Like any form of dramatic storytelling, many of anime’s best stories deliver villains who are just as memorable as their heroic counterparts. Their schemes and actions present formidable hurdles to overcome, while also revealing personalities that leave lasting impressions.
Whether they seek to rule the world or satisfy their personal desires at the expense of others, great villains always carry a presence with them that commands the scenes they appear in. Our list of the 15 Greatest Anime Villains features some of the most memorable and well-executed antagonists and threats anime has yet to produce.
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15) Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Delighting in cruelty and destruction, Envy torments every human he comes across in his belief that they’re lesser than – mere playthings. With his wicked perspective he is a pivotal piece to the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood puzzle.
The series has so many wonderful anime villains, from outright evil to morally gray that it’s hard to distinguish one as being the best. But considering how vital Envy is to the character journeys he’s the one who becomes the most memorable. Particularly in how he ties to Roy’s story. His murder of Maes Hughes is one of the earliest examples of peak devastation in the series, especially in how he targets and tricks Hughes.
There’s even the level of difference between Envy in his human form versus his monstrous one, which showcases the echoes of souls he’s tormented and consumed all writhing beneath the surface of his skin. His apathy towards human life, his taunting of those he seems as lesser, and, frankly, a wildly enjoyable voice performance, make him easily one of the best – and most entertaining.
14) Kaya Saimroi (My Happy Marriage)
Kaya is a realistic villain who has no grand plans of conquest or supernatural power. Instead, she is an entitled rich girl who takes the classic “wicked step-sister” trope to the next level. How she mistreats Miyo from the beginning of the series is terrible.
Oppressive and cruel, Kaya is constantly trying to inflate her ego by pushing Miyo down. Abusing her both physically and verbally, Kaya never hesitates to try to make her half-sister’s life as awful as possible. And just when you think Kaya can’t get any worse, she finds a new low to sink to.
When Miyo is first sent off to marry Kiyoka, Kaya is thrilled to see her gone. Like everyone else, Kaya believed her life would be nothing but hardship under the cold and distant Kiyoka. When she learns of Miyo’s joy, she becomes incensed. Suddenly, what Miyo had should’ve been hers, and Kaya’s entitlement inspires a whole new level of malevolence towards her sibling. Luckily, Kiyoka manages to intervene before things can go too far.
13) Stigma (Shy)
Everything about Stigma is unsettling. The small boy, standing there with his ruined umbrella, calmly talking about how he’s going to liberate the hearts of humanity, eerie glow coming from his oddly colored eyes. And then Shy witnesses his handwork as he transforms Iko into a twisted monstrosity.
That Stigma believes he is freeing humanity from its chains, rather than enslaving and shackling it to rage and pain, is the character’s most disturbing element. That he cannot grasp that not every thought or feeling deserves to be aired and amplified seems impossible. Especially given how restrained and calm he is.
This sinister intent is backed up by impressive displays of power. And by and large, they aren’t even his. Thus far, the series has focused on his underlings as they attack the globe, spreading fear and terror. This does wonders for the central villain’s mystique, as it subtly asks the question, “If his underlings are this terrifying, how powerful is he?”
12) Metropoliman (Platinum End)
While Platinum End as a whole suffered from its fair share of struggles, having a memorable villain wasn’t one of them. The most sadistic and cruel of the god candidates, Metropoliman, stops at nothing to achieve his goal of ascending to godhood.
The glee the character derives from his wanton acts of cruelty sets him apart. As he uses his divine gifts to control, terrify, and butcher his rivals, he is never anything short of elated at his work. Like many on this list, he doesn’t see others as equals; he views them as toys to be played with or broken as he sees fit.
Having such twisted intent would make Metropoliman bad enough, but he is also shown to be a shrewd tactician and strategist. Able to predict many of his opponents’ plans, he capably crafts scenarios that force his foes into seemingly winless situations, often for his petty amusement.
11) Mahito (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Sukuna may be the curse everybody talks about, but Mahito is the one everybody hates. Unhinged and cruel, Mahito revels in destruction and pain. He made an early impression on fans in season one when he twisted Junpei around his finger, eventually killing him, all in the hopes of awakening Sukuna.
He further raises his kill count in season two when he takes the lives of both Kento Nanami and Nobara Kagisaki. Once again, Mahito creates the maximum amount of pain he can. With Nobara, he makes sure to take the young sorcerer’s life right in front of her friend, Itadori. That the biggest deaths in the series always come at Mihito’s hands helps create a special, terrifying aura around the character.
