Meaning
What does Doki Doki mean?
Origin
What's the origin of Doki Doki?
“Doki Doki” first started gaining ground in English contexts, following the 1960’s, as Japanese media, especially manga, and Shounen Anime series started making their way into Western culture.
The phrase appears in countless media titles, including the song “Doki Doki! Love Mail” from Aya Matsuura, the 2003 short-film Doki-Doki by Chris Eska, as well as video games like Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! and Doki Doki Penguin Land.
“Doki Doki” was first defined on Urban Dictionary on June 26th, 2010.
Spread & Usage
How did Doki Doki spread?
“Doki Doki” gained widespread recognition in 2017, when on September 22nd, the visual novel video game Doki Doki Literature Club was launched.
The game became popular on the internet due to its misleading first impressions of being a cute dating simulator, then proceeding to turn into a gruesome psychological horror game.

External resources
- Gamerant.com – Doki Doki Literature Club Memes So Funny You’ll Glitch Out Laughing
- Reddit.com – r/DDLCmemes