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alt title(s): Bishounen 
Tamaki Suoh: So pretty it hurts.
"I'm just too pretty. Seriously!"
"Half the women who see that man will love him, the other half will just be jealous."
A popular anime character type is the Bishonen, or "beautiful boy", affectionately called "bishies" by fans who are particularly into the type. He is tall, slender with almost no fat and little to no muscle, androgynously beautiful, and no body or facial hair. Some bishonen, like Hotohori from Fushigi Yuugi, can be mistaken for women; others are clearly males who have 'feminine' or at least effeminate traits, such as long hair. Bishonen can be found equally distributed between heroes and villains; bishonen villains often develop devoted followings among fans.
There are generally two camps regarding these characters. One, mostly male but with many females, thinks that they look like women. The other, almost exclusively female, thinks that they are hot, and that to insinuate otherwise is a capital offense.
Bishonen with white hair are almost always villains, no matter how they initially seem.
Some female characters who crossdress as male — such as Ukyou from Ranma 1/2, Oscar from Rose Of Versailles, or Tenou Haruka/Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon — are frequently mistaken for bishonen males and take advantage of it.
Bishonen are sometimes Yaoi Guys, but not always. And sometimes they are crossdressers, but again, not always.
Often comes with the Bishie Sparkle. Loads of bishonen in one show indicates a Blue Bishonen Ghetto.
Note that On This Very Wiki, Tropers often misuse the term Bishonen to mean "a really really attractive male", but it actually refers to only one specific type of attractiveness. The more general form is Estrogen Brigade Bait.
Subtrope of The Beautiful People. May be So Beautiful Its A Curse. See also Bishoujo, the Distaff Counterpart.
The rough Western equivalent is the Metrosexual. Unless he's gay, then he's just a Twink.
Attempts to Wiki Word this will likely end poorly, so please remember that curly brackets are your friends.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP and - for a change of pace - CLAMP. The last one is a change of pace because they didn't write it, they just drew the characters. They drew them very girly.
- Jojos Bizarre Adventure features Noriaki Kakyoin, a VERY popular example of this on pixiv and possible poster child for this, not to mention part 5 and it's collection of dangerous pretty boys.
- Benten from Cyber City Oedo 808. Yes, he is wearing lipstick. No, he isn't a Crossdresser.
- Harry from Outlaw Star. He even ties his hair with a big, pretty bow.
- Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Nozomu Itoshiki and his brother Mikoto.
- 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.
- Masami Eiri from Serial Experiments Lain.
- Okane Ga Nai: Yukiya Ayase.
- George from Paradise Kiss among many others.
- Takaya Ohgi and Nobutsuna Naoe in Mirage Of Blaze.
- Toji, Kairi, Jigoro, and Ryo from Peach Girl.
- Rei from Urusei Yatsura is a tall, stoic, green-haired space bishonen who drives men to despair and women to squees.
- Ranma's male form in Ranma One Half, Mousse, Herb, Pantyhose Tarou, and adult Saffron.
- Full Metal Panic brings us, Kurz, who was even a former model. Then we've got White Haired Pretty Boy Leonardo.
- Sousuke too. Pretty enough that he's effectively smitten a hefty chunk of his school, both girls and guys.
- Otani, Kohori, Suzuki, Haruka, and without a doubt, Maitake and Seiko from Lovely Complex.
- Kisaragi Shun in Koko Wa Greenwood (aka This is Greenwood).
- 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 bishonen, 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.
- Kaworu from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Some fans also consider Shinji to be a bishonen. Considering that the artist admitted that Shinji was physically based on of a female character, we might have to say they're right.
- Eyes Rutherford in Spiral.
- 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 Macross 7. 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 Plus. 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.
- Keiki in The Twelve Kingdoms is an extremely rare (In that we have an entire trope that says it is impossible) good Bishonen with white hair, who acts as Youko's Mysterious Protector.
- Well he is a Kirin, and they have white manes, So Yeah...
- 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.
- Many a Tokyo Mew Mew character, covering types from Stalker With A Crush to Jerk With A Heart Of Gold to Mysterious Protector (who wins).
- A number of the male characters from the Inu Yasha including but not limited to, InuYasha himself, Sesshoumaru, Naraku, etc.
- Yuki, and all of the male Sohmas from Fruits Basket.
- Particularly Momiji, Ritsu, and Ayame. The first wears the girl's 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 in the anime also qualifies, 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 bishonen status with a growth spurt and switch to the boy's uniforms.
