Bishonen Line: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:cellfulltransformation.jpg|link=Dragon Ball
{{quote|''"Actually, leading [[Fantastic Science|powerfoligists]] theorize that as you become more powerful, you become more monstrous, and then sharply become humanoid again. They call it the [[Trope Namers|Bishonen Line]]."''|'''Karn''', ''[[Adventurers
As the power of an evil creature increases, they become more of a [[One-Winged Angel|large, disfigured abomination]] -- ''until'' they cross the Bishonen Line, beyond which as they gain more power, they (re)gain humanoid form.
A possible [[In
On some cases, this could also be viewed as the creature being [[Functional Genre Savvy]]. For example, a huge monstrous abomination cannot physically participate in the impressive martial arts stuff that a [[Fighting Series]] is built around, so if it's in one of those, it gains an advantage by reverting to a humanoid form that will fare better [[Kung Fu Fighting]].
This trope is also fueled by several out-of-universe factors. One, for example, is the [[Rule of Perception]]: You can only add so much [[Sculpted Physique|horrid detail]] to a monstrous creature before the design becomes busy and adding extra eyes, putrid tentacles, etc. just does not make that much of a visual impact any more. The only possible way left to get the audience's attention and signal "major change" is, paradoxically, to take all the monstrous features away. Also, drawing or rendering an ever-expanding monster is taxing in terms of resources; this is a particularly important consideration in animation or sequential art, where the same thing must be drawn over and over
See also [[Monstrosity Equals Weakness]], a [[Super-Trope]] of this, where more monstrous characters will be inherently weaker / less important than humanoid ones; [[Sculpted Physique]], which may be applied to "cosmetically" or grotesquely; [[Monster Lord]], where this trope divides leaders and [[
Compare [[The Man Behind the Monsters]] for an exogenous demonstration of this, and [[Crystal Spires and Togas]], which is more or less this trope applied to entire civilizations.
Not to be confused with [[Miracle Train
{{examples}}
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' features countless examples:
** Saiyans initially reach their highest power by transforming into mindless giant apes, but later reach a power level where their hair just turns blonde and spikier (Super Saiyan 1). Super Saiyan 3 is a very mild subversion: the most prominent change is that a Saiyan's hair gets extremely long, but he also has his eyebrows vanish and his [[Forehead of Doom|forehead grow]], producing a Neanderthal-like look.
** Frieza's intermediate states are larger and more monstrous than his delicate-looking final form. His second form looks to a large extent like a much bigger version of his first, plus his horns become bull-like (allowing them to gore an opponent, which he does in fact do). His third form looks like an even freakier version of the [[Alien (
** Frieza's brother Cooler has a ''fifth'' form, which is bigger and muscular than any of Frieza's, but streamlined, sort of like a cross between Frieza's third and fourth.
** Cell's initial form looks like some kind of a reptile-insect hybrid. His second form is slightly more humanoid, but bulkier and even more monstrous. His ultimate form, shorter than the last one, looks a lot like a very chiseled bishounen wearing reptile/bug armor. This might be justified because Cell transforms by absorbing the Androids, who are made from and resemble normal humans.
** Majin Buu's final form is that of a boy ("Kid Buu"), as opposed to the hulking Fat Buu and the muscular Super Buu. Unlike most examples, Kid Buu isn't technically his ''strongest'' form, but it's still the most ''dangerous''. Fat Buu represented a fusion with the bulky and pacifistic Great Kai, which in turn tempered Buu's desire for destruction. Super Buu fused with a bunch of warriors, and put off [[Kill'Em All|wiping out humanity]] for as long as possible so he could [[Blood Knight|get a better fight out of the heroes]]. Kid Buu was weaker than any of the above, but he destroyed planets with the glee of a child destroying someone's sand castle.
** Janemba of the post-Buu movie originally was a giant yellow marshmallow man, but became a sleek, muscled demon of human shape and size in his powered-up form.
