%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1436436428078222700
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:250:[[Film/TheMachinist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/machinist_bale2.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Don't worry too much about [[Creator/ChristianBale him]]--after all, [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy he's Batman.]]]]

->''"He was very tall and as skinny as a beanpole -- so alarmingly thin, in fact, that it looked as if his bones were about to break through his skin."''
-->-- '''Jacob''' about '''Sergei Andropov''', ''[[Literature/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren Hollow City]]''

A character is shown as exaggeratedly skinny, usually for any of the following reasons:

* A character hasn't eaten anything in a long time ([[HyperactiveMetabolism or a short time]]) and it's just a joke to exaggerate how long they've been starving or how hungry they are.
* A character is about to be eaten by a monster or predatory animal and they make themselves look this way [[YouWontLikeHowITaste so the creature won't want to eat them]].
* [[HollywoodThin Supermodels]], [[AddledAddict hard-drug addicts]], and people stranded on {{Deserted Island}}s are often depicted this way.

Most often PlayedForLaughs, this is usually just a short SightGag with no relevance on the plot. Plot-relevant examples are much less common, and are [[DudeNotFunny rarely funny]].

Sometimes crosses with LeanAndMean. Serious examples may be the end result of WeightLossHorror.

Examples of incredibly thin characters with no visible bones instead fall under NoodlePeople.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* An ad for awareness of Anorexia Nervosa showed a sadly undoctored picture of an emaciated Isabella Caro.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Gyutaro is so emaciated that his ribs and spine are visible through his skin. It doesn't seem to hamper his fighting ability at all, however.
* In ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'', Alphonse's body has become this, becoming gaunt with emaciation and barely strong enough to stand. When [[spoiler:Al is given the chance to get it back (but unable to fight in the final battle as a consequence) he says this line verbatim.]]
* [[spoiler: Soichiro]] of ''Manga/HisAndHerCircumstances'' had a horribly abusive childhood, receiving constant abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother, never once even getting any amount of affection from her. He was constantly starving and desperate for food, not helped by his mother leaving him locked in their home alone for days at a time, with barely anything to eat. By the time [[spoiler: Soichiro]] is rescued from his mother, he is so emaciated he can barely even walk, his mother having decided to leave him to die at that point.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': The Holy Corpse of [[spoiler:Jesus]] is shown as almost skeletal, yet has remained in the same state while conferring Stand abilities almost two millennia later.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'': Dolomite looks like a skinny zombie with stumps and jagged teeth. This is the result of using the Locacaca's EquivalentExchange after a human woman he fell in love with tricked him into using it.
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', as a result of a horrific injury that cost him some of his internal organs, All Might's real form has been reduced to a sickly skeletal figure. He's been able to use his powers to hide it from the public, but he can only do so for a few hours a day. After he gives his powers to Deku, that time gradually shortens, which complicates things even more when the League of Villains begins repeatedly targeting U.A. [[spoiler:After his final battle with All For One, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu All Might used up the last embers of One For All left within him]], leaving him stuck in his skeletal form and forcing him to retire.]]
* Nagato, a villain of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', is horribly skinny because of a DangerousForbiddenTechnique of his, which drained his energy. His legs were burned useless just before that. And overall, he uses nothing but techniques that consume huge amounts of Chakra. [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110830163111/villains/images/5/57/Nagato_in_his_walking_machine.png Here is the result.]]
* Brook from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is of course this, since he is literally only a ([[DemBones living]]) skeleton, but even when he was an actual human with flesh and blood, he was just as skinny as he is currently.
* "Flighted" Henya, a villain from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', has starved himself down to almost nothing in order to be able to glide freely in the air.
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul[=:Re=]'' uses this trope with two different characters, to very different effect. The SerialKiller Torso is incredibly skinny, likely as a result of killing to satisfy [[ILoveTheDead urges]] other than his HorrorHunger. In contrast, Shuu Tsukiyama is revealed to have wasted away due to three years of [[TheLostLenore grief-induced]] starvation. Once he begins to emotionally recover, his physical health improves rapidly and he returns to a normal weight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'': S-03, the third failed attempt by Cadmus to clone Superman before they got it right with S-13, had his development stopped and was placed in a stasis looking incredibly emaciated due to something going wrong with the cloning and artificial aging process used to create him.
