"Truly Eye Opening": Pokémon TCG English And Japanese Card Comparison Reveals Shocking Difference In Quality
It turns out that not all Pokémon Trading Card Game cards are made equal, as fans compare English and Japanese editions of the same cards with some shocking results. The Pokémon TCG has remained immensely popular worldwide since the first cards hit stores in 1996. Today, Japan usually gets new cards and set releases before Western English speakers do, but the English versions remain more popular among collectors.
It's well known among many fans of the card game that English and Japanese versions of the same cards differ in quality, but the extent of the difference is still surprising. One TCG card collector who goes by MPLangan1205 shared a video comparing the same Blastoise ex card from Scarlet & Violet 151 set in both languages, stating that the difference is "truly eye opening to me."
The video shows the two cards being rotated in the light to show off the rainbow holo effect. While the English card has a nice rainbow shine effect, it pales in comparison to the Japanese card's strikingly vibrant holographic sheen.
The Difference In Quality Between Japanese And English Pokémon TCG Cards Is Astounding
Side-By-Side Comparisons Reveal A Clear Difference
The Redditor says they only recently started collecting the Japanese TCG cards, but "the difference in the quality and the uniqueness and vibrancy of the holo effects and art really can’t even compare." It's clear from the comparison video that the Japanese cards have a much more striking and colorful appearance, and other fans have joined in to share some more examples.
One popular example of how different the two language cards are is the beloved "bubble Mew" holographic card from the SV: Paldean Fates set. Even a still photo comparison between the two like the one shared by cjexplorer on Reddit is enough to see they are very different despite having the same artwork.
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But the most striking Japanese cards, according to Reddit user Fun_Contribution_708, are the cards from the Japanese Eevee Heroes set. Although the cards eventually made it into the English Evolving Skies set, the Japanese versions of the cards "absolutely blows English out of the water," they say, as "the cards texture actually tell a story with each card in Japanese." In the Japanese printing, the Eevee evolution cards reveal some fun additional details with their holographic details. The holographic details in the Glaceon VMAX card, for instance, show the shockwave radiating from the ice Eeveelution stomping on the ice, a detail that's not as evident in the English printing of the card.
Japanese Pokémon TCG Cards Are Better Quality And Cheaper
Fans Share Why They'd Rather Collect Japanese TCG Cards
Despite having a higher quality and packing more details into each card, the Japanese versions of the TCG cards rarely sell for as much as their English counterparts. For instance, the recent release of the Prismatic Evolutions set in the US was plagued by shortages that spiked resale value of the boxes from a $60 retail value to over $100 on eBay, at the time of this writing (the prices were even higher when the set had first come out). However, the Japanese sets that Prismatic is based on, Terastal Fest ex subset and Generations Start Decks, are still available at their normal price.
The Bubble Mew card has a similar price discrepancy, with the English version having a market value of $314.90 on TCG Player and the Japanese edition sitting at nearly half that, $178.38 on TCG Player. If you were on the fence about collecting Pokémon Trading Card Gamecards, this might be the push you need to dive into it. Not only are the Japanese cards less expensive, they often also look more impressive!
Source: MPLangan1205/Reddit, Fun_Contribution_708/Reddit, cjexplorer/Reddit, TCG Player (1, 2)
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