If you're hunting for Pokémon cards from 151, Prismatic Evolutions, and Ascended Heroes in 2026, chances are, your chief concern is just trying to pull your favorite cards, while spending as little as possible. So, when it comes to choosing between English and Japanese, it should really be simple - the latter is cheaper in most cases, the print quality is typically better, and in my experience, the pull rates are markedly better. With this Japanese Pokémon 151 booster box, you'll get 20 packs, each with seven cards, giving you plenty of opportunities to grab the Charizard SIR - and at a lower price than the market average.
Over the year and a half I've been writing about the Pokémon TCG for Wargamer, there's been a very clear recurring theme: I prefer Japanese versions. Booster boxes of special sets mean more packs, which in turn means more chances at those chases, and in general, the pull rates are much higher. You only have to look at my Mega Dream ex or Terastal Festival pulls to see.
Honestly, based on pulling more packs of Japanese Pokémon sets than English, I'm fully convinced that even the basic physical quality is much higher - so much so that it's almost an entirely different (Poké) ball game.
So, a Water Gun to my head, which option would I pick between the standard Pokémon 151 and the Japanese version? You already know I'm picking the latter. The Japanese variant remains as nostalgia-filled as ever, with plenty of your Kanto favorites in all their glory. Want that Charizard ex SIR? You've got the chance here, alongside the excellent Vensaur and Blastoise SIRs and a boatload of other 151 chases from Pikachu to Charmander.
I love that little Charmander IR, sitting on a rock with sunlight beaming through the cave above. It fills me with a sense of wonder and childlike whimsy that's in short supply, even in the comparatively whimsy-packed world of Pokémon cards.
It's much more fun to rip open 20 packs, as opposed to the nine or so you find in an ETB - and that's if you can even find an English ETB in recent years. Around the set's release, they were fairly easy to buy, but since the hype train left the station, there's been nothing. Japanese boxes are starting to rise in price due to the stock shortages, but to nowhere near the same extent as English, where a 16-pack Ultra-Premium Collection can (and does) set you back over $1,000.
If you've been jonesing to open some Pokémon 151 packs, and you're not fussy about whether it's English or Japanese, you can grab a booster box of the Japanese version for $288.34 at Walmart. That's about $8 cheaper than the market average right now, according to TCGPlayer, so it's worth buying from a third-party listing through a reputable retailer if you're looking to score some packs.
Loved this 'deal' and want to find some other Pokémon TCG products that won't cost you a mortgage? Make sure to join our Wargamer Discord, and we'll ping you and like-minded trainers on the latest below-market or - gasp - retail-priced listings we spot. You'll also be kept up-to-date on any upcoming expansions, including the latest reveals.