If you've ever seen a manga volume sealed inside a hard plastic case with a numeric grade printed on the label, you've encountered a graded manga. Since early 2026, grading has gone from a niche hobby to front-page news, with six-figure sales turning ordinary first-print volumes into serious collectibles. This guide explains what manga grading actually is, how the process works, who's actually doing the grading right now, and why prices, especially for graded Zasshi magazines, have suddenly taken off.
What Is a Graded Manga?
A graded manga is a physical manga volume (or magazine) that has been submitted to a professional third-party grading company, inspected for authenticity and condition, and then permanently sealed ("slabbed") inside a protective plastic case along with a label showing its official grade, typically on a scale from 0.5 to 10. Once sealed, the book is protected from dust, moisture, and handling damage, and, just as importantly, from any dispute over its exact condition, since the grade is issued by an independent, trusted third party rather than the seller.
The world's first Berserk Volume 1 ever graded BGS 9.8.
Why Get a Manga Graded?
- Authentication: confirms the volume is a genuine first printing (or the specific printing claimed) and not a later reprint or counterfeit.
- Protection: the sealed case shields the book permanently from dust, moisture, fingerprints, and handling damage.
- Trust and liquidity: a graded book removes all guesswork about condition, which makes buyers far more confident and typically makes the book easier and faster to resell.
- Value appreciation: for scarce first-print volumes of popular series, a high grade can multiply the resale value several times over compared to the same book in raw (ungraded) condition.
Who Actually Grades Manga Right Now?
Beckett Grading Services (BGS): the only active manga grader
Beckett is currently the only company actively grading manga. It grades on a 0.5 to 10 scale, evaluating the book for defects such as creases, tears, stains, mold, and other condition issues on the cover, spine, and pages, then combining that assessment into an overall grade.
What about CBCS?
CBCS (Comic Book Certification Service) is not a separate manga-grading company with a different standard. Beckett acquired CBCS back in 2017, and in 2026 Beckett's new parent company (Collectors, which also owns PSA) announced that CBCS will stop accepting new submissions in April 2026, consolidating everything under the Beckett brand. In short: for manga, there has only ever really been one grading standard that matters, Beckett's.
CGC: not grading manga yet, but expected in 2027
CGC (Certified Guaranty Company), the dominant name in comic book and trading card grading, does not grade manga today. The company has publicly hired a dedicated manga expert as a consultant and has been actively recruiting for a manga grading department throughout 2026, which points toward a launch. Based on current signals, CGC is expected to enter manga grading in early 2027, which would introduce a second major grading standard into the market. This page will be updated once that launch is confirmed.
Zasshi Grading: Why Magazine Prices Are Surging
A "Zasshi" is a Japanese weekly or monthly serialized manga magazine, such as Weekly Shonen Jump, printed on cheap, acidic paper that was never meant to survive more than a few weeks. Most copies were read once and thrown away, which makes surviving copies in high condition, especially ones containing the debut chapter of a major series, extremely rare. Beckett expanded its grading service to cover Zasshi-format magazines in late 2024, and since then, prices for high-grade copies have climbed sharply as collectors realized just how few clean copies exist. A single well-preserved issue containing the first chapter of a series like One Piece or Dragon Ball can now be worth vastly more than an equivalent hardcover volume in the same grade, purely because of how few survived intact.
The 2026 Manga Grading Boom
Two purchases in early 2026 are widely credited with pushing graded manga into the mainstream spotlight.
On March 6, 2026, Jeremy Padawer (President of Jazwares) announced he had paid $275,000 for the three highest-graded copies of the "Big Three" first-print debuts: One Piece Volume 1 (BGS 9.8), Naruto Volume 1 (BGS 9.8), and Dragon Ball Volume 1 (BGS 9.4). Padawer stated he had invested over $1.25 million in manga collecting in the six months prior, calling it his best long-term investment opportunity in decades of collecting.
