This is what happens when otaku start pimping their rides...
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]
CS
That doll in the last picture lies a bit on the creepy side.
[]GeekBoy
Yes, I wonder what the doll is actually for? The mind boggles...
[]Mogalike
The doll is for using the carpool lane, obviously.
That's what I'll keep telling myself, at least...
[]TimesThree
Why didn't I think of that?
[]Just here for the LOLz
I don't think that's a doll. I think that's the creepy kind of cosplayer who dress up like dolls. What's worse? Thinking it's a doll or knowing it's a person? *shudder*
[]Red Raven
Completely awesome - I love the doll! Wait... that didn't come out right...
[]Lis
Very kawaii - I love it! x
[]Zirkus
If you every have the chance to visit tokyo and go to the manga stores in akihabara you'll find life sized dolls. Very creepy. But not as disturbing as what you find on the top floors (hentai)
[]Mr. X
Zirkus' post started me thinking about how one would bring a more, um, hentai-oriented lifesized doll through Customs... then I realized what sort of road I was peering down. Not that I would ever set one foot down that road, but... but...
I'm sorry, but I think I need to go back to 1975. Good luck with the whole global warming thing, folks. I'll be investing in houseboat-building companies.
[]Adam
That's not a doll. That's a person in a full-body cosplay outfit. They have weird webcam fetish sites for that stuff...
[]Washi
Zirkus
>But not as disturbing as what you find on the top floors (hentai)
Oh NOES.
I'd totally drive that Nanoha car or the Rozen Maiden cars (first two pics) through Tokyo, straight into Akiba, and pick up some of that hentai Zirkus is disturbed by. I could do without the full-body cosplay suit cosplayer though.
[]SAKURABA (ah-ah-ah)
WOW
[]SAKURABA (ah-ah-ah)
((_)\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\D~
[]yellow_belt
Why are they called 'painful cars' ??? Because they are painful to look at?
[]Russ
Wow, and I thought Mitsubishi Mirages covered in K&N and Sparco stickers were gay. This just takes the cake
[]jal11180
Thanks for telling me about yourself.
[]Chris
There are such cutomes but this is definitely a doll - unless there is actually a kid inside. Just look at its size. If you wonder about its purpose, imagine this: a universe which contains people who have actually a sense of humour. Okay, that's probably asking too much. In any case, I've heard about people from elsewhere in the world driving around with skeletons or dolls - just for fun.
You don't have to like that or respect it. That's called freedom. Some countries have that, others don't. And even others claim they have freedom whereas they only inhabitated by close-minded, brain-washed, pseudo-christian or pseudo-islamic fundamentalists. Over and out.
[]Nate
You can tell it's most likely a doll y the unnatural way that the knees bend. They look stiff like stuffed fabric, not articulated like a human. Plus the head looks small to contain another, even smaller head. And the elbow bends in a rather wide arc, not like an articulated limb.
[]Jamaipanese
omg I'd like to the do that to my car some day
[]Doll
Its kinda scary....
[]I wached the anime of the first picture figures just 3 secs ago Öö
Wanna have this cars, cause I love the anime >
rad tollett
is there any way to get these decals in the U.S.? I would love to see them in person. If not, does anyone know where I can buy them online?
[]lord1
where do they find the decals that they put on the cars?
[]i've searched all over the net and couldn't find a clue.
joseph
wat up bro my nme is tom i m leving u a reply becase i wana pimped up ride
[]Juri
Well... I think that these cars are far away from awesome design, I just like car nr. 1 because it fit's to the whole car.
But hey, They don'T pimp just in tokyo. I'm from Austria and also costumized my car...
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/211/8/f/my_caaaar_by_Laguzinthelake.jpg
[]Bonemaster969
For all the people that have been wondering, that "girl" in the last picture is a real person. Its a hobby called "Kigurumi" which allows you to portray the character more accurately. If you look closely at her leg, you'll see a line: thats the zipper for the zentai, which is a skin-tight, skin-colored suit used for keeping the skin more accurate (your skin has more imperfections than you think, such as freckles, hairs, skin is too tan, etc.). I was going to get into this hobby, but its kind of expensive, being that its impossible to get a hold of this stuff in the states.
[]john leftnut
i love anime cuz its like legal child pornography!!!!!!!!! XD
[]TK
me wants that Nanoha car ^w^
[]Doukoure Mohamed
I am from West Africa in Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire),I have no comment to do. I want to have a stage with you in order to learn skills of pimping rides to practise in my country could you please to give me a positive answer.
[]jal11180
Um, what? Oh, you are meaning that you live in the country of Ivory Coast/ Cote D'Ivoire (I think that is how you spell its French name), that no one does what you do, and that you want to start a trend like this in your country. Now that is a nice, as well as ambitious, thing to do in your country. Might I suggest that you do what Junichi Shimodaira did and, instead of going to the USA to perfect his craft for low riders and muscle cars, you go to JDM itashi artisans in Japan and learn how to perfect their craft and then bring it back to your country?
[]Will
anime ricer!!!
[]?????GirlExcel??
Kawaii!?
[]i want a PandaCar *vrroooom vrroooom*
Producer1
i LOVE those cars...but i would'nt be caught DEAD inside or around one. >.>
i like to keep my otakuistic-japaniphile ways kept just a bit more on the dl than parading around in an anime car. (though the pikachu VW beetle is adorable if anyones ever seen it.)
[]TimesThree
True, the pika-beetle is cute.
That's the sad thing nowadays, you have to keep your otaku self on the DL to blend into society. If only people were more understanding of anime, instead of slapping an "immature" label on it >___<
[]Jeremy
If you get some high rez pictures you can take them to your local vynal shop, normally some kind of car add shop and they can do it for ya pretty cheap really
i have huge pictues whole car around 1k
[]Ginger
Hello
[]Yes I was wondering if you know where I can find decals for a car that resemble the anime on these cars and if they are available to buy online or in the U.S.? I have a freind who would absolutely FREEEEAK if I got him a decal for his car.
Sincerely
Ginger