One of twenty-five different card designs in a promo series most collectors outside Japan have never handled.
Dark Gyarados 005/025 comes from the Promo Card Pack 25th Anniversary Edition (プロモカードパック 25th ANNIVERSARY edition), a Japan-and-South-Korea-only reward box released on 22 October 2021. It never went through a standard set rarity chart, it was never sold on its own, and it doesn’t share a print with the English Team Rocket-era “Dark Gyarados” that most Western collectors picture when they hear the name.
This guide covers what the card actually is, how it was distributed, where it sits (and doesn’t sit) in the standard rarity system, and what a PSA 10 copy is currently listed for out of our Tokyo stock.
Dark Gyarados 005/025 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) is one of 25 different card designs in the Japan/South Korea-only 25th Anniversary Promo Card Pack series (released 22 October 2021); participating stores handed out a card from this series for every four 25th Anniversary Collection (S8a) packs bought. It carries no standard rarity symbol — every card in the series shares the same Confetti Holofoil treatment instead. Our own PSA 10 copy is currently listed at ¥20,662 (~$130 at ¥159/USD) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order).
All prices below are current listings on samuraiswordtokyo.com as of September 2026, converted at ¥159/USD.
What Is Dark Gyarados 005/025?
Dark Gyarados is card 005 of a 25-card series officially named the Promo Card Pack 25th Anniversary Edition in Japan. It’s a Water-type Pokemon card, and the “005/025” numbering simply marks its position — fifth of twenty-five — inside that specific series, not a rarity tier.
The card was never sold individually and never appeared inside a booster pack. It only exists as one of the 25 possible designs in this promo series that Pokemon Japan distributed alongside the 25th Anniversary Collection (S8a) booster set in October 2021. For catalog consistency with our own site, we refer to this series by the shorthand “S8a-P,” matching the naming used elsewhere in our 25th Anniversary coverage.
If the name rings a bell from the English Team Rocket set, that’s a different card entirely. This 2021 Japanese promo and the older English Team Rocket “Dark Gyarados” are separate products with separate print runs — don’t treat scans of one as a stand-in for the other.
Inside the 25th Anniversary Promo Pack
The 25th Anniversary Promo Card Pack was a purchase-incentive series, not a retail product. Participating stores in Japan and South Korea handed out a card from this series for every four 25th Anniversary Collection (S8a) booster packs a customer bought — a loyalty-style bundle tied directly to that set’s launch window.
Every card in the promo series, Dark Gyarados included, carries the same visual treatment: a Confetti Holofoil background and border, a red-and-gold “25th” graphic, and an etched finish. That shared treatment is the series’ identity — it’s what tells you a card came from this promotion rather than from a standard set.
Rarity, Design, and the Confetti Holofoil Treatment
Dark Gyarados 005/025 doesn’t carry a standard rarity symbol. It isn’t an SR, SAR, or any tier from the regular S8a rarity chart — the 25th Anniversary Promo Pack series sits outside that system entirely, as an anniversary reprint series rather than a numbered set release. The accurate way to describe it is simply a promo reprint, not a graded rarity tier.
What every card in the series does share is the finish: Confetti Holofoil across the surface, a red-and-gold “25th” logo treatment, and etching worked into the card face. It’s a uniform anniversary design language applied to all 25 designs, regardless of which Pokemon or character is printed on any given card.
Dark Gyarados’s Design Lineage
Dark Gyarados as a character concept goes back to the English Team Rocket set, where the original “Dark Gyarados” card was illustrated by Kagemaru Himeno. That’s a useful lineage note for understanding where the name and the “Dark” Pokemon concept come from — but it’s a lineage note only. We haven’t found a separately confirmed illustrator credit for this specific 2021 Japanese reprint, so treat the Himeno credit as background on the character’s design history rather than a confirmed credit for the 005/025 promo print itself.
For a broader look at Himeno’s work across Japanese releases, see our Kagemaru Himeno illustrator guide.
To see how Gyarados and its pre-evolution have been printed in more recent Japanese sets, here are two related — but different — printings from Pokemon Card 151 (SV2a):
Neither of these is the promo card — they’re a related Gyarados-line printing and its pre-evolution, shown here as comparison context, since no verified image of the exact 005/025 promo print is currently available to us.