- Gundam has its fair share of bishie boys — Gundam Wing, in particularly, was full of them.
- Quatre Winner deserves special mention, amongst the Gundam Wing bishie brigade. A slim, platinum blonde Arab (wut?). Needless to say, you can find a fairly large amount of fanart of him.
- G Gundam has George De Sand from Neo France, operator of Gundam Rose.
- 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 Yun Koga would be designing 00's cast.
- We also need to mention Turn A Gundam's Loran, who was quite possibly one editorial mandate away from being a full-blown woman.
- 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.
- Fubuki (for starters) of Yu-Gi-Oh GX
- Katori, Dom, and the nameless terrorist from the second episode (who is mentioned because his prettyness is a plot point) from Irresponsible Captain Tylor
- A good third of the male cast on Yu Yu Hakusho.
- 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.
- Yamato, notably, had a... considerably older woman try to pick him up when he was eleven.
- To a lesser extent Takeru, Yamato's little brother, seems to gain some level of bishonen 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.
- Most of the male characters in Get Backers, but Kazuki takes it to almost painful levels.
- Both Toboe and Kiba from Wolf's Rain look like Bishonen most of the time, but are actually wolves in disguise. To go further, numerous viewers have mistaken both for girls.
- Mikagami Tokiya from Flame Of Recca. He doesn't like being mistaken as a girl, though.
- Light Yagami from Death Note.
- Don't forget Mello, Near, Mikami, and Matt.
- Wolfram from Kyou Kara Maou is very pretty (he looks almost exactly like his mother), a definite bishonen. 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 noticable when you realize that the anime is one of the few that steers entirely out of the way of Generic Cuteness.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is generally remembered for its more MANLY characters; however, after the Time Skip Rossiu is undeniably quite Bishonen, and Cytomander is arguably a Bishonen as well, depending on who you talk to.
- Ed from FullmetalAlchemist is very Bishonen. Envy is Dude Looks Like A Lady-ly Bishonen. Hohenheim is clearly an oyadi (pass me that syringe of Translator Microbes, would you?), but as a young man he looked almost exactly the same as Ed (and so did his late first son in the anime).
- The Bishonen genre in Shojo is parodied quite a few times on cover flaps (more often than not with Roy as target) and through Mei Chan's daydreams about Ed then Al as knights in shiny armours.
- Quite a few of Miyazaki's male characters, such as Haku in Spirited Away and Howl in Howls Moving Castle.
- 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.
- Chrono (in his true form), Aion, Joshua, and Father Remington from Chrono Crusade
- Ayasegawa Yumichika of Bleach is not only very bishonen, but obsessed with it. He even accepted a lower rank in his squad than he had to because he thought the number 5 was more "beautiful" than 4. (In kanji 五 and 四 respectively.)
- Byakuya Kuchiki is also very bishonen, with a much prettier face, smaller hands, a long floaty scarf that costs a fortune and a sword that turns into flowers. Arguably many of the guys in "Bleach" could be considered bishonen, although Tite Kubo errs on the side of machoness with otherwise bishonen characters such as Jushiro Ukitake.
- Arguably, Ishida Uryuu. He's very slender and has more delicate features than most other males, especially in the later volumes. Too bad that normally he's such a dork that it encompasses his physical traits.
- Uryuu isn't really even arguable anymore. After Art Evolution on Kubo's part many of the male characters are drifting toward this, most noticably Uryuu. His jaw has smoother out and his eyes have defiantly gotten bigger. This is an example of the development.
 ◊ The last panel in the sample, he was on the same page with Orohime and looked almost as feminine.
- Itsuki Koizumi in Suzumiya Haruhi. That is, in a Brigade of crazy people and a cynical Deadpan Snarker who constantly tells him that no one cares about him. He probably just takes a Bishonen appearance, 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.
- Just about every Shojo mangas and whatnots. Bishies everywhere or at the very least, there is guarantee to be at least one bishie main character since the male lead is 99.9% assured to gonna 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 Rah Xephon 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).
- General Rivan of Nora, and probably Kazuma to certain readers.
- The four older knights in Pretear are examples of this trope, particularly Kei. Goh is borderline, but he makes up for it by bearing 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.
- Several characters in Yu-Gi-Oh, as you could guess from the page quote, including at least Yami Yugi, Malik Ishtar (and how!), Ryou Bakura, Yami Bakura, Pegasus, Ryuji Otogi, and a number of the minor supporting characters. Yami Malik... Not so much.
