{"id":495393,"date":"2025-07-31T16:29:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snkrdunk.com\/en\/magazine\/?p=495393"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T02:37:21","slug":"pokemon-tcg-illustrator-sie-nanahara-implicated-in-plagiarism-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snkrdunk.com\/en\/magazine\/2025\/07\/31\/pokemon-tcg-illustrator-sie-nanahara-implicated-in-plagiarism-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon TCG Illustrator SIE NANAHARA Implicated in Plagiarism Incident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Update 5 Aug 2025] NANAHARA has now been cleared of all wrongdoing following an official statement posted on the official Pok\u00e9mon TCG Pocket Twitter account<\/a>. The statement claimed that NANAHARA had been given incorrect reference materials to work with; as such, the fault lies with The Pok\u00e9mon Company (TPC) and Creatures Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LINE\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pok\u00e9mon TCG illustrator SIE NANAHARA has received severe criticism after having supposedly plagiarized a piece of Pok\u00e9mon fanart for an illustration for Pok\u00e9mon TCG Pocket, the mobile game based on the Pok\u00e9mon TCG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original artist, who is from China and goes by the handle “lanjiujiu”, took to Twitter to highlight the similarities between the fanart and the illustration of the Ho-Oh ex card in question<\/a> shortly before the card’s release as part of the Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion set on 30 July 2025; dataminers had leaked card images in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NANAHARA, who has been illustrating Pok\u00e9mon TCG cards since 2022, allegedly traced over “lanjiujiu”‘s art to create the card’s image. Word of this supposed act of plagiarism spread throughout the Pok\u00e9mon TCG community, eventually driving The Pok\u00e9mon Company to remove that card from the game as well as the Lugia card which featured the main image of the Ho-Oh card in its background. The Pok\u00e9mon Company also released a statement on the matter<\/a>; notably, it claimed that the alleged plagiarism was the result of improper reference materials rather than being an act of deliberate plagiarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until further notice, the two cards have been replaced with placeholder images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NANAHARA, whose most well-known work is the Special Art Rare (SAR) Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR card from VSTAR Universe [S12a]<\/a>, is yet to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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