Itasha

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A typical itasha, decorated the outside and the inside.

Itasha (痛車?) is a Japanese term for an otaku fad of individuals decorating the bodies of their cars with fictional characters of anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo game or eroge). These characters are predominately "cute" female. 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.

The cars are seen prominently in places such as Akihibara (Tokyo), Nipponbashi (Osaka), or Ōsu (Nagoya). Itasha also appears in customizable video games, such as Forza Motorsport 2. [1] Itasha have also participated in various real motorsport events.

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[edit] Etymology

Itasha derives from combining the Japanese words for itai (痛い?, painful) and sha (車?, vehicle). Itai here means "painful", which can be interpreted as "painfully embarrassing" or "painful for the wallet" due to the high costs involved. 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?).[2]

[edit] History

The decoration started as early as in 1980s, but only became a phenomenon in the 21st century, when otaku culture became relatively well known via the Internet. In 2007, the first Autosalone (あうとさろーね Autosarōne?), an Itasha oriented convention, was held in Ariake, near the site of Comiket.

[edit] Involvement in motorsports

An itasha with a Hatsune Miku decal competed in the 2008 Super GT season.

In recent years, the involvement of Itashas in real motorsports events has grown. Though most of them are amateur events, participation of Itashas in national/international events are increasing, and they usually receive much media coverage. In 2008's Japan Rally Championship, Melonbooks, a famous dōjin shop, put a Honda City Itasha into the JN1(cars below 1400cc) class. They started with 3 straight wins, and eventually finished as class Champion that year, claiming the first individual, as well as first overall Champion title in Japan's motorsport event for Itashas[3]. In the same year's Super GT, Studie (a BMW tuning shop in Japan) entered a Hatsune Miku-schemed Z4 in the GT300 class, making Itasha's debut in international events under FIA. Three months later, MOLA also adopted their 350Z with an Itasha scheme featuring Kagamine Rin and Len in the same series' final race, which they finished sixth and claimed their driver and team's title in GT300 class[3]. The Bee*Racing team has also adopted Itasha stickers on their B324R and Crown since the 2008 D1 Grand Prix season, even though both racers (Tsuyoshi Tezuka and Masayoshi Tokita) claimed that it was the team owner's idea and they have zero knowledge to the parody used.

Both Studie and Melonbooks continues to participates their respective 2009 season on their events (JRC and Super GT) participated in 2008, while the latter switches their car to a Lancer Evolution VII and spot races on Japan Dirt Trial as well.

[edit] International movement

Similarly decorated vehicles have been found in Taiwan[4]

[edit] Vehicles owned by character rights owner

ACID Co., Ltd. (âge games developer)'s executive director Hirohiko Yoshida was reported to own Muv-Luv-themed Lamborghini Gallardo[5], Lancia Stratos[6], BMW M5.[7][8] The cars were unveiled in 2008 âge×Nitro+ in Akibahara UDX Gallery.[9]

An official Macross Frontier-themed Suzuki Wagon R was unveiled in Macross Galaxy Tour Final.[10] It was later redesigned for the Macross Super-Dimensional Space Launch Ceremony.[11]

[edit] Licensed model vehicles

Offically licensed itasha can be found both in static car models and movable car models.

In June 2008, Aoshima Bunka Kyozai launched "ITASHA" as one of their model cars product line,[12] Since then many of the model producers produced various Itashas on the car models. With the exception of Tamiya, which only released one on the Mini 4WD line, all other factories that featured Itasha shemes were put on real car's models, which is mainly Japanese sport cars or MPVs.

[edit] Derivative uses

The itasha decorative style has also been found on aircraft[13][14][15][16], computer cases[17], and other products.[18]

[edit] See also

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Itasha

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Japanese) YouTubeのゲーム動画が起こした予想外のできごと (Something unexpected happens by the game video on YouTube), Nikkei IT Plus report, retrieved on June 7, 2008.
  2. ^ Itasha: Pimped rides, otaku style
  3. ^ a b Although Melonbooks got the JRC Champion in November 23, 2008, two weeks after the final race of the 2008 Super GT, appeals involving MOLA were raised, stating MOLA was not offically granted Champion Status until December 5, 2008.
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Hentai Fans Airbrush a Mangallardo
  6. ^ Ridelust Daily Fail: Japanese Itasha Fad Makes Me Sad
  7. ^ Humor from Japan: BMW M5, Lamborghini Gallardo and Lancia Stratos Itasha decorated in style!
  8. ^ Age Soft Chairman shows off Manga Lambo, M5 and Stratos
  9. ^ Muvluv Itasha
  10. ^ Macross Ero-Itasha
  11. ^ Macross Ero-Itasha Gets Yaoi Facelift
  12. ^ (Japanese) 青島文化教材が痛車のプラモを発売、車種とキャラは (Aoshima Bunka Kyozai sells a model car of itasha, the car and the character is...), carview.co.jp report, retrieved on June 7, 2008.
  13. ^ ANA's Pokemon Jet Home Page
  14. ^ ２月再販 超時空要塞妖精痛機
  15. ^ MIKU-29 米哭式制空戰"痛"機XD
  16. ^ NOSE ART WORKS
  17. ^ 3/3 痛機殼...
  18. ^ 「痛機殼」改造你的電腦主機外觀

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itasha"
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