* Superman briefly looks like this in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' after getting caught in a nuclear missile blast, apparently as a result of being almost totally drained of solar energy. He manages to recover though, in part by absorbing the stored energy of a field of flowers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''[[https://my.w.tt/HgnCw3sJjU Astral Journey: It's Complicated]]:'' In Part 9, [[Music/SpiceGirls Melanie]] is taken again after her ''second escape attempt'', resulting in her being [[KindRestraints strapped to a wheelchair and bed]] after being sectioned apart from her injuries. Melanie's body was left in this condition thanks to taking very little to fuel her addiction to exercising, which had already given her one of two [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attacks]].
* ''Fanfic/CheshireMiraculousLadybug'': Plagg was in a bad state when Marinette found him. He gets better.
* In ''Fanfic/ComingBackBroken'', Barbara points out that whatever Jim and Claire have been eating in the Darklands lacked a few key nutrients that humans need, being the reason why they have lost an unhealthy amount of weight. A few more months and they would have died of malnutrition.
* In the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' fic [[http://hlfiction.net/viewstory.php?sid=207&warning=Mature%20Content The Dragon And His Wrath]] Duncan, Methos and Joe are captured. Only the mortal Joe is supposed to be fed but Joe shares his food with Duncan because the Highlander has the best shot at defeating the insane immortal who captured them. Methos however doesn't eat anything for weeks and by the time they escape, Methos is looking like this. Duncan's internal monologue as he's getting Methos into the barge describes Methos' waist being way too small and being able to feel his ribs as he helps him into the barge.
* Another ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' fic [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11994999/1/Welcome-Back Welcome Back]], has Richie escape from being imprisoned and abandoned. He died repeatedly from starvation and is still bony and way too thin when he's found. Even after a few weeks, the sequel [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11995084/1/Long-Journey-Back Long Journey Back]] has him RageAgainstTheReflection and nearly driven to suicide-which for an immortal means trying to hack his head off with broken glass)by how people react to his way too skinny frame when Duncan takes him out for new clothes.
* In the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27853170/chapters/68194306 Pulse and Void]]'' Present Mic is captured by a villain and horribly tortured. The guy has an energy siphon quirk and his stealing Mic’s energy while not feeding him anything leaves him bony and emaciated and looking like he’s been starved for weeks despite only being missing a single week.
* ''Fanfic/RiskItAll'': A six-month coma leaves Ren emaciated and so weak that he has to relearn how to walk and stand. Luckily, his ability helps him build muscle quickly by dumping his prestige points into strength, letting him recover and return home within a month of waking up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/Joker2019'': Arthur is painfully emaciated. There's no explicitly stated reason for it, though it can be assumed it's due to his severe depression and other mental illness.
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'', Raven is visibly emaciated. Most prominently, her cheekbones are visible. Though aside from her gaunt face and her powers hurting her, [[DownplayedTrope she seems only a bit sickly]].
* ''Film/TheMachinist'': Trevor Reznik has become a walking corpse over the years [[spoiler:due to repressed guilt slowly driving him insane]].
* Happens to [[Creator/MattDamon Mark Watney]] in ''Film/TheMartian'' by the time he begins his rover journey to the waiting Mars Ascent Vehicle. Non-comedic example, in that it is the result of nearly a year of subsisting on a reduced-calorie diet of home-grown potatoes on a low-gravity planet, leaving his body only the minimum of fat and muscle as it needs to survive. He's also got visible sores and lesions all over his body, indicating a very weak immune system from the poor diet.
* In ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' one of the serial killer's victims has been reduced to this after a year spent [[ChainedToABed strapped to a bed.]] The worst part? '''''[[spoiler:He's still alive!]]'''''
