Something has just been stuck in my head, recently. How many anime characters have full beards AND moustaches?
I can only think of Ishikawa from Ghost in the Shell and Gim the Dwarf from Lodoss War, but there’s GOT to be more than that…right?
Actually, a great many of them do. It’s usually reserved for mature, important characters in their 30’s+. In anime, it’s often hard to show age properly, so I imagine they just resort to beards. Having a beard in anime is often a really good thing: it means you’ll probably be a bit stereotyped, but it’s a sterotype everyone loves and you’ll never be annoying like the damned bishounen.
Off the top of my head, Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop.
That’s what came to mind as well, but I wasn’t sure. The OP mentioned a mustache as well…
Perhaps an inspiration for Jet Black, the sharpshooter from Lupin III
Sakura’s grandfather from Card Captor Sakura? (I know, really minor character, but he does have a full beard and mustache.
What’s wrong with bishounen? Methinks many of them are hot.
I can’t remember his name, but the captain of Starship Yamato had a full beard and mustache.
Nausicaa’s father did, too.
Tsubaki, from Hikaru no Go. Although he was pretty stereotyped…
Word. There are a couple of Kenshin characters who fit that description, but I’m going blank on the names. One was the head of the Meji government.
Captain Avatar, in the US version, called Star Blazers.
Well, it’s not a full beard, just facial hair, and it is a bishounen, though not in a real manga, but an american tribute, but: Captain John Sheraton.
Jigen, from Lupin the 3rd.
Mr. Gentleman from the Read or Die OVA.
I think the problem with bishounen is that guys resent how girls go ga-ga over some lines and colour on a screen. Though as a girl myself, I have to admit that some of them are quite annoying. Many of them have one-dimensional personalities.
Hot? Maybe. But they’re all-too-often barely even one-dimensional. What I hate most most when the Bishounen go into Dragon-Ball Z mode.
I kinda like some bits of Dragonball Z. It’s just so earnestly over-the top that I can’t hate it. But then you get awful Bishounen like Rurouni Kenshin or Sephiroth, who do much the same thing: they stand around, don’t actually fight, then unleash some awesome destructive attack and win, despite not actually really
doing anything. I hate that. The guys with beards? Man, they’re real. They get into scrapes, duke it out, and maybe come out victorious. Or not.
One of my favorite characters from The Slayers was Rodimus, the bearded warrior who faced off against Gourry, briefly joined the party, and then got blasted by -
Well, that’s a spoiler for another time.