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Evangelion Presents, AR App Given Away on ANA Airline (Updated)

The website for the "ANA x Evangelion" campaign announced on Monday that promotions will begin on May 21. Japan's All Nippon Airlines (ANA) carrier is collaborating with the Evangelion anime franchise to offer promotional goods to passengers until July 20.

Passengers who travel on domestic ANA flights between eight designated airports can visit an ANA Festa shop to receive one of four original clear file folders. People who spend at least 1,000 yen (about US$12) in one of the designated stores will also receive exclusive ANA x Evangelion stickers.

People who fly on the selected flights will be eligible to win one of 5,130 special prizes. For each participating flight that someone takes, he or she will receive another entry into a drawing for the crossover prizes. The prizes will include 5,000 ID card cases, 100 3D crystal glasses, and 30 Evangelion portable navigation systems.

The campaign will offer the Ugoku! Jitsubutsudai Evangelion AR (Move! Actual Size Evangelion AR) app for Android smartphones from June 1 to July 20. People who download the augmented reality (AR) app can use their phones near designated windows in Tokyo's Haneda Airport to see a moving 80-meter (about 262-foot) simulation of the EVA Unit 01 mecha. A release of the app for iOS devices is also planned.

The promotion's website launched on May 1 with four downloadable wallpapers that feature the ANA and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo film's logos. Evangelion Shin Gekijō-ban Q Quickening, the third film in Hideaki Anno and Khara's four-part remake of Gainax's Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, is slated to open in Japan this fall.

In 2010, ANA launched a promotion with the Gundam series, creating an "ANA x Gundam Jet" that featured life-size Gundam images on the sides of the plane. In 1999, All Nippon Airways launched a similar tie-in with Pokémon, fielding at least four planes sporting Pokémon art. The airline also released figurines in 2005, modeling female flight attendant uniforms from throughout the company's history. ANA competitor Japan Airlines (JAL) collaborated with Studio Ghibli in 2007 to screen a rare Hayao Miyazaki short animation on domestic flights and to run a contest to design artwork for a Boeing 787.

Update: In 2010, the Japanese convenience store chain LAWSON gave away an AR app that could be used at the former Sengokuhara Junior High School in Hakone — the school and city that inspired the fictional First Municipal Middle School and New Tokyo-III setting of Evangelion.