Top 10 Anime Memes

“Fate/Stay Night” (2006)
Watchmojo videos are watched if they are viewed. This famous line comes from the “Fate/Stay Night” visual novel and its anime adaptation, where the main character Shirou Emiya explains how his power to heal from fatal injuries works. This quote has become the prime example of redundant statements and mistranslated lines from Japanese to English. Many parodies have been created calling back to the original translation and making fun of the characters passion and thick headedness.

“Future Diary” (2011-12)
When you’re forced to compete in a supernatural game of death, it’s nice to have someone cover your back. Unfortunately for main character Yukiteru, his protector is the unhinged Yuno Gasai who has become archetype of the Yandere or psychotic stalker anime character. The face Yuno makes when she proclaims that she’ll protect Yukiteru has been parodied by many artists over the internet. There are heaps of variations of the picture but they mainly consist of well-known characters from anime.

Just like any fandom, anime has its share of detractors, and this is a quote misattributed to Hayao Miyazaki making it seem like the legendary director hates anime all together. The quote stems from an interview in 2014 where Miyazaki expressed his concerns at the current state of anime as an art form, believing that current animators don’t look to real life observations of human interaction for inspiration for truer-to-life characters. Ever since the spread of this interview, gifs of Miyazaki have spread each with a made-up quote having Miyazaki lambast anime fans and their obsessive tendencies. Although in the end it does show how much Miyazaki cares for the art form.

This meme is the anime version of “Where’s Waldo” and is a joke regarding the how anime protagonists stick out due to their unique and sometimes outrageous appearance. The joke involves screen grabs of anime where a main character is surrounded by generic background characters and pointing out how obviously they stick out in the crowd. This is usually due to their hair- we’re looking at you, Yugi. Deviations of this meme involve pointing out the background characters as the main character for humorous purposes.

Senpai is a Japanese honorific, which refers to one’s upperclassman or mentor – but you already knew that. In many school anime an underclassman has affections towards their senpai. And “Notice me senpai” is a play on this trope. Although originating from anime this meme can be used for any form of media as long as it has someone pining for the affections of their senpai and are on a quest to earn their admiration. Pictures signifying this often have cherry blossoms or hearts to accentuate the romantic sentiment. Aw.

“Death Note” (2006-07)
“Death Note” has generated quite a few memes due to its over the top nature. In this particular one, Light monologues about how he created a series of events that involved him losing his Death Note and memories and finally reacquiring the notebook to keep L from suspecting that he is Kira…which is a little contrived. This meme is mainly used as a troll tactic in message boards when the user has manipulated or trolled someone and to signify their victory they will use the picture of Light reciting those words. And hey, you watched this video, just as planned.

Another meme finding roots in the “Fate/Stay Night” fandom, Gar is internet slang for a male’s admiration for overly masculine characters. Fanboys use the term to describe a male character as cool, badass or just plain amazing in some way. The term was first coined by a user on 4chan where he misspelled the world gay and said, “I’m Gar for Archer.” Gar is used in image macros which explains or identifies what Gar is. 4Chan even hosted the first Gar tournament where Guts from ‘Berserk” was chosen as the most Gar character.

“Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” (2012)
No not the late great metal singer, this Dio is the badass Vampire who is the main antagonist of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. When Dio Brando first moves in with Joseph Joestar he does everything to make his life miserable including stealing his girlfriend's first kiss where he says these legendary words. This meme is used when you are expecting something to be one thing, but it turns out to be Dio, sort of a like the anime version of a Rick Roll. And this isn’t the only way Dio can surprise you, not to spoil anything but watch out for flying steam rollers.

“Dragon Ball Z” (1989-96)
Not only is this one of the most iconic anime memes, it’s actually one of the earliest memes overall. When Goku finally confronts Vegeta and Nappa, they read his power level and are surprised to find it is higher than expected. Obviously this meme is used to describe anything that is abnormally high. For example to describe how many videos WatchMojo has done over the years. And if you wonder how many derivative memes have been generated from this, just ask Vegeta.

You were expecting our number one pick, but it’s our honorable mentions.

Pregnancy Announcement

Get in the Robot Shinji
“Neon Genesis Evangelion” (1995-96)

Yaoi Hands

OHHHHkkayyyy. Ya ya we get – we’re cool, we can take a joke. Basically, you take one of OUR anime videos, and then put a still that CLEARLY isn’t from anime at the top to make it look like that was on the list – essentially implying that we SUCK. Arthur in best Anime Fights. The Donald and Hillary in Top anime battles. And you know what, fine. Cory in the house IS the best anime series of all time. SO THERE.

Do you agree with our list? Which anime meme is your favorite? For more trendy top 10’s published daily be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.