Memes are images, animations, jokes, song remixes, or other kinds of creative ideas that move from person to person, changing and evolving as they go, just like genes. I’m interested in the way some memes generally stay in one corner of the Internet, like the way the English-speaking web knows the “black dude tapping his head” (aka the Roll Safe meme) but Japan does not, while the Cicada Block meme from Japan is generally not known to the English interwebs. (Some “Japan” related memes, like Notice me Senpai! or It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, Take This! are actually unknown in Japan, and I’ve had to explain them to J-List’s Japanese staff.) One meme that had no problem jumping from the U.S. to Japan has been Twister, which is extremely well known in Japan, and the “Twister anime episode” is fast becoming a standard fixture of Japanese pop culture. But Twister isn’t the only classic board game that’s well-known in Japan: Monopoly and the Game of Life are, too. How did they pull that off? Clever marketing, I guess. So, are you a fan of the Twister anime meme?
Eromanga Sensei has finally ended, and now fans have to say goodbye to Sagiri, Elf-sensei, Megumin, Tomoe and all the other characters, at least until they return in a future season. I enjoyed the show for being a high quality production, with fun characters that resulted memes and awesome fanart being shared by fans online. As usual, it’s fun to have “waifu wars” with J-List’s followers on Twitter and Facebook, debating which of the girls in the show is worthy of the coveted title of “best grill.” Is it the dedicated but childish Yamada Elf? The ditzy o-chinchin loving Megumin? The solemn and dedicated Muramasa? Of course it seems a given that all the side girls will be more popular with fans than the main character, the younger sister Sagiri. This is actually an established tradition in anime, from Sailor Moon to Madoka to Oreimo and Ojamajo Doremi. It seems there’s always something borderline annoying about the main character that turns off some fans and makes the other characters more popular by comparison.
Anime Expo is almost upon us, and the J-List staff is all busy, getting ready for our biggest AX show ever. If you read our blog announcement, you’ll see we’ve got a great flash contest for you to enter (good luck!), plus an awesome 300-points-per-$20-spent coupon sale. You can score huge points by making a large order on the J-List site now, but the coupon can only be used once, so make it count!
