Nothing gets more criticsm in anime (at least in the west) than the bishonen. Translating to "beautiful male", this design type gets a lot of flak for causing gender confusion and acting as fangirl bait.
What I don't understand is why this matters so much to people. A character should be judged on their actions rather than their looks. Somehow, the term has become coupled with effeminate, but that is far from true (outside the romance genre). Many bishonen are bat shit insane killers (Sephiroth, Itachi, Hao). Do you really think it's a good idea to make fun of Sephiroth's long silver hair to his face? Then we got Griffith from Berserk, someone that indirectly killed his entire team in the most brutal way possible. Then there's Faust VIII, a character from Shaman King that CUT OPEN A KID'S CHEST! These are not people you want to mess with.
Of course there's a brighter side to the equation. Fun loving good guy bishonen exist, and they are usually awesome. Who wouldn't want to be friends with Dante from Devil May Cry or Vash the Stampede from Trigun? Yeah, some may get a bit whiny (Tidus) but there are many fun and/or badass bishonen that exist.
While anime/manga and Japanese video games do seem to rely too much on the design, it is unfair to judge all bishonen as effimante, gay, obsessed with beauty, narccistic wimps. The fact is most can kick your ass and you know it ;)
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