* ''Film/WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney'': In the animated opening, after Christopher Robin leaves, Pooh and friends are left without food. They become thinner and thinner until they're on the brink of starvation, and are forced to eat Eeyore to make it through the winter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* A serious example: By the time the Golden Ticket tour day arrives in ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', Charlie and his family have been subsisting on so little food for weeks on end that the boy is described as this in the narration and other characters notice--including Grandpa Joe, who along with the other grandparents was this at the start of the story ("They were as shriveled as prunes, and as bony as skeletons"). Another character who notices is Willy Wonka; during the trip down the chocolate river in the CoolBoat, he gives each of them a mugful of the melted chocolate precisely because they "looked starved to death!" This trope is dropped in adaptations, probably because it's hard to visualize with live actors (especially child actors).
* The children Ignorance and Want from ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''.
--> '''Scrooge:''' Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask, but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?\\
'''Ghost of Christmas Present:''' It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it. Look here. ''[reveals the children]''
* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': Before coming to live in Prythian, Feyre is underweight due to frequently lacking food. She also loses a lot of weight throughout the beginning of the second book, although in this case it's not because of poverty but due to trauma and depression.
* The dead gluttons in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'''s Purgatory are starved to the point that each of them looks like a skeleton made out of skin with hollows, uncolored eyes. Their emaciation is so extreme that when TheProtagonist, Dante, comes across one of his best friends in childhood and adulthood, Dante can't distinguish the friend from any of the other husks without hearing his voice.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', the heroes look like this after traveling in a country where they are so disliked that no one will give them food, and fighting bandits on top of it. Not played for drama, as they get something to eat in time, but no one finds it funny, either.
* ''Literature/FantasticMrFox'': Mr. Bean is the LeanAndMean member of the BigThinShortTrio of antagonists. By all accounts, he never eats but subsists solely on the cider he makes on his farm.
* ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'': Gaunt notices that Curth looks emaciated after her return from the Gereon mission, where she had suffered many hardships while fighting the Chaos occupational forces. He still finds her attractive, though.
* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'', Maia frequently refers to himself as skinny, with the implication that this makes him ugly. It is not clear whether he is just a rapidly growing teenager, or whether his abusive guardian has been starving him.
** Thara Celehar combines this with ExhaustedEyeBags. Implied to be the result of stress, depression, and probable lack of self-care rather than a physical ailment.
* In the German novel ''Gottes Bodenpersonal: Eine unwahrscheinliche Liebesgeschichte'' (God's Ground Personnel: An unlikely love story), this is played for drama; one of the characters steps out of the shower in nothing but a towel, and is described as very, very skinny. His lover is concerned about his health, as he's been neglecting self-care in general.
* ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' has the narrator stating that even if someone tried to assassinate Lord Vetinari, they wouldn't have found enough flesh to stick the knife into. As Vetinari's character is more revealed, the audience comes to learn that he eats a strict, limited diet (all the better to avoid poisoning), but he's not unhealthy either.
* Kurtz in ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'', who is dying of an unspecified illness, is described this way.
-->''"I could see the cage of his ribs all astir, the bones of his arm waving."''
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', most of the people from the poorer Districts are systematically underfed and many are reduced to this sort of condition, including Katniss and Prim after their father died and their mother [[EmptyShell fell into a severe depression]].
** In the prequel, ''Literature/TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes'', Iphigenia Moss is described this way and frequently gives her lunches away to her fellow students. The narration cryptically mentions that she starves herself as a form of revenge against her father, the head of Panem's Agriculture Department who oversees food supplies.
* ''Literature/JohannesCabalTheNecromancer'': Much to his displeasure, [[MeaningfulName Bones]] is almost literally nothing but skin and bone, as he's an ArtificialHuman whose creator forgot to include fat and hair in the EyeOfNewt. He doubles as LeanAndMean due to the {{satan}}ic power that animates him.
* ''Literature/KnightsOfTheBorrowedDark'' has [[ShellShockedVeteran Grey]] described this way when he returns a year after being PutOnTheBus following his crossing of the DespairEventHorizon.
