I don't usually participate in fandom and keep a pretty lowkey profile, so I never quite grew up with my generation online. I'm still kind of exploring fandomhood today to make up for it.

In 2016 I was into Danganronpa up to SDR2, and if given the disposable income and resources, Hajime Hinata was my Luchino-before-Luchino and would have been my first pick for an itabag. He still bears plenty sentimental value, but I honestly can't approach Danganronpa the same way after replaying the games with a fresh adult lens given post-SDR2's questionable creative decisions. I'm kind of embarrassed at the thought of wearing around Danganronpa now that I don't take it as a franchise seriously anymore. Who knows, maybe I'll put a Hinata pouch on the backburner.

I didn't think I'd find that spark for fiction again— not until 2024 when I rekindled my interest for Identity V. I began playing IDV during the very new year of 2019, when I was too young to have any money to burn on gacha and the survivor kits were a lot simpler in UI and concept. It's also seriously a scary game to play when you first try it! I didn't even know the plot outside of the outlining "manor death games" because you had red icons buzzing at all cylinders of the screen and most character lore was hidden behind several menus that I never bothered checking behind. I didn't pick the game back up until the Danganronpa crossovers anchored me down with a cosmetic trap. I was like "Well, I might as well use the skin to its fullest."

When I first played Identity V, I actually didn't care all that much for these two and I had to warm up to them to recently. They are both a couple of the oldest characters on the game who've had to be retconned to appeal to the historical psychology themes of IDV which made me realize how good we had it and that I missed the more conspicuous Lovecraftian roots of the game. Before the release of "Professor", Luchino was a living, breathing beast capable of hunger amongst the undead and supernatural hunters who weren't, which was the most curious thing about him. He's full of blood and live energy and I can't help but admire his "humanity" or what's left of it. I love his form as professor, but I love his past self more as a cameo of the past or a hazy gelatin photograph from his researcher days. Or... commemorated in a can badge.

Reptilian Luchino is my type and some might say he's of acquired taste, so maybe that'll benefit me in cheap merch prices.

Norton is the one other character who I like almost as much as Luchino Diruse, but I invested probably the most time in him as a survivor. His playstyle stuck with me the longest before I was introduced to his loric roots in stories such as "The Transition of Juan Romero," "The Inhabitant of the Lake And Less Welcome Tenants," and "Color Out Of Space," my personal favorite. Like most of the older survivor characters, he has this potatohead ragdoll look and dopey thousand-yard stare that I find cute, and that's partially why I wanted to make an itabag of him and Luchino.

If you want to read more about my fascination with Luchino Diruse and the ship NortLuchi, give my fansite a read.

For that someone not in the know, an itabag (痛バッグ) describes a bag decorated in merchandise personalized to a person's favorite theme, commonly a favorite fictional character. Of course the theme can be personalized to a pop idol, a visual vocalist, an otome character, or an obscure bishonen as long as the collector shows off their devotion through means of fashion; backpacks, handbags, purses, pouches. Really the base article can be anything wearable.

Its name itai "痛い" is the expression of pain, after the pain your wallet goes through after buying x30 can badges and rubber charms. For a more indepth guide, there's a /cgl/ itabag FAQ that covers way more than I could.

Some itabags I take inspiration from.
First bag sourced from @Mssr_Tt on Xitter depicting the Nomura siblings from Marginal 4. Second bag depicts Kanato Sakamaki from Diabolik Lovers.

My base bag must have a lot of window space. Since I choose to buy everything secondhand, I need my bag to be modular or easy to edit and flip around since not every piece of merchandise that I want will be available.

My favorite type of base is a tote bag in canvas, most of which my itabags are going to be in. Canvas is sturdy in structure, and I learned after cycling through 4 bags that I prefer pinning my badges directly onto the base over making an insert for them.

My ideal design is basic in construction and unintrusive. The bags in these references don't overshadow the arrangement, and are tied together by a common color which makes it even pleasing to look at if you squint. How sad would it be to have all these expensive pieces but all you see is the bag? Their owners have also pinned towels and handkerchiefs of their oshi and framed them with charms, reminding us that itabagging is just a wearable collage. The only problem I have about these itabags is that if a ¥5,000 badge dropped loose, or if the towels caught onto something, there'd be no window to catch it...

I've found my dream bags! [1] [2]

These are the Uta Prince Sama official character base bags. Designed on a monochromatic scale, and they have these rings on the window where you can attach/detach the handles with velcro. Because the window wraps around, I have double-sided freedom and I can even decorate the sides. The handles are made of PU leather which I usually avoid because they always eventually peel. This is why I was sad to let go of the few bags I had before Uta-Pri that prevented the peeling situation.

Some honorable mentions.

I owned the mint version of the Swimmer bag for months before selling it off. I liked it so much that I was too afraid to stick pins through the canvas at all out of fear of ruining it. That's not the issue that I had with Swimmer bags, but I decided that it was just too small for what I wanted to achieve for my NortLuchi bag. In the future I'd probably like to get the lavender colorway and begin a collection of Kokichi Ouma merch.

I also owned the Zakkamart a4 canvas bag in white, which I ended up regretting because white is a horrible color for a street bag. This bag also had frill borders that looked cute for a regular errands bag, but it made the rest of the collection look smaller than it is with all that negative space.

Designing an itabag is sort of like floristry. While it's an expensive hobby just like any other fashion, the real passion lies in the thought that goes into choosing a bag color and organizing can badges to look harmonious together. I'm starting to feel in my element.

• This is a "vertical stripe" can badge arrangement that alternates with each column like a tapestry.
• I prefer the vertical stripe over the horizontal stripe. Ideally the stripes are 2-3 badges long, and any stripes longer than that are organized on the edges of the insert. Singular badges sit at the center bottom/top.
• Good for flaunting duplicates of one rare piece of merch or utilizing a common piece of merch that is most likely to have dupes. Best of both worlds.

Itabagging is by nature an expensive hobby, so to give my budget time to breathe now and then I try not to buy on-release items. Instead I pick off of the secondhand market like Mercari and Yahoo Auctions.

Luchino and Norton's typical color is green with some earthy accents and matching secondary warm colors from Norton's red magnets and suspender rubberband to Luchino's orange hair. I didn't know what bag I wanted to use at first, so I spent months cycling through Zakkamart, Swimmer, Aliexpress totes, before I finally settled on the Uta-Pri. To make the green pop out, I settled on the "Shinomiya Natsuki" yellow colorway.

Thanks to a forum, I was able to buy the Uta-Pri bags for $4 each to complete my NortLuchi and Andrew Kreiss itabags. Here is the one for the NortLuchi one.

A picture of my first offline hunt for these two. I found them lined up next together looking for a home. Love at first sight.
A merchandise check-up from 2025.06.08.

This dates the biggest haul of must-have pieces such as Priroll badges, first-release promotional illustration can badges, and omanjuu balls. The ones I was looking forward to the most from my online haul are the badge sets of stageplay Norton and Luchino. The cat-ear Norton doll is pretty rare and expensive as well, but I kind of prefer the normal one. Thankfully I have room on my bag for both of them.

Hmmm. I think I'll get rid of the pieces with too much light blue with them since it breaks the coordination.

[ENTRY IN PROGRESS, TO BE CONTINUED]