原神牛逼 (Genshin Is Awesome — Naruto Edition)
yuán shén niú bī
What it means
A screenshot of Itachi Uchiha from Naruto with the caption 'Genshin is awesome' became 2026's first viral meme. The joke is that Itachi is a master of illusions — and everyone repeating this meme looks like they're under a genjutsu (illusion technique).
The deeper story
The first meme of 2026 was a masterpiece of cross-universe absurdity.
What happened
Someone took a screenshot of Itachi Uchiha — a character from Naruto known for his mastery of illusions (genjutsu) — and captioned it with "原神牛逼" (Genshin Impact is awesome). The image spread like wildfire across Douyin, WeChat, and Bilibili.
The joke has layers:
Soon, the format spread to other characters. Naruto, Sasuke, even characters from other anime were given the same treatment. The meme chain would go:
Why it worked
The meme was the perfect 2026 opener because it required zero context. You don't need to know Naruto or Genshin to find it funny. The absurdity of a serious anime character earnestly praising a video game transcended all fandoms.
Related slang
How to use it
Sending "原神牛逼" with a random anime screenshot was a signal in January 2026 that you were in on the joke. The worse the Photoshop, the funnier the meme.
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