There was no scream, there was no uncontrolled celebration, there was not a single expression of surprise. After the historic win 4-0 Japan on Tunisia In the 2026 World Cup, all eyes went towards the bench, specifically towards the impassive face of the coach Hajime Moriyasu, who unleashed the favorite meme of the anime fandom: the “Death Note Coach“.
What happened to Hajime Moriyasu during the match?
While the players of Japan They celebrated a strong result, moriyasu He kept himself with an expression of absolute poker, showing no signs of surprise or euphoria. That reaction—or rather, that total absence of reaction, was enough for fans to immediately relive the meme that had previously made it viral: the comparison with Light Yagami, the protagonist of Death Note, known for its calculating expression and its ability to anticipate exactly how events would unfold.
According to the jokes that circulated on networks, the coach did not seem surprised by the result, rather he seemed to be simply verifying that everything had gone as he had planned from the beginning.
Why was the victory against Tunisia so important?
Beyond the meme, the result itself had considerable weight within the tournament. Japan delivered a dominant performance within the framework of the historic 1,000th match in the history of the World Cup, with Ayase Ueda Scoring two goals, consolidating another important step of the team within the competition.
Why did anime fans connect so much with this moment?
For the anime fan community, the real story behind this match was not just the sporting outcome, but the reaction, or not reaction, of moriyasu. The comparison with the universe of Death Note It resonates particularly well because it captures something very specific about the original character’s charisma: the feeling that everything that happens was already calculated beforehand, without the need for any visible sign of surprise or doubt.
These types of crosses between anime culture and live sport have become more and more common during the 2026 World Cup, where the fan community constantly finds parallels between the moments of the tournament and characters or anime situations they already know well, generating a type of shared humor that connects to two communities that normally do not cross.
A meme that already has its own history
that the fandom has “brought back” the meme suggests that this is not the first time that the expression of moriyasu Generate this type of comparison during the tournament. Every time the coach maintains the same unfazed attitude in the face of important results, the “Death Note Coach” joke seems to reactivate with renewed force among fans who follow both football and anime.