His madness also makes him stand out amongst the series’ more purposeful villains like Geto. Despite having an endgame in mind, Mahito feels far more about the ride than the final destination. Bringing misery and death everywhere he turns up, he is a truly monstrous villain.
10) Hayase (To Your Eternity)
Despite To Your Eternity being best known for its deep emotional storytelling and compassionate heroes, it is also home to one of the most despicable anime villains the medium has yet produced. Hayase’s brutality and single-minded obsession with unlocking the secret to Fushi’s immortality quickly spiral into madness. Willing to do anything, her dogged pursuit of the query leads to the death of both March and Parona, Fushi’s first friends, and the former of whom he sees as his mother.
Her impact within the series’ first season is augmented by the way she is visually presented. When she first arrives in the story, she is a respected warrior. By the time she returns to the narrative when she catches up with Fushi in the prison island, she has become a wreck. Her madness and obsession have driven her beyond the point of no return.
Once she again manages to get Fushi in her grasp, she sinks even lower into contempt when she reveals she plans to assault the immortal, believing it is the key to gaining his power. Thankfully, Hayase is never able to enact her plan.
However, like many great villains, her legacy endures long after her. In Season 2, Fushi comes into contact with her granddaughter, who informs him that Hayase’s beliefs have been spread, forming a cult. Providing the villain with a lingering presence long after she exits the series.
Hayase is a deranged, violent character who will remove any obstacle that stands in her way. Her obsessed madness drags her into truly terrifying depths, earning her a spot as one of the best anime villains.
9) Prospera Mercury (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury)
With her sins ranging from grand in scope to personal, Prospera does terrible things to both the general populace and her daughter. While her anger at the system that rules her world is understandable, what she does with it is loathsome. The war crimes she perpetrates against the already oppressed people of Earth are heinous, leaving lives shattered after she launches a surprise attack on their soil.
Just as painful to watch, though, is how she manipulates and then discards her daughter, Suletta. Raising the girl to be dependent on her support and guidance, she places Suletta right where she needs her to be until her usefulness expires. The fact that she actively uses her as an unknowing pawn in her game would be bad enough, but the way she discards her is an exceptional level of uncaring. While Suletta would undoubtedly be better without her presence, the way she is so casually cast aside leaves the gentle protagonist shattered and adrift.
Prospera’s cold, calculated cunning, willingness to manipulate anyone to get what she wants, and brutal tactics make her a terrible foe.
8) Vicious (Cowboy Bebop)
The dark spectre haunting Spike’s steps, whenever Vicious makes one of his three narrative appearances, you instantly know it’s getting serious. One of the most oppressive presences in anime, Vicious sucks the life out of a room, and that’s before his trademark katana leaves its sheath.
Everything about the character, from his body language to the lighting in which he is cast, creates an air of doom that engulfs his scenes. His cold, ruthless nature is brought to audible life thanks to Skip Skellrecht‘s (Resident Evil: Degeneration) powerfully subdued performance.
Vicious manages to bring intimidation to every scene, not through violent anger, but through a voice dripping with a potent verbal venom. He can project his loathing and hatred without force or effort, leaving only a sinister vibe in his wake. Making the affront that was the portrayal of him in the live-action adaptation all the more criminal.
His ruthlessness, unrelenting drive, and scene-eclipsing presence craft a villain that stands out among the medium’s best.
7) Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
The angels may pose the threat, but Gendo is the villain. The cruelty and disdain he shows towards his son Shinji are beyond contemptible. How he throws the NERVE children into combat time and again, without concern for their well-being, makes him one of the worst parents in anime, and that’s saying something.
And even though NERVE struggles to protect Neo Tokyo and the rest of humanity from a Third Impact event, it’s clear Gendo isn’t doing this for the sake of humankind. A man with his own agenda, he pushes situations that come to endanger not only those under his charge but humanity itself.
Adding a depth of chilling unease to the character is his trademark pose. Behind his desk, with a harsh light reflecting off his glasses, his mind is unreadable behind his mask-like face and interlaced fingers. You rarely get a glimpse of what’s going through his mind, but the color, lighting, and posture of the character in these hauntingly memorable moments assure you they aren’t happy thoughts.
With his cruel disdain and dark presence, Gendo is a terrifying figure, despite rarely leaving his desk. The way he treats all those around him, even his child, makes his death at the hands of his “deceased” wife during The End of Evangelion movie the one bright spot in the film. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.
