Entertainment
10 Best Pikachu Designs for Pokémon’s 30th Celebration, Ranked
Pikachu has appeared on hundreds of Pokémon cards since the Trading Card Game began, but even the franchise’s mascot has never received a collection quite like this. The newly released Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration expansion contains 30 Pikachu rare cards, each featuring a completely different artist’s interpretation of the Electric-type icon. Every booster pack guarantees one of the designs, making Pikachu the centerpiece of the entire anniversary set.
Thirty cards featuring the same Pokémon could get repetitive. Instead, this collection proves that artists still have plenty to say about Pikachu after three decades. They find the small animal underneath the mascot, the beloved companion fans wish they could bring home, and the weird little menace who cannot be trusted around household furniture. Each card understands something different about why Pikachu has lasted, but these 10 understand the character best.
10
Pikachu 045/128
Illustrated by Naoyo Kimura
Pikachu rarely gets the opportunity to stop. Most cards have it battling, running, eating, or producing enough electricity to create an insurance claim. Naoyo Kimura slows everything down and gives Pikachu a rare moment of genuine reflection. The change immediately separates this card from the collection’s more energetic entries. The artwork asks nothing from the mascot except its presence, then trusts viewers to care about what might be happening behind those enormous eyes. Of course they do. It is Pikachu.
Kimura understands that the character’s appeal has never depended entirely on action or comedy. Pikachu has been a companion for generations of fans, which means its more thoughtful moments carry their own emotional weight. This card gives that softer side of the character the attention it deserves.
9
Pikachu 043/128
Illustrated by OOYAMA
Pikachu has battled gods, saved the world, and spent 30 years carrying an international franchise on its tiny shoulders. OOYAMA finally lets it sleep. Frankly, nobody has ever earned a nap more. The card’s ability makes the joke even better by putting Pikachu to sleep in exchange for letting its player draw cards. Pikachu remains useful without opening its eyes, which is the kind of work-life balance everyone deserves. More importantly, the artwork recognizes that rest can reveal character as effectively as action. Pikachu does not have to perform every second to remain lovable.
There is also something incredibly satisfying about seeing Pokémon’s mascot refuse to participate for once. Pikachu has completed enough battles, photo shoots, promotional appearances, and world-saving missions. OOYAMA gives the character permission to clock out, and the result is one of the most affectionate cards in the collection.
8
Pikachu 048/128
Illustrated by Kiyotaka Oshiyama
Pikachu is one of the most recognizable characters ever created, which makes it difficult for any artist to place it inside an elaborate composition without everything else becoming background decoration. Kiyotaka Oshiyama refuses to let that happen, and as a result Pikachu belongs to the larger image instead of dominating it. That decision returns Pikachu to its roots as one creature within a strange, colorful ecosystem of berries. The card remembers that Pikachu existed inside the Pokémon world before it became the face printed on nearly everything.
Oshiyama does not reduce Pikachu’s importance to accomplish that connection. He proves the character can remain the center of an image without consuming it. That balance gives the entire card room to breathe and rewards anyone willing to look beyond Pikachu long enough to appreciate how carefully everything works together.
7
Pikachu 027/128
Illustrated by Asako Ito
Asako Ito’s crocheted Pikachu is immediately recognizable as her work. The visible stitches and handmade construction are the entire point. This Pikachu exists because somebody sat down and made it one piece at a time, and that approach is perfect for a 30th-anniversary collection. Fans have spent three decades drawing Pikachu, sewing plush toys, sculpting figures, making costumes, and using every craft available to bring Pokémon into their lives. Ito turns that kind of fan devotion into official card artwork. The result honors Pikachu’s place in the franchise and the countless handmade versions created by people who simply wanted the character close to them.
The card also refuses to hide the work behind its creation. Every stitch reminds collectors that art does not need to be polished into perfection to inspire affection. Pikachu has always encouraged people to make things, and Ito gives that creativity a place inside the official history of the Pokémon TCG.
6
Pikachu 035/128
Illustrated by Susumu Maeya
Pikachu may be Pokémon’s biggest celebrity, but Susumu Maeya remembers that it is also a small woodland animal. That side of the character often disappears beneath the battles, merchandise, and enormous expectations attached to it. Maeya brings it back without sacrificing any of Pikachu’s personality. This card presents a creature that has found a comfortable hiding place and has no interest in surrendering it. This Pikachu could exist in the woods behind someone’s house, which only makes the fact that it does not hurt more.
That animal quality has always been essential to Pikachu’s design. Fans recognize human emotions in the character without forgetting that it belongs to another species with its own behaviors and instincts. Maeya leans into that balance, giving collectors a Pikachu they can understand without fully domesticating it.
