About

Za Warudo is a Japanese phrase meaning "The World" and is a memorable catchphrase used by the character Dio Brando from the manga and anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The character says the phrase, as well as his battle cry "Wryyyy," whenever he uses his Stand, or manifestation of power, which stops time and allows him to throw large objects. Both terms and moves became a source of parodies, mostly associated with inverse colors pictures, as a reference to the Stand time stopping abilities.

Origin

"The World" first appeared on chapter 248 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, released on December 16th, 1991, where Dio Brando uses its powers to move Polnareff through stairs.^[1][8] In 1993 and 1994, a series of OVAs adapting the last part of Stardust Crussaders was released, with the last one released on November 18th, 1994. On the episode, Dio Brando pronunces "The World" as "Za Warudo" (shown below, left and right).

In 1998, an arcade fighting videogame featuring JoJo characters was released on Japan. Dio's super move included him stopping the time, throwing two sets of knives, and falling with a steamroller while hitting and destroying it.

無駄だ！ (MUDA DA!) – It’s useless!
無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄無駄！ (MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!) -USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS! (Used here as a war cry)
ザ・ワールド！ (ZA WARUDO!) – THE WORLD!
時よ止まれ！ (Toki yo tomare!) – Stop, time!
くらえ！ (KURAE!) – TAKE THAT!
そして、時は動き出す。 (Soshite, toki wa ugoki dasu.) – And now, time flows again.

Spread

Because the series was a big hit in Japan, fans in the in the country shared memes and tributes online. One of these animations, involving stick figures, is called "mudah.swf."^[2] The video This is where the meme first originated (mirror below). The animation was made by a Japanese user qwerqwer1234^[3]. The original posting date is unknown.^[4]

It became popular enough on the Japanese web to be referenced again in 2005 on another website. The link was also referenced on StumbleUpon^[5] that same year, as a "good flash animation." In March 2006, qwerqwer1234 himself joined Albinos Blacksheep^[6] and Newgrounds.^[7] One month later, he posted the video.

Due to the profusion of various destruction effects that can be seen as comical to some extends, considering the simple idea of pummeling someone with a steamroller appearing out of nowhere, the meme became sort of a visual depiction of the owned/pwned meme.

The popularity of the meme continued throughout the next two decades. For example, on June 19th, 2015, YouTuber World Class posted "DIO ZA WARUDO compilation." The post received more than 10 million views in less than six years (shown below, left).

Three years later, YouTuber h_raze posted a Google Nest commercial parody that features the phrase and animation. The post received more than 1 million views in less than three years (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Additional Resources

• WRYY Blog

External References