About

Girugamesh (Japanese: ギルガメッシュ Girugamesshu) is the name of a Japanese metal band, which was derived from the ancient Sumerian king Gilgamesh.^[1] On the web, Girugamesh now refers to an internet meme that sprang out of a web commercial made for the 2009 Sakura-Con, an annual anime convention in Seattle.^[2] In the 30-sec promo taking place at a sushi bar, a brief-second appearance of a man in gothic attire stood out as highly exploitable.

Dressed in Hot Topic-like fashion, the young man awkwardly shouts the name of his favorite Japanese metal band, Girugamesh, which happens to be the Engrish pronunciation of Gilgamesh.

Spread

4chan is believed to be the earliest host of "Girugamesh" screen captures, but they were often used to spam the boards, with only the Girugamesh image macros appearing on an entire page. The rapid-fire use of the image has calmed, however it is still occasionally used to spam /b/.

On YouTube, many parodies and reposts exist:

Sparta Techno Remix:

Clash on the Big Bridge Remix:

Slowed Down & Pixelated:

Google Trends

As the graph suggests, search traffic of "Girugamesh" spiked noticeably following the upload of Sakura-con commercial in April 2009.

External References