Two legends at what they do, just hanging out.
Although the world is connected like never before, there are still a lot of divisions created by differing cultures and especially languages. Take this tweet by the official Spanish-language KFC account that was posted on 29 September with the caption “Feliz jueves” or “Happy Thursday” in English.
Depending on what language you enjoy spending online with, this tweet will either make perfect sense or be utterly confusing. Here we have KFC founder and mascot Colonel Sanders leaning on a fence next to biomech pilot extraordinaire Asuka. At first, we might assume that as a member of a paramilitary force she was drawn to his rank, but Colonel Sanders never even served as such in the armed forces. So what gives?
The biggest hint is in the caption which is a reference to a Spanish meme that goes way back, in which a motivational animated post was made showing a little girl in a red dress running hurriedly towards the viewer. The Spanish text all around reads, “I’m running over because I want to be the first person to wish you a Happy Thursday!” while some goofy feel-good music plays.
Whether accidental or an intentional bit of subtle subversion, it didn’t take long for fans of Evangelion to recognize that little girl as Asuka. This was made easier because that animation occurred during the infamously dark flashback scene in which she finds the body of her mother who committed suicide.
The extreme juxtaposition of such a heavy tragedy with the whimsical wish of a happy fifth day of the week caught on and Feliz jueves became synonymous with Asuka in meme form. Tons of examples can be found online, such as this cute recreation using Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
But the gag never quite caught on in Japan, so when the KFC tweet was noticed here, it was mostly met with confusion.
“A-Asuka?!”
“Why did they do that?”
“I want a Kentucky-Evangelion collab!”
“Spanish KFC is a big otaku.”
“Is that an official account?”
“I forgot how old Evangelion was until I saw the way she’s drawn, especially the long neck.”
As seen in one of the above comments, many figured this was just another one of the corporate account’s seemingly random bouts of anime fandom, such as this image from last year of Colonel Sanders in the back seat of a car with Chika Fujiwara from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
So next time you see one of anime’s greatest characters in a seemingly inexplicable situation, be sure to check what day it is. Chances are she just came running over to wish you a happy Thursday again.
Source: Twitter/@KFC_ES, My Game News Flash
Top image: Twitter/@KFC_ES
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