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NO. 222Obsidian Flames
Special illustration rare
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Toshinao Aoki
82Illustrated cards
79Full-card views
45Sets indexed
1999–2026Timeline
About
Toshinao Aoki (青木俊直) is a Japanese illustrator known for his work on the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). He was born on August 18, 1960. Aoki began his career in 1997 with the illustration of the Surfing Pikachu card, which was released for the Japan Railways Group Train Rally. After a nearly 19-year hiatus, he returned to the TCG to illustrate Exeggutor for the Crown Zenith expansion. Throughout his career, he has illustrated approximately 63 cards, including notable Pokémon such as Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno. In addition to TCG cards, Aoki's artwork has appeared in Pokémon Tales picture books, including Pikachu's Day, Lapras Makes a Friend, I'm Not Pikachu, and Wake Up, Lugia! He has also contributed to the Pokémon TCG Pocket game, illustrating 5 cards across 4 sets. Aoki's early English-printed legendary bird promo cards from the 2000 Movie campaign were incorrectly credited to him, leading to collector interest in the misprinted versions.
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Timeline
1999–2026
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Surfing Pikachu
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Special illustration rare
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