If you’ve frequented any Japanese anime or gaming sites, you may have seen a picture similar to the one above. Then you think to yourself, what is the big deal with these guys? I was also curious about that as well, so I decided to do a little research and found out the above pic has been dubbed, “Gaijin 4-Koma”. To break it down, Gaijin means “foreigner” in Japanese and 4-koma (or “Yonkoma”) means “4 Cell”, which is a Japanese comic strip format consisting of 4 panels read from top to bottom (normally used for comedy/humour strips). Other names for the popular pics are the “Reaction Guys” or the “IGN Dudes”. The popular meme started on 4Chan consists of two photographs of one group of IGN reporters reacting to different exhibits at a video game convention, which show different degrees of excitement. The meme typically shows the IGN staff as staring calmly at one photograph or scene, and then shouting with excitement at either an interesting development from the first scene, or something else that’s much more interesting.

There have definitely been some creative uses of the pics and many funny versions of the Gaijin 4-koma can be found on various sites such as this and this. I’m sure this has absolutely spread throughout the Internet and is easily recognized by many gamers and geeks alike. I wonder if these four guys can capitalize on this photo and collect on royalties? You never know!

-Stephen