Panini Various · Anime-style art · Rising fast · about two years
Manga is one of 75 card types scored in The Card Investor, filed under inserts.
Both of the upside numbers are strong here — appreciation 75, liquidity 70. That pairing is rare enough to be the reason this entry exists, and rare enough that the price normally reflects it.
Accessibility of 30 is the catch. That score tracks whether you can buy near MSRP or you're already paying a premium to someone else, and at 30 you are paying up. A card with real upside bought at double MSRP is a worse purchase than an ordinary one bought at retail.
Set against the 14 insert card types scored here, its appreciation of 75 ranks 8th of 14, liquidity 70 ranks 7th, accessibility 30 ranks 7th, and risk 45 is the 12th-lowest. The closest thing to it on the numbers is All-Etch, which scores 76 and 65 on the same two axes — if you're weighing one against the other, the difference is in the reasoning rather than the scores.
Two years gives the situation time to develop past its first impression, which is usually when the price is set by whoever shouted loudest. It also means two years of not touching it, including through the stretch where it looks wrong.
A risk score of 45 means ordinary risk — the failure modes are the boring ones, which is also why they're easy to talk yourself out of worrying about.
You can realistically find Manga at a card show and online.
A card show is worth the trip for this because you are buying a specific card rather than a sealed product: you can compare several copies side by side, check the centring and corners yourself, and negotiate — none of which a listing photo lets you do.
Every entry gets four separate scores instead of one grade, because a single grade hides the thing you needed. Full explanation in the guide: what Kabooms, Downtowns and Color Blasts are worth.
Or browse all card types · how these scores are built
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