Omochikaeri

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Origin

Omochikaeri (translates to I'm taking it home with me!) is the catch phrase of Rena Ryuguu from Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. She says it whenever she sees something "cute" though her definition of cute can sometimes be quite different from others. Some of the "cute stuff" she finds is actually from the dump. She first says it in the Spiritied Away by the Demon chapter. Her habit of taking "cute things" home with her is revealed to have dark origins in the Atonement chapter. It is essentially her "marking her territory" to protect the sanctaty of her home, especially from other females as the result of a betrayal of her trust by her mother. This territorial behaviour has no true exceptions, not even for Keiichi, who she may or may not be attracted to (its very ambiguous).

Whenever she goes into "cute mode" Rena gains super human strength and reflexes, being capable of knocking people out and breaking restraints.

Spread

Although the phrase was first mentioned in 2002, it did not take off as a meme until 2006 (also the year the visual novel chapter with this meme's most famous incident was released) when the anime was released. It spread pretty quickly across both 2chan and 4chan though it should be noted that Omochikaeri is more well known in Japan than in America. This phrase is often used as a reaction to whenever someone presents a "kawaii" image. As such, this meme is highly visual in nature. Omochikaeri is a popular subject of art on deviantart.com. http://weallfalldown.smackjeeves.com/comics/1021896/she-gonna-get-taken-home/ Here it gets referenced with the next entry directly referencing Rena and her weapon of choice.

The most common depictions of this meme involve either a spin off drawing depicting X characters in the "Rena kidnaps Hanyuu" scene (festival music chapter) or of the "Rena Spins Rika" scene.

Rena Ryuguu Day

Every year on 07/07, 4chan and 2chan celebrate "Rena Day". On that day, /a/ and boards dedicated to visual novels are flooded with images of Rena. As a result, there is a massive surge of Omochikaeri searches and popularity around July of a given year. The day is also dedicated towards her creepy and violent side as well. The original Rena Day was on 07/07/2007. Rena is also known as the unofficial mascot of 7th expansion, with references to her signature weapon and to her in general being sprinkled into Umineko no Naku Koro Ni and Rose Guns Days.

The reasons for 07/07 being chosen are very relevant to Rena's character and to When They Cry in general.. Rena is full of references to the number seven. If you split Rena's true name (Reina), you get a reference to 7. Rena's birthday is July 1967 (07/??/67) with a common theory that the day within the month being 7 as well. The pen name of the author and name of the group behind the series are "Ryukishi 07" and "7th Expansion" respectively.