Anime is known for many things, with tropes abound, but one of the most wonderful things in anime is the food. Unlike American cartoons, there seems to be heavy emphasis on artistically representing traditional dishes across all ranges of anime, serious or not, such as the infamous market scene from Spirited Away, and is a reflection of just how much food means in Japanese culture, even to the point of there being animes specifically about food like Food Wars. Another classic trope popular amongst anime is the use of giant mechs fighting on top of cities against giant beasts or other robots, and it seems that one of the most famous of these mecha animes, Neon Genesis Evangelion, is taking their love of food to a literal level. Believe it or not, official Evangelion emergency rations are now on sale for real-life human consumption.
Being a show centered around giant mech battles against invading aliens, the city is constantly under attack, leaving citizens of the city under almost daily disaster level threats. Much like when a natural disaster happens in the real world, it stands to reason that the city must be under constant evacuation, with large chunks of the city regularly destroyed, leaving many citizens homeless randomly almost regularly. The city must have an insanely well-rounded disaster relief and recovery system, being as many of its citizens are displaced at any given moment, and with that comes food rations. While the real world is going through its own dystopian sci-fi like disaster with COVID-19 taking the world by storm and trapping people in their homes, it seems like a perfectly fitting time for the release of these real-life food rations based directly on Neon Genesis Evangelion, allowing fans to pretend the reason they are stuck at home is because of a giant mech battle happening outside of their window.
The ration kit comes as a Nerv-Designated Emergency Supplies Assortment Set, with packaging branded to feel like it came directly from Nerv themselves. Each set includes five different flavors based off of popular japanese favorites; gyudon (beef bowl), Japanese-style hamburger steak with mixed vegetables, beef stew, chukadon (Chinese-style stir-fired meat and vegetables), and beef curry. All of the meals are prepared similar to military MRE's, which means they come with the ability to heat themselves without the need for fire or water. On top of the main dishes, the package also comes with five rice packets meant to be served with each of the meals. Since the meals are designed to be emergency rations and not just some branded meals, the food actually all has a life-span of three years and six months, making these as legit as any other emergency ration out there.
Unfortunately, like a lot of really awesome anime related merch that exists, this product is only available in Japan and isn't set to ship until August, but thanks to its long-lasting shelf life, it makes it the perfect food product for any Evangelion super-fan to import. That just leaves one burning question, which official Evangelion emergency ration tastes best?
Source: SoraNews24