The official Japanese Pokémon Card Game website announced that the High Class Pack Terastal Festival ex set, which will be released on Friday, December 6th, 2024, includes an Irukaman ex SAR (Special Art Rare) card illustrated by Tetsuo Hara (原哲夫)! The famous Japanese manga artist is best known for co-creating the post-apocalyptic martial arts series Fist of the North Star.

Biography:
1961: Born in Tokyo.
1982: Debuted with "Tetsu no Don Quixote" in Weekly Shonen Jump (published by Shueisha).
1983: Started serialization of "Hokuto no Ken" (Fist of the North Star) with Buronson as the original author. It became his biggest hit.
1990: Started serialization of "Hana no Keiji: Kumo no Kanata ni" (The Flowery Keiji: Beyond the Clouds).
2001: "Souten no Ken" (Fist of the Blue Sky) was serialized in Weekly Comic Bunch.
2010: "Ikusa no ko Oda Saburo Nobunaga den" was serialized in Monthly Comic Zenon.
He continues to draw the Sengoku Bussho series.

Interview:

A commemorative interview was conducted. The full interview was published in the February 2025 issue of Comic Zenon which was released on December 25th, 2024. A part of the interview is available below!

Q: During this challenge, what was the thing you paid the most attention to?
Hara: I really valued "coolness". I wanted to add my own "cool power" to the series while preserving the Pokémon feel. This time, I drew a lot of fists and paid attention to the light and reflections in the water to create an illusion of the fists leaving afterimages. I painted the afterimages of the fists with toned-down colors, and added a reddish tint to the main fists to make them stand out. I hope that people can get a sense the power from the fists.

Q：今回の挑戦の中で、一番こだわった点は？
原：やっぱり「かっこよさ」を大事にしました。ポケモンらしさを守りながらも、僕らしい「かっこいい迫力」を加えたいと思っていました。今回は拳をたくさん描いて、光や水の反射の表現にこだわり、拳が残像を残すイメージで仕上げています。拳の残像をトーンを落とした色で描き、メインの拳には赤みを加えて目立つようにしました。見た人が拳のパワーを感じ取ってくれたら嬉しいですね。

An outdoor poster advertisement commemorating the event!

From Monday, December 2nd, 2024 to Sunday, December 8th, 2024, a huge poster of the artwork used for the Irukaman ex card will be showcased at the entrance of MAGNET by SHIBUYA109, a commercial store facing the Shibuya Scramble Crossing!

Original drawings will be exhibited at the Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo!

From Friday, December 6th, 2024 to Sunday, January 5th, 2025, original drawings and cards from the collection will be on display at the TCG Card station attached to the Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo!

Source: https://www.pokemon-card.com/info/004735.html

PokéTimes - December 2nd, 2024

The official PokéTimes Twitter account posted a teaser to the official announcement on December 2nd, 2024, showing off the fists from the cards artwork. It was tagged PokéCard to give people a hint.


Atatatata!! (Note: It is what Kenshiro famously says when attacking rapidly and is stylized with afterimages.)
あたたたたーーーーーっ!!
#PokéCard #Answer Tomorrow
#ポケカ #明日答え合わせ

Source: https://x.com/poke_times/status/1863387621373693970