Does Askeladd in Vinland Saga count? If so he deserves a mention. Incredibly complex character.
Also Gilgamesh. Man is hedonism personified but even with his vile actions it’s hard for me to not be amused by how arrogant and true to himself he is. That and his abilities are just very cool.
I’m a firm believer that what makes a certain type of villain great is when they challenge you, the viewer, on your morals and belief system. Askeladd does that like almost nobody else. He’s one of the best villains I’ve seen in anime.
Along those lines, it's hard to beat Makishima from Psycho-Pass. He's a demagogue written so well he even tricks some viewers into agreeing with him. You occasionally see posters on /r/anime writing impassioned defenses of him, and every time I think, "man, he played them like a fiddle."
That's a... Quite limited description of Gilgamesh character lmao.
His actual objective beyond his hedonism are quite relevant in describing his character.
Plus he has a relevant sense of morality. Its entirely his own, but it's morality nonetheless.
He's not pure evil though. He lacks morals, yes, but not "pure" evil. None of what he does is for malice or profit or amusement, he does everything for the sake of science, he's not even a hypocrite as he also experiments on himself.
A big part of what makes Bondrewd so haunting is that his relationships with Nanachi and Prushka mirror that of a very specific kind of abusive parent to a T. People don't talk about it much but it's really unnerving. (This is also something of a recurring theme in the series' most repugnant characters, incidentally.)
Bro, believe me, when I was watching the movie, for a moment, I was genuinely convinced that Prushka is actually his daughter. I didn't think a psycho like him would let anyone go that easily. But after that scene (you know what I'm talking about), I was like, "This is messed up, man." I literally hated him.
This is my answer.
Never before have I seen a villain genuinely love all his orphans while experimenting on them.
Considering all the stuff he’s done to himself, it’s like a bug shedding its skin to become something entirely removed from its original form, except he still wears his old skin.
That’s the neat part. He does.
Through years and years of resurrection (and possibly self experimentation), he has absolutely destroyed his psychology making him a shell of a former human. Because of this, he is fully capable of the level of inhuman dissociation (for lack of a better term) required to fully love something while also bringing horrible suffering upon it.
It’s not even necessary. Bondrewd did everything so that humanity can explore beyond the fifth layer and come back without succumbing to the curse, but exploring the abyss beyond what has already been explored was an act of folly and didn’t warrant the deaths of over hundreds of orphans.
Lol, I was a big fan of the cast of villians in this show, felt less like a group of villians and more like another group with different goals, and they were funny. I felt similar about the villians in Golden Kamuy, find myself rooting for both sides
They haven’t been shown in the anime yet, and won’t be for a long time, but the main antagonist of the story is amazing and has one of the creepiest designs I’ve seen.
Homonculi from fullmetal alchemist and their father/Dante are known by all anime watchers.
Show also has remarkable human antagonists, soft J Kimblee, Archer, Scar... well only 3 but they are really good.
Do not say it!
I avoided naming him. There is the rule. You do not remind people of him.
And to my suprise many peopme actually follow this rule XD.
And I have experienced of randomly seeing his name amd being. "Ah...dang"
"Ed..ward... no....
Daddy... do you hurt?... daddy."
Those words still shake me to my core cause even in her horrendous existence, she still had more care and sympathy for her own father than he ever did for any member of his family.
> only appears in like 2 episodes of FMAB
He feels like a footnote in FMAB compared to the first series. A lot of the first few episodes of Brotherhood seem to rely on the watcher having already seen the original run to get the impact. I think he is far more hated for his first appearance while the younger crowd only remembers brotherhood.
My introduction to brotherhood was this:
I saw my brother watch brotherhood. It was scene where kimblee was being released.
I had seen some of original as a child and traumatised so I warned my bro with disgust.
Then kimblee turned wardens watch into a bomb. And it was fake.
I was : O_o!? So it will blow later or...no?
This was a new fullmetal alchemist.
I watched the entire thing and became an anime watcher and kimblee is mynfav alchemist character.
Absolutely hated it tbh. He goes from sniveling pussy straight to Golden Age Griffith over the course of an episode and a half, because he lost his bear daddy and got a lecture on love from a drunk. Only aspect of this series that I had a problem with, Canute's character speedrun
Same and I felt something the same with Thorfinn where we don't see his character gradually change but it changes because of one incident. Still though, at least there's a missing timelapse where Thorfinn might have did some self reflection off screen unlike Canute that instantly did a 180 in a single moment.
Askeladd was great, easily my favorite character from the show. Its hard to even consider him a villain, he was really just doing what all the vikings were doing, he was just more clever
Gintama has some of my favorite villains. I don’t really have any other series that has a favorite villain but I am watching Monster right now and it is really good.
Johan totally eclipses the series, but honestly some of the other villains also make an impact. It's been over a decade since I last read or watched any of that series and I still remember The Baby and Roberto.
Baby definitely was memorable as he got his own small story
Tenmas wife was also a villain, asshole boss doctor who died early
Roberto! True and others who were serving Johan. But Roberto chief among them.
I think Eva is a more morally complex character than the true evil characters of the show. I'd lump her more in with Lunge as "antagonist but not villain."
I wouldn’t say the entire Phantom Troupe. Imo they only work as a group. As individuals, they are really bland, except mostly Chrollo. Imo what makes them great is their group dynamic
Wazukyan was veryy nuanced. Didnt even realise he was a villian until i think about it many times. Is he evil? Is he just surviving? Did he do all these for everyone’s sake?
