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What Is The 'JoJo Approach' Meme? The 'You're Approaching Me?' Meme From 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure' Explained
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is an immensely popular and stylized manga and anime series that has spawned countless memes over the past decade. Elaborate and colorful panels from the manga are ripe for meme exploitation, and a pivotal scene from one of the series's most popular arcs became the subject of much meme attention in 2015.
Originally published back in 1992, the confrontation between protagonist Jotaro Kujo and the arc's main villain Dio Brando received an anime interpretation in 2015. Dio's surprise at Jotaro approaching him and the scene's dramatic framing and tension inevitably led to people making memes and redraws of the scene. Here's how the Oh? You're approaching me? meme got rolling.
Where Does The JoJo Approach Meme Originate?
Originally published in February 1992, Chapter 143 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders saw the show's protagonist Jotaro Kujo facing off against Dio Brando. As Jotaro angrily approaches Dio, the latter asks, "Oh? You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?" to which Jotaro responds, "I can't beat you up without getting closer."
The scene also made its way into the anime version of the show, aired in 2015, bringing life to an already iconic manga spread.
How Did 'You're Approaching Me?' Become A Meme?
Edits of the JoJo scene began appearing online sometime around 2015, with Tumblr user @scarymonstersasc making minor edits to the post to joke about the upcoming E3 expo. Meanwhile, Imgur user BPPegha edited the manga panel to show Koichi instead of Jotaro.
Despite the anime version of the scene missing the particular flair of the manga panel, early adopters of the meme sometimes used the new interpretation of the scene for memes. This can be seen in a few /r/animememes posts from 2015.
What Are Some More Redraws And Memes Of The 'JoJo Approach' Scene?
For the full history of the JoJo Approach, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
