A popular Asian character type, the Bishōnen, or "beautiful boy", is a male character that possesses androgynous or 'feminine' physical traits. He is usually tall, slender with almost no fat, little to no muscle, and no body or facial hair. Large, expressive eyes are almost a given, though Tsurime Eyes are also common in more serious examples. In anime, many bishōnen have female voice actors, although those that don't get startlingly deep, sexy voices instead. It is not uncommon for those at the more feminine end to be mistaken for women by other characters, or for savvier examples of the type to take advantage of such an assumption.
Bishōnen can be found equally distributed between heroes and villains; bishōnen villains often develop devoted followings among fans. Bishōnen with white hair are almost always villains, no matter how they initially seem.
The psychology behind the concept is rather interesting. The aesthetic has a tendency to be standard of beauty that transcends the boundaries of both sexual orientation and gender. Why it appeals to females is disputed, but one theory is that a feminine man is less inherently threatening to female eyes, even if looks can sometimes be decieving.
In the English fandom, the term bishōnen simply connotes "a really, really attractive male", but in its original usage, it refers to a specific type of attractiveness that is found in adolescents. The cutoff for bishōnen in the strict sense is around 20 years old. Beyond this age, the Japanese describe male attractiveness through terms like biseinen or bidanshi ("beautiful man") or ikemen (roughly "good-looking guy"). The affectionate English fandom shorthand "bishie" bypasses the lexical issues somewhat. Examples of both Bishounen and Biseinen should be placed on this page. Likely to have drawn on a moe aesthetic when they were younger, and have at least a Hot Mom or dad where they get their looks from.
The comparable Korean concept is kkot-minam ("flower pretty boy"). The most similar Western type is Pretty Boy.
The appearance and behavior of the archetypal bishōnen is often used to explore sexuality and gender norms. Thus, Yaoi Guys have a tendency to be this.
Originally, bishōnen characters were the province of shoujo and Boys Love Genres, but since the mid-90s, it has become the default style for teenage boys in pretty much any work looking for a cross-demographic audience. The farther bishōnen characters disseminate from their source genres, the less likely it becomes that there will be in-universe mention of their androgynous looks/attractiveness.
Older Than Print, since The Tale of Genji has it in spades.
Often comes with the Bishie Sparkle. If all the guys are bishōnen without many women to balance them out, you've got yourself a Cast Full of Pretty Boys.
Related to Rule of Glamorous. The Long-Haired Pretty Boy is a standard bishōnen design.
Contrast Gonk, Hunk, The Grotesque, and Puni Plush. Pretty girls are known as Bishoujo ("beautiful girl"), but the esthetics of bishoujo are different, typically emphasizing cute, petite femininity rather than sleek androgyny. See Bifauxnen for ladies who conform a bit more closely to the bishōnen aesthetic.
Examples — This is an East Asian media only trope. For pretty boys in other cultures see Pretty Boy*
The difference is primarily cultural, and it is not at all uncommon for Animesque media to use this trope much in the same way as the examples here, but for convenience's sake, let's just put the Eastern ones here and the Western ones there.
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Anime and Manga
All the male characters introduced so far in Kyoto Animation's upcoming anime Free!
+Anima: Husky. He's repeatedly mistaken for a girl.
Ghost Hunt: almost all of the male characters. Lin, Naru, Bou-san, even John are bishōnens, pretty boys, handsome, etc, etc...you watch a video of Ghost Hunt on YouTube, scroll through the comments, and you will find a lot of fangirling female users.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure features Noriaki Kakyoin, a VERY popular example on pixiv and possible poster child. Not to mention Part 5 and its collection of dangerous pretty boys.
With the exception of the vampire hunter Toga Yagari, absolutely all the male cast of Vampire Knight are bishōnen.
Reiji from Kodomo no Jikan, especially in the anime. Of course, he's a seriouslyfuckedup bishonen.
Harry from Outlaw Star. He even ties his hair with a big, pretty bow. Fred Luo, too.
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: Nozomu Itoshiki and his brother Mikoto. Also, four of his only known male students: Jun Kudou, Kuniya Kino, Aoyama, and Haga.
Huey Laforet from Baccano takes this to the point of confusing people in-universe (you know you look girly when the prettiest woman in the series is your nigh-identical adult daughter). Firo, while never being mistaken for a woman like Huey has, has been mocked by a detective in the Light Novels for skewing quite close to the Uke aesthetic. Claire Stanfield, aka. Rail Tracer, also fits. Jacuzzi also fits, although he has that giant tattoo on his face.
Urusei Yatsura. Rei Lum's (former fiance) is a tall, stoic, green-haired space bishōnen who drives men to despair and women to squee. Mendou also qualifies, which is basically his most obvious difference from Ataru.
