The line comes from Dragon Ball Z, where Vegeta reads Goku's rising power level on his scouter and shouts in disbelief that it is over 9000. The English dub moment was clipped, remixed, and shared widely across early YouTube and forums in the mid-2000s, becoming one of anime's most quoted memes. Its appeal has lasted because the number works as a universal exaggeration: anything can be described as over 9000, from a test score to a workout lift, without needing any context from the show itself.