The world of anime features a dazzling variety of not just shonen and shojo protagonists, but also terrifying and powerful villains who threaten everything the hero holds dear. Anime villains can make or break a story, and the best villains are ruthless and cunning beings who can challenge the heroes in all kinds of ways.
Not all villains are the same, though. Some of them are simply misguided or are victims themselves, while others are monsters deep down and will do anything to get what they want. Many of the scariest or most insidious anime villains will resort to any means to achieve victory, from betraying their allies to lying or making painful sacrifices.
10 Griffith Sacrificed Everyone For Power (Berserk)
Griffith is one of the most famous seinen manga/anime villains of all time, and he’s more complex than just “I want to rule the world.” He really does want to have his own kingdom to rule, but he also strongly desires a rival, Guts, who can challenge him and give him purpose.
Griffith would do anything to get that kingdom, from leading a mercenary gang, to making backroom deals for money, to kissing up to the Midland king before sacrificing the entire Band of the Hawk to the God Hand for more power. At this rate, he really will get that kingdom and keep it for all time.
9 Dio Brando Donned The Stone Mask (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
Dio Brando was once an impoverished kid in Victorian England, and he longed to gain power and take down the Joestar family at any cost. He became Geroge Joestar’s foster son, then poisoned George before donning the stone Aztec mask to become a vampire. There’s no going back now.
Dio also recruited many dark allies to take over England until Jonathan Joestar stopped him. A century later, DIO the Stand user gathered many new allies and did whatever he could to defeat Jotaro and Joseph on his quest to rule the entire world. In the end, though, he lost.
8 Aaroniero Arurruerie Posed As Kaien Shiba (Bleach)
Aaroniero Arurruerie was the 9th Espada, and he had a theme of gluttony, as his released form suggested. He was one of the weakest Espadas, so he made up for it by eating tens of thousands of Hollow and stealing their powers. Once he ate Metastacia, he also gained access to Kaien Shiba’s face, memories, and shikai.
Aaroniero slyly posed as Kaien Shiba to apply psychological pressure on Rukia Kuchiki and lower her guard. That’s a dirty trick, but it nearly worked, and Rukia very narrowly claimed victory when she recalled Kaien’s lesson on “the heart” and stabbed Aaroniero in the head.
7 Akito Sohma Kept Manipulating People (Fruits Basket)
Shonen and seinen anime feature many ruthless and terrifying villains, but the shojo genre has a few vicious villains of its own, including the emotionally abusive Akito Sohma. Akito is even scarier than Griffith or DIO, since there are people like her in the real world. She will feel scarily real to some Fruits Basket viewers.
Akito is the “god” of the zodiac and the head of the reclusive Sohma family, and she will say or do anything to keep the cursed Sohmas by her side, including verbal and emotional abuse, lies, intimidation, and spying, among other things. She also directly confronted Tohru, who had done nothing wrong, and tried to scare her off.
6 Askeladd Will Fight Dirty (Vinland Saga)
Askeladd, like Griffith, is a surprisingly complex seinen villain who is more than just a thug who ruins everyone’s day. Askeladd is deeper than that, and he has somewhat relatable views and interests, such as protecting the kingdoms of Wales from the wrath of the Danes.
Askeladd has a sense of honor, but he’ll quickly suspend it if he must, such as when he had his archers rain fire on Thors during their duel in the Faroe Islands. Also, Askeladd gladly raided and pillaged across England to keep his platoon fed, and he personally slew King Sweyn to protect Wales from his plans. Askeladd is truly ruthless.
5 Demon Lord Clayman Used Many Tricks To Fight Rimuru (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)
Unsurprisingly, many anime villains who will do anything to win tend to be ruthless schemers with no sense of honor. Heroes and villains alike will restrain and regulate their own behavior for the sake of honor and chivalry, but hornless villains like Demon Lord Clayman follow no such rules.
Without a sense of honor or fairness, Clayman feels free to do absolutely anything he can think of to get what he wants, and most of all, he wants Rimuru the isekai hero dead. He tried to control Demon Lord Milim and threw away countless allies to fight Rimuru’s army, and he even tried to convince the other Demon Lords to oppose Rimuru as well. He stopped at nothing.
4 Princess Malty Loved To Lie (The Rising Of The Shield Hero)
Princess Malty ranks among the most hated anime characters of all time, and it’s easy to see why. Princess Malty and her father, the king of Melromarc, conspired to have Naofumi the shield hero taken down. Malty falsely accused Naofumi of a dreadful crime to get him exiled, and it worked.
This proves that Malty has no honor or sense of justice, and she is quite ruthless as well. She stuck to her story no matter what, and given the chance, she would lie about and betray anyone else if it meant getting her way. At least her mother and little sister are honest and honorable.
3 All For One Will Stop At Nothing (My Hero Academia)
All For One is an entire army in one, an ancient man who has hundreds of Quirks at his disposal thanks to his ability to steal other people’s Quirks at will. In the early days, All For One slyly helped people gain and lose Quirks as desired, thus earning those peoples’ favor. AFO soon had a loyal legion.
More recently, AFO did everything from fighting All Might personally to creating the dreadful Nomus to manipulating a young Tenko Shimura to mold him into the new symbol of evil in the making. In recent manga chapters, he also put an explosive in Lady Nagant and cruelly manipulated Yuga Aoyama into doing his bidding.
2 Orochimaru Is A Mad Scientist (Naruto)
Orochimaru is a villainous mad scientist who will perform any experiment on himself or other ninjas if it means unlocking immortality and ultimate power. Orochimaru has no sense of honor or restraint, and thus, will do anything to get what he wants.
Orochimaru did it all: he used the Edo Tensei, founded the Hidden Sound Village as his base, threw the Sound genin at Sasuke, tried to steal Sasuke’s body, and even killed the Kazekage before manipulating the Sand Village into attacking the Leaf Village with his forces. Nothing is off-limits in Orochimaru’s mind.
1 Sir Crocodile Nearly Ruined Alabasta (One Piece)
During the Baroque Works story arc, Sir Crocodile was a truly ruthless anime villain who resorted to any means to get what he wanted — the secrets to building the Pluton, a long-lost superweapon. He needed to read the poneglyphs in the Alabasta Kingdom, so he launched a campaign to ruin that kingdom.
Crocodile dispatched many powerful devil fruit users to achieve his goal, and he even tried to kill Nico Robin after she read the poneglyphs for her boss. Crocodile also instigated a dreadful civil war and fought Luffy to the bitter end. He even resorted to using a poisoned hook, his idea of respecting Luffy as a fellow pirate.
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