Happy Halloween! How About Some Car Cosplay?

Since today is Halloween, let's commemorate the holiday where everybody likes to wear costumes with some Skylines that are dressed up in their own way.

If you've read my intro post before you may have noticed that I have lots of hobbies and two that I'm very passionate about are cars and anime so I find it very interesting when the two intersect (Before you ask, yes, I've watched Initial D and Wangan Midnight lol). In Japan there's a whole niche built around cars decorated with anime characters which are referred to as itasha. The term basically translates to “painful car” because non-anime fans view them as painfully embarrassing to drive. At the start of this month the biggest gathering of itasha in Japan – the Odaiba Ita G Festa - hosted another huge assembly of these gaily decorated cars and I noticed while perusing the photos that more than a few Skylines showed up. (Warning: Some of the following images may cause intense nausea and discomfort for the more sensitive viewer. Intense nerddom ahead. Viewer discretion is advised. Lol.)

Achtung! Das Skyline ist gud Gunther, ja? (Image credit for Japanese watermarked images: OtakuPT.com. Bad German credit: yours truly)

More psychedelic than a Bugatti in Dubai viewed with a heaping portion of acid.

Four doors to make it easier to load your blow-up dolls and hug pillows :)

Tokyo Metro must be pissed at all the people stealing their subway straps.

No Skylines spared here. Even the R32 gets some...err, love.
Yes, we know them as Infinitis and they don't have an RB but they're still Skylines in Japan.

Ultra Ricer Ninja Art: Lambo Doors!


In addition to the Skylines there were a boatload of other cars running the gamut from the little kei city cars all the way to some pricey exotics like Ferraris and Lambos and everything in between like Alfas, Bimmers, vans, and work trucks.

I know the girl's distracting. And I'm okay with that :)


I would SO watch this on a rally course. I don't think it'll end well but I shall be VERY amused.

An itasha in the full essence of the word. Itasha was originally Japanese shorthand for "Italian car" until the anime fans (aka otaku) gave it new meaning.

When redneck meets otaku magic happens.

Please don't hate me for thinking this looks cute.

Despite my love of anime, for the love of God I hope that's not a VR-4 underneath all of that.

Needs more Pedobear stickers and spray-painted "Free Candy" text.

You know that urban legend about what shoes on power lines in the city meant? What kind of weirdness does a shirt on an itasha signify?

And nothing of value was lost...

The phrase "Flying your freak flag" comes to mind for some reason.


Had to toss this in 'cause it's a Nissan and all lol.

Hmm. How many imaginary prostitutes have been murdered in this lorry I wonder?

I find the way it's winking at me disturbing.
Haters gonna hate but some otaku have enough money not to give a
$h*t :)

Ah, the Lotus 7, one of the cars I very much would love to own, though maybe not this particular one.

I'd rock this one though. Yeah, come at me bro :3
It couldn't be more pink if it were made from distilled estrogen.

A more understated take. I like it.

It's a slammed Tiida (Versa to us Eaglelanders). I find that oddly cool. I knew I needed to get my head examined.

I like the Evo X too much. Too bad Mitsubishi's killing the Evo. Bastards.

The S15 Silvia is such a looker. I'd drive this...with VERY heavily tinted windows...and I'd park where no one could see me exit lol.


Shirobako  means "white box" so a Cube might have been more fitting. I like it anyway lol.


In case you think this is a Japanese only phenomenon, I've seen many examples of itasha here in the US as well while attending anime conventions.

This and the next two are from Danny Choo. Cool guy, awesome accent lol.

Stock wheels FTL :(


And they gave out free snacks for extra cool points.

Owned by a fellow Macross fan. Mad respect lol.


Dang she was cute. Too bad about the lame car...



Even my R35 has a little bit of itasha in it with this Domo sticker – although it's really not Domo at all, it's the lookalike mascot of TopSpeed Motorsports endearingly named “Kill”. Yep, innocuous name that. For some odd reason I think he looks like an angry Cobb Accessport with limbs lol.



I know that stuff like this probably seems like needless geekery to most people but I have a healthy respect for itasha owners. It's awesome to see people passionate about their interests enough to not give a damn what the greater public thinks. As gearheads we respect people with the stones to drive cars fast and hard but driving an itasha in a world that doesn't understand them takes a certain level of courage as well. Drive on, fellow otaku :)


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