Go Island Hopping...
Southern Islands
サザンアイランド
July 31, 2001
Southern Islands is a work of art masquerading as a TCG card set. Its 18 cards are cut from six island illustrations, three to a scene, and split between two groups, Rainbow Island and Tropical Island. The artwork is bright and warm, and each three-card scene pairs one holographic card with two non-holographic cards.
That structure gives the set a different rhythm from a main-line expansion. Every card belongs to a larger postcard composition, and every composition is part of the same island-hopping view: a panorama to assemble rather than a checklist to complete.
大空
Illus. Keiko Fukuyama
川辺
Illus. Keiko Fukuyama
お花畑
Illus. Keiko Fukuyama
ジャングル
Illus. Naoyo Kimura
ビーチ
Illus. Naoyo Kimura
海
Illus. Naoyo Kimura
The Art
The scenes of the Southern Islands were illustrated by Naoyo Kimura and Keiko Fukuyama.
Kimura's illustrations favor soft colors and close detail, drawing the viewer into each scene until it feels immediate and lived-in. She has worked widely for Pokémon, from TCG cards to children's storybooks and other promotional art.
Fukuyama's work is lighter and more playful, with bright, bold color that pulls the eye in several directions at once. Her TCG credits are fewer, but a series of postcards built from her artwork shows just how playful her designs can be.
Japanese Release
In Japan, Southern Islands arrived as a summer-limited series tied to the theatrical release of Pocket Monsters the Movie - Mirage Pokémon: Lugia's Explosive Birth, officially known there as Revelation-Lugia. A preview spread in Pokémon Card Trainers Vol.2 shows the set still in production, printing an early sketch before the final cards were finished.
Read the full article
Production Begins on “Southern Islands”!
A summer-limited sheet commemorating the release of the movie Lugia's Explosive Birth
A special look at artwork still in production!
To commemorate the release of the movie Mirage Pokémon: Lugia's Explosive Birth, a new Pokémon Card release is on the way: “Southern Islands.” Built around a southern-islands theme, the artwork shows Pokémon playing happily across a sunny island scene. The cards will apparently be sold as sheets split between two islands: “Tropical Island” and “Rainbow Island.”
The artwork shown here is a rough sketch, still in progress, and is being revealed especially for readers of Pokémon Card Trainers. The release is planned for summer, during the theatrical run of Lugia's Explosive Birth.
Check1Marill from Pokémon Gold & Silver will become a card!
This is big news: several Pokémon from this summer's upcoming Pocket Monsters Gold & Silver appear to be getting cards before the games are released. What kind of cards will they be? What attacks will they use?
Check2Cards will be born from this large illustration!
Naoyo Kimura, known for her work on the Expansion Sheet series, created this illustration. The concept is to turn Pokémon drawn within one large image into several individual cards. It is a new idea for Pokémon cards, unlike anything that has come before.
Check3What kinds of Pokémon will appear?
What kinds of Pokémon will appear in “Southern Islands”? Southern islands bring to mind sky, sea, and jungle, so Flying, Water, and Grass Pokémon seem likely to show up often, but...?
Illustration: Naoyo Kimura
More Gold & Silver Pokémon will appear!
Marill is not the only Gold & Silver Pokémon expected to appear. The editorial team has learned that Slowking and Ledyba cards are also in production. There is plenty to look forward to!
Official illustrations: Ken Sugimori
Note: The illustrations introduced here are still in development. They may differ from the final product.
