Itasha

In Japan, an itasha (痛車, literally "painful car") is a car decorated with images of fictional characters from anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo games or eroge). The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. Automobiles are called itasha, while similar motorcycles and bicycles are called itansha (痛単車) and itachari (痛チャリ) respectively.

An itasha in Xiamen, China featuring Nia from Gurren Lagann on the hood
An itasha in Tokyo, Japan featuring Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura on the body

The cars are seen prominently in places such as Akihabara (Tokyo), Nipponbashi (Osaka), or Ōsu (Nagoya).

Etymology

In the 1980s, when Japan was at the zenith of its economic might, Tokyo's streets were a parade of luxury import cars. Among them, the "itasha"—originally Japanese slang meaning an imported Italian car—was the most desired. Since then, itasha (as the decorated vehicle) was derived from combining the Japanese words for itai (痛い, painful) and sha (車, vehicle). Itai here means "pain(ful)", which can be interpreted as "painfully embarrassing", "painful for the wallet" due to the high costs involved, or "painful to look at" (an eyesore). The name is also a pun for Italian cars (イタリア車, Itaria-sha), truncated in Japanese slang as Itasha (イタ車).[1]

History
Itasha car meet, Moesha-ofu, in Iga, Mie

The subculture started in Japan in the 1980s with character plushies and stickers,[2] but only became a phenomenon in the twenty-first century, when anime culture became relatively well known via the Internet. The earliest known report of an itasha-decorated vehicle in convention was in August 2005, in Comiket 68.[3]

Conventions

In 2007, the first Autosalone (あうとさろーね, Autosarōne), an itasha-oriented convention, was held in Ariake, near Comiket. Since then, the subculture has grown and allows people to express themselves and show off their customization to fellow friends and competitors.

Involvement in motorsports
Good Smile Racing Komatti-Mirai EV, 2013 TT Zero

Nowadays, the involvement of itasha in real motorsport events has been a unique feature in Japan's motorsport industry. Race cars in itasha decals can be seen from regional club events to international races (including events under the FIA). Participants are also not limited to amateurs. Many professional teams, or even manufacturer-backed teams, would not mind to turn their race cars into itasha cars; not only does it act as an alternative for sponsorship decals (if the character or design is provided by the sponsor), it is widely considered as one of the many ways of expanding their team's fanbase or promoting the event they are participating in.

In the Autobacs Super GT series, Good Smile Racing has run a series of Hatsune Miku-themed racecars since 2008, while Pacific Racing has had collaborations with Squid Girl, Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Love Live! and Girls und Panzer in their involvement with the Super GT[4] and D1 Grand Prix series.[5] Good Smile Racing notably is a three-time champion in the GT300 class, the second most successful team in the history of Super GT's GT300 class (only Team Taisan, with seven titles, had a better record). Similar involvement of itasha vehicles can be seen in motorcycle or even open-wheeler events.

Internationally, Good Smile Racing sponsored Komatti-Mirai team in TT Zero in 2013 and participated in Spa 24 Hours since 2017. In 2019 Spa 24 Hours Good Smile Racing collaborated with Black Falcon, TYPE-MOON, and Studio Trigger to field three Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the race with Hatsune Miku, Fate, and Promare liveries.[6] The Promare car started from pole position and finished third overall and the Hatsune Miku car also finished third in the Silver Cup class.[7][8]

  • Itasha in automobile racing
  • Haruhi Racing (2011)
  • Squid Girl/Pacific Racing (2011)
  • Dijon Racing (2012)
  • EVA Racing/Rn-Sports (2016)
  • Good Smile Racing (2018)

International movement
An itasha in Taiwan with Hakurei Reimu on a Mitsubishi Savrin

Similarly decorated vehicles have been found in Taiwan,[9] the Philippines,[10] Malaysia,[11] the United States,[12] Brazil,[13] Indonesia,[14] and the United Kingdom.[15]

Vehicles owned by character rights owner

The executive director of ACID Co., Ltd. (parent company of game developer Âge), Hirohiko Yoshida, was reported to own a Muv-Luv-themed Lamborghini Gallardo,[16] Lancia Stratos,[17] and BMW M5.[18][19] The cars were unveiled in 2008 âge×Nitro+ in Akibahara UDX Gallery.

