Most Pokémon cards are painted, drawn or rendered in 3D. Asako Ito’s are crocheted. Every Pokémon she illustrates is a handmade amigurumi - a small stuffed doll crocheted from yarn - posed in a handmade scene of felt, paper and cotton, then photographed for the card.
The result is instantly recognisable: soft, round Pokémon with visible stitches, sitting in tiny craft-built worlds. Since her debut in 2017, Ito has illustrated 38 cards in the English Pokémon TCG, and “Asako Ito cards” has become a sub-collection of its own.
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What makes an Asako Ito card
If you’ve ever pulled a card where the Pokémon looks like a plush toy you could pick up, it was probably hers. The tells:
- Visible crochet stitches. Look closely at any Ito Pokémon and you can see the rows of yarn loops.
- Handmade backgrounds. Felt grass, cotton-wool clouds, paper mountains and miniature props rather than painted scenery.
- Round, soft shapes. Crochet suits chubby, simple Pokémon - Poliwag, Azurill, Snorlax, Wigglytuff, Phanpy, Pyukumuku.
- Bright, natural light. Her cards are photographs, so they’re lit like a real diorama on a table.
- Small Pokémon, small rarities. Almost all of her work is on Commons and Uncommons, which makes her few rare prints stand out.
She’s often mentioned alongside Yuka Morii, whose cards are also photographs of handmade models. Morii sculpts her Pokémon from clay; Ito crochets hers from yarn.
Notable Asako Ito cards
A selection from her debut in 2017 to the 2026 30th Celebration set - including both of her full-art cards.
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Audino - Black Bolt
#151 · Illustration Rare
Ito's first illustration rare and her most valuable card. A full-art crochet Audino sits on a tree stump surrounded by yarn flowers, with a papercraft river and mountains behind it.
Altaria - Crown Zenith
#GG19 · Trainer Gallery
A Trainer Gallery card that turns the whole frame into a diorama - Altaria's fluffy white wings rest on a tiny bedroom bed under a starry window. Her only full-art card before Audino.
Electrode - Team Up
#39 · Rare Holo
A grumpy crochet Electrode in a cardboard-and-wire lab, with two tiny Voltorb peeking from the background. Her only holo rare, and one of the most valuable cards she has illustrated.
Pikachu - 30th Celebration
#27 · Pikachu Rare
A sleepy crochet Pikachu napping on a felt meadow, from the 2026 30th Celebration set. Pikachu by the crochet artist was always going to be a fan favourite.
Snorlax - Crown Zenith
#109 · Rare
Snorlax fast asleep on a patch of felt grass dotted with yarn flowers - the textures are so close you can see the individual stitches on its belly.
Wigglytuff - Fusion Strike
#111 · Uncommon
A round, pink crochet Wigglytuff with its signature curl, against felt hills and cotton clouds. A cheap card that shows off the style perfectly.
Poliwag - Sun & Moon
#30 · Common
Where it started. Ito's debut card from the 2017 Sun & Moon base set - a crochet Poliwag on a felt lily pad with cotton-ball clouds overhead.
Azurill - Cosmic Eclipse
#146 · Common
A blue crochet Azurill with its bouncy tail ball, against felt hills. A common that has become one of her more sought-after cards.
Which Asako Ito cards are worth the most?
Because nearly all of her cards are Commons and Uncommons, most Asako Ito cards sell for a few dollars or less raw. The exceptions are her handful of rare prints. At the time of writing, the most valuable ungraded are:
- Audino - Black Bolt #151 (illustration rare), around $40
- Electrode - Team Up #39 (holo rare), around $39
- Altaria - Crown Zenith GG19 (Trainer Gallery), around $15
- Shelgon - Celestial Storm #105, around $11
- Azurill - Cosmic Eclipse #146, around $10
That makes her one of the most affordable artists to collect completely - a full English Asako Ito set costs far less than a single chase card from most modern sets.
Sets with the most Asako Ito cards
Ito’s work runs through the Sun & Moon, Sword & Shield, Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolution eras. The sets where she has the most cards:
- Celestial Storm (2018) - 3 cards, including Shelgon, Luvdisc and Whismur
- Burning Shadows (2017), Ultra Prism (2018), Lost Thunder (2018) - 2 each
- Unbroken Bonds, Unified Minds and Cosmic Eclipse (2019) - 2 each
- Fusion Strike (2021), Silver Tempest (2022) and Crown Zenith (2023) - 2 each
More recent appearances include Temporal Forces, Journey Together, Black Bolt and 30th Celebration.
Every Asako Ito card in the English TCG
Want the full list? See every Asako Ito card - grouped by set, newest first, with images and live eBay listings.
How to spot Asako Ito cards in your collection
The illustrator credit is printed in small text in the bottom-left corner of every Pokémon card: look for “Illus. Asako Ito”. With older bulk it’s often quicker to look for the crochet style first - the stitches give it away. Scanning cards with TCG Companion also picks up the artist automatically, so you can find every Ito card across your collection.