Bishōnen

For other uses, see Bishōnen (disambiguation).

(美少年, also transliterated bishounen; literally, "beautiful boy") is a specific Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man. The prefix bi (美) specifically refers to feminine beauty. On the other hand, bijin, literally "beautiful person", refers to a beautiful woman. The bishōnen is typically quite slender and not very muscular, with a tapered chin, stylish hair, and an overall effeminate or androgynous appearance. The aesthetic of the bishōnen began as an ideal of a young homosexual lover, likely arising from the effeminate male actors who played female characters in Kabuki theater. It is perpetuated today in anime and manga, especially shōjo (girl) anime, shōnen-ai, and yaoi. Most homosexual characters in anime are also often categorized as bishōnen.

Conventional usage

Some western anime and manga fans use the term to refer to any handsome male character regardless of age. This is regarded as incorrect by some. In the place of bishōnen, some fans prefer to use the more all-encompassing bishie (which may be equivalent to bijin, although that term is not as popular). It is occasionally used to describe some androgynous female characters (such as Lady Oscar in The Rose of Versailles, Karou no Kimi and Hana no Saint Juste in Oniisama e), or any women with traits stereotypical to bishōnen.

The term binanshi was popular in the 1980s. Occasionally biseinen (literally beautiful young man) is seen as a synonym, but biseinen usually refers to a handsome man older than a bishōnen, since the age range of a bishōnen tends to be from 14-19, while a biseinen is often 20+. A handsome male below 14 is sometimes referred to as a bi-shota, although that is usually equated with a slight underage fetish.

See also

• Bishōjo
• List of Bishonen