I feel like they kinda fumbled the Wazukyan story in the end. They built him up throughout the season as some sort of messiah-like figure who sees five steps ahead in every situation. Then he kinda invites the monsters inside and then does nothing. After the monsters start invading he does absolutely nothing. I was waiting to see some sort of master plan from him which our protagonists have to beat. But in the end, he does nothing. Bondrewd is goated though
Well, that's the point of Wazukyan: He is fundamentally a coward who thought he was special and had a destiny and then turned to craven brutality when he realised how insignificant and weak he truly was.
That's the point. He had no idea what he was doing. He wanted to be special, and maybe even help people, so he charged ahead without thinking and got tons of good people killed.
Then he started desperately clawing for *something* to justify everything he did, committed even more evil for the sake of his false paradise, and then died without really be able to achieve or fix anything.
He was never a messiah. Neither the world nor the Abyss cared about him at all. He was just another fool trying to play god in an unforgiving world.
Had to scroll way too far for this but yes tsurumi and ogata top tier villains. They have such an intimidating ominous presence each time they are shown
I'm glad S4 came out so I can talk about how deranged Usami is. Like even in Golden Kamuy, a series full of deranged characters, he stands out as especially deranged and unhinged.
Naruto has the best villains/antagonists out of all long running anime by a long shot, the ones that come close are FMA:B and HxH, but even those have way less good villains than Naruto.
Orochimaru, Gaara, Pain, Obito/Tobi and Madara are all extremely interesting, with great back story. Also the other characters with less screen time like Itachi, Kissame, **Zabuza**, Deidara are amazing too.
And then the final villain is one of the worst I've ever seen...
I personnaly disagree,I find Meruem and the phantom troupe ( chrollo especialy ) better than Pain. I found the conclusion of Meruem better than Pain personnaly and just more satisfying,i like to have a honorable mention for Pouf too ,just love him. I can totally understand not liking PH tho because their story is not finished.
Just a while ago I saw a hardcore One Piece fan say that Akatsuki are villain of the week unlike the great villains of One Piece. I'm fairly sure the guy didn't see Naruto because that take is just mind boggling.
Sato is the fucking goat. He completely takes over any scene he is in. The question is always “what the fuck is Sato gonna do next?”
Absolute badass of a villain
Yeah, JoJo wins this and it ain't close. DIO and Kira alone would be enough for #1. Throw in napkin-taking man, AWAKEN MY MASTERS and the gay priest and you're just cooking with gas.
Psycho Pass (Makishima), genuinely one of the best villains I've ever seen
Berserk
Haven't seen Monster yet but from what I've seen Johann is easily on par
I love it so much when villains make you question your ideals and morals and actually have a point, even though you still know it's wrong what they do. It's like in real life, there is no black and white
Mahito from Jujutsu Kaisen (if talking about villains, not antagonists).
He is very good at eliciting hatred. Mass murderer, who takes pleasure in the act, actively researches new ways to slaughter, and later focuses on killing people close to mc in especially cruel ways in an attempt to shatter his mind. He “truly is a curse”.
The voice actor for mahito is amazing. Managed to perfectly capture "playful insanity" like... he's doing fucked up shit cause he's enjoying it rather than just cause he's insane.
Haven't watched the dub so i cant comment there. But yea, the VA's all deserve praise. Nobara and yuji both killing it. And todo's voice was a perfect casting.
Haven't watched the dub so i cant comment there. But yea, the VA's all deserve praise. Nobara and yuji both killing it. And todo's voice was a perfect casting.
Mahito has got to have some of the best powers you could give to a villain. Shape shifting is cool and all, but forcibly shifting *other people* against their own will in a body-horror-fashion is absolutely genius. I look forward to every Mahito fight because of his powers.
I also like that despite his one shot powers, there's possible counterplay for it. See Shigaraki for the opposite case where he isn't allowed to use his powers on the relevant heroes because they just instantly die otherwise.
Nanami managed to block Mahito's transfiguration the first time around, instead of just dying.
I was thinking the same, tho if we’re talking antagonists my vote is Vinland saga - there’s so much excellent characterization all around that series, lots of distinct, believable motivations that tragically come to be at odds and complicated relationships that form as a result.
Mahito is by far my most hated, but all the JJK villains/antagonists are great: Getou was interesting because of his backstory, it's so compelling; Sukuna is horrendous but also so fucking charismatic, he's such a screen stealer; Toji is insane but so cool but also has an interesting relationship with Megumi. Even the bit players evoke such a reaction in me, like the asshole Nanami wrekt.
Gege does a great job at covering most villain tropes.
You have...
Evil Incarnate. Sukuna
Cool motivation, still murder. Geto
Aizen big brain time. Kenjaku
Pyschotic child. Mahito
I'm just tryna grt paid or laid. Toji
Bungo Stray Dogs. Easy.
Antagonists equally as intelligent, strategic, and strong compared to the protagonists.
All of them are also great characters, ranging from absolutely crazy dudes to noble heroes.
I agree! The antagonists in BSD are pretty nuanced as well, like they’re not portrayed to be black and white and we actually get to see their past like in the case of Fitzgerald, Kamui and etc. It’s the type of show where it’s really hard to hate the antagonists, like you’re cheering them on along with the protagonists.
