5ban Graphics Pokemon Cards: Illustrator Guide

Who (and What) Is 5ban Graphics?

Per Bulbapedia, 5ban Graphics is a group of artists within Creatures, Inc. who have illustrated many cards for the Pokemon Trading Card Game from Black & White onward. The group has designed many Trainer cards, as well as many Full Art cards and Pokemon cards for the Black and White, XY, Sun & Moon, Sword & Shield, and Scarlet & Violet TCG series.

The name itself is a piece of Creatures, Inc. history rather than a stylistic label: Bulbapedia notes it references the studio’s former address at 10 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

Card counts for 5ban Graphics vary by source and shouldn’t be combined. Bulbapedia’s own tally lists 1,043 cards illustrated by the group, using its own counting method. Limitless TCG’s card database — which tracks English and Japanese print runs separately — returns 1,716 cards for the English-language search and 2,087 for the Japanese search. None of these three numbers should be added together or presented as a single definitive total; they’re different methodologies measuring overlapping but not identical sets of prints.

For buyers, the practical takeaway is that a “5ban Graphics” credit on a listing doesn’t tell you much about a card’s era, rarity, or price on its own — it can point to an early Mega-EX just as easily as a current Scarlet & Violet secret rare. The sections below work through what the credit does and doesn’t tell you, using cards we’ve individually verified against Limitless TCG rather than relying on set-level assumptions.

Eight Verified Cards, All Cross-Matched to Stock

Rather than list the full catalog, we picked eight representative “Illustrated by 5ban Graphics” cards, verified individually on Limitless TCG’s card pages, and checked them against our own PSA 10 inventory. All eight matched a current listing:

Sorting by price rather than release date makes the range obvious: the same credit line runs from a standard-issue Sword & Shield-era secret rare up to a Mega-EX that predates the GX era entirely, with a wide gap between the two. That spread is a direct consequence of 5ban Graphics being a multi-artist, multi-era credit rather than a single illustrator’s body of work.

Twelve More Confirmed Matches in Our Vault

The eight cards above are a starting sample, not the full picture. Extending the same collector-number verification to the rest of our PSA 10 inventory turned up twelve additional 5ban Graphics-credited cards with a confirmed set name, each individually checked on its Limitless TCG card page before being added here:

A pattern stands out in this second batch: five of the twelve are Mega-EX prints from the XY era (Sharpedo, Charizard, Venusaur, Gengar, Scizor), which lines up with Bulbapedia’s note that the group has been active in the TCG’s art pipeline since Black & White — well before the GX and V/VMAX naming conventions existed. The Reshiram ex and Genesect ex rows, by contrast, are from White Flare and Black Bolt, both Scarlet & Violet-era releases, which is evidence in our own inventory that the credit is still active on recent product, not just legacy reprints.

Beyond the Cards

Bulbapedia’s coverage of 5ban Graphics extends past the core card game in two documented directions. The group has also illustrated 47 cards appearing in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket — a separate mobile product with its own card pool, kept apart from the 1,716/2,087 counts above.

On the merchandise side, Bulbapedia credits 5ban Graphics with the TCG “Cyber Judge” booster art and the “Wild Force” booster art, each sourced to “The Pokémon card art life” tracking account rather than an official Pokemon Company statement. We’re carrying that sourcing distinction forward here rather than presenting it as confirmed by the publisher directly.

Where to Buy 5ban Graphics Cards from Japan

The eight cards profiled above are a small sample of the 27 5ban Graphics-credited prints currently listed in our PSA 10 inventory (as of 2026-08-12). The M Charizard EX is the highest-priced match among the eight cards in this guide:

For the wider catalog, browse our PSA 10 card list to filter by set and price, or use our Quick Order page to request a specific card that isn’t currently listed. If you’re comparing illustrators across our ongoing series, KEIICHIRO ITO, Atsuko Nishida, and Yuka Morii each have their own dedicated guides — all three are named individual illustrators, which makes for a useful contrast against a studio credit like 5ban Graphics.