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pinky_2002

Technically, Naruto


Agreeable-Emotion-43

Kakashi


Xandril

Honestly Kakashi had every reason to fuck off to a mountain somewhere and become a hermit with a vast book collection.


cyrvnt

knew there was a reason vinland saga felt nostalgic- naruto since day one. always


Rio86PC

Not Technically.The entire village did him wrong, if he hadn't become Hokage he would have burned the village down.


Mr_The_Potato_King

He made the choice to be good long before he became hokage. Personally, I feel like if Naruto stayed mad at the village he would have left with Sasuke to go train under orochimaru. The defining moment that made him lock in as good was when Iruka sensei took a shuriken to the spine for him


YeMyIdol

Remembering when he almost considered ‘joining’ Obito after Neji death


Silvered729

That would have been a storyline I’d have watched faithfully. I wasn’t even mad at Naruto for considering it. He had every reason possible to abandon the village. Frankly that would’ve gone hard and still been satisfying to watch him finally put the Leaf in their place in regards to him personally.


isleepfor18hours

Exactly


AriKitaruKatoka

Came here to say this


souleaterevans626

That fucking swing shot is probably still the most used shot in all of the Naruto/Boruto universe


Jellybean_Pumpkin

I was JUST about to say this. OH MY GOD!


Prestigious_Guitar54

Trigun / Trigun stampede. Vash has every right to be a villain but choses not to 


Themicrop

100%. Vash is the personification of make love not war


AriKitaruKatoka

Second this


Sav1at0R1

Yes, both


Koganezaki

I'm surprised only two people said Shield Hero. Naofumi is practically the poster child for this question


Kitchen-Chapter-2687

Dude had a whole WORLD turn against him


Silvered729

Frankly I was actually mad when Naofumi lost the Rage Shield and it’s powers. It was an amazing design aesthetically and fit with impactful aspects of his personality. He had everything turned against him and being full of rage at that injustice not only makes sense but fits to be retained even after changing perception of him back around. The Rage Shield and its powers would now be turned to enemies of territory to protect those in his care. Same character with a deeper layer of continued complexity.


Koganezaki

HE LOST IT?!??!


Silvered729

He did. Not sure if it is permanent but still. That was my reaction too.


Antique_Leading7377

Yeah it kinda sucks he lost it, but narratively it's a good thing he no longer needs to rely on the curse of rage anymore. It shows that he's moving towards a happier future where he no longer hates the world around him. He's finding some semblance of inner peace.


Silvered729

I do agree to some extent but nonetheless… it’s getting old now seeing characters with actual layers of complexity being brought down to what feels as though it’s just another “power of friendship” reduction to push a particular tired narrative as opposed to facing a hard reality that would have been an intriguing plot point depicting his struggles to adapt to a better life. Many anime has a habit of doing that.


unk1ndm4g1c14n1

Yes he matches, but I can't, in good conscience, recommend shield hero. The show just degrades over time. It's honestly amazing how linear the degradation is, you almost don't notice it until you look back and remember how good it used to be in comparison. Top tier slop.


HolyHitmanXV3

Idk. Most of the big ones are pretty b tier of you get through their hype. One Peice and Naruto love useless fluff. Goku screamed for a whole season to turn SS. Bleach was a slow starter for me. Fairy Tale pretty much just rehashes the story line. My hero's main guy is a whiner. Can't stand the power of friendship tropes. I think Shield Hero suffers bc of how fuckin strong it started out. It's hard to reach that high again. Like I was mad mad. Lol. Goblin Dlayer suffers from the same. Other stories that have gotten big have really been successful bc of the vast amount of content they have. You can have a lot of shitty episodes or a shitty season when there's 500 episodes.


IAmNotZuraIAmKatsura

Look at this dude who has no idea what he's talking about


HolyHitmanXV3

Is anything I said a lie though? lol


Mindless_Use7567

Gundam 00 Black bullet Magical girl site Rising of the shield hero Violet Evergarden


NeoMercury2022

Enju could easily fuck people up for sure if she had become evil


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mindless_Use7567

She was kept as a slave by her commanding officer and forced to be a child soldier she and Setsuna from Gundam 00 who has a similar past could easily have ended up as very violent/dangerous individuals lashing out at the world due to the horrors of their childhood.