- 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 bishonen. Albireo Imma probably counts too. Teenage Kotaro definitely counts as well.
- Future Trunks, Zarbon and Android 17 of Dragonball Z
- 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.
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha may be a Seinen Pink Bishoujo Ghetto, but even it has its share of bishies, such as Yuuno Scrya and Verossa Acous. Yuuno in particular was mistaken for a girl by many viewers when he first appeared.
- Zen from the manga,Blank Slate. He's so bishounen, even his blind love interest can tell he's handsome just from touching his face.
- Canute from Vinland Saga, so Bishonen they needed a girl to be a convincing double.
- Although Eyeshield 21 has a good amount of beefcake, there's also Kisaragi, Harao and maybe even Taka.
- Weiss Kreuz gets points for admitting it. Youji calls Omi "bishounen" to his face in one episode, but he ain't the only one.
- Allen from D Gray Man definitely fits here, seeing how he's prettier than a lot of the girls in the series. Lavi, Tyki, and Kanda fit as well.
- Creed◊ from Black Cat. There is also Train◊, Lin Shaolee◊, and Jenos◊.
- Mizuho in Otome Wa Boku Ni Koishiteru. Of course. That being said, he is quite pretty even when not dressing as a girl.
- Kei, Michael (anime-only characters), Yuu, Satoshi, and arguably Ginta in Marmalade Boy.
- Akito and Naozumi from Kodomo No Omocha.
- Leon Oswald and Yuri Killian in Kaleido Star.
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch provides plenty of bishounen fanservice. The fact that practically every day is a Beach Episode helps.
- Even Claymore manages to have one of these in the cast – Isley of the North.
- Many of the characters from Rurouni Kenshin especially the title 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 terrifingly 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, Hiko even qualifies, although he's pretty manly. Observe:[6]
- A good amount of the male characters from Kuroshitsuji. 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.
- Paragon of Hot Blooded manliness and GAR he may be, but Gai Shishio is still too pretty to be male◊.
- Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple has Christopher Eclair, a French Assassin. It's also revealed that Kensei Ma used to be one.
- Actually Eclair can be very easlily mistaken for a woman. (Oh, wait, he actually gets mistaken for a woman in the manga!)
- How could you not mention Natsu Tanimoto!? Even Kenichi got dazzled by his handsomeness when he first saw him.
- Kojiro / James from Pokemon is a parody of this archetype. This is played up even further in the Four Kids Entertainment dub, gaining an Ambiguously Gay tone of voice.
- Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni's Keiichi is noticeably pretty, and even sparkles a couple of times.
- Umineko No Naku Koro Ni has the absolutely adorable Kanon, not to mention Battler.
- Tamamo from Hell Teacher Nube gets away with lots of things that Nube is beaten up for just because he's a White Haired Pretty Boy.
- Sanji recently has been beating people pretty. His first victim, a hideous Waynze, 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.
- Every single male main character in post-Art Evolution Katekyo Hitman Reborn+99% of the villains and side cast. The most common trope on the character page.
- Natsume, Tanuma, Natori, Nishimura - In fact, most of the male cast of Natsume Yuujinchou qualify as Bishonen.
- The human forms of the Weasel Mascots in Yes Pretty Cure 5 are this. Coco◊ and Nuts◊ take it to truly◊ extraordinary levels.◊ GoGo! also brings us Cute Shotaro Boy Syrup◊.
- This is the entire point of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.
- Almost every male character in Saiyuki. The four main characters of course, but also Kougaiji, Dokugakuji, Hazel, Koumyu and Ni Jian-Yi/Ukoku
- Gakuen Heaven. Just.... Gakuen Heaven.
- Most, if not all, of the males in Vampire Knight.
- Depending on who you ask, a good number of the male cast from Naruto could qualify as Bishonen. Notable examples include Haku (to Dude Looks Like A Lady levels), Sasuke, Itachi, Kakashi, Deidara, Sasori, Neji, Suigetsu, Kimimaro, (arguably) Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sai, Gaara, and of course the title character himself.
- The Legend Of Koizumi gives us Pietro, the white knight serving under the pope. He comes complete with accompanying Bishie Sparkle when he first appears.
Comic Books
- Pietro "Quicksilver" Maximoff from X Men certainly counts as this, as well as a White Haired Pretty Boy.