** In ''[[
* ''[[
** Hollows start out as
** As of now, we have seen {{spoiler|three}} Vasto Lorde classes in full; [http://images.wikia.com/darknesswithinshadow/images/4/4c/Baraggan%27s_1st_Form_%28Vasto_Lorde_Form%29.jpg Barragan], [https://web.archive.org/web/20131023213610/http://images.wikia.com/bleach/en/images/4/43/Harribel_Hollow_Lorde_Form_2.png Harribel], and {{spoiler|[http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/Oceano_Seina/UNMASKED/unmaskedcomic7.jpg the disturbingly adorable Ulquiorra.]}} Surprisingly, all three have been docile in their own ways; Barragan did nothing, Harrible didn't like fighting, and {{spoiler|Ulquiorra couldn't eat others.}}
** 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.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[
** 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 >
** Zig-Zagged in ''[[
** More Zig-Zagging in ''[[
** Most series will subvert this if villains have an evolved form.
** It's actually discussed in ''[[
* The Akuma from ''[[D
* The demons of ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** {{spoiler|Alvatore, the monstrous mobile armor piloted by [[Big Bad]] Alejandro Corner, has a "true form" of sorts in the Alvaaron, an angel-like mobile suit hidden in said armor.}}
** {{spoiler|That case is a subverio, Alvatore was much more powerful in terms firepower.}}
** Gundam Virtue/Nadleeh. An extremely bulky and heavily-armored Gundam housing a smaller, but more powerful unit.
* Bishojo line: When a ''[[
* ''[[
** After sixteen monstrosities that get weirder with each new one, Tabris the 17th Angel is revealed to be {{spoiler|a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] who also goes by the name of Kaworu Nagisa}}.
** Of course the 18th Angel is {{spoiler|humanity as a whole.}} You don't get any more humanoid than that.
** ''[[
* The Bishonen Line in ''[[
* Rob Lucci in ''[[
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* Followed by ''[[
* An heroic example in ''[[
** Another heroic example is Sage Mode. Jiraiya's imperfect Sage Mode gives him a goatey, warts, webbed fingers and other toad-like features. The only physical changes Naruto gains from perfect Sage Mode are toad-eyes.
== Films -- Animation ==
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]]'', the already dangerously bishonen Kadaj becomes even ''more'' bishonen and ''far'' more powerful when he briefly becomes {{spoiler|Sephiroth}}.
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[
== Literature ==
* In ''Master of the Five Magics'' by [[Lyndon Hardy]], the Demons have a hierarchy of power. The least powerful are near human, but they grow larger and more bizarrely monstrous as they become more potent. The Archdemon, however, has the form of a lightly built human male. Interestingly enough, a demon's physical power has very little to do with his rank: a demon's rank is based on his ability to make others submit to his will. Each demon has a different method, some inflicting pain on others, others use pleasure, or despair, or any number of other emotions. The Archdemon, however, can use ALL of these abilities, drowning his opponent in an ocean of conflicting emotions.
* ''[[
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold|Lois McMaster Bujold's]] ''[[The Sharing Knife]]'' series, the monsters of the series are known as "malices," creatures of sentient destructive energy which drain the life force of all surrounding creatures in order to build horrific, misshapen forms, and which grow geometrically stronger the more they feed. Over the series we see several different monstrous forms of malices: a werewolf malice that fed on wolves, a flying malice that fed on bats...but the most advanced and most dangerous of the malices they fight is one that has consumed so many human lives that it has developed a stunningly beautiful, superhuman form.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** The Gruffs follow a Bishonen Line. The first ones we
** The Denarians play around with this trope. Nicodemus, the most powerful, is always in human form, while the second most powerful, Tessa, can become a praying mantis. The other Denarians take a variety of forms, with [[Cute Monster Girl|Rosanna and Deirdre]] among the most humanoid.
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* In the series finale of ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'', the restored Pai Zhua masters summon a higher level of the powers that the Rangers use. It turns them into furries. At the climax, however, the Rangers summon the ''highest'' level of power, reaching a level never seen before. This involves unmorphing and throwing CGI fireballs.
* The series ''[[Super Sentai]]'' counterpart subverted this, the series [[Big Bad]] Long's true form is a giant quadrapedle-multiheaded dragon, one of the franchise few non-humanoid monsters.
* Anubis on ''[[
* Lucifer on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. Now, all his forms are human, but he rules over the world in Sam's body in the [[Bad Future]] episode.
* Mayor Wilkins on ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** Asmodeus, king of the Nine Hells and most powerful Archdevil of all, is most commonly encountered looking like "an unprepossessing humanoid with red eyes, horns, and well-tailored robes." Recent sourcebooks have increased his height to thirteen feet, though. (But it is mentioned in a few books that his true form is some kind of monstrous, serpent-like beast.) This example is pretty clearly based on certain depictions of Satan. Lucifer was traditionally both the most powerful and the most beautiful of angels, at least prior to his Fall. (And, in some versions, he retains both qualities even afterward.)
