When speaking of trends and trending hashtags or words, they can blow up overnight or maintain a running streak for much longer than anyone could anticipate. ‘Tis the way of the internet, I suppose. When it comes to anime or any other globally popular Japanese media, trends between the United States and Japan can overlap. But what about the exclusively Japanese trends we may never see due to recommendation algorithms? One Japanese social media consultant agency, SNS Manager, did all the heavy lifting and sifted through the most trending Japanese buzzwords on social media for quarter three of 2022.
SNS Manager aggregates buzzwords by “targeting SNS media such as Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, we select the most popular words in the last three months.” Thanks to their hard work of data ranking, we can witness the most trendy anime, music, and pop culture phenomena straight from Japan.
“SNS buzzword ranking” presented by SNS Manager announced the 2022 final winners in each category on Tuesday, December 20th. Now, let’s explore the highest-ranked Japanese social media trends!
Highest trending anime and manga
This year was an exciting year for anime and manga. Each season delighted fans across the board. One pink-haired girl stole all of our hearts: Anya Forger! SPY×FAMILY officially took the top spot for the highest trending buzzword in the anime and manga category. The series took the ninth spot in the rankings top 10.
As it stands, the hashtag “アーニャ” (katakana for Anya) has over 1.5 billion views on TikTok. SNS writes, “Anya, is popular for her unique language called “Anya”, cute gestures, and being able to read minds.”
Unsurprisingly Chainsaw Man ranked second and in third place is the new official Twitter account for Hunter x Hunter creator “Yoshihiro Togashi Twitter.”
1st place SPY×FAMILY
2nd place chainsaw man
3rd place Yoshihiro Togashi Twitter
Most popular cultural trend
https://twitter.com/IVE_twt/status/1468194193223086084?s=20&t=trm9NzN-OhH6lz1Ize6IOw
The Comiket doujinshi con celebrated its 100th show this summer, hitting this special milestone in its 47th year. Also in the running for the most cultural trend is the infamous “Gal Peace” also known as “Galpi” — an upside down and inside-out peace sign coined in the gyaru community and brought to a wider, KPop-loving audience by Rei of IVE. Cosmopolitan Japan writes, “the [galpi’s] momentum is approaching the popularity of the popular “finger heart”.”
1st place Comiket, C100
2nd place Gal Peace, Galpi
3rd place Korean wave, immigration to Korea
Most popular music or idol
Speaking of idols and KPop, it may not be surprising that the KPop group BLACKPINK took first place in the music and idol category. But notably, Travis Japan made the top three after auditioning on America’s Got Talent and signing on with Capital Music.
1st place BLACKPINK
2nd place Otose Thunder Inazuma
3rd place Travis Japan
Most popular dance
Never in my life did I expect to be watching “What Does the Fox Say” 10 years later. But I guess they say “never say never.” The cheerleaders of the Fighters baseball team interrupted the Internet with their dance routine to the Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis’ 2013 song. The dance spread across social media known as the “fox dance,” and people went cuckoo for it. The hashtag “キツネダンス” (katakana for Kitsune Dance) placed the cheery (goofy?) routine first in its category.
If anything is true, it’s a must-watch at least once.
1st place fox dance
2nd place Chiguhagu
3rd place jumbore mickey
What trending Japanese buzzword did you find most interesting? You can see all category winners here if you want to take a deep dive.