A middle-school-friendly guide to solving viral Japanese part-of-speech memes with search
0. Ten-second answer: do not fill every blank; search the weirdest leftover
The meme format replaces most words with labels such as [NOUN], [VERB], [PRONOUN], and [PARTICLE], while leaving punctuation, tiny kana, sound effects, repetition, or numbers behind.
It looks like a grammar cipher.
But the best strategy is not to reconstruct the entire sentence.
Ask:
What surviving fragment is least likely to appear in an ordinary sentence?
In the famous Ex-Aid example, [NOUN] is useless. The tiny “ゥ!” is gold.
Search is a process of shrinking the candidate set: a million possibilities to a hundred, then to three.
1. What the meme removes—and what it accidentally preserves
Even after the vocabulary is erased, a sentence still has a fingerprint:
- sentence length,
- repeated syntax,
- punctuation,
- tiny kana,
- numbers,
- sound effects,
- famous typos,
- command forms,
- repeated short lines.
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid episode 18 is still widely associated with Dan Kuroto’s exaggerated “Hōjō Emuゥ!” delivery.[1]
The tiny kana carries almost no plot meaning, yet it is extremely useful for identification.
Low semantic value, high search value.
2. Method 1: rank clues by rarity
Weak clues:
- [NOUN]
- [VERB]
- [PRONOUN]
- ordinary particle positions.
Medium clues:
- three questions in a row,
- identical sentence lengths,
- a final scream,
- a surviving number.
Strong clues:
- “ゥ!”
- “ァーッ!”
- “ざわ‥ざわ‥”
- 530000,
- the same short sentence repeated three times,
- grammatically odd wording.
Information retrieval uses the same broad intuition: rarer terms tend to carry more discriminating weight than terms that occur everywhere.[2]
So start with the strange thing, not the important-sounding thing.
3. Method 2: add only one extra clue at a time
Do not throw twenty keywords into the search box.
Start with one unusual fragment. If it is too broad, add a second.
Examples:
"ゥ!" meme
"ゥ!" "何故" quote
"530000" battle power
Google officially supports exact phrase search with quotation marks, site: restriction, and minus-based exclusion.[3]
That means you can also try:
site:evastore.jp "逃げちゃダメだ"
or, if “ざわざわ” keeps returning unrelated forest results:
ざわざわ カイジ -森
The forest did nothing wrong. Your search space simply needs pruning.
4. Method 3: verify with three matching features
A plausible result is not yet the answer.
Check at least three things:
- Does the weird punctuation or spelling match?
- Does the sequence of sentence types match?
- Do repetition, numbers, and endings match?
Think in two stages:
generate a candidate → compare the structure
Do not trust a result merely because it ranks first.
Trust it because its fingerprint matches.
5. Worked example: from [NOUN]ゥ! to Ex-Aid
Question
[NOUN]ゥ!
[QUESTION WORD]…
[QUESTION WORD]…
[QUESTION WORD]…ァ!
[SOUND EFFECT]…♡
[NOUN]ゥ!
…ァァァーーッ!
Answer
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid episode 18, the famous Dan Kuroto “Hōjō Emuゥ!” scene.[1]
Explanation
The best first clue is not [NOUN]. It is “ゥ!”
Then notice the repeated questions, the unusual vowel ending, the breath-like sound, the repeated call, and the long final scream.
You do not need the full original text to identify it.
Key point
The least meaningful character can be the best search key.
6. Eleven more worked examples
6-1. ONE PIECE
Question: [NOUN], [NOUN], [NOUN].
Answer: the famous opening sequence beginning with “富、名声、力。”—wealth, fame, power.[4]
Explanation: three short nouns in sequence are enough to restore the rhythm.
Key: cadence can survive vocabulary removal.
6-2. Toriko
Question: [PRONOUN][PARTICLE][VERB][PAST]… → absurd food description → [NOUN][TOPIC][NOUN][NOUN]!
Answer: the anime opening formula built around “誰かが言った……” and “世はグルメ時代”.[5]
Explanation: the fictional foods change by episode, so the target is a format, not one fixed sentence.
Key: identify templates, not only quotations.
6-3. I Am a Cat
Question: [PRONOUN][TOPIC][NOUN][COPULA]. [NOUN][TOPIC][ADVERB][ADJECTIVE].
Answer: “吾輩は猫である。名前はまだ無い。”[6]
Explanation: the first sentence declares identity; the second says there is still no name.
Key: famous openings are highly compressible.
6-4. Run, Melos!
Question: [PROPER NOUN][TOPIC][ACTION NOUN][VERB][PAST].
Answer: “メロスは激怒した。”[7]
Explanation: structurally ordinary, culturally extremely distinctive.
Key: context such as “opening line” can be as useful as a word.
6-5. Kaiji
Question: [SOUND EFFECT]‥[SOUND EFFECT]‥
Answer: “ざわ‥ざわ‥”. The official Young Magazine site itself uses the expression as Kaiji branding.[8]
Key: sometimes the quiz accidentally leaves the answer visible.
6-6. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Question: [QUESTION WORD][PARTICLE][VERB][ODD COPULA-LIKE SOUND]ァーッ!
Answer: the famous “何をするだァーッ！” wording.[9]
Explanation: the odd grammar is the clue.
Key: never “correct” a famous typo before searching it.
