About

Caron Izumi Wielding A Knife is an exploitable meme that uses a scene from the 1974 anime Chargeman Ken!. The meme involves fans redrawing the scene with different characters.

Origin

The scene comes from the 45th episode of Chargeman Ken! titled "When the Cuckoo Clock Strikes Three", which first aired on May 31st, 1974.^[1] In the scene (shown below), Caron Izumi is hypnotized by a pianist's cuckoo clock, and is ordered to kill her older brother, Ken Izumi, at 3AM. At 3AM she wakes up, grabs a knife and goes to her brother's room to attempt to stab him. However, Ken dodges the attack and the resulting commotion brings their parents into the room. Afterwards, their father restrains her as she is still wielding the knife.

Spread

The earliest known usage of the meme was on the Russian social-media website VK. On April 2nd, 2018, VK artist bero^[2] posted fan art of the meme using Touhou characters Ran Yakumo and Chen (shown below). The art post received 507 likes in seven years.

On November 6th, 2022, Twitter / X artist wol_yo_il^[3] posted a redraw of the meme using Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters Rebecca and Falco (shown below). The art post received 18,000 likes and over 3,300 retweets in over two years.

On January 30th, 2023, Twitter / X artist ArtBunnii^[4] posted a redraw of the meme using Sonic Frontiers characters Sage and Dr. Eggman (shown below). The art post received over 10,000 likes and over 1,800 retweets in over two years.

On June 2nd, 2025, Twitter / X artist DocShoddy^[5] posted a redraw of the meme using Super Mario characters Toad and Princess Peach (shown below). The art post received over 4,100 likes and over 688 retweets in one day.

Various Examples

External References