Emojis are fine, but I still prefer emoticons - I feel like they have more flair ^_^

I agree, but there is just too many who are late t9 the oarty and just wouldn get it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Because the backslash is an escape character:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯_(ツ)_/¯

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯\(ツ)/¯

¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ -> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Explanation:

the backslash is used to escape the underscore.

the first backslash escapes the second backslash, so it’s shown as a backslash. The pair of underscores is used to display the characters between in italics

both the backslash and the first underscore are escaped, everything finally works