Introduction

The Smartphone Bouncing Boobs Technique is a meme that creates an optical illusion of bouncing breasts, gaining traction on Japanese social media in late 2019.

Background

The "Shake Your Screen" Optical Illusion is a meme category that emerged on Japanese Twitter in September 2019. It features female characters depicted with exaggerated breast sizes, accompanied by a design that invites viewers to shake their phones. This design employs an optical illusion that misaligns movements, creating the effect that the breasts are bouncing.

How It Began

The illusion is known as the "Fluttering Heart Illusion," which NCBI defines as the perceived lag of a color target against a contrasting background when both are oscillated. This phenomenon likely arises from differences in how our perception processes various colors. On September 21, 2019, Twitter user @eggplant128 shared an illustration using this optical illusion applied to the character Mitsuri Kanroji from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. This post, which garnered over 85,000 likes, was taken down due to copyright issues with the original artwork. Subsequently, the user adapted the effect for another character, Kanan Matsuura from Love Live.

Internet Reaction

Following @eggplant128's post, numerous Twitter users and amateur artists on Pixiv began creating their own versions and templates of the optical illusion, referring to it as the "Bouncing-boob illusion" or "Smartphone Bouncing Boobs Technique." This trend quickly caught the attention of Japanese media outlets. On September 23, 2019, gravure idol Nanoka shared a photo using this effect, which received significant engagement. The following day, popular Virtual YouTuber Tsukino Mito featured the optical illusion during her birthday live stream, further fueling its popularity.