Frowning Kei

Submission 28,877

Part of a series on Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. [View Related Entries]

About

Frowning Kei refers to an image of Kaguya-sama: Love is War! character Kei Shirogane frowning. The image has been used online, primarily as a part of a multi-panel format along with another frame in which Kei has a neutral facial expression.

Origin

On June 13th, episode 10 of season two of the anime series Kaguya-sama: Love is War! premiered.^[1] In one scene of the episode, character Kei Shirogane is reminded of her promise not to drink juice at dinner, to which she reacts by frowning (still images shown below).

On June 13th, 2020, Redditor^[2] EpochYT posted a four panel meme highlighting the similarity between two frames from the scene and the NPC Wojak meme (shown below). The post received over 30,300 upvotes in /r/animemes in four days.

Spread

Starting on the same day, the format starting spreading in /r/animemes, with users imagining humorous dialogues between Kei and various characters. For example, a June 13th meme by Redditor^[3] Cultured-milk received over 25,500 upvotes in four days (shown below, left). A June 14th meme about PlayStation 5 console by Redditor^[4] isurvivor1 received over 15,600 upvotes in the three days (shown below, right).

In the following days, the format gained a notable presence online, primarily in the anime communities on Reddit and Facebook. In many examples, the meme format has been partially redrawn; for example, on June 16th, 2020, Redditor^[5] Roka-Chan posted a Fate/stay night version of the meme which received over 4,500 upvotes in one day (shown below, left). On the same day, Redditor^[6] KuroYatoriBoi posted a KonoSuba meme which gained over 9,800 upvotes in 12 hours (shown below, right).