- Lucifer from the Sandman comics.
- Some of the Elfquest elves are depicted this way, particularly Gliders.
- In Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance, the successor to Boss Bosozuko of the Big Action Science Team (Japan's main superhero team) is Boss Bishonen.
- Billy "The Beaut" Russo used to be this, but after The Punisher got through with him... well there's a reason he is now called "Jigsaw".
Film
- The race of
Elves fair-skinned long haired peroxide boys from Lord Of The Rings comes to mind.
- Didier Revol the French exchange student in Son Of Rambow is so beautiful that Even The Guys Want Him.
- Shua in Sky Blue.
- Many vampires in Interview with the Vampire arguably fit in a bishonen aesthetic, making them look androginously.
- Brian Slade of Velvet Goldmine fits this trope rather well, as one might reasonably expect from a nineteen-year-old Jonathan Rhys Meyers in make up...
- The historical figure Synesius of Cyrene is portrayed as this in Agora. His role is played by Rupert Evans, who himself has mild bishounen-ish features.
Literature
- The Honor Harrington series by David Weber uses the trope exensively. The two biggest examples are Victor Cachatwho is described as being young and very cute at least once in every book he appears in and Jeremy X who was genetically engineered to be one (he is designed to the point were he can't have any facial hair even!) It is helped along and justified by all the Gattaca Babies roaming around, Magic Plastic Surgery, and by the pro-long life extension treatments that can make a hardened military officer that is over 40 years old look like he is barely out of high school.
- Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is described as intoxicatingly, androgynously beautiful. Making this
Older Than Radio.
- Aramis in The Three Musketeers is described as being as pretty as a woman. Of course, he's the one of the Musketeers who's most popular with women.
- Raziel in Lamb The Gospel According To Biff is pretty enough even to provoke Stupid Sexy Flanders moments from the First Person Smartass protagonist, Biff. It's apparently a standard angel trait.
- The Greek god Dionysus in some depictions, such as Euripides' The Bacchae.
- Genji in Cloud Of Sparrows, who is described as 'too pretty for a man'.
- As is the character's namesake, Hikaru Genji from The Tale of Genji, making this Older Than Print.
- The War Against The Chtorr. Lizard and Ted describe the teenage protagonist Jim McCarthy this way, though he doesn't believe them. But definitely the case with Shaun — a sixteen year-old, bisexual attendant on the luxury airship Hieronymus Bosch, whose duties include prostitution and military defence.
- The protagonists in the Warchild Series are usually described this way, even when they have extensive combat training and are capable of great violence. Her third book, "Cagebird" has a protagonist described as cherubic-looking who eventually becomes a prostitute/assassin, and the protagonist from her second book is described as a beautiful boy with large, kittenish eyes.
- Shakespeare's Sonnet 20. The young boy is described as such: "A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion," until Nature "pricked him out for woman's pleasure." So this is Older Than Steam.
- The temporary protagonist of Crow on the Bridge by Max Frei reminisces meeting one of these:
Entered the room a young man of such a blinding beauty that to me it seemed not as much pleasant to the eye as absolutely out of place in the given circumstances. Really, here happens such things, i should make the Gloves of Death and it's yet unknown how to survive this fancy-work; civil war continues for umpteenth year in Conjoined Kingdom, and ultimately the world will fall soon; and he walks here with such a look as if a human had no more important task than to look beautiful. My feelings were about these, though when spoken aloud they sound absurd, i see it myself.
- All of the male vampires in Twilight. They even come with the Bishie Sparkle pre-packaged.
- In Norse Mythology, Balder is so pretty that everything in the universe pledges their love to him. Except one little bit of undergrowth, and what are the odds someone like Loki would weaponize that and get someone to shoot it into your heart? Oh, I don't know...
- Arguably, Ser Loras Tyrell in A Song Of Ice And Fire. Described as "beautiful" rather than handsome, called "The Knight of Flowers" and clad in rainbow armour until he joined the Kingsguard. Of course, this is probably to do with the fact that he's only about sixteen at the start of the series.
- The title character of Billy Budd.
- It's implied that Henry from The Time Traveler's Wife is one. Apart from being called "pretty" on occasion, it's also mentioned that he looks a good deal like his Hot Mom.
- From Harry Potter we have Cedric Diggory AKA "Pretty Boy Diggory".
- We better don't even begin to describe Tadzio from Death in Venice...
