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.

@morinmorin94 america ya :D #CapCut #criadordeconteudo #HALLO #xdddddddddddddd #vaiprofycaramba #azumangadaioh #comentarios #print #comments ♬ America ya – morinmorin

@voicemod America ya :D #meme #azumangadaioh ♬ America ya – morinmorin

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