These Might Just Be The 10 Most Evil Anime Villains Ever
Sometimes a villain has a point. Sometimes a villain is worthy of empathy. Sometimes a villain uses questionable means to justify a noble end. These villains? None of the above. These characters are the most vile, sadistic, depraved and unjustified villains in all of anime – the lowest of the low, the cruelest of the cruel. If story is only as good as its villain, you can consider each one of these titles a masterpiece. Here they are, the 10 most evil, dastardly, nasty, vicious no good very bad anime characters of all time.
Gilgamesh
While the Fate series is full of despicables (I’m looking at you, Bluebeard) no character grinds my gears quite like Gilgamesh. This former Babylonian king is the definition of arrogance. He was born into the lap of luxury, inherited untold wealth and power, and he makes sure that EVERYONE knows it. Gilgamesh’s attitude is the most insufferable part about him. He looks down upon the rest of the humanity as “less than,” and uses average people as pawns to further his megalomanic goals. One of the other most irritating aspects of his character is how easy things are for him, particularly combat. While other Holy Grail War warriors have to get their hands dirty with swords, spears and spells, Gilgamesh just stands there smirking while telekinetically throwing an arsenal of priceless treasures at his enemies. Each one is valuable enough to pay off your student loan debt 10x over, and each one explodes on impact. Diabolical. Wasteful. Gauche.
Danzo Shimura
While many Naruto villains use questionable means to pursue noble goals (Madara, Pain, etc.) Danzo Shimura uses atrocious means to pursue questionable goals. Danzo has a vendetta against the Uchiha clan, and bends the Third Hokage’s ear towards a genocide plot against the family – which he orchestrates through the help of (spoiler alert) the then-adolescent Itachi Uchiha. Danzo is the sort of man who would use a child to do his dirty work, playing upon Itachi’s unwavering loyalty to manipulate him into committing a mass murder. At least villains like Madara and Pain can admit that what they’re doing is morally repugnant, but Danzo maintains his “I did it for the greater good” attitude until the very end. A villain in denial of their true nature is the worst kind.
Dino Golzine
While some villains, though dastardly, manage to win the hearts of the audience through their charisma and charm, the only feeling that Dino Golzine from Banana Fish draws out of a viewer is the sensation of bile rising in the throat. Dino is a New York City mob boss who runs a child sex trafficking ring – kidnapping kids off the streets in order to sell their bodies to the rich, powerful, and perverted. He also partakes of his own “commodities” and abuses captured children in order to fulfill his own sick desires. He has a particularly twisted attachment to series protagonist Ash Lynx, who he views as his personal property, and tries to have Ash killed so “no one else can have him”. Dino Golzine is the Jeffery Epstein of anime, undisputedly.
Bondrewd
Just when you think that Dino Golzine was the worst child abuser in anime, Bondrewd from Made In Abyss comes along to challenge him for the title. While he pretends to be a kindly (though creepy) father figure to children unfortunate enough to end up in the Abyss, his persona is simply a facade to gain their love and trust. He then uses children as (spoiler alert) lab experiments to create “cartridges” – which are suitcase-like objects that transfer the effects of the Abyss’ curse away from the carrier. What’s inside the suitcase? Children. Not a whole child, just part of the brain, the spine, and guts. It’s essentially a “child soup” that is still conscious and able to experience pain. Absolutely stomach turning. Zero stars on Yelp.
Gendo Ikari
Gendo Ikari is the ultimate “the ends justify the means” character, and spends the entirety of Neon Genesis Evangelion the noble cause of defending the earth from an invasion extraterrestrial beings known as “angels”. How does he do it? By sticking children inside biomechanical giant robots and sending them off to battle the divine alien kaiju. One of these unfortunate children is Genji’s own son Shinji, who he manipulates into fighting an endless war against the eldritch forces of the cosmos. As it turns out, even Gendo’s “ends” are questionable, as they involve melting down every human soul into a sort of spiritual soup that will eliminate their capacity to feel bodily pain – trading their individuality and free will in the process. It’s really all just a thinly veiled ploy for Gendo to reunite with his dead wife in a sci-fi spirit realm. We get it, Gendo. You’re a sad dad, but don’t take it out on us.
