Memes have become so omnipresent and synonymous with internet culture that it's hard to remember a time when social media platforms didn't have them featured in every other post. Whether someone likes it or not memes are here to stay and have arguably got funnier and more unique as time has gone on.
Due to this, popular anime franchises are undoubtedly going to have custom-made memes perfectly suited for their community. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War is no different and has some of the funniest of any community. At the helm of some of these hilarious memes is the fan-favorite character Ai Hayasaka. A character who has often been dubbed the "best waifu" of the series, Hayasaka has plenty of memes that are worth talking about.
"Hey, hey!"
Not every meme is popular enough to gain attention outside the original community, but "Hey, hey!" definitely did. The screenshot that was utilized for this meme was taken from episode four of season two of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. During the scene in question, Hayasaka enters a classroom in an "interesting" way just to tell Kaguya that Shirogane wanted to have a conversation, her face being unexpectedly creepy
Soon, templates of the face started popping up, leaning more into dark humor. However, more light-hearted versions would soon follow with topics about family interruptions and common forgetful moments such as procrastinating on a project due the next day. Other anime communities quickly caught wind of the trending meme and conjured up their versions showing how versatile the template was.
Even after the season ended the meme continued to see frequent use with its popularity seeing no signs of slowing down. It garnered enough popularity to even be given a unique entry on the site knowyourmeme.com. To this day it remains one of the top three most used Kaguya-Sama: Love is War memes solidifying itself as one of the go-to memes to guarantee a laugh every time it is shared.
Nothing Has Changed
While a meme is generally harmless fun, some that are created tend to echo a popular sentiment or opinion that can be found in any given community. In this case, the "Ha!" meme brings up a common complaint many have about romance anime in that it can take far too long for the actual romance between the titular characters to progress. Leave it to the Reddit user /u/Buckeyramm227 to remind fans of this. Unfortunately, the original post and the user that posted it have since been deleted, but many sites have archived this hilarious meme for all to experience.
Not only is the meme relatable to many that enjoy romance anime, but it directly pokes fun at the series itself. It is well known that Kaguya-Sama: Love is War is especially guilty of this due to requiring multiple seasons to see any real progress in the relationship of the characters. While some may argue it isn't just about the romance it makes it even funnier that the feelings Kaguya and Miyuki have for each other are obvious to everyone else, but each other. The meme also shows more of Hayasaka's trademark deadpan facial expression that fans can't get enough of.
More Hayasaka
There is a saying that goes: "you can never have too much of a good thing." If that statement is to be believed, then it explains why the Animemes subreddit sure couldn't get enough of the "best girl" Hayasaka. This was very much the case when Kaguya-Sama: Love is War was trending as one of the most talked about anime. To express this sentiment further, user u/LankySeat created a meme illustrating how making memes about Hayasaka takes priority over any other responsibilities.
The meme is scarily accurate as it highlights some of the twisted priorities anime fans can have it at times, which is both hilarious and terrifying. It also pokes fun at the fact that a lot of the Hayasaka memes posted to the subreddit weren't always that funny and many were obviously low-effort in an attempt to farm upvotes and karma since the character and show were trending at the time. Despite this, the template would prove to be a popular choice for memes highlighting instances of people not having their priorities sorted out.
Hayasaka Tech Support
The reason someone may find Hayasaka to be the "best girl" varies, but one of them most certainly has to be the character's ability to do and handle anything, especially when it comes to Kaguya. One of the most popular examples is during the episode when Kaguya is learning about Twitter and is constantly barging in on Hayasaka in the bath to ask for help in understanding how the site works. This is just one of the many examples of Hayasaka essentially being Kaguya's personal tech support assistant, and it is hilarious every time.
This would be the basis for the popular "Hayasaka Tech Support" meme templates that would become popular shortly after. While the original source for this one is not known, a Facebook group called Anime Memes posted the hilarious "Hayasaka tech tips everyone" meme in July 2020. The addition of the tiny Kaguya off to the right side of the image quoting another popular meme and the poorly edited headphones on Hayasaka's head adds to the hilarity of the image making it a memorable meme for the Hayasaka library.
"Hayasaka Lied As Naturally As She Breathed"
The narrator is an essential part of the narrative and humor for Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. The anime manages to make the narrator even funnier thanks to the monotone performance of the voice actor that portrays the voice. Thanks to this narrator, one of the funniest memes in the series was created from a running gag that started in Chapter 31.
The running gag was simple: a character would say something only for the narrator to reveal that character was lying. While it was a simple joke it resonated with fans as many took to using this format when talking about the serious especially when the joke came back in Chapter 105. The joke arguably peaked when it was used on Hayasaka.
During a scene where Hayasaka is helping Kaguya with texting "etiquette," the character makes a statement that was a very obvious lie prompting the narrator to state "Hayasaka lied as naturally as she breathed." This anime scene, along with the accompanying manga panel of the same scene, immediately became one of the community's funniest and most shared memes. This is in part due to how easy it was to make jokes around this phrase whether it was poking fun at common online scam tactics or lying to one's parents about exam scores.