Dragon Ball Collector Helps Bring Counterfeit Auction to Justice
Dragon Ball is one of the biggest series in anime, and its manga helped change the shonen genre in big ways. Akira Toriyama is still overseeing the series after all this time, and each year that passes makes Goku's first few appearances more valuable. And after a recent auction, one Dragon Ball collector managed to take down a counterfeit seller who targeted the wrong fan.
As reported by Asahi Shimbun, the publication confirmed a man in Tokyo was arrested by authorities for allegedly selling a bootleg issue of Dragon Ball. The report suggests the online seller tried to sell the debut issue of Dragon Ball from 1984. They were able to do so successfully for roughly $1,200 USD, but the person who bought the issue was quick to identify it as fake.
And how did they do that? Well, it seems a few things were wrong with the counterfeit, and the seller sold the manga to the worst buyer possible. They own several copies of the debut issue as is, so they could spot the inconsistencies easily enough.
The Case Explained
The report explains the buyer is a big fan of Dragon Ball, and they own a number of rare collectibles. For instance, they have several issues of Dragon Ball's debut issue in Weekly Shonen Jump. They were able to spot the print differences in this counterfeit, but there were more damning errors as well. It turns out the issue was glued together rather than stapled, and the paper quality used was entirely wrong. The price was also a giveaway as copies of the issue sell for up to $2,000 USD. So if a deal is too good to believe, that might be because it is.
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Clearly, manga counterfeits are something to watch out for, and these issues are only becoming more common as major series age. The first issue of One Piece goes up in price regularly, and the same goes for Naruto these days. Dragon Ball will also get more expensive as the years pass. So if you are ever in the market for these issues, buyers beware!
What do you make of this wild report? Do you have any hard-to-find Dragon Ball goodies in your collection? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.