Gol D. Rodger
Why is Gol D. Rodger, jolly King of the Pirates, a villain? Because when he found the One Piece, he didn’t have the decency to leave behind a MAP. If ol’ Gol had just dropped a pin on the One Piece’s location, we wouldn’t have had to sit through 1000+ episodes of One Piece just to still not have discovered the treasure. Imagine how much TIME Goldy could have saved us. Not to mention how many LIVES he could prevented from being lost in the fruitless search for the titular treasure. At this point, the One Piece might very well just be “the friends we made along the way,” but did Gol really have to make us sit through 1500+ episodes or more to learn that lesson? Besides, how does a PIRATE justify teaching lessons on mortality? The unexamined hubris, I swear.
Minoru Mineta
While Minoru Mineta is technically a “protagonist” of One Piece, he’s easily the show’s most villainous character – and I say this with full knowledge of the deeds of All For One, Tomura, etc. As if the ocular crime that is his bushel of grapes in a diaper character design wasn’t heinous enough, he augments his icky appearance with an even ickier attitude. Minoru is an S-rank perv, one of the most down bad anime characters I’ve ever had the displeasure of viewing. He is a fountain of sexual harassment, and ogles his female classmates without shame, remorse, or self awareness. Worst of all, his foul treatment of anyone he wants to boink (which is basically everyone) is framed as “comic relief”. I would be comically relieved if he fell down a manhole, and a lit stick of dynamite fell in after him.
Shou Tucker
Shou Tucker is perhaps anime’s Public Enemy No. 1 – the knee-jerk choice when asked to consider the medium’s worst of the worst. While Full Metal Alchemist is chock full of murderers and tyrants, one man stands head and shoulders (or sinks knees and feet) below the rest. In his pursuit to create the perfect hybrid being, Tucker used his own daughter and her beloved dog as a lab experiment, turning them both into a horrifying chimera whose existence is only pain. Even the stone-hearted killer Scar was moved to pity the poor beast, and put it out of its misery with an alchemical shock to the system. If there is an Anime Hell, Shou Tucker is at the bottom of its Ninth Circle.
Johan Liebert
The titular evil of Monster, Johan Liebert is one of anime’s most infamous antagonists. It’s unclear whether Liebert was born a bad egg, or if witnessing the brutal murder of his parents while still a child had something to do with it, but he was natured and nurtured into one of the most vile characters imaginable. Liebert is a serial killer, who uses his angelic good looks and intoxicating charm to manipulate and murder his way through Europe. His end goal? To be the last man standing after the downfall of human civilization, and then commit the “perfect suicide” by leaving no trace of his or the rest of humanity’s existence. The poetic complexity of his goal is only matched by its sheer depravity. His mind is both brilliant and dark – a true evil genius.
Griffith
No one is worse than Griffith. Griffith is Anime Judas, the ultimate betrayer who stabbed his friends in the back – and then fed them to demons. Berserk‘s cherub-faced antagonist hides a demon’s heart, one controlled by his unbridled ambition to rule the world by any means necessary. While Griffith begins the Golden Age arc as a hero, the red flags of his ruthless nature were flying just below the banners of the Band of the Hawk. He convinced his band of mercenaries to join him with the promise of a better life, but in the end he sacrificed them upon the altar of his ambition. Griffith allowed his comrades to be consumed by evil spirits in order for him to join a pantheon of dark gods, and has the audacity) to assert himself as the realm’s benevolent ruler. A liar, a killer, and a fraud, Griffith deserves nothing but the business ends of his former comrades’ swords.
(Featured Image: Gainax)
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