Devilman Crybaby’s hypnotic theme is YouTube’s new favorite meme

Devilman Crybaby is Netflix’s new anime that immediately captured our attention, and that of just about every memester on YouTube.

Dubbed “When the Devilman theme comes on,” the joke uses Devilman Crybaby’s catchy theme and mashes it up with older videos of people performing ridiculous dances. It’s almost like a hall of mirrors: a never-ending sea of videos we’ve seen before, but distorted just enough to make them seem entirely new. There are clips from TV shows, anime series and movies, like Night at the Roxbury, Friends and My Hero Academia, and other moments from popular internet videos of years past. A few of my personal favorites are collected below.

Devilman Crybaby’s theme is actually is a remix of “Devilman no Uta,” the theme for the original Devilman series that ran from 1972-73. The version used in Devilman Crybaby is performed by Queen Bee’s Avu-chan and arranged by composer Kensuke Ushio. It has quickly caught on with fans, who have been tweeting about the hypnotic track ever since Devilman Crybaby premiered on Jan. 5.

Devilman Crybaby follows a teenage boy named Akira, who is turned into a demon after a fateful night out at a club with his best friend. The show tracks Akira’s journey as a demon, touching upon themes of toxic masculinity, friendship, first relationships and ambitious dreams. The show has been well-received by critics, with The Verge dubbing it unforgettable.

The meme started about a week ago, just after Devilman Crybaby’s debut, and it’s likely to grow as more people discover the series.

All of Devilman Crybaby is available to stream on Netflix.