A little over a month later, on April 22, 2026, Logan Paul announced his own purchase: a graded Zasshi copy of the 1984 Weekly Shonen Jump #51, containing Dragon Ball's first chapter and the first appearance of Goku and Bulma, graded BGS 9.2, the highest known grade in existence, for $550,000. Alongside it, he acquired a Weekly Shonen Jump issue featuring the debut of One Piece, graded BGS 9.0, the second-highest known copy, with only three examples known to exist at all.
Together, these two sales (one focused on bound first-print volumes, the other specifically on graded Zasshi magazines) triggered a wave of mainstream media coverage and pulled a new wave of collectors and investors into the manga grading market almost overnight.
How Manga Grading Works, Step by Step
- Submission: the raw (ungraded) manga volume or magazine is shipped to Beckett along with a declared value and the desired service tier.
- Authentication: the book is verified as a genuine copy of the claimed printing, checking details like printing marks, obi strips (for Japanese editions), and edition-specific indicators.
- Condition assessment: trained graders examine the cover, corners, edges, spine, and page quality under controlled lighting, assigning sub-grades that are combined into a final numeric grade.
- Encapsulation: the book is permanently sealed inside a rigid, tamper-evident plastic case, with a label displaying the title, printing details, and final grade.
- Return shipping: the now-slabbed book is securely packaged and shipped back to the owner.
Understanding the Grading Scale
Beckett's scale runs from 0.5 to 10, but the increments are not evenly spaced across the whole range. Near the top, grades are split into finer steps: 9.0, 9.2, 9.4, 9.6, 9.8, 9.9, and 10. From 3.0 up to 9.0, grades move in half-point steps (3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and so on). Below 3.0, the steps widen again: 2.5, 2.0, 1.8, and 0.5 at the very bottom. In practice, a perfect 10 is extremely rare, and a 9.9 is also very uncommon. The large majority of the best-preserved manga on the market land at 9.8, which can realistically be treated as the practical ceiling for most books. Grades above 9.8 do occur, but almost exclusively on very recently printed books that haven't had time to accumulate the handling and paper-aging issues that affect older volumes and magazines.
Checking Population Data: Beckett's Population Report
Beckett publishes a Population Report, a public database showing exactly how many copies of a given title have been certified at each grade level. Before buying (or deciding whether to submit a book for grading), checking the population report for that specific title and printing is one of the best ways to understand real rarity: a book with only two or three copies graded above 9.2 is a very different proposition than one with dozens.
Grading With a Discount: Beckett Promo Code
Anyone submitting manga for grading directly through Beckett can use the code 1STPRINTNET at checkout for 10% off the submission.
How Much Is a Graded Manga Worth? Checking Market Value
The value of a graded manga depends on the series, volume or issue rarity, print run, and, critically, the grade itself, with some grade steps mattering far more than others. For a full breakdown of what actually drives graded manga and Zasshi prices, see the BGS Graded Manga Price Guide, or check live and historical sale data directly on the BGS Manga & Zasshi Price Tracker.
Graded Manga at 1stPrint.net
1stPrint.net carries a curated selection of professionally graded, first-print manga volumes, each one authenticated and sealed by Beckett Grading Services (BGS) before being listed. Every listing includes the exact grade, sub-grade details where available, and clear photos of the slab itself, so buyers know precisely what they're getting before purchasing.
Browse the full Graded Manga collection
Anyone can also sell their own graded manga or magazines on 1stPrint.net, for a flat 8% commission with no listing fees. Listings can be linked between eBay and 1stPrint.net, so that once linked, a sale on either platform automatically takes the listing down on the other, no need to manually deactivate anything. Existing eBay listings can also be imported directly, so there's no need to recreate a listing from scratch on 1stPrint.net. Sellers can get started at seller.1stprint.net. Note that a new account is required even for existing 1stPrint.net customers, since the seller account is separate from the main store's customer account.
Is Grading a Manga Worth It?
Grading makes the most sense for scarce, high-demand first printings: key volumes of popular series, limited print runs, rare Zasshi debut issues, or copies already in excellent raw condition. For common, easily replaceable volumes, the cost and time of grading may not be worth it relative to the book's raw market value. When in doubt, research recent sale prices for both raw and graded copies of the specific item before deciding.