The "Naoya Hair Flip" meme goes by many names, including "Naoya Hair Flick" or "Naoya vs. Choso," and this exploitable meme format based on a scene from the massively popular anime series Jujutsu Kaisen has been popping up seemingly everywhere online over the last week.

The clip comes from a moment when the two characters Choso and Naoya Zenin are fighting, with Naoya's dramatic move quickly becoming yet another standout joke among JJK viewers, who've been taking the gesture and using it in countless memes.

After the episode premiered in early January 2026, the scene sparked widespread attention and discourse, particularly as fans turned it into redraws, reanimations and fan art depictions, especially via crossover edits that replaced the characters with other figures.

So, what's the context behind the original JJK scene? How did it initially become a meme trend, and why is it so prevalent on social media? Let's explain.

What Is The 'Naoya Hair Flip' Meme, and Where Does The Clip Originally Come From?

Back on January 9th, 2026, Jujutsu Kaisen season three, episode two (also listed as episode 49 and titled "One More Time") premiered in Japan. The episode adapts chapters 141 through 144 of the manga, which were originally published in 2021.

The episode features a fight sequence between the characters Choso and Naoya Zenin, with one particular moment, as we mentioned earlier, standing out to viewers.

During the fight, Naoya is shown easily overpowering Choso and briefly continuing the fight one-handed while using his free hand to flip or brush his blonde hair back, adding something of a self-assured flair to the scene.

Clips of the moment circulated online earlier through leaks on platforms such as Reddit in November 2025, but it did not achieve widespread traction until the episode’s official release in January 2026, about a week ago as of writing.

On the day of its premiere, the YouTube channel Pmglory Ch. uploaded the fight scene, where it quickly gained attention, earning nearly 350,000 views within just six days.

Many viewers specifically highlighted the hair flick sequence in comments, establishing it as the episode's most memetic and widely discussed element.

As Naoya’s hair-flipping move became the most discussed moment from the episode, it rapidly inspired reactions and meme edits across social media on the day of its official release.

For instance, on January 9th, after the episode debuted, X / Twitter user InfernoOmni shared an isolated clip of the moment, describing it as "the most disrespectful fight sequence I’ve ever seen." The post gained significant engagement, accumulating roughly 7.2 million views, 36,000 likes, and hundreds of replies within the following week.

this might be the most disrespectful fight sequence i’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/NWWiGx47Y9

— Omni ☕️ (@InfernoOmni) January 9, 2026

The same day, the clip was also shared to the Jujutsu Kaisen meme subreddit /r/Jujutsufolk, where it was posted with the title "MAPPA was straight savage for adding this extra scene of Naoya hair flipping," earning more than 8,600 upvotes and 230 comments over the last week.

Early meme comparisons emerged alongside the discourse surrounding the scene, with users drawing parallels to other well-known dramatic hair flip moments in pop culture.

One of the earliest widely circulated meme examples appeared on January 9th as well, when Twitter user hourlytoji_ posted a side-by-side comparison linking Naoya’s gesture to Prince Charming’s hair flip in Shrek 2.

Naoya while he was in the middle of fighting choso pic.twitter.com/S6VpWu0tSw

— Hourly Toji (@hourlytoji_) January 9, 2026

How Is Naoya's 'Hair Flick' Used In Memes?

The Naoya hair-flip moment continued to build momentum throughout early January 2026, quickly evolving beyond clip reposts and simple discussions into a broader fan-driven trend.

As the scene circulated, artists and meme creators began treating it as a reference pose, producing a steady stream of redraw memes, short reanimations and fan art reinterpretations that placed the gesture into new contexts and crossovers from other pop culture IPs.

One notable example appeared on January 12th, when X / Twitter user torako778 shared a redraw referencing the scene and reimagining it with characters from Bocchi the Rock!. The post spread rapidly, earning more than 4,800 reposts and 60,000 likes within two days.

The trend continued to expand in the days that followed, as users across multiple platforms began producing increasingly elaborate recreations and meta-references centered on the hair-flip moment.

A day later, X / Twitter user bbpnz213 uploaded an Undertale reanimation inspired by the original scene, which quickly went viral and earned more than 17,000 reposts and 129,000 likes in just a day.

my take pic.twitter.com/XNzVATnw17

— bbpanzu (@bbpnz213) January 13, 2026

By January 14th, 2026, the format had become widespread enough to spawn compilation-style posts. Instagram user manganimist shared a roundup of Naoya Hair Flip redraws created during the meme’s rise, highlighting the volume and variety of fan interpretations as the meme continued spreading.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by manganimist (@manganimist)

Amid its virality, the meme’s saturation also became a joke in itself. Redditor asianant posted an "Everywhere I Go, I See His Face" meme to the /r/JuJutsuKaisen subreddit, referencing how frequently the Naoya clip was appearing online.

What Are Some More Examples Of The 'Naoya Hair Flip' Meme?

'Naoya Hair Flip' Meme Template

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For the full history of the Naoya Hair Flip meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.