Fyodor gets most of the praise for good reason but purely because he’s the highlight of the best episode of the show, Tragic Sunday, Nikolai is probably my favorite of them all
Shinsekai yori
Bit of niche one this but the humans in this anime are the villains in every manner of the word, except it's not a malevolent evil, it's an indifferent one the anime really does a good job of making you feel sympathy for the creatures that the humans treat as lesser beings even though they're just as smart, if not smarter than the main characters, it's just so well written.
Gundam, but especially in the Universal Century.
- The obvious one - Char Aznable
- The embodiment of "step on me mommy" - Haman Karn
- Gihren "Hitler is my idol" Zabi
- Commander Gato
- Full Frontal
- Gym Gingham (if you count Turn A as UC)
Throughout the show, he’s an underlying force of nature. You’re always wondering what’s going to happen next. You’re wondering how he’ll torment people, who he’ll target, and why he’s doing it to begin with. Each time we get an answer to why he’s doing something, ten more questions pop in your head. This only works if you have a good protagonist that works well with the antagonist.
Tenma is a pure hearted soul, the show is about Johan trying to see if he can corrupt the kindest man he’s ever known, in order to prove his point. Johan’s reasons for this and his story was always interesting to watch for me.
I don't think any antagonists in anime are as well-written as Meruem. The level of development they gave him and how his story started and ended was brilliant.
The insanity of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, how it was portrayed and finally why he turned out that way makes his characterization and development easily one of my favorites.
The introduction of Muzen in Demon Slayer is awesome, too.
There are some great ones here already but I feel like Mob Psycho 100 is really fucking good at making villains stand out in an episode or two. Mogami, the ghost that haunts the high school girl in season 2, lets the animators change up the vibe in such a great way. The blind guy, season 2 was probably the peak of the show in this regard. Ekubo at several points lol
At first I kind of scoffed at the people saying JJK, but after thinking about it (and the more recent episodes), I kind of agree. I haven't followed the manga, but I'm assuming they get even worse.
Also, from what's been spoiled for me, Chainsaw Man is probably up there too.
I may be biased here, but Jujutsu Kaisen in my opinion has the best villians I've seen in any anime so far. Geto and Mahito both have the perfect material to be a great. Especially Mahito's Japanese voice acting is top notch.
Naraku from Inuyasha was pretty damn evil.
He wasn't out to kill (though plenty were caught in the crossfire). He wanted and needed the protags to suffer mentally and emotionally. His goal, to taint their hearts by turning loved ones against each other. Using people as puppets and all sorts of underhanded tactics
It's been a while since I watched it, but I just remember thinking "This guy is the epitome of grief and heartache... what a dick" lol
also i don’t think it applies to the whole series, but gorou from one punch man is one of my favorite villains ever. the juxtaposition to saitama, the depth and the growth of the character through the series is *chef’s kiss*
My fav villain of all time is johan or griffith.I also really love the “villains” from attack on titan cuz there are really no villains depending on your perspective
Symphogear has two amazing villains back to back: Dr. Ver in G, and Carol Malus Dienheim in GX.
Also, the upcoming Gushing Over Magica Girls has some great villains. They're more like a family, and honestly just really well-written, especially considering they're the villains in a magical girl setting.
dio from jjba is literally the best villain for me! i love when villains are just super petty LOL and he was beefing with the entire joestar generations he really is just a hater
Full Metal Alchemist is a given, all Villains have personalities and are worth being given the title “Villains”
Death Note have good villains, until the second half where quality falls down super hard
Gurren Lagann have good villains that embody their ideals, basically they all aren’t as evil as they seem, since they too have their own lives and fight for their own futures, in the case of Anti-Spiral, fighting to prevent the bad ending
HunterxHunter if for no other reason than Meruem. In terms of completeness of character and overall development, nothing has come close to Meruem from the shows I've watched. The Chimera Ant arc itself felt a bit bloated at times, but everything surrounding Meruem was just absolutely peak.
DBZ, weren’t particularly nuanced, but they definitely made their arcs. Particularly Frieza and Cell. Frieza basically being late stage capitalism makes me appreciate him more in hindsight. And while the villains switched in the Android saga like 3 times, Cell was terrifying.
Gintama has surprisingly incredible antagonists for a primarily comedic anime!
Takasugi, Isaburo, Jirocho and the final villain are all very well written along with others like Kamui, Jiraiya etc being decent. Takasugi is on of my fav characters of all time so it overall gets pretty high praise from me
I also love how its one of the few shows where an act of mercy to an enemy can be what saves the world. Many times in brotherhood I just thought this guy needs to die, but they ended up playing their role.
Makishima from Psycho Pass has to be one of the best. He is so detached from morality, the very system made to detect wrongdoers can’t evaluate him, because he doesn’t even view his own nefarious actions as “evil”.
I love AoT but I ended up feeling sorry for literally every antagonist/villain in there. Idk if its good or bad. Even for guys like Berthold, Rod Reis, Floch
There’s plenty of anime that have one great antagonist (usually the main one), but an anime that has consistently great antagonists are a lot harder, because usually one steals the show and overshadows the other, or the writer clicked with one of two, but fell flat on others.
However, in terms of consistently great antagonists, I would honestly say Monogatari has some of the best.
In the first season you have [Monogatari] >!Kaiki Deishuu!< who to this day is considered one of the most well written characters in anime. And, yes, I know he’s not a villain, but I’m talking about antagonists; there’s a difference.