Kouichi Hayama, from Moonlight Lady, falls into this description perfectly. Lampshaded with Io Azuma, his wife-to-be's cousin; Suzuna was hoping that Io would grow to be this (partially because of an Arranged Marriage to him). Ultimately averted, as Io grew to be a limp-wristed, wide-eyed, Ambiguously Gay "pretty boy".
Otani, Kohori, Suzuki, Haruka, and, without a doubt, Maitake and Seiko from Lovely Complex.
Just about every male character from Fushigi Yuugi. Most of their brothers from other Yuu Watase manga are bishies as well. It's Yuu Watase, what do you expect?
Dilandau in Vision of Escaflowne(who is later revealed to have been a magically disguised and brainwashed girl). Let's just say that most of the male cast is bishōnen, especially Allen and Van. Just look at the opening, for God's sakes!
The Shitennou in the first season of Sailor Moon, Mamoru Chiba, Ali of the Doom Tree arc, Prince Diamond and Sapphire in Sailor Moon R, the Amazon Trio in Super S, and the Sailor Starlights...sort of. In the manga, even one of the cats qualifies for this with his long haired, midriff exposing human form. The cat in question (Artemis) is even named for a goddess.
The entire male cast of Simoun. The younger men — who were girls until age 17 — even still have breasts that haven't been reabsorbed yet (especially the hunky chief mechanic Wapourif), and all of them are voiced by female voice actors.
Maximilian Jenius from Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Macross7. Also, Linn Kaifun and Conda Bromco from the first series. Justified and repeatedly lampshaded in Macross Frontier with Alto Saotome, who is frequently remarked on for his resemblance to a woman (much to his annoyance). He, and his father, were Kabuki actors who specialised in female performances. Particularly obvious lampshade hanging is his nickname of 'Hime' or 'princess' cause he is just so darn pretty.
Solomon Goldsmith from Blood+. Can't forget tall, dark, and handsome Haji.
Ren from Karin, a white-haired pretty boy who fits the mold on the surface, but who ultimately manages to have a redeeming feature or two.
Kyuzo in Samurai 7 is tall, slender, and androgynously beautiful; his voice, however, is very male. Shichiroji, too, and Katsushiro is close. Then there is when Gorobei, Heihachi, and Rikichi have to make it to Kanna village... in disguise.
Kousaka from Genshiken. The most feminine-looking male club member, he is the only one with a girlfriend in the beginning, let alone a sex life.
Basically, all male characters from Ouran High School Host Club, and one of the females. Tamaki (see picture) slightly subverts the usual cool-headed bishie stereotype by being a blithering (but lovable) idiot, and manages to be the male lead and comic relief both at once.
Particularly Momiji, Ritsu, and Ayame. The first wears the girls' school uniform (albeit not with a skirt) because "it looks cuter on him", while the second presents himself as a woman because of an inferiority complex the size of Antarctica. Ayame, on the other hand, is...just special. Akito also qualifies in the anime, although manga Akito is a different story altogether.
The lead, Tohru Honda, remarks that the Sohmas are a family of "princes". And towards the end of the manga's run, even Momiji graduates to pure Bishōnen status with a growth spurt and switch to the boy's uniforms.
Gundam Wing, in particular, was full of them. And among the Gundam Wing bishie brigade, Quatre Winner deserves special mention. A slim, platinum-blond Berber. Needless to say, you can find a fairly large amount of fanart of him.
Protagonist Heero Yuy also deserves a mention, since Word Of God admitted that his appearance was inspired by a Japanese actress, Yuki Uchida.
Gundam 00, oh ho ho. Apparently, every male under the age of 35 will be absolutely gorgeous in the 24th century, in addition to shrinking their shirts in the dryer to show off their buff figures. Then again, this was pretty well predicted the second they announced that Yun Koga would be designing 00's cast.
We also need to mention ∀ Gundam's Loran, who was quite possibly one editorial mandate away from being a full-blown woman.
Even in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Char stands out as a pretty boy, notable because the art style of the time rendered almost every other character Gonk. The only character to rival his bishounen-ness is Garma.
Griffith from Berserk is explicitly labeled as "too beautiful to be a man" in about a dozen separate chapters by different characters! He even wears lipstick after transforming into Femto.
Katori, Dom, and the nameless terrorist from the second episode (who is mentioned because his prettiness is a plot point) from Irresponsible Captain Tylor.
Both Ishida Yamato and Ichijouji Ken of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 fall into this category. Their actual looks are never commented upon, but one figures that this is at least partially why they are fangirl bait, both in and out of the show. Also lampshaded in an Audio Drama.
