Well, since I couldn’t think of a better idea for today’s article, I thought that I’d talk briefly about a hilarious – albeit slightly mysterious – anime meme from the 2010s and why it is so funny. Like all memes, all of the different versions of this meme take a source image and add text and/or images to it. Whilst I will talk about how the meme has been used, I also want to talk about the source image.
But, before we begin the commentary, criticism and/or review of this digital painting, I should probably make a note about attribution. Whilst the artist initialled the painting, in even the higher-quality versions of this meme that I’ve found, the artist’s initials are slightly difficult to discern – “ASC” or “TUC” ? – but the date of the 15th November 2012 (in the YYYY-MM-DD format) is still visible:
(Click for larger image) Here’s a zoomed-in version of the artist’s initials. I still can’t quite make out who they are.
Anyway, here’s a small copy of the source image used for the memes:
(Click for larger image) This is a small version of the meme source image which I’ll be discussing here. It’s hilariously funny.
As for how this meme was used, I originally saw it used last year in LGBT+ meme compilation videos on Youtube, as well as a background image for a Nightcore remix of Sabaton’s 2008 song “Ghost Division” on Youtube. The latter of these was hilariously ironic – Sabaton, a metal band who sings about numerous historical conflicts, wrote “Ghost Division” as a descriptive song about a 1940s German tank division… but the tank and the rifles in the painting are apparently Soviet ones (eg: part of the Allies during WW2). Too ironic!
Upon doing a reverse image search or two, it also shows up on a Steam forum for “World Of Tanks Blitz” (2016), I also saw it used in at least couple of history-themed memes on Reddit as well as in a couple of – much needed – trans rights memes on there as well. It also shows up on websites in languages which I don’t speak as well.
Of course, this meme is able to transcend language because the humour in this painting comes almost entirely from visual contrast. Not just the contrast between the serious WW2 scene and the maid costumes worn by the soldiers, but also between the realistic historical painting style used for the background and the stylised anime character designs. Yes, I know that anime usually has more detailed backgrounds (since they don’t have to be animated) but the intentional mismatch between the two styles is somehow more noticeable here.
The painting also has all of the drama and visual storytelling that you’d expect from something like a historical propaganda poster – with the characters running into battle, doing hand-signals to other troops etc… – but all of this serious drama is then contrasted with the utterly “silly” and “impractical” maid costumes.
And this contrast goes even further, given the sheer level of researched historical detail in things like the Soviet tank and rifles shown in the painting… only for all of the people in the painting to be wearing historically inaccurate costumes. On a more general level, there is also a contrast between the stylised hyper-feminine costume designs and the grimly hyper-masculine battlefield as well.
It’s genius! Again, there are something like four or five different forms of visual contrast within just one painting. Not only does this result in a hilariously funny painting, but the incongruity of everything in this painting lends itself perfectly to the meme format as well. The picture is a visual “punchline” of sorts, leaving the question of what the joke itself will be.
Again, I don’t know exactly who made this painting in November 2012 – their initials are difficult to make out – but I have to applaud them. This is one of the best and most intelligent comedy paintings that I have ever seen.
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Anyway, I hope this was interesting 🙂
