Ever since that dancing CG baby and “All Your Base Are Belong to Us,” the Internet has run on memes, which are units of culture created and shared by people. (The term was originally coined by Richard Dawkins to describe how ideas spread and evolve through populations of humans in the same way that genes evolve biologically.) Of course, the memes that are popular in the West aren’t going to be the same as the ones currently bouncing around in Japan. Japanese websites are not making Game of Thrones “Wedding Planning for Dummies” jokes, and American fan artists aren’t generally aware of the “Gununu” anime face meme or that bizarre “Cicada Block” running gag. There are a few exceptions of course — anything related to Vladimir Putin and horse masks is equally liable to become popular no matter which country you’re in. Japan can be especially fickle when it comes to what is deemed worthy of meme-hood. One year it might be art involving the “gaijin 4-koma” joke, then famous Tokyo icons like the Shibuya 109 department store or the TAITO STATION game centers start showing up in the backgrounds of anime and games. The latest boom to take off in Japan is an homage to the popular anime Shingeki no Kyojin (English title: Attack on Titan) in which people recreate their favorite poses of humans attacking or being eaten by giants, through the miracle of forced perspective.
The newest meme from Japan, Titan Attacking!