6) Freiza (Dragon Ball Z)
Every aspect of Freiza’s personality is loathsome. From his entitlement to his rampaging racism towards Sayains, no element of the character is likable, or even tolerable. He brutally murders anyone who gets in his way and even treats loyal underlings like little more than something he scraped off his foot. Provided the character could be bothered to walk around.
Despite being an early villain in a series filled with larger-than-life characters, Freiza stands out. His raging hate and intolerance set the character apart as one of the most effective creations of the legendary mangaka Akira Toriyama. Despite the radically scaling power levels of the series, no one would come to capture the same menace as he would. Unlike those who would come after this monster, he wasn’t killing people to discover his limits or because he was being manipulated. Freiza unleashed his horrors on his enemies because he could. And because he liked it.
There is another layer to Frieza that is revealing about the character, adding a layer of insecurity to the power-hungry menace. That is the voice that elicits each tantrum and threat. Having always watched Dragon Ball Z in English since discovering it on Toonami, Linda Young‘s portrayal of Frieza has struck a special chord with the character. The shrill tones and manic energy she lends to Frieza reveal a stark truth: Frieza is a scared bully.
Despite all the bluster about superiority, Freiza is terrified of anyone who can pose a challenge. It’s why he destroyed Planet Vegeta. Despite his greed and hate, his single greatest motivation is his all-consuming fear. So great is his fear of being less than someone else, Frieza takes the one last mercy shown him and uses it in a futile attempt to lash out at his greatest fear made manifest.
5) Overhaul (My Hero Academia)
Despite being separate from the core villain faction in My Hero Academia, Overhaul easily holds the second place title for most despicable villain in the series. While noteworthy antagonists like Shigaraki and Toga come with complicated pasts or were manipulated by monstrous villains, Overhaul is never presented in such a way. He’s just evil.
His villainy plays out at the expense of the young girl Eri. Her quirk can rewind the state of anything she touches. Overhaul, through the use of tormented experimentation, finds a way to turn her power into bullets focused on the quirks possessed by their targets. He can make a large supply of these bullets by using his quirk to overhaul Eri’s body, to keep her from dying as his agents harvest her flesh.
Mutilating and experimenting on anyone, let alone an innocent child, is enough to earn a character a special level of contempt. However, Overhaul doesn’t just torture Eri’s body, he also has to screw with her mind. In classic abusive fashion, Overhaul twists Eri’s sense of reality to the point where he’s able to make her believe all the bad he does is her fault. Every terrible thing he does would never have happened if she’d just been a “good girl.”
Finishing off the potent impact of Overhaul’s character is the visual design. The feather collar combined with the classic plague doctor-style mask gives him a sinister and unsettling energy from the moment he steps onto the screen. One that makes perfect sense with the twisted research that stands at the center of his story, and makes him one of the best anime villains.
4) Makima (Chainsaw Man)
There isn’t a word for how unsettling Makima is which easily makes her one of the the best recent anime villains. From the first moment Denji encounters her, there is a disturbing energy around her. Her nonchalant response, “You are in my care now. I expect ‘yes’ or ‘woof’ for answers. I don’t need a dog who says no,” provides a strong indication of how she views those around her.
What makes her relationship with Denji even more terrifying is that he can’t see it. Despite how flagrantly she uses him, she still treats him better than those who were previously responsible for him. Makima may be a monster, but even she believes in overtime and paid benefits.
The disturbance factor to Makima reaches its pitch in Season 1 when she uses the promise of her body to manipulate Denji. As she draws the inexperienced young man in, the visual presentation used by MAPPA does a great job of showing both sides of the moment.
Denji’s focus is portrayed from first-person view shots. Denji is completely overwhelmed and willing to agree to anything. He reads the moment as one of mutual interest. It is far from that.
When the camera reveals the rest of the scene, the dead expression on Makima’s face tells a decidedly different tale. There is nothing in this moment for her but getting what she wants from the powerful Denji. The complete lack of expression is far more haunting than any condescending or vile expression could be. Despite Denji being an innocent kid with a good heart who trusts her, she thinks so little of him that she can barely muster any feelings towards the young man. He is simply a tool. One to be used and discarded.
While her unearthly indifference to her young charge establishes her psychological darkness, it does nothing to prepare you for what she is capable of doing physically. Her powers are terrifying, and her willingness to cause great destruction to kill those in her way would be startling from most other characters.
