Bandai Carddass 1997 part 3 & 4 is widely believed to be illustrated by Ken Sugimori. This is due to sources like Bulbapedia and other community members saying this. Recently this topic has been brought to light due to Mandarake auctioning a watercolor Raichu artwork. They claim this is the original drawing for Bandai Carddass 1997 Part 3&4 hand drawn by Ken Sugimori. However this is not true.
First, I am fully confident these artworks are indeed authentic original production artworks from Bandai. However, they are not drawn by Ken Sugimori. These artworks first came to light in the summer of 2023 when a random seller on yahoo Japan listed a handful of Bandai production items for auction. The first was a Slowpoke, followed by Kangaskhan, Lickitung, Eevee, Snorlax, Omanyte, and Moltres. Besides these Pokemon artworks, this seller also sold Bandai 1996 Street fighter cels, which were the artworks used to produce said cards, further supporting the authenticity of each of the items.
Due to the popular belief that all of Carddass was illustrated by Ken Sugimori because of sources like Bulbapedia, the seller was questioned right away in Yahoo Japan’s public question feed for his listings. He answered right away that the illustration is not by Mr Sugimori, but instead by an external illustrator. However, it was distributed as an official product under the supervision of Game Freak. He was asked this same question again by a different person on a later auction to which he confirmed again it was not hand drawn by Sugimori, but by an artist under the supervision of Game Freak from the rough drawing stage. Given the seller obviously knows who Sugimori is, why would he lie saying they are not Sugimori, which in turn would drastically impact his final sale prices. This is a strong supporting piece of evidence he is telling the truth.
Next you might wonder how this seller would know this information or have these artworks to sell. Pokemon is notoriously strict and protective of its original artworks and production items to prevent them from getting into public hands. The only way these get out is when employees take them. The seller was asked this in the public question section of one of the auctions and stated “ an acquaintance was involved in the production of the product and I received it from said acquaintance” . However, this is not true. Due to the legal ramifications from Pokemon and how strict they are with their IP, this is a common statement from employees who sell in Japan.
On the contrary, I can prove the seller was a Bandai employee because he told me. This is because I was supposed to be the winner of the Snorlax drawing which he sold, so he was incentivized to tell the truth for me to pay. Being a Snorlax and an art collector, this pineapple artwork has always been one of my favorite illustrations ever. So, to see it list I had to win it. Like many others, I prior thought it was a Ken Sugimori illustration. However, we now know otherwise. Prior to the Snorlax, the highest sale for one of his auctions was Eevee for 854,000 yen. So, I figured I would surely win for maybe double at most.
Morning of the auction comes, and I am winning at 1.67 million yen with 1 minute left. Then with 10 seconds left I am outbid. So, I bid again to which I am again outbid. This was something I wanted very badly, but as always with buying on yahoo there is no buyer protection, so I decided my top bid would be 2,817,900 yen. The auction ended at 2,818,900 yen. To say I was disappointed and upset would be an understatement. However, 4 days later the seller offered me a chance to buy the Snorlax. The top bidder did not pay and now I could either buy it at my max bid of 2,817,900 yen or he would offer it to the third place bidder. I look at the first place nonpayer and they had 0 feedback… Because of this, I couldn’t justify paying an additional $10,000 from being shilled. So sadly I decided not to buy. Funny enough the third place bidder then passed as well, so the 4th place bidder won for 1,302,000 yen. One of the most painful experiences for me in Pokemon. A few weeks after this my friend received the Kangaskan drawing he had won, which had ancient looking tape on the back, further supporting the age and authenticity of these drawings. This made it even more painful with what had happened with the Snorlax.
Pictures show the shilled price, my winning bid after I was offered Snorlax, and then the final prices after the 4th place bidder bought.
Following the Snorlax, the yahoo seller sold Moltres. This was bought by a very wealthy animation collector. Following this, said collector did a private deal and bought the remaining artworks from the yahoo seller which may have been 150+ drawings. We know this because he tried to sell the Charizard he acquired privately to a fellow collector, claiming it was a Ken Sugimori original. He showed a preview of 30 or so other artworks, including the auctioned Moltres, which he had bought from the Yahoo seller privately as further proof. Fortunately, the collector he tried to flip it too was already aware of the auctions on Yahoo Japan which stated these weren’t drawn by Ken Sugimori. Here is an example of some of the drawings he bought privately, which included the Raichu on Mandarake, the yahoo Moltres, the eeveelutions from Carddass 97, Hitmonchan/ Hitmonlee from the Carddass 96 Jumbos, and said Charizard.
Since then, the new owner has tried and failed to consign these artworks to auction houses like Heritage stating they are Sugimori originals. However recently, using the influence he already has as a big consigner to Mandarake, he got them to accept the Raichu as a Ken Sugimori original. The community noticed and multiple people presented Mandarake with proof these were not Ken Sugimori originals. However, Mandarake decided to ignore the proof. This auction is already at 14.6 million yen.
