Rare anime merchandise can sometimes be as expensive as a car, but this one is closer to the price of a house.


Japan, for the most part, never really got all that into the idea of collectible sports cards. But collectible card games, especially those with anime tie-ins? Those are right up the alley of the nation’s otaku, and can command prices in line with rare rookie cards from American professional sports leagues in the U.S.

It’s often Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that spark the brightest flames of fan passion. Take, for example, the game’s Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. As its name implies, it’s a formidable Duel Monster, and so the card already has to be rare for gameplay balance purposes. But the one owned by Twitter user @saku06s is really special…so special that he’s asking 45 million yen (approximately US$402,000) for it.

https://twitter.com/saku06s/status/950714041680326658

This particular Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was issued in a special custom case, and wasn’t initially offered for sale. It was awarded as part of the prize package to the winner of a previous Yu-Gi-Oh! Asian Championship competition. Included in the package @saku06s is selling is a piece of artwork signed by franchise creator Kazuki Takahashi.

Instead of keeping the highly valuable card in his home, @saku06s is displaying it at the Card Spiral specialty shop in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood, and encourages people to stop buy to see it for themselves and take photos, which is drumming up some good publicity for the sale. Of course, one could say that letting the whole world know where the valuable artifact is stored makes it more vulnerable to would-be thieves, but considering that the Asian Championship Winner Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is one-of-a-kind, selling it illicitly would probably be pretty hard to do.

Sources: Otakomu, Anime News Network/Lynzee Loveridge, Twitter/@saku06s