-->''Grey had always been slender, but now he was thin to the point of worry, his cheekbones knife blades poorly sheathed under skin.''
* Gollum spends most of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' traveling at a fast pace through the wilderness with no provisions of his own and is already famished when he first meets Frodo face-to-face. But he's explicitly described as skin and bones near the end, after crossing the desert plateau of Gorgoroth alone, when even the starving Frodo is able to briefly overpower him in a fight.
* Played seriously ''and'' [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] in ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'' with Veres, who becomes nothing but skin and bones after being beaten almost to death and taking weeks to recuperate enough to even be able to eat on his own. Additionally, he uses a long-time healing spell on himself that [[HyperactiveMetabolism accelerates his metabolism]], turning him into a BigEater and creating a RunningGag where Veres eats all the party's food without ever looking any better. The spell wears off towards the end of the book, culminating in Shelena's assessment that [[LoveEpiphany he ain't all that skinny anymore]].
* ''Literature/NettleAndBone'': The Northern Kingdom's FairyGodmother is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld so old]] that she's gone past wrinkles and on to translucent skin stretched taut over her skull. [[spoiler:When she's finally able to die, the skin simply crumbles off the bone.]]
* In ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The Quest for Saint Camber]]'', Nigel is described as wasted and frail some two weeks after [[spoiler: Conall attacked him with magic and left him in a coma]]. Since Nigel got no solid food for that period, it's entirely plot justified and not pretty. Morgan and Duncan leave Rhemuth to search for Kelson and Dhugal partly to avoid watching Nigel starve to death.
* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'':
** The titular Skulduggery is ridiculously thin as a result of being a literal re-animated skeleton. He has to get his clothes made by his tailor friend just so that they don't hang off him.
** Carol describes her twin sister Crystal as this, comparing her to Skulduggery above. It's PlayedForDrama, as her forced loss of weight greatly concerns Carol.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[spoiler:Theon]] '''was''' a tall, good-looking youth of a healthy weight. After [[LockedInTheDungeon spending a little]] [[FlayingAlive vacation time in]] [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the Dreadfort]], he comes out some 3 stone (that's ''42 pounds or 19 kilograms'') lighter both due to muscle atrophy and starvation.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Mat spends a little while looking like this while recovering from a deadly {{Curse}}, both because of the curse's degenerative effects and because the [[HealingHands magical healing]] that saves him draws heavily on his body's energy to do so. It also gives him an [[BigEater insatiable appetite]], so several characters are startled to watch such a sickly-looking beanpole scarf down a whole roast chicken and go back for seconds.
* ''Literature/{{Thinner}}'''s Billy Halleck reaches this point as the book progresses, with his lowest stated weight being 118 pounds (53.5 kg), with a stated height of 6'2" (188 cm).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'': One segment is about an Islamic terrorist who escapes prison by starving himself until he's so thin that he can slip through the cell bars. When he returns to his terrorist cell, they hold a feast... which promptly kills him due to refeeding syndrome (put simply, it takes energy to convert food into energy, so overeating after an extremely long fast can cause sudden organ failure).
* {{Subverted}} in an episode of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow''. Drew is on a hunger strike and when Mr. Wick comes to see him at home, Wick finds Drew lying on the couch due to a lack of energy and is now extremely skinny. But it turns out that Drew knew Wick was coming over and he got an assist from a pizza delivery man who is naturally extremely skinny. The pizza guy is willing to help because Drew on a hunger strike is costing him business. They lay on the couch together, covered by a blanket, arranged in a way that it looks like Drew's head is on the other guy's body. Wick is initially suspicious that Drew's head is still as fat as always, which is brushed off by explaining [[BlatantLies head fat is the last thing you lose]], which he falls for.
* Though an unseen character, Maris Crane of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' is repeatedly described as being unhealthily thin, to the point she remained unseen because no actress could possibly fit her physical description. She was once mistaken for a coat rack, is so light she doesn't leave footprints in snow, and Frasier once expressed disbelief at how someone could weigh what she does and still be alive.
* Seen on ''Series/{{Intervention}}'' either because the person has been consuming mostly drugs and little food, or has an eating disorder.
