Smell your best with EVANGELION 2WAY fragrance mist

The popular anime franchise Evangelion is well know for creating all kind of Evangelion-themed products. To promote the DVD and Blu-Ray release of the latest movie Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo on April 24th, another collaboration campaign started one month ago.

On March 25th the cosmetics brand Creer Beaute released a new line of three special scented sprays which are based on three main characters Ayanami Rei, Ikari Shinji and Asuka Langley. The EVANGELION 2WAY fragrance mist for men is said to make them irresistible to the ladies.

The perfume comes in a stylish 110ml bottle for ¥1,280. Even if you are not a fan of Evangelion this amazing product is worth a try.

Each scent has three elements, a “top”, “middle” and “last”.

TYPE-R (fragrance of the aqua citrus) is the fragrance reflecting the image of Ayanami Rei, erasing her her sadness and painfulness by this refreshing perfume
The top: grapefruit, raspberry, coconut
A middle: jasmine, a ylang-ylang, rose and oceanaut
The last: musk, vanilla

TYPE-01 (fragrance of the fresh musk) is a spicy fragrance inspired by Ikari Shinji
The top: bergamot, lemon, green
A middle: nutmeg, spice of the paper, lilac
The last: woody, umber, musk

TYPE-A (fragrance of the red citrus) is the fragrance of Asuka Langley. Just like her character the perfume fuses passion and sweetness
The top: orange, lychee, apple
A middle: rose, jasmine, cyclamen
The last: musk, umber

Tags: Anime, Cosmetics
Category: PRODUCT INNOVATION
Other categories: CULTURE, LIFESTYLE

Kirin tea drink bottles animate Disney characters like flip book

Residents in Japan may have spotted that recently Kirin has been featuring Disney characters on its Gogo no Kocha (Afternoon Tea) drink bottle labels.

Just another gratuitous and forgettable ploy to lure youngsters to buy the drink, right?

Yet the really keen-eyed among you — or those who drink a lot of tea — may even have spotted that there are numbers on the labels.

Well, some people at any rate did spot the numbers and were curious. What could it mean?

But after drinking and collecting a few bottles with different numbers, you can line them up and then the answer starts to reveal itself.

A flip book!

Some enterprising Japanese writers went and bought 32 bottles of the tea, which come in three Disney characters (one for each flavor) and each have three different illustrations (on the different sides of the bottle).

Then they lined up the illustrations in numerical order, taking a shot each time.

The results are rather charming.

Here’s Mickey Mouse and his packaging flip book.

And here’s a musical Donald Duck and lackadaisical Winnie the Pooh…

There are lot of superfluous uses of famous characters on packaging and advertising in Japan (and elsewhere), but this is one genuinely innovative ruse of which we think even Walt Disney would have approved.

[Source]

Tags: Anime, Drinks, Packaging
Category: PRODUCT INNOVATION
Other categories: CULTURE, LIFESTYLE

Mobile Suit Gundam-inspired fashion by Strict G launches new Amuro Rei collection

A men’s apparel shop that offers fashion based on anime franchise Mobile Suit Gundam, Strict G, has announced a new collection. Amuro Style is inspired by the clothes worn by Gundam protagonist Amuro Rei, and includes jackets, shirts and more.

While there’s certainly a lot of anime character clothes and accessories out there, they rarely look as sophisticated as this. Strict G deliberately hasn’t copied the exact colors of Amuro Ray’s costume, but rather borrowed certain motifs and a general military look to create a new denim feel.

Strict G launched as a men’s apparel shop in 2012, riding on the bandwagon of the government’s “cool Japan” campaign. It currently has two stores, Gundam Front Tokyo in Odaiba and another in Shizuoka. On top of its original line-up, it also sells collaboration items made with Onitzuka Tiger and more.

Amuro Style goes on sale from this weekend as Strict G’s spring and summer collection.

Tags: Anime, Fashion
Category: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION
Other categories: CULTURE

All aboard the Pokémon Train in Tohoku

During the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11^th, 2011 many of the victims or people affected were children. So the “Pokémon with you” project was started to support the disaster-struck region and give children there the feeling that Pokémon will always be with them.

Pokémon makes them smile again, helping them to face tomorrow and making their dreams come true.

One of the “Pokémon with you” projects is the Japan Railway East Pokémon train, a sightseeing train.

For the first time the train isn’t simply just decorated with Pokémon on the outside, but the whole interior also now takes the passengers into the world of Pokémon. This includes a playroom that looks like a forest, and also so-called “communication seats” to enjoy the scenery outside together with the family or friends while having a nice chat.

Since December 2012 the train has been running between Ichinoseki station and Kesenmema station with several stops to collect stamps and take pictures at the photo spots with Pikachu and co. Of course, you can also buy merchandise charity to support the children in the Tohoku region.

Tags: Anime, Disasters, Transportation
Category: CULTURE, LIFESTYLE
Other categories: PRODUCT INNOVATION

New Dragon Ball Z Movie: Battle of Gods

Akira Toriyama fans are looking forward to the end of this month. After seventeen years away, Dragon Ball Z is finally back in theaters with an feature-length anime. On March 30, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, directed by Masahiro Hosoda, will be premiering in Japan.

Already in July 2012, Weekly Shōnen Jump’s official website opened a teaser page with a countdown to a “surprise” which later turned out to be a new movie. The first teaser shown on this website was viewed over 3.5 million times in less than a week.

For the first time the original author Akira Toriyama himself has been deeply involved in the production of this movie right from the script stages.

The story of this 85 minute-long movie take place between the animation series “Z” and “GT” some years after the battle with Majin Buu. The two gods Wiss, the God of Creation, and Bills, the God of Destruction, who are protecting the balance in the universe, hear rumors about Goku defeating the galactic overlord Frieza.

