Itasha and drifting, what's the big deal?

As many of you may or may not know, I am a big-time auto enthusiast. And as many of you also may or may not know, I'm a big-time anime fan. What happens when two of my biggest passions are married into one, unique and awe-inspiring activity? Noriyaro drift blog's founder, Alexi Smith, gives us the low-down about what itashas are all about, and how they play a part in the Japanese drifting society.



The following pictures have all been acquired from Noriyaro. We do not own any of the following pictures. All credit goes to Alexi Smith and Noriyaro.

As Alexi states rather clearly, Itashas aren't "just for parking and looking at." While visiting an itasha-only trackday dubbed "To Aru Itasha Suki no Soukoukai" at the Honjo Circuit in Japan, he was able to snap a whole boatload of these drifting works of art.

Below is a rather attractive looking Suzuki Swift, finished off with the beautiful Asuka Langley.

For those of you who are unaware what an itasha is, Alexi defines the word to us in detail.

If you’re not familiar with the term itasha, it’s a play on words in Japanese.

The word sha means “car”. They cram this word together with another word to describe the origin of a foreign car.Amesha means “American car”, and itasha means “italian car”.

In this case however, they use the kanji character for “pain”, which is also pronounced ita. What you have then is a car that is painful to look at for most people.

That is unless of course, you’re a big fan of anime, manga or whatever else the car is themed around.

Next up is this R34 Nissan Skyline featuring Saya Endou from Kisaragi Gold★Star.



I'm sure most of us can appreciate, if not agree with the style of these cars. But one car that undeniably got my attention was this Z33 Nissan Fairlady Z with Hatsune Miku in her Love is War guise.





Let's be honest, who wouldn't want to drive an S15 Nissan Silvia with Mio plastered all over? Amirite, Miofags?







The driver shows that even with so much Mio, he can still drift rather well, although he does apologize for the tiny rear wheels.



If I saw one of these on the street, I'd probably get into an accident.



An itasha show wouldn't be complete without Haruhi, especially with her famous self-intro speech, albeit a little modified...

"I have no interest in normal cars. If anyone drives an itasha, a VIP car, a drift car or if any shakotan advocates are here, please come and see me. That is all."

I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't mind driving this S14 Nissan Silvia, especially with Erica Hartmann all over it. The car looks absolutely fabulous with an appealing paint job and low stance, typical of any drift car. Mmm...




Check out this S15 Nissan Silvia featuring Hinagiku from none other than Hayate no Gotoku! 



Yet another S14 Nissan Silvia, but this time, donned with Azunyan.




More Miku on this R33 Nissan Skyline. That is a pretty sweet rear window decal showing Miku's pantsu. Dat ass anyone?



Itasha'd or not, these cars definitely aren't just for looks. A brief look under the hood of any of these cars, or even listening to them screaming down the track, will confirm that these cars mean business.




Ukki-san, who apparently was the best drifter of the day according to Alexi, drives this Toyota Mark II Chaser with an HKS GT2835 turbo, which in English means: bloody fast.




Biribiri?



Last but not least, an interesting Toyota Mark II Qualis 2.5 with the girls from Di Gi Charat.




And what better way to finish off the post with a mini Ika Musume on the fuel filler door de geso.