Tweet comparing two Tokyo Mirage Sessions screenshots and complaining that the character's 'vagina bones' were removed in censorship.

Vagina Bones

2006catchphraseclassic

Published October 4, 2026

Vagina Bones is an internet slang term for a woman's visible pelvic bones that got dragged into the spotlight in May 2016 when a Twitter user complained the feature had been censored out of the Western release of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. The phrase was mocked, defended, and eventually turned into one of the stranger gamer backlash jokes of that year, resurfacing in 2023 when fans aimed it at Link's torso in Tears of the Kingdom.

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Overview

Vagina Bones is a crude slang label for the visible outline of the pelvis where the hip meets the abdomen, often used in casual conversation about anime, manga, and video game character art1. Urban Dictionary defines it as the crease above the thigh in physically fit women, sometimes enhanced by the pelvic bone itself8. The term bounced around niche forums for years before it got yanked into mainstream attention in 2016.

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The joke, in its meme form, is less about the anatomy and more about the earnest tone used to defend it. Gamers citing "vagina bones" as a serious artistic feature that needed protection from Western censorship struck most readers as absurd, and the mockery that followed treated the phrase as shorthand for weirdly specific fanservice complaints1. Later uses, like the 2023 Tears of the Kingdom gag about Link's torso, kept the formula intact, pointing at a character's hip lines and asking straight-faced questions about them9.

Origin & Background

Platform
Urban Dictionary (slang origin) / Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2006

On September 16th, 2006, Urban Dictionary user Leah&Jenna submitted the earliest documented entry for "vagina bone," calling it slang for "pelvis bone"8. The phrase bubbled up in anime circles after February 23rd, 2011, when the Japanese entertainment blog Japanator highlighted a botched fan translation from the anime Dream Eater Merry in which a boy whines that a swimsuit fails to show off a female character's "vagina bones"6. The viral catalyst came years later. On May 13th, 2016, Twitter user @Sebban_E posted side-by-side screenshots of a female character from Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, arguing that the Western localization had removed her "cleavage" and "vagina bones"2. Nintendo published the game; @Sebban_E's tweet, not any official artwork, is what turned the slang into a meme target.

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How It Spread

Before 2016, the slang drifted through unrelated corners of the internet. On July 7th, 2012, a Baby Center Forums member titled a post "24 weeks and my vagina bones feel broken," using the phrase literally to describe pelvic pain5. On March 29th, 2013, a Cheat Engine Forums user complimented a video game character by saying "she got them vagina bones"4, and on June 12th, 2015, a NarutoBase Forums member used it to describe the Naruto character Sarada's pelvis9.

The real explosion came after @Sebban_E's May 13th, 2016 tweet comparing the Japanese and Western versions of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE2. Twitter users piled on, some mocking the phrasing and others defending or riffing on it. On May 14th, Redditor B-Volleyball-Ready submitted the tweet to /r/KotakuInAction and openly asked the subreddit to turn "vagina bones" into a meme3. On May 17th, The Daily Dot published a piece ridiculing the tweet and the gamer response to the localization1. HeatStreet followed the next day with its own write-up, pointing out that @Sebban_E was effectively citing a five-year-old anime fandom term7.

The slang resurfaced on May 17th, 2023, when Redditor cripsymendowan posted about Link's torso in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, asking facetiously why Nintendo gave Link "a vagina bones"9. The joke jumped to Twitter, where a widely circulated video introduced newer users to the 2016 saga for the first time10.

Timeline

2006-09-16

Urban Dictionary user Leah&Jenna submits the first known entry defining 'vagina bone' as pelvis bone slang.

2011-02-23

Japanator highlights a Dream Eater Merry fan translation using 'vagina bones,' pushing the phrase into anime circles.

2012-07-07

A Baby Center Forums user posts about pelvic pain under the title '24 weeks and my vagina bones feel broken.'

2013-03-29

A Cheat Engine Forums user remarks 'she got them vagina bones' about a video game character.

2023-05-17

Redditor cripsymendowan revives the joke by asking why Nintendo gave Link 'a vagina bones' in Tears of the Kingdom.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically works by pointing at a character's hip or pelvis in art and complaining, in deadpan outrage, that someone has stolen the character's "vagina bones" or added them where they don't belong. A common convention is to pair the phrase with a comparison image, mirroring the original @Sebban_E censorship tweet's layout2. The joke usually depends on the earnest tone, as if "vagina bones" were a technical art term rather than meme slang1.

Frequently Asked Questions