- Les Miserables brings us both Enjolras and Montparnasse
- Bo, H.F.'s best friend (and likely halfbrother) definitely qualifies. He takes utmost care of his appearance, his wavy blond hair.
Live Action TV
- In the Bones episode "The Girl in the Mask," a doctor flies in from Japan to aid with the investigation and the team spends most of the episode trying to figure out his/her gender. Angela divines at the end of the episode through a very thorough hug that he/she is a man, despite the fact that the character was played by a woman.
- The Tenth Doctor. Other than oft-repeated fangirl affirmation, there's also:
River Song: "Pretty boy! With me I said."
(Long pause. Donna looks at the Doctor suggestively.)
Doctor: "Oh, I'm "Pretty Boy"!"
Donna: "Yes! Oh, that came out a bit quick."
- Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds, played by Matthew Gray Gubler. As co-star Shemar Moore bluntly put it, "Matthew is so pretty he's almost a girl."
Tabletop Games
- A fan-made chapter of the SpaceMarines of Warhammer40K fame, the Pretty Marines. They have some sort of gland that creates the sparkle, and their guns have roses on them. Their scouts are cute shotaro boys, and they have legions of female fans. And this is all well and good... just watch out for the ''Chaos'' Pretty Marines.
- And as bishie as you can get canonically in the ultra-gritty universe of Warhammer 40000, there's both the Eldar, to a point, and the Primarch of the Blood Angels, Sanguinis, who has angel wings and everything. (of course, his death caused all the Super Soldier armies based on him to become bloodthirsty and prone to going insane)
- The Emperor's Children (Chaos) Space Marine Legion. So Bishonen that they are derrisively referred to as "peacocks" by most of the other legions while they are still loyal to the Imperium's cause. Their primarch, Fulgrim, is one of the prettiest humans alive. Furthermore, even after falling to Chaos, they continue trying to make themselves look as alluring and attractive as possible, part of their pact with the Chaos god Slaanesh. It doesn't help that their armour is various shades of purple and pink...
- Pretty much any follower of Slaanesh in either classic Warhammer or Warhammer 40k qualifies. The Emperor's Children were always bishonen, after falling in thrall to Slaanesh they became more like Bosch-onen.
- "Bishonen Look" is an Advantage in GURPS (introduced in GURPS Mecha), which works like Attractive, except the bonus to reaction roles apply to both sexes. In 4e the same Advantage is simply named "Androgynous".
Video Games
- Any of the main male characters of the Final Fantasy games, at least once graphics became advanced enough to portray it; the official character art shows that the older ones actually were, too, when not depicted with blocky low-resolution sprites.
- A surprisingly large number of The King Of Fighters male main 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.
- Link from The Legend Of Zelda. Comedy Central did base Xandir on him, after all. One gay magazine voted him "hottest game character", to the endlessly amusing horror of the teenage males in the fanbase.
- Kristoph Gavin and his brother Klavier Gavin from the Ace Attorney games. Also Max Galactica in Justice For All.
- Most of the fangirls would agree that Edgeworth applies also. His younger version doubly so.
- 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.
- Naturally, also his thinly-veiled parody in Metal Gear Solid 3, Raikov. Except the fangirls actually like this one.
- Kojima eventually admitted that Raiden's looks were an attempt to attract more young women to the games. (Generally, the young women ended up finding Solid Snake more attractive due to more extreme Ho Yay surrounding his character) and his tight ass.
- Because of its Final Fantasy influences, Kingdom Hearts not only features bishonen leads from that series, but its original characters effectively form a Blue Bishonen Ghetto.
- 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 Bish with a goatee)
- Male blood elves in World Of Warcraft.
- /silly emote: "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"
- In test phases of the game, they were even more so. However, the male blood elf model was beefed up a bit in the shoulders and arms before release...allegedly because testers complained that it looked too feminine. (Of course, people are annoyed about it now.)
- Of course, they weren't changed that much, so it's probably more about how they don't animate correctly (arm and spaulder wierdness in particular)...
- Malygos takes a◊ High/Blood Elf form in Ulduaar(which doesn't make any sense as they didn't exist yet, but it may be a case of Gameplay And Story Segregation).
- They're even more so compared to the other males in the game, for example the humans, who are practically all hyper-masculine and usually ugly.
