Christie’s Doubles Down on Anime and Manga with Second Sale After $1.4m Debut

Key facts

• Christie’s will hold its second anime and manga auction in October, after the March debut sale brought in $1.4m including fees, over four times the low estimate.
• The first sale, Anime Starts Here: Japanese Subculture Reimagines Tradition, was the first of its kind at a major auction house.
• Shiomi Ryosuke’s Wolf and Armor (2019) sold for $698,500 with fees, 35 times its low estimate and a record for the artist.
• Ito Ikuko’s Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon sketch sold for $88,900 with fees, almost 18 times its low estimate.
• The upcoming sale will be on view at Christie’s New York from 8-12 October, with an online sale from 9-22 October.
• The roughly 130-lot sale has a collective estimate of $344,350 to $523,200.
• The auction coincides with the 20th New York Comic Con at the Javits Center (8-10 October) and The Art of Manga at the Brooklyn Museum (opening 3 October).
• Anime viewership in the US doubled between 2020 and 2025, per GEM Partners; 22% of US respondents watched regularly, and 35% of buyers at the first Christie’s sale were Millennials or Gen Z.