This New Year’s fukubukuro sort of has us thinking about a different time of year.

Pokémon is one of those rare anime/game franchises that not only remains beloved decades after its start, but that’s also been consistently pumping out popular new episodes and games for the entire time. The result is that there are a lot of fans who got into the series as kids and continue to enjoy it as adults.

Still, with the franchise’s large roster of cute and cuddly creatures, you’re more likely to find Pokémon merch marketed to kids and women than other demographics in Japan. We were pleasantly surprised, though, to find out that this year casual clothing chain Shimamura offered a New Year’s lucky bag of Pokémon fashion specifically for grown-up guys, and since they were charging just 3,300 yen (US$23) for it, we decided to pick one up.

Though officially listed by Shimamura as a fukubukuro/lucky bag, which usually denotes a mysterious blind-buy package, they actually let shoppers know exactly what was in the for-adult-men Pokémon fukubukuro prior to purchase. The bag itself is part of the bundle, as it’s a cloth tote bag graced by Mimikyu.

Waiting inside the bag was a Gengar sweatshirt, with the Ghost/Poison-type already getting a head start on relaxing…

…and a pair of Chandelure sweatpants in a slightly different shade of gray.

Mimikyu and Gengar show up again (multiple times) on a zip-up hoodie…

…and rounding out the bundle is a blanket with illustrations of Litwick and Drifloon.

If you’re a veteran Pokémon fan, you’ve probably noticed a running theme here: all five of the represented Pocket Monster species are Ghost-types (technically Ghost hybrid-types, but Ghost-types all the same). Though we can’t confirm this, it seems likely that in putting together their for-adult-men Pokémon lucky bag, Shimamura drew from left-over items they’d stocked up on for last Halloween.

That’s not really a drawback, though. None of the items have “Happy Halloween!” written on them or Halloween-exclusive imagery like jack-o’-lanterns, so they can be worn at any time of year. Odds are if you’re a fan of one Ghost-type, you’re a fan of others as well, as there are a lot of shared design cues between the category’s species. Finally, the lucky bag clothing’s more subdued colors are not only a good match for the Ghost-types, they also give the garments a touch more maturity than the brighter colors associated with many other Pokémon, making them a little easier for adult men to incorporate into their wardrobes.

We’re not sure we’d wear the whole set all at once, but one of the items should be enough to give grown-up guys just enough playful style to put a spring in our step as we head to Mister Donut to get some of the free donuts we’re owed as part of our other Pokémon lucky bag.

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