Bishonen Line: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Bleach]]''

** Hollows start out as 7–10 foot monsters, get bigger until they reach the size of a skyscraper (Gillian-class, Menos level), then get smaller (past Adjuchas-class, Menos level), until they are the size of normal humans. At this point, the Vasto Lorde-class Menos—who are so powerful they are basically humans with masks—are only speculated on (a handful of characters who ''might'' be Vasto Lordes have been introduced, but it's not been confirmed), but the Shinigami are rightfully terrified of the idea of one deciding to attack.

** Aizen does all kinds of bad things to this trope. He starts off as a bishonen, evolves into a featureless humanoid, evolves into a DIFFERENT bishonen with a hint of [[One-Winged Angel]], then goes properly OWA in the wrong order, starting with the 'angel' and finally ending in 'bizarro'. It's not so much the Bishonen Line as the Bishonen Scribble.

** Averted with Yammy, who never seems to cross the Bishonen Line. He just keeps getting bigger and bigger with each power level. This is probably the reason why {{spoiler|he's so weak even if he's deemed the strongest espada #0, as Byakuya and Kenpachi were able to beat him without too much effort, both of which were given quite a bit of trouble with espada #7 and #5.}}

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' has an interesting take on this trope. Most of the antagonists on the show are in a human form but the ones that are fought during the Saint Beast and Dark Tournament arc seem to follow this. During the Saint Beast arc, the four leads have to fight the Four Saint beasts and each one looks more human than the last going from Genbu (the giant talking rock), Byakko (the giant white tiger), Seiryu (the giant blue humanoid dragon) and finally their leader Suzaku the most human looking out of the four and the absolute strongest and most sadistic. Then in the Dark Tournament most of the more humaniod opponents are shown with varied levels of strength. Take the very first round against the Rokuyokai team. Roto who fought the Bishonen Kurama was the weakest and looked much less human than the stronger Rinku, Zeru and Chu who was the strongest. This is somewhat averted though with the Younger Togoro who gets less human as his power increases. Also based on the [[Random Power Ranking]] of demons, we start from very animalistic and brutish E and D Class demons to the semi-humanoid C Class with all shorts of [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|technicolor hair]] then taking a huge jump in [[Bishonen]] with the B Classes who's only differences from humanity is their height or a hair of a different color, leading to a downgrade where the A Classes look like grotesque alien freaks, and finally ending with S Classes which could be best described as humans with the occasional horn, extra ears or different hair/skin tone.

** Palmon/Lilymon is a perfect example of the trope, going from short, cute plant-monster to giant cactus with boxing gloves to beautiful, pink humanoid.

** Or just compare either Agumon line (Small Dinosaur > Big Dinosaur > Even Bigger Cybernetic Dinosaur > 7 ft-ish semi-reptilian knight).

* The Akuma from ''[[D.Gray-man|D Gray Man]]'' start off looking like round things with cannons; by level two they could look like pretty much anything; by level 3, they resemble humanoid armored creatures. When they reach {{spoiler|level 4, they resemble a freaky angel-like child with three halos and fairy wings}}. Straight out of the [[Uncanny Valley]].

* The demons of ''[[Inuyasha]]'' don't transform in stages, but there is a visible progression in power; small demons, larger demons, monstrously huge demons, and then the most powerful, who can generally assume a human-like form, much as the title half-demon hero's father (as shown in the third movie), as well as his full-demon brother. Another example would be the referenced father of a monstrous-looking half-demon named Jinenji, a horse-demon, who was said to be a handsome man. Exceptions exist, but size is a general indicator of power, with the most powerful obviously able to hop the Bishonen Line at will. One character notes that while many demons are huge and horrific, the ones that take human form are often far more dangerous.