Those girly boys we all know & love

*inverse* · Post by ***inverse*** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:34 am

*sighs....I know...I'm posting up another topic*

I've never given this a lot of thought before, but the other night one of my friends was taking a look through my art books and commented on how cute all of my chibi "anime girls" were. I laughed, and I told her they were all guys. Naturally, she just gave me a wierd look - one of my other friends, who's into anime as well, constantly harasses me about how most of my favorite characters are always the "girly boys".

I started wondering about that.

I find that a lot of the popular anime/manga characters usually do look more feminine than others. But the thing is that is that sometimes, they do actually look attractive (as far as anime goes,) I mean, if you were to take this in real life, the situation would probably be just the opposite. But let's take some popular characters for example - Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi, Kurama from YYH, Yuki from FB, Yue from CCS, etc etc - there are a lot of fans.

When I first started watching non-tv anime, any guy that looked a little overly feminine, or a little "not straight" freaked me out - I really didn't like it, and I didn't understand their popularity. For the longest time, I was totally against the whole "Yuki & Touya thing", or the "Kurama & Hiei" thing. Either way, I was very anti-yaoi.

I honestly have no idea why I now tend to like these kinds of characters, or why I read a bit of shonen ai...basically, I'm become part of a mainstream of fangirls that I really don't quite understand.

Why is it that so many fangirls *swoon* over these girly boys and the whole genre of yaoi? Is it just some sort of twisted fantasy, idealism, or is it just for total escape of certain realities?

Any thoughts?

Charizard305 · Post by **Charizard305** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:42 am

I know that for me, I like alittle Yaoi because its different from everything elce out there. .. that probebly explains the urge to see Gravitation. It may be the same kinda thing for you.

madmag9999 · Post by **madmag9999** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:45 am

probably the same reason guys like yuri, but not yuri with manly chicks :shuuders: that would make me puke. also probably why chicks find ths dude atractive. if u ask me he looks like a freak ass chick (dont kill me hikari). anyway maybe its coz chicks can connect to girly guys more or becouse the girly guys are more sympethetic.

someperson · Post by **someperson** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:05 am

madmag9999 wrote:probably the same reason guys like yuri, but not yuri with manly chicks :shuuders: that would make me puke. also probably why chicks find ths dude atractive. if u ask me he looks like a freak ass chick (dont kill me hikari).

*backs into corner*

Being a girl, I don't find that hot. That's just creepy. Gawd that face really had me fooled for a minute

anyway maybe its coz chicks can connect to girly guys more or becouse the girly guys are more sympethetic.

You're probably right

madmag9999 · Post by **madmag9999** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:09 am

someperson wrote:
madmag9999 wrote: also probably why chicks find ths dude atractive. if u ask me he looks like a freak ass chick (dont kill me hikari).

*backs into corner*
Being a girl, I don't find that hot. That's just creepy. Gawd that face really had me fooled for a minute

thank god. i though i was nuts for a sec but some chicks i know find him hot. i dont see how its a he at all. lmao i even sent it to my friends and i was like dude check this out its this hot japanes chick and they were like yee shes alright then i told them its a man and they were like

. LMAO, well anyway back on topic, yea its prolly coz the girly looking guys are more sensitive and not all violent or something

.

*inverse* · Post by ***inverse*** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:10 am

I suppose I should mention that I'm referring only to those anime/manga boys - that picture is just wierd ^^; I really, REALLY don't care for that "visual k" stuff.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:11 am

And never underestimate the power of 'beauty' when it comes to visual things like anime characters. If you're going to watch something, would you rather have pretty characters or ugly ones? I've watched 'real' movies and television - they have 'pretty' guys. It's just that with anime the definition of 'pretty' often ends up being the same whether it's girls or guys. People want pretty characters. Guys (or yuri fangirls) want pretty female characters, naturally girls (or yaoi fanboys) want pretty male characters. It's only the anime definition of pretty that causes problems.

