A new line of adorable cow-splay merch.

One unique aspect of Japanese culture is that even though it celebrates New Year’s according to the Gregorian/solar calendar, it also follows the custom of assigning a Chinese zodiac animal to each year, as is common in lunar calendar traditions. So since January 1, we’ve been seeing plenty of bovine decorations to celebrate the start of the Year of the Ox, or the Year of the Cow, since the Japanese language doesn’t differentiate between the two and cows are cuter.

And when you think of cute and festive characters, isn’t the first group that springs to mind the cast of Evangelion?

A new line of Chinese zodiac-themed Evangelion merch has been created, sporting the Eva pilot crew of Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Kaworu, and Mari doing a bit of cow cosplay. The key art was unveiled in a New Year’s Day ceremony at the Toei Kyoto Studio Park amusement park, with an adorable version of the Third/Fourth Angel Sachiel and regional mascot Kachinta, dressed in a special Eva Unit-01 outfit, taking the cover off a jumbo-sized ema wish board.

The star member of the merchandise lineup is a regular, palm-sized ema with the same design. Ema are usually found at Shinto shrines in Japan, and writing a wish on one side is supposed to help it come true.

In addition to the ema, there are also Year of the Eva-Cow pins, acrylic character standees, memo pads…

…and a sketchbook, or “mini croquis book,” if you want to use the fancy official product name.

Prices range from 400 yen for the pins (3.90) to 700 yen for the ema. Currently, they’re only being offered at Toei Kyoto Studio Park, but since that’s also where you’ll find the full-scale Evangelion statue and LCL pool, we have a hunch Eva fans will be happy to have another reason to visit.

Related: Toei Kyoto Studio Park
Source: PR Times
Top image: Toei Kyoto Studio Park
Insert images: PR Times
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