KYM Review: The Top Anime Memes Of 2023

What do you remember the most about anime when you think of everything from 2023? New anime shows, ongoing popular series, events or memes that took over the internet?

There are a lot of interesting things to talk about this year in anime culture, from the iconic Gear 5th reveal on the One Piece anime to the unexpected popularity boost of the Kagura Bachi manga.

Even if you aren't an anime enthusiast in 2023, there was at least one meme about it passing through your feed on Twitter / X, TikTok, Reddit or Instagram that surely caught your attention this year.

Since 2023 was a surprisingly good year for anime, why not refresh your memory or take a trip back over the last 12 months with the best anime memes that dominated social media this year?

Also as a quick note before continuing, be warned that this list may contain spoilers from your favorite anime series, so read at your own caution!

Kagura Bachi

Kagura Bachi is not just a new manga released in 2023, it was THE release of the year (well, sort of). No one knows exactly why the hype surrounding the series started, but shortly before the release of its first chapter in September, the manga achieved semi-ironic popularity on social media, with countless users hailing it as one of the greatest manga of all time and comparing it with the likes of Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, naming Kagura Bachi as one of the "Big Three" series.

The semi-ironic trend, known as "Kagura Bachi Glazing," started in mid-September when an X user made an "Enough Time Has Passed" meme stating that Kagura Bachi is a greater manga than Boruto, with the tweet gaining virality shortly after.

Later that day, Redditor ForsenBruh then posted a screenshot of the post in the /r/Kagurabachi subreddit, where it received hundreds of upvotes as the trend kicked off online.

Although the meme lived a relatively short life, mostly being shared during September and October, it was still one of the funniest and most memorable anime-related trends on social media in 2023.

Domain Expansion

Domain Expansion was one of many Jujutsu Kaisen manga references that were repurposed into a series of jokes and Photoshop edits on X in 2023.

In this particular case, Domain Expansion, the most powerful ability of any jujutsu user in the series, was resignified into famous manga panels by other artists — most notably a My Hero Academia panel from the climax battle between Ochaco Uraraka and Himiko Toga.

Easily one of the most parodied memes of the year, X users had a grand ole time adding "Domain Expansion" to memorable manga panels, completely changing their meaning.

Leave Me Alone!

There are times on the internet when a meme can resurface content that is decades old and change our perspective about it. This is the case with the famous anime movie Akira and the viral "Leave me alone!" meme that popped off in May this year.

The now-iconic clip showing the film's protagonist having flashes of his future started to be used as an exploitable format on TikTok and other platforms for months with users inserting their own humorous visions in place of the original flashbacks.

If you're unfamiliar with it or simply curious, the "Leave Me Alone" clip originally comes from the English-dubbed version of the 1988 film in a scene where Tetsuo is having flashes of his chaotic future.

The meme format blossomed across the web throughout the extent of the year, going from Tumblr to the depths of iFunny and then really exploding on TikTok as countless variations were created.

Nah I'd Win

It seems as if anything related to Satoru Gojo immediately became a trending topic on the internet in 2023.

As such, it was no surprise a line from the overconfident character saying, "Nah I'd Win" would take over parts of the web, including TikTok, X and Reddit.

The manga page's original English translation on VIZ caused a lot of controversy back in April, but in November, it became a verifiable fan art trend, going viral on TikTok within photo slideshows and across numerous other sites.

I Have No Enemies

Anime is filled with moral and life lessons that go beyond simple plots like good versus evil. The second season of the acclaimed series Vinland Saga premiered in early 2023, adapting a much-anticipated scene in the anime, which shows the main character saying the memorable line, "I have no enemies at all."

In an unexpected turn, a series of viral TikToks have cemented the manga's popularity in the mainstream using the aforementioned line to show people acting comedically peaceful in violent situations rather than violently under the phrase.

Throughout the course of the year, the line inspired a wide array of memes from video edits to exploitable images and more, becoming one of the most prevalent formats among anime culture.

