Ghibli Treasures & Anime Icons Fuel Record-Setting Heritage Auction Event

Heritage Auctions celebrated four decades of Studio Ghibli during  its March 24-22 Art of Anime: Vol. VI Signature^® Auction, which achieved $1.491 million in sales. With more than 3,600 bidders competing over three days and 1,200-plus lots, the sold-out event marked a historic moment: The largest offering of Japanese animation art ever presented in a Western auction — and the first in the popular Heritage series to focus almost exclusively on anime. 

Leading the top lots was a lineup of Studio Ghibli pieces, headlined by a rare production cel of the elusive “Senior Witch” from Kiki’s Delivery Service, which cast a spell at $48,000 — one of the highest totals ever realized for the 1989 film. Another Kiki standout, a charming Key Master setup of the title character peering into a brick oven, fired up at $16,000. Beloved Ghibli titles like Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Porco Rosso and Grave of the Fireflies excelled over the course of the event, and not surprisingly, a significant production cel featuring the beloved Catbus from the final moments of My Neighbor Totoro set off for its next stop with $13,000.

“This was not only a celebration of Studio Ghibli’s 40th anniversary,” says Jim Lentz, Heritage’s Vice President and Director of Animation & Anime Art, “but also a landmark moment for anime art collecting. The depth, the bidding, the results — they speak volumes about the passion and growing global market for this category.”

Beyond Ghibli, the auction was packed with other fan-favorite and influential titles that stirred great interest across the bidding floor. Berserk claimed the highest price in the sale with a staggering $85,000 for a harmony cel setup created by master art director Shichiro Kobayashi. The cel, an atmospheric piece originally created for a home video release, is billed as one of the most important Berserk artworks ever sold at auction — a fitting tribute to the late Kentaro Miura’s dark fantasy epic.

Akira, the cyberpunk juggernaut that helped bring anime into global consciousness, made a bold showing with two rare production backgrounds of Neo-Tokyo’s dystopian skyline, which sold for $11,000 and $8,500. Macross fans powered fierce bidding on original concept art, including Shoji Kawamori’s VF-1J Valkyrie ($18,000) and Haruhiko Mikimoto’s character concept of protagonist Hikaru Ichijyo ($11,000).

Dragon Ball Z was in full Super Saiyan mode with a powerful pan production cel of Gohan in his climactic showdown with Cell, which hammered at $11,000. Other Dragon Ball works included a dynamic set of Dragon Ball GT drawings reaching $4,500, while a shikishi illustration of Spike Spiegel by Cowboy Bebop animation director Hiroki Kanno charmed its way to $4,400.

Fan-favorite franchises showed up strong across the board: Ghost in the Shell ($6,000), Neon Genesis Evangelion ($6,000), Pokémon ($6,750) and again, Cowboy Bebop ($5,500), all landed top-tier results. And while anime took center stage, a few cult Western classics made cameo appearances — like a cel from Heavy Metal’s iconic “Taarna” segment, which sliced its way to $6,500, and an original production piece from the surreal French-directed sci-fi gem Fantastic Planet, which fetched $3,400.

“With each installment of The Art of Anime, we’re seeing more collectors, stronger bidding and a deeper appreciation for the craft behind these works,” says Lentz. “Vol. VI was a major leap forward — not just for Heritage, but for anime art collecting as a whole.”

Complete results from Heritage’s The Art of Anime: Vol. VI Signature Auction can be found at HA.com/7401.