Why Anime Men Look So Feminine | The Story Of Bjorn Anderson "Most Beautiful Boy In The World"

What does Hauru from Howl’s Moving Castle, this  boy and virtually every other anime man out there from the 1970s onwards have in common? If you’ve watched any anime in say the last 40 years, you may have noticed that the men are often  drawn very androgynously, with sharp, pointed chins and smooth, rounded jaws, characteristics  we often see on heavily feminised female faces, this art-style is by no coincidence and it  has a name: Bishonen, meaning Pretty Boy. As we delve deeper into the rabbi

t  hole, this style was idolized by one such icon during the early 70s Bjorn Andersen,  AKA ‘the most beautiful boy in the world.’ Before we can talk about Bjorn’s tragic story  and how he got swept up as the inspiration for Anime men for the next century, we need to look  at the aesthetics of anime faces. I mentioned this term before, but Bishonen, or Japanese  for ‘pretty boy’ is a concept that goes back as far as the early Tang Dynasty, and it  has always had an influence in culture, at times

stronger than others, due to the imperial  courts naturally being quite androerotic. Nowadays this concept of androgenous, feminine,  but capable men is incredibly desirable, with androgenous looking pretty-boys taking  centerscreen from South Korea’s BTS to Britain’s Former One Direction. From Pflugfelder’s  Cartographies of desire, Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse Some have theorized that  bishōnen provide a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down  stere

otypes surrounding feminine male characters. These are often depicted with very strong martial  arts abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, dandy fashion, or comedic flair, traits that  are usually assigned to the hero/protagonist. With the rise of androgenous men from Anime  to Music, women have the idea of a man who is physically capable, intune with his emotions,  self-regulating, intelligent and resourceful as well as fashionable, because we’ve all  seen the Tiktoks where it goes’ Ladi

es, when your man doesn’t match your outfit. While men may not think that these are important characteristics, as we tend  to look at the world through the male gaze, and as such physical beauty is important  to us as men, which is why men work out, thinking that women too, must be attracted to the  same, in turn emotional stability and ambition are far more desirable characteristics for women. Gentlemen, don’t take it from me, take it from Robert Greene’s the Art Of Seduction, mind  you a boo

k that is written by a man, in all of the 9 types of seducers he mentions, there is  no type called the ‘Alpha Male Big Muscle Man,’ and instead each of the 9 types focus on  different personality traits to foreshadow a different experience that a potential female  partner may have with them, if they so choose them. Tangent aside, hopefully both the men and  women of the audience can see why Androgenous men and more so faces have appeal, instead of  dismissing the idea completely. They represent

the masculine urge of adventure, freedom and new  experiences with the femininity of being intune with their emotions and self-regulated. These  are indeed desirable characteristics in men, giving women the best of both worlds but what  does this have to do with Bichunen men? Going back to Cartographies of Desire, the  Bishonen is described as Tall and slender, with clear skin, stylish hair and distinctly  feminine features such as high cheekbones while retaining male characteristics. This is 

artistically quite similar to the way angels are depicted in renaissance art, but let’s break down  that description quickly. These men are described as tall, which is a dimorphic characteristic as  males are almost always taller than their female counterparts but they are also slender, where  shoulder width is described a strongly male characteristic. From Medved Et al’s paper you can  see how much of a difference we’re talking about. Making the man tall but slender is very much an  androgenous

body. If you’re short and slender, then your body-shape is generally speaking akin to  that of a woman which is why a lot of shorter men go to the gym to improve their shoulder width  to add some masculinity to their frame, but taller, slender men are a rarer sight at the gym,  because the androgyny works to their advantage. The next piece of description Pflugfelder gives  us in his book is that Bishonen men have clear skin. While clear skin is an obvious if you're a  regular on this channel, b

ecause it’s an indicator of being disease free, In anime, oftentimes  this skin is very white, porcelain, and in the west we tend to think of it as an emulation  of trying to be ‘white’ or ‘european’ but rather this is a beauty standard that dates back  millenia before Japan was ever occidentalized. There are two possible explanations of this  being so prevalent in anime however. One is the influence of Nazism in Japan with  Voldemort’s heavy preference towards the Aryan race and features. From

this Japanese animator  guide you can see that a lot characteristic East asian features are viewed negatively in lieu  of more European ones. While white skin may not be an emulation of anime characters ‘looking  European,’ these structural changes in facial features may certainly be a valid argument. We  see this everywhere, from Avatar to Dragon Ball Z, where Goku isn’t even a human, but his eye  shape and midface is drawn more similarly to a Northern Japanese, Siberian Russian man. The  chara