Well, there was that page in the translation of the 02 manga where Daemon calls Ken "the pretty one" (if you're thinking that's too creepy for words, then you're probably still sane).
In one episode of zero two, Gabumon lampshades this by saying "Yamato isn't the only heartthrob here", while Ken was hit on by a very young girl.
To a lesser extent, Takeru, Yamato's little brother, seems to gain some level of bishōnen in him when he turned eleven himself. An episode of Digimon Adventure 02 showed a fair number of girls—Hikari among them—practically swooning over him when he was showing off his basketball skills.
Both Toboe and Kiba from Wolf's Rain look like Bishōnen most of the time, but are actually wolves in disguise. To go further, numerous viewers have mistaken bothfor girls.
Mikagami Tokiya from Flame of Recca. He doesn't like being mistaken for a girl, though.
The contrast between Light and L (and their respective fangirls) are even lampshaded a bit in Episode 9, when they’re giving a university entrance speech together:
Girl 1: I sure like the guy on the right [L].
Girl 2: What–?! You’re weird. Most people would choose the one on the left [Light].
Wolfram is very pretty (he looks almost exactly like his mother), a definite bishōnen. In fact, Yuuri's immediate reaction upon seeing him for the first time is simply to stare in awe and call him exactly that.
Also, Saralegui.
Then there's every guy in Yuuri's "harem", plus Yuuri himself.
Johan from Monster. It's especially noticeable when you realize that the anime is one of the few that steers entirely out of the way of Generic Cuteness.
It's even more noticeable when Johan dresses up like his sister and nobody can tell the difference, to the extent of making a male, heterosexual policeman infatuated with him. If all it takes for you to go from a good-looking man to a beautiful woman is a wig and a dress, odds are good that you fit this trope very well.
He is even explicitly stated to be beautiful by a few people. Even Tenma comments on how he has beautiful eyes.
Major Alex Armstrong also appears as a sort of parody, both meeting every bishonen archetype yet defying it too. Not only does he meet the quota of sparkling, hairlessness, beauty, deep voice, and vanity, he's also a muscular, oversizedbodybuilder, who constantly flexes and lacks an indoor voice.
At the end of the manga and second anime, Alphonse is revealed to be a gorgeous bishonen.
Anatolia Story (a.k.a Red River): there are about four male characters in the entire series that don't fit this trope. The artwork is Viewer Gender Confusion incarnate.
Joshua Christopher is the most obvious example from the series—he's quite thin (even implied to look underweight at one point), has pale blond hair and blue eyes, and looks quite a bit like his sister.
Aion is a bit more borderline—he's actually quite muscular when he takes off his Badass Long Coat, but his long, white hair does a lot to give him an edge of androgynous beauty. He's maybe a bit more of a biseinen.
Chrono is a tricky one. In his true form, he's a bit rough around the edges and his outfit goes out of the way to highlight his muscular chest, but in his Sleep Mode Size, he's got longer hair and looks much younger (and thus cuter). However, he still has moments of looking quite pretty in his true form, and a flashback in the manga shows him with long hair, which definitely qualifies him.
Ayasegawa Yumichika is defined by his connection with beauty. Not only in looks but in lifestyle, too. He even accepted a lower rank in his squad than he had to because he thought that, in kanji, the number 5 was more "beautiful" than 4.
Byakuya Kuchiki is very bishonen and is often voted "Seireitei's Sexiest Male Shinigami" by the Shinigami Women's Institute.
Ishida Uryuu has a very slender, delicate build and an exceptionally fair complexion for a male character. He takes after his father Ryuuken, who is a Silver Fox.
Itsuki Koizumi in Haruhi Suzumiya. That is, in a Brigade of crazy people, with a cynical Deadpan Snarker who constantly tells him that no one cares about him. He probably just appears to be one, but he sure seems to make most women blush. As Kyon puts it, 'A face I wouldn't introduce to my girlfriend'.
Il Palazzo of Excel Saga is very pretty and has long, silver hair.
In just about every Shojo manga and whatnot, Bishies are everywhere, or, at the very least, there is guaranteed to be at least one bishie main character since the male lead is 99.9% assured to be one.
Hakuoh of Duel Masters has to be one of the bishiest, with his slender build and long, flowing, silvery-blue hair.
Ayato Kamina from RahXephon is pretty enough that he'd probably not look out of place in a dress. There's also Dr. Itsuki (who bears a suspicious resemblance to the above-mentioned Rossiu) and Souichi Yagumo (who bears a suspicious resemblance to his own girlfriend, Kim).