「サザンアイランド」制作スタート！
映画「ルギア爆誕」公開記念 夏季限定シート
制作進行中のイラストを特別に公開！
映画「幻のポケモン ルギア爆誕」の公開を記念して、ポケモンカードの新作が発売される。その名は「サザンアイランド」。今回のテーマは「南の島」。南の島で楽しそうに遊んでいるポケモンたちのイラストが印象的だ。カードはそれぞれ「トロピカルアイランド」と「レインボーアイランド」と、2つの島に分かれたシートでの販売になるそうだ。
今回紹介するイラストは、ラフ・スケッチと呼ばれる、まだまだ制作途中のもの。「ポケモンカードトレーナーズ」読者のために、特別に大公開！というわけだ。発売は、ズバリ夏。「ルギア爆誕」の上映期間中の限定発売になる予定だ。
チェック1「ポケモン金・銀」に登場する「マリル」がカードになる！
これはビッグニュース！夏に発売が予定されている『ポケットモンスター金・銀』に登場するポケモンの中から、数種類がいち早くカード化されるらしい。どんな特徴を持っているのか、どんなワザを使うのか？
チェック2この大きなイラストからカードが生まれる！
このイラストは「拡張シート」でおなじみの木村直代さんの作品。1枚のイラストの中に描かれたポケモンたちをいかし、数枚のカードを作るという。これまでにない新しい発想から制作されるシリーズなのだ。
チェック3どんなポケモンが登場する？
「サザンアイランド」には、どんなポケモンが登場するのだろう？南の島といえば、空と海、そしてジャングル。だから飛行系のポケモン、水や草ポケモンが多く登場するのでは、と予想されるのだけど……？
イラスト／木村直代
ほかにもでるぞ！「金・銀」のポケモン
マリルのほかに、まだまだ『金・銀』のポケモンが登場するらしい。編集部では、ヤドキングとレディバのカードを制作中との情報をキャッチ！期待に胸がふくらむぞ！
公式イラスト／杉森建
※ここで紹介したイラストは開発中のものです。実際の商品とは異なる場合があります。
The magazine's “Check 2” callout explains the idea behind it: Pokémon drawn within one large island illustration would be shrunk down and split into individual cards. It is the clearest account of why the set feels so different from a normal expansion: the cards work on their own, but they were conceived as pieces of a shared island scene.
Trainers Vol.2 also positioned Southern Islands as a sneak preview of Pokémon Gold & Silver. Marill was singled out as big news, and the magazine teased other new Pokémon such as Ledyba and Slowking. The set was both a movie tie-in and an early glimpse of the next generation.
Official release information later framed Southern Islands as a limited series sold only during the summer of 1999. Media Factory released it on July 17 in two Japanese package formats, differing in price, sales locations, and card count.
Summer Limited Pack
- by Media Factory
- 200円excluding tax
Sold through toy stores, major supermarkets, specialty game stores, and other retailers carrying the Pokémon Trading Card Game, each pack held three visible cards arranged over the matching island illustration, plus a special postcard.
Three versions were prepared for Tropical Island and three for Rainbow Island, matching the six postcard scenes that make up the full Japanese set.
Summer Limited Pack display boxes, designed by Milky Isobe.
From Trainers Magazine Vol. 4, page 65.
Movie Commemorative Set
- by Media Factory
- 600円tax included
Sold at Japanese theaters screening Pocket Monsters the Movie - Mirage Pokémon: Lugia's Explosive Birth, each set housed nine cards in a special binder with a clear cover rather than a three-card pack.
Two versions were available: one Tropical Island binder and one Rainbow Island binder. The binders stored the cards together while letting collectors enjoy the original illustration behind the card art.
English Release
- by Wizards of the Coast
- $19.99MSRP
In English, Southern Islands became the Southern Islands Collection, a single WotC retail product rather than a set of separate scene packs. According to WotC's archived FAQ, the collection was built around a specially designed three-ring binder and included all 18 cards, six postcards, protective sleeves, and three randomized booster packs from recent expansions, at a $19.99 suggested retail price.
Where the Japanese release asked collectors to assemble the islands across fixed three-card packs or two nine-card movie files, the English version brought everything together in one binder, sold as a ready-made collection. Inside, each scene is presented as a place on the island, labeled Jungle, Beach, Sea, and the rest, with small map markers showing where each panorama belongs. That turns the set's defining trick, three cards cut from one illustration, into a guided tour of the island.
The localization kept the original Japanese artwork intact; only the card design around it changed. The Japanese versions use the older Base/Team Rocket-era frame, while the English cards were reframed in the Neo-era style of WotC's 2001 lineup.
The set symbol differs too: both regions use a palm-tree mark, but the Japanese symbol is a single block of color while the English one is segmented along the trunk.
What makes Southern Islands special is that its scale is small but its idea is big. Eighteen cards become six connected artworks, those artworks become two islands, and together they make one of Pokémon's most charming little collections.
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