Memes aren't the same anymore + other ramblings.

Back in 2022, I made a post about memes and in a paragraph, I mentioned that I stopping caring about modern memes. And boy, I'm glad I still stopped caring.

I remember when memes used to be image macros or reaction images or object labeling memes. I was there when the LazyTown memes were big (We Are Number One!). Does Vine even count? Cory in the House became the greatest anime. Heck, memes introduced me to the late and great Chuck Norris (not just the memes, but a website I used to be on called Scratch when I found this game about him). I also used to watch meme compilations or people react to them.

And now? 

"Ha, ha, six [censored/redacted]even". Family Guy clips. Subway Surfers on the bottom of a video. AI. A lot of the memes nowadays on Know Your Meme, which was my source for learning about certain memes I didn't understand, come from TikTok, which I despise.

And what's so funny about that dang number? I don't get it. And I don't want to know what it means. I didn't even want to type the number in the paragraph above; instead, I censored one letter of the second word. This stupid number meme has gotten so bad that it "infected" one or two of Youtubers that I watch whenever I need a laugh. It's like I can't escape from this number. Not mentioning the name, but he had brought it up in two videos that I was watching on 4/2. He was forced to put that number on one of his merch because people begged him to (originally, he was gonna put the other funny number, if you know what I mean). It's like I can't watch YouTube anymore because it's nothing but these modern day slang terms that some YouTubers I watch are adapting, loud sounds, low effort humor, and of course, AI... just what happened?

Okay, I will say that I do have some favorite modern memes such as the "John 1000" Dragon Ball meme, which I don't know why I find it funny... I still find it stupid, lol. Stupidly funny. When I first heard of that meme, I was straight up confused and lost. The meme in question revolves around the protagonist for the new upcoming Dragon Ball game, and I guess due to his design looking generic, people/fans gave him the nickname John 1000. 

Besides that, the "red circle" meme still sticks with me cause I've seen people use it a lot and it "spread" to me "like a virus" that I used it in a post I shared that involves my character Jikiru from my indie comic, SaGia. The context of this image is that I was listening to Spotify during my hair appointment last month when I was recommended this station that I thought spelled my character's name. I thought it would be funny to make one of those red circle memes, and so, I made the image in my Instagram story, downloaded it, and shared it to my other platforms.

And most recent, this SpongeBob driving meme called "SpongeBob Driving Crazy" + a Beast Boy version that I found on KYM. Some of the captions were funny and accurate... just hate that I saw one referencing that stupid number. The article on KYM never mentions the first level from Creature from the Krusty Krab... which has a similar art style to the art of SpongeBob using in the driving crazy meme. Are we really going to ignore that? Never played the game as a kid, but I used to watch a YouTuber/Streamer Vinesauce play the game which was my first introduction to it and when SpongeBob made that cursed face, he laughed at it.

Speaking of Vinesauce, he introduced me to so many obscure games and media from the 90s, 80s, 2000s, whatever.

Besides memes, remember YTPs or YouTube Poops? For those who don't know what they are, they were basically video remixes of the original source material (notably, SpongeBob). Our original "brainrot", lol.

Man, I remember getting in trouble for watching one (it was some Sesame Street YTP I watched). We have some classics such as "The Sky had a Weegee", a YTP of SpongeBob, which shockingly, is still up to this day and still gets quoted and memed, "HOW ABOUT A GAME OF YOU MUST DIE", another SpongeBob YTP still up, "Dinner Blaster", "The Fesh Pince of Blair", "Billy Mays - The Drunk Jack", "The UNcredibles", and "Billy Mays and the Ravages of Orange Glo" (that last one cracks me up every time with the sentence mixing of the narrator). 

Every time I watch a clip of the original episode (Shanghaied), the YTP version still gets stuck with me and I can't stop quoting it. It's so hard to unhear it while watching that episode after seeing that YouTube Poop so many times.

"The sky had a Pokémon!"

"I am the flying Bowser!"

"Maybe he's gonna give us a reward!" "Like spaghetti!"

What's funny is, since the original episode involved an anchor and in this YTP, SpongeBob calls it a Pokémon, we would actually get an anchor Pokémon years later after this YTP, Dhelmise, introduced in the Sun and Moon games.

YTPs also introduced me to the obscure Hotel Mario and Zelda CDI games, Michael Rosen, Colgate's Dr. Rabbit, and Billy Mays. Oh, and although YTPs didn't introduce me to the MLP: Friendship is Magic series, there were so many around 2012-2016-ish, that would insert any MLP character. And when I had revisited some old YTPs, I was like, "oh my god, the ponies" whenever characters such as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, or Twilight Sparkle appeared on the screen of a YTP. 

I want to share one of my favorite YTPs, "Hell Breaks Loose in Bikini Bottom" by postaloverkill, which is no longer on YouTube, but someone archived it.