** D&D also has the slaadi, extradimensional spirits of Chaos which, as they get more powerful, get bigger and
** Many lines of extraplanar beings follow this rule. for example the [[Lawful Neutral]] Modrons: the lowest have basic geometric shapes with eyes and arms; the higher you rise in their ranks, the more humanoids they are.
** Daelkyr of ''[[
* Shows up occasionally in the ''[[Warhammer
** Generally proceeds like this: the weakest or stupidest daemons are entirely inhuman and animalistic. Daemonic foot-soldiers are bestial humanoids, but lack intelligence beyond basic tactics. Greater daemons are gigantic bestial humanoids that are basically avatars of their respective god and can lead entire armies of their ilk - depending on the god they might also be dangerously intelligent. Daemon princes are humans raised up to daemonic level - they're on par with greater daemons, but generally more humanoid and more dangerously intelligent. Finally in Warhammer 40,000 there are the Daemon Primarchs, who were demigods before they were raised to daemonhood and are now some of the most dangerous beings in existence. They can assume human or indeed any form seemingly at will, and will kill almost anything that gets in their way.
** Daemonic possession usually inverts the line - as the daemonhost becomes more dangerous, its form becomes less and less human until it reaches [[One-Winged Angel]] status. If the host is destroyed the wrong way, though, the daemon proper might emerge crossing the
** Larger Tyranid creatures become bipedal, but never cross the
== Video Games ==
* Omega from the ''[[
* Played straight and averted at the same time for all the dragons' Super forms in ''Dragon Seeds''. They evolve from Baby, to Adult, and to Senior, gradually becoming more complex and massive each time, with one dragon type even becoming a ''harrier''! From there, they can branch off into two categories: Old, where they retain their Senior form, but lose a bunch of stats and only live for a few more days (dragon years), and Super, which plays the trope straight, and they revert into a more humanoid form that looks relatively small, but becomes biologically immortal and ungodly powerful. So powerful, in fact, that you can't do anything else with the dragon but defend the title of World Dragon Champion (assuming you did get to that point) and duel against another player.
* Nintendo realized in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** Tingle's as well. Compare [
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''
** In ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** Vincent as well. His controlled Chaos form in the final area is stronger and looks more human than his earlier uncontrolled or partially controlled Chaos form.
** So does ''[[Final Fantasy X
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
** The final boss of ''[[
** While Heartless, as a rule, grow more massive and horrifying the stronger they are, the most powerful of them all, {{spoiler|Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless}}, is visually indistinguishable from a <s>[[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]</s> normal human, though he's the exception to the rule. However, while the usual Nobody [[Mooks]] of the [[
** Before Xemnas however, was Marluxia. The first fight is straight up against him, using his own [[Green Thumb|flower magic]] and wielding a [[Sinister Scythe]]. The second has him on a sinister, large, floating mech with [[Sinister Scythe|scythes for arms]]. The third fight takes place on top of the remains of said mech, only this time Marluxia has a creepily beautiful angel-like familiar wielding a gigantic [[Sinister Scythe|scythe]] backing him up and basically doing all the fighting for him.
** In ''[[Kingdom
* Ryu, the protagonist of ''[[
* In ''[[
* Eve's final form in ''[[Parasite Eve (
* The characters of ''[[Bloody Roar]]'' tend to avoid this trope, since turning into animals is the whole point, but a few characters get past [[One-Winged Angel|that point]].
** Cronos, one of the potential final fighters, turns into a very nonhuman penguin when he powers up a little. Turn on the [[Ominous Latin Chanting]], however, and he can transform into a phoenix that looks like a human with a beak and feathers before he kills you.
** Uranus is an even better example, as she first turns into a fearsome chimeric beast with her normal powerup, but her strongest form looks like her normal one, just glowing.
** Uriko also exhibits a degree of this. In the original game, as the [[Final Boss]], her beast transformation consisted of going from a little girl to a full-grown woman, sprouting cat ears, and her hair turning green. Later, when she's less powerful, her beast form, although still less animalistic than the others, is noticeably more feline. She also exhibits going to the [[One-Winged Angel]] again, as in the first game, her ultimate form is a grotesque chimera.
