell them for crazy, it's possible but I wouldn't recommend it. There's so much more to invest in, rather then that.
I love how you did the quick answer
I know how a portion of youtube audiences work lol
I have been collecting manga for about 3 years now, and I can say that manga can be either a good investment or a horrible one depending on your circumstances and how you play things.
I'm still going to college and only get money through helping my family around the house, so buying physical manga for me is a challenge. If I do buy at all, it's usually series that I love and would go back to multiple times. Most of my manga is read either on Shonen Jump or scan sites, mainly because those are the cheapest and most convenient ways for me to go. Two problems with scans are that the translations can be really bad, or that they're not available for every series.
I love Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin, and I just bought volumes 4 and 5 on sale. I remember kicking myself for making that kind of financial decision, especially with everything else I had going on. I don't care for losing value on manga as much as it is more me being preferably a physical reader.
With how toxic parts of the community can get on this discussion, everything said here couldn't be more valid.
I own the full Higurashi set, and i find it interesting how lot of people were commenting how lucky I am with those. I didn't know they were oop until recently cuz i bought them in 2017 when they were in print. It's kind of crazy how manga u buy can suddenly become oop and rare. now i could sell them for several times the amount i bought them for xD (I wouldn't though, my fav series!!).
Yea that series is one of the more wild priced ones right now lol
@@EastCoastManga apparently it sold poorly too, so im guessing it's more scarce to get them as well
All I got is the three big works from Urasawa when it comes to manga 🤷🏻♂️
really agreed with everything you said 🗣 that was a great video lol a lot of people aren’t thinking about how everyone’s going back to work/school now so things might change
Everything from manga reading, to the market, to youtube
"there are titles saying I spent my whole stimulus check on manga"
*Dark Sage breathes heavily*
Hey nothing wrong with the spending. Also Chase I know doesn't see it as a long term investment lol he's getting what he wants to read.
I like how you bring up how many people started collecting during the pandemic. Such an interesting thing we all collectively did. I myself like anime before but got Interested in reading it during The beginning of Covid. Perhaps was the sense of Community singe we were isolated for a while. Reading and talking to others about it was fun
I agree, any return you can make selling manga is marginal compared to other investments especially long term when you take compound interest into consideration. Instead I like to use my return from other investments to pay for my collecting hobby.
Yes! I agree lol I think people should just see it as a hobby personally unless you are specifically in the business of selling manga lol
Investment? No. Worth it? For me, yes. Manga and anime have been an escape from crappy circumstances. I started buying manga in 2003. I stopped for stupid personal reason and sold half my collection. I regret that so much. I started buying again around the time you mentioned, during lock down. It’s been so great for my mental health during this time.
100% worth it! Just not to be seen as an investment in my opinion
it depends on the person, i only buy manga if i like the series but never think of itn as an investment
Out of print manga will alway be above normal price but I collect to keep and not sell
Depends on the series but typically yes. I know a bunch of oop series that go for $5 a volume or less though because they aren't super popular or wet known.
Before I even watch id say NO IT IS NOT. But if it gains value or has some thats a have a cake and eat it too situation!
100%
It’s obvious it isn’t a good investment given you could pay like $10 in total for multiple apps that’ll give you hundreds of manga to read
Or pay nothing and read illegally. Which I dont promote but of course we have to be aware of.
What apps I only have shounen
Personally I don’t think people should go in expecting to buy and resell manga down the line but for someone like me who’s getting into collecting if I have a series that has gone up in value a lot years from now I’d sell it if I don’t like the series that much. But my intention is just collecting manga I love and want to own not to sell.
Lollll, when I’m on my zoom class I read manga in all the time in my classes😂😂😂
lmaoooo I think alot of people do
Not a good "investment" in my opinion, but collecting is a fun hobby! I read widely but I only purchase physical volumes for my absolute favourite series (and even then I wouldn't bother collecting a series as long as One Piece even though I love it)
I'm waiting for someone to buy that Inuyasha singles set on ebay for $15k.
So you telling me I won’t make a profit on these battle royale singles I bought for $850??
definitely not
That's a lot oof
LOL
I don't think it's a good investment either. Maxing out a Roth IRA every year in a low-cost index fund is probably a much better idea. As someone who isn't planning on flipping them, I put it as part of my budget every month and pick up my favorite series to support the mangaka and publisher...and may have overpaid a bit on a copy of Chainsaw Man Vol. 1 due to being impatient for reprints lol.
Agreed!