The four older knights in Pretear are examples of this trope, particularly Kei. Goh is borderline, but he makes up for it by baring his midriff in his knight outfit.
Mytho in Princess Tutu has eyelashes thicker than his girlfriend's. Femio is also an over-the-top parody of this type. Ironic in that Vic Mignogna plays an only slightly toned-down version of Femio in Ouran High. Even better there because, no matter how cheesy he is, the girls there actually fall for it.
Several characters in Yu-Gi-Oh!, including at least Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba, Malik Ishtar (and how!), Ryou Bakura, Yami Bakura, Pegasus, Ryuji Otogi, and a number of minor supporting characters.
Yu-Gi-Oh! takes this trope to such ridiculous extents that, chances are, if you're a major villain, you're probably going to be very feminine in appearance! Not to mention, its successors both have this trope in spades as well.
Mahou Sensei Negima! gives Negi some magic age-up pills, turning him into one of these. He's also a dead ringer for his father, who was also a bishonen. Albireo Imma probably counts too. Teenage Kotaro definitely counts as well.
Future Trunks, Zarbon, and Android 17 of Dragon Ball Z
Kind of subverted with Zarbon a little later in that his true form is not pretty at all. It actually wastes his powers to keep up the pretty boy appearance.
Yamcha, especially when he first arrives to fight the Saiyans.
All of the main characters in Princess Princess. Yuujirou, Mikoto, and Tooru being bishies is basically the whole point of the anime. They're princesses because they're bishies.
Even Claymore manages to have one of these in the cast: Isley of the North.
Many of the characters from Rurouni Kenshin, especially the titular character, Mr. Pretty Boy Swordsman himself. Depending on the quality of the animation in an episode of the anime, particularly in the later episodes of the series, and you know, just about all the time in the manga, Kenshin is very pretty despite the fact that he's a terrifyingly powerful swordsman who even the manliest of men are afraid of. It doesn't help that, towards the end of the manga and in most of the official artwork, his hair always looks extremely long and flows like a bunch of ribbons. Just look at these pictures: [1], [2], [3], [4]. I rest my case. And even more so in the Trust & Betrayal and Reflections OVAS. [5] And then, you know, there's Soujiro, Aoshi, Sanosuke, and, heck, even Hiko qualifies, although he's pretty manly. Observe: [6].
A good amount of the male characters from Black Butler. Except for Baron Kelvin, who realizes this and is obsessed with "becoming beautiful", Georg von Siemens, Jumbo, Lord Arthur Randall, Azzurro Vanel, Fred Aberline, Damian, and Doctor.
Kantarou Ichinomiya from Tactics is a white/very light brown? haired bishie, who is annoying and greedy, but overall a good person. He is so young looking, nobody really knows his age. It is implied that he is much older than he appears. Many other guys in it also qualify.
Sanji recently has been beating people pretty. His first victim, a hideous Wanze, was rapidly kicked across the face until he became (to his horror) this trope. Later, Sanji, fighting his bounty poster look-alike, does this again, much to his foe's joy.
Played for Laughs in Boa Hancock's romantic fantasies about the normal looking main character Luffy - she sees him as typical Bishonen with a full Bishie Sparkle and brown eyes, as well as speaking with a more mature voice than he actually speaks with.
The series now has its first definitive Bishonen. His name is Cavendish. Not only does he have the Bishie Sparkle, he also has large, glinting eyes, a trait commonly used only for female characters. His glinting eyes pretty much drive the point home, because the eyes of male characters in this series rarely glint, if at all.
Almost every male character in Saiyuki. The four main characters are these, of course, but also Kougaiji, Dokugakuji, Hazel, Koumyu, and Ni Jian-Yi/Ukoku.
Depending on who you ask, a good number of the male cast in Naruto could qualify as Bishonen. Notable examples include Haku (to Dude Looks Like a Lady levels), Benten (Filler Villain to Dude Looks Like a Lady levels), Sasuke, Itachi, Kakashi, Deidara, Sasori, Neji, Suigetsu, Kimimaro, (arguably) Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sai, Gaara, Shikamaru, Kiba, Utakata, and the titular character himself. Naruto definitely counts, considering that he has his mom's AND his his dad's looks, though this trope is mostly appropriate only after the time skip. Also, the Fourth Hokage, aka Naruto's dad.
The Legend Of Koizumi gives us Pietro, the white knight serving under the pope. He comes complete with accompanying Bishie Sparkles when he first appears.
Every single male character in Papa To Kiss In The Dark.
Durarara gives us Kasuka, Shizuo, Izaya, and Shinra. And then Mikado, Kida, Aoba, Seiji, Tanaka Tom, Walker, Chikage and...Nasujima-sensei. Unfortunately.
