Memes / Sword Art Online

A meme page for a light novel series about high-stakes VR games? Seems legit!

For a series as long running as Sword Art Online, naturally it has spawned a lot of memes.

---

In General

• Essentially hating on SAO itself is a meme, due to the franchise's status as one of the most controversial in anime history.
  • SAO = YouTube money ^note The controversy got so big that for a few years (and even now to some extent) it was said that critics making YouTube videos about the franchise, either to bash it or to defend it from that bashing, was a fool-proof method of gaining views by (at least) the tens of thousands and even literally making money.
  • The series' general reputation for this is best summed up by a quote from one youtuber: "It is so terrible that the fact that the fact that it's terrible is a meme is a meme."
  • To put this in perspective, it's pretty much a given to expect virtually any video, forum, or thread that talks about SAO in a positive or neutral tone, for someone to come in and comment something along the lines of "SAO sucks", "SAO is trash", "SAO is shit" .etc
  • It's also a meme to not just hate SAO, but to try and trigger fans of it with intentionally spiteful comments directed at SAO.
  • In Taiwanese forums, it evolved into an influential subculture where people dislike ^note or more precisely used the "噓" reaction on any SAO references en masse, but also deliberately post SAO references in order to be disliked. It started off from the backlash to numerous irrational posts by some overzealous fans, which were heavily disliked. As it evolves, people started to post surprising bait-and-switches, or hide them in increasingly intricate ways to get the crap past the radar. A few dedicated parody posts also helped further codifying this meme.
• Several different sarcastic fan nicknames or phrases that refer to Kirito as a divine being, have gotten insanely popular. This is in regards to Kirito's overpowered fighting style and how he always shows up to finish the job at the end of the day.
  • "Jesus-kun" would be the biggest one.^note It got so popular among SAO haters sometime after season 2 finished and the hatred of the show reached its peak, that it was difficult to find a YouTube video tearing the series apart without at least mentioning it.
  • "Kirito, our lord and savior"^note Comes in the variant of simply calling Kirito "Our Lord and Savior" and frequently accompanied by the phrase "All Hail"
  • "Kirito is GOD!" / "Kirito wa KAMI DA!" ^note With the release of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, many fans are starting to compare his color scheme and "godly" talents with Kuroto Dan/Kamen Rider Genm for the same reasons above.
• "I'm Kirito."^note Similar to the "Because I'm Batman" meme, where Kirito's answer to why he's so overpowered is because he's Kirito. Popularized by this video by YouTuber Lost Pause
• It's become popular to use "Asuna" as a synonym for internet girlfriend/wife, such as in the phrase "many boys want to find their Asuna."
• Dat ass^note Fans started poking fun at the frequent unnecessary butt shots of all the SAO girls, even Bryce Papenbrook gets in on this in the Bloopers
• "COFFEE, SODA, TOFFEE, PASTA, COFFEE, SODA, GIVE ME COFFEE"^note How English viewers interpreted the 'lyrics' to Swordland
• Klein's screentime^note or lack thereof
• Kirito's Unwanted Harem has no shortage of memes.
  • Klein is best girl^note Fans lumping Klein in as part of the harem and citing him as being the best girl
• The fact that the sword holster buckle that Kirito wears looks like a fidget spinner.
• "Sword" being used as an euphemism for penis, such as: "You make my sword go online"
  • Taken much further in Alicization due to the fact that Kirito's sword is technically made of wood.
• Some people felt that the death scenes of certain characters were massively forced and failed to evoke any feelings. This led to the creation of this hilarious video.
• Character-comparing memes for Kirito and Guts are quite popular, with Kirito always receiving the short end of the stick.
• The real "Black Swordsman"^explanation Adding on to people saying Kirito is a Guts ripoff, this in turn led to people citing other fictional black swordsmen as the true holder of the title from: Ichigo to Blade.
• "MORE DEBAN"^explanation or "more screentime" is a meme associated with Lisbeth and Silica (collectively referred to as Team Deban). Ever since the first appearance of this meme on the back cover of volume 10, it became a fan favorite meme among fans seeking MORE DEBAN for these SAO girls. DEBAN actually crossed into Ascended Meme status when the Girls Ops spinoff cover included art of the featured girls rejoicing over finally receiving their desired DEBAN.
• Expect Bryce to make bloopers with the "Portuguese breakfast".

