About
King of the Hill Is Anime refers to memes and discourse about the American animated series King of the Hill being an anime series, despite not being produced in Japan and not featuring a typical anime style. The idea that King of the Hill is an anime likely stems from the show’s popularity in Japan, with “subs vs. dubs” debates purportedly being common among the show’s Japanese fans. Memes about King of the Hill being an anime series date back to as early as 2012, when art crossing the show over with well-known anime series started spreading online. Memes on the topic became increasingly popularized throughout the 2010s and 2020s, with the August 2025 revival of the series giving a boost to the memes.
Origin
On February 10th, 2011, DeviantArt user Garth2The2ndPower posted a piece of art depicting King of the Hill characters Hank Hill, Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive and Boomhauer as the anime characters Goku, Naruto, Ichigo and Luffy, respectively, garnering over 32,000 views and 1,300 favorites in 14 years. This is the earliest known piece of art to crossover King of the Hill and anime.
Purportedly, King of the Hill is notably popular in Japan for its depiction of life in Texas, with fans often debating whether it’s better to watch the show with the Japanese dub or the subtitles.
Spread
Crossover art between King of the Hill and various anime series became increasingly popularized online over the following years, leading to discussions and memes about the show being an anime.
On November 23rd, 2012, u/NonExistent posted a screenshot of a 4chan post to the /r/KingoftheHill subreddit, placing the artwork by Garth2The2ndPower next to imagined dialogue between the men referencing the anime characters they’re portraying, garnering about 70 upvotes in 13 years.
In 2013, artist Steve Yurko published a piece of art depicting the same King of the Hill characters, plus Bobby Hill and Dusty, as Sailor Moon characters.
In December of that year, OtakuJournalist published a blog post claiming King of the Hill as the “most popular anime of the year,” discussing and sharing examples of the crossover art.
On August 9th, 2017, Instagram user cobaltalh posted a video edit taking King of the Hill footage and framing it like an anime series, garnering around 40 likes in eight years.
On August 14th, YouTuber Nineball posted an edit titled “king of the hill is my favorite anime” inspired by the Instagram post of a scene from the King of the Hill episode, “Livin’ on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane,” where Hank reverses a truck backward down a dangerous mountain road, editing it to resemble an anime series, garnering over 3.9 million views in eight years.
On April 17th, 2019, YouTuber Gamblor posted an edit that mashes up King of the Hill with the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme song titled, “Propane Genesis Evangelion – King of the Hill Anime OP,” garnering over 3 million views in six years.
On December 10th, Medium user Les posted an article titled, “The Short Case Against King of The Hill Being the Greatest Anime of All Time.”
On September 15th, 2024, X user @ShitpostRock posted a clip of the Japanese dub of King of the Hill, writing, “The funniest thing about the whole Dubbed/Subbed anime discourse is that the Japanese themselves have been arguing for years if King of The Hill is better watched Dubbed or Subbed,” garnering over 12,000 likes in a year.
The funniest thing about the whole Dubbed/Subbed anime discourse is that the Japanese themselves have been arguing for years if King of The Hill is better watched Dubbed or Subbed
We really are not so diffrent pic.twitter.com/KV8CmxsWiP
— Rock solid (@ShitpostRock) September 15, 2024
On July 25th, 2025, IGN posted a clip on X where they ask Mike Judge, creator of the series, if King of the Hill is an anime, to which he answers, “Sure, why not,” then claims he likes a lot of anime.
Is King of the Hill an anime? Mike Judge weighs in: #SDCC pic.twitter.com/dGgPmd8It6
— IGN (@IGN) July 26, 2025
On August 7th, 2025, X user @HubPointless posted, in reference to the 2025 revival of King of the Hill, which features an eight-year time jump, King of the Hill is one of the few animes where a time skip actually worked,” garnering over 135,000 likes in four days.
On August 8th, X user @RaihanH98 quoted the post, writing, “Having the actress voicing the kid also played that same kid but as an adult is the most anime move King of the Hill has ever done,” garnering over 253,000 likes in three days.
Later that day, X user @RABtoons posted an edit of the poster for the 2025 season of King of the Hill reading, “King of the Hill Shipuuden,” a reference to Naruto Shippuden, a sequel series to Naruto featuring a significant time jump, garnering over 115,000 likes in three days.
Various Examples