There's also minor character Ryo Takigutchi. Seriously, just◊ look at him◊!
Every male character in Black Bird, but especially Kyo, whom Misao mistakes for a pretty girl upon seeing him as an adult.
Psyren: Oboro, Haruhiko, Junas, Miroku, Shiner, Kabuto, and Shao as an adult.
07-Ghost: Teito, Castor, Frau, Labrador, Ayanami, Mikage...Maybe almost all of the male characters of the entire story.
Many characters of MÄR, on both sides of the good/evil divide. Alvis◊ and Nanashi◊ are this, combined with the headband of eyecovering. Every once-in-a-while, they even comment on it in-universe.
In Akira, there's Kai, aka Kaisuke, who's short, slim, well-dressed, girlishly faced, and can knock a guy through a window. Being relatively sensitive and apparently crushing on Kaneda in the manga and Yamagata in the anime, he's often perceived as a young homosexual.
The titular Yakumo from Psychic Detective Yakumo fits this trope to a T. Haruka even thinks he's a "beautiful person" when she first meets him. Also, a good amount of male college students who pop up.
Special A: you'd think a beauty contest was part of the Special A qualifying exam, looking at the male cast. The girls, too, unsurprisingly, since a beauty exam is almost mandatory to be part of most Shoujo casts.
Cilan and Chili, Cilan's brothers, as well as Cheren also appear, though their roles are much minor.
Though debatable, James from Team Rocket seems to be a comedic parody of Bishonen as well.
Instead of name-dropping a million more series in existence, let's just say that nearly every shoujo series will have a cast primarily composed of Bishōnen.
There is a lot of focus on people's looks in Jyu Oh Sei, despite the action being set mostly on a jungle planet with vicious plants and a murderous climate that's used as a prison for criminals. All of the male characters are◊ exceptionally◊ pretty◊.
Miki Kaoru from Revolutionary Girl Utena is mentioned to be one by Utena in the preview of the episode of his first appeareance. Also, practically every guy in the cast.
Aburatsubo from Magic User's Club. He's tall, has long red hair, and is gorgeous...with the requisite legion of fan-girls expected for any bishonen. The only problem for said fangirls is that he's gay and in love with the main character, Takeo.
Star Driver's Takuto Tsunashi. "Galactic Bishonen" isn't a nickname; it's his official title as the Chosen One
Most of the rest of the male cast count as well. Especially Sugata.
Most other young-ish male characters also count, like Oz, Elliot and Leo. And the latter even more so after an Important Haircut.
A notable example is Liam; the fact that no male or female pronouns were ever used to refer to him for some time didn't help. They fixed this in the anime, however, giving him less feminine features and a decidedly male voice.
Kusuriuri/the Medicine Seller from Mononoke. Even his manner of dress combines gender conventions, and characters in the series make note of how attractive he is.
Most of the guys from Monochrome Factor, especially Shirogane, Akira, and Kou.
Most of the males in Shugo Chara! are known for their Bishieness.
Nagihiko Fujisaki takes the Bishie Ribbon in the world of Shugo Chara. When Hinamori first meets Nagihiko, he is actually posing as his female alter ego, Nadeshiko. Why is this boy posing as a girl? The Fujisaki family tradition is for the males to pose as females to learn the ways of Japanese Dancing.
During the series, Nadeshiko tells Amu that 'she' and Nagihiko are twins (the rest of the Guardians know about Nagi & Nade, but Amu Hinamori doesn't). It's not until late in the series that Nagi reveals the truth to Amu.
Usui, when he makes the effort, and his half brother, Gerard Walker, who looks like an older and more polished version of him. One could also make a case for Tora Igarashi and Kuuga.
Soichiro Kanou, too, if he had any confidence in himself, could likely pull this off. Also: a number of fangirls consider The Idiot Trio to be this, on the rare occasions when they're drawn normally.
Otomen: the main male characters, especially Asuka, Juta, and Tonomine, whose looks are often commented on. Even Kurokawa can count, if his eyes showed up a lot more.
Though the artist's style is such all the male characters in The Secret Agreement look pretty good, in-story, Iori is singled out as being an incredible beauty for a man.
Sougo Okita, Kotarou Katsura, and Kamui of Gintama.
Just about every male character in Mayu Shinjo's works.
Nurarihyon No Mago has lots of Bishonen. Night Rikuo, Young Nurarihyon, Rihan, Kurotabou, Kuromaru, Tosakamaru, Keikain Mamiru, Shoukera, Yanagida, Kubinashi, and revived Seimei.
Every guy from Gravitation, especially Yuki and Shuichi.
