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The Varying Degrees of Anger Online in Japan

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You mad? Really ticked off? Effing pissed? There's a difference, you know.

Online for the past few months, there have been humorous degrees of being angry in Japan. The meme was originally based on the Japanese "gal" subculture slang for angry, "oko" (おこ).

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The internet then spun off that slang into one angry meme that typically often shows anime, video game, and comic book characters getting all kinds of honked off.

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Some of these read somewhat awkward in English. For example, "punpun" (ぷんぷん) refers to "being angry or furious" in Japanese. However, this translation should clue you on how to view the mad meme images. The last "dream" image is usually some kind of anger induced euphoria.

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This has become so popular online in Japan that it was even covered (and explained) by mainstream Japanese TV:

The Japanese gal subculture doesn't actually use all these words, J-Cast reports. And the way they use the "oko" (angry) slang is slightly different. This is net slang! Other folks don't really use these words in spoken speech—kind of like "ROFL" in English. They do create images like these, many of which were retweeted thousands of times:

Besides the ironic remixes, there are also celebrity versions, including the inevitable Harry Potter send-ups:

Photos: にこ, black_lotusfake, SPW, Hino_sunny, Doriko, uw_over, akamatsuc, habisan, Matome, oreo, ugogayapoke, ritu7620, nnnxo, hebochicken, chico_hks, kanesys, Kanmnmnm, 246merimo, no_more_oppai, Zukanda

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To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

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.