Anime girls and knocked knees

Why do so many anime girls get drawn (in fanart and official art) with their knees (or whole legs) turned inward?

This is weird and slightly uncanny.

(FYI "knocked knees" is actually the name of a medical condition wherein a person's knees, while standing, are turned inward.)

Cross-posted at IJBM: http://itjustbugsme.com/forums/discussion/11014/why-do-so-many-anime-girls-have-knocked-kneess#Item_1

edited 7th Aug '12 10:35:02 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I think it's a sign of passiveness.

I think it's just supposed to look cute.

it just standard comedy.just like someone hit a farming fork

edited 8th Aug '12 8:24:15 AM by rrw

@OP: Do you have any examples?

First I thought of was Sailor Moon. There's lots of that there.

@OP - I don't understand what you are talking about. Can you give some examples?

It's cute because it's passive.

I thought the idea was that they're seriously aroused and, since they're all wearing skirts, have to keep their thighs pressed together to stop certain bodily fluids from leaking out.

Or maybe I just have a dirty mind.

Indeed. It's a submissive sort of body language. Like, cowering almost. You could find it on particularly wimpy men too.

@ Physical Stamina and d Roy, re examples:

• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=430078
• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=448837
• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=884929
• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=879975 (warning: large picture)
• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=877068
• http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=875558

Ohhhh.

...I dunno.

Oh, that.

I dunno. Someone started doing that at some point. Then people started to imitate and after years of imitation of imitation, voila.

Probably the same reason why anime girls' eyes are so damn huge.

They seem to convey entirely different tropes. The first, second and fourth seem to be shy and/or tsundere, so it's like an arms-crossed pose, an expression of awkward defensiveness.

The sixth looks like she is posing in a stereotypical photomodel style, It's a bit like the one-arm-on-hip-with-hip-thrusted-sideways, a provocative "look at me" pose.

The third and the fifth look like their knees just turned into jelly from the butterflies in their stomach, especially the fifth, Asuka's pose there looks exactly like a bedheet printing, where she looks like just got pushed down. (in fact, that picture might be traced from there).

Among other reasons, it looks more slender and thinner than having the knees straight/outward. You can notice the difference when you compare these girls to an art style that usually avoids it, such as... Bulma from Dragonball, I think? I always noticed her as seeming a bit "wider," in a way, in comparison to other anime girls, though I might be wrong. I haven't watched it in years...

But yes, it's more of a pose than anything. One of those things that you see all the time but never really notice. Like how girls almost always squat when taking photos with lots of other girls.

Like any of the Stock Poses (I think we have a list of those) it's meant to convey something about a character. Either it's been associated with certain characteristics long before being incorporated into any media works or some artist realized that it exemplified those characteristics and started using it.

We might as well be questioning every single one of the Stock Poses in that case. I personally find the Moe Stare more puzzling (not to mention much vaguer).

Regarding physical feasibility, there are lots of girls who can sit with thighs together and lower legs splayed completely out. I imagine that standing with knocked knees is much easier on the joints than that.

edited 8th Aug '12 3:05:00 PM by Recon5

Sitting with the knees together is really easy; I can do that too.

It's standing that's the weird one.

oh i misunderstand what you talking

anyway, seem it just standard pose i guess. you can do it in rea life.thought it maybe awkward if you do it everytime. nothing bizarre about that.

it probably come from Girly Run

edited 8th Aug '12 4:25:20 PM by rrw

You might do it in real life if you're leaning on something. If you're standing by yourself, though, it's a very weird position.

it very weird if you do it everytime you stand. but when you pose for photo. i can see girl doing it.

thought most of them usually lift a leg or so. like pic 1, 2, & 6 which can trace to Girly Run

for pic 3 she maybe jumping. pic 4 she probably cool and try to close her leg. for pic 5 she probably lie down.

edited 9th Aug '12 1:34:52 AM by rrw

This isn't limited to anime (anymore?) Either. Here◊ is Frankie from The Zhu Zhus doing it.

I used to see this all the time in anime and collect screenshots of it. Called it "intero" or "mediaro" since this rotation of the head of the femur in the hip socket is called internal or medial rotation.

I think Knock Kneed Standing would make for a great trope page. I have heard Knock Kneed Sitting called "W Sitting" though mostly as a developmental disorder.

What should parent article be? Knocked Knees ? Medial Hip Rotation ? Internal Hip Rotation?

The head image we MUST have for the sitting variant is the eyepatch girl Abiru Kobushi from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

The writers were clearly making fun of this tendency because they rotated her legs even more than usual to the point where here feet were actually off the ground. Zetsubo is frantically asking "ARE YOU ALRIGHT" and she holds up the pinky of her right hand saying "no I think I hurt my pinkie".

Been years, wish I could remember which series/episode that is.

No other image could compete with this as the trope header. Never.

So how do we go about making this happen?

edited 28th Jul '17 2:47:32 PM by Axelmania

Bruh, what's with the 5 year bump?

edited 28th Jul '17 2:49:05 PM by Lionheart0

Probably because it's still relevant.

The whole W sitting thing is Twisted-Knee Collapse.

As for Knocking Knees◊, it’s a thing in real life, most people grow out of it by the age of 6 or 7. If someone doesn’t grow out of it it’s usually cause of a medical condition or they are overweight.

In Japanese works it is used as a Moe or Kawaiiko element like Third-Person Person and such to signify that they are kiddy or Moe bait.

The fact that someone else used it means nothing as only as a Moe element does it have meaning. It is also used spurts in some old cartoons to show fear as well.

edited 23rd Sep '17 12:33:14 PM by Memers

We're talking about drawings of girls so they may not necessarily be model after something that even happens in real life. My theory is that the first person to develop this "style" just decided it is easier or more practical to draw it that way. And then other artists copied the style and now it's popular.

For example, the artist may have found it easier to draw the jumping pose with the character's calves pointed outward away from each other instead of directly behind the thighs. And if the feet were already pointed inward, then the artist would just need to cut and rotate the calves into the jumping position and not worry about redrawing the position of the thighs or feet. Anyone familiar with flash animation may be guilty of the same animation shortcut.

It kind of makes sense since having the calves disappear behind the thighs may, from a 2D-perspective, make it look like the calves are awkwardly shrinking into the body. This can also apply to running poses. Moving the thighs would require more drawings so lets just move calves. I know there are other ways of drawing these poses but for a group shot, the artist may want to give each character a different pose.