What Does This Mean?
壁ドン (kabedon, "wall slam") is a Japanese term for the romantic scene or gesture in which one person, classically a man, presses a hand against a wall next to another person, usually a woman, and leans in close so that she is boxed in. It became a staple of shojo manga and romance media and a playful joke gesture. Its older senses are banging on a wall to protest a noisy neighbour, and punching a wall in frustration at romantic scenes.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The drama's biggest scene was a classic 壁ドン, and viewers imitated it as a joke for weeks.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Japanese Wikipedia lists three senses: pounding a wall at a noisy neighbour, anime-fan slang for punching a wall at romantic scenes or happy couples, and the romance gesture, which is the dominant modern sense. It says the romance sense is often traced to 2008, when voice actress Yoshiko Shintani presented it as a moe situation, and that it spread through Ayu Watanabe's shojo manga L-DK and its 2014 film adaptation, though sources differ on the trigger. It was in the top ten of the 2014 U-CAN New Words and Buzzwords Awards. Related patterns include 顎クイ (lifting someone's chin) and 床ドン.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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