Thursday, 30 October 2025
Thursday, 30 October 2025
Have you ever wondered what inspired the angelic faces of male characters in shoujo anime? Those delicate yet dreamy features that instantly win you over?
It all dates back to 1971, when Swedish actor and musician Björn Andrésen was crowned “The most beautiful boy in the world” by Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti at just 15. The title, intended as a promotional soundbite, led to a lifetime of unwanted attention and rampant exploitation that plunged him into years of depression.
Overnight, the quiet Swedish teenager became an international sensation. While Western media idolised him as the pinnacle of beauty, Japan tapped into a frenzy unlike any other. In the midst of the madness, Björn was hurled into public appearances, music releases and gruelling photo sessions as Japan’s first Western idol, often popped up with pills to endure the rigorous routines.
In Japan, Björn’s delicate, almost androgynous beauty triggered a wave of artistic revolution. His face became the blueprint for the bishōnen — the “beautiful boy” archetype that shaped the look of shoujo manga (targeted at a female young adult audience) .
Björn passed away on October 25 at the age of 70 after a long battle with cancer. Despite being haunted by his first role, his legacy lives on in shoujo anime heroes drawn ever since. Even today, the Swedish actor remains manga's accidental muse, the young boy who gave a face to the ethereal princes, hopeless romantics and dreamers.
What started the Björn fandom
Back in 1970, Visconti embarked on a search across Europe for the “most beautiful boy in the world” to feature in his film Death in Venice. When Björn, a 15-year-old at the time, entered the room for the audition, the Italian filmmaker was instantly struck by his beauty. He immediately declared, “Beautiful!” and asked the teenager to remove his shirt.
To his dismay, the Swedish teen stood awkwardly in his underwear as a room full of adults scrutinised him. Soon, he was cast as Tadzio, the boy who becomes the object of obsession for the aging composer Gustav von Aschenbach, played by Dirk Bogarde.
At the 1971 world premiere of Death in Venice in London, Visconti named him “the most beautiful boy in the world”, much to the horror of Björn, who would later speak about how his negative experience of working with the filmmaker “screwed up” his life. “I felt like an exotic animal in a cage,” he confessed to The Guardian in 2003.
Japan’s fascination: When Björn became the face of shoujo manga
After the premiere of Death in Venice, Björn not only shot to fame in the West, but also in Japan. Japanese magazines were quick to call him the epitome of beauty, fashion editors dedicated cover features and he even appeared in commercials and recorded pop songs.
The 1970s was a time when Japan’s youth was actively absorbing Western culture and integrating the influences into their local sensibilities. Just as The Beatles were the craze back in America, Björn became the centre of a mass hysteria in Japan.
Björn’s face, instantly striking as ethereal and melancholic, fit perfectly into the pop culture fabric of Japan. His soft features and mesmerising charm became an ideal that Japanese manga artists were keen on exploring.
Soon, Björn became the face of male characters in several shoujo manga, which was at a crucial time of development. Since the genre features men with a balance of masculinity and gentleness, it was no surprise that Björn would become the face of it.
The birth of the ‘bishōnen’
In Japan, the term ‘bishōnen’ means “beautiful boy” and refers to a young man with a striking androgynous look. Rooted in Japanese classical art, theatre and glam rock, the idea found a new form in Björn’s beauty that was gentle and introspective.
One of the first influences was on Riyoko Ikeda, creator of the 1972 shoujo manga The Rose of Versailles. Ikeda had reportedly based her protagonist, Lady Oscar, on Björn’s facial features — mesmerising eyes, delicate jawline and long blonde hair. These traits would go on to define the shoujo manga aesthetic of the 1970s, paving the way for other male characters in the future with features and emotionality that readers longed to see.
As it turned out, Björn’s face was everywhere in shoujo manga and consequently, their anime adaptations. Shoujo characters like Gilbert Cocteau in Kaze to Ki no uta and Jomy Marcus Shin in Toward the Terra were all inspired by the archetype.
Not just shoujo, his beauty formed the basis of characters from other genres too - namely, Griffith from Berserk, Johan Liebert from Monster and Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle. What began as a teenage boy’s image in a film from the other side of the world became a cornerstone of Japan’s storytelling.
The fate of the accidental muse
Björn grew up without his father, who died in an accident shortly after his birth and his mother, who committed suicide when he was 10. He was raised by his grandmother, who pushed him into modelling and acting as “she wanted a celebrity in the family”.
Having no support system, Björn found himself in a celebrity lifestyle that haunted him into adulthood. One such incident was when Visconti took him to a gay nightclub with a group of men when he was just 16, which made him feel “very uncomfortable”.
Over the decades, he continued to act in more than 30 movies and TV series, most of them made in Sweden. But even in 2025, his charm lingers in anime heroes drawn since. He remains the boy who never chose to be a muse, but ended up shaping the face of the art form we know today.