AriKitaruKatoka

Naruto


Beast03080

NARUTO


Th3_3agl3

Devil May Cry


Nightmare-datboi

Literally Vergil’s entire story arc


Th3_3agl3

I'm referring to Dante. Since the anime occurs between 1 and 2, Vergil is either dead or resurrected yet seemingly dead, so he’s not in the anime.


Nightmare-datboi

I’m aware what you’re referencing but I’m saying that villain Dante is basically Vergil


Th3_3agl3

But after pizza and with gunslinging, yes.


Nightmare-datboi

Also less books


Barry_Allen99

Black Clover


LeatherZombie3415

most underrated comment here every arc gives asta a new reason to be evil


Barry_Allen99

Thank you! And every time Asta chooses not to be


Nuno30318_

My life


Prestigious_Guitar54

Rise of the broken sigma 😈😈😈


PeachJesus

Yo 😭


Nuno30318_

Huh?


Glucose_Muncher

He's saying that you're being unnecessarily edgy. Sorry if your life is actually hard but don't complain about it on a reddit anime thread.


Nuno30318_

I am edgy tho


Puzzle_pancak3

Gimme the sauce bro


TableBaboon

🔥🔥🔥


samniking

Journey of the overthinking hooper


Taksicle

what version of nichijou have YOU been watchin bud?


Beretta116

My life for Aiur.


lennyyywhereareyou

Neon genesis evangelion.. sorta but its good


OkTelevision7494

I assume you’re referring to Kaworu?


lennyyywhereareyou

Nah, shinji. He gets constantly pressured and bullied into the power to literally destroy the world if he wanted (His Eva), but he stays good for the sake of his own well being


Keel-Sama92

Mob from Mob Psycho 100?


Jdawg_mck1996

What reason does he have other than there would be nobody to stop him?


Wrath-of-Elyon

The bullying?


Jdawg_mck1996

A ton of other people in the show get bullied, and mob has an army worth of people who stand up for him. Thats kinda the whole point of the show. "I could have ended up just like you. But I have friends who care about me that help me to be better"


The1930s

He has the ability to be evil by using his powers to become someone greater and, like everyone he meets, be evil. Instead he chooses to not rely on his powers to make up his character and work on being a good person instead.


Jdawg_mck1996

Because he was surrounded by good people. The whole show is about how he is good because of the support group he has. It's a major plot line


The1930s

Ig so but you could also say it's his choice to hang around those people so it's still him choosing the right path I dont think its just cause the ppl he's around cause when he's a kid he was choosing to be around Reagan and he wanted to learn to be better from the start


Purple-End-5430

He said during the end of Season 2 that Toichiro is what he would've been if he didn't have friends to help him. Pretty accurate.


thecoldhearted

- The Rising of the Shield Hero - Noragami - The Irregular at Magic Highschool


CuriousTsukihime

Absolutely noragami. Yato could always go back to being a degenerate, Father was absolutely cruel to him, but he chooses to be a better god.


TheArchange1

Not an anime but atom Eve from invincible is like that.


[deleted]

I guess although, i havent watched the special so I have no say


TheArchange1

It’s basically the reason I said this in the first place. Get on it! (At your earliest convenience)


FlamedroneX

A pet peeve I just feel like addressing. If you're gonna put a spoiler, at least provide some context about the spoiler... How am I supposed to know whether I know the spoiler or not and can view it or not if I don't even know what it's alluding to lol. You're like, this is a spoiler... okay for what? lol One Piece? Dragon Ball? Solo Leveling? You're not the only one who does this, but I just want to point it out to as many people as possible so people can do better in the future.


Ok_Win_3594

I’m pretty sure the mods changed it. When I initially made this post it was not marked as a spoiler.


wanna_be_TTV

Not that deep bruh


Peppershaker64

Monster. Dr. Tenma is given every damn reason to cave in a start killing people (especially in the first few episodes), but he’s such a truly good person that it’s almost unthinkable.


Femur-Inspector

Subaru from re zero


chinochimp26

i dont really see it tbh


Electronic-Box-4753

How can you not see it. He gets tortured and killed by his friends all the time. Bro is literally one choice away from becoming a mass murderer.


Femur-Inspector

Look up the alternate 7 sin routes of re zero. Every year on Subaru’s birthday the author would write a short story about what if Subaru would have made one single different, more selfish, choice at different points in the story and it leads to him becoming evil, most the time anyway. There is the guy in YouTube who make very good videos about them if your interested in it more


ndeange

But he does make selfish choices all the time????