Bills challenges him for a battle and ignoring every warning Goku accepts, starting one of the biggest and most dangerous battles in the universe.

Also a lot of other well-known characters like Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Kuririn, Goten, Trunks and Vegeta will have to join the battle against the God of Destruction and of course, Shenlong will also make an appearance.

We can’t wait!

Source

Tags: Anime
Category: CULTURE
Other categories: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION

Japanese government proposes new “Cool Japan” cultural promotion campaign

The new Liberal Democrat goernment has announced a new “Cool Japan” cultural campaign with a proposed budget of 50 billion yen funded from fiscal 2013′s budget. The bill is to be submitted to the Diet, where the government holds a majority.

Advisors include Yasushi Akimoto, who is almost singularly responsible for AKB48 and how it has turned Japanese advertising and music into the mundane, uniform and highly domesticated Galapagos Island industry it is today.

Tweeters have been quick to point out the average age of the key seven advisors on the industry panel is a sprightly 67, clearly strongly qualified to tell the globe about Japan’s youth and pop culture. It has also been noted that cinema is not on the agenda, despite its acclaim overseas. Instead, they are likely relying on the cliched marketing tool of “anime + manga = Japan”.

The Cool Japan marketing campaign has been tried before and met nothing but a muted response internationally, and cringes back at home. Ultimately you end up presenting Japan as an infantile and simplistic culture only interesting to children or geeks.

Japanese people don’t want to try to be chic hipsters. What’s “cool” about Japan is how there are so many interesting artists, designers, musicians, chefs, engineers and so on just doing their thing for its own sake. They don’t care what other people think and certainly don’t want to be promoted by the government.

This is a pointless use of public funds that can be better spent distributed to smaller art and cultural projects independently run by collectives and NPOs in Tokyo and the regions. Tohoku in particular could surely benefit much more from an art festival or programs to help the communities rebuild the identity and spirit destroyed by the tsunami two years ago.

Even someone who in many ways personifies “cool Japan” and utterly commercialized “Japanese” art, Takashi Murakami, has criticized the government’s naive (or cynical) reliance on ad agency-built pop cultural campaigns.

If the content is good enough, it will naturally leave Japan’s shores and make its way abroad. The country does not need to spend billions of yen — which will almost entirely go into the coffers of an ad agency rather than genuinely underpaid animators — to try to “promote” the industry, especially in the current digital era where users will do this automatically.

The government must be incredibly naive if it thinks that masses of tourists with money (i.e. not just students) will be attracted to Japan by anime expos in Asia funded out of Japan’s public purse. There’s an age-old maxim that says you cannot make something cool just by saying it is, no matter how many times.

Tags: Anime, Manga
Category: CULTURE
Other categories: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION

Fan creates perfect Neon Genesis Evangelion cardboard model

Think you like Evangelion? Think again.

Not till you’ve created an Evangelion Angel out of cardboard that looks as good as this can you call yourself a real fan!

Sure, you may be able to head to a store and pick up a veritable smorgasbord of Neon Genesis Evangelion merchandise, including tie-ins for the recent new anime film.

There is a whole host of models available for the Evangelion characters and the iconic mecha machines that they pilot.

But why bother adding to the world’s pile of plastics when you can use other materials — and your own skills.

And this one actually moves and transforms into vehicle form. Check it out!

Otaku, they’re super creative types, you know.

The artisan seems to be wakabua, who also made these other fantastic models.

[Via The Wonder]

Tags: Anime
Category: CULTURE
Other categories: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION

Christmas “Itasha” otaku anime cars rev up in Akihabara

While the world goes mad for Christmas, anime fans are gathering in Akihabara for the Fuyu no Rajikan Matsuri 2012 (Winter Radio Kaikan Festival 2012), where so-called “itasha” (cars decorated with characters) will be parading on December 23rd and 24th.

The underground car park of the Akihabara UDX building is playing host to the Christmas Itasha Festa, with Hatsune Miku-themed and other customized vehicles strutting their wares to camera-totting crowds. Not quite The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but still pretty cool.

Owners pay ¥6,000 (around $70) per day to exhibit their vehicles in the car park. There will also be regular cosplay in the venue.

Such decoration trends have been becoming popular of late, spreading to trucks, bikes and more — and have been gaining recognition in mainstream culture as well. Previous Itasha festivals have been held in Odaiba, Maebashi and elsewhere.

“Ita” is a word commonly found in the otaku lexicon, literally meaning “painful” (itai) but here referring to the amount of money (and effort) involved in expressing your moe in this way.

Whatever you think of otaku anime — and we know that many people have issues with its attitudes towards women and young girls — undoubtedly it is a subculture that truly celebrates individual playfulness in a fun way.

Tags: Anime, Automotive, Otaku
Category: CULTURE
Other categories: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION

Trailer released for Takashi Murakami’s first film Jellyfish Eyes

A teaser trailer has been released for artist (and uber-businessman) Takashi Murakami’s first film, a fantasy movie called Jellyfish Eyes (Mememe no kurage) that is set for release in April 2013 in Japan.

A tight lid has been kept on details of Murakami’s first feature, which blends CGI characters with live film footage. Apparently over ten years in the making and originally intended as a straight anime, the story is a science fiction based his childhood fantasies.

The eponymous wide-eyed title character shares a name with the wallpaper installation by Murakami that has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, among other places.

Directed and produced by Murakami, the screenplay is by Jun Tsugita, and assistant directing and special effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura.

Tags: Anime, Film
Category: CULTURE
Other categories: LIFESTYLE, PRODUCT INNOVATION