One Piece TCG in English or Japanese? Which is better?

The One Piece TCG is published in several languages ​​(Japanese, English, French, Chinese, Korean).

Display prices vary enormously; people who buy this type of display usually choose between 3 of these first languages ​​depending on the purpose sought.

It's important to note that the game was only released in French starting February 7, 2025, the release date of expansion OP-09. Previous expansions were not released in French. There has been no catch-up program, and if you wish to purchase cards from earlier expansions, you will have to choose a version in another language.

This also applies to decks and other products.

To date, the following extensions have been released in these 3 languages:

OP09
PRB01
OP10
EB02
OP11
OP12
The series of comparisons of card values ​​for these 3 languages ​​will therefore stop at the extensions mentioned above.

The different profiles of One Piece card buyers:

Generally, we find three different profiles among people who buy One Piece TCG.

Players, collectors and investors are what we will be discussing.

Players:

Western players will obviously turn to English cards predominantly or French for French speakers, knowing that the English version has the advantage of being playable in any country, which is not the case for other languages.

The French version is limited to Europe, while the Chinese and Korean versions are restricted to their respective countries.

Some French-speaking players who had gotten used to playing with English cards, because they had no other choice before, continued to use the English version.

Important point: it is perfectly possible to play in Europe with English and French cards in the same deck.

In terms of price, English displays are generally more affordable than French ones. The reason is simple: smaller print runs in French than in English, which is logically explained by the target audience.

This price difference is also reflected in the cost of cards. With a few exceptions, French cards are generally more expensive than English cards.

In short, as you will have understood, if you have the soul of a gamer, prefer either English, which is more affordable but perhaps more comfortable for the game (translations and understanding of effects), or French, which is less restrictive but more expensive.

COLLECTORS AND INVESTORS:

It is difficult to talk about the collecting aspect without talking about the investment aspect, as the two are so closely linked.

As with all TCGs, all available languages ​​are taken into account, and as with all TCGs published in multiple languages, some languages ​​are somewhat neglected compared to the most popular ones, namely English, Japanese, and French. In fact, I'm only including French here because the people who will be reading this page are predominantly French speakers.

As you might expect, French only interests French speakers and is therefore naturally less sought after.

If we're talking about collecting purely, everyone has their own perspective. Personally, I prefer Japanese, because I find that the writing adds a touch of class to the card, in addition to the fact that it's the primary publishing language for the TCG.

Some people will prefer their mother tongue, in this case French, and a minority, in my opinion, will prefer to collect English. (I am only talking here about the pure collecting aspect and not the investment aspect from the point of view of a French person.)

If we add to that the investment aspect, that's the basis, the value of a product is the result of an opposition between supply and demand.

If Jean sells his town for 1000 euros on Vinted, obviously nobody wants it or at least not at that price and therefore its value is obviously not 100 euros.

As mentioned previously, the largest audience is English because, spoiler alert, the universal language is English.

It is therefore not surprising to find that the price of cards is generally higher for English cards than for all other languages.

NB: we will not discuss promo cards or cards published in only one language, which is a separate topic and too complex to be addressed in this article.

The value of cards over time, however, is a difficult parameter to measure, partly because the TCG is relatively recent, but also because no one can predict the future. Furthermore, a card's popularity fluctuates enormously, independently of the fact that a card's viability in the game also influences its value.

In my humble opinion, I would say that between Japanese and English, it's roughly equivalent, although I would still give an advantage to English.

And what about the people who enjoy opening doors in all of this?

And yes, there are people who, like me, love opening displays and are looking for that dopamine rush that comes from dropping a rare card!

Well, for these people, obviously I'm not telling you anything new when I say that, on average, it's not profitable to open a display or any booster.

This is perfectly normal and can be found in all TCGs and in all games of chance for that matter.

If you're looking for pure profitability, opt for buying graded cards or, at a pinch, ungraded ones. You'll save money unless you're extremely lucky.

On the other hand, if like me you love opening things up and it's almost an addiction, then turn without hesitation to Japanese.

A Japanese display will cost you on average 2 to 3 times less than an English/French display, and the cards are certainly cheaper in Japanese than in English, but the difference in terms of percentage is much less than that between the displays.

I hope this article has helped you differentiate the strengths and weaknesses of the various language variations of the One Piece TCG, and remember that if you want to combine fun with investment, it's still better to do it intelligently.