Ikebukuro hotel and anime series are both celebrating milestones this year.

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the start of Evangelion. It’s also the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Sunshine City Prince Hotel in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro neighborhood, and with Ikebukuro being one of Japan’s biggest otaku districts, the hotel and anime have decided to celebrate their coinciding milestones together with a collaboration aimed at traveling anime fans.

As part of its 2025 IkePri25 celebration, the Sunshine City Prince will be offering two different Evangelion-themed guestroom configurations, both taking inspiration from Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, the theatrical feature that served as the finale to the entire Eva anime franchise, specifically from the portion of the movie that takes place in Village 3 where Shinji, Asuka, and Rei have a bucolic break while mentally gearing up for the story’s climax. The rooms feature dynamically large artwork and character standees, with the Suzuhara room pictured above, and the North Lake Ruins room shown below.

▼ Hmm…there doesn’t seem to be a Rei standee for the Lake Ruins room…Oh well, nothing to lose your head over, right?

In addition to the luxury of being surrounded by so much Eva imagery during their stay, guests in these rooms will also receive a bundle of exclusive merch to take home with them, with an acrylic mini standee of Kaworu dressed in a concierge’s uniform, pins, acrylic character panels of the anime cast in super-deformed traveler form, and a bath towel. The room key, once again featuring concierge Kaworu, is also yours to keep.

So far this is all pretty standard, if cool, stuff for hotel/anime collaborations. The Sunshine City Prince is going the extra mile for this team-up, though, by also creating no fewer than four Evangelion-themed lounges in the common-use areas of the floor of the hotel where its Eva rooms will be.

Not only will these be great places to snap photos (perhaps posing with some of those special merch items), the intent is also to create places for fellow fans to mingle, creating a fun atmosphere and shared experience.

▼ It seems like a pretty safe bet that no one is going to think you’re weird for gushing about Eva when you’re both hanging out in a place like this.

The hotel’s restaurants are also getting in on the action with special themed food and drink at the Chef’s Palette, Musashino, and Kokiden (which serve Western, Japanese, and Chinese cuisine, respectively).

Most of the design cues here are subtle, based on character image colors or recurring visual motifs from the anime, although the First Impact Mapo Ramen, at the top of the array in the photo below, is pretty ominous-looking.

Ordering the food items gets you a concierge Kaworu clear file, and the drinks come with character art cards. Since non-guests can eat in the restaurants too, this is a way to get your hands on some special merch even if you’re not staying overnight at the hotel.

The Sunshine City Prince Hotel/Evangelion collaboration runs from August 30 to November 29, meaning that you could stay in the themed rooms on October 4, the exact date of the 30th anniversary of the airing of the TV anime’s first episode. Reservations can be made through the hotel’s website here starting at noon on July 25.

Source: PR Times via Nijimen
Images: PR Times
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