The famous Evangelion pilot pitches “a color not for anyone else’s sake.”

Japanese marketing has long featured celebrities. As a matter of fact, it’s almost more unusual for a glamorous product to not have a famous actor, actress, or musician attached to its ad campaign in one way or another.

So it’s not that unusual that Japanese cosmetics brand Kate landed one of the most instantly recognizable women in Japanese show biz as the spokesmodel for their new lip rouge. What is surprising, though, is that she’s also an anime character.

Yes, the face of Kate’s new Red Nude Rouge is none other than Rei Ayanami, from the massively influential anime franchise Neon Genesis Evangelion.

With Rei’s in-anime lifestyle consisting almost exclusively of going to school, fighting aliens, and waiting in a dark, barren apartment until its time to do one of those two activities again, the effect of a touch of color on her lips is striking, especially in contrast to her fair complexion and pale blue hair (ordinarily the only presence of red in Rei’s character design is found in her eyes).

Perhaps as a nod to Eva fans, the Red Nude Rouge’s announcement is accompanied by some deep philosophical thoughts from Kate

“Is this red the proof of the will that an individual person holds?
A look no one has seen before is a look that expresses your thoughts.
The color for you is the one you choose yourself.
A color not for anyone else’s sake, but for your own.
The exact red you envision.”

All that talk of individual will isn’t just wispy fodder for fan speculation, though. Kate boasts that the key characteristic of the Red Nude Rouge is how it allows you to set down a red base and then add beige elements to create the specific shade you want. The “Nude” part of the name isn’t a wink to the copious amounts of lascivious Evangelion fan art that’s been created in the 25 years since the anime’s premiere, but instead refers to the color customization allowing you to create a natural, or “nude,” shade if you want a more understated look.

While this is a genuine makeup product, it has a few similarities to anime merch. It’ll be available only in limited quantities, and while the official on-sale date is February 2, pre-orders can be made starting November 4 on Amazon Japan and other online retailers.

Meanwhile, if you simply can’t reconcile the Eva pilot pitching any color other than blue, you can always try to track down a few cans of Japan’s Rei paint.

Source, images: PR Times
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