You Can Now Forget Your Existential Dread With Pokémon ASMR

You Can Now Forget Your Existential Dread With Pokémon ASMR

The world is terrible and everything is on fire, but heading into the weekend, you can at least try to stifle the urge to scream with two new Pokémon ASMR videos. The first features a cheeky little Chespin nomming on some macarons, while the second stars a snoozy Charmander napping by a crackling campfire.

You can find both videos on the Pokémon Company’s Japanese YouTube channel. The videos aren’t anything super complicated. Charmander’s Fireside Slumber is literally just a sleepy fire boy waking up to find his campfire has gone out, relighting it with his tail, and snoozing like a champ for another 30 minutes. The sounds of crackling fire make it a worthy contender to put in your holiday Yule log playlist.

Meanwhile, Chespin’s Happy Snack Time is a delightful combo of ASMR and mukbang. It’s nine minutes of pure joy as you watch a hungry Chespin demolish a plate of macarons. About halfway through, once Chespin has heroically destroyed his macaron tower, a Pikachu shows up with seconds. That’s it.

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of ASMR (cooking ASMR is the absolute worst). Fans of these videos say the enhanced sounds create a relaxing sensation once it hits their ears—one reason why both many ASMR videos suggest you listen to them with headphones on for maximum effect. For me, the amplified sounds usually feel like ice-cold slime being poured down my spine.

When Apple released its own ASMR videos a few months ago, I wanted to stuff cotton balls in my ears. That said, I listened to both Pokémon videos and for the first time, found myself kinda getting what the ASMR hype is all about. Maybe it was because crackling fire isn’t as creepy as whispering ghosts. More likely it’s because watching cute Pokémon is a form of stress relief itself. Either way, this is exactly the sort of chill, wholesome content the internet needs.


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