I Wanna Sleep With My Penguin Tonight

Submission 3,495

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About

I Wanna Sleep With My Penguin Tonight refers to a viral exploitable meme format based on a panel from the April 2020 volume of the SPY X FAMILY manga where Anya, in bed, asks to sleep with her penguin and Loid hands her a large plush penguin. As a meme, the image is photoshopped to replace the penguin and Anya's request with something more comedic. The meme first appeared on Reddit in April 2022 and became popularized over the next year.

Origin

On March 6th, 2022, Facebook^[1] page D'AAAAAWWWW posted a panel from the short story included in the April 6th, 2020 volume of SPY X FAMILY where Anya, in bed, asks to sleep with her penguin and Loid hands her a large plush penguin, garnering over 1,500 shares and 3,300 reactions in a year (shown below). The image was reposted to the Wholesome weeb posting? Facebook^[2] page and iFunny^[3] that month, the latter gaining over 20,000 smiles in a year. In April, it was posted to /r/anime_irl^[4] and /r/wholesomeanimemes,^[5] the latter including an additional panel of the dog glaring at Anya and the penguin with jealousy, garnering over 10,000 and 1,100 upvotes respectively in a year.

On April 12th, Redditor u/PitterrPatterr posted an edit of the panel to /r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns^[6] replacing the penguin with BLÅHAJ, garnering over 3,400 upvotes in a year (shown below). This is the earliest known edit of the panel.

Spread

The meme spread over the following year, inspiring numerous photoshops. On April 21st, 2022, Twitter^[7] user @JermSansContext posted a version referencing Jerma985, garnering over 8,700 likes in a year. On May 5th, Redditor u/OneHappyMelon posted a version to /r/Animemes^[8] showing Loid holding a jar of Laoganma, garnering over 3,200 upvotes in a year (shown below).

On May 6th, Redditor u/yong_J posted a version to /r/Hololive^[9] featuring a dakimakura, garnering over 4,300 upvotes in a year (shown below, left). On the same day, Facebook^[10] page Doge Collection posted a version of the meme featuring Cheems, garnering over 1,200 shares and 2,300 reactions in a year (shown below, right).

On October 13th, Facebook^[11] page Weebs and Their Memes posted a Chainsaw Man version of the meme that garnered over 1,600 reactions in nine months (shown below). It was reposted by Instagram^[12] user komi.exe on October 17th, garnering over 17,800 likes in the same span of time.