* ''Series/KamenRiderGotchard'': In order to pass an alchemy exam to join the Alchemists' Academy (that being to get two select [[{{Mons}} Chemies]] to weight the same on a set of scales), Hotaro begs the [[NoodlePeople already thin]] [[DanceBattler Odorippa]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext to lose weight]] alongside [[SlayingMantis Kamantis]] to ''gain'' weight, resulting in Odorippa's bedraggled appearance in contrast to Kamantis' BalloonBelly. [[CrazyEnoughToWork This works.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Bleed Like Me'' by Music/{{Garbage}}.
-->And the kick is so divine when she sees bones beneath her skin.
* ''4st 7lb'' by Music/ManicStreetPreachers.
-->A week later all my flesh disappear [sic]\\
Stretch taut, cling-film on bone
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology]]
* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Limos, the spirit(s) of famine and starvation were described as women with emaciated, gaunt faces and dehydrated skin.
* The Wendigo of Algonquian mythology is often depicted as this since it's the spirit of cannibalism. No matter how much it eats, even if it swallows something bigger than itself whole, it'll never get fatter thus it's never satisfied.
* ''Literature/{{Mabinogion}}'': In ''Math fab Mathonwy'', Blodeuedd conspires with her lover Gronwr to murder her husband Lleu, but he escapes by transforming into an eagle and disappearing. When Lleu's uncle eventually finds him, he was very weak and thin, with his [[{{Squick}} flesh rotting away from the injury, and being half-eaten by maggots]].
--> ''However, no-one had ever seen a man in a sorrier state. He was nothing but skin and bones.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* A short sequence of some early ''Comicstrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strips observed Dilbert's date with a supermodel, who was drawn as a literal skeleton, and did not eat on their dinner date but instead simply sniffed the mints.
* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother Spike was like this initially. [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1975/08/13 In the first strip where he appeared]], he woke up after traveling a long time, and Snoopy announced, "Eggs benedict for my brother Spike!" To which Lucy replied, "Better make that ten pounds of buffalo steak" before he was actually seen. (In later stories, Spike was simply thin.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'':
** Harriet is skinny to a concerning degree, her features described as angular and bony. This is because she's deeply depressed and does little to take care of herself.
** Ivan's physical description emphasises how skinny and frail he looks, describing his skin as porcelain and his arms as twigs. This can be unnerving for other characters, even though Ivan is actually a NiceGuy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' Splat book ''The Book of Vile Darkness'', there are several Willing Deformity Feats that the evilest of characters can take, including Gaunt, which makes the character disturbingly thin (and actually grants a few benefits, but a few liabilities too).
* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting, Chosen Ones are humans transformed into humanoid monsters by the [[TheMagocracy Red Wizards of Thay]]. They are downright [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG28.jpg morbidly thin]], to the point where basically look like flesh-colored skeletons.
* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful:'' Darkened with the Hunger Means Nothing Umbra will not ''die'' from deprivation, but they do grow inhumanly emaciated and are somewhat weaker than a properly fed human.
* In the ''TabletopGames/ScarredLands'' campaign setting, worshippers of [[VillainousGlutton Gaurak the Glutton]] become fatling, obese abominations reflecting the titan's appearance. However, fatlings who prove failures turn into gauntlings, which are even more hideous, tall, impossibly thin, and gaunt, nearly mindless beings who more successful fatlings use as slaves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', several characters, including the Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit, look horribly gaunt and malnourished, due to TheCorruption that has blighted all of Wonderland.
* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Hapi, a resident of Skopp City is shown to be quite skinny with a few visible bones after living in the sewers for an unprecedented amount of time without decent meals.
* Overlaps with LeanAndMean for ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'''s BigBad, Ink Bendy, whose ribs can be seen and whose spine juts out of his back.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother}} EarthBound Series]]'': All zombie enemies encountered are entirely deprived with just being dead skin and bones.
