Bishounen Series

The **Bishounen Series** (美少年(びしょうねん)シリーズ, *Bishōnen Shirīzu*), translated in English as the **Pretty Boy Series**, is a light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Kinako.

## Background

The series first began serialization on October 20, 2015, debuting with *Pretty Boy Detective Club: The Dark Star that Shines for You Alone*, and ended on December 20, 2019 with *The Pretty Boy Lizard (Dark Volume)*. The series is being published in the Kodansha Taiga imprint of Kodansha. According to Nisio, the Pretty Boy Detective Club was originally supposed to be one of Yakusuke Kakushidate's many detective aquaintances, part of the *Boukyaku Tantei Series*, but he eventually decided to make the series separate. A manga adaptation of the series began serialization in the Aria magazine, illustrated by Suzuka Oda.

## Premise

The Bishounen Series follows the Pretty Boy Detective Club, a nonprofit organization located at Yubiwa Private Academy, with the purpose of helping those in need, but only if their requests are deemed as "beautiful" by the team's leader, Manabu Soutouin. The story follows Mayumi Doujima, a girl looking to find the star she once saw ever since she was a child, when she encounters the Pretty Boy Detectives and requests their help for the case.

## Concepts

* Yubiwa Private Academy
* Pretty Boy Detective Club
* Twenties

## Title

Each novel in the series contains the kanji 美 (meaning "beautiful") somewhere in the title. The name "Pretty Boy Detective Club" (美少年探偵団(びしょうねんたんていだん), *Bishōnen Tantei-dan*) is a reference to the "Boy Detective Club" (少年探偵団(しょうねんたんていだん), *Shōnen Tantei-dan*), a fictional group of detectives created by Rampo Edogawa. All of the volumes' titles are also references to novels written by him:

* *Pretty Boy Detective Club: The Dark Star That Only Shines for You* is a reference to the novel *Dark Star* (暗黒星(あんこくせい), *Ankoku-sei*), published in 1939.
* *The Swindler, the Vanishing Man and the Pretty Boys* is a reference to the novel *The Swindler and the Vanishing Man* (ぺてん師(し)と空気男(くうきおとこ), *Petenshi to Kūki Otoko*), published in 1959.
* *Pretty Boy in the Attic* is a reference to the novel *Stalker in the Attic* (屋根裏(やねうら)の散歩者(さんぽしゃ), *Yaneura no Sanposha*), published in 1925.
* *The Pretty Boy Traveling with the Brocade Portrait* is a reference to the novel *The Man Traveling with the Brocade Portrait* (押絵(おしえ)と旅(たび)する男(おとこ), *Oshie to Tabi-suru Otoko*), published in 1929.
* *The Moving Tale of Panorama Island* is a reference to the novel *The Strange Tale of Panorama Island* (パノラマ島奇談(とうきだん), *Panorama-tō Kidan*), published in 1926.
* *Pretty Boy on D. Hill* is a reference to the novel *The Case of the Murder on D. Hill* (D坂(ざか)の殺人事件(さつじんじけん), *D-zaka no Satsujin Jiken*), published in 1925.
* *The Pretty Boy Chair* is a reference to the novel *The Human Chair* (人間椅子(にんげんいす), *Ningen Isu*), published in 1925.
* *The Pretty Boy in Green* is a reference to the novel *The Demon in Green* (緑衣(りょくい)の鬼(おに), *Ryokui no Oni*), published in 1936.
* *The Pretty Boy Lizard (Light Volume)* and *The Pretty Boy Lizard (Dark Volume)* are references to the novel *The Black Lizard* (黒蜥蜴(くろとかげ), *Kuro-tokage*), published in 1934.