Her complete disregard for others, reducing them to tools, and her potent abilities make Makima a brutal villain.
3) Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill)
Perhaps the most devoted Darwinist in fiction, Esdaeth’s adherence to the survival of the fittest leaves no room for exceptions. Her complete lack of empathy towards anyone weak enough to be slain is chilling, and it’s only the start of what makes her terrifying.
Weilding incredible ice manipulation powers, Esdaeth is a veritable goddess of death on any battlefield. While the raw force she can wield is enough to overcome most, her shrewd ability to implement her incredible might makes her a truly intimidating foe.
But what makes her ruthless ferocity stand out even more is the glimpses the series gives of what she could’ve been. Despite firmly adhering to her beliefs, she shows compassion to her allies when they struggle with loss or setbacks. When not gleefully murdering revolutionaries, one can understand how someone could feel a sense of loyalty to the otherwise psychotic Esdeath. The fact that she has the capacity for great kindness, but chooses to embrace harsh brutality instead, makes her far more menacing than if she were devoid of warmth altogether.
This duality eventually comes to its zenith when she falls in love with Akame Ga Kill‘s primary protagonist, Tatsumi. How fluidly she moves from the role of ravenous villain to lovestruck awkwardness feels like it shouldn’t work, but somehow does. This further deepens the unsettling duality of the character.
All of the facets of Esdeath are brought to life through the fantastic voice performance of Satomi Akesaka (Ōoku: The Inner Chamber). Akesaka does a phenomenal job managing the many twists and turns of Esdeath’s wildly changing personality. Delivering every unexpected angle of the character with masterful effort that sells the bizarre concept so well, she manages to be believable.
Thanks to her brutal tactics and unwavering Darwanism, Esdeath is a terrifying enemy few would be happy to see on a battlefield. But it’s how the character gives glimpses of what they may have been but actively chooses to reject that places her so high on our greatest anime villains list.
2) Shide (Summer Time Rendering) 
A monster by every definition of the word, Shide shows a level of cruelty and disdain for life in any form save his own that is rarely seen. Desiring only to live forever, he manipulates the godlike Haine to do his bidding, all the while making her believe everything he does is in service to her.
His manipulative nature and wanton disregard for others leave a lasting impression. The towering, multi-limbed shadow is an imposing presence that leaves no room for error during any confrontation. His wide range of abilities, coupled with a brilliant tactical mind honed over centuries, makes Shide a supremely difficult opponent to overcome.
All of the horrors he perpetrates upon ally and foe alike are born of his twisted belief that if his life is finally going to end, there is no purpose for anything else to exist either. His inability to see anyone or anything as having any value beyond himself sets him on a nihilistic path that excuses every machination and horror he unleashes in pursuit of his goal. All these reasons culminate in one of the best anime villains of the last few years, if not ever.
1) All For One (My Hero Academia)
How could it be anyone but All For One at the top of our list? The megalomaniac that stands at the center of the worst ailments of My Hero Academia’s story, All For One, sees the world as his chessboard and every person a piece. But not only is he willing to do whatever it takes to stand atop a broken world, he revels in every chance to torture and humiliate his foes. He takes special pride in grinding the hope and resistance of his opponents to dust, looking to leave nothing behind but empty shells in his wake.
Enhancing his torturous nature is a perfectly designed quirk. Not only does he steal the powers of others, but the violent nature of how he does it fits perfectly with his disdain for those who stand against him. How he rips at their flesh with jagged projectiles elevates the savagery he possesses within himself.
While the visual design reinforces the brutal side of All For One, it is the audio work surrounding the character that brings his calculating menace to full life. Not only does voice actor Akio Ôtsuka (The Rose of Versailles) craft a voice for the character that is as terrifying as it is measured, but the music that surrounds the villain is a master stroke of audio that adds the final touch to the character.
Whenever All For One enters the narrative, a chilling operatic song heralds his arrival. The energy of the song is equal parts haunting and menacing, while still being beautiful. It creates an audible accompaniment that captures the evil of the character, while acknowledging his brilliance. He is a monster, but he is a cunning one, not to be underestimated.
And that is our list. Each of these characters embodies what it means to be one of the most terrifying anime villains. Ones we love to hate, and cheer against at every turn. But without them, our favorite anime wouldn’t be as great, and in at least that one way, something good comes from their heinous deeds.
