Just like the decorated anime cars known as "itasha", which contains the prefix¹ "ita" meaning "painful, itabags aren't very different, except of course instead of being painful cars, they're painful bags.

 

The anime bag trend or "痛バッグ" trend has been around for quite some time, but as Kotaku reports, the itabag fashion has recently begun to receive national attention in Japan, which has inspired more female otakus to throw money at anime merchandise for their purses and bags.

 

The mostly youthful crowd that rock these bright bags describe the fashion trend as a very simple one. Female otakus state that Itabags allow them to express their favorite anime/manga characters where everyone can see it.

 

Many itabags do tend to focus on one particular character that the owner obsesses² over, which sometimes consists of one bag with the same freaking button one hundred times or so.

 

But as cheap as itabags may appear, it can be a surprisingly expensive hobby. Some of the buttons that these girls are using are purchased from basic anime stores or online for a fair price, especially the ones who just own the same button over and over. But some of these painful bags contain buttons, plushies and keychains only found at promotional events with limited quantities, which were purchased with some serious yen³.

 

One particular woman spent 80,00 yen ($664 USD) on her horrendously⁴ beautiful itabag, while others managed to get by with only less than 10,000 yen!

 

How do you feel about plastering your favorite bag with anime buttons and keychains?

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