The clip comes from History of Japan, the fast paced educational video by Bill Wurtz released online in 2016 that summarised centuries of Japanese history in about nine minutes. Its deadpan narration and quick visual jokes helped it spread widely and turned many short phrases from the narration into reusable meme sounds. Good friends was lifted as a standalone reaction because it sums up the video's dry, friendly tone in two words. It remains used in edits and soundboards as a brief, positive tag for alliances, reunions and wholesome moments.