There are ita-bags, and there are ITA-BAGS. They have come a long way from the plain canvas tote bags that female anime fans used to pepper with pins, badges, and acrylic key chains. Ita-bags are now bedecked with LED lights, and also come with complicated backgrounds that make them look more like shadow-boxes than actual ita-bags — check out what these fans on Twitter have done below!

© twitter.com/gaon1928

For the uninitiated, ita-bags are an offshoot of the ita-sha phenomenon: where anime fans plastered their cars with huge anime decals, making them difficult to look at — hence, ita-sha. Ita-bags are the more portable, and more feminine equivalent, as it was mostly women who covered their bags in anime merchandise.

© twitter.com/chiro0634g
© twitter.com/gaon1928
© twitter.com/gaon1928
© twitter.com/gaon1928

It has since evolved into a fairly sophisticated form of showing your fandom, as specialty bags, display tools, and other accessories were developed for the highly specialized niche market. What would YOU put on your ita-bag? Share it in the comments below!