Unforgettable Accidents: 10 Anime Characters Who Took the Internet by Storm

With the advent of the internet, anime swiftly carved out its niche within online communities. Today, in a world dominated by social media and fast-paced globalization, it takes only a spark for an anime series or character to achieve viral status, sometimes even transcending cultural boundaries to become widely recognized symbols.

Most anime characters don’t set out to become internet icons. Their rise to fame often stems from a catchy meme, an amusing snippet taken out of context, or simply through sheer popularity. These characters frequently gain momentum online in ways that are unrelated to their original shows, evolving into full-fledged cultural phenomena thanks to the power of the web.

Take, for example, the early 2000s phenomenon of Rozen Maiden. Though the series might not be widely remembered today, it once boasted one of the largest fan communities of its era, achieving significant acclaim both in Japan and beyond. Among its cast, the playful doll Suiseiseki became a fixture on early internet forums and image boards, her presence almost unavoidable.

Suiseiseki From Rozen Maiden Was a Universally Recognizable Icon Back in the Day

Image via Nomad

Back in the 2000s, Rozen Maiden, a mainly forgotten series today, happened to spawn one of the largest online fan communities of its time, reaching massive popularity both in Japan and overseas. And one character from the series, the mischievous doll Suiseiseki, was virtually inescapable on early internet forums and image boards.

Suiseiseki’s online presence is largely tied to the “desu” meme – a memetic use of a Japanese copula initially employed to spam internet forums. In the anime, Suiseiseki usually ends her sentences with “desu,” so she became the face of this meme that was used by both anime fans and haters during forum raids and blew up as one of the first truly massive online otaku memes.

The “Is This a Pigeon?” Meme Is Far More Popular Than the Show It Came From

Image via Sunrise

Few people know about the 1991 anime The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird. However, even people completely disinterested in anime likely know the meme that originated from this humble show – the “Is this a pigeon?” screenshot. In the original series, this scene features android Yutaro Katori, who mistakes a butterfly for a pigeon while studying the environment.

The quote might seem like an edit or an incorrect translation, yet it makes sense in the context of the show. The internet, however, went wild with this meme format, which was initially used as a reaction image for confident ignorance, yet over its 15-year history on the internet, evolved into all kinds of hilarious, absurd versions.

Fujiwara Chika’s Iconic Dance Spread Like Wildfire Online

Image via A-1 Pictures

Anime often features dances in its opening and ending sequences, which sometimes take on a life of their own as online trends. One of the biggest online dancing trends of recent years comes from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Episode 3 ending, Chikatto Chika Chika, performed by Fujiwara Chika.

Chika Dance went viral almost instantly as it was spread around various anime communities. Many people made parodies of the dance, song remixes, and meme templates using the ending’s imagery. While Kaguya-sama: Love Is War was already quite a popular anime, Chika, who isn’t even the main character, became its most recognizable icon thanks to her unforgettable dance moves.

Haruhi Suzumiya Was the Definitive Online Anime Icon of the 2000s

The popularity of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and its titular heroine in the 2000s online anime spaces cannot be overstated. Back in the day, Haruhi was virtually inescapable – everyone was doing the iconic Hare Hare Yukai dance, passionately discussing the show online, and some even signed up to the mock fan religion of Haruhiism.

However, to call Haruhi’s online success purely accidental would be misleading. The show purposefully tapped into the then-emerging online otaku culture through genius viral marketing, with such an approach, at the time, being a novelty. Yet, even Haruhi’s creators likely didn’t expect just how big the heroine would get on the internet and beyond.

Tony Tony Chopper’s Lowest Moment Happened to Kickstart a Hilarious Online Trend

Image via Toei Animation

As arguably the biggest shonen anime in existence, One Piece has spawned quite a number of viral memes featuring its various characters. Yet, few of them became as huge as a particular image of Tony Tony Chopper crying in a scene from the movie Episode of Chopper: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Sakura.

