Japanizing Beam

2017image macrodeclining

Published August 14, 2026

Japanizing Beam is a three-panel image macro built around Ultraman Tiga firing a laser that transforms any character or object into an anime-style Japanese girl. It started on Twitter in January 2017 and blew up on Know Your Meme that February, spawning national variants like Americanizing Beam and Indianizing Beam.

exploitable templatesmulti panel memesanime mangastereotype memes2017 memes

Overview

Japanizing Beam is a three-panel comic template that jokes about the way Japanese media tends to redesign foreign characters, mythological figures, or everyday objects as cute anime girls3. The top panel shows the original subject, the middle panel shows Ultraman Tiga from the Ultra series firing a laser with the caption 'Japanizing Beam!', and the bottom panel reveals the anime-style Japanese version.

The gag rests on the assumption that anything, from Aztec gods to inanimate objects, can be rendered as a moe schoolgirl once Japan gets its hands on it. The format shares DNA with the #UpgradeChallenge, another three-panel setup where a middle-panel change transforms the subject.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (source) / Know Your Meme (viral spread)
Creator
@IsMaGuzHer
Date
2017

The first Japanizing Beam post went up on Twitter on January 31, 2017 from user @IsMaGuzHer1. That original didn't use Ultraman Tiga yet, it simply paired Aztec feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl with Lucoa, his anime-girl counterpart from the series Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid1.

The Ultraman version arrived on February 22, 2017 when Know Your Meme user Adept Samuel uploaded an edit that added the middle panel of Ultraman firing the Japanizing Beam laser3. That template is the one that took off across the site.

How It Spread

In the two weeks after Adept Samuel's upload, Know Your Meme users flooded the site with dozens of Japanizing Beam edits3. National variants started appearing almost immediately, including Americanizing Beam and Indianizing Beam, applying the same three-panel gag to different cultural stereotypes.

The template jumped to other meme aggregators soon after. Memecenter picked up its own Japanizing Beam tag6, and on February 27, 2017 the anime Facebook page Tohsaka's Cave Explorers posted early examples to its followers5. Indonesian humor site Keepo.me published a roundup of 17 Japanizing Beam edits on March 1, 2017 that pulled in over 4,000 views2.

Reddit was a slower burn. On March 5, 2017, user aRandomDudeOntheNet posted a Japanizing Beam variation to r/MemeEconomy, but the post never picked up much traction4.

How to Use This Meme

Making a Japanizing Beam edit is a fill-in-the-blank exercise. Pick any character, object, or figure for the top panel, keep the middle panel of Ultraman Tiga firing the beam with the 'Japanizing Beam!' caption intact, and drop in the anime-style Japanese reinterpretation for the bottom panel. Variants typically swap the middle-panel country to fit an alternate target, so an American flag with 'Americanizing Beam!' or an Indian setup with 'Indianizing Beam!' works the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Japanizing Beam

2017image macrodeclining

Published August 14, 2026

Japanizing Beam is a three-panel image macro built around Ultraman Tiga firing a laser that transforms any character or object into an anime-style Japanese girl. It started on Twitter in January 2017 and blew up on Know Your Meme that February, spawning national variants like Americanizing Beam and Indianizing Beam.

exploitable templates multi panel memes anime manga stereotype memes 2017 memes

Overview

Japanizing Beam is a three-panel comic template that jokes about the way Japanese media tends to redesign foreign characters, mythological figures, or everyday objects as cute anime girls3. The top panel shows the original subject, the middle panel shows Ultraman Tiga from the Ultra series firing a laser with the caption 'Japanizing Beam!', and the bottom panel reveals the anime-style Japanese version.

The gag rests on the assumption that anything, from Aztec gods to inanimate objects, can be rendered as a moe schoolgirl once Japan gets its hands on it. The format shares DNA with the #UpgradeChallenge, another three-panel setup where a middle-panel change transforms the subject.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (source) / Know Your Meme (viral spread)
Creator
@IsMaGuzHer
Date
2017

The first Japanizing Beam post went up on Twitter on January 31, 2017 from user @IsMaGuzHer1. That original didn't use Ultraman Tiga yet, it simply paired Aztec feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl with Lucoa, his anime-girl counterpart from the series Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid1.

The Ultraman version arrived on February 22, 2017 when Know Your Meme user Adept Samuel uploaded an edit that added the middle panel of Ultraman firing the Japanizing Beam laser3. That template is the one that took off across the site.

How It Spread

In the two weeks after Adept Samuel's upload, Know Your Meme users flooded the site with dozens of Japanizing Beam edits3. National variants started appearing almost immediately, including Americanizing Beam and Indianizing Beam, applying the same three-panel gag to different cultural stereotypes.

The template jumped to other meme aggregators soon after. Memecenter picked up its own Japanizing Beam tag6, and on February 27, 2017 the anime Facebook page Tohsaka's Cave Explorers posted early examples to its followers5. Indonesian humor site Keepo.me published a roundup of 17 Japanizing Beam edits on March 1, 2017 that pulled in over 4,000 views2.

Reddit was a slower burn. On March 5, 2017, user aRandomDudeOntheNet posted a Japanizing Beam variation to r/MemeEconomy, but the post never picked up much traction4.

How to Use This Meme

Making a Japanizing Beam edit is a fill-in-the-blank exercise. Pick any character, object, or figure for the top panel, keep the middle panel of Ultraman Tiga firing the beam with the 'Japanizing Beam!' caption intact, and drop in the anime-style Japanese reinterpretation for the bottom panel. Variants typically swap the middle-panel country to fit an alternate target, so an American flag with 'Americanizing Beam!' or an Indian setup with 'Indianizing Beam!' works the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions