Relaxing and Fun Event of Sugoi Saturday Honda Center June Car Show 2022

★ On-Location Coverage, Photographed and Reported by Py Pai / Wheels and Heels Magazine / www.wheelsandheelsmag.com

Text and Photography: Py Pai / IG: @pypaiphoto

Itasha (痛車) is a very Japanese car + anime/manga/gaming blended culture that grows steadily outside the Japanese land proper. The marriage of mechanical apparatus and romantic stylized imagery is a match made in dreams.

Sugoi Saturday Car Show

This month, Sugoi Saturday put together an awesome Itasha show with many participants and huge vendor support at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. This is a very well-organized event with a strong base of Itasha lovers and cosplay enthusiasts.

Although this is the first time we attended the show, we immediately fell in love with their showing of cars, vendors, and cosplayers. Even more so is that we were only able to capture this event at the tail end of the hours. It's the hour that most people should have left, but there was still a strong showing around the venue. This shows how tight the community is.

The Sugoi Saturday show organizer was super kind to provide free parking and no entrance fee. This type of benevolent convenience would only strengthen the bond, extend the reach, and build a great SoCal Itasha community!

Dedicated Itasha

The cars at the show are not skimpy sticker amateurs. They are the real dedicated Itasha owners. They put full-body wraps around their cars, showcasing the type of storied characters they love to be associated with. They made their rides a complete upgrade beyond simply a car, but a lifestyle art piece.

The characters that they chose are a bit like the mermaid figurehead of an ancient ship. They accompany the riders charting the seas of freeways and streets. They are also like the pin-up arts on the fuselage of B-25s, but that would be an understatement for the full-blown facade of the anime art.

At the show, we witnessed cars with beautiful art including Baejai, Takt Op. Desitny, Snow Miku, Riko Sakurauchi, Kasumi Nakasu, and many more!

Cosplayers

Because we arrived at the end of the show, we only caught a few glimpses of the cosplayers that were still there. Even after a long day, they were totally cool and welcoming for us to take pictures. It's such a refreshing experience to work with talents. They are simply awesome!

Itasha Culture in Commerce

There were many vendors at the show. These vendors brought their amazing Itasha-related merchandise including stickers, decals, accessories, t-shirts, and many more. Several rows of booths showcased many eye-dazzling designs and fun graphics. The creativity was in full bloom at these vendors' product displays. If one would be interested or seeking Itasha, or simply anime/manga accessories, this would be a great place to find them!

We Love The Sugoi Saturday Car Show

We arrived late at the show, but we got a huge appreciation of how the event is organized, how they well-treated their attendees, how harmonious people socialize with each other, and how brain-excited merchandise there is.

Our hats off to the Sugoi Saturday organizer! We totally love this show and look forward to the next one soon!

Here are more coverage photos from the W&HM's in-person coverage: