You may remember way back when you discovered a random Asian kid on the internet and he was the topic of conversation between you and all your friends as you attempted to master the how to be gangster handshake. You probably also remember him from when he taught us how to be emo or when he made a parody movie in minutes for "Twilight" which was way better than the actual movie. Well that kid is still around except he's all grown up now and has a huge following on YouTube. When talking about YouTube stars, you definitely cannot leave out veteran YouTuber Ryan Higa or his channel Nigahiga. But also, whenever it comes to YouTube stars, I can't help but notice other YouTubers receiving more fame than they need to especially for comedy, which is more my style of videos. Here are five reasons why I believe Nigahiga is underrated.
1. He's extremely punny!
The Nigahiga channel has become widely known for clever puns. Often times when watching a Nigahiga video, you will encounter random puns and random endings that make no sense at all. Some of his most funniest videos end up being Dear Ryans where he often free styles and inserts plain, pure comedy. He may include puns in a lot of his videos, but that is definitely not the extent to his comedy. Higa's channel gained immense popularity with his successful series including Movies in Minutes, Skitzo, Off the Pill (Rants), Dear Ryan, How To and spoofs of advertisements and movies.
Check out some of his most punniest videos: 10 Cheap Punny Christmas Gifts, 12 Worst Ways To Breakup With Someone, Best Joke Ever.
2. 17 Million Subscribers
As of July 2016, Nigahiga reached 17 million subscribers and his videos have been viewed over 2.8 billion times. Higa is also one of the few YouTubers with over 10 million subscribers which qualifies him to receive a diamond play button award from YouTube (only a few people in the world have it). He recently released a video expressing his gratitude and showcasing the many uses of the diamond play button. Watch: How the Diamond Play Button Changed my Life
3. He raises important issues and offers words of wisdom in his popular rant videos.
Often times, Higa will release videos ranting about important issues with videos such as A World Without Police!?, Unpopular opinion: Cyber Bullying also including more unpopular opinions, messages to haters, stereotypes, racists and extremely butt hurt people. Not only that, but Higa attempts to show the brighter, meaningful and human side in life with his videos Treat People Like They're Dyeing, How to Stay Positive, often offering life lessons and wise words.
Does he think he can change the world through some videos? No. He's wise so he wants to change himself first. Ryan often focuses on looking at yourself first for anything before pointing to others. Ryan recently started the Roast Yourself Challenge, in which the YouTubers must roast themselves instead of roasting others. The challenge quickly gained traction and now other YouTubers such as Superwoman, PewDiePie, fouseyTube, Smosh, Jenna Marbles, theDOMINICshow and more have taken on the challenge of roasting themselves. The idea behind the challenge was to stop the spread of hatred between YouTubers by dissing themselves instead. Higa definitely put all of the YouTube community in its respective place with this challenge.
4. Quality, Quality, Quality!
As Higa's YouTube career took off, fans easily noticed the quality of his videos improving. Nigahiga could not have gained a high quality production without the Ryan Higa Production Company, also known as RHPC. With the help of his crew, Greg, Will, Sean and Derek, they are able to produce videos such as The Cardboard with self made props and unbelievable stop motion stunts, The Ultimate April Fools Prank, The Ultimate Trickshot Dunk and more!
When mentioning Nigahiga quality videos, you can't leave out some of his parody movie trailers. After watching one of his trailers, you'll find yourself waiting anxiously for a fake movie release. Some of his most popular trailers include "Naruto The Movie," "Candy Crush The Movie," "MineCraft the Movie," "Aquaman The Movie" and "Lucy." "Naruto The Movie" with 17 million views was uploaded in 2014 and was even filmed in Japan. The trailer includes variety character cosplays, "Naruto" inspired settings and special/visual effects for various jutsus. "Naruto" isn't his only anime obsession. Higa even created a parody of his favorite anime series Dragon Ball, which he worked on for a whole month before releasing the fight between Goku and Vegeta. Watch "Dragon Ball Z Fight in Real Life." Honestly, it won't be hard for Higa to create better movies than the ones we get from Hollywood.
The quality of Nigahiga production has been proven through some of his music video releases which reached the top of itune charts. Higa recently put together a kpop group called BgA (Boys generally Asian) and released a parody kpop music video which reached number two on kpop iTunes in the U.S. putting them right below popular kpop group Bangtan Boys (BTS). The group even released parody teaser pictures similar to the promotion style of the kpop industry. Other popular music videos include Nice Guys at 66 million views, Bromance at 34 million views, S.W.G, Ignored (Clash of Clans Song), GTFO My Room, Coffee Shop Love.
Though Nigahiga may not promise certain amount of videos every week, he can certainly guarantee quality content on each video.
5. Creates original, creative, highly clever and down to earth content
Not only does their editing skills prove their quality videos, but also taking time to even improve comedy content on Dear Ryan. Dear Ryan videos are requests from his fans that he attempts to fulfill through vlogs. Nigahiga is the type of channel that can turn anything into good comedy. He can turn stepping on legos into a suspense blockbuster, prove the illuminati is real, create love poems for gamers or show you how to sing and rap like your favorite artists. Higa's the type of guy that can take a hacking situation to remind himself to remain humble and that he's actually happy in life, remind us when pranks gone too far, remind us all to be grateful even when encountering things that ruin thanksgiving, to give to those who need it more (ninja feeding the homeless) and remind us even about our first world problems. He may not be edgy, he may not agree with all the trends, but I believe that's exactly what makes him the best YouTuber around.
Check out more of his videos: Dear Ryan-Mind F*ck, 10 How To's That Will Blow Your Mind, Honest University Commercial, Honest Commercials, Life Hacks (Dear Ryan)