We’ve talked about Itasha before, pimped out cars for the Otaku, covered in anime decals and full of  merchandise inside. The phenomenon keeps growing in Japan and now goes beyond cars to all forms of vehicles real and virtual. And in true Otaku fashion they’ve recently launched itasya.net, a community for itasha owners and designers. If you dont mind a mandatory registration, this is  a treasure cove for itasha, from  the mesmerizing to the distasteful. Well, mostly distasteful.

[Itasya.net]

This one really brings back some fond memories of my youth: Penny Racers! I must have owned at least two dozen of these cute little super deformed vehicles. The premise was simple: place a penny in a slot located on the back of the vehicle, wind its motor up by pulling it backwards along the floor and let it go. Now they were said to perform numerous different tricks, but for some reason I could only get the darn things to pop wheelies. In retrospect perhaps it was all about the placement of the penny.

At any rate, no longer are the days where I need worry about penny placement. No longer shall I plant my face on the living room floor, with a flashlight in one hand and a ruler in the other, as I attempt to recover my racer from underneath the couch. Those days are all but a memory. I have since moved on from playing with toys (instead I collect them), and have found an enjoyable alternative that doesn’t necessarily require the use of a penny and most likely won’t end up lost underneath my couch. That alternative is Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway for the Nintendo Wii.

Hit the jump to join me as I rekindle the flame of my youth and to read my review of Penny Racers Party: Turbo-Q Speedway.

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Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder points us to the Monster Jam monster truck show in California which features this badass Donkey Kong monster truck. This baby sure beats the crap out of all those other Nintendo cars, specially that Pikachu Beetle.

Hmm Kong monster truck crushing the Pika Beetle, that’s my kind of Super Smash game!

[Monster Jam / Via Boing Boing]

They say originality is lost and that everything is a copy of something else, regardless of how good of a copy is. For example, Halo is a copy of every other bland Sci-Fi FSP out there and the Jeep Renegade concept car is a shameless copy of the Warthog from Halo. Hopefully since this is a concept car it will never see the light of day, otherwise the first idiot to drive off a bridge with one of this will cause an avalanche of blame towards every halo video ever made. And knowing the Halo demographic… they’d probably be right.

Thanks Unnes!

[Auto Unleashed]

The craze over custom Forza Motorsport 2 cars in the Internet has been going strong lately, with paintjobs ranging from the slick to the bizarre. And of course the Otaku crowd couldn’t be left behind! There’s been a lot of designs very reminiscent of the itasha cars we covered some time ago but this little gem really makes me go mad, so mad I just might eat a chocolate cornet!

Your eyes do not deceive you, neither do your ears, that’s the Konata engine, a machine so powerful it sounds like… a loli. 

Now someone needs to make cars that sound like the one’s in Gunsmith Cats ones, how was that again? Oh yes, GUUUUU!

Of all the places Japanese Otaku can showcase their wares cars are perhaps the least frequent one. For one not many Otaku actually drive a car and second, its too public, its a big commitment that goes beyond having a life sized doll in the closet or cosplaying for Comiket. Well that’s evidently changing, Pink Tentacle links us to a Japanese gallery of Itasha, cars with everything from anime decals on the body or crystals to fully modified interiors with plushies, figurines, body pillows and even full computer and monitor setups.

Itasha literally means painful car, which follows the trend of self deprecating titles such as Fujoshi (rotten woman) and Otaku (obsessive dork). The guys at Pink Tentacle speculate that the increasing appearance of Itasha is due to the recent acceptance of Otaku culture in Japan. That’s a good answer to the question of why, but I ask, how? Some of those cars look pretty damn expensive as do some of those interior setups. Where are they getting all these money and how can I get some of that?

[Itasha Gallery / Via Pink Tentacle]

Eidos Interactive will develop a game called Ford Bold Moves Street Racing named after the Ford’s Bold Moves campaign. It is not the first time that Ford releases a game for advertising purposes. I’ve in fact played some of the older Ford racing titles, and while the games usually sucked, you could drive a Ford Ka!

Yes, I finally found an excuse to put a picture of the kind of car I drive here!

[Joystiq]

One of the few Pikachu VW Beetle cars made to promote Pokemon back in the day is up for auction on ebay.If you have the dough this might be a unique chance to own a part video game history! Hell, this is one of the few cars that can beat that Hello Kitty car into submission.

The car is in perfect condition, even sports a Game cube in the trunk. Its hooked up to an old tube TV so it could use some re-pimping. But if you are willing to top the near $3,500 USD bid to buy the Pikamobile, then I guess that would be no problem.

And of course I cannot end this entry without saying: Gotta catch em all!

[ebay / Via GameSetWatch]

Mitsubishi has unveiled this…monster.. a special edition of the Mitsubishi i. It has Hello Kitty up the wazoo (yes, the wazoo). Here’s a list of features I managed to obtain.

• This car presents a new stage in alternative fuels, it runs on Kawaii.
• The motor literally purrs.
• The car’s only emissions are lavender and LSD.
• Impressive new biometric technology, the car wont start unless you hug it.
• Only one was made as manufacturing required the sacrifice of the last living fairy.

James at Japan Probe calls it his ‘nightmare car’, I call it ‘fucking trippy’! Seriously, Id love to dress in full goth regalia and drive around, stereo blasting Carmina Burana or One winged angel.

[Japan Probe]