TOKYO: Yosuke Takahata doesn’t care what people think of his “itasha” car, which has his favourite anime character – a sexy, red-eyed horse-woman – emblazoned across both sides.
For Yosuke Takahata and other ‘itasha’ owners like him, plastering sexy, red-eyed horse-women and other cartoons all over their vehicles is just another way of paying homage to their two-dimensional true loves.
Perceptions of "itasha," cars covered in gaudy images of anime and manga characters, have begun to change, with hobby subcultures gaining a new mainstream acceptance in Japan.