Masaya Taniguchi has a “heartache” plastered across the hood of his flaming red Audi TT Roadster.

Her name is Mashiro Mito, a teenage character from his favorite computer game with melancholic eyes and pink ribbons in chestnut hair. Taniguchi, 28, is an “otaku,” a geek freak for “manga” comic books, “anime” animation movies and video games, plus, in his case, a passion for cars.

“I love cars and I love computer games, and this is a natural way to combine the two,” said Taniguchi, who last week attended an otaku gathering in the Odaiba district of Tokyo.

Marginalized by their eccentricities, otaku like Taniguchi say they’re emboldened by Taro Aso’s election as prime minister in September. Aso, a manga fan, has championed Japan’s animation industry, which has annual sales of as much as ¥3 trillion, including comic books, video games and merchandise, said Keisuke Murakami, director of media contents at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Taniguchi’s Audi was among 430 vehicles decorated with car-length stickers at an event in Odaiba on Nov. 9, including a ¥24 million Lamborghini Gallardo plastered with a purple-haired heroine in the computer game “MUV-LUV Alternative.”

Two cartoon girls in miniskirts, meanwhile, bared their midriffs on the hood of a ¥26 million Ferrari F430 Spider.

The cars are called “itasha,” originally slang for Italian cars, with “sha” meaning car. In the otaku world, “ita” refers to the “pain” felt by outside observers of the artwork.

Maurizio Raffone, a director at Dresdner Kleinwort (Japan) Ltd., feels the pain. “As an Italian, and a car guy, living in Japan, I have to say, I almost cried when I saw the photos” of manga-adorned cars, he said.

Prime Minister Aso, known among otaku as “Rozen Aso” because of his love of the manga series Rozen Maiden, has held political rallies in Akihabara, Tokyo’s nerd center for anime, electronics and video games. He returned Oct. 26 to give a speech and appear on a talk show with cartoonists.

“I would like to tell all of you unabashed anime nerds out there that your subculture has spread throughout Asia as the window on Japan,” Aso said during an earlier visit in 2006.

A gift shop called Oretachi no Taro (Our Taro) opened in Akihabara in September.

“Having someone at the top who doesn’t look at manga and otaku in a derogatory way and doesn’t think of them as repulsive is a good thing,” said Taniguchi, the Audi owner, who works in information security at NTT Communications Corp. in Tokyo.

University of Tokyo scholar Patrick Galbraith said otaku indulge in childish hobbies in an unproductive way to the detriment of their social responsibility. The popular image of the group is of reclusive individuals, venturing out only to pick up the latest comic books or computer games.

Taniguchi — in slim black jeans, black shirt, black blazer with black iPhone — and other itasha owners say that image is out of date.

“I consider myself a member of the new generation of otaku,” said Akira Murakami, 26, who owns a Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Mirage compact, plastered with 11 female characters from a video game called “Idol Master.”

Galbraith, who is writing an encyclopedia on all things otaku for Kodansha International, said the growth of the itasha community signals otaku reaching out and seeking affirmation as the culture becomes less stigmatized.

“With the weaker economy, society is less appealing to conform to and is more tolerant of otaku behavior,” he said.

Koyo Yamamoto, 34-year-old owner of an Internet server maintenance company, said he owns seven cars, including a Nissan Skyline GT-R sports car, on which he spends ¥400,000 a year on stickers.

The itasha “industry is not easily swayed by the economy,” said Hirohiko Yoshida, 41, owner of the Lamborghini and president of Acid Co., a game software company. “People will cut out wasteful spending and pay for the things they really want.”