In January this year, a page called Hindu nationalist anime girls was created on Facebook. Within eight months, the page has amassed a significant number of followers, especially considering how recently the page has been created, and how little-known anime is in India.
As the name indicates, the content of the page is chiefly anime characters, especially female characters, who are “hypothetically Hindu.” The aim of the page? Nothing, just having fun mixing two worlds as far apart as Hindu nationalism and anime and having a laugh over it.
Lord Krishna’s shonen anime avatar
The first meme I did was the page profile picture a year ago. I shared it on my wall.The page administrator, on being asked when and where he posted the first meme.
Because Akhand Bharat makes everyone happy
In a text interview with The Quint, the page administrator revealed that Hindu nationalist anime girls is currently a one-(wo?)man show. While he/she professes to be a nationalist minus the “chest-thumping” patriotism, the page is chock-full of references to Hindu culture and mythology, and of course, anime.
I’m a nationalist in a way that I believe identity is crucial... This is why I’m only a theoretical nationalist - I like the ideology of nationalism but I don’t know how that works with a pluralistic country like India. This is also why I have a fundamental disagreement with right wing groups. I completely reject what they want to be the identity of the country.The page administration, in an online interview.
The page seems to have sprung from, therefore, an admiration for Hindu culture and mythology, and the disagreement with how right wing groups currently operate in India. The memes prove as much.
While many of these memes are centered around female anime characters re-imagined as “sanskaari” Hindu girls, or work around Hindu deities, there’s the occasional meme poking fun at the status quo. There is, for instance, an image taking a jibe at the claim that India will become a superpower by 2020, which is also the basis of several jokes doing the rounds on several Internet imageboards.
Overnight change, literally
The page has occasionally taken digs at the Make in India campaign, the Akhand Bharat ideology, and the proclivity towards temple-building displayed by the ruling party and its affiliates.
Look at these humanoid war machines that are made in India
Did you think having a unified India came without cons?
The Yogi meme was funny because the character looks like him, nothing else. There were several other memes like that at the time (where they compared his looks to Vin Diesel).
Yogi Adityanath, anime-fied, becomes Saitama from One Punch Man
Most of the memes are, however, merely a fusion of anime and Hindu- or nationalism-oriented themes, without any sort of political agenda in mind.
Well, it was technically a joint India-Japan production
Lord Krishna, the ultimate harem anime protagonist
We also asked him what drives up the number of likes.
“There are usually spikes (in the number of followers) when I post videos. The last video (below) I posted gave me almost 2-2.5k new likes.”
And are there any netizens offended by the content? “I think I’ve seen a couple of people saying a couple of memes have crossed a line, but if I shall generalize, I haven’t REALLY offended anyone yet (from what I’ve read in the comments and in my inbox.)”
Interestingly, the handle of the page is Hindu Waifu, a reference to the waifu (wife) ideals propagated on the imageboard 4chan, generally considered as the birthplace of most memes on the internet, but not very well known, or generally shunned, because of the rampant trolling that takes place there.
The page administrator freely admitted to having “lurked” on the anime, random, and paranormal boards on the site. The comments, too, indicate that quite a few page frequenters are well versed with 4chan slang. In fact, the cover page macro itself borrows from a dialogue form popular on the site.
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