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For such a bleak anime, the visuals of psychological sci-fi saga Evangelion can be incredibly colorful. There’s mecha pilot Rei’s ethereal blue hair, the vivid purple of Eva Unit 01, and the mysterious white liquid that adorns protagonist Shinji’s hand in the End of Evangelioon theatrical feature (though not in its broadcast version).

Even the sea has a surreal hue in the anime, as the cataclysmic events that precede its first episode have turned the waters of Earth’s oceans blood-red. But while the effect is striking enough that it’s hard to take your eyes off it, it turns out filling your bathtub up with one kind of Evangelion bath salts water doesn’t make it a particularly tempting place to take a soak.

As we’ve talked about before, while the central events of hit anime Evangelion take place in a futuristic city called Tokyo-3, the character’ aren’t actually supposed to be living in the same part of Japan as Tokyo-1 (or just plain old Tokyo, as we call it in the real world). Tokyo-3 is actually supposed to be located on the same piece of land as Kanagawa Prefecture’s city of Hakone, which is a popular travel destination thanks to its beautiful views of Mt. Fuji and relaxing hot springs.

With the ideas of Evangelion, Hakone, and baths already strung together, someone decided to tie the ends together and create an official Evangelion bath salt called Second Impact Bathwater.

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According to the Evangelion Store website, the bath salts will make it feel “just like you’re floating in the red sea” of the anime. But while stepping into the world of their favorite series is a common daydream among Japanese animation fans, Twitter user Mishiranutan recently found out trying to actually do so can sometimes produce something closer to a nightmare.

That’s because while the animated Eva ocean looks like this:

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The Second Impact Bathwater looks like this:

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Yes, while the cast of Eva has no problem looking at their vermillion water and asking “What is the nature of individual existence?” most real people are more likely to go with the question, “Oh God, did some mobsters just chop up a body in my bathroom?”

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Mishiranutan’s reaction was the surprisingly even-keeled, “This was grosser than I expected,” and Internet commenters chimed in with the following:

“If you dozed off and someone saw you soaking in this, they’d call an ambulance right away.”

“Nasty.”

“This would be really handy if you were filming a murder mystery.”

“I think they’d sell more if they called it ‘LCL’ or ‘Primordial Soup.’”

However, one person offered a dissenting opinion, declaring “This looks pretty good. I’d like to try taking a bath in it once.” Apparently that’s a sentiment that enough people share for the Second Impact Bathwater to currently be sold out, but if you’ve got the guts to bathe like this, you can keep an eye on this webpage where the Evangelion Store sells the bath salts for 972 yen (US$8.20) when in stock.

Source: Livedoor
Top image: Photobucket
Insert images: Photobucket, Evangelion Store, Twitter