* Fans were a bit surprised when a trailer for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' showed Cloud, who's normally depicted as being fairly well-built, had been redesigned to look unsettlingly thin, sinewy, and sickly. Some of the fanbase were not happy with the change, while others thought it was a [[FridgeBrilliance perfect fit for his characterization at that point]]. [[spoiler: For those not in the know, prior to the start of the game Cloud had spent years locked in a jar as a lab specimen.]]
* The Sheikah Shrine Monks in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', who have spent 10,000 years meditating in their chambers to give Link their Spirit Orbs, are portrayed this way. What with Sheikah culture having a [[{{Wutai}} fantasy Japan]] inspiration, they are meant to be a reference to real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokushinbutsu Sokushinbutsu]] monks who starved themselves to death while meditating and underwent self-mummification.
* Six's legs and severe starvation in ''Videogame/LittleNightmares'' leave no doubt that she is extremely skinny.
* A dramatic example comes with ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. [[spoiler:Arthur Morgan]] starts out as a powerfully built, broad-shouldered man in the prime of his life. After he [[spoiler:contracts [[IncurableCoughOfDeath tuberculosis]]]], it becomes harder for [[spoiler:the player to maintain]] his 'perfect' weight. In the terminal stages, it becomes impossible for [[spoiler:Arthur]] to keep any weight on at all, and [[WeightLossHorror he becomes painfully thin and frail-looking]]. [[spoiler:All of this is reflected in his [[LifeMeter health]] and [[SprintMeter stamina]] cores, which gradually diminish as the TB ravages his physical condition.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Issue 8 of ''Flying Suit Reiko'' has Reiko getting her overweight friend Potchari to take a fitness test for her so she can take diet pills she's ineligible for and throughout the story, she gets skinnier and skinnier.
* ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'': One of the Fan Commands reveals Pickle Inspector has exposed ribs when naked.
* ''Webcomic/SlimyThief'': Absorbing water can cause Aisha to swell up but losing water, especially a lot of it, can cause her to shrivel to an emaciated state. After some adventuring and drinking, Aisha comes in her fat form but after an extremely long bathroom break, she walks out of the toilet just skin and bones much to Camilia's horror since she is unaware of Aisha's power.
* ''WebComic/SWAPEnsemble'': Patrick Tempo is tiny for his age and always wears a thick black coat. He is visibly irritated when his sister takes off his jacket, but he is wearing long sleeves that time. Someone on the smaller side can completely wrap a hand around his arm. The next time his jacket is off, he is wearing short sleeves. The skin on his forearms sinks between the bones.
* Sinjal/Crippled from ''WebComic/{{Wurr}}'' is very, very skinny. While not underfed per se (not any more than, say, Morri) he has severe digestion problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', The Ice King is actually very skinny under his robe. Though sometimes he's very fat, depending on what's funnier or more pathetic. In a rare serious example of the trope, "All Your Fault" features two frighteningly gaunt, starving Lemongrabs.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', whenever Mr. Small is either [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]] or wearing something skin-tight, his ribcage is jutting out and his limbs (barring his cloud-life fur) are pencil-thin. Several episodes explain this as being because he deprives himself of meat due to his StrawVegetarian beliefs, and "The Job" also mentions he's attempted breatharianism (the idea that one can live off only sunlight).
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' Stan becomes extremely worried about his weight and image after the family points out that he's arguably just as fat as Steve's new girlfriend, Debbie Hyman (an overweight goth girl), and he goes on an extreme diet and exercise regime, even getting a verbally abusive fitness trainer named Zack (later revealed to be just a figment of his imagination). At first glance, Stan's regime doesn't seem to be working, as he's somehow getting progressively fatter, and it might be due to his family sabotaging his diet as payback for mocking Debbie. But, after the family does some research, it turns out that the episode was seen ThroughTheEyesOfMadness and that Stan had actually developed anorexia (and had been wasting away to nothing).
-->'''Francine:''' It's worse than we thought.\\
'''Stan:''' I know! I'm a huge tub of lard!\\
'''Francine:''' No you aren't! You're just suffering from a delusional state!
