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The roles of villains in a series have been overlooked, 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 villains that have withstood the test of time and are hailed as the very best to date.
Updated March 4, 2022, by Suzail Ahmad:Villains have always been influential to the story of any series. They bring the best out of the heroes, which makes the story more interesting. They can also help heroes to develop both in terms of power and personality. With so much anime being available to watch, there is no shortage of good villains, however, only a select few have cemented their legendary status. So, we have added a few more of the best anime villains to the following list.
15 Frieza
To say that Frieza is evil would be a bit of an understatement. He is the main villain of the Dragon Ball series, and Goku’s biggest nemesis. He’s made appearances in the other parts as well.
Frieza’s army was known for its ruthlessness, and the stories about their brutality are known throughout the universe. He is extremely manipulative, and he tends to mock his opponents with his dark sense of humor. Unlike many villains though, Frieza is an eloquent speaker, which helps him to hide his sadistic nature.
14 The Major
The Major served under Hitler in the SS, which says a lot about him as a person. He was assigned by Hitler to create artificial vampires that could be used in World War II. The Major thrived on chaos and war, and so he did everything in his power to send the world into darkness.
Over the years, The Major’s plans changed and instead of just creating an army of vampires, he decided to start a war that would engulf the entire world. Also, he was fixated on Alucard, and wanted to eliminate the vampire by any means necessary.
13 Muzan
Muzan is the main antagonist of Demon Slayer, and, together with his demons, has been responsible for countless deaths. Muzan is a very strong character, who can beat the most powerful Hashira without any problems. His blood also allows him to turn humans into demons, who then go on to do his bidding.
Muzan is a heartless individual, who has no regard whatsoever for the lives of humans or even his subordinates. He sees them as disposable trash, and, on several occasions, Muzan has even murdered his own underlings to make a point.
12 Shogo Makishima
Shogo Makishima is famously known for being very manipulative, and with his ability to persuade people, Shogo has led countless people to their graves.
One of the things that makes Shogo such an effective villain is that he doesn’t have any sort of compassion and on countless occasions has shown that he is willing to dispose of anyone who dares to oppose him. In some cases, that also extends to people that he grows tired of too.
11 Envy
As the name states, Envy is jealous of the people around him. He is a homunculus who thrives off the misery of humans. Envy is cruel, and he feels no remorse for his actions. He boasted about starting the Ishvalan Civil War, which resulted in the deaths of countless people, and this shows that he really doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions.
The root cause of Envy’s hatred towards mankind is that he is jealous of their ability to work together, and so he tries everything he can to mess up their lives. Envy’s ability to shift shapes makes him a very dangerous villain, and allows him to start trouble much more easily than the average bad guy.
10 Nagato Uzumaki
Naruto is a riveting story about a knucklehead ninja of the same name, who dreams of becoming the Hokage one day. Naruto’s path to success was hindered by many villains, but only one of them left a significant mark on Naruto, and that villain was none other than Nagato Uzumaki, who was the leader of Akatsuki.
Nagato was too weak to use his original body, so he used the bodies of dead people to fight against his opponent. Being a student of Jiraiya, Nagato learned a lot of things from him and they were responsible for molding his character. Nagato was powerful and had certain ideas that he really believed in.
9 Yagami Light
Yagami Light is one of the most well-known names in the anime world, thanks to Death Note. A high school genius, Light’s world was turned upside-down when he picked up the Death Note that fell on the earth. After deliberating for a while, Light reached the conclusion where he decided that he would rid the world of criminals.
However, Light turned into a criminal who murdered innocent people. He took up the name of Kira and went on a murdering spree until Near and Mello put a halt to his progress.
8 Griffith
Griffith is the leader of the Reborn Band of Hawk in Berserk. At a certain point in the story, Griffith was adored by all the members of the original Band of Hawk. After being on the verge of death, Griffith triggered the eclipse, which resulted in the deaths of almost all the members of the original group.
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Reborn as Femto, he raised a new army that is filled with powerful apostles, who could raze entire cities to the ground. Griffith prioritized his dream above everything— his friends, his morals, which made him truly frightening.
7 Yohan Liebert
Arguably the best villain in anime history, Yohan Liebert is the antagonist of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. Yohan’s enigma and his ridiculous charisma put him at the very top of the villain rankings. He didn’t have any superpowers, only his incredible mind with which he was able to wreak havoc.
Yohan terrorized an entire city’s population, and he felt absolutely no remorse. This separates him from the rest of the anime villains, who require unique powers to make their mark.
6 DIO
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has always given the viewers some memorable characters. Among those characters, the most iconic was DIO. He was a nuisance for the Joestar Family for several decades. DIO possessed the World, which is one of the strongest stands in the series.
DIO was a malevolent individual, and for him, killing a person was as simple as squashing an insect. He also managed to kill several main characters, including Jonathan Joestar, Joseph Joestar, Kakyoin, etc.
5 Donquixote Doflamingo
Doflamingo formerly served as a Shichibukai, who worked under the World Government in One Piece. He took over the country of Dressrosa from King Riku and ruled for years.
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Doflamingo is a talented fighter, who could use all three types of Haki. Furthermore, he had also awakened his devil fruit. When it comes to personality, Doflamingo is a ruthless pirate, who had no qualms about killing his father and his younger brother.
4 Askeladd
Askeladd was one of the stars of Vinland Saga’s first season. He was responsible for murdering Thors, one of the greatest known fighters in the series. Askeladd was a very calculating individual, who planned his every move.
He was so captivating that Thorfinn was mesmerized by him and at one point, he started to idolize him. His character peaked towards the end of the first season, where he feigned madness and lopped off the King’s head.
3 Meruem
The King of the Chimera Ants, Meruem was deemed to be a threat to the existence of humankind in Hunter x Hunter. He was the strongest Chimera Ant, who was easily able to fight against Netero, who was one of the strongest Hunters.
Meruem’s character underwent growth when he met Komugi. He turned into an individual who was less violent and looked at matters from different perspectives. He was still responsible for countless deaths.
2 Aizen
Sosuke Aizen is one of the most recognizable faces in the anime community. The antagonist from Bleach was responsible for causing huge chaos. He was originally the captain of the Fifth Division, but he later betrayed the Soul Society.
Very few villains boast of the same intellect as Aizen, who is a master tactician. Aizen’s intelligence allowed him to beat many opponents without even trying. With his Kyoka Suigetsu, Aizen could control all the five senses.
1 Vicious
Vicious is the antagonist of Cowboy Bebop, one of the best anime from the 90s. He rebelled against the Red Dragon syndicate and became its leader. Vicious had a lot of war experience as he was a veteran of the Titan War.
Vicious was a cold-blooded killer who had no regard for the lives of others. He thrived in chaos and he ensured that it would never end. Vicious was eventually killed by Spike Spiegel.
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