Neon Genesis Evangelion is a well-known and much-beloved franchise, so, understandably, plenty of companies would look to capitalize on the recognizable series with various products. Still, it's strange that you could theoretically live off of Evangelion tie-in products, with so much content created that you could theoretically fill your house with Evangelion merchandise. Coffee brands? Cell phone deals? Food, even? Evangelion has permeated pop culture so thoroughly that literally, anything might have Shinji, Asuka and Rei slapped on its cover.
With such an array of brands and content out there, which collaboration is the oddest? Let's take a look at some products that are extraordinary pieces of merchandise, ranging from the weirdest things you've ever seen to maybe the coolest.
Evangelion Cocktails
Cocktails based on pop culture aren't particularly new. There's an entire subculture in mixology devoted to creating unique and unusual cocktails based on things found within various series and franchises. After all, tons of people have been trying to create Romulan Ale recipes. For Evangelion, an entire cafe/bar exists offering fans drinks and food items themed after specific characters from the franchise, like cocktails based on Evangelion Unit-01, Misato or Kaji.
It's strange enough to have a drink-themed after LCL since that's essentially like drinking liquified human beings. However, this pop-up cafe inspired other, unofficial, fan pop-ups, which had even stranger drinks. The most bizarre of all? A Shinji cocktail, a milky white drink that includes a description that reads "I'm the lowest." This line is what Shinji says after the infamous hospital scene in End of Evangelion. Considering this scene's context and content, this hardly sounds like a drink people would look to order. Many people confused the Shinji cocktail for one served at the official pop-ups, which only added to these cafes' oddity.
61-Foot Tall Rei Slide
Body pillows, figures, plushies and other collectibles created for your favorite Neon Genesis Evangelion characters are expected pieces of merch to be made. However, fans may not have expected to see a 61-foot tall Rei Ayanami blow-up doll, complete with a slide-leg that people can use to ride down the scale of Rei Ayanami's body.
The Rei slide was built for Shiohaku Expo 2012 and allowed visitors to scale up the figure before riding down her slide-leg. While an absurdly large Rei could seem odd, it isn't inherently strange given the sizes she reaches in the End of Evangelion -- or considering the Gundam statues built. It's certainly an odd sight and equally bizarre and unsettling to slide down from between the character's leg.
Evangelion Body Sprays
Tying into the release of Evangelion 3.33, Creer Beaute created a tie-in body spray perfume for the film. The company offered three varieties -- aqua citrus, red citrus and musk. The bottles came in blue, red and purple, symbolizing Rei, Asuka and Shinji. In short, the bottles were designed to help you smell like the iconic Evangelion characters.
Creer Beaute had previously collaborated with other anime productions, such as Rose of Versailles, One Piece and Lupin III. While the nature of this collaboration seems standard enough, it's ultimately strange to make body spray scents aimed to make you smell like traumatized children who are about to experience even more deep-seated trauma.
Evangelion Horse Racing
There were multiple media tie-ins over the years with the Japan Racing Association. Even a Godzilla browser game that briefly allowed your horses to race against Shin Godzilla has been created. However, the Evangelion tie-in with the JRA -- the JRA Instrumentality Project -- was a series of animated commercials that turned real-life jockeys and their horses into literal Evangelions.
The animated commercials are absurd demonstrations of the tie-in machine in progress. Two properties are mashed together in a clumsy, silly manner, but it's so ridiculous that you can't help but admire every second of it. The closest this collaboration came to real-life was perhaps the Evangelion-skinned shinkansen bullet train.
Evangelion Shaving Products
Arguably the most famous of all the Evangelion tie-in products: shaving cream. This collaboration between Schick and Evangelion produced multiple memetic ads trying to sell you Evangelion-themed shaving razors and related products. This idea already inherently sounds odd but not necessarily bizarre until you consider the spokesperson from the series they chose.
What made Schick's tie-in promotion downright bizarre was their advertising campaign. Multiple commercials featured Gendo Ikari -- the infamous bearded antagonist of the series, shaving off his beard. This process resulted in an unsettling euphoria where he floats with his shirt unbuttoned like this is some romance book cover. The image of Gendo smiling while shaving may be one of the most profoundly unsettling things Neon Genesis Evangelion has ever produced -- making this ad campaign an utter achievement.