Memes

The origins of the ‘Atakichi No Eleven Redraws’ meme

How a screenshot from a fifty-year old anime sparked a wave of creativity throughout French Twitter.

Photo of Mike Hadge

Mike Hadge

Akakichi no Eleven Redraws

The Akakichi no Eleven Redraws meme, (aka the Hand On Shoulder meme), refers to a popular internet trend where artists redraw a specific scene from the 1970s soccer-based anime Akakichi no Eleven, but modify it in various humorous or creative ways.

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The frame features two characters, a man with a large chin placing his hand on the shoulder of another (whose back is to the viewer), with the pose suggesting emotions like sympathy, reassurance, or confrontation.

According to Know Your Meme, the meme blew up among French Twitter/X users in late 2023 as a reaction image. It was sourced in early 2024, which led to artists creating “redraws” of the scene, replacing the original characters with characters from other fandoms, often using the same pose but changing the context or expressions to suit their particular spin.

Akakichi no eleven redraw meme initial post
X/latour0_
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Meme basics

  • Meme creator: Unknown
  • Meme type: Reaction image
  • First appearance: X user @latour0_
  • Origin source: Akakichi no Eleven
  • Used to convey: Reassurance, friendship
  • Peak popularity: November 1-7, 2020

Meme template

Akakichi no eleven redraw meme template
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Origin and spread

According to KYM, On January 5th, 2024, Twitter user @FullSaphir announced that they had looked into the frame’s origins and discovered it was from the soccer anime Akakichi no Eleven.  

Akakichi no Eleven, which was based on a popular manga, debuted as a TV series on Nippon Television on April 13, 1970, and ran for fifty-two episodes.

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Popularity

Akakichi no Eleven redraws began to appear on social media in January 2024, with user @fh4dr sharing a redraw on Twitter featuring Dragon Ball characters. Redraws swapped characters from other anime fandoms, such as Attack on Titan and Naruto characters.

Akakichi no eleven redraw meme Dragon Ball variation
X/fh4dr
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Akakichi no eleven redraw meme Attack on Titan variation
X/fh4dr
Akakichi no eleven redraw meme anime variation
X/fh4dr

Recent use and variations

In May 2024, Reddit user u/C_h_i_m_e_r_a posted a version of the meme featuring characters from the comedic anime series Gintama.

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Akakichi no Eleven Redraw variation using gintama anime characters
X/fh4dr

A thread posted in the subreddit r/TopCharacterDesigns in July 2024 by u/Popular_Ad3074 kicked off a flood of redraws, including variations with characters from Sonic, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Spider-Man.

Akakichi no Eleven Redraws meme sonic variation
This_Weeb_is_ded/Reddit
spider man Akakichi no eleven redraw meme
This_Weeb_is_ded/Reddit
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Akakichi no Eleven Redraws meme garden warfare variation
This_Weeb_is_ded/Reddit

More meme examples 

Akakichi no eleven redraw meme Dragon Ball variation
X/@DItteki
Akakichi no eleven redraw meme Evangelion variation
X/@DItteki
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Akakichi no eleven redraw meme of One Piece by ManMarkedByFlames
Reddit/ManMarkedByFlames
Akakichi no eleven redraw meme Gojo version by FishComplex6549
Reddit/ManMarkedByFlames
Akakichi no eleven redraw meme toga anime variation
Reddit/ManMarkedByFlames
Akakichi no eleven redraw meme number 4 reddit
Reddit
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Akakichi no eleven redraw meme anime by AngryTastesOk
Reddit

More anime memes:

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