Spoiler warning, as some characters are not introduced as villains.
With a significant increase in the number of anime produced over the years, it has become even more important to go through the details before starting a new anime. One of the cornerstones of a good anime is well-written villains, who are not just powerful but have philosophies that challenge the protagonists.
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The roles of villains can be overlooked since long-running shows typically cycle through many of them, but they’re just as important as the protagonists. There are tons of anime, but not all of them have eye-catching villains. However, there are a handful of baddies that have withstood the test of time and are hailed as the very best to date. Let’s take a look at some of the best anime villains.
Updated September 21, 2025, by Mark Sammut: Three more entertaining and awesome anime antagonists have been added to this discussion: Iwao, Yujiro, and Hitogami.
October 5, 2005
Nippon TV
Yuzo Sato
The Akagi anime adapts a mere fraction of the manga, so it only showcases a sliver of Iwao Washizu’s deranged nature. The story follows Shigeru Akagi, a thrill-seeker who becomes addicted to mahjong gambling, causing him to seek out steeper bets. Eventually, he faces off against Iwao, an eccentric old guy who uses the board game as an excuse to psychologically torture his opponents. Iwao is absolutely unhinged and delights in pushing Shigeru to take bigger and bigger risks, but he is also willing to put himself on the line and, for the most part, avoids straight-up cheating.
The manga took about 20 years to complete the match between Akagi and Iwao, as the arc started in 1997 and came to an end in 2017. It lasted for over 200 chapters, and it was an incredible and wild ride. The 2005 anime ended more than a decade before the match’s end, but it adapted the opening chapters really well.
Anime is not lacking in god-awful fathers, but Yujiro is a special type of monster. Earth’s strongest fighter (or creature, to be exact) is vicious, terrifying, and relentlessly ruthless. While not completely devoid of humanity or incapable of acts of kindness, Yujiro believes that power is the only thing that matters, and he constantly seeks to push Baki beyond his limits (or break him in the process). Even his “good” deeds are driven by arrogance or boredom, and he commits murder and other vile acts without showing any hesitation.
Yujiro could have just been a goal for Baki to chase, resembling a plot device or symbol rather than a proper character. However, the original 2001 and Netflix’s 2018 continuation reveal just enough about the villain to avoid this fate, all the while still surrounding him with an air of mystery.
January 11, 2021
Tokyo MX, KBS Kyoto, BS11
Sayaka Tsuji, Yoshitsugu Kimura, Ayumu Uwano, Yui Kanbe, Takahiro Tamano, Chihiro Kumano, Ouri Yasukawa, Mihiro Yamaguchi, Michiru Itabisashi, Kento Shintani, Nao Miyoshi, Shingo Fujii, Asahi Oka, Fumiaki Kataoka
Kohei Urushibara, Atsushi Takayama, Hirohisa Saito, Muneo Nakamoto
Yumi Uchiyama
Rudeus Greyrat’s Former Self(voice)
Tomokazu Sugita
Pilemon Notos Greyrat (voice)
For all the criticism it gets, isekai has many great villains. Re:Zero‘s Witches of Sin are all around intimidating, while Slime‘s Yuki is slowly building up his presence in the anime. No Game, No Life and The Saga of Tanya the Evil have similar god villains that work well within the context of their stories. Speaking of Tanya, she is essentially a villain protagonist, and the same can be said for Overlord‘s Ainz.
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If asked to pick the most intriguing isekai anime villain, Mushoku Tensei‘s Hitogami (or Human God) would be the first to come to mind. Showing up sporadically to give Rudeus cryptic advice that usually proves to be helpful, Hitogami is very clearly a master manipulator, a fact that does not escape the protagonist. However, Rudy often has no option but to follow Hitogami’s counsel, all the while trying to figure out the latter’s true goal.
Human God has not done that much in the anime so far, but he is captivating.
From The New World is a bit of a messy show at times, especially during its first half. Still, the anime steadily transforms from a strange coming-of-age journey to a psychological war drama that finds superpowered humans going up against monsters who are treated as inferior. While the latter should be more sympathetic, as they are looked down upon heavily, the former are generally presented as the heroes.