* ''[[
** The original game features this. Although Yuri's fusion souls are all roughly human-sized, they generally get more bizarre or monstrous as they get more powerful, with the second-most-powerful, Amon, being a hulking, monstrous demon with a blade on one arm. However, his most powerful, the Seraphic Radiance, is just him, glowing white, with black wings and mystic-looking tattoos.
** Even more so in ''Shadow Hearts: Covenant''. Yuri's low level fusion forms look like 'elemental' costume swaps of his normal body. His stronger forms include a giant armored knight, a beastly rock monster, and a sea dragon, all much larger than a human. Amon, as usual, is a big, muscular demon, and Dark Seraph looks like a black-winged, [[Fan Service|almost completely naked]], but otherwise fairly normal Yuri.
* ''[[
** In the original, prior to the third fight with [[Worthy Opponent|Nelo Angelo]], he reveals his true face ( {{spoiler|identical to Dante's, as he's his twin brother, Vergil}}). He still has blue skin and glowing eyes, but he's more human than before, and has some new, infuriating attacks.
** If you count the Despair Embodied of ''Devil May Cry 2'' as a second form of the immediately preceding boss, as some [[Fanfic]] writers do (it's not made clear in canon), this would apply. This does not occur in the other games of the series.
* In ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'', {{spoiler|it is revealed that Captain Blue, Joe's movie hero, is in fact the true villain of the piece. He transforms into his monstrous "King Blue" form that is so large, Joe must face him in his [[Humongous Mecha]] "Six Majin". After the battle, Joe jumps to the nearby platform to commence the final battle; Blue appears again, much younger and more muscular than he ever was before. After being defeated, he reverts back to his older, overweight form.}}
* ''[[Tales
** Dhaos from ''[[
** Granted, that form was only put into the ''Remakes.''
** The final boss of ''[[
* ''[[
** The final boss fight is against {{spoiler|Malpercio, whose body is a hideous frankenstein made up of the body parts of various dead gods. After he's beaten, though, Melodia combines with him, turning him into a more humanoid figure with wings on his head}}.
** Another example is {{spoiler|Geldoblame. When exposed to the power of the End Magnus, he transforms into a grotesque tentacled...thing, which still ends up being [[That One Boss]] for many players. He appears to die after that, but [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|is somehow able to come back during the ending cutscenes for round two.]] There, he "simply" appears as a giant version of his head protruding from the ground and [[Clipped-Wing Angel|is easily dispatched by one Guardian Spirit attack.]]}}
* In ''[[Treasure of the Rudra]]'', {{spoiler|Mitra fits the theme, as she starts as a statue-like being, then a giant half-human, half-serpent monster, and then assumes a smaller, more humanoid form for the final battle.}}
* ''[[Castlevania]]''
** In the original PC Engine version of ''[[Castlevania
** In ''Symphony of the Night'' and ''[[Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
** Graham in ''[[Castlevania Aria of Sorrow]]'' has a [[One-Winged Angel]] transformation, with him sitting comfortably within what appears to be two giant pale women ''joined at the eyes and ribs''. Dracula in general, with Dracula's incaration here as Soma Cruz, later in the series, being by far the bishiest.
** Lampshaded in ''[[Castlevania
* ''[[
** At the end of ''[[
** The trope is played even straighter with what happens after you defeat Metroid Prime's second form though: it turns into a Phazon clone of Samus' armor.
** Also, at the end in ''Metroid Prime 2'', the Emperor Ing goes from being what resembles a giant eye, to gas spewing shell, to a much larger version of the basic Warrior Ing, which isn't humanoid at all, but would be this trope from an Ing's point of view.
* In the episodic computer game ''Time Runners'', the main character (a teenager from Earth) travels through time and dimensions to fight monstruous "Chronodemons": a robot, a cyborg, a sentient spider, a necromancer, a mutated human and a zombie pharaoh. For the final duel, is pitted against the creator of the Chronodemons: an exact lookalike of him.
* Used in, of all things, the DS version of ''[[Nicktoons Unite!|Nicktoons: Globs of Doom]]'' with [[Big Bad]] Globulous Maximus, who goes from a gooey cyclops meteor taking up the entire screen to a flying slime man the size of [[
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'': In the boss fight against {{spoiler|Ocelot, he slowly regresses in his mind to his [[Bishonen]] [[I Was Quite a Looker|younger days]]. However, since this is only in his mind, he remains looking like an old man, and only his movements become more 'bishounen'. Note also that the Life Bars change as well!}}
* The fianl boss of ''[[
* In ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' there are gigantic battleship-sized Orbital Frames, but the most powerful Orbital Frames ever made are comparatively small and bipedal. They get more powerful when they ''lose'' a lot of their armor and look even more human-like.