- Definitely Kalecgos. Doesn't help that he first appears in a manga-styled work. This◊ is probably as pretty boyish as Blizzard is gonna get. Heck, you can probably say just about all members of the blue dragonflight has pretty humanoid forms.
- A few characters in the Disgaea, including (but not limited to)
Vyers Mid-boss, Seraph Lamington, Fukubei, Lord Bigstar, and Tink
- Mitsumoto and Abyss in Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns.
- 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.
- As the page quote indicates, Zelos from Tales Of Symphonia. Yggdrasil too.
- Some fans would argue 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 could be mistaken for a woman until he opens his mouth.
- Teddie's human form from Persona 4 was clearly designed with this in mind. He makes extensive use of the Bishie Sparkle and uses it to manipulate women that he comes across. Not to mention during the crossdressing scene he was the only one alble to pull off looking like a girl. One male commentator even exclaiming "I'd hit that."
- Akihiko from Persona 3 certainly qualifies being quite the Chick Magnet and having white hair.
- 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" and "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 of his beauty.
- Vega, the Spanish ninja in Street Fighter; 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.
- Prince Peasley from Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga, who makes the whole screen gleam - literally - when he smiles.
- It was an old joke in the Mega Man fandom that those not familiar with the X series would mistake Badass incarnate 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 (possibly). What was Dr. Wily thinking when he created Zero and came up with that design, anyway? So much for being a threat to civilization...
- Julius, Jamie, Tim/Trent,Alex and Skye,from Harvest Moon are bishonen.
- Similarly, many of the young males in the spinoff series Rune Factory are bishonen. The newest protagonist barely looks male.
- Time Crisis's newer protagonists.
- Uesugi Kenshin from Sengoku Basara takes this far enough that fans seriously doubt he's really male. Granted, the games also have Motonari, Mitsuhide and Hanbei, but Kenshin is still the reigning
queen king.
- Testament of Guilty Gear, who in addition to his long black hair and androgynous face, has an outfit consisting of a man-bra and a skirt that shows a decent amount of leg. And that's not going anywhere near Bridget.
- Fire Emblem has Lucius, the amazingly feminine featured pretty boy monk with long blonde hair. Of course he defends the fact that he is male when confronted by Serra.
- For that matter, most of the male characters in Fire Emblem, though few are as bafflingly pretty as Lucius.
Webcomics
- In the Animesque Web Comic El Goonish Shive, Tedd normally wears Nerd Glasses to keep bullies from insulting him for being androgynous; he doesn't seem to be aware that without them he (or in this case, Grace disguised as him) is attractive enough to make (mostly) straight guys extremely uncomfortable. His habit of changing his sex into an even prettier female form is probably at least partly because he can feel comfortable about being attractive while a girl. He isn't quite the classic bishie, being short and rather geeky, but this only seems to underscore the effect.
- Parody/subversion: This strip from the Stick Figure Comic Stickman And Cube has the cartoonist supposedly draw the two characters Bishonen. The joke is that they look exactly the same, being of course a stickman and a cube, except with added Bishie Sparkle. But... so bishie!
- Maxim of Girl Genius, sporting a narrower, pointier face, thinner build, and longer, bishi-er hair than his compatriots Dimo and Oggie, very nearly fits here. There are only a couple things off: First, he has purple skin, smiles too much, smiles too big, and has a mouth full of sharp teeth, all because he is a Jaegermonster. Second, he's too fun-loving, upbeat, and goofy, also because he is a Jaegermonster. Third, his personality is far too distinctive. Other than that he fits perfectly.
- The titular character from Terinu is definitely bishie, coming from a genetically uplifted race designed to look cute. Being marsupials, even the females are fairly androgenous in appearance (flat chested after all).
- The Cyantian Chronicles: Jules reacts this way to Sean. Although that might just be because of his wings.
- Similarly, Alien Dice has Lexx. Who, in a noncanon segment from Cafe Anime, got kidnapped, blasted with a jar of bishi glitter, and paraded around in a leash and an undershirt as a demonstration of "How To Bishi". And who has a large fan base in Canon.
Web Original
- Bladezz in The Guild, especially in his modeling pictures and the music video.
- In Sapphire, you have Boris Rubanenko, Daisuke Midori, and Nikolai Kitano, to name a few.
- Alec Langley could fit into this, but it's a bit of a stretch because Evil Is Sexy.
- Averted with Claude Duchamp, who is good and beautiful.
