What is the Red Larva “oi oi oi” meme on TikTok?

A South Korean TV character named Red Larva has gone viral on TikTok as a new meme, which mixes the character with a Japanese song to create videos and memes.

At the time of writing, the hashtag “oioioi” has over 578K posts, while the hashtag “larva” has over 90,000 posts on TikTok, with most videos that use both having something to do with the Red Larva character.

But where did TikTok’s obsession with the character start?

What is the Red Larva on TikTok?

Red Larva Oi Oi Oi refers to a Misheard Speech Bubble meme that shows the character Red from the animated South Korean series Larva, starring two larvae of different colors—one yellow and one red.

The character in the meme is simply named Red Larva, who is described as hot-tempered and prone to moments of irritation, which seems to be reflected in the expression he gives in the meme.

In the meme, Red Larva is singing the Japanese lyrics of the song “OI OI OI Bakugou” by La Memerano.

Where does the Red Larva meme come from?

Before the “Oi Oi Oi” meme with Red Larva, TikTokers were posting other viral videos with the character and the song.

On March 30, 2024, TikTok user lxvqlin posted a video that showed the My Hero Academia character Katsuki Bakugo with a caption reading: “How I feel after typing accidentally ‘Oi’ instead of ‘Oh.'”

The video used the song “OI OI OI Bakugou” by La Memerano which samples Bakugo saying, “Oi oi oi.” It soon went viral with over 1.5 million views and was quickly followed by other similar videos.

One week after lxvqlin’s video, TikTok user jmystify posted a similar video with the word “ok” mistyped rather than “oh” and displaying Red Larva instead of the My Hero Academia character to the same song. This one gained over 19.1 million views and launched the meme. At the moment, it is the first known Red Larva “Oi Oi Oi” meme.

The meme spread rapidly on TikTok and soon began to appear on other platforms. One TikTok user posted a video just days after the meme’s birth showing that they sent the image of Red Larva to someone on WhatsApp after they messaged the phrase “oi oi oi.”

Less than a week later, the oi oi oi meme was transforming into a misheard song lyrics speech bubble trend. TikTok user wenomilk posted an entry on April 17 with an image of Red Larva under a speech bubble as “OI OI OI Bakugou” played and incorrect lyrics flashed across the bubble, mostly consisting of nonsense words, with “oi oi oi” being the only correct lines.

The Red Larva isn’t the only meme character that has gone viral on TikTok recently. In 2023, the platform was invaded with different memes about a blue Smurf cat – a creature that looks like a mix of a Smurf, a cat, and a mushroom.

More recently, a baby went viral as the “fully conscious baby”, which came about after an adorable video of a one-year-old baby being really excited about going to Four Seasons resort in Orlando.