After ignoring the proof presented to them, Mandarake recently released an article supposed to prove the drawing was by Ken Sugimori. However, this article is very laughable. They cite Bulbapedia, a random blog post, and mercari listings as proof Ken Sugimori illustrated Carddass 97. One of their main arguments is that Carddass 1997 were all “newly created originals completely drawn from scratch, making them unique artworks for the Carddass series” They also state “ sources confirm The Part 3 and 4 card sets included new watercolors by Sugimori that were never reused in any other product”. Their expert sources of these claims, a random blog post from dittodan. They added a new update today trying to further disregard the public’s input, even referencing the Snorlax auction on yahoo.
All of these claims can be proven false quite easily. Carddass 97 does not feature newly created watercolors only used in the set. Many of the artworks in Carddass 97, including the Raichu on auction, are actually a reused Bandai artwork from 1996. In particular, first used in the Bandai Pokemon Snack set. Pokemon Snack was one of the earliest sets, first released in August of 1996. Bandai was the first company Pokemon commercialized goods with starting with Pokemon Club Part 1 in May of 1996, and due to this, it is almost certain Bandai’s illustrators assisted the Game Freak team (who was very small at the time) with Pokemon Snack, Bandai Carddass 1996 Jumbos, and Carddass 97. All of this lines up perfectly with what the original Yahoo Japan seller stated.
You will notice this 1996 Jumbo Carddass set also features the Raichu, Moltres and Licktung from yahoo, and the Ditto in Carddass 97.
Looking at Pokemon Snack Part 1, we see Sugimori stock art as well as alternate arts that are very different than any other artworks from the time. Pokemon Club Part 1 and 2, which released prior to the Snack set in May and July of 1996, use only Sugimori stock art. Based on the information we know from the bandai employee, these alternate arts in Pokemon Snack Part 1 are almost certainly drawn by bandai illustrators. The art style is very different than anything else from the time. Per the bandai employee, the Bandai artworks for Snack Part 2, Jumbo Carddass 96, and Carddass 97 were created under the supervision of Game Freak from the rough drawing stage, explaining why they would have a Sugimori style vs these Snack part 1 alternate arts.
Looking at the 1996 Bandai Carddass Jumbo set, it also features the same artworks as Pokemon Snack Part 2. Both Snack Part 2 and the Carddass Jumbo 1996 set released in close succession at the end of 1996, which further supports why they would share the same artworks. This jumbo carddass set has long been thought to be illustrated solely by Ken Sugimori just based on assumption. These artworks in both Snack Part 2 and the Jumbo Carddass set, also feature artworks thought to be exclusive to the Carddass 1997 set. This further supports that Bandai artists likely drew many of the artworks assumed by the public to be from Sugimori. At the time the Game Freak team was very busy with the TCG, so it is very logical they would have relied on the Bandai illustrators for these sets. Here are just a few examples of artworks used in Pokemon Snack part 2, the jumbo Carddass 1996, and then reused again in Carddass 1997, with the corresponding original art.
The Snorlax was used in both Snack Part 2 as well as the 1996 Jumbo Carddass set.
1996 Jumbo Carddass 1-3 feature all the matching artworks for Snack Part 2. Cards 4-6 feature many of them as well including said Lapras and Ditto.
There are 18 artworks I have confirmed to be in both 1996 Pokemon Snack part 2 and Bandai Carddass 1997 and their corresponding pictures. Finding Pokemon Snack stickers is quite challenging, so there may be more matches I missed due to not having a complete set of Pokemon Snack for reference. Even the beloved white belly Pikachu is a 1996 Bandai artwork.
Ivysaur
Venusaur
Squirtle
Warturtle
Charmander
Pikachu
Raichu
Nidoran Male
Jigglypuff
Meowth
Magikarp
Drowzee
Koffing
Seel
Cubone
Slowpoke
Lapras
Ditto
(Some of the Pokemon Snack cards shown as reference have been cut in half)
In conclusion, while I am fully confident these artworks sold by the yahoo seller are authentic Bandai production original artworks, we can also just as confidently state these are not Ken Sugimori original drawings and instead this Raichu was drawn by Bandai illustrators under the supervision of Game Freak. Given the 18 artworks used in both Pokemon Snack and Bandai Carddass 1997, as well as the matching Bandai Snack and 1996 Bandai Jumbo artworks, it brings to question if Ken Sugimori illustrated only some or even any of Carddass 1997 at all. Carddass 1997 features a style different than traditional Sugimori artwork and was only believed to be drawn by Ken Sugimori due to community sources stating this. Due to the original seller firmly stating these are not drawn by Sugimori and the reuse of the 1996 Bandai artworks in Carddass 1997, it makes a strong argument that all of the artworks they sold and their corresponding cards, were not drawn by Sugimori, including the artworks only seen in the Carddass 1997 and the 1996 Carddass Jumbo set. Further supporting this is the fact if they were drawn by Sugimori he would have likely kept them like other original artworks he has shared on his twitter account, vs them being left at the Bandai office for said employee to take.
I love to research and collect early historical items, non tcg, and artworks, so I am not trying to talk down on any of these sets or drawings. If you have any information to add or corrections, please let me know and I can update the feed.
