I couldn’t help myself — I had to purchase the official Rockman “E Can” energy drink while I was in Tokyo. The tiny can ran me about 140 yen, and despite its small size, was just too neat-looking and cute to pass up.
Since it’s likely TSA regulations wouldn’t allow me to carry it on a plane once I got back to the United States, I decided to crack it open and give it a taste.
The first thing I noticed is the smell, a light lemon-lime fragrance that falls somewhere in between Gatorade and Sprite. I was surprised to find that the drink isn’t carbonated. In fact, the clear liquid doesn’t have much of a taste, either; if I concentrated real hard, I could taste the lemon-lime that was hinted at in the smell, but that’s about it. I’m not ruling out that Capcom tricked me into buying a can of water, though.
Once I wash out the can, it’ll make a nice addition to my collection of things I will one day display on shelves in my office. But as far as a drink goes, there’s absolutely no reason why I’d want to get involved in something like this again. Having now tasted the drink, I wonder why I saw native Japanese picking up and purchasing multiple cans.
Quick, get me back to the States where I can purchase gallon-sized carbonated energy drinks for $4 a can!