Elfen Lied: Nousou. Kurama is a borderline example, but is an older man and later grows a Beard of Sorrow.
Rotton the Wizard, to an extent. He basically exists just to look cool and talk fancy. Revy even asks him if he's a man whore.
Though still a kid, Garcia's beginning to grow into a handsome young man.
Hansel also shows signs of this. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to grow into an adult.
And in an Omake, we see that Sgt. Boris used to look like this; he joined the Army to toughen up. All the "de-aged" girl characters wail that he should stay this way.
Kaguya Hime: many, if not most of the male cast; in particular, Yui and movie star Brett Miller. Nobuo is a very notable aversion.
Zeref from Fairy Tail is revealed to be this after they spend 200 chapters building him up as some great ancient evil. Expecting Someone Taller, or at least older looking, is in full swing here.
In Tsukigasa, Azuma is none too happy about being treated like a girl because of his looks, particularly because he was raped due to his resemblance to his mother.
Hakuouki is full of effeminate pretty-boys. The entire series is basically a reverse harem, and is guaranteed to make anyone's inner FangirlSquee in joy.
Let Dai: Jaehee is explicitly stated in-series to be very literally a "pretty boy", and the artwork makes that abundantly clear. It's one of the reasons that so many girls tend to go after him.
Akiyoshi of Kawaii Akuma (and its sequels) is often told that he is "cute" or "pretty", and this caused him to develop an inferiority complex. Naruse is also incredibly Bishōnen, to the point of being a Dude Looks Like a Lady.
Death the Kid, Gopher, and Kishin Asura from Soul Eater.
Many characters in Axis Powers Hetalia are mislabeled as this (and the fanart doesn't help); the majority of the male designs are moe. The rest are too grimacing, muscular or hairy to qualify. The closest thing to a bishounen would be Austria.
Lets not forget the most extreme cases, Kakyou (who, as if it was possible, is even more of a Bishonen here than in X, and Ashura-Ou, who quite a few fans are still convinced is a a woman (though Ashura was technically genderless in RG Veda and actually has no specified gender in this work).
Many characters from Samurai Deeper Kyo, including but not limited to Hotaru, Shinrei, Hishigi (technically a Biseinen, as he's physically about 30), and Akira.
Metal Fight Beyblade: Being tanned doesn't stop Tsubasa Otori from being a Bishounen.
Even if Arata Kangatari is aimed at boys, it wouldn't be a Watase manga without a few of these. In particular, Yorunami's bishiness gets lampshaded by Hinohara.
Eclipse Hunter gives us Daren Solaris, who is so pretty that the series' resident Tsundere bishoujo Action Girl goes into a mad rage when she sees that he normally wears glasses that disguise his prettiness, going as far as to tear his glasses off of his face and grind them into dust.LITERALLY.
Since the vast majority of the characters in ½ Prince are made in a video game they're all gorgeous (as players often make their characters so). The titular character is noted for being the most good-looking character, since they turned the pretty effect as high as it could possibly go.
Woojae from One has the nickname "Prince Charming" due to his good looks.
Kyu Ra from Rurewhich fits with his "prince charming" image.
Rai, Frank, Shinwoo, M-21 and Takeo from Noblesse.
Id from Id is the very definition of this trope. Men and women alike fawn over his beauty. Though more often than not, every person he's met has initially thought him a woman.
Any Visual Kei artist, in general. Many of them are proud of it.
Gackt is a living breathing example of this. Even he admits it. In nine* nine, Gackt is shown some pictures of himself when he was younger, to which he responds, "I was a total bishonen back then...But now I'm a biseinen." The difference being that bishonen technicality applies to only boys in their teens but biseinen applies to adults.
The record label Johnny's entertainment is famous in Japan and the rest of Asia for its many all bishonen/biseinen boy bands
Final Fantasy series: any of the main male characters, at least once graphics became advanced enough to portray it; the official character art shows that the older ones actually were this, too, when not depicted with blocky, low-resolution sprites. Specifically:
Final Fantasy VII: Sephiroth. In the original cut of the scene with Sephiroth frozen in crystalized Mako, he was to have feminine curves to allude back to Jenova. Things were scaled back there for the same reason Squall in VIII was made to look more masculine.
As for Kuja from Final Fantasy IX, he reaches truly Dude Looks Like a Lady proportions. This is even Lampshaded by Queen Brahne, who outright calls him a "girly-man". To be fair, though, he calls her "elephant-lady".
And then there's Vayne Solidor of Final Fantasy XII, who even in full armour is still a very slender guy with more hair than two out of the three women in the main party.