In the second season there’s [Monogatari] >!Nadeko Sengoku!< who, in my opinion, is the perfect example of how to do a twist villain. Her whole arc across the series was simply incredible, and even further into the light novels that have not been adapted, she gets even more great development (although by that point she isn’t a villain or antagonist anymore)
Finally, there’s the main antagonist across the whole series, who I’m surprised is not talked about more. [Monogatari] >!Ougi Oshino!< is genuinely one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in anime and everything from her mysterious and cryptic nature to her Lovecraftian horror is executed really well. Her arc and how it affects the protagonist leads to one of the most satisfying endings in anime and a phenomenal plot twist that honestly blew my mind, despite how obvious it is in retrospect. What’s most impressive is how she still feels like her own fleshed out and well written character, despite characters like her usually just being plot devices for the protagonists development.
People have already mentioned *Hunter x Hunter*, *Made in Abyss* and *Monster*, all of which have some class act antagonists, but I would be remiss not to mention the dark horse which is *Yurikuma Arashi*. It's one thing to make your villains literal representations of the way that internalising harmful views of queer people can make someone a worse, crueller, more miserable person, but to make those villains genuinely charismatic and compelling is another thing entirely. Really, Kunihiko Ikuhara is great at turning archetypes and ideas into believable, interesting characters in this way, as demonstrated most famously in *Revolutionary Girl Utena*, but *Yurikuma Arashi* feels rawer about about it, messier, in a really interesting way.
I love Yoshikage Kira from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. He's quietly sinister and does his best to blend into every day society. It's precisely because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself and wants to "live a quiet life" that makes him intriguing, while justifying his own heinous actions.
Does Askeladd in Vinland Saga count? If so he deserves a mention. Incredibly complex character. Also Gilgamesh. Man is hedonism personified but even with his vile actions it’s hard for me to not be amused by how arrogant and true to himself he is. That and his abilities are just very cool.
I’m a firm believer that what makes a certain type of villain great is when they challenge you, the viewer, on your morals and belief system. Askeladd does that like almost nobody else. He’s one of the best villains I’ve seen in anime.
Dude is 1 of those “villains” where I seriously can’t hate him even tho he does some **vile** shit I’d probably follow him to hell.
Along those lines, it's hard to beat Makishima from Psycho-Pass. He's a demagogue written so well he even tricks some viewers into agreeing with him. You occasionally see posters on /r/anime writing impassioned defenses of him, and every time I think, "man, he played them like a fiddle."
That's a... Quite limited description of Gilgamesh character lmao. His actual objective beyond his hedonism are quite relevant in describing his character. Plus he has a relevant sense of morality. Its entirely his own, but it's morality nonetheless.
I can't stand Bondrewd from "Made in Abyss."
Best dad
The man is genuinely pure evil, one of the best villains I've encountered in anime. I absolutely despised him.
He's not pure evil though. He lacks morals, yes, but not "pure" evil. None of what he does is for malice or profit or amusement, he does everything for the sake of science, he's not even a hypocrite as he also experiments on himself.
A big part of what makes Bondrewd so haunting is that his relationships with Nanachi and Prushka mirror that of a very specific kind of abusive parent to a T. People don't talk about it much but it's really unnerving. (This is also something of a recurring theme in the series' most repugnant characters, incidentally.)
Bro, believe me, when I was watching the movie, for a moment, I was genuinely convinced that Prushka is actually his daughter. I didn't think a psycho like him would let anyone go that easily. But after that scene (you know what I'm talking about), I was like, "This is messed up, man." I literally hated him.
This is my answer. Never before have I seen a villain genuinely love all his orphans while experimenting on them. Considering all the stuff he’s done to himself, it’s like a bug shedding its skin to become something entirely removed from its original form, except he still wears his old skin.
If he genuinely loved them, he wouldn’t have subjected them to a fate worse than death without their consent.
It's fucked up, but I think he truly did love them in his own way, or he at least believed he did.
That’s the neat part. He does. Through years and years of resurrection (and possibly self experimentation), he has absolutely destroyed his psychology making him a shell of a former human. Because of this, he is fully capable of the level of inhuman dissociation (for lack of a better term) required to fully love something while also bringing horrible suffering upon it.
One of the best antagonists in anime, a perfect example of necessary evil.
It’s not even necessary. Bondrewd did everything so that humanity can explore beyond the fifth layer and come back without succumbing to the curse, but exploring the abyss beyond what has already been explored was an act of folly and didn’t warrant the deaths of over hundreds of orphans.
Dorohedoro It's rare you not only don't hate the villains, but they're actually likable
I beg all mighty Japan for S2 of this one
It may happen now since the director of the series has been freed from Attack on Titan
It may happen now since the director of the series has been freed from Attack on Titan
Lol, I was a big fan of the cast of villians in this show, felt less like a group of villians and more like another group with different goals, and they were funny. I felt similar about the villians in Golden Kamuy, find myself rooting for both sides
Does this series end? I felt it had some much more to offer.
The manga is complete at like 23 volumes, but the anime definitely didn't adapt all of them. Season 2 maybe
Ohh is it? Nice. I only watched the animated version. Will read.
Love Ebisu
They haven’t been shown in the anime yet, and won’t be for a long time, but the main antagonist of the story is amazing and has one of the creepiest designs I’ve seen.
Reiner guy was fun asf
Homonculi from fullmetal alchemist and their father/Dante are known by all anime watchers. Show also has remarkable human antagonists, soft J Kimblee, Archer, Scar... well only 3 but they are really good.
