Bishounen

Bishounen (美少年. literally, "beautiful boy") refers to a specific Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man. The prefix bi- (美) specifically refers to feminine beauty (bijin, lit. "beautiful person", refers to a beautiful woman.)

The bishounen is typically quite slender and not very muscular, with a tapered chin and effeminate or androgynous appearance.

The aesthetic of the bishounen began as an ideal of a young homosexual lover. It is perpetuated today in anime and manga, especially shoujo (girl) anime, shounen-ai, and yaoi.

Some western anime and manga fans use the term bishounen to refer to any handsome male character, although this usage is, strictly speaking, imprecise.

The equivalent term for a very beautiful girl is bishoujo.

See also the film Bishonen.