Mar 01, 2010 volume 1 no.

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Are you really surprised by this? Im sure all of you saw this coming, since its presence is felt all over the internet. To the very few who have missed this phenomenon, you are unbelievably lucky. Unfortunately, allow me to break your streak and explain. This meme is very similar to Loituma Girl in its concept: take a short looping frame from an anime and use an obscure European looping song to go with it. In this case, the song was the Speedycake Remix of Caramelldansen, and the clip was of Mai and Mii doing a dance from the opening of Popotan. Like the original Loituma Girl meme, it was also initially posted as a looping flash that can be played for hours on end! It was even as easy to parody as the Loituma Girl, so as expected a combination of all of these factors allowed the Caramelldansen to catch on extremely quickly. So why is this one much more popular and well known? First off, its a much younger meme than the Leekspin so its more prevalent with many more fans. It was also fortunate enough to have a more mature YouTube to

spread its catchiness more readily than ever before! And finally, the Caramelldansen requires no prop and is just plain more fun for anyone to perform! So there you have it. The top five anime internet memes as chosen by yours truly. However, one must keep in mind that this list may be completely different from another list out there. And to be completely fair, all of this list assumes that there is a sort of logic that determines what memes are more notable than others and why. I will be the first to tell you that to try and find logic within a meme is, in of itself, highly illogical. To analyze what makes a meme tick defeats the purpose and misses the point by miles on end. Its the spontaneous and unpredictable nature of internet memes that make them all so appealing in the first place, so in truth there really is no need to take apart these bits of pop culture to find its deeper meaning. All youll end up doing is giving yourself a massive headache, so sit back and just go with the flow. Besides, if there was a scientific formula for memes, then that would suck all the fun out of them now wouldnt it?

SO-RA-NO-WO-TO
Written by: Eclipsed_Oblivion

Anime no Chikara (literally the Power of Anime) is a name not everyone may be familiar with, but itll soon be a name every otaku knows. It is the alliance under which some of the greatest names in anime production have gathered to create an anime of epic proportions. The result of their efforts is Sora no Woto, meaning Sounds of the Skies, and it certainly does not disappoint.
Sora no Woto takes place in the distant future where wars have caused life to dwindle and modern technology to vanish. Fifteen year old Sorami Kanata signs up naively for the military to learn to play the trumpet rather than to fight for her country. She was rescued as a child from an abandoned building by a solider, whose beautiful trumpet playing forever inspired her to learn to play it herself. However, Soramis platoon turns out to be the black sheep of the army for being essentially useless; theyre stationed right by No Mans Land, so nobody would ever dare to attack them or the area. Even so, as Sorami learns to play the trumpet, she also learns more about her fellow platoon members and what the trumpet means to her. Anime no Chikara turned out to be a good investment for TV Tokyo and Aniplex, the companies who collaborated to make all of this happen. The combination of the utterly beautiful backgrounds and opening, exquisite music, and a captivating cast and story created this alluring piece of art known as Sora no Woto. Its rare to see an anime that has mastered so many elements of an anime with such ease, and its certainly something youll never forget.

Know your Memes

Alright, this is the big one! The #1 internet anime meme of all time! Before we get to it, lets review the past four memes.
5. Mudkipz. I herd u liek em, ya? 4. Its over 9000!!!! What 9000?! Of course! 3. Leekspin (aka Loituma Girl). Now if only Orihime can cook the thing instead of spinning it. 2. Hare Hare Yukai. Spreading Haruhiism all over the world!

And the #1 internet anime meme of all time is..Caramelldansen.