Issue 33 of Weekly Shonen Jump's 2026 run has become a hot commodity in Japan, not for its manga content but for a promotional trading card included within. Scalpers are reportedly targeting the magazine, causing it to sell out across numerous bookstores and shops.
The issue in question contains a "29th Anniversary Edition" promo card for the One Piece Trading Card Game. Reports have surfaced online showing individuals with large quantities of the magazine, with some resellers listing the card for upwards of $60 on secondary markets. For comparison, a single issue of Weekly Shonen Jump typically retails for around 300 yen, approximately $2.
This surge in demand driven by resellers is impacting more than just collectors of the trading card. Issue 33 also features significant chapters for ongoing popular series, including chapter 413 of Hunter x Hunter, chapter 267 of Sakamoto Days, and chapter 1188 of One Piece. Fans of the sports romance series Blue Box are particularly affected, as this issue contains chapter 250, marking the conclusion of Kouji Miura's manga which began serialization in 2021.
Adding to the frustration, the 29th Anniversary Edition One Piece Trading Card Game promo card is available for purchase separately. Pre-orders for a collection featuring multiple versions of the card opened on Bandai Namco's website on July 5. Furthermore, secondhand stores in Japan are reportedly only purchasing individual copies of the card for a maximum of 1,000 yen, or about $6. This suggests that scalpers, after significant effort, may only profit around $4 per card, a small return that comes at the expense of readers genuinely interested in the magazine's literary content.