Yamcha might suck, but he takes center stage in one of Dragon Ball’s most famous memes. In the most recent Dragon Ball Super, Yamcha returns, putting a new spin on an old meme.
Note: This article contains spoilers.
The Dragon Ball Super episodes of late have been fun and silly. The upcoming story arc is getting ready to kick off, so some might think this is mere filler. It’s a bit more than that, and I’ll explain why momentarily.
In this episode, there’s a friendly game of baseball. Baseball? Yamcha says he’s good at the sport, so this episode was a chance for him not to suck, impressing Bulma in the process. The other characters don’t know how to play, so they all go Super Saiyan during it.
The game, however, ends with Yamcha, found face down in a crater with his hand on home plate.
He scores the winning run, and the other characters remark how the pose looks familiar.
That’s because it is Yamcha’s infamous death pose, which became a meme online in Japan.
The reason why this isn’t filler, or rather, why it’s clever filler, is because the preview before the episode in which Yamcha dies, read “Yamucha Dies! The Terror of the Saibaimen.” The preview for the next episode of Dragon Ball Super, however, reads “Goku Dies! The Guaranteed Assassination Mission.”
See? For filler, that’s clever.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.