Bishonen

Basic Information

The term "Bishonen", Japanese for "beautiful boy", is a term for a character type common in Japanese comics and obligatory in Shojo Manga, the romance comics aimed at girls. The bishonen character is tall and slender, with androgynous features and charisma up to 11. And he's very, very pretty. If he's a villain, he's a tortured, sensitive villain. He may or may not be a cross-dresser.

Generally speaking, not all bishonen characters in manga are gay, but all gay characters are bishonen.

If the Bishonen turns out to be a girl in drag, then we call her Bifauxnen (as in faux bishonen).

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes entry: Bishonen

Game and Story Use

• Male characters with high levels of attractiveness might be considered bishou
• This arcanist likes running bishonen NPC villains in his campaigns. Then again, that's because his wife likes flirting with the villains.