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Learn more about how the siblings took NAIC—the biggest North American tournament of the year—by storm and stole the hearts of the Pokémon TCG community.
Play together, train together, and win together—that’s how the Oono family does it. Annabelle and Kenji Oono are two siblings who share a variety of interests, but perhaps none more prominent than their love for Pokémon. These two are always practicing together and looking to level up, but the family never imagined they’d meet up in the finals of a tournament as huge as the 2025 North America International Championships (NAIC)—and steal everyone’s hearts while doing it.
Two siblings under the bright lights playing nearly the same deck in matching Team Rocket cosplay completely captivated the audience, both live and online. It was going to be a win for the family no matter what happened, and everyone—including Kenji himself—was happy to see Annabelle come out on top.
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“It was such an amazing opportunity that I had my brother in the finals… it’s so rare to have brother and sister in the finals.”
When Annabelle won the finals in a dynamic Charizard ex / Dragapult ex mirror match, Kenji shared that he was “feeling really happy for Annabelle” in a heart-melting post-match interview before Annabelle thanked everyone for their support, and the two shuffled offstage to celebrate. The occurrence was so precious, though, that the family had already started celebrating the night before.
“We stayed up really late. It was such an amazing opportunity that I had my brother in the finals… It’s so rare to have brother and sister in the finals,” Annabelle said in an interview with Pokemon.com that included the whole Oono family. “And that was just so amazing because I had my number one testing partner up there with me.”
Annabelle and Kenji beamed with joy, proudly donning their Play! Pokémon shirts during the interview, as they reminisced about ordering pizza and dancing the night away. Annabelle’s father, Steve Oono, thinks that they all “went to bed way too late,” but it was just that cool of a moment for the family and their friends and he couldn’t help but smile.
“We had a bunch of our friends from all over the place just congratulating us… It was nice,” Steve said. “We didn’t even really think about testing. It’s not like we didn’t care about who was going to win, but you know what I mean, we’re happy either way and there was no stress preparing for it.”
If there was any stress the Oono family felt when it came to preparations, it largely came before the tournament, as both Annabelle and Kenji were testing different decks up until the final days leading up to the event. Annabelle was especially undecided and her mother, Lynn, remarked that she was “testing a different deck each day.”
“I was testing Gardevoir ex, Raging Bolt ex… I had no idea what to play and then I didn’t do as well with those decks,” Annabelle said. “And I saw Kenji doing really well with his [Charizard ex / Dragapult ex] deck and thought, ‘I should try that deck.’”
After Annabelle gave it a try and found the current matchups to her liking, she locked in on it as one of her potential options for NAIC, all while insisting that she chose the deck at the last minute. Annabelle previously joked that she “stole” the deck from Kenji, but the process was collaborative all the way through.
“I was also watching some of Kenji’s games to get more information. Kenji was helping me out because he was…is a better [Charizard ex / Dragapult ex] player than me,” she said. Annabelle emerged the victor, but it was clear that her brother’s efforts were just as deserving of praise, and she even admitted that “Kenji had more practice” and that she “may have got a bit lucky in that game,” especially when she played Brock’s Scouting after getting Item Locked by Budew at the start of game two.
Being a good sport will always be key to being a good competitor—and a good Pokémon Trainer—and Annabelle and Kenji have that spirit in spades. It wasn’t long ago that they were both just getting into the Pokémon TCG either.
“We started going to this one card shop called Tabletop Village to get plush and we saw this guy named Jeff, and he taught us the basics and gave us two starter decks, and Kenji and I started playing them at home,” Annabelle said.
“The packs were really cool, because it didn’t matter if we got points or not. We didn’t even know what Championship Points were…”
Tabletop Village is a local game store in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, well-known for nurturing community among the area’s Pokémon TCG players. Annabelle and Kenji are two of many children to take their first steps at the shop. Eventually, Steve bought additional starter decks for Annabelle and Kenji to compete in tournaments. Annabelle remarked that “they weren’t doing very well,” but it was still fun, and the family decided to attend their first Regional Championships event. That’s where they started to tumble down the rabbit hole.