A large part of that dynamic is built upon Squealer, a manipulative monster rat who initially seems to be friendly with the two main humans but eventually becomes the leader of the villains. Also, Squealer kidnaps a young girl and breaks her mentally, turning her into a weapon. He does some pretty awful stuff that makes him unforgivable, even if his desire to break from his oppression is admirable.
Golden Kamuy only has great characters, and almost none of them fit seamlessly into “hero” or “villain” archetypes. Sure, Asirpa is probably the most “good” core person, and Sugimoto is generally trying to make amends for his past actions. However, pretty much everyone has well-defined motives that (often) add an element of selfishness to their journeys, and they have enough nuance to come across as complex personalities with redeeming elements.
Ogata is the closest to an exception, at least in the sense that he is arguably the only villain in the story. Even then, he is hardly 100% evil, and he spends quite a bit of time working alongside Asirpa and Sugimoto. However, Ogata is searching for the gold entirely for selfish reasons, something he keeps tightly hidden from everyone else. Furthermore, he is extremely vicious and feels no empathy, and he does not hesitate to kill except in situations when he believes it might not be advantageous to him. His backstory is extremely dark and shaped his outlook on the world, one that makes him believe that everyone is just as much of a murderer as he is.
Shigaraki Tomura is the primary villain of My Hero Academia. He was a murderous lunatic who had no qualms about sending people to the hereafter. Shigaraki wanted to upend all the hero associations and bring chaos to the whole world. Initially, he had very little patience, but he got better with time.
Shigaraki’s physical abilities were rather incredible. He had enhanced strength and speed, both of which made it difficult to subdue them. His original Quirk, Decay, enabled him to disintegrate anything that he touched with his hand. Shigaraki also inherited All For One, which allowed him to steal the Quirks of other people.
All For One is also a great villain, but Shigaraki is arguably the more complex character.
Dark magical girl anime existed before Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but the latter popularized and, arguably, perfected the concept. These types of stories tend to always have cute mascots who, usually, bestow the girls with their powers, dragging them into fights to protect humanity. Initially, Kyubey seems like a relatively traditional take on this archetype, albeit one that is a bit colder than most mascots.
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However, as more about this universe is revealed, Kyubey goes from a cute cat who grants girls the opportunity to actualize their wishes to a manipulative monster who specifically seeks to turn his magical girls into the things they are meant to fight. For someone who looks like a plush toy, Kyubey is very unsettling.
Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the all-time great shonen anime, and its villains were arguably ahead of the curve by the demographic’s early ’90s standards. The Dark Tournament Arc’s Toguro siblings are fascinating takes on the typical “OP battle shonen boss” that defined the ’80s, with the younger brother being particularly great.
However, the show’s best villain arrives in the Chapter Black Saga, the subsequent arc. Shinobu Sensui is all about shades of gray, showing how a vicious but somewhat heroic person could have their psyche shattered through a revelation that undermines their entire worldview. Even all these decades later, Sensui is still a refreshing anime villain.
July 7, 2017
AT-X
Hitoshi Haga, Shunsuke Takarai, Satoshi Mori, Motoki Nakanishi
Bondrewd is highly revered by people who want to explore the Abyss. However, his success is built on the corpses of many innocent people. He only cares about being successful, even if it means morally questionable methods. He has sacrificed people in exchange for knowledge, as he believes nothing is more valuable. Bondrewd lured in children and conducted experiments on them.
What separates Bondrewd from other anime villains is that he remembers the names and ambitions of everyone he has experimented on. Furthermore, he seemed to have a lot of affection towards his victims, a rarity even among villains. Overall, Bondrewd is a rather nuanced character who divides opinion.
Boros is the main antagonist of the first season of One Punch Man. He was an alien who had accumulated an immense amount of power, and he went from one place to another to find suitable challengers. During his quest, Boros destroyed multiple planets, resulting in the deaths of millions of people.
Ultimately, he landed on Earth, where he fought Saitama. The fight was incredible, and the bald hero had to struggle quite a bit. Boros had a cool character design, which made him stand out from the other villains in the series. Aside from that, Boros was also suffering from the same problem as Saitama, but he went about it the wrong way. Saitama acknowledged his strength, and there was a great deal of respect between the two.