Big eyes. This means an innocent character, in almost all cases (Hiei from YYH would be an exception, but that's debatable looking at his past). So you have pretty characters with big innocent eyes - with girls this isn't a problem, but with guys it looks 'off' because we don't consider the same things 'pretty' on males as we do females (based off 'real life' television and movies). You see male characters with eyes just as big as the girls and you forget that it's supposed to be a sign of innocence more than 'femininity'. You think "girly guy" instead of thinking what the feature means when it comes to anime.

Long hair. This is easy - with girls it's natural that most will have long hair. But we can't honestly say having long hair means a guy isn't masculine. Anyone ever watched 'The Crow' with Brandon Lee? If he were an anime guy he'd be considered a 'girly guy' just because of the hair. But look at something like 'Interview with a Vampire' and long hair doesn't mean 'effeminate' at all - it's a distinction for the 'times'. Look at stories in older settings and almost all of the guys have long hair - in a lot of cases, that makes the guys look hotter. Why shouldn't anime do the same thing? A real life guy with long hair is often considered sexy, so there's no reason to automatically equate that feature with femininity - but people do it anyway.

The real aspects that give you 'girly guys' aren't the features so much as the characteristics. Sensitive guys. Ask any girl who'd she'd rather be in a longterm relationship with - a jerk or a sensitive guy. Being sensitive isn't a sign of femininity, it's a sign of a nice person. But anime fans tend to ignore that and mark it off as just another 'girly guy.'

Now, there *are* characters drawn purposely to look like girls. Kurama is actually one of these (as you learn when he's mistaken for a girl in the anime - it's a source of humor, as well as a certain way to throw people off since the appearance does not match how dangerous he is). In cases like that, the appearance doesn't change how masculine the characters *act* and since they look no more 'girly' than any other 'beautiful' male character, fangirls love them just as much.

People are vain and they like pretty people. They like pretty animals as pets, too. Why shouldn't they like pretty anime characters? I'd much rather have a poster of Kurama or Hiei on my wall than Kuwabara. o.O I just like looking at lovely things. It's the same reason even guys admit to liking Kurama or Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei/Descendents of Darkness).

Beauty is nice to look at, no matter the sex - it's a positive attribute, it's just a physical one. It's not like people would complain if fangirls like smart characters over the dumb ones - most people prefer smart characters. I think it's natural.

As for the yaoi or shonen ai aspect, just think about it for a minute. Say you're a fan. You like the idea of guys being together because you're attracted to guys. Would you want to see two ugly guys together, or two lovely ones? Since most people dislike looking at ugly people (and very few fangirls are attracted to ugly guys), they naturally lean for the lovely pairings. The exact same thing is true for yuri fans. Who really wants to see two ugly girls going at it? People just like looking at pretty people, I doubt that will ever change.

J-0080 · Post by **J-0080** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:42 am

Arigatomyna wrote:A real life guy with long hair is often considered sexy.

Urge to grow out hair....rising....

Charizard305 · Post by **Charizard305** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:49 am

Arigatomyna wrote:A real life guy with long hair is often considered sexy.

* Rubs his half bald head *

AquaSky · Post by **AquaSky** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 9:19 am

I wouldn't say a vast majority of the overall popular male characters are feminine (actually, I've found most leading guys to be generic). I think for the most part, it depends on what type of series you're watching. For example, in something like an action/martial arts series, the ratio of pretty guys to masculine guys goes way down. I would use male Ranma as an example, but since that one's got a catch, I'd refer more to the GTO-type. Basically, the character designs are catered to appeal to the target audience. Guys seem to prefer seeing the lead male character be masculine, so that's how it is in a large number of shonen series. On the other hand, girls seem to prefer a guy with more delicate features, so that might account for a few of those characters in shoujo-oriented series (or even ones included in a shonen series in order to draw a few female fans). As for a reason for this preference, I'd probably go with Ari and say it'd be the simplest reason : they're prettier. Those are my thoughts on it, anyway.