cters that are supposedly Japanese or some other East Asian group, are typically given comic  relief roles and we see this from movies to anime, so maybe there is a deeper cultural issue at play  here. Characters that are canonically half-caste, are also drawn with their White counterpart’s  features such as Revy Rebecca, despite being half chinese and so it’s easy to assume  that these characters must be white, when they’re drawn with pale vampire skin,  where East Asians typically have a yello

wish undertone to their skin due to the greater  presence of Eumelanin, which is a different type of melanin as we’ve covered here. The second explanation for this clear, pale skin type is that androgenous, Bishonen men,  are seen as pure and protected from the harshness of the world, following the lore of the story that  is. Compared to characters who have had to endure the trials and tribulations of their coming of  age story, they are drawn with a slightly darker complexion, and more wrinkled

or course skin  perhaps due to sun exposure and outdoor life. Or maybe the answer is even simpler than that.  Drawing wrinkles takes more work per scene, and it’s easier to draw the face and have it  look smooth rather than adding in imperfections manually, which is why Bishonen men are drawn  with clear skin in anime. As for why the pale white tones and European features, that  requires deeper investigation from someone more familiar with Japanese culture. In Pflugfelder’s book he also describ

ed Bisonen men with stylish hair and feminine features  such as high cheekbones. From Draelos 2007, high cheekbones are the single most sensitive indicator  of an estrogen-rich state, which is why, theyre a feminizing feature, again, adding androgeny to an  otherwise male face. With stylish hair, there is a growing preference towards metrosexual men who  style and more importantly take care of their hair in a natural looking way, rather than shaving it  off completely bald or letting it grow unk

empt and when you consider that most androgenous  looking men tend to grow out their hair longer, then it’s no surprise there why that might  be seen as attractive and well suited, compared to say a ronaldo fade which  is very much a masculine haircut. At the beginning of the video I mentioned Bjorn  Andersen. If you’re a fan of horror movies like I am, then you’ve probably already met this guy  here. Once nicknamed the Most Beautiful Boy In The World, there’s an excellent documentary film on  h

is life story and exploitation that came out last year. You see, Bjorn was the child star of a 1971  film called Death in Venice which is based on an earlier book of the same name, where the premise  of it is a bit like the male version of Lolita. An older man becomes infatuated with a handsome  young boy , played by Bjorn. The boy in the film, Tadzio seemingly made a very large splash in 70s  Japan, especially with anime artists like Keiko Takemiya, becoming the posterchild of the already  esta

blished Bishonen concept that we spoke about earlier. Bjorn did visit Japan himself, posing  for magazines and playing up his popularity there, but its very clear that he was liked for  his imagery in the movie and his androgenous aesthetic rather than for himself as an actor. He  mentions how he was the object of desire for many older, rich gay men, being paraded  around like a trophy to be won. In anime, we still see a very strong resemblance  to his face. From someone who isn’t really into an

ime, It’s interesting to me in some of these  depictions, the eyes are exaggeratedly large and in every resemblance of androgenous bjorn’s  likeness, there is a gay or bisexual undertone to those who interact with him.. In older animes  like Kaze To Ki No Uta from 1976 this androgenous influence is very apparent in male every  character. Their faces are incredibly pointed, tapering at the chins, with very narrow, feminine  jaws and high jaw angles and while granted that they are teenagers or hig

hschoolers, it wouldnt  make sense to draw them like adults, this artistic style is still prevalent in contemporary anime  men too. Like for instance Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan, who might seem to have a very sharp,  masculine jaw, but when you measure the jaw angle, or take a closer look at the narrow jar  or pointed chin, it’s very clear to see that by all means his features are feminine.  Also, the long hair should have given it away. Hauru in Howl’s moving castle, is very much the  same a

nd we keep seeing this trend recurring. That’s not to say that all anime’s are like  that, for instance in Beserk, the manical killing machine Guts is drawn hyper-masculinely,  with shorter hair, a drill sergeant, square jaw and a broader more masculine nose,  but if you’re familiar with the storyline, youll realise it only makes sense for his blood-thirsty  character. Next time you’re watching a show, pay attention to how the cast are drawn and you’ll  realise that facial aesthetics is everywhe

re. If you would like to get your face assessed  like an anime character, order a QOVES facial aesthetics evaluation over at our website to get  advice on how you can glow up and look your best from our medical team. Check out the Glow Up and  Deep Dive podcasts, free on all platforms or go to Patreon for the latest episodes and follow us on  Tiktok and Instagram for more aesthetic content.