When the organizers of Anime Matsuri reached out to me earlier in the year with an invite to their annual convention, I had to take a moment to think about it. I mean, sure, there have been anime about cars and cars featured in anime, but what other connection is there?

Well, one trip to Houston, Texas later, I can definitely say that there is a very obvious cross over, and the underlying aspect of it all is a love for Japan and its culture.

This isn’t the first time Speedhunters has attended Anime Matsuri. Back in 2011, Lindbergh Nguyen covered a gathering called Import Reactor, which was a car show that ran alongside the simply huge anime and cosplay convention. Fast forward 12 years, and here I was in a part of the USA I’d never ventured to before.

Let me start by saying that everything you’ve heard about Texas is true. It’s all bigger and wilder, and that goes for the weather too. It was scorching in Houston, with the mercury hitting between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius every day of my visit. Thankfully, I spent most of my time inside in overly air conditioned spaces, or in cars with the AC blowing cold, so I was able to escape the heat for the most part.

With the four-day event already underway when I arrived in Houston, I wasted no time heading over to the George R. Brown Convention Center – which was handily adjacent to my hotel – to check out what Anime Matsuri is all about.

To say I felt like a fish out of water would be an understatement.

But you should never be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, right?

What became very obvious very fast, is just how massive anime and cosplay culture is in the US. I felt like was like I was in Akihabara!

For someone who has covered Japanese car culture for most of his professional life, it was nice to see how Japan resonates with people on other levels, like pop culture. Check out this line up of vintage-style Godzilla movie posters.

They even had a helicopter and other military vehicles in the Godzilla booth.

It wasn’t long though, before I found what I had flown halfway across the world for. Cars.

The first car I came across was a special GR Corolla that Anime Matsuri and TOM’s have partnered up on. This project is due to be completed at the beginning of next year to coincide with TOM’s 50th anniversary, at which time I’ll be shooting it in Japan for a full feature.

Anime Matsuri also partnered with RAYS on a second GR Corolla build. It’s great to see these new performance Toyotas getting so much attention.

Staying in the Toyota camp, I got chatting to the owner of this special Lexus IS300, although I will always refer to these cars as Toyota Altezzas.

This particular IS300 was built back in the early 2000s and has largely remained in that form ever since. It still even wears a Need for Speed Formula D sponsorship banner.

It’s a super-clean build sitting on period-correct chrome SSR Professor SP1.

I spotted a pair of Miatas behind the Lexus, a first generation and the newest version, highlighting just how far the model has become while staying the same. I loved the ZN6 on Volk Racing F-Zero Challenge wheels too.

Having recently spent a good month using a friend’s NSX-R as my daily, I’ve developed a massive soft spot for the Honda/Acura performance icon. Every time I lay eyes on one now, I’m reminded of just how focussed these machines are.

As I made my way through the many cars on show, it became apparent that many Texas enthusiasts really know what they’re doing when it comes to nailing an authentic JDM look and feel.

This 326 Power-kitted zenki Nissan S14 on Panasport G7 wheels is the sort of thing I’d expect to find at a soukoukai event at Nikko Circuit.

Japan continues to be a mecca for inspiration and seeing overseas interpretations of Japanese styles is always fun when I travel abroad.

I even spotted a Mitsubishi Canter twin hauler straight from Japan. This one is used by Oishii Imports to move their cars around.

While checking out this Top Secret-built RB26 Nissan S15, I learned that Linhbergh had shot it still looking the exact same way back in 2011. While it now runs a more modern turbo setup, the C-West aero and green RAYS Volk Racing TE37s have remained. How cool!

This pair of Lexus LS400s nailed the bippu look perfectly.

Except one wasn’t a Lexus, but a right-hand drive JDM Celsior with an aggressive stance and so much wheel tuck and negative camber at the back. I love the rear spoiler too.

Speaking of stance done right…

And suitably boosted in the performance department as well.

I’m not going to lie; I was expecting to see a few more GT-Rs at the event, especially of the R35 variety given all the half/full-mile drag racing events in Texas that have helped push VR38DETT tuning to incredible heights. But this lone BCNR33 Skyline held the GT-R flag high and strong with a clean track-ready setup. It reminded me of the cars that Auto Select builds in Osaka.

After all the lowrider takeovers we’ve seen in Shibuya, I have become quite a fan of the sub-culture, and it was cool to get up close with a couple of clean builds in Texas.

This other Acura NSX looked very cool with pumped fenders and a custom colour.

And we all like a bit of fun!

The car show section continued with a more domestic feel, highlighting another side of tuning and custom culture in Texas.

The local Aston Martin dealership brought out a couple of high-end vehicles to showcase, including the DBX…

And this crazy Aston Martin Vantage Roadster with a massive twin-turbo V12 up front.

But the biggest surprise of the event for me was seeing the old Goodsmile Racing BMW Z4 Super GT GT300 race car, wearing the coolest race itasha of all time.

This car was of course piloted by Nobuteru ‘Nob’ Taniguchi back in the day, but it now lives in the US.

Anime Matsuri turned out to be a really unique and cool show to visit, and seeing how cars have found a way into this pop culture world made the trip a ton of fun. I really hope the car aspect of the event continues to grow and more local and out of state enthusiasts have a chance to bring their builds out to it.

Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
dino@speedhunters.com