This is what happens when otaku start pimping their rides...

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

Ita-sha ---

See more of these itasha photos at New Akiba, which takes a peek inside Itasha Road 2007, a recently published mook profiling over 150 itasha and their proud owners.

Itasha are cars decorated with decals and paint jobs depicting anime, game and manga characters. The word itasha, which literally means "painful car," is derived from the kanji for itai ("painful") and sha ("car"). The word also appears to be a reference to the Italian sportscar, also known as itasha (although the ita for Italian is spelled with katakana instead of kanji), a conventional sort of chick magnet driven by a different sort of guy.

Otaku itasha have been around since the late '80s, but they have remained relatively rare, perhaps because people have traditionally felt the need to keep their otaku nature to themselves. But as the subculture goes mainstream and otaku develop a greater sense of pride, more itasha are bound to be taking to the streets.

Check out the following sites for more awesome pictures of itasha:

- Yoshimu's blog (via Danny Choo)
- ASCII 24 p.1, ASCII p.2 (via Japanator)
- Painful Style

[Via: /. Japan]