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Gundam Hathaway Memes Top Gadget Tsūshin's 2021 Anime Buzzword Awards
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Every popular anime leaves some kind of trace in Japan's internet culture landscape. Gadget Tsūshin's Anime Ryūkōgo Taishō's yearly list of the most popular anime-related buzzwords and fandom memes gave the Gold Prize to "Molcar" from Pui Pui Molcar and the "Mafty Meme" from the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway.
What is the "Mafty Meme"? It refers to the series of awkwardly mashed-together lines from the film's 2nd PV: “You show him, Mafty,” “This has to work out somehow!” “A gundam?” The lines were then immediately followed by the film's theme song. The jarring structure of the PV tickled fans' funny bones, inspiring hundreds of parody videos and comics across the web, such as this popular example.
Hathaway also took the Bronze prize for prompting a resurgence of Pumpkin Dance parodies with a Gundam theme. The Silver Prize went to Mikey's "Anyone scared?" line from Tokyo Revengers and the "Umapyoi" sound effect coined by Uma Musume Pretty Derby.
Hathaway is the first Gundam film since 1988's Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack to top the 1 billion yen mark. The film has earned a cumulative total of 2,209,628,200 yen (about US$19.57 million) in the Japanese box office as of October 10.
The film opened in Japan on June 11, after previously being delayed three times. Netflix U.S. began exclusively streaming the film on July 1.
Source: Gadget Tsūshin
