About

Miko Iino Looks at Her Paper refers to a series of memes based on an image of the Kaguya-sama: Love Is War! character Miko Iino anxiously looking at her paper during her stage speech. Starting in mid-May 2020, the meme format gained popularity in the anime community.

Origin

On May 16th, 2020, episode sixth "I Don't Want to Make Miko Iino Smile" of the second season of the anime series Kaguya-sama: Love Is War! premiered.^[1] In the episode, while giving her candidate speech, Miko Iino experiences stage fright and meekly looks in her paper (scene shown below).

On May 16th, 2020, Redditor^[2] herecrupra posted the earliest known meme based on the still image to /r/animemes, where it received 40 upvotes prior to being removed (shown below). On the same day, Redditor^[3] Muffin-zetta crossposted the meme to /r/TwoBestFriendsPlay, with the post gaining over 400 upvotes in five days.

Spread

On the same day, memes based on the format were posted in Spanish Facebook^[4][5] communities Re:Otacoqliao and Kaguya-sama Kawaii Koto en Español, gaining over 350 reactions and 1,300 shares and 1,200 reactions and 320 shares, respectively. On May 17th, Redditor^[6] herecrupta posted another edit that received over 3,500 upvotes in four days (shown below, left). On the same day, Redditor^[7] Zero Aika posted a meme that gained over 13,300 upvotes in /r/animemes in four days (shown below, right).

In the following days, the format received further spread online, primarily in /r/animemes and in anime meme communities on Facebook.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References