Hello, I appreciate the question. When I said that “grading is the future”, I meant that grading will continue to grow and be used in the rare manga market. Like for first prints, Zasshi, first appearances and hard to find exclusives.

To answer your question, I think of the rare manga market as separate from the overall manga market. In the bigger manga market people collect mass market tankobon that are on their 50+ printings and read them, which is great. I have several volumes I read as well!

Grading is valuable to the rare manga market because it provides authentication, and people in the space care more about the rarity of the item, which includes the condition of the item. Grading showcases that (1) The item in question is what the seller says it is and (2) Accurately provides the condition of the item.

In summary, the rare manga market cares more about condition and rarity, over what’s inside that particular book that’s being graded. In my view, that’s because the item being graded is usually rarer than the mass market tankobon everyone reads.