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Date: 2009 March 08 14:58

Posted by Joe

Anime and merchandise naturally go hand in hand, with some titles just a thin excuse to create merchandise. Generally the more popular the series, wider and crazier the variety of merchandise available. With Neon Genesis Evangelion, regarded one of the most popular titles of all time, I thought it would be worth looking into the more unusual merchandise available from the franchise. When researching this article I expected to find some oddities, after all you can even get an Eva Unit-01 mountain bike. However I was really surprised by what's out there!

Full Story

Firstly, I must state the following. All the products mentioned in this article are real retail items that can be bought! As exchange rates are all over the place at the moment I've included the price in Japanese Yen then US Dollars, then GB Pounds (that's Great British Pounds, the currency of the UK).

Evangelion New Movie Print Tights
Price: 2,625 Japanese Yen (about 27 US Dollars / 19 GB Pounds)

These black and white tights sport the new look NERV logo. Just the thing you need if you want to declare your loyalty the mysterious organisation. The existence of these scare me, as I worry someone working for a real company would get the idea of putting their own corporate logo on tights and other undergarments.

If these tights aren't to your liking then there's always the checked Unit 01 Design.

Or the classical Argyle style

SEELE Music Mug
Price: 4,410 Japanese Yen (about 45 US Dollars / 32 GB Pounds)

This special music mug not only holds your MP3 player, but acts as a speaker too. This ceramic music mug is perfect for erm, listening to music to, I guess. Just the thing when you want to blast out Ode To Joy...

Rei Ayanami Glass Tumbler
Price: 1,365 Japanese Yen (about 14 US Dollars / 10 GB Pounds)

Based on the Rei images from the Puka-puka Rei Ayanami Training Program, this cute glass has a selection of everyone's favourite blue haired Eva pilot. The marketing blurb recommends you fill it not with LCL but with orange juice instead...

To be honest I like this glass, but I must admit it is a bit strange! It just goes to show if they can print on it they'll make merchandise out of it!

Evanglion Store Packing Tape
Price: 1,050 Japanese Yen (about 11 US Dollars / 8 GB Pounds)

Originally used exclusively by the Japanese Evangelion on-line store to tape up packing you too can buy Evangelion store branded packing tape! With the classic Evangelion colours of black with dark red text, the packing tape declares "Caution Fragile" and that it's from the Evangelion Store.

New Evangelion Movie Entry Plug Models
Price: 9,240 Japanese Yen (about 95 US Dollars / 67 GB Pounds)

Those clever folks at Gainax never miss a trick, they've changed the design to the entry plugs for the new movies, so they can sell these new scale models.

Available with either Shinji or Rei these 50cm long models have LED lights, and even the cockpit lights up. They're due for release on April 2009.

Radio Eva Evangelion Football
Price: 10,290 Japanese Yen (about 105 US Dollars / 75 GB Pounds)

This football (or soccer for our US based readers) is coloured to match Evangelion Unit 01 or Unit 00 it's just the thing you need when you want a good kick about. From what we can gather it's a good FIFA approved grade football too.

Evangelion Unit 01 Travel Suit Case
Price: 17,750 Japanese Yen (about 160 US Dollars / 114 GB Pounds)

When travelling overseas or even on the short domestic flight it's important to get there in style, and also let everyone in the whole baggage handling process know you are an otaku! Which is why in mid April 2009 Bandai will be releasing this lovely suitcase. Apart from having the same signature colours of Evangelion Unit 01 this limited edition item will be dead easy to spot on a baggage carousel. That, and oh it's got the NERV logo on the side.

Angel Cushions
Price: 2,100 Japanese Yen (about 22 US Dollars / 15 GB Pounds)

When you think of cushions you think of cuddly things. Which is why they've made Cushions of everyone's favourite destroyers of Tokyo-3!

Evangelion Tarot Cards
Price: 2,940 Japanese Yen (about 30 US Dollars / 22 GB Pounds)

Now a tarot card tie in with a more mystic anime show, like Escaflowne would be a perfect merchandising opportunity. I'd be curious to know if anyone actually bought these and used them! Rei has been cast as The Fool, Asuka is The Empresses, Shinji is Justice, Kaworu is The Moon, Gendo is the Emperor.

Asuka in CG Doll
Price: 18,690 Japanese Yen (about 190 US Dollars / 135 GB Pounds)

There are tons, of Evangelion dolls out there. If you can think of Asuka and Rei doing it, they've probably made a doll of it, or will soon.
This doll attempts to render Asuka in a more realistic way...
... this scares me more than the tights.

Asuka and Rei as French Maids
Price: 7,140 Japanese Yen (about 73 US Dollars / 52 GB Pounds)

It should be noted that you can buy Asuka and Rei dolls that are more true to their anime forms.

We don't remember them ever being maids in the series, but that's not the point! Maids are a big part of Akiba culture, so they're bound to sell well!

Eva Branded JSG Clothes
Price: 8,295 Japanese Yen (about 85 US Dollars / 60 GB Pounds)

The Shibuya 109 JSG range of clothes are trendy, but why release them in Evangelion colours?!

Would a fashionable girl that shops at Shibuya 109 want to be seen wearing something from Evangelion?! More to the point can they really make ANYTHING with the Eva or NERV colour scheme? We think so.

Canned Bread
Price: 2,100 Japanese Yen (about 22 US Dollars / 15 GB Pounds)

Yes, you read that right. It's bread in a can. To celebrate the launch of the new Evangelion movie, they made bread in a can. Two flavours are available, Strawberry bread for the NERV branded cans, and Chocolate Cream bread for the SEELE branded cans. After you've eaten these yummy treats you can then use the cans as a piggy bank.

Conclusion
This is only a brief selection of the weird and wonderful world of Evangelion merchandising. Some of the product tie ins they've made make perfect sense. Others, erm, well don't. The people at Gainax certainly do like making merchandise. I'm sure you can find plenty more out there!

Source: Otaku News

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