Two Pokemon cards in our PSA 10 vault right now carry the same illustrator credit — a lowercase signature that reads simply “Illustrated by kawayoo.” Behind that credit is a freelance digital illustrator whose Limitless TCG catalog runs to 238 Japanese-language cards and counting, spanning from the artist’s Rising Rivals debut to the Special Art Rare in White Flare (SV11W).
What makes the credit worth tracking is consistency across eras. This isn’t an artist who appeared for one hyped set and vanished — the catalog covers Secret Rares in Tag Bolt, Star Birth, and Paradigm Trigger, a Special Art Rare in White Flare, and the HeartGold & SoulSilver series’ packaging art in between. For collectors who buy by illustrator as much as by Pokemon, that kind of long-running footprint is exactly what’s worth verifying card by card rather than taking on faith.
This guide covers what’s verifiable about Kawayoo (川洋), works through a representative slice of the card catalog, checks the artist’s credits against our own PSA 10 inventory, and ends at the two matching cards we currently have listed.
Kawayoo has illustrated 238 Japanese-language Pokemon TCG cards (per Limitless TCG’s exact-match database) and drew the promotional booster and theme-deck art for every expansion in the HeartGold & SoulSilver series. Our PSA 10 vault currently holds two matching cards: Lugia V SR:SA (S12 110/098) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order), currently listed at ¥226,394, and Reshiram ex 168/086 SAR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order), currently listed at ¥42,160.
Who Is Kawayoo?
Bulbapedia gives the artist’s name as Kawaguchi Yoohei (Japanese: 川口洋平), born 1974, a freelance digital illustrator working in the Pokemon Trading Card Game. The wiki’s own text is internally inconsistent about the romanization, spelling the given name both “Yoohei” and “Youhei” in different places — so this guide doesn’t assert one spelling as official, and refers to the artist by name throughout.
On card credits, the artist goes by the nickname “kawayoo” (川洋), and Limitless TCG’s individual card pages render that credit in lowercase — “Illustrated by kawayoo” — matching the nickname styling rather than the full formal name.
Kawayoo’s first Pokemon TCG work was illustrating Walrein, Hippopotas, and Nidorino for the Rising Rivals expansion. Since then, the catalog has grown substantially: Limitless TCG’s exact-match search returns 238 cards in the Japanese-language database and 218 cards in the English-language database as of this guide’s research date. Those two counts track different products (Japanese versus English print runs) and largely overlap in content, so they shouldn’t be added together. Bulbapedia runs its own separate tally — 215 TCG cards, plus 46 cards in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket — using a different methodology from the Limitless counts above, so that figure is best read on its own rather than reconciled against the Limitless numbers.
One integrity check worth flagging: Limitless TCG’s search treats a plain artist-name query as a substring match, which can pull in unrelated names that merely contain the same letters. For Kawayoo, that risk doesn’t apply — the exact-match query (using Limitless’s own !artist: operator, the same one it uses to build the credit link on individual card pages) returned the identical figure of 238 Japanese cards as the plain substring search. That match confirms the count isn’t inflated by contamination from another artist’s name, and every card cited in this guide was additionally re-verified on its own individual card page showing the literal “Illustrated by kawayoo” credit.
The Kawayoo Style: How the Artwork Is Built
Per Bulbapedia’s description of the technique, Kawayoo builds each subject from scratch on a graphic tablet in image-editing software, applying hundreds of individual strokes to work up base shapes, outlines, backgrounds, and final detail passes. The result is described as surreal, heavy, and multi-layered — closer to an oil painting than a flat digital illustration — with recurring attention to muscle tone, expression, and contrast, and thematic influences drawn from cyberpunk and anime.
That approach carried across an entire era of the TCG’s promotional output: Kawayoo drew the booster pack art and theme deck art for every expansion in the HeartGold & SoulSilver series, meaning the booster and theme-deck packaging of that entire series came from this artist.
It’s worth being precise about what Bulbapedia’s description does and doesn’t establish. It describes a working method — hundreds of tablet strokes building up layered, oil-painting-like results with a focus on muscle tone, expression, and contrast — and it names cyberpunk and anime as thematic influences. It does not describe individual card compositions beyond that general technique, so this guide doesn’t invent specific descriptions of, say, the Lugia V or Reshiram ex artwork discussed later; the cited technique applies across the catalog as a general working style rather than as a card-by-card breakdown.
Card Catalog: From Rising Rivals to White Flare
The catalog spans well over a decade of Japanese Pokemon TCG sets. Here’s a representative slice, individually re-verified against Limitless TCG’s card-page credits:
| Card | Set (JP code) | Number | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lugia V | Paradigm Trigger (S12) | 110 | Secret Rare |
| Reshiram ex | White Flare (SV11W) | 168 | Special Art Rare |
| Umbreon VMAX | VMAX Climax (S8b) | 245 | Character Super Rare |
| Arceus V | Star Birth (S9) | 112 | Secret Rare |
| Single Strike Urshifu V | Single Strike Master (S5I) | 75 | Secret Rare |
| Pikachu & Zekrom-GX | Tag Bolt (SM9) | 101 | Secret Rare |
| Drapion | Nihil Zero (M3) | 90 | Art Rare |
Two things stand out looking across this slice. First, the era range is wide — the older Tag Bolt and Single Strike Master prints sit alongside the White Flare release, showing a sustained, active credit rather than a short run tied to a single expansion cycle. Second, the rarity tier in this sample is consistently high: every card here sits at Secret Rare, Special Art Rare, Character Super Rare, or Art Rare tier. That same high-rarity tier also shows up in the in-stock crossmatch below — both matching cards are Secret Rare or Special Art Rare tier, with no Kawayoo commons currently in our vault.
