Truck-kun just doing its job.
- Truck-kun did it again Explanation Sakura is rammed by a truck in the first minutes of the very first episode. Viewers didn't take long to bring up the figure of "Truck-kun", a Western anime fan term for the plot device of being hit by a truck while crossing the street to plausibly kill or incapacitate a character in a modern setting.
- I can't believe they tricked me into watching an idol anime Explanation The trailer and promotional material for the series made it look like the series would be a Survival Horror zombie anime involving a group of girls in the same vein of series like Highschool of the Dead or School-Live!. To the surprise of many, the first episode revealed that the series is actually a Horror Comedy about a group of undead idols.
- "THE LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE!" Explanation Episode 1 contains a gag in which Kotaro hammily introduces Tae as such three times in a row, each time refusing to say what makes her so "legendary" compared to the other zombies, who were at least given titles and explanations for what made them "legends" in life. Fans have since taken to addressing her by the entire title and saying every little thing Tae does is worthy of being called "legendary".
- What if she's just like that? Explanation Given Tae still hasn't "woken up" yet, fan speculation about her actual personality and what makes her legendary has run wild, eventually culminating in some fans wondering if Tae actually has woken up and her bizarre behavior is just how she acts normally.
- The (Adjective) (Character Name)! Explanation A snowclone meme of the above, usually relating to antics of the other characters. Occasionally one will stick and become its own meme, see below.
- The only rapper Eminem is afraid to diss Explanation Due to how effective Sakura's method of turning a The Reason You Suck speech (against Saki) into a rap turned out to be, viewers have associated her Battle Rapping performance with this existing meme, claiming that she could be a good matchup for the famous rapper.
- "EPIC RAP BATTLES OF HISTORY! SAKURA MINAMOTO! VERSUS! SAKI NIKAIDOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU! BEGIN!" and "WHO WON? WHO'S NEXT? YOU DECIDE!" Explanation The sudden and unexpected appearance of a rap battle in Episode 2 has led to some viewers applying the Catch Phrases of the announcer from Epic Rap Battles of History to the scene and acting like it's an episode of that series. The fact that the scene could have easily passed for such also helped.
- "I know there are only two episodes but..." Explanation Fanartists started producing works that starred the zombies remarkably early, with this phrase being a common acknowledgement of the show's Sleeper Hit status.
- Would it be necrophilia? Explanation Fans are conflicted about considering the Franchouchou girls waifu material since, despite their perceived cuteness, they're still technically undead corpses.
- Egg Sakura Explanation After hearing Saki say that Sakura reminded her of her old Tamagotchi due to her supposedly egg-shaped head, 4chan users began referring to Sakura as an egg.
- Zombie Jamboree Explanation in an idol show where the protagonists are zombies why not?
- Several faces the characters make, including Saki's smug face
and Sakura's doubt/disgust face, have instantly become reaction faces. Kotaro spraying Sakura's face is also a very common exploitable image format, while a screenshot from Sakura's rap battle◊ is a popular reference for re-drawing anime characters who are either zombies or rappers. - "Nice Bird." Explanation Kotaro's reaction to seeing the girls' final Drive-In Tori advert is another Gratuitous English phrase that fans memed the hell out of.
- The Fabulous Tatsumi Kotaro! Explanation On the few occasions that we've seen Kotaro shirtless, the camera has focused on his physique and given him bishie sparkles while he washes his hair. Throw in his way with people and, well...
- Yugiri's lap Explanation Yugiri is in a very suggestive pose during the photo session in Episode 6. Inevitably, some people were interested in her legs, and perhaps just as inevitably, some people wondered if they would have a gross smell since she is, you know, dead.
- The Tragic Ai Mizuno Explanation While fans acknowledge that Ai's death was extremely traumatic for both her and everyone watching, they often note in the same breath that being hit by lightning in the middle of a performance is one of the most metal ways to go. Saki herself acknowledges it as legendary, in a sad tone.
- Thanks to the already present Black Comedy the show runs on, Ai's death has given rise to various electric puns: shocking, it hertz a lot, etc. Most people complain that they feel bad for laughing at them.
- Lightning strikes twice! Explanation A lightning strike ended Ai's first career (and life), but when lightning hits Franchouchou, they gain strangely awesome electric powers which they incorporate into a dance on the fly. People have noted the irony that Ai's second bolt of lightning would kickstart her new fame.