Season 1

Aincrad

• "GLOP! GLOP!" and "two years worth of semen" thanks to Chapter 16.5, an infamous author-made fanfiction about the series.
  • Or just mentioning "Chapter 16.5" as a shorthand/euphemism for "sex scene".
  • Or more appropriately, "Two years worth of semen made a glopping noise as it flowed endlessly into Asuna."
  • What makes this funnier is that the voice actors themselves love bringing this up.
• Sandwich-kun/Sandwich-chan^explanation Fans poked fun at Kirito's immense love of sandwiches and how Asuna keeps making them for him. This led to a swarm of memes about said sandwich getting treated as an actual character and Kirito's true love, specifically the sandwich that Kirito dropped on the ground and gets destroyed in Episode 6. Alternatively Asuna herself gets nicknamed "Sandwich-chan" and her only appeal to Kirito is her sandwich making ability
• Keep it occupied for 10 seconds! ^explanation A quote which was used by the Chinese-speaking fandom, which translates as "再撐個10秒就好!"
• Asuna can cook!^explanation Memes regarding Asuna maxing out her cooking skill, especially when she’s one of the strongest players in SAO
• Kirito's derp fishing face
• This shot of Kirito drinking tea is very popular to meme.
• "I forgot, lol"^explanation Kayaba's answer to being asked why he set up the death game to begin with was mercilessly ridiculed

Fairy Dance

• EPIC RAPE MUSIC! ^explanation This music is played during Sugou's Attempted Rape of Asuna.
  • "KAYABA!" ^explanation This is Sugou's response to Kirito using Kayaba's GM privileges on him.
• HABERKORN^explanation Thanks to the English dub Bloopers, it's common for at least one person to respond with this whenever Sugou appears on screen
• PINA used HYDROPUMP! It's super effective!^explanation A scene from Extra Edition where a splash fight between Lisbeth and Silica has Silica commanding Pina like a Pokémon

Season 2

Phantom Bullet

• Season 2's second episode has sparked off plenty of parodies of the typical MLG FPS montage, complete with dubstep, Snoop Dogg, gamer slang, product placement, and FaZe clan plastered all over the screen.
• Kirito is best girl^explanation Due to Kirito's GGO avatar looking like a girl, many fans jokingly claim that GGO Kirito is the best SAO girl. Some fans even seem to be serious.
• Kirito is a Jedi!^explanation Kirito's "photon sword", him having the Super-Senses and Super-Reflexes of a Jedi Master, coupled with with him going up against a literal Darth Vader Expy has led the second season being "Star Wars Online."
• "Kirito, I am your father!!!"^explanation Since Death Gun is a Darth Vader Expy going up against Kirito wielding a lightsabre
• Grenade Hug^explanation Sinon's idea to have both her and Kirito win the Tournament in a tie, by passing a grenade to Kirito and hugging him just as it blows up. Gifs for this scene pop up all over the place.
• "It's the same ending as last time!" ^explanation This is the fans' reaction to the climax of the Phantom Bullet arc being Kirito cutting up the villain in virtual reality and then getting into hand-to-hand combat with a rapist in the real world, just like the Fairy Dance climax. Although, in a twist, he loses this round and would have died, Pocket Protector be damned, if Sinon hadn't smashed a stereo into the back of the rapist's head.
  • Before the Alicization arc aired people started joking the same thing would happen again, where Kirito would meet another girl who would be victim to Attempted Rape from the Big Bad before Kirito gains a new power to finish them off.
• "ASADA SAN! ASADA SAN! ASADA SAN!"^explanation Kyouji's Madness Mantra during his Attempted Rape on Sinon became memetic, especially after the dub bloopers which changed his line to "AUTOGRAPH! AUTOGRAPH! AUTOGRAPH!"
• Kirito pulling Sinon's Cait Sith tail became an instant hit.