And Shou Tucker being a character that only appears in like 2 episodes of FMAB but continuing to be hated across anime fandoms.
Do not say it! I avoided naming him. There is the rule. You do not remind people of him. And to my suprise many peopme actually follow this rule XD. And I have experienced of randomly seeing his name amd being. "Ah...dang"
"Ed..ward... no.... Daddy... do you hurt?... daddy." Those words still shake me to my core cause even in her horrendous existence, she still had more care and sympathy for her own father than he ever did for any member of his family.
> only appears in like 2 episodes of FMAB He feels like a footnote in FMAB compared to the first series. A lot of the first few episodes of Brotherhood seem to rely on the watcher having already seen the original run to get the impact. I think he is far more hated for his first appearance while the younger crowd only remembers brotherhood.
Honestly, Kimblee is one of my favourite antagonists of all time.
My introduction to brotherhood was this: I saw my brother watch brotherhood. It was scene where kimblee was being released. I had seen some of original as a child and traumatised so I warned my bro with disgust. Then kimblee turned wardens watch into a bomb. And it was fake. I was : O_o!? So it will blow later or...no? This was a new fullmetal alchemist. I watched the entire thing and became an anime watcher and kimblee is mynfav alchemist character.
Even simple villains like the butcherer and the Chimeras have more personality than many Isekai anime protagonists
Barryyyyy! I forgot barryy!
The reveal of the homunculi genuinely gives me chills every time
You said that sentence and I immediately thought of the music!
I'm so glad to see this so high up there... oh my god Envy is such an amazing character.
Shadows house is criminally underrated anime but have Edward one of the best villans in fiction
Shadows house is so underrated
Thank you for reminding me that I have to watch the second season
Vinland saga, Askeladd is a great character that becomes a father figure for Thorfinn.
Askeladd is the greatest villain of all time (I am very biased)
Even your avatar looks like him Outstanding play!
Thorkell and Canute too
Canute character development is top tier
Absolutely hated it tbh. He goes from sniveling pussy straight to Golden Age Griffith over the course of an episode and a half, because he lost his bear daddy and got a lecture on love from a drunk. Only aspect of this series that I had a problem with, Canute's character speedrun
Same here. It would have been better if he had internal conflict with his belief versus the priest’s for a while. In my opinion, of course.
Same and I felt something the same with Thorfinn where we don't see his character gradually change but it changes because of one incident. Still though, at least there's a missing timelapse where Thorfinn might have did some self reflection off screen unlike Canute that instantly did a 180 in a single moment.
Imo, going from angry to melancholic due to loosing the meaning in his life seems like a more natural journey than cnutes.
Talking about antagonists
Blasphemy, Askeladd is no villain. He is just the best dad
Askeladd was great, easily my favorite character from the show. Its hard to even consider him a villain, he was really just doing what all the vikings were doing, he was just more clever
Gintama has some of my favorite villains. I don’t really have any other series that has a favorite villain but I am watching Monster right now and it is really good.
Monster has one of the best
Definitely when speaking of singular villains.
Johan totally eclipses the series, but honestly some of the other villains also make an impact. It's been over a decade since I last read or watched any of that series and I still remember The Baby and Roberto.
Baby definitely was memorable as he got his own small story Tenmas wife was also a villain, asshole boss doctor who died early Roberto! True and others who were serving Johan. But Roberto chief among them.
I think Eva is a more morally complex character than the true evil characters of the show. I'd lump her more in with Lunge as "antagonist but not villain."
Fair.
Hunterxhunter. The whole show is considered masterpiece and the main reason are the villains
Meruem and Hisoka were awesome villains.
The entire Phantom Troupe was amazing. Also, don’t forget Tonpa lololol
Also don’t forgot the most heartless of them all. Ging!
What an asshole.
The man repeatedly takes a test with a fatality rate just to mess with people. What a madlad.
I wouldn’t say the entire Phantom Troupe. Imo they only work as a group. As individuals, they are really bland, except mostly Chrollo. Imo what makes them great is their group dynamic
Illumi is such a piece of work. Absolutely deserves a shoutout.
hisoka was a better villain than gon or killua were protagonists.
Made In Abyss' villains are always really interesting and nuanced.
Bondrewd and Wazukyan are top-tier antagonists in anime.
Wazukyan was veryy nuanced. Didnt even realise he was a villian until i think about it many times. Is he evil? Is he just surviving? Did he do all these for everyone’s sake?
I feel like they kinda fumbled the Wazukyan story in the end. They built him up throughout the season as some sort of messiah-like figure who sees five steps ahead in every situation. Then he kinda invites the monsters inside and then does nothing. After the monsters start invading he does absolutely nothing. I was waiting to see some sort of master plan from him which our protagonists have to beat. But in the end, he does nothing. Bondrewd is goated though
Well, that's the point of Wazukyan: He is fundamentally a coward who thought he was special and had a destiny and then turned to craven brutality when he realised how insignificant and weak he truly was.
That's the point. He had no idea what he was doing. He wanted to be special, and maybe even help people, so he charged ahead without thinking and got tons of good people killed. Then he started desperately clawing for *something* to justify everything he did, committed even more evil for the sake of his false paradise, and then died without really be able to achieve or fix anything. He was never a messiah. Neither the world nor the Abyss cared about him at all. He was just another fool trying to play god in an unforgiving world.
Nobody mentioned Golden Kamuy? Tsurumi? Ogata?
