﻿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 rabbit 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 stereotypes 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’ Ladies,
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 book 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, because 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 characters 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 yellowish
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 described 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 unkempt
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 his 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 established 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
anime, 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 highschoolers, 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 and 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 everywhere.
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
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