If you've seen clips from the cutesy slice-of-life anime K-On!, racism is probably the last thing that comes to mind. The Japanese cartoon may feature a cast of homogenous-looking and fair-skinned anime school girls, but the art style is more emblematic of anime as a genre than it is Nazi-level eugenics.

But that hasn't stopped some K-On! observers and some K-On! fans from taking a vague observation to its memetic extreme. Here's where jokes that say K-On! Fans Are Racist originated.

What Is 'K-On!'?

K-On! is a Japanese anime that ran from 2007 to 2010. It featured a cast of five high school girls who joined their school's music club to prevent it from being disbanded. The show follows the girls as they learn to play various instruments and strengthen their bonds with each other.

As is typical of "slice of life" style animes in a school setting, K-On! does not delve deep into societal issues or touch upon controversial topics of race.

Where Did 'K-On! Fans Are Racist' Jokes Originate?

While it is unclear where jokes about K-On! and Nazism first arose, the earliest known fan art depicting the anime alongside the ideology emerged in the form of a 2010 post by prikkSG1 on the art-sharing platform DeviantArt. By 2016, images showing the cast photoshopped into a photo of Hitler appeared on iFunny, in the form of a post by KidSquid_Marie.

How Did Jokes About 'K-On!' Fans Evolve Over The Years?

A mix of casual observations and deep sartorial online posting deepened the lore behind the K-On! racism meme in the late 2010s. A 4chan post showing a person theorizing about how K-On! is set in an alternate universe where the Axis won WWII (despite nothing in the anime indicating this) was shared in the year 2016.

It was around this time that more internet users began to talk about how rude anime fans on the internet supposedly often had a K-On! profile picture. The strange juxtaposition between such cutesy imagery and the idea of fascism was greatly amusing to various internet users, and thus, K-On! Racism memes continue to spread online.

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For the full history of the K-On! Fans Are Racist meme, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.