Alicization

Part 1

• Episode 1 alone spawned a LOT of these:
  • Kirito dies^explanation a reaction from the first Alicization trailer that showed Kirito getting stabbed, which then escalated to being spammed everywhere as a joke spoiler
  • Silica with a machine gun turret◊ become quite popular.
  • Farting Lightsabers^explanation The Photon Sword sound effect is a fair bit different now, which viewers took great amusement in comparing to a farting sound
• The Gigas Cedar is the toughest boss ever^explanation Due to how impossible it seemed to cut the Demon Tree down. Fans even calculated the time it would take to cut down based on the rate of damage Eugeo and previous woodsman already did
• Kirito is Goblin Slayer^explanation  The appearance of goblins and Kirito cutting through them sparked a series of Goblin Slayer memes due to their anime adaptations coinciding with each other.
• Suguha's bust size (or lack thereof) in Season 3. Many fans pointed out how her enormous rack seems to have deflated.
• Kirito's sword grows when he thinks of Asuna^explanation In Episode 8, Kirito uses the Incarnation ability during the duel against Volo and his sword grows longer and glows golden as he thinks of his loved ones in the real world, Asuna being last and most prominent.
• Eugeo is a serious student of the Aincrad style^explanation Viewers are poking fun at Eugeo seeming to have learned from Kirito not only sword skills, but also how to build his own harem, starting with Selka crushing on him and then Tiese practically giving him a full-on Love Confession in Episode 9, and there are also his own ambiguous feelings towards Alice
• Tiese's forehead.
• The shot from Episode 10 of Raios leaping into the bed, spawned a tonne of memes where he gets photoshopped or edited into various other places.
• I've seen this combination of gold and blue before^explanation Eugeo's line at the end of Episode 10, with fans relentlessly making jokes about how Integrity Knight Alice looks like she stepped right out of the Fate/stay night universe, and her look would also fit right in as a Saber-class Servant in Fate/Grand Order
• Umu^explanation The Fate/stay night jokes just keep on coming after Cardinal's voice actress turned out to be Sakura Tange, who voiced Nero Claudius (whose Verbal Tic "Umu" became the defining meme of her character), and Administrator/Quinella's voice actress also turned out to be fellow Fate alum Maaya Sakamoto as Jeanne d'Arc and Jeanne Alter
• Wet Eugeo^explanation Eugeo becoming wet from falling in the fountain had fans joking that he was wet from other reasons, namely thinking about Alice, Tiese, or even Kirito himself
• Kirito uses T-pose to assert dominance over short people^explanation Kirito's confusion over Cardinal's request to hug her got poked fun at and memed
• Bankai!^Explanation Perfect Weapon Control art got compared a similar concept from Bleach of weapon's transforming into an attack
• Begone manwhore^explanation This shot◊ of Alice casually shoving aside Kirito after breaking out of Eugeo's ice wall got some good chuckles out of the audience
• "Remove core protection"^Explanation The System Command that Quinella makes Eugeo recite, as she seduces him while completely naked, has fans using this line as a Double Entendre
• Eugeo is Jesus^Explanation When Eugeo asks Cardinal to turn him into a sword, the posture he’s in has his arms outstretched like Christ on the cross. The fact that he was performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save humanity only drives the comparison further home
• Incarnation^note Explained in the lightnovels as a secret art existing in the Underworld where one uses their imagination and willpower to reshape reality. It became used as a goto excuse for anything overpowered or physics defying that has ever occurred in the series

Part 2

• Wheelchair-kun/Crippleto/Dual Wheeler Kirito^explanation The Black Humor Fan Nickname referring to Kirito's wheelchair bound status
  • "Ahhh, Ahhh"^explanation After a comment from Yoshitsugu Matsuoka that most of his lines for Kirito amounted to that sound, fans took this as the default "Kirito noise" for War of the Underworld
  • Alice feeding Kirito^explanation This shot of Alice feeding Kirito gained memetic status, from captions to photoshops
  • "Don't bully my disabled child"^explanation Any similar line used in response to Kirito haters by citing his condition
• Gabriel Miller wants to live a quiet life^explanation Jokes have abounded about how Miller looks almost identical to Kira Yoshikage
• Unlimited Blade Works^note Episode 30 was relentlessly compared (in a good way) to Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] due to a huge number of similarities between the two stories like "Berserker" going berserk◊, "Saber" using what looks suspiciously like a sword-based Noble Phantasm◊, and "Archer" shooting a sword nuke from his bow◊
• Alice uses a Spirit Bomb!^note Alice casting a sacred art to siphon all the dark energy got compared to Goku's move from Dragon Ball Z
• Gamers Rise Up^note Lisbeth's speech in Episode 35 has been compared to the memetic "we live in a society" rants
• Kazuto Kaneki^note Kirito appearing as a washed-out shade of white in War of Underworld's second opening has drawn comparisons to Ken Kaneki, especially considering the emotional torture he goes through in this arc
• Wat da herr. Dis gaem is rearly suck. I'm soon be log out^note The hilariously bad Engrish line from the American player in Episode 37
• TRIGGER ending^note The sudden Genre Shift in the epilogue where the Underworld has become a science fiction setting complete with space fighters battling a giant monster from the stars is comparable to famous anime from Studio TRIGGER where the final battle is suddenly set in space

Game adaptation

• "Sodana"/"Keep it up"^explanation During the courting prior to Pillow talk scenes, Kirito's dialogue to the girls entirely consists of this no matter what the girls say to him, which fans immediately poked fun of
• Asuna is watching^explanation Time and time again, fans have posted images of Kirito courting the other female cast members, only for Asuna to be in the background, watching with a straight face; the frequency of it occurring for some players has made some wonder if this was intentional
• Trolling Premiere. Hollow Realization released an AI onto the internet, with the idea that her interactions with others will shape her her personality, which will then be patched into the game. Naturally, she and her sayings became a quick meme once people figured out how to exploit her and teach her horrible, racist, and mean-spirited comments.
• Koharu is an Immortal Object^explanation In Integral Factor the Player's Non-Player Companion Koharu never takes damage in battle, leading fans to joke that she's an Immortal Object like Yui or Heathcliff. Hilarious in Hindsight given she was originally supposed to be an NPC.

Memory Defrag

• Argo will shaft you!^note the fact that Argo appears in the scout screen, often with a smug face that accompanies player being given trash units in their pull.
• 1* Kirito^note Easily the weakest character available in Memory Defrag being the only 1* in existence, he gets hyped up as the most powerful character capable of "Instant K.O."
• Rainy Rain^note for a long time remained one of the most broken units due to having a barrier that would No-Sell damage for a period of time