Warning: This entry contains spoilers about Doki Doki Literature Club.

About

I Gently Open the Door refers to jokes about a pivotal scene from Doki Doki Literature Club. Due to the sharp tonal shift in the game which occurs after that line, the line has become a meme within the game's fandom, as people joke about players' reactions to the events after the line.

Origin

The line comes from the visual novel dating simulator Doki Doki Literature Club, released September 22nd, 2017 on Steam. In the game, the player is best friends with his neighbor, Sayori, a somewhat clumsy but cheerful girl who convinces him to join the literature club.

Towards the middle of the game, the player visits Sayori, and she tells him she suffers terribly from depression. After working with one of the other girls on putting together materials for a school festival, the player then runs into Sayori again, who confesses her love to him. The following day, the player goes to school to get ready for the festival, only to see Sayori is not there. The player rushes back to Sayori's house and goes to her room. The visual novel text then reads "I gently open the door…" and before the player can advance the text, the game jump cuts to an image of Sayori hanging from her ceiling, dead by suicide. This marks the end of the first act of the game and is the moment the game becomes much more psychologically disturbing.



Spread

The moment of the game became a notable part of Twitch streams of the game after the game's release. A clip of streamer TobiasFate playing the game with the title "I gently open the door" was uploaded in October of 2017 (shown below).





By December, YouTubers and members of the /r/DDLC subreddit began making parodies of the line and moment. On December 15th, YouTuber Lewcinda uploaded a clip remixing Back to the Future by having Marty McFly play the music from the moment immediately following "I gently open the door," gaining over 1,500 views (shown below, left). On the 19th, YouTuber dpetersz uploaded a clip parodying the moment, gaining 3,600 views (shown below, right).





Meanwhile, on the /r/DDLC subreddit, people parodied the moment with clips of humorous actions following opening a door as well as photoshops parodying the moment immediately following the line "I gently open the door." On December 17th, Redditor Genuien_Jazz uploaded a photoshop featuring JonTron in the moment, gaining over 510 upvotes (shown below, left). On December 30th, Redditor thePainesuggestion uploaded a parody that gained over 700 upvotes to /r/animemes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Know Your Meme Store

External References