An official Macross Frontier-themed Suzuki Wagon R was unveiled in Macross Galaxy Tour Final.[20] It was later redesigned for the Macross Super-Dimensional Space Launch ceremony.[21]

Vehicles from automotive manufacturers
An itansha in South Tangerang, Indonesia featuring Honkai Impact on the body

In Nagoya Auto Trend in 2009, a Phantom of Inferno-themed Chevrolet Corvette, a Melonbooks-themed MINI Cooper, and a Chaos;Head Noah-themed Toyota Estima were unveiled.[22]

Licensed model vehicles

Officially licensed itasha cars can be found both in display and R/C car models.

In June 2008, Aoshima Bunka Kyozai launched "ITASHA" as one of their model car product lines.[23] Since then, many model companies have produced various itasha versions of their car models. Fujimi, Kyosho, HPI and Tamiya also sell models with itasha decorations.

Recently, combinations between models and actual itasha are increasing, wherein models based on the original itasha were made afterwards.

Derivative uses
An itachari in South Tangerang, Indonesia featuring Hibiki from Kantai Collection on the frame

The itasha decorative style has also been found on railway cars, aircraft,[24][25] computer cases,[26] and other products.[27] The itasha equivalent in apparel is the "ita-bag", a bag covered in fandom-related badges, buttons, etc.

In-vehicle electronics, such as navigation systems, were also reported to be customized with character voices.[28] On 28 March 2008, Maplus began to offer character voices for its Maplus Portable Navi 2 GPS system, beginning with Shūichi Ikeda (Char Aznable from the Gundam franchise).[29]

Automotive consumables such as motor oil have also been customized. On 20 June 2009, T&E, a tuning shop, began to sell scented semi-synthetic motor oil under the Itayu brand,[30] with the first product being a Lucky Star-themed motor oil, unveiled at the 48th Shizuoka Hobby Show 2009.[31][32]

See also

References
  1. Itasha: Pimped rides, otaku style
  2. Itasha and Intansha - Tricking your car out is the latest otaku craze in Japan
  3. コミックマーケット68 2日目＆痛車
  4. Love Live! × Pacific Racing Car Revealed, All μ's Members Drawn on One Car
  5. Pacific Racing Team Previews "Girls und Panzer" Collaboration
  6. "「Fate」「プロメア」「初音ミク」デザインのマシンが「スパ24時間」を走る！ "グッスマ"が「Black Falcon」のアートディレクションを担当". Car Watch (in Japanese). July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  7. Kilshaw, Jake. "Engel Pips Vanthoor to 24H Spa Pole". Sportscar365. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  8. Kilshaw, Jake. "GPX Porsche Wins Rain-Affected 24H Spa". Sportscar365. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  9. 痛車 in 台北!　世界は痛車に毒されはじめた…… (Itasha in Taipei! The world started to poisoned by itasha...), Ascii.jp report, Feb 2008
  10. Philippine Itasha Cars Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Lowyat.Net forum, Itasha Car Thread
  12. "America Itasha". Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-07-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. Mirai Millennium Itasha
  15. "Album - Google+". plus.google.com. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  16. Hentai Fans Airbrush a Mangallardo
  17. Ridelust Daily Fail: Japanese Itasha Fad Makes Me Sad
  18. Humor from Japan: BMW M5, Lamborghini Gallardo and Lancia Stratos Itasha decorated in style!
  19. Age Soft Chairman shows off Manga Lambo, M5 and Stratos
  20. Macross Ero-Itasha
  21. Macross Ero-Itasha Gets Yaoi Facelift
  22. 痛車天国？　ナゴヤ オートトレンド！【出展企業＆メーカー公認車編】
  23. (in Japanese) 青島文化教材が痛車のプラモを発売、車種とキャラは Archived 2008-02-06 at the Wayback Machine (Aoshima Bunka Kyozai sells a model car of itasha, the car and the character is...), carview.co.jp report, retrieved on June 7, 2008.
  24. ANA's Pokémon Jet Home Page
  25. "NieR:Automata Plane". wsyntax technologies. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  26. 3/3 痛機殼... Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
  27. 「痛機殼」改造你的電腦主機外觀
  28. 【Gadget】古谷徹、池田秀一、若本、釘宮等聲線的車內導航即將發售
  29. 【ご連絡】「MAPLUSポータブルナビ2」用音声に池田秀一さんを追加！
  30. TandE page Archived 2009-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  31. 痛車乗りに朗報！　痛いエンジンオイルが登場！
  32. Lucky Star Engine Oil
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