About

Freaky Rin Itoshi refers to a series of memes based on the scene of Blue Lock manga and anime character Rin Itoshi playing football in his "flow state", his eyes glowing black and his drooling tongue sticking out, symbolizing his total focus on the game. The beastly, almost demonic appearance of the character in the scene has been classified as freaky and inspired both memes within the Blue Lock community and reactions of confusion outside of it.

Origin

On September 1sth, 2021, Chapter 144 of the football-themed Blue Lock manga series was published.^[1] In the chapter, character Rin Itoshi, playing against his older brother Sae Itoshi, enters a twisted sort of a flow state, getting engulfed by the game as he sheds all concerns for "anything that ties him down". In the chapter, the face of Rin Itoshi with his eyes glowing and his tongue sticking out of his mouth is first shown, also appearing in multiple panels in the following chapters (panel from Chapter 145 of the manga shown below).

Chapters 144 to 149 were adopted in episode 38th of the Blue Lock anime series, which premiered on December 28th, 2024.^[2] In the episode, multiple scenes of Rin Itoshi in his flow state are shown (clip shown below).

Spread

On June 3rd, 2023, TikTok^[3] user @deltapork posted a fan-made animation of Rin Itoshi sticking his tongue out an shifting from one leg to another based on the manga panel. The post (shown below) garnered over 1.2 million views and 110,000 likes in two years.

In 2024, the fan-made animation saw viral spread online within the Blue Lock community as it was paired with various captions and used in other memes, achieving widespread recognition as "freaky Rin animation" or "that one Rin animation". For example, on June 26th, 2024, TikTok^[4] user @itoshigma posted a video caption meme based on the animation that received over 50,000 likes in six months (shown below).

Following the release of episode 38 of the anime series, scenes and images of Rin Itoshi sticking his tongue out saw viral spread on TikTok and X. Notably, on December 28th, 2024, X^[5] user @d0nut2x posted a two-minute clip from the episode that garnered over 31.3 million views, 26,000 reposts and 132,000 likes in two days. Later that day, X^[6] user @ANNI3_SE4L quoted the post, commenting, "no way you can take this shit seriously guy running with his tongue out like a fucking weirdo". The post (shown below) received over 2,100 reposts and 43,000 likes in two days.

no way you can take this shit seriously guy running with his tongue out like a fucking weirdo https://t.co/m8rVjKYOsR

— RosieAnnie🦭𓆝 𓆟 (@ANNI3_SE4L) December 29, 2024

The scene maintained widespread presence on social media through late December 2024, inspiring various memes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References