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': In the episode "Shaketopia", after having spent two months in virtual reality, Shake's body has degraded to the point his back breaks and exposes his spine when he stands up.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'' episode "Wolfie: Prince of the Jungle" Brandy has a bunch of fashion magazines on the floor. One of them has a literal skeleton on it.
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck have been known to show skinnier frames [[FurIsClothing under their skins]] to try to deter those who wish to eat them.
-->'''Bugs:''' ''([[WesternAnimation/DevilMayHare To Taz]])'' Look! No meat!
** The earliest example of this in a ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon is probably 1939's "Hare-Um Scare-Um", where Happy Rabbit (Bugs Bunny's prototype) [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eb5ch1VTbw8/UTNolxhXWQI/AAAAAAAATOs/qQlhbVex_xc/s200/Screen+Shot+2013-03-03+at+15.07.41.png shows the hunter his frame in full]].
** WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn tries to convince Henery Hawk that he's all gristle in "The Leghorn Blows at Midnight", though he doesn't try to look skinnier.
--->'''Foghorn Leghorn:''' I'm too tough, son. No white meat, just gristle. Feel my wing. I used to be young and tender once -- ''Feel my wing like I toldya, boy!'' -- but that was a long time ago.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E17HeartsAndHoovesDay "Hearts and Hooves Day"]], the Cutie Mark Crusaders have an ImagineSpot where a famine strikes Ponyville and when background pony [[AllThereInTheScript Lily Valley]] momentarily stands up right in front of the "camera" she suddenly has [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/5c/Lily%27s_Ribs_S2E17.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20200313030632 protruding ribs and a concave stomach]].
* In ''[[{{WesternAnimation/Opal}} Jack Stauber's OPAL]]'', the titular character is very thin looking, especially when compared to the other characters in the short film. [[spoiler:Justified because it turns out she was actually getting abused and neglected, which implies that she's actually malnourished and starving]].
* In one ''WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw'' cartoon, a wild mountain lion (an early version of Snagglepuss) steals one of Quick-Draw's biggest, fattest sheep, then shears it down to prepare it for dinner. It is then that he discovers that the sheep is rail-thin underneath its wool.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', the duo are starving and Ren opens his skin to show there's literally no fat, just bone. Then [[FatIdiot Stimpy]] opens his skin to show he's nothing but skin and fat.
* Happens to ''[[FatBastard Cartman]]'', of all people, in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. To elaborate: the kids were setting up a play on the Passion of the Christ, and Cartman insisted on playing Jesus. Since it's Passion of the Christ, crucifixion is customary, and eventually Cartman gets crucified, but Stan and Kyle end up forgetting him there for days. When Cartman manages to get down from the cross and his friends see him again, he's looking pretty malnourished, even by normal standards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The victims of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, and other notorious regimes throughout history have been found in this condition. Systematic starvation is a common tool employed against people targeted by such regimes.
* [[IncurableCoughOfDeath Tuberculosis]] wasn't known as Consumption for nothing.
* A very unfortunate case of TruthInTelevision, victims of prolonged starvation or illness (e.g. cancer, AIDS) will really wither away down to a flap of skin over a malnourished skeleton. This is also the case for people with anorexia.
* An unfortunate side effect of a number of commonly abused drugs (commonly cited examples include meth and heroin) is that the user becomes emaciated and skeletal from a combination of the drugs' affects on the body and personal neglect in favor of getting more drugs.
* "Shrink-wrapped dinosaur syndrome" is a phrase that refers to the tendency for paleo-artists to depict dinosaurs this way because they use the skeletons as reference and forget to account for muscle and fat. The resulting animal looks bony and emaciated.
* The late Filipino comedian-actor Palito capitalized on his thin, "walking corpse"-like appearance to deliver laughs during the seventies and eighties[[note]]His screen name means "stick" in Spanish, befitting his appearance.[[/note]]. He even starred in parodies of Western action films such as ''[[Franchise/{{Rambo}} Rambuto]]''[[note]]lit. Ram-bone[[/note]] and ''[[Film/JamesBond James Bone]]''.
[[/folder]]
----