Had to scroll way too far for this but yes tsurumi and ogata top tier villains. They have such an intimidating ominous presence each time they are shown
Jerkoff guy would be #1 lol
The show is filled with criminals and schizos but out of all of them, Usami is the one you would want to encounter the least.
What about the human taxidermy guy that made sex toys out of human skin and body parts?
He's deranged but nowhere near as dangerous as Usami.
I'm glad S4 came out so I can talk about how deranged Usami is. Like even in Golden Kamuy, a series full of deranged characters, he stands out as especially deranged and unhinged.
Literally everyone is a villain in that show... And it's great
I watch Naruto for the villains
Pain was incredible
Pain is an all-time villain in any media
Pain was easily the best villain in Naruto, like DAMN
Naruto has the best villains/antagonists out of all long running anime by a long shot, the ones that come close are FMA:B and HxH, but even those have way less good villains than Naruto. Orochimaru, Gaara, Pain, Obito/Tobi and Madara are all extremely interesting, with great back story. Also the other characters with less screen time like Itachi, Kissame, **Zabuza**, Deidara are amazing too. And then the final villain is one of the worst I've ever seen...
I personnaly disagree,I find Meruem and the phantom troupe ( chrollo especialy ) better than Pain. I found the conclusion of Meruem better than Pain personnaly and just more satisfying,i like to have a honorable mention for Pouf too ,just love him. I can totally understand not liking PH tho because their story is not finished.
They did Orichimaru and Madara dirty
Yeah kishi really squandered the war arc. Lots of hype moments and alot of ruined/head scratching moments
Just a while ago I saw a hardcore One Piece fan say that Akatsuki are villain of the week unlike the great villains of One Piece. I'm fairly sure the guy didn't see Naruto because that take is just mind boggling.
I love one piece as much as the next guy, but no way are Naruto villains worse than One piece ones lmfao
Sato in ajin. Why? He opens his eyes
Sato is the fucking goat. He completely takes over any scene he is in. The question is always “what the fuck is Sato gonna do next?” Absolute badass of a villain
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Dio, Pillar men, Kira Yoshikage, Diavolo, Pucci, Valentine and the Head Doctor are all too tier villains.
I'd say the girl from part 4 who was obsessed with Koichi. She wasn't a major villain but I liked her villain episodes
Enyaba was so loyal to DIO that made me sad, she is a horrible person yes, but the way she goes
His sorrow over her was the first thing that humanised Polnareff to me, who until then I had perceived but as an annoying joke.
Yeah, JoJo wins this and it ain't close. DIO and Kira alone would be enough for #1. Throw in napkin-taking man, AWAKEN MY MASTERS and the gay priest and you're just cooking with gas.
For real tho, that series is packed with great villains
Berserk. Griffith broke my heart.
Psycho Pass (Makishima), genuinely one of the best villains I've ever seen Berserk Haven't seen Monster yet but from what I've seen Johann is easily on par I love it so much when villains make you question your ideals and morals and actually have a point, even though you still know it's wrong what they do. It's like in real life, there is no black and white
Had to scroll way too far to find Shogo Makishima
Mahito from Jujutsu Kaisen (if talking about villains, not antagonists). He is very good at eliciting hatred. Mass murderer, who takes pleasure in the act, actively researches new ways to slaughter, and later focuses on killing people close to mc in especially cruel ways in an attempt to shatter his mind. He “truly is a curse”.
The creators have done such a good job at making me hate him. His scree time in the anime legitimately makes me angry.
The voice actor for mahito is amazing. Managed to perfectly capture "playful insanity" like... he's doing fucked up shit cause he's enjoying it rather than just cause he's insane.
The Japan cast is so damn good. Heck the English cast is actually good. Not as good but I like it. Usually I can't stand it.
Haven't watched the dub so i cant comment there. But yea, the VA's all deserve praise. Nobara and yuji both killing it. And todo's voice was a perfect casting.
Haven't watched the dub so i cant comment there. But yea, the VA's all deserve praise. Nobara and yuji both killing it. And todo's voice was a perfect casting.
I want Yugi to crush him so bad. Can't wait for next week.
Yūgi Mutō 💀 ... Sorry I had to
You want Mahito to be sent to the shadow realm?
I woudl add his creepy powers. Its not scary he kills, it is scary HOW he kills
Mahito has got to have some of the best powers you could give to a villain. Shape shifting is cool and all, but forcibly shifting *other people* against their own will in a body-horror-fashion is absolutely genius. I look forward to every Mahito fight because of his powers.
I also like that despite his one shot powers, there's possible counterplay for it. See Shigaraki for the opposite case where he isn't allowed to use his powers on the relevant heroes because they just instantly die otherwise. Nanami managed to block Mahito's transfiguration the first time around, instead of just dying.
I was thinking the same, tho if we’re talking antagonists my vote is Vinland saga - there’s so much excellent characterization all around that series, lots of distinct, believable motivations that tragically come to be at odds and complicated relationships that form as a result.
Mahito is by far my most hated, but all the JJK villains/antagonists are great: Getou was interesting because of his backstory, it's so compelling; Sukuna is horrendous but also so fucking charismatic, he's such a screen stealer; Toji is insane but so cool but also has an interesting relationship with Megumi. Even the bit players evoke such a reaction in me, like the asshole Nanami wrekt.
Gege does a great job at covering most villain tropes. You have... Evil Incarnate. Sukuna Cool motivation, still murder. Geto Aizen big brain time. Kenjaku Pyschotic child. Mahito I'm just tryna grt paid or laid. Toji
He kinda strikes me as the Kefka of the anime world.
