Gallery Fake

On a wharf on Tokyo Bay is a small gallery named Gallery Fake. The owner of the gallery, Reiji Fujita, was once a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He was a learned curator with remarkable memory, keen aesthetic sense, great skill in restoration of paintings and knowledge of many languages, so he was called the "Professor". However, because of trouble in the workplace, Fujita was forced to quit the museum. Now he is an art dealer who sells paintings, authentic and fake alike, sometimes at extraordinary prices, depending on the circumstances or the type of buyer. His motto is "One without aesthetic sense can't help being cheated out of his money. And by being deceived, one may learn to distinguish real ones from the counterfeit." However, Fujita appreciates art and the artists who spent their lives creating it and does not try to deceive people by passing off fake paintings as genuine ones. He often helps the people he encounters, and other characters are attracted to him in spite of his sometimes gruff manner. ==Characters==

; : :An art dealer and a former curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). Those he worked with refer to him as "Professor Fujita". He was forced to leave the Met by Max Watson when Fujita threatened to expose his shady dealings. Later, he established his own gallery on a wharf in Tokyo, Japan called Gallery Fake. He is an expert at painting restoration and an artist. He can usually determine if a painting is real or fake. He sometimes makes promises he cannot keep (mostly to Sara) and will sometimes deal on the black market to get certain artifacts. Fujita hates exercise and is easily exhausted from physical activity. Fujita is often the cause of Sara's anger although he is very protective of her. He has a daughter from a previous relationship, named Elizabeth, his love child with Flora Joconda (a descendant of Mona Lisa). The two met when Fujita was a penniless young man and not yet an employee of the Met. ; : :She owns a store called Jade, but is also a proclaimed jewel thief. She is obsessed with them and other precious items. She often calls Fujita to gloat about her latest stolen items. Sara sees her as a rival for Fujita's attention. She has a volatile personality and her manservant, Menou, has said that Fei can be sunny one day and stormy the next. She sometimes has a problem with her eyes and fears she may go blind. Fujita claims that the jewels affect her eyes. ; : :Fei Cui's middle-aged manservant who is also a masochist. He is happy when Fei Cui punishes him for misdemeanors. ; : :He is an associate of Fujita and helps him with his activities. ; : : He is an addicted treasure hunter and sometimes joins Fujita when his particular skills are required. ; : :An art expert and employee of the Met. He caused Fujita Reiji to resign from the Met after Fujita accused him of re-attributing paintings which were then sold at a reduced price to the art dealer Bill Travers. ==Media==

Manga Written and illustrated by Fujihiko Hosono, Gallery Fake started in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits in the March 2, 1992, issue. The series concluded with 281 chapters on January 31, 2005. The chapters were collected in 32 volumes, released from August 29, 1992, In 2016, a short-term serialization story was published in Weekly Big Comic Spirits from May 30 to June 20, followed by a one-shot chapter published in Monthly Big Comic Spirits on August 27. A collected 33rd volume was released on November 30 of that same year. A new serialization of Gallery Fake began in '''' on July 14, 2017. As of February 27, 2026, 40 volumes have been released. Volumes Anime Episodes ==Reception==

The manga has had over 10 million copies in circulation. In 1996, Gallery Fake received the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the general category. ==Notes==