A surprisingly large number of The King Of Fighters' main male characters are like this, with Ash Crimson pushing the androgyny to ridiculous levels.
chaos (no capitalization) from Xenosaga is an example of a Bishounen with white hair that's most definitely not evil. Then again, he has dark skin, which makes him immune to that aspect of the trope.
And let's not forget our magenta-clad prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. He's so pretty that about five girls during the series get crushes on him...notthathenotices.
Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2. He was designed as an androgynously alluring blank slate for the player to project themself onto. There's a scene where another character makes a grab for his groin, and is surprised to find he is male. And you have to play as him naked. No, we are not making that up. He was widely reviled for this, among other reasons.
Kojima eventually admitted that Raiden's looks were an attempt to attract more young women to the games. It worked. You'll notice on deviantART that Raiden has tons and tons of fan art, a good 95% of it from women.
Magna Carta: Tears of Blood kicks the Bishonen up to 11, making its main lead, Calintz, and his apprentice, Azel, almost entirely unrecognizable as male. Chris Arcway manages to dodge the bullet with his open button-up shirt and cocky womanizing attitude, but even Raul, the tall, masculine, goateed swordsman who appears a few times in the game, gets a touch of Bishie thanks to the artstyle (no matter how impossible it seems to be Bishie with a goatee).
Quite a few male characters in the Disgaea series, including (but not limited to) Mid-boss, Seraph Lamington, Fukubei, Master Big star, Adell, and Tink.
Ramirez from Skies Of Arcadia seems to rock the "pretty but misunderstood" vibe as hard as he possibly can. Enrique is pretty much his good counterpart. A number of recruitable crew members further the bishounen appeal, particularly Lawrence and Ilchymis.
Zelos from Tales Of Symphonia. Yggdrasil, too. Some fans would argue that Kratos is one as well. The game is ripe with bishies. Kratos is a good example of a biseinen, or 'beautiful man' - what a bishounen becomes when he grows up.
Several of the guys in Tales Of Vesperia: particularly Yuri, who can be mistaken for a woman until he opens his mouth.
The Tales Series: although having more of a fairly (and by that, we mean in the smallest margin, as the game models differ slightly from the official art) masculine face than some other Tales SeriesBishōnen, Richard from Tales Of Graces certainly fits the role, having traditional elements including medium-length blond hair, fancy frilly clothes, and immense popularity throughout the kingdom (in one skit, he mentions his "dilemma" with the sale of Richard-themed items). His seiyuu is even the same as a certain other Bishōnen of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, and he even sports ZelosWilder's costume as DLC. Doesn't help that his younger self can be seriously mistaken for a girl.
In a less obvious manner, the main character (or Minato) may also qualify, having a very slender figure, subtle facial features, and pretty eyes. He's also frequently described as a "pretty boy" or "handsome", to the point where a certain Corrupt Corporate Executive tried to exploit him.
From Persona 2: Innocent Sin, we have Jun, a character so pretty that many female characters look upon him in envy.
It was an old joke in the fandom that those not familiar with the Mega Man X series would think that Zero was actually a girl, thanks to his Rapunzel Hair and what fans like to call the Booblights. This was even lampshaded by Bass of the original series, when, upon seeing Zero's blueprints, scoffs at Zero's appearance, thinking that he was "too girly" to be the strongest robot, like Dr. Wily, Zero's creator, claimed. And he seems to be quite a Chick Magnet, too; for both fellow Reploids and one human. What was Dr. Wily thinking when he created Zero and came up with that design, anyway? So much for being a threat to civilization...
Word Of God has it that Zero original concept WAS that of being a female robot. The booblights are probably remnants of this concept.
The majority of Maverick bosses in the series have aggressive looking eyes with thin oval-shaped irises. However, the dragonfly Reploid named Commander Yammark from Mega Man X6 is the only one with big, bright eyes◊ with pronounced eyelashes◊. This is why people thought he was female.
Julius, Jamie, Tim/Trent, Alex, and Skye from Harvest Moon are bishonen.
Will from Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands bears more than a passing resemblance to the above-pictured Tamaki.
It's easier to name guys that aren't bishonen in more recent games.
Similarly, many of the young males in the spinoff series Rune Factory are bishonen. The newest protagonist barely looks male, which, what with the Hello, Insert Name Here nature of the game, can lead to some unintentionally hilarious moments:
Keiji is a strange case, as he has a muscular figure but a very pretty face and long, silky hair. And Yukimura also seems to become more feminine looking with each new installment.
Dynasty Warriors has its fair share, with Jin (Sima Yi, Sima Shi, Sima Zhao, Zhong Hui, Xiahou Ba) being a certified Cast Full of Pretty Boys. The other kingdoms don't fail to deliver however with Shu (Zhao Yun, Jiang Wei, Guan Suo), Wu (Zhou Yu, Lu Xun), and especially Wei (Zhang He) hosting some impressive examples.
