Where Did The Image Of The Anime Girl With No Arms And No Legs Come From? The 'Limbless Anime Girl' Meme Explained

An image of a bandaged girl missing all her limbs and laying on a hospital bed has oscillated between shock visual and snarky meme for several years now, but the backstory behind the anime-inspired art is darker than the memes let on.

The image first went viral as a tongue-in-cheek She Ate Without YouTube joke, a meme that exaggerates the difficulty of scarfing down a meal without some brain rot audio-visual entertainment to go with it. Here's where the image of the Limbless Anime Girl actually originated.

Where Does The Image Of The Anime Girl With No Limbs Come From?

The image featuring an anime girl lying in a hospital bed comes from the image-sharing site Danbooru, where artist @s_zenith_lee made a post all the way back in August 2009. The image shows a heavily bandaged girl missing all her limbs with her head tilted to the right. She's hooked up to all sorts of hospital equipment, and her room seems to be filled flowers from her sympathizers.

The caption on the image reveals the artist's dark inspiration for the drawing;

A while ago, there was a local girl who was hit by a truck, and ended up losing both her legs and one arm. Visiting victims with this kind of injuries would be pretty awkward -- since my cynical self thinks that telling her "get well soon" would be a little pointless.

I wanted to draw a pic with this theme for quite some time. The last pic inspired me to draw this as a continuation. I kid myself that I've used up all the blood in the last picture, that's why this one is so clean. I also always find stuffed animals a little unsettling.

Last but not least, flower bouquet is a [ ] to draw. Reminds me of the tedious drawing lessons I had when I was younger.

How Did The Image Of The Girl With No Limbs Spread?

Some early reposts of the image can be traced to 4chan's /tg/ board from back in 2014, where channers discussed the drawing and posted edits; including one where she has cyborg limbs and a serious expression on her face. The image is supposedly a reference to Deux Ex, a futuristic RPG game, and was requested by KYM user stanpeebles.

How Did The Image Of The Girl With No Limbs Become A Meme?

By 2019, meme variations of the image began making the rounds online, with people posting the image with text or quips that address the image in a more lighthearted manner. DJHimera reposted the image in HD, complaining about how much "Fetish Art" they had to sift through to find it. Meanwhile, an iFunny user posted an edit of the meme joking about how she must be injured because she "ate without youtube."

More variations of the image continued to make the rounds in 2023, including one here someone used AI to give the girl all her limbs back, and even put a smile on her face.

In 2024, YouTuber skumbagovich posted a video about the piece, calling it "Limbless Anime Girl," gaining over 44,000 views in less than 24 hours.

For the full history of [meme/entry name], be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.