The new Neon Genesis Evangelion branded ice cream seeks to recreate the feeling of gulping down LCL within the cockpit of an Eva.
According to Crunchyroll, the new treat was created as a collaboration between Evangelion and the ice cream brand Coolish, and the new ice cream is being promoted as a recreation of the LCL fluid from the show. In the show, LCL is viscous, amber-colored fluid that is pumped into the cockpits of the titular Evangelion bio-mechanical weapons. The LCL facilitates the neural link between the Eva units and their pilots, and is said to smell like blood. Thankfully, Coolish's LCL ice cream ditches the blood smell and is instead flavored like a "sports drink," though Coolish doesn't specify which sports drink the ice cream is based on. The packaging will be branded with an image of either Shinji, Rei or Asuka, though the flavor will remain the same regardless of which pilot you choose. Coolish is a brand produced by South Korean food conglomerate Lotte, which also previously released Evangelion branded gum.
Evangelion is itself an infamously dour, frequently nihilistic story, but the anime has spawned a cottage industry of brightly colored merchandise, ranging from the standard anime tie-ins like figures, t-shirts and video games to more specialized collaborations, such as Schick shaving razors, weightlifting equipment, deodorant, power tools and even cars.
While the merchandising machine behind the Evangelion franchise doesn't appear to be slowing down, the anime has finally reached its conclusion. Evangelion 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon A Time, the movie which series creator Hideaki Anno says will be his final work within the franchise, was released in Japan in March to critical acclaim and record ticket sales. Thrice Upon A Time, as well as the previous three movies in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in territories outside of Japan on Aug. 13.
Source: Crunchyroll
