>>3864
I don't know what's going on with some manga prices, I wanted Franken Fran but suddenly is a super rare thing that can cost hundreds of dollars per tome. I don't remember this happening in the past, "old" manga was always cheap and this isn't even old, it was published just 4 years ago. Some really rare non-reedited books from 40 years ago could cost close to 100$, now a manga that was published just some years ago can cost 150$ each tome when it's easier than ever to find scans on-line and translated, it's absolutely nuts.
It seems it's happening with lots of things these days, I don't know if it's some AI fucking around or people have turned into jews, but one more thing to add to our dystopian era.

>>3864
Localized manga in English tends to have a low rate of circulation to begin with. The only exception is shonen and other entry-level shit that has higher profit margins. The 1990s and early 2000s was sort of a trial period for the market, certain manga was only possible to buy through mail-order or by going to specialty stores. Another obstacle is that printing for a series would usually immediately cease a few months after the final volume was published to make room for other manga, hence why later volumes are usually the most expensive. I'm guessing that the Tokyopop release of GTO has been out of print for close to 15 years. The only people who still own copies are diehard fans and collectors who know what they have. Anyone selling is either a flipper or someone desperate to pay bills.

I paid $175 last November for the complete 8-volume Bandai release of Lucky Star which had been out of print since 2012. A quick check on eBay shows that people are now charging between $180 and $300 for a complete set in English. On the contrary, I only paid $30 for all 10-volumes of the Japanese Kadokawa release.

>>3865
Collections get used, damaged, and thrown out over time. Everyone is nostalgic for better times and the market is going to reflect that. It's only going to get worse since the Y2K aesthetic is starting to trend online, so your only choice is to buy now or regret it later.

>>3866
I will never pay such ridiculous sums for a manga, I would preffer to get it in japanese and hope I will be able to read it someday. I still don't get why this it's happening now because it didn't happen in the past and it doesn't happen in most countries. Maybe there's a particularly high demand in the US and they didn't have too many copies to start with or something like that.

>>3864
if you learn Jap, you can get the original for less than 30 bucks. Just try not to kill yourself when you're billed for the shipping costs.

I understand wanting to collect manga, but books are a really awful thing to collect just because of how much space they take up. A lot of people I know just buy the Jap releases for the shelves and read the digital ones, if you really are into full bookshelves.
>Everyone is nostalgic for better times and the market is going to reflect that. It's only going to get worse since the Y2K aesthetic is starting to trend online
I think that's bizarre. I understand wanting to go back to the 2000s, but aside from certain artists the Y2K aesthetic is really a transitional period from the 90s into the 2010s. It's not like anime, either where 2000s anime are typically warm and colorful due to the transitional period going on in that medium as well. Key faces, man.

>>3898
The resale market is currently in a very strange position. Japanese language manga is usually inexpensive and easy to find, but anthologies, artbooks, and doujinshi are much harder to track down. Last week, a number of older doujins from a relatively obscure circle were listed on a reseller website including two that I had wanted in my collection for years. Before I had a chance to put the second one in the cart after I bought the first one, it was already out of stock. I'm not sure if it was a scalper, but it struck me as odd that someone else was also interested in it.

>>3899
>I think that's bizarre. I understand wanting to go back to the 2000s, but aside from certain artists the Y2K aesthetic is really a transitional period from the 90s into the 2010s. It's not like anime, either where 2000s anime are typically warm and colorful due to the transitional period going on in that medium as well. Key faces, man.
I've noticed an uptick in people referencing 2000s culture as a whole online within the past year in the same vein that 1990s culture was being perceived as back in 2010-11. It's because people who were raised during that era are now in their twenties and thirties. In my case as a 21 year old, my interest in otaku culture began in 2006. Most of what I seek out to buy and download is mid-Heisei era because it's nostalgic to me despite having been a transitional period.