(*´ω`*) and (*´ω`*) are Japanese emoticons closely associated with one famous 2D fighting game player known as "Egure-Hotate". (えぐれホタテ)
Egure-Hotate is a highly skilled player of Sega's arcade game Hokuto no Ken. He takes videos of competitions and tournaments held at game center "Nakano Tokyo Ranking Fighters (Nakano T.R.F.)" and uploads them on video site Nico Nico Douga.
He frequently uses the (*´ω`*) emoticon within his uploaded videos, as well as his video descriptions. This emoticon looks very sweet and heartwarming, which does not necessarily match the real image of Egure-Hotate who is actually a middle aged man. Because of this, it became very popular for people to leave comments about the emoticon such as "No matter how hard Egure-Hotate tries, this emoticon will never be popular. We will never let this happen." Egure-Hotate himself does not like these mocking comments.
Nicopedia and pixpedia articles about this slang generally contain the following additional note: "There is no doubt that this emoticon existed before Egure-Hotate started using it. If this emoticon is being used in contexts unrelated to Egure-Hotate or Nakano T.R.F. then please do not to leave negative comments saying that it is unpopular".
Granny! This will be popular!Hmmm, so cute.This is called "popular emoticon". It was very popular back when granny was still now.
"Now" is Japanese slang, similar to the use of "in" or "hot" in regard to fads and trends.HohohoHatate-Chan, 5 years oldGranny, what is this?STOP IT!!!
It's... It's my treasured memory with my granny!!!There is no way an emoticon like this would be popular ROFLNow?*cough cough*That's right!
That's right!
*cough*More importantly, we won't be popularizing it ROFLIt's going to be popular, right, granny?It will definitely be popular...It will be popular...
Really gross LOLOLIt will be popular...