Bishounen

AXavierB

No one can seem to agree on what the fuck it means. At first it was fairly straightforward, used to describe guys who were androgynously pretty. But now people take the label and smack it onto any sufficiently attractive man, whether he's androgynous or not. I mean hell, some people call the Nostalgia Critic a bishie. Who's next, Robert Downey Jr.? George Clooney? >:V

Malkavian

I always figured it meant the same as 'pretty boy' which is a significant subset of attractive men.

And oh look. People misusing tropes. Perhaps I shall go outside and make sure it is not raining blood.

AXavierB

DYRE

I always figured it meant the same as 'pretty boy'

It does.

Basically, if someone is a young male and could reasonably be described as "pretty" they are a bishounen.  Since, you know, it really does literally just mean "Pretty boy."

Rottweiler

Bishounen comes from the Japanese "shounen", "boy", with the Latin prefix "bi-", for "bisexual".

DYRE

Well, judging by the way anime fans use it, it might as well... >.>

But for realz, the "bi" part refers to feminine beauty.

And of course, "shounen" specifically refers to more to teenage-ish males, not adults, but that part is kind of ignored by English-speaking anime fans.

Vorpy

Silly mormons. Why can't we just get a Japanese Dictionary to define a japword beyond one sentence that is loosely based on fanspeak and translations from manga?

Waltzy

"And oh look. People misusing tropes. Perhaps I shall go outside and make sure it is not raining blood."

I laughed way too hard at this and gave myself hiccups. I hope you're happy.

Malkavian

Waltzy thinks I'm funny! =D

Waltzy

It's way way easy to make me laugh. XD But you are quite punny Malky~.

nohaynicklibre

It is now my sacred duty to make Waltzy laugh


You may want to turn on the closed captions

Waltzy

:X Pfffffffffffff~~