The Other 24 Cards in the Box
The full 25-card list runs across three generations of Pokemon eras, from the original Team Rocket cast to modern EX and GX cards. Here’s the complete box in order:
| # | Card |
|---|---|
| 001 | Charizard |
| 002 | Venusaur |
| 003 | Blastoise |
| 004 | Imposter Professor Oak |
| 005 | Dark Gyarados |
| 006 | Here Comes Team Rocket! |
| 007 | [Name’s] Pikachu |
| 008 | Rocket’s Zapdos |
| 009 | Cleffa |
| 010 | Shining Magikarp |
| 011 | Team Magma’s Groudon |
| 012 | Umbreon ☆ |
| 013 | Rocket’s Admin. |
| 014 | Mew ex |
| 015 | Gardevoir ex δ |
| 016 | Claydol |
| 017 | Luxray GL LV.X |
| 018 | Garchomp C LV.X |
| 019 | Donphan |
| 020 | Reshiram |
| 021 | Zekrom |
| 022 | Mewtwo-EX |
| 023 | Xerneas-EX |
| 024 | M Rayquaza-EX |
| 025 | Tapu Lele-GX |
The box spans the franchise’s original starters (001–003), a run of Team Rocket-era cards (004–013) that Dark Gyarados sits inside, and a closing stretch of EX/GX-era chase names (014–025). We carry PSA 10 copies of several other cards from this same box, including the neighbouring Shining Magikarp 010/025, a sensible pairing with Dark Gyarados given they’re both from the Magikarp/Gyarados line.
For the two other slots we’ve covered in depth, see our guides to Charizard 001/025, Venusaur 002/025, and Blastoise 003/025.
Grading and Current PSA 10 Value
We don’t have a sourced auction-result history to cite for this specific card, so the number we can speak to directly is our own current listing: a PSA 10-graded Dark Gyarados 005/025, currently listed at ¥20,662 (~$130 at ¥159/USD) (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order).
As with any promo-era holofoil, the standard PSA grading factors apply — centering, surface, corners, and edges — and a textured Confetti Holofoil finish tends to make surface flaws more visible under grading light than a plain-foil card would. Beyond that general point, we don’t have set-specific population or pull-rate data to cite for this box, so we’ll leave it there rather than speculate.
This is a single-unit graded copy, so once it sells, sourcing another goes through our Quick Order page rather than a fixed restock — we don’t carry duplicate inventory of individually graded singles.
Where to Buy Dark Gyarados 005/025
We ship graded Japanese singles worldwide out of Tokyo with tracked delivery. Here’s our current PSA 10 copy of this card:
Looking for one of the other 24 cards from this same promo pack, or the S8a booster box it was bundled with? Check our S8a-P 25th Anniversary Promo Pack guide and our 25th Anniversary Collection booster box guide. For anything not currently listed, our Quick Order page is the fastest way to request a specific graded single or sealed item.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Dark Gyarados 005/025?
It’s card five of twenty-five different designs in the Promo Card Pack 25th Anniversary Edition series, a Japan/South Korea-only promotion released on 22 October 2021. It’s a Water-type Pokemon card with no standard rarity symbol, distributed alongside the 25th Anniversary Collection (S8a) booster set.
Is Dark Gyarados 005/025 a rare card?
It doesn’t carry a standard rarity tier like SR or SAR. Every card in the 25-card promo series shares the same Confetti Holofoil, red-and-gold “25th,” and etched treatment instead of a graded rarity symbol, so the accurate description is “promo reprint” rather than a specific rarity.
What other cards came in the same promo series?
The series runs 25 designs total, from Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise at the start through Team Rocket-era cards like Dark Gyarados and Rocket’s Zapdos, to closing EX/GX chases including Mewtwo-EX, Xerneas-EX, M Rayquaza-EX, and Tapu Lele-GX.
How did people get this promo card in 2021?
Participating stores in Japan and South Korea gave out a card from the Promo Card Pack 25th Anniversary Edition series for every four 25th Anniversary Collection (S8a) booster packs a customer purchased. It wasn’t sold as a standalone product.
How much does a PSA 10 Dark Gyarados 005/025 cost?
Our own PSA 10-graded copy is currently listed at ¥20,662, roughly $130 at ¥159/USD. We don’t have sourced third-party auction data to cite beyond our own listing.
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