Japanese Family McDonald's Ad

Not necessarily an "anime" meme perhaps in the traditional sense but certainly one topic that became a viral matter online was the Japanese Family McDonald's Ad with its depiction of a happy family that instigated people to debate how the mainstream media chooses to depict "family values."

The 20-second animated short featured a father eating a McDonald's takeout meal with his orange-haired mom and daughter, and after it appeared roughly three months ago, the innocuous advertisement garnered surprisingly massive virality around the web.

特別じゃない、しあわせな時間。 pic.twitter.com/P7Og6hbMsx

— マクドナルド (@McDonaldsJapan) September 20, 2023

Some internet users found a dissonance between the pro-family ad and Japan's declining birth rates, with some people making jokes about the commercial being the work of the late Shinzo Abe, who had a running online gag in which he is using anime as a propaganda tool to combat the country's declining birth rate.

RinRinne

If you follow anime subcultures, you're probably no stranger to VTubers, also known as Virtual YouTubers, which are computer-generated avatars used for streaming and other forms of content.

Although now retired, RinRinne is one such virtual influencer who went particularly viral on TikTok in 2023 and inspired the notable Cutie Patootie meme.

This endearing nickname became a memetic slang term and spam comment on TikTok this year within videos related to becoming a femboy or a cat girl, and for many, it felt nearly inescapable on the platform as it spread widely.

Gear 5th

This year, episode 1071 of the One Piece anime shattered servers of Crunchyroll and completely made fans feel starstruck with the reveal of main character Monkey D. Luffy's ultimate powerup, the Gear 5th.

The debut of the Gear 5th powerup in the manga and anime inspired a prevalent series of memes on social media in 2023 as the power's cartoonish features enabled artists to post several redraws and fan art in droves.

Adding to its importance, 2023 might go down as one of the best years for One Piece fans in terms of the quality of the anime and the memes that came out of it.

Baki Memes

While we were going to add just Retsu Kaioh's Head Lying in a Hospital Bed as the sole representative of Baki the Grappler memes, its impossible to diminish how much the Netflix adaptation of the anime helped the show be turned into a major meme factory in 2023.

Just this year alone, we were blessed with memes like Mohammad Alai Jr Crying, Jack and Pickle's Bite-Off, Baki and Yujiro Last Dinner and the Baki Smile With Finger.

They all have their special flavors and sense of humor, but the thing that glues them is the fact that Baki is an undeniably absurd series willing to showcase the most ridiculous and humorous situations with its characters.

No Arms No Legs Girl In Hospital

An old drawing of a girl with No Arms No Legs Girl In Hospital became one of the internet's favorite anime memes in early 2023 as it was paired with captions about situations that made people feel defeated.

If that doesn't seem weird enough for you, people started to use the image in posts to express coming down from a drug-induced trip or even the reverse situation, like the girl was smiling and had all of her limbs back — making it both versatile and prominent online this year.

Honorable Mentions

Lo Suponíamos

A widely known sentiment about Latin America is that most people LOVE the Dragon Ball anime franchise as much as they love their countries. Ever since meme culture arose on the internet, thousands of images and memes related to Goku and other characters can be spotted with Spanish or Portuguese captions attached to them.

Lo Suponíamos is one of the latest memes that came out of this obsession with the anime, which is a catchphrase that translates as, "I thought so," usually applied alongside a rainbow filter on Goku to indicate a homosexual connotation.

Although the meme was widely spread in October last year, there were still several variations of it being shared on TikTok and X in early 2023, so it's worth an honorable mention at least.

Kabedon

In Japanese media, the Kabedon is a very popular means of expressing romantic love or adoration in which a character pins another character to a wall with their arm.

This commonly known cliche in manga and anime became a prevalent TikTok trend by late 2022 and early 2023, so it rounds off the list of this year's notable anime memes and trends.

Looking for more of this year's best viral phenomena and memes? Be sure to check out our other 2023 meme roundups below:

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