

The 'Awkward Look Monkey Puppet' meme features two images of a monkey puppet named Kenta from the Japanese children's television show Ōkiku Naru Ko. In the meme, Kenta exhibits an awkward expression with photoshopped eyes that first look directly at the camera and then slightly away, giving a feeling of unease or discomfort. This visual edit enhances the side-eye glance which is not seen in the original show, making it a popular tool for portraying internal awkwardness.
The character Kenta comes from the show Ōkiku naru Ko, which aired from April 7th, 1959, to March 18th, 1988. A Spanish-language dub of the series titled Niños en Crecimiento introduced the character to Latin American audiences on April 13th, 1984. Link to Japanese page on Ōkiku naru Ko A clip featuring the character Pedro (Kento's name in the Spanish dub) was uploaded on YouTube by Vart vartmaz on August 8th, 2008. Watch the YouTube clip The specific meme, Awkward Look Monkey Puppet, was created on May 5th, 2016, by a Facebook user Daniel Flores. He digitally altered the puppet's eyes in one of the frames to make it look like it was awkwardly glancing at the camera. This version was shared in a private Facebook group with a humorous caption about an awkward social interaction.[1]
Origin: 2016
Also known as: monkey-looking-away, monkey-puppet, side-eye-teddy
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