- It seems Ai and Lily both died of shock! Explanation Lily died of a massive heart attack (figuratively "dying of shock"), pairing with Ai dying of electrocution (literally "dying of shock").
- Shroom Junko Explanation Junko sits so long in her corner that she starts growing mushrooms out of her skull. The sheer absurdity of the situation is a fan favorite.
- Many of the one word exclamations from the eyecatches have gotten plenty of play, particularly Ai's oddly intense expression accompanying her 'onion...'◊ and Junko's terrified 'BIKUBIKU'◊.
- Lily is Lily. Explanation While Lily being revealed to be transgender did bring out the usual slurs and trolls related to the notion, both defense and support of the character rose just as quickly—especially when the official twitter called out social media users for using offensive terms. 'Lily is Lily' is the general hashtag for such defense and support.
- こんにちわ、、ありがとしました. Explanation A common line relating to The Reveal was baseless accusations of Crunchyroll "tampering" with the translation, despite the accusers knowing little to no Japanese. This attempted "defense" translates roughly to "Hello, Thank You," but its poor grammar rapidly outed the author as not knowing Japanese and it quickly became infamous.
- !? Explanation Whenever Saki or another biker delivers a Death Glare in Episode 9, the !? suddenly pops up on the screen. For extra measure, !! pops up when Saki comes Out of the Inferno after surviving the crash that killed her the first time.
- Saki's sports bra Explanation Saki wears a sports bra in Episode 10 purely for Fanservice, which has become very popular both in fanart and with the fanbase. It's also been paired with Will Smith's "Aw that's hot" meme in Youtube Rewind 2018.
- "Get on the fucking stage, Sakura!" Explanation Crossover with the "Get in the fucking robot Shinji!" meme from Neon Genesis Evangelion, as by Episode 11 she's too depressed to perform and her situation feels similar.
- Every time Junko gets the singing turn, expect the Japanese comments "ここの純子ちゃんのイケボ興奮する"/"Get hyped for Junko's handsome voice" to fill the screen.
- Kotaro's Big Impressive Thing Explanation Kotaro's reasoning for his refusal to give up on Sakura in Episode 11 involves "this real big and impressive... thing!" he has (planned). The phrasing alone is awkward enough, but Sakura's expression◊ really sells the scene (as usual).
- Ai is the catalyst for disaster Explanation It has not gone unnoticed by many fans that, including the events of her own death, some sort of natural disaster befalls her and anyone immediately next to her (Franchouchou) each time she holds an extended singing note with a skyward gesture of her hand.
- Franshikoshiko Explanation The band T-shirts Koutarou orders to promote the group and later sell at events have a font with some weird kerning. Japanese fans pointed out that it looked more like the nonsense word “Franshikoshiko” than Franchouchou. It gets worse when you take note of the fact that “shikoshiko” is a Japanese onomatopoeia for beating the meat. As some western fans have pointed out, the rough equivalent of this in English is misspelling Franchouchou as Fapchouchou.
- Picture of Lily being shown in the British Parliament. Explanation (Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment applies here since the topic is volatile) On May 1st, 2019, a printout of a meme of Lily (this show's resident Transgender girl) with a gun photoshopped to her hand and the text "Shut the fuck up TERF" (TERF means "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist", a group that doesn't recognize trans women as women) was shown as an example of violence on Twitter in the British Human Rights Committee. This move instantly gained wide ridicule over the MP making a big fuss over an anime meme, since pics with photoshopped human hands holding a gun are incredibly normal on the internet. Also the MP claimed that the VSign Lily was showing was Flipping the Bird, ignorant of its meaning in Japan. This fueled a new rise of pictures of Lily with a gun being used against anti-trans and transphobic advocates. Around June 2019, the situation got so convoluted that Twitter started automatically banning users who posted the meme pic in question.
In Universe
- Tae's role as "the crowing girl" from the Drive-In Tori commercial becomes this for Franchuuchuu fans not long after the Gatalympics.
- To be honest, part of Franchuuchuu's appeal may very well be thanks in part to how meme-worthy their antics can get. Between the Saga Rock lightning strike and the Arpine Stage Collapse, the group as a whole likely has a reputation for being a group of Memetic Little Miss Badasses.