Samurai Warriors: we have Mitsuhide, Hanbei, Ranmaru, Kiyomasa, Motochika, and Kojiro.
Lucius, the amazingly feminine featured pretty boy monk with long blond hair. Of course, he defends the fact that he is male when confronted by Serra.
A typical Fire Emblem game will have several bishonen, at least a couple of rugged manly men, a few good looking grandpas, and a Gonk or two. Few are as bafflingly pretty as Lucius, though.
When Super Smash Bros first showed off Marth, most western players were intially quite confused as to whether Marth was a girl or not. His voice actor cleared this up a bit, though.
Taichi in Cross Channel has a rather androgynous but attractive appearance. He, on the other hand, is convinced he is horribly ugly for reasons that are never really revealed.
Pretty much any guy from the NeoRomance series (Angelique, Harukanaru Toki No Naka De, La Corda d'Oro). Eisen of Haruka proved to be pretty enough to disguise himself as a girl on one occasion; even the Emperor is bishounen, though he has the excuse of being Eisen's half-brother. In the La Corda d'Oro anime, one character (Kenichi Shimizu) actually gets called a bishounen by the lead girl when she first meets him.
Among the attractive male characters in Infinite Space, a few of them fall into bishonen/biseinen category. Lord Roth is arguably the best example, with his waist-length lavender hair and feminine face. Main character Yuri is quite pretty himself.
Dragon Quest has two bishonen: Psaro the Manslayer (Human form) and Angelo.
Castlevania. Alucard is one of the quintessential White Haired Pretty Boys. Mistaking him for a girl is not likely to be a problem, though, given the loving attention put into his sprite and the fact that his VA has a very, very deep voice. Several other protagonists in later Castlevania titles, such as Juste Belmont and Soma, are this, often overlapping with White-Haired Pretty Boy.
Yuuto is the only male in Eien No Aselia that could really be described as pretty. On the other hand, he's also pretty muscular by the end, so despite the face, he isn't exactly girly.
Vega, the Spanish ninja. It's even part of his character. Vega is a narcissist who believes his face to be extremely beautiful, and cannot stand the ugly. Part of it comes from traumatization as a child when his ugly father killed his beautiful mother. He also wears a mask, not to hide his identity, but to prevent his face from being scarred. Remy in Street Fighter III is even more of one (though he's not narcissistic like Vega).
In the Alpha series, Ken becomes one of these, with long, flowing hair in a ponytail and a younger face (some pieces of art◊ for the game even show him with pronounced lips, a rarity for Street Fighter characters). However, the other games show him looking older and more muscular, with Perma Stubble.
The Suikoden series of games have, quite literally, dozens of bishonen among the ranks of the Stars of Destiny (108 per game!). Notable ones include and are not limited to: every main protagonist, Flik, Luc and Sasarai, and Yuber.
Sergei from Asuras Wrath. Yasha is to an extent too, though not quite as much.
Many of the characters of Eternal Sonata are well-noted for this, including the game's main character Frederic Chopin and the main on-screen avatar character, Allegretto.
Visual Novels
Higurashi: When They Cry's Keiichi is noticeably pretty, and even sparkles a couple of times, as well as Satoshi, who is a more extreme example than Keiichi and is even voiced by a female.
Umineko: When They Cry has the absolutely adorable Kanon, not to mention Battler. George was made to be this in the anime and the Updated Rerelease for the Playstation 3, but in the original sound novels he's rather plain in comparison to Kanon and Battler.
Visual Novel/Fate/stay night features Gilgamesh, the ancient King of Mesopotania, who´s apparently a tall, white, red-eyed blonde who´s commented on by one of the main heroines as "he looked like a model". It seems that A+ Charisma skill is justified. Too bad he´s a giant douche with an ego the size of the Universe until Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, where he drinks a potion of youth and becomes an adorable well-mannered kid who wouldn´t hurt anyone. His child version is of course equally Bishonen.
Hatoful Boyfriend is the dating sim where almost all of the love interests are pigeons. The exceptions are a quail and a partridge. There is the option to see a pseudohuman alternate appearance at the introduction of each one, and these are all quite bishie even when that doesn't really fit the bird or the character (the middle-aged "fat bird" or "fluffy heretic" is just as svelte and pretty as the ones represented as teenaged boys). The only exception is Okosan, who's only portrayed as a bird in a school uniform.
Being a BL game, all of the main characters in Dramatical Murder are bishonen. However, most of the protagonists are over 20, so they would technically be considered biseinen.