“I played Mew VMAX and got Top 16 out of 47 [Junior Division competitors],” Annabelle said. “I got two Booster Boxes, and I was like ‘Whoa! This is such good prizing!’”
Kenji couldn’t help but share his enthusiasm too.
“The packs were really cool, because it didn’t matter if we got points or not. We didn’t even know what Championship Points were, it was cool to get a bunch of packs that we could open together,” he added.
One thing led to another, and the family was traveling to a variety of tournaments including the 2023 North America International Championships, where Annabelle secured her first-ever Worlds invite. And Yokohama, Japan, in 2023 couldn’t have been a more exciting Worlds destination. Annabelle described it as her “favorite place ever,” referencing just how much Pokémon took over the city.
“Annabelle scraped together enough points that if she did really well at NAIC, she’d qualify,” Steve said. “Lynn and I were like, OK this ain’t gonna happen, but we told the kids if one of you qualifies, we’re going to Japan. We were like, ‘we’re not going to Japan,’ and then she gets Top 16… Alright, we’re going to Japan.”
“We started because the game was really fun, but we stayed in it because the community is really awesome. We see a lot of them like family now.”
Steve’s sports background meant that he always envisioned coaching his children in something like soccer, and while they ended up in convention centers as opposed to grass fields, competitive Pokémon checks a lot of the same boxes. Between enjoying the new community they’ve found and their competitive success, the family just had to go all in.
“I think [Annabelle qualifying for Worlds] gave us a little taste that we could actually compete in this thing,” Steve said. “Now it’s a full-time thing, as you know. We’re competing for stipends and doing locals every weekend and weekday. It’s awesome. It’s cool that we get to do it together.”
Annabelle and Kenji’s mother, Lynn, also wanted to emphasize that having fun is the most important thing to other players and families looking to dive into Pokémon.
“I think the most important think about getting kids into Pokémon is to let them fall in love with the game first,” Lynn said. “Take away the competitiveness of it first and find a really good group of friends. We started because the game was really fun, but we stayed in it because the community is really awesome. We see a lot of them like family now.”
It’s the peak of summer and the Oono family is enjoying their free time together following Annabelle and Kenji’s success at NAIC. When they first got home, Kenji wanted to test more Pokémon TCG as soon as they got off the plane, but Lynn steered him back toward “going outside and touching grass.”
And touch grass they did! The family took a trip to Los Angeles to visit Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios (Kenji’s a huge Mario fan), as well as check out a K-pop concert —two things that the siblings absolutely loved. The months following NAIC are often the best time for competitors and their families to take a break from the season-long grind. Pokémon’s always fun, though, and Kenji couldn’t quite be kept away during the vacation.
“I had to keep telling Kenji to stop watching Pokémon,” Lynn said with a laugh. “He would wake up early just to play Pokémon TCG Live, and I had to remind him to just enjoy our only break all year long!”
You can apparently take the Trainer from the Pokémon, but you can’t take the Pokémon from the Trainer. Worlds is on the horizon and it’s almost time to start preparing.
“We’ve taken a very long break,” Annabelle said. “But I am ready to study deck lists and practice with the best testing partner (Kenji), watch videos, and play at card shops like Tabletop Village. And I think when we get to Worlds, we will be ready.”
Her brother, Kenji, is similarly ready to prepare for the grand event.
“I want to test more,” Kenji said. “I’m going to be doing the same things as Annabelle and play in online tournaments. I will be ready!”
Apart from the competition, Annabelle and Kenji are both looking forward to visiting what they consider to be their favorite part of Worlds—the Pokémon Center—and “grabbing all of the plushies and all of the exclusives.” Steve and Lynn may have to rein them in a bit as they fill up their shopping bags, but they’re all looking forward to the experience!
Be sure to tune in and follow the action when the 2025 Pokémon World Championships stream live from August 15–17.
Source: Pokemon.com and The Pokémon Company
Source: Pokemon