6-7. Fist of the North Star
Question: [PRONOUN][TOPIC][ADVERB][VERB][LINK][AUXILIARY].
Answer: “お前はもう死んでいる”. The official site treats it as one of the franchise’s defining lines.[10]
Key: very short catchphrases have strong structural fingerprints.
6-8. Dragon Ball
Question: [PRONOUN][GENITIVE][NOUN][TOPIC][NUMBER][COPULA].
Answer: Frieza’s “私の戦闘力は530000です”. The official site confirms 530,000 for his first form.[11]
Key: a unique number is a search cheat code.
6-9. Evangelion
Question: [same short negative sentence] × 3.
Answer: Shinji’s repeated “逃げちゃダメだ”. The official Evangelion Store reproduces the threefold repetition on merchandise.[12]
Key: repetition count is data.
6-10. Demon Slayer
Question: [NOUN][GENITIVE][NOUN][OBJECT][NOUN][DATIVE][VERB][CAUSATIVE][PROHIBITION]!!
Answer: Giyu Tomioka’s “生殺与奪の権を他人に握らせるな!!”.[13]
Key: formal wording plus a prohibitive command creates a distinctive shape.
6-11. Jujutsu Kaisen
Question: [REASSURANCE], [PRONOUN][SUPERLATIVE NOUN][COPULA][REASON].
Answer: Gojo’s “大丈夫、僕最強だから”.[14]
Key: the logic itself is a fingerprint—the reassurance is “because I am the strongest.”
7. A practical search recipe
Level 1: unusual fragment + “meme” or “quote”.
Level 2: combine two rare fragments.
Level 3: use quotation marks for exact matching.[3]
Level 4: use site: to restrict to an official or publisher domain.
Level 5: remove noisy meanings with a minus term.
Level 6: cross-check across X search, Google, Yahoo real-time search, YouTube, official sites, publishers, and then fan archives.
Social media may locate the meme; official or primary material should verify the underlying scene when possible.
8. Why can we recognize text after the words are gone?
People do not remember only dictionary meanings.
They also remember:
- rhythm,
- sentence length,
- repetition,
- numbers,
- endings,
- strange errors,
- and what tends to come next.
That is why [NOUN], [NOUN], [NOUN]. can trigger ONE PIECE, while [SOUND EFFECT]‥[SOUND EFFECT]‥ points toward Kaiji.
Search systems also benefit from rare terms because rare terms are more discriminating.[2]
So this meme is basically a game played by two search engines at once:
the one in your head and the one on the web.
9. Final quiz
Try searching before checking the answers.
Q1. [NOUN]ゥ! → three questions → [SOUND]…♡ → [NOUN]ゥ!
Q2. [NOUN], [NOUN], [NOUN].
Q3. [PRONOUN][PARTICLE][VERB][PAST]… → fictional foods → “era” formula
Q4. [PRONOUN][TOPIC][NOUN][COPULA]. [NOUN][TOPIC][ADVERB][ADJECTIVE].
Q5. [PROPER NOUN][TOPIC][ACTION NOUN][VERB][PAST].
Q6. [SOUND EFFECT]‥[SOUND EFFECT]‥
Q7. [QUESTION WORD][PARTICLE][VERB]…ァーッ!
Q8. [PRONOUN][TOPIC][ADVERB][VERB][LINK][AUXILIARY].
Q9. [PRONOUN][GENITIVE][NOUN][TOPIC][NUMBER][COPULA].
Q10. [same short negative sentence] × 3
Q11. [NOUN][GENITIVE][NOUN][OBJECT][NOUN][DATIVE][VERB][CAUSATIVE][PROHIBITION]!!
Q12. [REASSURANCE], [PRONOUN][SUPERLATIVE][COPULA][REASON].
Answer key
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid — “Hōjō Emuゥ!”
- ONE PIECE — “富、名声、力。”
- Toriko — “誰かが言った……” / “世はグルメ時代” format
- I Am a Cat
- Run, Melos!
- Kaiji — “ざわ‥ざわ‥”
- JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure — “何をするだァーッ！”
- Fist of the North Star — “お前はもう死んでいる”
- Dragon Ball — “私の戦闘力は530000です”
- Evangelion — “逃げちゃダメだ” repeated three times
- Demon Slayer — “生殺与奪の権を他人に握らせるな!!”
- Jujutsu Kaisen — “大丈夫、僕最強だから”
The score matters less than the skill:
“I do not know this, but that weird ァーッ looks searchable.”
That is the real win.
References (14)
- Cinema Today, Ex-Aid episode 18 interview cinematoday.jp
- Stanford IR book nlp.stanford.edu
- Google Search Help support.google.com
- ONE PIECE official overview one-piece.com
- Animate Times, Toriko feature animatetimes.com
- Aozora Bunko, I Am a Cat aozora.gr.jp
- Aozora Bunko, Run, Melos! aozora.gr.jp
- Young Magazine Web, Kaiji yanmaga.jp
- 何をするだァーッ” background motonator.com
- Fist of the North Star official hokuto-no-ken.jp
- Dragon Ball official dragon-ball-official.com
- EVANGELION STORE evastore.jp
- Demon Slayer official quote PDF kimetsu.com
- Jujutsu Kaisen official goods page jujutsukaisen.jp