I used to watch YouTube Poops and then stopped because one, they were referencing some new stuff I don't care about such as YouTubers and memes, two, some YTPs I've watched aren't even that great (example: some are edited using Kinemaster), three, the editing is too good on them; although I have seen some really good modern YTPs with good editing (Jimmy Davis is one example, but what's also sad as while I was doing research on the guy, the YouTube wiki says he's retired from making YTPs, but is uploading leftovers), I still tell myself "man... it's not the same anymore",  and four, I think I've gotten tired of them since I'm 23 now (about to be 24 in August) and it was hard for me to keep up with the newer ones - especially collab videos - that I moved on.

Also, two people who made YTPs that I've watched, sadly, were through some allegations or got in trouble; one of them is named Trudermark, who's behind the YTP: Spingebill and Skodwarde get Robophobia, which is still up to this day, and I find it hard to come back to it and some of his other ones after finding out that the creator of the YTP got in trouble. For reasons on why he got in trouble, I am not bringing it up. The other was one named CamHead. Again, not bringing up why he got in trouble. Both reasons are very NSFW and I don't feel comfortable mentioning on this blog.

What's with big or smaller YouTubers I used to watch suddenly getting into trouble/allegations... happens every time and makes me not want to watch any more YouTube.

And finally, besides the memes and YTPs, there was this thing on the internet called SpongeBob Edited, which introduced me to Tenacious D. Not even kidding. They would take an episode of SpongeBob and replace the audio with swearing and other NSFW words. The entire episode, by the way. Most of the sound sources come from Tenacious D or South Park. They would also do it with other sources such as Ed Edd n Eddy.

Like YTPs, I used to watch them then stopped because one, YouTube has gotten strict and has taken down a lot of them due to copyright (some are still up, surprisingly such as Squirrel Jokes), and because of that, some editors will reupload and apply like this filter to get around it or make the screen black so that you can hear the audio only and you will have to go on another website to watch it unfiltered. Two, some have been age restricted and harder to find (I watch them logged off), three, similar to YTPs, most SpongeBob edits reference modern day material such as YouTubers that again, don't care about. One was bringing up or referencing some anime that I don't even care about. And four, I've moved on.

Other ramblings:

-I was looking at some of my old blog posts here, and noticed that a lot of them have their images broken or videos removed. The reason for the broken images is because instead of downloading said images, me, at the time, decided to link the images to some websites. One of them had me talk about a Dai no Daibouken RPG fan game. Well, that link is no longer available, the images on my post are gone because of that, and the game is lost media, as I had looked on archive.org and the download link won't work. I don't feel like going back and updating my old posts, as reading past me talk makes me go, "ew, I don't remember saying that". So, be warned going back on my older posts as one, looking back makes me cringe a bit, and two, like I said, broken images or videos I linked taken down/deleted/privated.

-The ending to the finale of Fire Force, which happened on 4/3, blew my mind. Go watch Fire Force if you haven't, it's really good.

-Linktree, Linktree, Linktree. You used to be so good. I have so much negative things to say about this platform such as them including a system where you can now earn money. Also, a pattern wallpaper that used to be on my Linktree is now locked behind a Pro membership. They gifted me that membership, which I didn't ask for, hit me up with annoying pop ups after my trial ended... just leave me alone Linktree. I honestly might find an alternative, but I'll continue to use this website which I dread every time I hop on it. Just... I won't log on it that much anymore unless I have to update links.

-On the topic of anime remakes: I found out last week (3 days late) that Magic Knight Rayearth is getting remade. Man, I can't catch a break from the remakes, huh. Hearing the news makes me want to watch the original series now, as I've never seen MKR, but heard the anime opening and seen the Game Boy game. I just get concerned about anime remakes. While some are actually good, such as Yaiba: Samurai Legend, which is a remake of Yaiba, which I reviewed the 90s anime version back in 2022 and Ranma 1/2 (I have still yet to watch the OG), some were eh. 

Digimon Adventure:, which is a 2020 remake of the original Digimon Adventure anime, was not that great to me. The transformations feel quick and let's not forget that one episode where Gabumon was on a cross. Don't believe me?

The new Cat's Eye anime, after the first episode, I wasn't really enjoying it... the designs feel boring and the heists feel quick. Oh, and let's not forget, technology such as drones! I know that there are people who like the opening of this new Cat's Eye, but I wasn't a fan. The ending theme was okay since it was a cover of the Cat's Eye theme from the original 80s anime. You know what, let me copy and paste my review of this anime from my post on WordPress (which is only to my subscribers):

"Recently, I finished the 2025 Cat's Eye anime and I have to say, the finale was good and maybe a season 2 might happen with the ending - not gonna spoil it. However, the episodes before that one was eh. As someone who's watched all of the 80s anime... I was slightly disappointed with this one. I had high hopes when they first announced it since I love Cat's Eye (and also City Hunter since it's by the same author; by the way, Angel Dust was really good as I watched that one in December). They had to throw in modern day stuff like iPhones, drones, all that technology which turned me off. The heists felt short and quick and it got a bit repetitive after a couple of episodes. The only positives I have to say is, the Japanese voice acting is good and the animation is decent. Except episode 10 (?) with a driving scene looking like a PS2/PS3 cutscene - the CGI wasn't that great for me.

