Bifauxnen and Ladette

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Hana no St. Juste and Kaoru no Kimi. Even their nicknames say it!

This is mainly a Japanese Media Tropes but does occur occasionally in other media. Two Bifauxnen girls from the same anime have largely different personalities that lie on the traditional masculine spectrum.

This has a tendency to happen in an Fundamentally Female Cast where varying male personalities are limited and in Yuri Genre to give the Schoolgirl Lesbians and the audience one more androgynous girl to drool over. This usually takes the form of one girl being a Ladette personality-wise and the other girl will be a more refined Prince Charming complete with a Bishie Sparkle. Other variations exist as well, such as the likelihood that one may be more athletic while the other one is a Badass Bookworm.

Expect a Romantic Two-Girl Friendship if it's a Yuri Genre. Expect an Odd Friendship regardless.

Sometimes the girls will not get along and there will be moments of rivalry or even Belligerent Sexual Tension between the two.

Compare and Contrast Tomboy and Girly Girl—as well as its polar opposite, Light Feminine and Dark Feminine. In a way, this is also a female version of Noble Male, Roguish Male.

Examples of Bifauxnen and Ladette include:


Anime & Manga

  • Pictured above: Kaoru "Kaoru no kimi" Orihara (brunette, on the right) and Rei "Hana no Saint Juste" Asaka (blonde, on the left) in Oniisama e..., arguably the archetypal examples. Rei is a stoic depressed loner that sometimes gets mistaken for a man and talented basketball player and artist; Kaoru is an extremely androgynous Ladette that is just as good in basketball as Rei is, and not to mentions she's arguably the only sane person in the story.
    • While they are both athletes, Kaoru takes basketball much more seriously than Rei, who is too doped up to care much about anything, though when she does play, it seems to be the only healthy source of enjoyment she has. Coincidentally, that happens when Kaoru is having a relapse in her illness and Rei takes her place to help the team..
    • Also alluded to in their "titles". Rei is called "Hana no St. Juste" which means "St. Juste of the Flowers", while Kaoru is called "Kaoru no Kimi" aka "Prince Kaoru".
  • In Hellsing, Integra Hellsing, Rip Van Winkle and Zorin Blitz are all masculine women with distinct and opposing personalities.
  • In Sailor Moon, Haruka Tenoh and her rival Seiya Kou plays the trope straight in the manga but only plays with it in the anime considering her gender in human form was changed to male in the anime.
    • Taiki and Yaten seem to be this to Seiya.
  • In Strawberry Panic Amane Ohtori plays this role opposite Kaname Kenjo.
  • Rei and Sei from Mariasama ga Miteru. Even their names fit the trope!
  • From Kure-nai we have Lin and Yayoi.
  • In Ai Ore Love Me Considering almost all of the members of the band Blaue Rosen are girls that fit either the Bifauxnen or Ladette aesthetic or both, this trope is a given.