Anyone Else Hear That Ominous Bell Tolling

About

Anyone Else Hear That Ominous Bell Tolling is a catchphrase often used in reference to Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! and the Mizu5 reaction image meme. Specifically, the phrase is used as a reference to the 2022 Project Sekai song "Netsu Ijou," which features the lyric, "The bells of parting toll." The earliest known meme to use the phrase was posted to X / Twitter in November 2023 and was popularized throughout 2024, often alongside versions of the Mizu5 meme.

Origin

On November 26th, 2023, X^[1] user @yrs______ posted a screenshot of a wall of white text on a black background reading, "anyone else hear that ominous bell tolling?? 🤣🤣🤣 no just me??😂😂😂😂😂😂😂," garnering over 31,000 likes in 11 months. It is unclear and unstated what the post is a reference to if anything.

Spread

The meme garnered some spread over the following months, including reposts to Instagram^[2] and X.^[3]

Project Sekai / Mizu5 Connection

On October 10th, 2024, the rhythm game Project Sekai posted to X^[4] about the Japanese "Where Does The Road of Thorns Lead To?" in-game event set to take place on October 12th. The translated blurb read, "Seeing Mafuyu take a step forward, Mizuki's desire to 'move forward too' grows stronger. Before the school festival, she decides to tell Ena something she hasn't been able to say until now, but…"

An image shared in the post showing Mizuki with a shocked reaction became a meme in the Project Sekai community over the following days.

While it's unclear exactly when the catchphrase "anyone else hear that ominous bell tolling," a direct reference to the @yrs______ meme, was first used in reference to the event and the Mizu5 meme, it started appearing alongside Mizu5 memes on October 11th, 2024.

Purportedly, the catchphrase's connection to the meme is a reference to the 2022 Project Sekai song "Netsu Ijou" that features the lyric, "The bells of parting toll," which some believe foreshadowed the "Where Does The Road Of Thorns Lead To?" event.^[5][6]

One of the earliest examples of the phrase used in reference to the Mizu5 meme was posted by X^[7] user @floatyhrk on October 11th, 2024, in which they wrote out the text of the "ominous bell" meme on a piece of fan art depicting Mizuki's shocked reaction, garnering over 1,500 likes in four days.

Alternatively, TikToker^[8] @ei_nator also posted a meme that day using the meme and writing the "ominous bell" text in the description of the video, garnering over 20,000 views in the same span of time.

The phrase continued to be used alongside Mizu5 and Project Sekai memes over the following days, primarily on X, Reddit and TikTok.

For example, on October 12th, X^[9] user @matoubaa posted a meme referencing the game that garnered over 2,500 likes in three days. On the same day, TikToker^[10] @_myokou posted a video of the Mizu5 meme with a bell playing in the background, captioned, "anyone else hear that ominous bell tolling?? 🤣🤣 no just me??" garnering over 179,000 views in the same span of time.

Various Examples

Related Memes

Mizu5

Mizu5, also known as Shocked Mizuki, refers to a reaction image meme featuring a shocked-looking anime girl looking off to the left. The image comes from a Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! event in October 2024, commonly referred to by fans as "Mizu5." The image shows Akiyama Mizuki, a pink-haired character from PJSK, being outed as transgender to her closest friend Ena by her transphobic classmates. The "Where Does The Road of Thorns Lead To?" arc took place in the Japanese version of the game, with translated versions of the dialogue making the rounds in early October 2024. The picture of Mizuki looking shocked also came to be used as a reaction meme around the same timeframe.

Search Interest

External References