I didn't know this got dubbed and I really haven't seen it, maybe I don't care about it since this anime felt boring. I'm not a fan of the opening theme... I was hoping the iconic Cat's Eye opening would be the opening, but no, its the ending theme instead. It sounds alright, but, I'm so used to the 80s version. The animation for the ending isn't that great. I wish the opening and ending themes for this anime were swapped. I originally had rated this a 7 on MyAnimeList, but changed it to a 6."

Another anime remake that I also had high excitement for when it was first announced, but let me down after the first episode, which was recently finished on March 27th, is High School! Kimengumi. A remake of the 80s anime series and manga. At the time, I was watching episodes of the 80s series since I had found out that a YouTube channel dropped English subs of it. Before that, my first introduction to Kimengumi was through the MSX game (which also has a Master System port) via an emulator on one of those "play retro games online" sites. And yes, I didn't know what I was doing because the game was in Japanese. 

It made me more curious about this anime, and so, I waited for English subs or someone to fansub it. Sadly, the channel that subbed this anime stopped around episode 65 and the reason for it, according to a thread I found in MyAnimeList which is located in the page for the remake of Kimengumi, is due to licensing issues. Sad, because I was really enjoying this. I find myself checking that YouTube channel every day to see if there would be batches of new episodes, but nope. Nothing but the remake of Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube. Speaking of Hell Teacher, I have the original anime in my plan to watch list on MAL, but haven't watched it yet. I didn't even know this got remade.

Back on the topic of the HSK remake, I was worried about no one picking this newer series up until I found out that Amazon Prime dropped the series, which made me happy. After the last episode aired (sadly, the last.), I had some mixed feelings about this remake. I did enjoy the first episode, but the episodes after that, I barely laughed compared to the 80s anime. Maybe it's due to the timing of the jokes and the era that they're in, I don't know. The updated designs took me a lot of getting used to, notably, Kawa Yui having green eyes in the remake compared to her blue eyes in the original. And to quote my WordPress post:

"I was hoping that the first opening in the 80s anime would actually be in this remake. It was shown in the trailer promoting the remake. Nope. Nowhere to be seen (except for a little snippet of it in the first episode). Instead, we get a new opening. I have to say, it sounds really decent and some parts of it are catchy. The ending however, it's forgettable."

And I'm right. The 80s opening is nowhere to be heard except in some episodes. The trailer promoting the remake felt like bait. "Oh, you were expecting Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi? Too bad, here's an original song called Funky Spice!", they said when the first episode dropped. But, like I said, that opening is actually catchy and I find myself whistling to it. Episode 11... why the AI? Okay, I was actually worried about this one when they first brought up AI and I was l was like, "oh, great, will it reference AI art generators and assistants similar to ChatGPT?". But, no, it was something different. I think they tried too hard with that episode.

What's interesting is, I found a Japanese source that mentions the original seiyuu of Rei from the 80s anime (Shigeru Chiba), voicing the alternate dimension/parallel Rei in this episode. I think that's the second seiyuu from the 80s anime to reprise their role as their character (first one being Kenichi Ogata as the principal). But why didn't the original seiyuu of Yui voice her alternate dimension self (Miki Takahashi)? That is cool to hear the OG seiyuu of Rei talking to the newer seiyuu of Rei in this episode, but still, that was a missed opportunity to bring back the original seiyuu of Kawa Yui for this episode. Or heck, bring back the original Kimengumi voice cast voicing their parallel selves (except the original voice of Dai, who sadly passed). Also, I learned of Chiba's other roles such as voicing Pilaf in Dragon Ball and Dr. Chaos in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. Pretty cool.

The final episode was pretty sweet... not going to spoil it. But, this makes me sad that this is the final episode of the remake. And it's unlikely that a season two will happen for a reason because well, they tried with this remake and the humor in it, two, someone mentioned in episode 12's discussion that it's a remake of an anime 4 decades ago. And three, the mixed/negative reception of this anime. Some episodes were a hit or miss. 

I gave this remake a 6 on MAL. I also want to mention that some of the segments in the earlier episodes, if you seen the 80s anime (or read the manga which sadly never got an English translation), will look familiar to you, and I happen to recognize some of them. I wish there were more original stories in there, but oh, well.

With the announcement of the Super remake (aka Dragon Ball Super: Beerus), I was like, "I might pass on this". It's gonna be the same story, but with better animation than when DBS first dropped since that had issues with its animation. I'm just patiently waiting on the new arc based on Moro, and from what I've heard, it's the best arc in Super.

I hope there's more original anime out there... so tired of remake after remake. Not just with anime, but movies as well (looking at you, Disney).

-One last rambling is, I added a newsletter thing on this site now using a website called follow.it. I also did it with the official SaGia blog and website, so if you don't want to miss a new post, feel free to sign up. Hopefully, this works well and you get notified when I release a new post. It may come in late, though since I'm using a free version of the site and if I pay, people who are subscribed to me get their posts instantly.

That's about it, take care.

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