About

Cosmology of Kyoto Hell Scenes or Cosmology of Kyoto Torture Scenes refers to a series of caption memes using scenes of demons torturing people in hell from the 1993 PC game Cosmology of Kyoto. The memes were popularized on TikTok in mid-September 2025 as a video image macro format, where innocent or relatable captions are contrasted by the gruesome imagery in the scenes.

Origin

In 1993, the first-person adventure game Cosmology of Kyoto was released on PC, later releasing in North America in 1995.^[1] The game features a karma system that sends the player to one of several versions of hell depending on their in-game choices. These versions of hell feature graphic torture scenes.

On January 2nd, 2025, YouTuber^[2] BeardCave posted a video compiling all of the game's "hell scenes," garnering over 230,000 views in eight months.

On September 12th, 2025, TikToker^[3] @interglobalizationizing posted a meme compiling several of the hell scenes alongside the caption, "'I hate school' mfs the second the teacher leaves the classroom," garnering over 1.3 million views in six days. This is the earliest known example of the scenes from the game being used as a meme.

Spread

The Cosmology of Kyoto hell scenes continued to inspire memes on TikTok over the following days in mid-September 2025.

On September 14th, 2025, TikToker^[4] @pltypsedts posted a version of the meme using a scene where a demon whips a man, captioned, "My 'homeboy' using his tie on me the second our teacher leaves the room," garnering over 204,000 views in four days.

On September 16th, TikToker^[5] @_ruwey posted a version of the meme captioned, "How it feels when I make a comment under a video and it gets zero likes and the only reply under it is my mutual flaming me after finding it," garnering over 525,000 views in two days.

On September 17th, 2025, TikToker^[6] @jo_idk3 posted a version of the meme using a clip of a demon pulling someone's tongue out, captioned, "How it feels when you wake up with a sore throat," garnering over 1.3 million views in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References