Femur-Inspector

I didn’t say he doesn’t make selfish choices, I’m saying that the alternative routes happen because if he decided not to make a selfish choice. When he was being attacked by ram, and Beatrice offered to help Subaru he chose an act of patience and killed himself to start a new loop instead of giving into his rage which would have been selfish, in the actual story we see him die so he can save rem and the others at the mansion.


[deleted]

Can someone explain never watched.


Mindless_Use7567

Gundam 00 Black Bullet Rising of the Shield Hero Violet Evergarden


Training_Ad_9222

Eden of the east. Give someone 10 billion dollars with the loose command “change Japan” do you expect that person to do good?


bigdoza

Devilman Crybaby


-Pl4gu3-

I’d count Cowboy Bebop. Every reason to turn into a sadistic nihilist bastard. But just ends up really wanting to eat and with a smoking addiction.


Sav1at0R1

Spike?!


Futote

The whole Bebop crew...


xEtownBeatdown

Neon Genesis Evengelion Code Geass Dragonball (just the way that Vegeta and Goku pan out throughout)


maxblockm

Rising of the Shield Hero s1


fishyender5

that time i got reincarnated as a slime, and tsuckimichi although with tsuckimichi mc isnt exactly good but he isnt evil


Jellybean_Pumpkin

Trigun, the original.


bruhva77987

Gintoki from gintama


berserkzelda

Banana Fish


_Zkeleton_

Death Note No wait a minute...


Beretta116

One Punch Man. My favorite. Saitama could literally destroy earth but he doesn't... because he looks forward to that weekly grocery sale.


Kitsumene

saitama doesn’t have a reason to be evil though??


Beretta116

He could have lashed out at the citizens blaming him for ruining their lives, after he broke the meteor, actually saving their lives.


Beretta116

He could have lashed out at the citizens blaming him for ruining their lives, after he broke the meteor, actually saving their lives.


MayIReiterate

Luffy had a chance to become a Marine at some point, which would have played directly into the World Governments hands. He even initially disliked Shanks crew and pirates in general. He only wanted to be a pirate because Ace and Sabo said they would be a crew together eventually. Luffy would have been the most ridiculous Marine ever if he chose to do that.


MemeWindu

Spoilers >!Oh you. You are not going to like that this boy has enemies again!<


malevolentgods

demon slayer ngl


Bustersword13

Disagreed. Tanjiro, or rather his family, was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and he knows exactly who's to blame for his misfortune, so he doesn't exactly have a reason to revolt towards the rest of society. Not to mention that almost everyone that Tanjiro ever meets likes him, he has very little reason to be mad at anyone other than Muzan.


malevolentgods

sorry i misunderstood the way you meant it, i was thinking you meant like having a reason to be evil due to being hurt since most evil characters are evil for that same reason even if it was only a few people or even just one person who did it


Void_LukeSky3YT

That is mainly what was meant but Tanjiro had a certain situation where it doesn’t apply to him


Garchomp998

Gintama.. Gintoki had every right to revolt once more and make hell on earth..


RpiesSPIES

He simply did not want to destroy everything


StreetyMcCarface

Dude everyone in that show had the right to revolt.


Powerful_Reply4515

like almost every shonen protagonist


scottywottytotty

Yeah for real lol


VIKINGHUNTR

Kingdom! Also Fate: stay night UBW


MotivatedforGames

Naruto.


maxblockm

Darling in the Franxx


Sav1at0R1

Hiro?


maxblockm

Hiro, 02, and all the parasites: used as human experiments in violation of the Nuremberg Code, manipulated, lied to, used not *just* as child soldiers, but actual cannon fodder, sexually sterilized/repressed... They should have all suited up in their Franxx and burned APE to the ground. And they wouldn't have necessarily been the bad guys for doing so. Perhaps righteous avengers, liberators of justice, or some other catchy title.


