/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Some years ago when I did exchange studies in a Japanese university I took part in the manga circle and was reading through a self-introduction booklet they had done. A lot of girls were naturally into BL and otome etc. and out of curiosity I googled some of their favorite characters. Upon seeing them I realized that I only understand things like the appeal of ikemen, bara, shota etc. (I guess you could say genres rather than character archetypes) but if I'm shown say 5 different characters that in my head are ''ikemen'' I often fail to recognize any of their appeal points. Besides easily identifiable points like age, clothing etc. almost any and all subtle details go over my head. No matter how hard I try to analyze the appeal characters in BL I often just don't get it. What small things make a big impact for you anons?

Pic related, a male character with some unusual appeal even for me.

t. anon who isn't attracted to males