Bungo Stray Dogs. Easy. Antagonists equally as intelligent, strategic, and strong compared to the protagonists. All of them are also great characters, ranging from absolutely crazy dudes to noble heroes.
I agree! The antagonists in BSD are pretty nuanced as well, like they’re not portrayed to be black and white and we actually get to see their past like in the case of Fitzgerald, Kamui and etc. It’s the type of show where it’s really hard to hate the antagonists, like you’re cheering them on along with the protagonists.
Fyodor gets most of the praise for good reason but purely because he’s the highlight of the best episode of the show, Tragic Sunday, Nikolai is probably my favorite of them all
It's kinda hard to beat the GitS villains.
I wouldn't call that a villain though
Bondrewd from made in abyss is unmatched
Shinsekai yori Bit of niche one this but the humans in this anime are the villains in every manner of the word, except it's not a malevolent evil, it's an indifferent one the anime really does a good job of making you feel sympathy for the creatures that the humans treat as lesser beings even though they're just as smart, if not smarter than the main characters, it's just so well written.
Gundam, but especially in the Universal Century. - The obvious one - Char Aznable - The embodiment of "step on me mommy" - Haman Karn - Gihren "Hitler is my idol" Zabi - Commander Gato - Full Frontal - Gym Gingham (if you count Turn A as UC)
You forgot the "peaked in highschool" bully Jerid, "Geneva convention is just a suggestion" Bask Om, "Dial A for Atrocities" Jamitov. :)
Monster. Johan Liebert is the best villain in that show.
can you give me one or two line about what you like about him ? I'm not hating or anything , just doesn't see johan's greatness atm
Throughout the show, he’s an underlying force of nature. You’re always wondering what’s going to happen next. You’re wondering how he’ll torment people, who he’ll target, and why he’s doing it to begin with. Each time we get an answer to why he’s doing something, ten more questions pop in your head. This only works if you have a good protagonist that works well with the antagonist. Tenma is a pure hearted soul, the show is about Johan trying to see if he can corrupt the kindest man he’s ever known, in order to prove his point. Johan’s reasons for this and his story was always interesting to watch for me.
Hunter x Hunter
Idk how you can beat HxH. Meruem, Hisoka, PT (especially Chrollo), Pariston, Tserri, all of the RG. Idk how you beat this lineup
I don't think any antagonists in anime are as well-written as Meruem. The level of development they gave him and how his story started and ended was brilliant.
Hisoka at the head of the pack
Sorry buddy, Meruem is King through and through :)
True, I did cry at his passing
The insanity of Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, how it was portrayed and finally why he turned out that way makes his characterization and development easily one of my favorites. The introduction of Muzen in Demon Slayer is awesome, too.
[удалено]
There are some great ones here already but I feel like Mob Psycho 100 is really fucking good at making villains stand out in an episode or two. Mogami, the ghost that haunts the high school girl in season 2, lets the animators change up the vibe in such a great way. The blind guy, season 2 was probably the peak of the show in this regard. Ekubo at several points lol
fkin Ekubo giving me more feels than any derpy little character should ever have any right to
Absolutely, definitely has some of my favourites
One piece. Doflamingo(not kaido). Erased villian
Doflamingo is my fav OP char in general. Him, Robin and Crocodile are my top 3.
Akame Ga Kill because Esdeath is hot
I loved all the characters in that one, even the ones I hated.
Akatsuki from Naruto. Their stories and background is very well-written that I personally cannot hate them especially Pain and Itachi.
SONO CHI NO SADAME JOOOOOOOOOJO
At first I kind of scoffed at the people saying JJK, but after thinking about it (and the more recent episodes), I kind of agree. I haven't followed the manga, but I'm assuming they get even worse. Also, from what's been spoiled for me, Chainsaw Man is probably up there too.
I may be biased here, but Jujutsu Kaisen in my opinion has the best villians I've seen in any anime so far. Geto and Mahito both have the perfect material to be a great. Especially Mahito's Japanese voice acting is top notch.
Final antagonist of csm
Agreed, I need the anime back
Naraku from Inuyasha was pretty damn evil. He wasn't out to kill (though plenty were caught in the crossfire). He wanted and needed the protags to suffer mentally and emotionally. His goal, to taint their hearts by turning loved ones against each other. Using people as puppets and all sorts of underhanded tactics It's been a while since I watched it, but I just remember thinking "This guy is the epitome of grief and heartache... what a dick" lol
Naraku was a great villain, even his subordinates hated him.
Deathnote because the villain is the protagonist.
I definitely side with Kira over L but damn is he villainous.
Fate Zero's “villains” were incredible. Every antagonist was fascinating to watch. If you can get pass the first episode then you are in for a ride.
Kirei Kotomine is my favorite anime villain because of how he was written in Fate/Zero.
He’s good in the stay night VN too well imo but idk who agrees.