Despite the movie being released way back in 2008, Chopper became a modern internet icon in 2022 due to the screenshot of him crying spreading as a popular reaction image, later kickstarting a redraw trend. The image’s spread happened to coincide with “The One Piece Is Real” meme gaining momentum, so the two trends naturally combined, prompting many hilarious interpretations.

Dio Brando Made Waves on the Internet Multiple Times

Image via David Production

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been an immensely popular, influential series since debuting in the late ‘80s, and has gotten arguably even more popular in the age of the internet. Due to the show’s fittingly “bizarre” nature, it features no shortage of moments that went viral, and many of them happen to feature JJBA’s most iconic villain, Dio Brando.

A charismatic, over-the-top antagonist, Dio left quite a mark on internet culture, with many of the memes featuring him spreading far wider than the JJBA fan community. Be it his iconic “It was me, Dio!” phrase, his “WRYYYYY!” and“MUDA MUDA MUDA” battle cries, his difficult-to-replicate signature pose, or the “Oh? You’re approaching me?” panel that spawned countless edits, Dio memes never seem to lose relevance.

Zero Two Became the Most Recognizable Part of Darling in the Franxx

Image via CloverWorks/Trigger/A-1 Pictures

A 2018 mecha anime series with a rather divisive reputation, Darling in the Franxx might’ve mostly faded from fans’ memory, yet its most popular heroine remains an internet icon. Zero Two’s massive online popularity is not at all surprising – she has a striking, unique design, an alluringly playful, quirky personality, and an air of intrigue around her that feels compelling even to fans who haven’t actually seen the show.

Over the years, Zero Two has become a subject of numerous internet trends, including dances, edits, memes, and much more. And, although the show she originated from ended less than brilliantly years ago, tributes to Zero Two still occasionally pop up on the internet, with her being one of the few things fans remember about Darling in the Franxx fondly.

Fist of the North Star’s Kenshiro Got Internet Famous Decades After He Became a Shonen Icon

Image via Toei Animation

Fist of the North Star is, arguably, one of the most influential shonen series of all time, pioneering the ultra-violent martial arts manga trend and popularizing an entire character archetype with Kenshiro, its protagonist. In the early 2010s, however, Kenshiro became the subject of one of the most viral and long-lasting memes on the internet.

Kenshiro’s stoic, unflappable delivery of the iconic “Omae wa mou shindeiru./You are already dead.” line, sometimes followed by his enemy yelling “Nani?!/What?!” before comically exploding, has been used as a meme countless times in all sorts of formats and scenarios. And, considering how popular this meme remains to this day, even in the current fast-paced internet climate where trends rarely last longer than a week, it’s not an overstatement to call Kenshiro an internet icon.

Reigen From Mob Psycho 100 Is Perfectly Suited for Internet Fame

Mob Psycho 100’s Reigen Arataka is a character seemingly tailor-made to blow up online – he is a hilarious con artist with a charming yet ridiculous personality who constantly gets roped into absurd antics by lying about his psychic powers. Reigen’s most notorious viral moment happened in September 2022, when he went against Sans from Undertale in the Tumblr Sexyman poll.

Ultimately, Reigen lost the competition by a tiny margin. Their clash, however, got massive online and generated tons of memes that reached far beyond the communities of the original anime and game. Aside from the Tumblr Sexyman poll, Reigen had quite a few viral moments, such as the #RedrawReigen trend and the “Why does X call you babygirl?” meme format, which originated with Reigen.

Satoru Gojo Is One of the Most Beloved Anime Characters Online

One of the biggest new-gen shonen sensations, Jujutsu Kaisen has an incredibly active and passionate online community. The fan-favorite star of the show, however, happened to be not its protagonist, but Satoru Gojo – a character with undeniable personal magnetism who’s gotten so popular online, even people who have never seen a single JJK episode recognize him.

There is a ton of fan art, fan edits, cosplays, and memes featuring Gojo all over the internet, and his popularity doesn’t seem to be fading even now that the original JJK manga has ended. Although Gojo’s fame mostly originated online, it peculiarly spread into the real world: in light of Gojo dying in Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 236, a shrine for the character appeared in Santiago, Chile, and that’s just one of many impressive tributes to Gojo fans have created.