Death Note
Death Note is very popular crime/suspense manga, with an anime adaption in 2007, revolving around the main character Light Yagami's use of the titular magic notebook, which he can use to kill anyone so long as he knows their name and face. Both versions are pretty much required viewing/reading on /a/, if only to bitch about Light's alleged homosexual tendencies. It is mostly known for its ludicrously elaborate and complex "mind battles" between the main characters. Also contains moe (and at times surprisingly GAR) detective L, and is known for its epic scenes (especially in the earlier episodes of the anime), including but not limited to epic writing, epic hug, and epic potato chip eating. Another prominent character, the death god Ryuk, surprisingly has not spawned any memes despite basically being a /b/tard who does everything for the lulz. Also surprising is that no memes resulted from the Yotsuba Group, a group of corrupt businessmen who temporarily gain access to the Death Note and share the name of 4chan's mascot.
Just as Planned
Line translated from a Death Note manga scanslation, uttered by Light Yagami after he recieves all of his lost memories back prior to relieving himself of the Death Note. Universally considered to be very funny, given the outrageous foresight necessary for Light's far-reaching plan to evade L would only be possible in a Japanese manga. One of the most popular memes on /a/, and the only original meme relating to Death Note. Most commonly used with the panel it came from, featuring Light sporting an evil grin while wearing the headset of a helicopter copilot, but also accompanied by Light's smirk when he killed L (warning: LADIES). An extremely flexible meme, Just as Planned can seemingly apply to virtually any situation involving a "win", contributing to its popularity. Just as Planned images were flooded relentlessly on during a brief period of excitement surrounding the release of the anime episode containing the immortal phrase, though there was much rage when all of the subbers who were still handling Death Note at the time translated the meme incorrectly. This lead to a campaign of mockery, spam and trolling on /a/ and on the blog and IRC channels of said subbers, which died down after a day or two.
Due to the fansubber faggotry, it has becoome common to "bastardize" Just as Planned through various other (correct) variations on the translation, like "Just like I planned" and "All following my plan". The most popular twist is "Just according to keikaku" or "keikaku doorii", combining Just as Planned with the Translator's Note meme.
"Just as Planned" has expanded to some other boards, particularly /tg/, whose immense Warhammer 40K following has latched onto the phrase for the Chaos God Tzeentch, whose existence revolves around nothing but excessively complicated plans just like Light's.
Justice will Prevail!
LADIES
A Death Note spoiler meme, see image. Similar memes spawned were DADDIES, REMEDIES, MELODIES, and LIGHTS OUT. The night when the anime episode containing the event aired and /a/ predictably went nuts over it is now known as "LADIES NIGHT".
LIGHT WAS RIGHT
Minor (possibly forced) meme spawned by fans who felt Light's eventual comeuppance was unjust, especially at the hands of the meddling child, Nate River. There is a widespread hate for Near and the SPK, although a small but dedicated following of Nearfags who can't resist his delicious shota wiles defend him staunchly. Many fans however stayed neutral in the dispute, hating both Light and Near (the former for killing L and the latter for being such an unworthy successor). Predecessor of memes such as ROSSIU LIED, PEOPLE DIED, the rarely seen LELOUCHE WAS A DOUCHE and the more common OUGI LIED, ROLO DIED.
SAKUJYO
In the second half of the show, Light sends his Death Note to an untrustworthy prosecutor to carry on the killings in his stead. In a dramatic fashion when this was revealed, Mikami, the new Kira, delightfully "executes/terminates" (or "delete", as per the official translation) the bad people on television. Mikami continues his frantic and orgasmic killings until the day of the swimming lessons, when he unsuccessfully tries to kill everybody only to find out that his Death Note is a fake.
In gleeful 4chan fashion, all the gifs of his killings spread image macros of Mikami's deeds such as SAKUJYOSAKUJYOSAKUJYO, SOCCERJOE, and I FUCKING LOVE COLORING. Mikami is also responsible for the phrase "YOU ARE NOT GOD" even though this was not shown in the anime.
Swimming Lessons
Refers to Light's death at the end of Death Note. Comes from a popular edit of the relevant manga pages in which Light is shown to be flailing around in a swimming pool telling the people around him how to swim (as opposed to flailing around in a pool of his own blood begging for his life). Also briefly used to refer to the possible death/defeat of Lelouch, the protagonist Code Geass:Lelouche of the Rebellion, a character who had many parallels to Light (both are geniuses who receive special powers that they use to try to change the world, it can be debated whether or not either of them are good or evil, both can be batshit insane and both are subjects of a number of yaoi doujins, etc). But in the end, unlike Light, the guy did get to pull off one last JUST AS PLANNED.
Zac Efron
Movie star famous for starring in Disney's High School Musical. Often referenced for having an uncanny resemblance to Light including his hair, clothes and his sinister looking smirk.
