In Japanese, they’re called “ita-bag” (痛バッグ) or, rather, “painful bag.” And for the country’s female geeks, they’re one surefire way to express their fandom.
This article was originally published in April 2015, but has since been updated after Sega gave out ita-bags at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
For years now, geeky car owners have shown their love for anime, manga, and video games with “ itasha” (painmobiles). It’s been said that “ita” refers to the pain inflicted on the cars as well as the owner’s wallet.
Likewise, these badges and buttons inflict a certain amount of pain on the bag and their owner’s wallet, with some geeky young women spending a large amount of cash to decorate their bags with characters from Yowamushi Pedal, Uta no Prince-sama, or any other anime or video games popular with female fans like The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays.
15話がとても感動しましたが此処で問題のファン達
小ハリもやっぱりアイドルwww痛バッグ作るまでになっていたとはwwww
キャットの語りとかEDインストとかやっぱりやる事違うな〜!!! pic.twitter.com/JQPn0puhLP— まあしん@二次アイドルに振り回され中 (@___maaayan) January 17, 2015
The trend isn’t brand-new (it started a while back), and it’s even been portrayed in the anime Shonen Hollywood. However, in late 2015, it started getting national news coverage in Japan.
痛バッグ特集w #めざましテレビ pic.twitter.com/WEZ0CFMzCF
— 札幌のトラさん (@trapezohedoron) November 9, 2017
セガブース!
痛バッグほしい… pic.twitter.com/Mr6bGO7AW7— しるく@ ふっくら戦車 (@sylk_fm) September 21, 2018
These bags.
本やっと見られました〜❣️「大好きなキャラへの愛のカタチ 痛バッグ テクニック&アイデア集」に痛バとロゼットを掲載して頂きました????オタマのグッドデザイン賞から声をかけていただいて、他のものやロゼットまで載せて頂いて嬉しいですっ????????ついでに宣伝ですがおたくいんすたがあるのでよければ→ pic.twitter.com/DWGJoxhz39
— あんな(衿松) (@FFD___) July 25, 2018
There is even an ita-bag idea book!
#痛バッグ pic.twitter.com/z2f220lPBP
— まいく/秋宮舞駆 (@AkibaDailyNewsM) November 9, 2017
#痛バッグ pic.twitter.com/KE5hfHRXRe
— まいく/秋宮舞駆 (@AkibaDailyNewsM) November 9, 2017
Below are photos from when the trend first hit nationwide morning TV in Japan a few years back.
This woman says that ita-bag are a way for you to show just how much you love a particular character.
Many of the buttons are limited edition and only on sale at special events. So some fans, like the one interviewed here, pay a premium for them, making it expensive to decorate these bags.
The woman says she’s spent about 80,000 yen—or US$668—on bag decoration.
#痛バッグ pic.twitter.com/uOXhwINFoz
— まいく/秋宮舞駆 (@AkibaDailyNewsM) November 9, 2017
Here are fans who have spent between a couple hundred dollars on their bags up to around a thousand dollars—or more.
めざましテレビの痛バッグ女子の特集おもしろい pic.twitter.com/ccAvvq8Y1Z
— まいく/秋宮舞駆 (@AkibaDailyNewsM) November 9, 2017
A thread popped up on 2ch, Japan’s biggest web forum, showing pics of the trend, which somewhat resembles the male geeks called Love Livers who cover their bags with Love Live merch.
Below, you can see some more ita-bags from Twitter:
そういえば俺も痛バッグを作って貰える人物になったのだ pic.twitter.com/eJonntXTIi
— カレー沢 薫 (@rosia29) September 17, 2018
僕ラブと4thに向けて、初めて痛バッグ作った☺️????
グッズは少なめだけど自分なりに配置頑張ってみたゾ????♀️ごてごてし過ぎた気もするけど満足 pic.twitter.com/6OFXBSui1G
— 鳩野サブレ????僕ラブ花陽でした (@kycn360D) September 22, 2018
痛バッグ作り直した〜!
焦凍くんかっこよすぎる!
1つ同じ缶バッジ無くてバランス悪いけど…… pic.twitter.com/RNdl39dyCF— 轟焦凍♡ゆーり 「オリジン済み」 (@shoto__yurina) September 22, 2018
嫁が「痛バッグ作ったから見て」って写真送ってきたんだけど pic.twitter.com/PPsASNCOwV
— てっけん / 池谷勇人 (@tekken8810) August 13, 2018
桐皇ミニ痛バッグ完成!明日の夕方頃これでJW行きます!
さて!さぁ!みんな!
この中にラッキー青峰君が隠れているよ!何匹いるのかなー?見つけてごらん!すぐに見つけられた君はすごいね☆☆ pic.twitter.com/kYS69TLwrn— まお@うんこマスターの取引垢 (@mmmaaaoook) July 19, 2014
痛バッグの缶バッチ増殖した( ˙-˙ ) pic.twitter.com/DHNlQ72zL3
— ????????????うめ子???????????? (@bunyan_8) May 12, 2014
今日は非ヲタ友とご飯ー★非ヲタ友にこそ痛い感見せたかったから、痛バッグ反応してくれてよかったー( ^ω^ )
今泉くんと御幸先輩教えてきたの。名前入り口紅にもドン引きくれたょ\(^o^)/ pic.twitter.com/sJdsAtJVE7— 瀬奈 みこと .゚・*.☆ (@mikotohawkeye) December 13, 2014
荒北の痛バッグ完成☆こんなもんかな。゚(゚^ω^゚)゚。 pic.twitter.com/LJNgKwA3PQ
— じゃすみん@_(:3」∠)_ (@m10_30) March 13, 2015
And the most impressive one of all.
光る麻天狼痛バッグ完成⋯
ちょっとやりすぎた????#ヒプマイ手芸部 pic.twitter.com/RhT4UkXnAP— すいか*痛バ芸人 (@suikagood) September 26, 2018
*applause*
Comments
15 responses to “Trend For Female Geeks: ‘Painful’ Anime Bags ”
So, anybody want to guess what next weeks trend is going to be in Japan?
ita-tatoos?
Wearable cats. Live ones. Because dead ones would be in bad taste.
I guess the same trend as three years ago.
What’s with the eye-shops?
Is that a big thing now?
I know that purikura machines do that to people in the photo, but I wouldn’t put it past someone to do the same thing themselves. It’s a little unnerving to me.
Adding flair to a bag I can understand. Heck, I would do it if even one of my fandoms had pins available. But what I don’t get is having 100 of the SAME pin on your bag. Is it for trading/swapping? To show you spent a gazillion yen on something rare? to buy them out so no one else can have them? I don’t get that.
It reminds me of Office Space.
That’s what I don’t get. My backpack often has random things pinned on them (souvenir badges I bought while backpacking, union stuff, random gaming things) but… why would you want a dozen of the same one all lined up in a grid like that?
The 100s of same size badges are lined up like that to deflect sword blows from ninjas.
Didn’t we have this one last year? This is old news.
Seeing all those pins just makes me want a new The World Ends With You game…
I’m gonna say something we’re all thinking: Japanese people are weird.
This will never take off in LA.
Amazing, I need one of those bags.