The Definition of "Handsome"

[Simple_Barghest]

I guess Baki would fit that better than JoJo, though Part I JoJo was almost as much brawn (but it got toned down part after part, the least of it starting from Part 4). Nowadays the characters are lean rather than buff.

Araki started with buff lads, then starting about Part 4 he experimented with twinks.
Part 5 onwards is hard shift into The Twink Phase.

[hagare]

Similar style, but not quite. Usually bara tends to be a lot larger. JoJo is still pretty skinny all things considered, though it is on the right track.

Think Roegadyn-type bodies. That's the sort of thing you'd see in Bara. There's usually an emphasis on making guys wide as well as muscled, so JoJo is grazing it, but not really in the same camp.

Plus, it's characterized as made by men for men with not much thought given on whether it's appealing to women or not. JoJo is a shounen so it operates by different rules. (Or rather, started out as one, then got upgraded to Seinen). One's more LGBT-oriented and specifically meant to come across as lewd. The other is just there for "the coolness" aspect.

Araki's art and storytelling isn't the same as Gai Mizuki, for example.

oh I know bara.
But JoJo is really close with their older arcs. Though post-pucci they seem to be using a more standard body types.
Though the glam poses, the way they move, and almost everything else hadn't changed much xD

Araki started with buff lads, then starting about Part 4 he experimented with twinks.
Part 5 onwards is hard shift into The Twink Phase.

have you seen the new arc's characters? xD

[SugarPuff]

I thought Zero had a very androgynous look, I believe the very first words out of my mouth were "Is that a guy? I can't tell for sure." (to my husband) and he said something along the lines of "No, why would you think that's a guy?".....To which I have no definitive answer, my first impression was just leaning slightly more toward masculine.

Personally, Urianger and Cid are both examples of what I view as handsome male characters. I don't run across that many, but overall it seems to be most often the elvaan guys. One character that looks very masculine to me is Gaius....too masculine even. He has a little bit of a Gaston-ish look that I find vaguely off-putting.

[TaleraRistain]

And I love the design because she's just a big Vampire Hunter D reference.

Female Vampire Hunter D is exactly what went through my mind when I first saw her

[Kacho_Nacho]

I thought Zero was a woman. Their looks, personality, and English voice acting all are in accord with the traits of strong woman characters shown throughout FFXIV. In fact, I wondered if Zero was meant to be the WoL's new partner now the Scions of the 7th Dawn are supposedly disbanded.

((I haven't done the full post EW MSQ quest line yet. I've been busy leveling Reaper specifically to go through the Void World as one.))

You all have me curious how Zero sounds in Japanese.

[Payadopa]

Slow forum day, eh?

[xxmiamorecadenza]

Slow forum day, eh?

Probably. This is such an interesting thing to nitpick.

But I find it amusing that I’ve seen more discussion on Zero’s aesthetic than the actual plot on the forums.

Of course I only do light reading nowadays.

[Iyrnthota]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaYLxoJHBQ

When people said she had a deep voice I guess I was expecting a bit more.
Like, it is deep, but to me that's a distinctly feminine voice, not particularly androgynous.

Idk, maybe it's a personal or cultural thing.

[SassyAssassin]

I'm starting to wonder what this thread thinks of the Jungian concept of the Anima and the Animus.

Jung is cool and made some pretty good points, Freud on the other hand needs therapy, and so do I after reading anything from him.

[Hycinthus]

We had Hien. I think he was supposed to fill that role for a bit.