Otowakka grew out of the MAD remix culture on Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga in the late 2000s, where editors rebuilt game dialogue into musical loops. Using Wakka, the cheerful blitzball player from Final Fantasy X released in 2001, creators rearranged his lines and Tidus interjections into a lewd, nonsensical anthem that spread far beyond the game. Clips and sequels kept circulating on YouTube and soundboards, and the name now works as shorthand for that specific chopped Wakka rhythm.