Ita Bags have been a super big trend lately in Japan, and have made there way over to Western Anime Fans. I was introduced to the Ita Bag via Kelly Eden on YouTube and you can bet that I was on Amazon ordering one before I could really think it through- to be fair, I needed a new bag.
Ita bags are small backpacks with a clear plastic cut out (usually a heart) and a slot for pins. The rough translation of Ita is hard to look at/painful, (again, getting this information from Kelly Eden). The purpose of them is to fill the slot with pins, key chains and anything else from your fandom, or your favorite character. I took a slightly different route with my Ita bag, as I am on a budget and can’t justify buying a crapton of Sailor Moon pins *sobs*, but fortunately I had a lot of pins already due to years of conventions, subscription boxes and generally nerdiness.
I bought a cream colored Ita bag so that it would go with a majority of what I wear, and I LOVE IT! On the zipper of the bag I have some hand sanitizer because I live in New York City and the subways are gross, the little holder thing is a Mickey and Minnie Tsum Tsum. Starting at the top I have a videotape pin that says “I have to return some videotapes“, I got this one from a Nocturnal Reader’s Box (you can see the Unboxing here). Across from that in the top right is a little red book that says Lore, that I got when I bought The World of Lore by Aaron Mahnke at NYC Comic-Con. Right under the book is the Sailor Moon pins I got from a friend back in High School, they either came from F.Y.E or Hot Topic. My Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask ones broke a really long time ago so, but I love the inner senshi (especially Mercury), I attached to Mars and Jupiter two little Sailor Moons, the one of the left is from a Sailor Moon themed box (you can see me unbox it here), and the other was from a necklace that a friend got me in High school. In the middle is a Kingdom Hearts pin I got with the 2.5 Remix game, and right next to that is a Fairy Tale pin with two of the Celestial Keys. I had originally gotten the keys for a Lucy Cosplay but never used them, the two I have in there is Pisces and Libra as its the Astrological Signs for Boyfriend and I. Underneath that is a Phoenix (Jean Grey) pin I got for free at NYC Comic Con 2016, and the two pins in the middle are Calcifer and Jiji from Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service respectively. Calcifer came from Fangirl Monthly subscription box (unboxing available here) and Jiji from Hot Topic. The next row is has a flexed arm with books saying “Do you even read Bro?” that I got from a Nocturnal Reader’s Box (see it here), the little yellow owl pin says “read more, know more” and was found on the floor at my college (FINDERS KEEPERS!), and the two Star Wars pins are from Target.
Needless to say, the bag is incredibly tacky, but i love it SO much! I think it’s a great way to display your fandom (or fandoms in my case), and to even be creative with it. I did notice that because the fabric that the pins are on is so thin and has no support that it does sag a bit from the weight of the keychain and keys. Kelly Eden and Dre Ronayne both have videos doing their Ita bags with a piece of cardboard, both a linked here. It was difficult to do this method with the some of the pins because I had ones with safety pin like backs.
Overall, I think the size of the bag is great. I use it for work and its perfect to carry my water bottle, lunch, wallet, keys, work ID, phone charger and a book. Even with all that in there, I still have some room!!
What are your thoughts on the Ita Bag? Love it, hate it, desperately want it?
Until next time,
The Geeky Librarian
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