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Twisted-Knee Collapse - TV Tropes

  • ️Fri Apr 27 2007

Twisted-Knee Collapse (trope)

Flexiblity, thy name is anime.

A character, usually female, who collapses from exhaustion or dejection sometimes lands on their knees, with the lower legs splayed out sideways while the thighs remain together. This is difficult to do for all but the most limber of people in real life, and even then it's not very comfortable.

This usually occurs when the character's body is facing the camera instead of in profile, ignoring three-dimensional perspective in favor of looking cute.

The obvious reason for this is that far more commonly, the female suffers Magic Skirt failure due to landing in the far more realistic and comfortable position of sitting down with her thighs spread, leading to a Panty Shot. Open or closed, the sitting position is called pettanko due to the legs visually flattening out against the ground. It is independent of the sitter's chest curvature.

In Real Life, this is called "W"-sitting, and is very common in young children who have difficulty maintaining balance in other sitting positions. It can cause strain on the hips and knees, so most medical practitioners advise against letting kids sit this way.

Sort of the opposite of No Knees (running and walking characters are animated as not bending their kneesr).

Examples:

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Anime & Manga 

  • Ao collapses this way from overwhelming emotions on the balcony of her home in the second chapter of Asteroid in Love (animated in the first episode) when Mira tells her the latter has been learning a lot about astronomy due to Ao's influence.
  • This is the standard sitting position of Kotomi Ichinose from CLANNAD. Okazaki lampshades how uncomfortable it must be.
  • In The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Emilia does this after pulling a Diving Save on Chiho...and breaking both legs in the process.
  • Digimon Adventure: (2020) Kari has done it in some occasions. Matt's little brother T.K. has even done a less extreme version too.
  • Yoshino does this in the second Digimon Data Squad opening. It looks even more awkward and less comfortable than normal through its clear fanservicey intent.
  • Risa does this in episode 5 of D.N.Angel after becoming exhausted from running.
  • Bulma of Dragon Ball does this every now and then. As does Chi Chi such as when she found out Goku died to Cell and doesn't want to return.
  • Often done by Nyu in Elfen Lied.
  • Honda Tohru from Fruits Basket has been known to do this on occasion, usually apologizing for something.
  • Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist does this on occasion. Specially when she walks into Scar fighting the Elrics... and learns that Scar killed her parents.
  • In a male example, England from Hetalia: Axis Powers breaks down crying in this pose when he can't bring himself to harm America during The American Revolution.
  • In the Downer Beginning of Kotoura-san, Haruka does this immediately after the Skyward Scream. Unusually for the trope, this was animated in profile.
  • Fate does this in the first chapter of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid after witnessing Vivio's Transformation Sequence. Poor Fate wasn't quite expecting to see Vivio accessing her Sankt Kaiser mode since Nanoha kinda forget to mention that little detail to her.
  • My-HiME:
    • In episode 24, Dark Magical Girl Nao Yuuki goes into this position after her definitive defeat against Shizuru, which equates to her CHILD and her MVP (her comatose mother) dying as well.
    • In Episode 15, Yukino does this after she thinks Mai has been killed by a direct hit from Artemis.
    • In a more comedic example, this happens in Episode 9 when Natsuki notices that the car that stops for her while she is posing has Youko, Midori, Reito, and Shizuru in it.
  • Naruto: Before the Time Skip, Sakura did this a lot.
  • In Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Mahiro tells Nyarko "I don't like you", which causes her to collapse in this position and suffer Color Failure as part of an overall Heroic BSoD. She stays that way until Mahiro's mother convinces him to apologize.
  • Tashigi does this after Zoro tests his luck in a lethal way in One Piece.
  • As does Melfina in Outlaw Star.
  • Pokémon the Series:
  • Ranma ½:
    • Ranma in female form collapses on his rump, knees and thighs together and legs splayed out when Kunō first declares his budding love for "her" with a bouquet of roses. Especially strange since Ranma is typically very masculine and his reaction wasn't just straight out of a shojo manga, he was actually shocked into stereotypically girlish submission (instead of being outraged into beating the crap out of Kunou).
    • Happens again to Ranma-chan after Cologne reveals she's used the "Full Body Cat's Tongue" to hit Ranma's Pressure Points and trap him in his female form, in an effort to force him to agree to his Accidental Marriage to Shampoo.
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena: Utena fell victim to this with a sickening sneaker squeak and the echoing sound of her knees hitting the floor as she was brought down with the aid of a sword being run through her back, while in the one-armed embrace of her princess, who was using her other hand to push said sword through her.
  • Sailor Moon: Usagi, frequently. Often combined with Ocular Gushers or Sparkling Stream of Tears.
  • Simoun: Mamina falls on her knees at the end of episode 7.
  • In Strawberry Panic!, Yaya sits like this after being rejected by Hikari.
  • Sword Art Online: When Shino disarms her and then takes a shot at a can, Endou panics and collapses on her posterior.
  • Ichigo does this in Tokyo Mew Mew when she's being chased by Quiche.
  • YuYu Hakusho: Ruka adopts this position after Team Masho loses their match and her barrier disappears.

Comic Books 

  • Superman:
    • In story arc Krypton No More, Supergirl collapses in this position -facepalming for further effect- when her cousin admits he knows she has lied to him and demands an explanation.
    • In Who is Superwoman?, Supergirl falls on her knees when Superwoman's body falls apart and explodes at the end of their battle.

Film — Animation 

Film — Live-Action 

Live-Action TV 

Music 

Sports 

  • The "butterfly" position for an ice hockey goaltender is exactly this, the position being most useful for blocking shot attempts at the lower part of the goal. It became popular in the NHL starting in the 1990s and gradually displaced the previous stand-up style of goaltending as the most common style.

Video Games 

Web Animation 

Webcomics 

  • In Jupiter-Men, Quintin falls to his knees with relief rather than dejection after a bullet aimed at Jackie's head pings harmlessly off her skin thanks to her powers. This is right after he had a Big "NO!" when the gun came out.

Western Animation