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Memes

What’s the ‘America Ya Hallo’ catchphrase from ‘Azumanga Daioh’ about?

The comments section favorite has manga and anime roots, but also may teach you a little bit about Japanese dialect!

Photo of Mike Hadge

Mike Hadge

young woman stepping off airplane

America Ya Hallo aka Osaka In America is a spam comment and viral catchphrase based on a scene from the anime series Azumanga Daioh: the Animation. In context, the character of Ayumu Kasuga envisions herself going to the United States and seeing every American as a tiny version of her friend Chiyo Mihama.

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The scene emerged as a viral sound clip on TikTok in March 2024, which led to users leaving several “America Yas” and “Hallos” in the comments sections. 

“America ya” essentially translates to: “It’s America!”

What is America Ya Hallo from?

“America Ya Hallo” hails from the high school-set anime series Azumanga Daioh: the Animation, which debuted on TV Tokyo on April 8th, 2002. The episode featuring the now-meme catchphrase is the 20th, which features a scene of the character Ayumu Kasuga imagining herself arriving in the United States and seeing every person as a tiny version of Chiyo Mihama, who repeatedly says “hello, hello, hello.” 

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Copypasta origins

The catchphrase first appeared widely on the internet on March 30th, 2021, when YouTuber @azumanga7235 posted an English dub of the scene, which attracted more than 74k views. Take a look!

The original Japanese dub appeared on YouTube on December 29th, 2022 via user @osacrafCurifea posted. It’s in this video that Ayumu says “America Ya” with the tiny versions of Chiyo spouting “Hallo, hallo, hallo.” The post received 12k views and over 600 likes. 

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Popularity 

The online popularity of “America Ya Hallo” began on February 3rd, 2024, when TikToker @rotkraut34100 posted a video featuring the “America ya” scene in its Azumanga Daioh manga iteration. On February 5th, user @_qqxon_ commented “America Ya :D.” on the post, followed by several users commenting “hallo!” The post received over 15.2k likes in a month. 

america ya hallo meme initial tiktok comments section
TikTok/rotkraut34100
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The usage of the “America ya” and “hallo” comments spiked in mid-March 2024. On March 23rd, 2024, TikToker @morinmorin94 posted a video featuring a comment section with countless users repeating “America ya” and “Hallo” in the comments. 

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

The post received over 1.7 million plays and 399k likes in four days. Three days later, on March 26th, 2024, TikToker @voicemod posted a similar compilation video featuring many screenshots of people commenting with the Azumanga Daioh spam quote. The post garnered over 1.5 million plays and 246k likes in a single day. 

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

In the context of Azumanga Daioh, Ayumu is from Osaka, so “America ya” is an example of the Osaka dialect, or “Osaka ben.” As Ayumu is saying “It’s America,” which is standard Japanese, would be “America da.” The fact that it’s “ya,” is both an example of Osaka ben and Western Japanese. 

Meme examples and variations 

@_be_wild_

America Ya :D (I edited out the unoriginal weirdos 😌)

♬ America ya – morinmorin
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America ya hallo meme from TikTok
TikTok
America ya hallo meme from reddit by dbwasson
TikTok
@neonelements

America Ya :D Available to buy from shop!

♬ original sound – Banana split
America Ya Hallo meme anime reference
Pixiv
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America ya hallo meme featuring peo in America
Pixiv
Tenor

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