5
Pikachu 046/128
Illustrated by svlt
Some artists use Pikachu’s anniversary as permission to create the loudest card possible. svlt goes in the opposite direction and lets Pikachu enjoy its surroundings. The confidence required to do so deserves credit because the card never relies on spectacle to justify itself. Pikachu has enough personality to hold an image without performing an attack or getting into trouble. Its presence is the subject. That choice also gives the character dignity that mascot artwork can sometimes overlook. Pikachu is allowed to exist for itself instead of smiling for the people watching, and the card becomes stronger because svlt refuses to demand more.
The simplicity also makes this card easy to return to. There is no punchline to exhaust or complicated action to decipher. It offers a small moment with Pikachu and lets that companionship become the reward, which is exactly what many fans have wanted from the character all along.
4
Pikachu 026/128
Illustrated by Takeshi Nakamura
Takeshi Nakamura puts the collector in the deeply enviable position of being personally investigated by Pikachu. The unusual perspective turns the act of holding the card into part of the image. Pikachu has noticed you, and apparently, it needs answers. The card’s only attack, Peer At, continues the idea by forcing an opponent to reveal their hand. Pikachu is not fighting anyone. It is being unbearably nosy and gathering information that may or may not concern it. Nakamura builds the entire card around one recognizable part of Pikachu’s personality: its curiosity.
That curiosity has driven Pikachu into trouble across almost every version of Pokémon, but it is also what makes the character such an effective companion. Pikachu wants to know what is happening and refuses to remain on the sidelines. The result is playful, interactive, and deeply unfair to anyone who has spent 30 years wishing Pikachu could look directly at them.
3
Pikachu 040/128
Illustrated by Shinji Kanda
Shinji Kanda has already given the Pokémon TCG unforgettable artwork featuring Giratina and Magikarp, so handing him Pikachu for the anniversary collection was an obvious act of violence against collectors’ wallets. His style pushes Pikachu into one of the collection’s most ambitious images, and the mascot handles it beautifully. That success says as much about Pikachu as it does about Kanda. The character’s silhouette remains readable even when the artwork surrounding it demands equal attention. Thirty years of familiarity have made those ears and that lightning-bolt tail practically impossible to lose. Kanda uses that visual certainty as an anchor, then unleashes everything else around it.
Pikachu survives the chaos because its design was always that strong. The card does not depend on nostalgia, even though everyone looking at it brings decades of memories with them. Kanda takes one of the safest characters Pokémon could possibly use and makes it artistically dangerous again.
2
Pikachu 036/128
Illustrated by OKACHEKE
OKACHEKE understands exactly what Pikachu would be like if one lived inside someone’s house. It would be curious, ridiculous, and repeatedly found doing something no reasonable person could have predicted. It would also know that being adorable removes almost every consequence. This card gives Pikachu a full personality without using a battle or Trainer. The domestic setting turns the mascot into a pet, but Pikachu clearly would not be an obedient one. It has made a decision, committed completely, and now expects everyone else to accept it. After 30 years of fans wishing Pokémon were real, OKACHEKE provides the strongest evidence that owning a Pikachu would be both wonderful and exhausting.
That ordinary setting also makes Pikachu more believable than any attempt at realism could. Fans do not love the character because it can produce electricity, they love Pikachu because they can imagine it following them home, taking over the couch, stealing food, and discovering increasingly creative ways to become stuck.
1
Pikachu 047/128
Illustrated by Atsuko Nishida
Atsuko Nishida designed Pikachu during Pokémon’s original generation. That history gives her anniversary card an importance no other entry can match, but the artist’s name alone does not earn it the top position. The artwork also understands exactly why Pikachu has lasted this long. Nishida does not bury her creation beneath references to the past or force 30 years of history into every corner. She returns to Pikachu’s joyful energy and lets the original design carry the celebration. The round cheeks, readable silhouette, and sense of forward movement still accomplish everything they did in 1996. Pikachu has changed alongside Pokémon, but its appeal has never needed to become complicated.
That makes this card the perfect conclusion to the Pikachu rare collection. Plenty of artists found new ways to interpret the character, but Nishida reminds everyone what made those interpretations possible. She created a Pokémon people immediately wanted to follow, protect, and call their friend. Thirty years later, Pikachu is still racing ahead, and generations of fans are still happily running after it.
- Release Date
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1997 – 2023-00-00
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
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Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano
- Writers
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Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku
- Franchise(s)
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Pokemon
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Rica Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
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Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
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