When it comes to western-made anime, fans often look at shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender as success stories. The medium may be rooted in Japan, but that doesn't mean anime is meant just for local creators. If you ask the Internet, anime can be done by anyone at anytime, and the proof of that lies with King of the Hill.
No, really — King of the Hill has a hilarious anime connection that is growing even after all these years.
For those of you who are confused, King of the Hill is an animated sitcom from Fox. The all-American show follows the Hill family as the Texan brood lives a mundane middle-class life, but the anime fandom has all but adopted the show. The sitcom may not have any Ki blasts or fancy ninja tools, but it does have the backing of an avid anime fandom. And, if you head to social media, you will find people singing the praises of King of the Hill's so-called anime cred.
If this whole phenomenon sounds strange to you, then you need to know this fan-made connection isn't a new thing. King of the Hill and anime go way back; In fact, the first crossovers of the sitcom date back to the early 2010s. Attack on Titan and Naruto were some of the first anime titles to meme up King of the Hill, and the fandom grew to accept the sitcom into their fold as a sort of joke.
However, that joke is still thriving. By the way some fans talk about Hank Hill, you would think he trained Jiren or something.
Just check out the slides below, and you can see how King of the Hill is being brought into the anime fandom. Over on Twitter, the anime fandom thrives off the long-running meme, and Youtube mash-ups are all too common. King of the Hill has been transposed on everything from Dragon Ball Super to Pokemon, and the trend doesn't seem like it is slated to stop. So, if you haven't accepted Hank Hill as your top anime protagonist, it's about time you added King of the Hill to your MyAnimeList.
Is this one of your top anime memes? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!?