This meme typically applies to most shounen anime where, at some significant point in an important battle, a character will most likely power up or exude energy before performing a very powerful and potent attack. This energy can be seen as an aura, which emanates from the character. This glow can vary depending on a character’s alliance. If a character is one of the protagonists, the glow would most likely be light. If, on the other hand, the character is one of the antagonists, the glow that they emanate is usually from the darker side of the spectrum.

As this meme states, in anime, if a guy glows, you can certainly be sure that he will get powerful. Definitely not a guy you would like to cross, anyway.

Just like shock horror films, anime has become quite infamous for its use of very red, realistic blood. Despite it being used at times for the all-infamous nosebleed scenes of male characters who happen to chance upon female characters in provocative poses, blood in anime is usually used during key action scenes. And when it does get used, there usually is a LOT of it. The infamous spray of blood coming out of a wound has been used in famous titles like Rurouni Kenshin and Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as many more.

Thus, netizens have created the all-too infamous anime blood meme. Why is this so? Simply because anime characters bleed a lot. A healthy, adult male of average size holds about 1.2 gallons of blood. However, in anime, even small, lithe characters bleed so much, they seem to hold hundreds of gallons of the crimson liquid. In fact, in comedy anime, nosebleeds become so powerful, they can flood whole floors of a building. Exaggeration aside, the gratuitous use of blood is something that is and will always be, anime.

This meme has become one of the most prolific anime memes in years. Targeting the fansub community in general, it pokes fun at the fact that most unofficial subtitles are not necessarily that accurate. Sometimes, fansubs, especially for early releases, tend to be inaccurate, both in grammar and in context.

The poster child for this has been this meme, taken from a beach episode in Code Geass. Featuring a scene when lead character Suzaku holds a fish, the context of his dialogue, as well as the word choice, ended up having a very awkward, if not naughty connotation. Yes, pleasuring oneself with a fish may fly for non-native English speakers, but for those areas where these fansubs were released, it was definitely a hoot!

Throughout the epic storyline of Dragon Ball and all its adaptations, Krillin’s character has been killed off a number of times. Most notable of these would be when he was killed by Frieza, with Krillin’s body literally exploding in midair. His death at the hands of Frieza ultimately became one of the factors that motivated Goku enough to reach Super Saiyan for the first time. Of course, when the Dragonballs were finally gathered, one of the wishes the protagonists asked for is Krillin’s revival. And this happened multiple times.

Something like this in such an important title such as Dragonball will undoubtedly be the stuff of internet memes. And indeed, it did become so, with this frame of Shenlong expecting that Krillin must be revived again becoming quite prolific on the world wide web. In fact, even if the image is not utilized, internet chatrooms such as 4chan and 9chat (the chat portal of meme site 9gag) are always rife with Krillin’s death references, making Krillin quite a household name.

Main characters in anime, especially in the sci-fi and shounen genre, are known for being epic and badass in their key battles. Of course, this is very true for Gunbuster, one of the most notable sci-fi anime ever made. This is simply because the titular mecha is so overflowing with machismo, it literally folds its arms like a boss when firing its powerful weapons. Wiping away multitudes of enemies must be done in style, after all.

And it’s not only in Gunbuster, too! Other notable anime, even the modern titles, have adopted this particular trope as well and because of that, this meme was born. After all, in anime, who would want to defeat his/her enemies without at least a little bit of flourish, right?

One of the tried and tested tropes of anime is the death scene, where characters are usually killed off in an instant as a way to shock the viewer (think the third episode of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Majica), or characters die in such a dramatic way that they are actually given enough time to experience profound epiphanies before they fully pass on. This usually happens when a character gets gravely injured, which, of course, is a very contradiction of just how fatal their injuries really are.

These scenes are undeniably memorable however, with characters in famous works such as Dragonball, Yu Yu Hakusho, Voltes V, Naruto and One Piece all utilizing the drawn-out death trope. As with other tropes, the meme makers of anime have not neglected this fact, and thus have immortalized it through this meme.

This meme, taken from Fate/Stay Night, is arguably the internet’s most prolific meme about the inaccuracy of anime subtitles. The line is from a rather serious scene in the anime, with Shirou Emiya thinking about the implications of the Holy Grail War. Just as it is with the Suzaku’s Fish meme however, the line as written in the subtitles may be grammatically correct, but it absolutely fails in context.

In fact, this meme has been used in tandem with other famous memes like the Nicolas Cage “You Don’t Say” meme, because of the blatant obviousness of the line. The line, coupled with the seriousness of the scene, ultimately made it funny. After all, Shirou is right - people do die when they are killed.

The Bright Slap Meme came from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series way back in 1979, when the pilot Amuro Ray throws a tantrum by refusing to fight in the RX-78 Gundam, even in the face of a deadly attack. White Base Captain Bright Noa attempts to persuade him to join the fight, but the stubborn Amuro emotionally refuses. In order to smack some sense into Amuro, Bright slaps him. Twice.

The Bright Slap has become one of anime’s most famous memes, with the Bright Slap becoming the slap that transforms whiny boys into real men. In the original series, the slap effectively does snap Amuro out of his self-absorbing phase, thereby making him into the man who would effectively shape the fate of the Universal Century. This meme, together with the Batman Slaps Robin Meme, are two of the most famous slapping memes in the internet.

Fullmetal Alchemist includes a lot of tear-jerking arcs, but most of them pale in comparison to the Chimera Arc, where mad scientist Shou transmutes his own daughter Nina and her dog Alexander into a chimera. Nina and Alexander are depicted to be inseparable best friends. Unfortunately, as the plot progressed, they eventually became inseparable - as one, twisted incarnation of a chimera. The chimera was eventually killed, in one of the anime’s most emotional moments.

The emotional and twisted arc, coupled with the extreme popularity of Fullmetal Alchemist, has motivated the internet community to immortalize it by creating this meme. In fact, this meme has even garnered a lot of fans for FMA, whose interests get piqued by the existence of this meme. However, everyone, even in the darkest corners of the internet, cannot deny the sheer amount of feels behind this meme.

Yuno Gasai practically introduced, hammered, and cemented the attributes of a yandere to anime fans through her twisted, dark, obsession over Mirai Nikki’s main character, Yuki. In this scene, which unfolded during the last moments of the first episode, Yuno promises Yuki that she would protect him, but she does this in such a way that Yuki, instead of being consoled, gets positively freaked out. Why? Well, she kinda looked a little bit… unhinged.

The Yandere Face Meme has become one of, if not the most well-known anime memes in the world. Used in tandem with the Overly Attached Girlfriend Meme, the Yandere Face Meme has been depicted using characters from other titles. Numerous characters, from Yu-Gi-Oh! to Bleach to Fairy Tail, even Transformers and Loki from the Avengers, have been transposed into the Yandere Face. Yuno may not be the first yandere in anime, but she sure became one of the most notable ones. This meme simply proves it.