What's The 'America Ya! :D' Meme From 'Azumanga Daioh'? Who Started It And How Did It Became A Viral Spam Comment On TikTok?

TikTokers' current anime obsession is the Osaka in America scene from the 2002 anime Azumanga Daioh in which a character imagines herself arriving in the United States, only to be greeted with several small versions of her best friend repeatedly saying "hallo hallo hallo" in a "broken English."

The most surprising thing about the America Ya! :D meme is that this isn't the first time a scene from Azumanga Daioh became a viral phenomenon on the internet, as the "Hello verynyan / OH MY GAH" scene grew to be a prevalent meme on YouTube and TikTok in mid-2023.

Hello, everynyan! How are you? Fine, thank you. I wish I were a bird.

So, how did this decade-old anime scene come to be a popular spam comment meme on TikTok, and where exactly is it from? Let's explain.

What's The Original 'America Ya! :D' Scene From Azumanga Daioh?

Back in August 2002, the Azumanga Daioh anime aired its 20th episode on TV, which is a show that chronicles the daily life of six high school students and two of their teachers. In a particular scene in the episode, the character Ayumu Kasuga (Osaka) imagines herself just landing in the United States and seeing every American as a tiny version of her friend Chiyo Mihama saying repeatedly "Hello, hello, hello." (shown below)

Who Started The 'America Ya! :D' Meme From Azumanga Daioh?

Although the anime aired years prior to meme culture becoming a thing online, a loyal online fanbase has been around Tumblr, 4chan, IMDb and MyAnimeList since January 2003. This long-running online presence led to the "America Ya! :D" scene being used in memes in February 2024.

Currently, the first known meme to use the scene was uploaded by TikTok user @rotkraut34100 on February 3rd, 2024, who posted a video showing the "America ya" scene in the Azumanga Daioh manga version, to which user @_qqxon_ commented "America Ya :D" on February 5th and was followed by several users commenting "hallo!" below his comment. (shown below)

How Did 'America Ya! :D' Became A Viral Spam Comment On TikTok?

The spam comments using the anime quote started to go viral a month after @rotkraut34100's video was posted. In mid-March 2024, user @morinmorin94 posted a video (shown below, left) recording a comment section with several users repeating "America Ya! :D" and "Hallo" in the comments. TikTok user @voicemod posted on the same period a similar compilation video (shown below, right) with several screenshots of people commenting on the Azumanga Daioh spam quote.

For the full history of "America Ya! (hallo hallo hallo)," be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.