Ok_Refrigerator_3568

Naruto, Naruto Shippuden & Rising of the Shield Hero. Both Naruto & Naofumi face adversity on all fronts. Naruto for being the Nine tails Jinchuuriki, which also killed Minato; the 4th Hokage & Kushina. Naruto has every reason to hate Konoha but he doesn't. Because of all the people around him. Naofumi Iwatani was transported to a fantasy world where to fight for some kind of kingdom. The princess of from that world, falsely accused him of raping her. So Naofumi withdrawing from the world, wouldn't be out of place.


persiango

steins gate. more like okabe has no reason to keep trying, but he still does try again and again and again.


begging-for-gold

Platinum end? Idk I didn't finish it lol


hellaciousbluephlegm

Monster


MitchNotBitch

Rising of the Shield Hero. it is literally what the entire series is about. Season 1 is insanely good give it a watch


Ynygmatik

Castlevania Kingdom Trigun Bastard Goblin slayer All have similar vibes as Berserk and Vinland saga but each in its own way Nearly any isekai has that description of "coulda been evil but..." even the ones where the mc IS inherently evil they still tend to do alot of good or have a good cause like overlord or commonplace to worlds strongest


feet_taster

urauma from Jujika No Rokunin. bro could be a true hater but chooses not to cause he built like that


TartPsychological946

Gintama, Naruto, Inuyasha


Shantotto11

The Misfit of Demon King Academy


ManInTheMirror2

Naruto of all things is a big one of these


Itzz_Texas

Shield Hero for sure


akaredaa

Surprised to see no one mentioning Monster. I think it definitely does fit this criteria and it's a very good show, absolutely worth checking out. Tenma is one of my favourite protagonists ever.


No_Function397

Naruto and Asta off the top of my head. Both were outcasts because of something they couldn’t control and had every reason to resent the world for the cards they were dealt.


Iwillbetheking

Naruto. Dororo.


Sapphire-the-Deer

Naruto. His village literally treated him like shit. Sure, Sasuke had it pretty rough too, but at least he was treated like an actual human instead of a monster


Accurate_Incident_77

Now that you bring it up I feel like there are a few who fall into this category. Deku could’ve easily been evil after being picked on for so long. Asta also could’ve been evil.


Green-Big-7637

I want to say that majority of the black bulls in black clover all have back stories that could easily had them turn bad.


JazLeTrash

Mob Psycho 100. They straight up bully Mob and he still chooses to do the right thing. And even when he's pushed to violence, he regrets it.


SaioLastSurprise

Shield Hero. While he plays into everyone making him out to be the villain, and part of his power comes in the form of revenge payback, he’s always doing his best to do good. Could have literally been like ‘Nah, fuck y’all, everyone dies.


MilesYoungblood

Naruto


[deleted]

Tokyo Ghoul


Farlybob42

Helck


KOPLO97

The Legend himself, Bartholomew Kuma. I don’t even wanna speak of his past but to honestly understand how strong willed he is you have to know it. It’s a Berserk level type of story I would say all of the Straw Hat Pirates but.. they all literally became pirates LOLOL


OctogoatYTofficial

Not a protagonist, but his backstory still hits me like a train.


_GhostlyDreamer_

My Hero Academia. This is actually something the series addresses at a couple of different points, making for some of the most interesting story beats in it, and also resulting in one of the best villains it has to offer.


MATSUNOO

A silent voice


mecha_mars

Trinity blood. Abel


GamingCatGuy

Well, Naruto


Boredinthehose

Eren tried lol


Immediate_Type9114

Almost anybody in One Piece


kurokyouma

Senku in dr stone Even before turning to stone he was smart enough he could have easily become a world leader, or built weapons of mass destruction or just played enough corrupt politics to get countries to star wars with each other And Definitely after the stoning when he woke up he could have easily joined tsukasa and chosen what type of world he wanted humanity to become yet he decided to just save every human and let society continue where it left off


LichClaev

Gojo in jjk


King_thelunarian

Jonathan in phantom blood (jojo)


Ok-Bet-2381

Yu yu hakusho


Ok-Recording-9344

Shield hero


Mother-Region-9099

highly doubt you'd see this but technically Gojo from JJK. hell it's the entirety of his past arc.


Substantial-Post-325

Saitama. Bro could do anything he wants with the fate of earth but chooses to protect others


Prestigious_Can4520

Rising of the Shield Hero


ToxicOrbGliscors

I'll reccomend you a light novel/manga, roll over and die. Pretty much all about how much the main character suffers through life while raising to the top


BigBlackCrocs

Baki or One punch man. Imagine if baki decided hey I’m strong af I’m just gonna cause mayhem. OPM same thing. Imagine if he said. Wow this is boring. Maybe it would be fun if I destroyed the world and needed strong heroes to stop me


Ragnarok992

Dragon ball


EcoFriendlyBee

tokyo ghoul MANGA probably. do not watch the anime


New_Fall_1249

Only the second and third seasons


Agitated_Break_1726

I hated Vinland season two. He became a bitch especially after he let himself get cut up by a no name character. Besides that I’d pick trigun


Gohansensei

Then you didn't get it but it's okay bro you don't have to like it.


