Man arrested for stealing 101 manga volumes

by Zel
Nov 16, 2007 8:58 AM | 46 Comments

A 23 year old Japanese man was arrested for stealing 101 volumes from a manga store by putting up to 50 volumes in a plastic bag and leaving them in the parking lot while he went to go get more. He had stolen around 60,000 yen ($500 USD), he claims he was in debt that he was going to sell them to a used book store.

Source: ANN | jiji press

20 of 46 Comments Recent Comments

hahaha... this guy makes me laugh... really, someone who steals something, even if he is really desperate, shouldnt go back to the crime scene... specially to do the same thing again... anyone thinking that if he didnt get busted he would have gone back again to steal more?

Dec 22, 2007 11:01 AM by TsundereRic

^ exactly. especially since manga in japan is less expensive than american manga (at least thats what ive noticed)..... so its not really the best thing to steal and resell.

he should have just stolen something else in the first place~

Dec 10, 2007 6:11 PM by katsup

I don't think you could even get that much money for manga anyway. The used manga shops sell regular volumes for 100-300 yen each. You have to figure they pay less than that for them. Yeesh...

Dec 10, 2007 3:03 PM by MagicalEmi

Wow. Just wow. I can safely assume that the guy only stole the manga to sell them to actual manga fans.

'Cos if he stole them to read them? Dude, Internet. Get with it. It's free (err, the manga, not the services) and is about as legal as stealing the graphic novels, but with somewhat less risk. XD

Dec 1, 2007 8:37 PM by the_seventh_l

What stupid man! Teacher, give him a zero! hahaha XD

Nov 30, 2007 9:18 AM by Saks_Byenara

Nov 27, 2007 1:25 PM by Ryushi

Dark_Koji said:
So 50 volumes of manga on his first run, and then he goes back to get another 51??
Hmm, I could imagine the scenario to be like this:

---
*packs in 50 books, bringing total stolen volumes to 100
Man: Kekeke... done! Time to go... whoa?!?!
*Man sees limited edition of - insert whatever title - on display
Man: Heck, might as well grab this too~
Shopkeeper: HEY... STOP, THIEF!!
Man: @#!%
---

O_o;

Don't you think that it would be really heavy and really obvious?? I think that Dark_Koji is right! He wanted to go back and get the limited edition. Haha.

Nov 21, 2007 8:00 PM by bluestarangel

Not the brightest thief in the world, was he? Besides, wouldn't the guys in the used bookstore be slightly suspicious?
"You want to sell us all this manga? They look unread and in perfect condition...50 of them eh? Hmm, I wonder why?"
Maybe it's just me! ;)

Nov 20, 2007 2:25 PM by OranSolus

pyroxerberus said:
Is this even possible... I mean if it were, it goes to show how stupid the shop keepers are. For a guy to be able to "sneak out" 50 volumes of manga??? Dude that is just sooo messed up. And if it were true, WHY THE HELL DID THE GUY GO BACK FOR MORE?! I'd be happy to be able to have 50 volumes of manga for "free"

If it's true that he wanted to sell'em to pay back his debts, I guess it's quite tempting to try again when he had already managed to steal 50 volumes. After all this guy was quite desperate.

Nov 20, 2007 5:39 AM by cyruz

Is this even possible... I mean if it were, it goes to show how stupid the shop keepers are. For a guy to be able to "sneak out" 50 volumes of manga??? Dude that is just sooo messed up. And if it were true, WHY THE HELL DID THE GUY GO BACK FOR MORE?! I'd be happy to be able to have 50 volumes of manga for "free"

Nov 20, 2007 5:32 AM by pyroxerberus

LMAO!

Nov 19, 2007 5:51 AM by FiiFO

crazy story...
well it seems that desperate times leads to desperate measures..

Nov 19, 2007 5:44 AM by lilium

Dark_Koji said:
---
*packs in 50 books, bringing total stolen volumes to 100
Man: Kekeke... done! Time to go... whoa?!?!
*Man sees limited edition of - insert whatever title - on display
Man: Heck, might as well grab this too~
Shopkeeper: HEY... STOP, THIEF!!
Man: @#!%
---

...you know, that actually sounds feasible... xD it was probably the super sparkly limited edition of the book and he decided that, yanno, while he was robbing the store blind, he might as well take that one too... moron...

Nov 18, 2007 12:55 PM by Anaraine

Wow, pushing your luck, guy.

Nov 18, 2007 10:12 AM by lackofsweet

So 50 volumes of manga on his first run, and then he goes back to get another 51??
Hmm, I could imagine the scenario to be like this:

---
*packs in 50 books, bringing total stolen volumes to 100
Man: Kekeke... done! Time to go... whoa?!?!
*Man sees limited edition of - insert whatever title - on display
Man: Heck, might as well grab this too~
Shopkeeper: HEY... STOP, THIEF!!
Man: @#!%
---

O_o;

Nov 18, 2007 9:59 AM by DarkKoji

Seriously he should have just gone with the 50 he had originally. It would have made him at least $450 assuming each volume was worth $9...

Nov 18, 2007 12:08 AM by Midori__

Loser needs to get a job.

Nov 17, 2007 10:52 PM by Hamminaptu

This shows that Manga is hot in demand and is on par with gold! =)

Nov 17, 2007 9:57 PM by drastikhate

ender650 said:
I wish they released security footage of him carrying 50 manga out the door- and then coming back for more.

That video would be epic xD

Nov 17, 2007 6:58 PM by Ryushi

I wish they released security footage of him carrying 50 manga out the door- and then coming back for more.

Nov 17, 2007 3:58 PM by hot