What's Up With Freaky Rin Itoshi From 'Blue Lock'? The Anime Meme Confusing Everyone Else Explained

It seems like Blue Lock can never catch a break, except this time, they have to answer for some over-enthusiastic animation choices.

Fans of the popular soccer shonen anime were complaining about the show's declining animation quality just a few weeks ago in late 2024, but they seem to have figured out where the animation budget was allocated to — "Freaky Rin."

The Blue Lock season 2 finale stretched over episodes 37 and 38 of the show, finally revealing soccer player Rin Itoshi's "flow state," which canonically allows him to play some mean soccer.

But the only caveat is that Itoshi's way of locking into the game is awfully jarring, with his eyes bugging out and his tongue rolling out of his mouth in a state of perpetual drooling.

Needless to say, anime fans are horrified. Here's what people have been saying about Freaky Rin.

Who Is 'Freaky Rin Itoshi,' And Is There A Lore Reason For His Strange Soccer Style?

Rin Itoshi is a character in the sports anime Blue Lock that revolves around a Japanese soccer team's efforts to create a competitive team by cultivating a team of formidable strikers.

During the show's second season, viewers are introduced to a character named Rin Itoshi's unique playing style, during which he enters a strange flow state that causes him to shed all concerns for "anything that ties him down" and become a more formidable opponent. The manga version of this arc depicts Itoshi with glowing eyes and his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

Rin Itoshi's locked-in soccer style was shown in the animated show as well, with several scenes in the season two finales of Blue Lock highlighting his over-the-top, haunted expressions.

How Did 'Freaky Rin Itoshi' Become A Meme?

People had been making edits of Rin Itoshi's interesting stance for ages, with one particularly notable example appearing online on June 3rd, 2023, when TikToker @deltapork posted a fan-made edit of Itoshi sticking his tongue out and shifting from leg to leg.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7240407327403150594

The animation became somewhat infamous in Blue Lock fan circles, with the community joking referring to it as "that one Rin animation" or "that freaky Rin animation," as seen in a video posted by TikToker user @itoshigma in June 2024.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7384863427279310098

By the time the Blue Lock finale rolled around, Freaky Rin had garnered quite a reputation for himself. Soccer fans were understandably super confused about the animation choice, with one fan decidedly announcing "This is not football" to hundreds of thousands of likes.

This is not football https://t.co/KTzkGNgYon

— Mmels (@MmelsAltt) December 28, 2024

Meanwhile, TikTok users were still clowning on the OG Freaky Rin animation, mimicking his weird crouching and drooling stance to really highlight how absurd Blue Lock writers were being with his character arc.

https://t.co/6FeniOcIQR pic.twitter.com/e6H3XupRz2

— Arenillas 🍅🗻🎺🎸🦀🍵⛸ (@Arenillas_) December 28, 2024

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For the full history of Freaky Rin Itoshi, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.