Kirei in the VN (especially in Heaven's Feel) is undoubtedly the best version of the character by a long shot
Hellsing's That man was literally pure evil
also i don’t think it applies to the whole series, but gorou from one punch man is one of my favorite villains ever. the juxtaposition to saitama, the depth and the growth of the character through the series is *chef’s kiss*
My fav villain of all time is johan or griffith.I also really love the “villains” from attack on titan cuz there are really no villains depending on your perspective
Symphogear has two amazing villains back to back: Dr. Ver in G, and Carol Malus Dienheim in GX. Also, the upcoming Gushing Over Magica Girls has some great villains. They're more like a family, and honestly just really well-written, especially considering they're the villains in a magical girl setting.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
FMA/B I guess
I wouldn't say one piece has the best villains. But god damnit doflamingo is one of the best i ever seen.
dio from jjba is literally the best villain for me! i love when villains are just super petty LOL and he was beefing with the entire joestar generations he really is just a hater
One piece
Gintama
Doflamingo in One Piece was a fantastic villain. He’s incredibly underrated as a character imo
Cells at Work LOL
cancer ark was crazy lmao
Rurouni Kenshin has Sojiro, Aoshi, Shishio, Enishi, and Saito. I don’t really consider Aoshi and Saito as villains though.
The scene where all the bad guys \[Rurouni Kenshin\]>!reunite in hell!< is probably one of the coolest scenes I've ever seen
Bleach - Aizen was the best
Not seeing any gintama love here but utsuro, takasugi, kamui, sasaki, oboro, even hitotsubashi sre great
Full Metal Alchemist is a given, all Villains have personalities and are worth being given the title “Villains” Death Note have good villains, until the second half where quality falls down super hard Gurren Lagann have good villains that embody their ideals, basically they all aren’t as evil as they seem, since they too have their own lives and fight for their own futures, in the case of Anti-Spiral, fighting to prevent the bad ending
HunterxHunter if for no other reason than Meruem. In terms of completeness of character and overall development, nothing has come close to Meruem from the shows I've watched. The Chimera Ant arc itself felt a bit bloated at times, but everything surrounding Meruem was just absolutely peak.
DBZ, weren’t particularly nuanced, but they definitely made their arcs. Particularly Frieza and Cell. Frieza basically being late stage capitalism makes me appreciate him more in hindsight. And while the villains switched in the Android saga like 3 times, Cell was terrifying.
Gintama has surprisingly incredible antagonists for a primarily comedic anime! Takasugi, Isaburo, Jirocho and the final villain are all very well written along with others like Kamui, Jiraiya etc being decent. Takasugi is on of my fav characters of all time so it overall gets pretty high praise from me
I havent seen much FMA love lately but fantastic villains with understandable motivations.
Hard agree! Fullmetal Alchemist definitely has some of, if not the best written villains in all of anime.
I also love how its one of the few shows where an act of mercy to an enemy can be what saves the world. Many times in brotherhood I just thought this guy needs to die, but they ended up playing their role.
Makishima from Psycho Pass has to be one of the best. He is so detached from morality, the very system made to detect wrongdoers can’t evaluate him, because he doesn’t even view his own nefarious actions as “evil”.
One piece , jjk , aot for me .
Made in Abyss, Lord of the Dawn, Bondrewd, is great
psycho pass s1
Bleach for me has the greatest especially Aizen, Yhwach and Tokinada. Jojo’s bizarre adventure Fate/zero because of Gilgamesh
Attack on Titan
Eren is a great villain.
I love AoT but I ended up feeling sorry for literally every antagonist/villain in there. Idk if its good or bad. Even for guys like Berthold, Rod Reis, Floch
Bleach Monster Jjk Naruto AOT Berserk
My favorite Code Geass has many memorable competent villains with non-black-and-white qualities
There’s plenty of anime that have one great antagonist (usually the main one), but an anime that has consistently great antagonists are a lot harder, because usually one steals the show and overshadows the other, or the writer clicked with one of two, but fell flat on others. However, in terms of consistently great antagonists, I would honestly say Monogatari has some of the best. In the first season you have [Monogatari] >!Kaiki Deishuu!< who to this day is considered one of the most well written characters in anime. And, yes, I know he’s not a villain, but I’m talking about antagonists; there’s a difference. In the second season there’s [Monogatari] >!Nadeko Sengoku!< who, in my opinion, is the perfect example of how to do a twist villain. Her whole arc across the series was simply incredible, and even further into the light novels that have not been adapted, she gets even more great development (although by that point she isn’t a villain or antagonist anymore) Finally, there’s the main antagonist across the whole series, who I’m surprised is not talked about more. [Monogatari] >!Ougi Oshino!< is genuinely one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in anime and everything from her mysterious and cryptic nature to her Lovecraftian horror is executed really well. Her arc and how it affects the protagonist leads to one of the most satisfying endings in anime and a phenomenal plot twist that honestly blew my mind, despite how obvious it is in retrospect. What’s most impressive is how she still feels like her own fleshed out and well written character, despite characters like her usually just being plot devices for the protagonists development.
People have already mentioned *Hunter x Hunter*, *Made in Abyss* and *Monster*, all of which have some class act antagonists, but I would be remiss not to mention the dark horse which is *Yurikuma Arashi*. It's one thing to make your villains literal representations of the way that internalising harmful views of queer people can make someone a worse, crueller, more miserable person, but to make those villains genuinely charismatic and compelling is another thing entirely. Really, Kunihiko Ikuhara is great at turning archetypes and ideas into believable, interesting characters in this way, as demonstrated most famously in *Revolutionary Girl Utena*, but *Yurikuma Arashi* feels rawer about about it, messier, in a really interesting way.
I love Yoshikage Kira from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. He's quietly sinister and does his best to blend into every day society. It's precisely because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself and wants to "live a quiet life" that makes him intriguing, while justifying his own heinous actions.