* Wesker in the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series, in a rare out-of-boss-fight example. Despite being essentially a man in a trenchcoat with red eyes, he's more powerful than all the horrific genetically-engineered monsters in the series. {{spoiler|1=He [[Genre Blindness|seals his fate]] by going [[One-Winged Angel]] for the [[Final Boss]] fight of RE5, which allows you to (presumably) finally kill him for good.}}
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** The Dark Force appears multiple times. First, as a monstrous head and shoulders attached to the satellite, and second in the form of a giant spider with the same head. Then it hides inside the form of a human archaeologist with dark magical powers, allowing it to hunt for the Aeroprism. When the party finds the Aeroprism, he transforms into the third Dark Force, which is a humanoid demon much smaller than either of the others.
** Even more the case with the Profound Darkness. First form: [[Eldritch Abomination|a collection of mouths and red eyes on a blob of purple flesh.]] Second form, it's got green-gray armor, plenty of appendages, but only one mouth and not as many eyes. The third form? A giant gray human female with bony wings and seven eyes in symmetrical positions on the thighs, wings and forehead; if you hadn't seen the prior forms, you'd probably take them as gems.
* ''[[
** ''[[The Elder Scrolls III
** Inverted in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
* Hunters from ''[[Prototype (
* Many ''[[
* ''MS Saga'', the failed ''[[
* In ''[[Spectrobes]]'' the [[The Heartless|Krawl]] start off as relatively small monsters, growing in size slowly with each passing boss until the final boss who is relatively large, basically the largest enemy of all (to say nothing of your ally Tindera). Immediately in the second game you are introduced to the {{spoiler|high Krawl}} who are human shaped Krawl. but then this trope is subverted as the {{spoiler|high Krawl}} all {{spoiler|go [[One-Winged Angel]]}}. but then this is [[Doubly Subverted]] with {{spoiler|the final boss[[Sequential Boss|(s)]]}} who are all massive and only grow larger until {{spoiler|you face the ultimate Spectrobe, whom you ''cant'' defeat. then this trope is [[Playing
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Noitu Love]] 2''. For phase one of the boss fight, she's a blobby sphere with legs. For phase two, she transforms into a bat-winged human, and grows so big that only her head and shoulders fit on-screen. For phase three, she loses the wings and shrinks down to only slightly larger than the protagonist.
* Mirelurks evolve like this in ''[[
* ''[[
** Around early July, {{spoiler|Teddie, after recovering from his ordeal with Shadow Rise and Shadow Teddie and poking into the real world, he talks about how he's grown on the inside. And he has, literally: when he takes off his bear costume, we see not empty space, but ''a blonde, blue-eyed bishounen.''}}
** ''Inverted'' with {{spoiler|with Izanami, who starts the fight as a woman in a strait jacket and a massive skirt, before revealing her true form, a monstrous, multi-limbed, rotting...''thing'' with what's left of Izanami's upper body from the last form on top...which is also rotting and unpleasant to look at.}}
* Ramirez in ''[[
* The first time you fight ''[[
* The final boss of ''[[
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Lunar: Eternal Blue|Lunar 2]]'', Zophar, takes a giant [[Eldritch Abomination]] form when you first seen him. When you fight him for the first time, he looks decidedly...prettier, even when he goes [[One-Winged Angel]] on you. Both forms are also nowhere near the size of his original form, which he actually turns into the game' final dungeon.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' has {{spoiler|Mantra Asura, a form stronger than his previous six armed f.orm and berserker forms, but instead of becoming more monstrous, he instead Grows 1000 arms that merge in to bigger gauntlets}} It's also played around with in the same game, as that {{spoiler|Vlitra's Core, while a humanoid boss, exists at the same time as the [[One-Winged Angel]] [[Orochi]] form of Vlitra on the Worlds Surface}}.
* Reversed in ''[[Half Minute Hero]]'''s Evil Lord 30, in which the Evil Lord increases his magic power by "getting sexier", for which he must go to a beauty spa.
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Adventurers
* ''[[
* ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* In the fourth season of ''[[Justice League (
* Shows up in ''[[
* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
* In ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Japanese Media Tropes]]
[[Category:Personal Appearance Tropes]]
[[Category:
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