The seven cards above are a representative sample, not the full 238-card Japanese list — Limitless TCG’s database is the place to browse the complete catalog set by set. What this slice does establish, re-verified individually on each card’s own Limitless page, is that the “Illustrated by kawayoo” credit holds consistently across very different Pokemon subjects: Legendary birds and beasts (Lugia, Reshiram, Arceus), a Fighting-type Pokemon V (Single Strike Urshifu), a Tag Team GX (Pikachu & Zekrom-GX), a VMAX Character Rare (Umbreon), and a standard-frame Art Rare (Drapion). That range across Pokemon types and card formats is part of why the credit is worth tracking rather than treating as a one-card fluke.
In Our PSA 10 Vault
We checked Kawayoo’s Limitless-verified card list against our own PSA 10 inventory directly — matching by collector number and card name rather than by Pokemon name alone, since numerator coincidences across unrelated sets are common. The result: two matches.
The higher-value match is Lugia V SR:SA (S12 110/098) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) from Paradigm Trigger, currently listed at ¥226,394. The second is Reshiram ex 168/086 SAR (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) from White Flare, currently listed at ¥42,160. Both are Secret Rare or Special Art Rare tier prints matching the pattern in the card catalog above — no common-rarity Kawayoo cards turned up in the crossmatch.
View Product → (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order)
What Kawayoo Cards Cost Right Now
With only two verified in-stock data points, this isn’t enough to draw a full market curve for the artist — but the spread between the two is informative on its own. The Lugia V SR:SA at ¥226,394 and the Reshiram ex SAR at ¥42,160 sit more than five times apart despite both carrying the same illustrator credit and a comparable secret/special-art rarity tier.
What the two prices do confirm is that an illustrator credit alone doesn’t set a price band.
Beyond the Cards
Outside the TCG, Kawayoo has illustrated maps and other promotional artwork across multiple mainline Pokemon game generations. Per Bulbapedia, that work includes the Hoenn map for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the Alola maps for both Sun/Moon and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, the Kanto map for Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, the Shiny Tapu Koko event artwork, and a Crown Tundra promotional wallpaper depicting Sinnoh.
Read together with the HeartGold & SoulSilver booster and theme-deck art covered above, the pattern is an artist whose work extends past individual card illustrations into the packaging and promotional layer of entire Pokemon releases — work that reaches collectors even when they aren’t specifically pulling a Kawayoo-credited card. Bulbapedia’s writeup does not name any employer, award, or non-Pokemon client for this artist, so this guide stops at what’s documented rather than speculating about a wider design career.
Where to Buy Kawayoo Cards from Japan
We stock and ship Japanese PSA 10 singles out of Tokyo, and both Kawayoo-credited cards currently in stock (as of our 2026-08-12 inventory check) are listed individually rather than as a restockable line item.
View Product → (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order)
For the wider PSA 10 catalog, browse our PSA 10 collection or the full PSA 10 card list to filter by set, illustrator, and price. For cards not currently in stock, the Quick Order page is the fastest way to build a request. If you’re comparing illustrator profiles across our ongoing series, KEIICHIRO ITO and Naoki Saito both have their own dedicated guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kawayoo?
Kawayoo (川洋) is the card-credit nickname of Kawaguchi Yoohei (川口洋平), a freelance digital illustrator born in 1974 per Bulbapedia. The artist’s first Pokemon TCG cards were Walrein, Hippopotas, and Nidorino for the Rising Rivals expansion, and the catalog has since grown to 238 cards in Limitless TCG’s Japanese-language database.
How many Pokemon cards has Kawayoo illustrated?
Limitless TCG’s exact-match search returns 238 cards in the Japanese-language database and 218 cards in the English-language database. Bulbapedia’s own separate tally is 215 TCG cards plus 46 Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket cards, using a different methodology from the Limitless counts.
What is Kawayoo’s art style known for?
Per Bulbapedia, Kawayoo builds each subject from scratch using a graphic tablet, applying hundreds of strokes to define shapes, outlines, backgrounds, and final detail. The results are described as surreal, heavy, and multi-layered, closer to an oil painting than flat digital art, with recurring focus on muscle tone, expression, and contrast, and themes influenced by cyberpunk and anime.
Did Kawayoo illustrate any Pokemon TCG set packaging?
Yes. Kawayoo drew the promotional booster pack art and theme deck art for every expansion in the HeartGold & SoulSilver series, in addition to individual card illustrations across other sets.
Which Kawayoo cards are currently in stock as PSA 10?
As of our 2026-08-12 inventory check, our PSA 10 vault holds two Kawayoo-credited cards: Lugia V SR:SA (S12 110/098) from Paradigm Trigger, currently listed at ¥226,394, and Reshiram ex 168/086 SAR from White Flare, currently listed at ¥42,160.
Is there a set price range for Kawayoo-illustrated cards?
No. The two verified in-stock prices — ¥226,394 and ¥42,160 — sit more than five times apart despite a comparable rarity tier, which shows the illustrator credit alone doesn’t set a price band. Each card’s price still depends on its specific set, collector number, and rarity.
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