I had similar thoughts but in a different vain. I think we had a sort-of-gold rush into manga collecting, but I am assuming it is ganna die down, considering the amount of people doing it for bandwagoning or FOMO. But I could be wrong. I saw those videos with $$1000 price tags on haul, and my jaws drop. If they got money like that more power to them, but I would not consider manga an investment. I love it to death thou. Anyways nice video
No problem with the spending just wanted to share my opinion on anyone who thinks they may be future investments haha
Facts, facts East. So many series in Australia skyrocketed in price it's insane
I kind of got lucky with Ultimo as I collected it as it released starting in 7th grade. It was a manga you could find in a bargain bin for a dollar sometimes and now it's OOP and just spiked. Not that I'll sell my set but really cool to see them appreciate.
I sold my rare DS collection to fund my manga collection this last month. I'd say games are probably a better investment lol
I have flipped some stuff though like Rosario Vampire and Claymore box set a few times which are constantly OoS so sometimes I do see it as an investment.
well i said it wasnt a good investment but my collection is worth a fortune now lmao
Whatever happened to collecting stuff because you love it? Speculators killed North American comics in the 90s, let's not do the same to manga.
Yeah Im not rich nor poor just middle of this 2 sides.. And I only can afford 2 manga a month or even just 1 so I really need this kind of video very helpful
I think you make a lot of really great points and after 13 years of collecting I agree that manga is a terrible investment. Manga is only worth as much as people are willing to pay and I think that series that lack a major following will bottom out and series with a major following will also bottom out if there are too many editions or printings of the series. Only series with a major following and very few printings will hold value which isn't the majority of manga. Think about what the Berserk re-print did to the value of Berserk or how the old Tokyo Pop series hold little value outside of Fruits Baskets and Battle Royale. Shaman King is still worth money for the singles but most people won't be after those no becuase of the new edition so the value will either remain stagnate or will decrease. What people have forgotten is that it's the collectors that set the price of the manga, not the sellers.
The only reason a lot of the series hold value right now is becuase the publisher's can't keep up with the demand and becuase people think that they will hold long term value. I think your recommendation is a good one; I personally only buy what I like and it's what I recommend to everyone. If I like a series it doesn't matter to me if it goes up in value or not and even if everything goes oop as time goes on I will own the series that were the most important to me to own leaving me with little to regret. I sadly was unable to collect Jormungand back in the day but I don't regret choosing to collect series like Voice Over or Kamisama Kiss instead since if it was the other way around I'd be far more upset not to own those. Great video, I really enjoy topics like this and I can't wait for the second one to drop!
Thank you! The market can be unpredictable I think people should see it as just a hobby.
Just bought all of gantz for 2k. In 10 years easy 100k :)
*Gets reprinted*
No way you actually believe you’re going to make that LMAO
Its getting reprinted in Omnibuses and its probably getting a Deluxe after that ones done. I don't think its gonna be worth 100k in 10 years bro.
This is a joke right
LMFAO
no its not a good investment lol but at least it holds value so if you buy it you can at least sell it back for what you bought it at or like 20% less so its good as a hobby. It could be good for flipping rare series but not investing, just buy stocks, crypto or real estate if you want to invest, buy manga for fun that you like to collect and if you made money wee thats a plus
It deff does hold some value atleast at the moment.
My sister has her early 00's Lady Oscar manga she call her "retirement money" as a joke... but other than that, I never saw my collection as an investment, and I've been collecting for a very long time. Pretty sure there's some stuff I could sell at a good price, but I really don't want to part with any of my manga.
Nice tips
it was a good investment in the summer and early january. Now this is the cashout phase.
That could be a possibility
The vast majority of manga is produced in mass quantity and will never be worth thousands. Sure you'll have some OOP series but the majority will decrease in value over time. My vol 1 of Naruto is not gonna be worth hundreds of dollars or anything in the future. You wanna invest? Put that money into stocks, a 401k, Real Estate fuckin anything besides manga. Buying and reading manga should be a hobby not an investment.
100% hobby agreed
I strongly agree with everything you said.
no
Lol. Ngl I’ll sell you a series for a crazy price if you want but I’m not paying that. My gantz set cost 99$.
I will buy it
@@bigt2610 if your talking bout gantz it’s in Japanese, if you taking bout my other manga it’s on eBay rn.
Absolutely not.
forgive me i am once late again
Niceee!!!
Comic books and manga volumes are too mass-produced to ever be valuable. Maybe if you get a first edition signed by the mangaka it could be valuable.
Yea I agree for the most part. Except first editions are rarely valued in the manga community. Unlike the comic community
@@EastCoastManga If you are getting something signed you want first edition.
Y E S
.
first
Manga is not a good investment just read it online don’t waste your money on any manga
Nah. Your opinion is wrong
I respect your opinion although I disagree, personally I like manga collecting and reading physically as a hobby
@@vagelisa6804 a opinion can’t be wrong but I have 60 volumes and I regret buying them out of the 60 I only liked 20