- Gabriel Dunn from Broken Saints has elements of this, especially in some panels. Also, despite writer Brooke Burgess' disdain for the idea of Raimi being played by a pretty boy in a theoretical Big Hollywood Movie Version, Raimi isn't too far off from this himself.
- In The Secret Life Of Dolls, Lyra and Elizabeth Swann had this discussion about a picture of the Will Turner doll:
Lyra popped up over Elizabeth's shoulder. "That scarf is a girly scarf."
"Well, that's just how guys dressed back... now."
"In tights?"
She sighed. "Sometimes Will was prettier than I was."
Western Animation
- Comedy Central's animated "reality" show Drawn Together parodies this character type with Xandir.
- Fire Lord Ozai from Avatar The Last Airbender is revealed to be one, in a bit of an Anti Climax as he was The Faceless Big Bad who you'd expect to be a lot scarier. Also, considering the age of his brother Iroh and his two children, he must be at least in his forties.
- So, basically an evil DILF.
- Also, Haru.
- Field Test, the third segment of Batman: Gotham Knight, gives Bruce Wayne a rather Bishonen-esque look (which doesn't exactly fit Kevin Conroy's voice that well).
- WITCH, Winx Club, and Totally Spies, due to their anime influences, tend to have bishie male characters as Love Interests.
- Aqualad from Teen Titans: The Animated Series. As well as Malchior, er I mean Rorek except his "human" form is made of paper.
- Julio Blanco from the MTV cartoon Spy Groove is so pretty that Leonardo Di Caprio is considered a suspect in his death He faked it.
- Brackus from Di Gata Defenders was revealed to be one when he was younger. Blatant Fanbase pandering by the animators.
- Sylvain in the weird, Animesque French animated film Gandahar (AKA Light Years).
Real Life
- Tak Sakaguchi and Gou Ayano from "Samurai School", both of whom are stunning pretty men. One of them actually screams, "HOW DARE YOU SCAR MY PRETTY FACE?" at one point.
- Japan's "Geisha Guys."
- Nearly all male J-Rock and Visual Kei singers, especially Gackt.
- Probably the reason why Orlando Bloom is so universally adored among girls and universally hated among boys!
- Before Tom Welling beefed up to ridiculous proportions, he was a picture perfect Bishie. Too bad he's not a picture perfect actor.
- Bill Kaulitz of Tokio Hotel. Many have seen a picture of him and gone 'That's a really hot girl' only to be told the truth by a fan. With guys it's particularly hilarious
- Percy Bysshe Shelley could be mistaken for his wife, Mary Shelley. And then there's that middle name, which is pronounced "bish" or "bish-eh".
- Everyone in Queen was like this in their early years.
- Brian Molko, of the band Placebo. And how.
- Cillian Murphy.
- The Hardy Boyz, particularly in their younger days (they started wrestling for WWE in their late teens). Now that they're in their 30's, they've grown out of it, but at least Jeff still has fangirls.
- William Beckett.
- No mention whatsoever of Jaye Davidson?
- David Bowie, up◊ until◊ his◊ 50s◊.
- The Hanson boys were all accused of this before they cut their hair, but especially Taylor with his high voice, pouty lips, huge blue eyes and long blonde tresses. Mistaking him for a girl became something of a Never Heard That One Before.
- Actor and White Haired Pretty Boy Alex Pettyfer◊.
- Oscar Wilde◊.
- Some women prefer men with little to no muscle mass. Bishonen tend to be just like that.
- In Real Life, young girls up to late teens tend to prefer boys with more feminine features, since they are less threatening then more masculine boys and men, not to mention that the boys tend to be around the same age, which is why dudes like Orlando Bloom and the Jonas Brothers have so many fangirls in that age group. As girls and women get older, they tend to prefer men who are more ruggedly handsome and mature-looking and less Bishonen, such as George Clooney or Brad Pitt.
- In addition, the kind of men that girls want has something to do with her monthly cycles. While ovulating, she will notice men with more masculine features, such as broad shoulders, a chiseled jawline, and a larger build. But when she's not, she will also notice men who have a more bishonen appearence. Basically, women want manly men for a brief fling or two and get pregnant, while prettier men are for more stable relationships and raising children. Or So I Heard.
- Michael Jackson, before the surgeries.
- Brendon Urie
- Lee Jun Ki And how.◊
- Johnny Weir.
- Ronni Le Tekro of TNT up until the 2000s.
- The Calling. Dear God, those boys are pretty.
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