About

Retro Games Sanae/Boomer Sanae refers to an exploitable recaptioning format in which Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project looks at the viewer and asks whether an object or a concept should already be counted as retro.

Origin

On April 30th, 2021, Twitter artist campagne_9^[1] tweeted an image of Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project expressing that the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS consoles are not retro consoles with a concerned look on her face. The tweet has received 56,000 likes and 16,000 retweets in under 3 years (shown below, left). On May 15th, the image was translated in a tweet by Twitter user KangaerunaMiyo^[2], receiving 5,600 likes and 3,400 retweets in under 3 years (Shown below, right).

Spread

Among the retweets, edits gained traction by having different variations of the quote by replacing the relatively older and newer consoles with different items that make Sanae appear old. For example, on November 20th, 2023, artist @seireiart^[3] posted an illustration with Sanae discussing PC operating systems, gaining over 430 retweets and 2,700 likes in one day (shown below, left). On November 19th, user @tuppenjskewer^[4] posted a redraw with Sion Eltnam Atlasia from Melty Blood of the Type-Moon series, gaining over 1,300 retweets and 3,100 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Interaction with Usami Sumireko

In the Touhou canon, Usami Sumireko is a witch from the outside world who tried to destroy Gensokyo because the monsters were being too mean to her for mocking the Gensokyo residents. She later became a frequent visitor of Gensokyo, and would slip into the realm through a mix of astral projection and body swapping. After the spread of the Boomer Sanae meme, some fans joked that Usami's character was a zoomer, while Sanae was seen as a millenial who still holds on to items from the 2000s.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References