Official Pokemon ASMR video starts 2020 off right

Love it or hate it, ASMR seems to be everywhere these days. ASMR videos have a way of popping in YouTube search results seemingly regardless of the topic, and with some of the biggest ASMR content creators getting millions of views on their videos, it's no wonder that we're now seeing big companies try to capitalize on the craze. The latest company to do so is The Pokemon Company, which today released an official Pokemon ASMR video.

The video, which was published to The Pokemon Company's Japanese YouTube account, runs about 30 minutes long and centers around a Charmander lounging by a fire. At various points throughout the video, Charmander stokes the fire with its tail, but beyond that, there isn't a whole lot of action to it.

That's kind of the point, of course, because videos like this are meant to be relaxing and trigger an ASMR response for people who can feel it. ASMR is short for "autonomous sensory meridian response," and the Wikipedia page on the phenomenon describes it as "a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine."

ASMR can be set off by a variety of triggers, and those triggers can vary from person to person, which goes a long way toward explaining why there are so many ASMR videos out there covering such a wide range of topics. In this Pokemon video, one of the primary triggers is sound – specifically the noise of the crackling fire.

So, there you have it: The Pokemon Company has officially hopped aboard the ASMR train. This might wind up being a one-off curiosity for The Pokemon Company, but you never know – with nearly 900 Pokemon out there, that's a lot of potential ASMR videos should The Pokemon Company decide to keep this up. We'll see what happens from here, but for now, get your weekend off to a relaxing start by hanging out with Charmander by the fire.