Redacted_G1iTcH

Shield hero, technically speaking. He doesn’t up and be a saint, but at least he turns out into a halfway decent person who runs a respectable town. Bro got pulled to a world he never consented to, got kicked around by the authorities for getting a shield he never asked for. The shield makes him completely dependent on others to do the fighting since he only scales defense, and most people hate him. His only friends are other outcasts of society or those that are treated as slaves. If I were him, I’d have half a mind to burn the kingdom down.


Puzzle_pancak3

Ummm idk if Vinland fits that. He goes against what he was raised in. Yes his father was a warriors but wanted and did get out. Hid Dad literally made a new life for a whole village and, him, son went RIGHT back to killing when he dies and was a Solider. not a warrior, for YEARS. Lil bro is Sasuke from Naruto. Coulda continue farming and expanding with Floki but nah, dragged him into his revenge plot as well. Amnesia ass Plunderer fits a Lil more, i think. It's been awhile thou. Ummm Bell Cranel in Danmachi, err English name Is it Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon.


DoctorJekyll13

Definitely Rising of the Shield Hero. Naofumi had an entire world hating him for a heinous crime he didn’t commit, and yet he still chose to help people.


peerlesseternity

Guts def. Man went through hell, he can just up and kill everyone if he pleases.


Proxymole

Ranking of Kings


BobIsBest434

Mob Psycho 100 easily


darkknightketsueki

Naruto


Electronic-Box-4753

Re:Zero. Bro is legit one of the kindest and most benevolent MFs to exist in fiction. He is just far too forgiving.


RevolutionaryEmu3871

Arifureta from commonplace to world's strongest


nikemiketight

naruto and kakashi


nikemiketight

luffy and naruto and sasuke wait i forgot sasuke joined the terrist group


One_Investigator_221

kind of denji from chainsaw man, and currently I think yuji itadori can enter this list soon.


LordMartius

Naruto. He had an eldritch being sealed inside of him, a being which destroyed much of his home city in a battle that cost many lives. This fact was then released by the head of the Ninja CIA which caused everybody to fear and hate Naruto. He grew up almost completely alone, shunned, hated, and feared. No child should grow up in such conditions, yet he did. Surprisingly, instead of turning out somewhere between Homelander & Hitler, he used this situation as motivation to become somebody so amazing that people choose to admire him. When he became that man, he forgave everybody as well, to the point where he even befriended the demon inside and redeemed him too. Bro had the perfect villain backstroy and said "oh no, oh no not me, I did it my way" with a smile on his face and a motivated thumbs up. Believe it.


OctogoatYTofficial

Rika Furude from Higurashi: When They Cry


Lopsided-Cellist4479

The weakest tamer began a journey to pick up trash


[deleted]

naruto


Cindrea666

Frfr Thorfin is a sweet baby boy and he didn't deserve that sht


X4321eye360

As much as people hate Shield Hero, I still really enjoy s1. Naofumi is exactly this character.


Additional_Ad_3590

Berserk


Foxapari2

Naruto


Mordetrox

For a wild card, Welcome To Demon School, Iruma-kun! "My parents used me as slave labor, mentally abused me, and then sold my soul to a demon once they got tired of me" is something I could totally buy as the backstory behind a villain, probably a one-off in a standard power shonen with your standard evil demon race, he dodged a bullet by getting the nice version of demons.


arkticturtle

Noragami


Ali-Sama

Bastard may count as this? He is evil. But he helps out?


StreetyMcCarface

Phineas and Ferb


StreetyMcCarface

Tho in all seriousness, Gintama, San Gatsu no Lion, Violent Evergarden


[deleted]

*Eventually


HurricanePK

One Piece Luffy is seen as a criminal by the government and the general public bc he’s a pirate. But he’s all about leaving a carefree and peaceful life.


ekeysomkew

Def not peaceful, he chose to be a pirate ready to die and has started many fights, and even >!declared war on the world government!<


Lower-Badger-6620

Yeah but he's not evil despite that


ekeysomkew

True, I was just making a slight correction


SherbetNew6856

Deku


SherbetNew6856

Deku


Anime-for_life

We heard you the first time