This article was originally published on absolutelyconnected.com and has been republished here with permission.
The key qualities of a great anime villain are backstory, attitude and motivation, but none of them matter until the villain poses a credible danger – especially in anime where superpowers are abundant. With this in consideration, let’s analyze some of the most powerful anime villains. Madara Uchiha of Naruto is a well-known example of a great ninja who took on the Shinobi Alliance without putting much effort after being resurrected. There is also Fate’s Gilgamesh, who carries a sword so powerful that it could easily destroy the Earth. Baki The Grappler’s Yujiro Hanma is also a strong oponent: he has mastered every kind of non-lethal warfare and is trusted by governments all over the world to carry out assassination missions.
39. Washijo Tanji – Haikyuu
In Haikuyuu, the antagonists are just players who want to win, even if they can be irritating or blunt about it, which is why it’s difficult to call anyone a villain.
Washijo Tanji, on the other hand, would be a perfect fit for the character of a villain in the show. He is as cutthroat as they come in volleyball, placing a premium on height above everything else.
38. Yano – ‘Odd Taxi’
Yano, the wicked porcupine, is unlike any other character in the series. While Yano may appear to be a minor villain at first in Odd Taxi, there is no disputing that by the end of the film, he has stolen the show. This 27-year-old criminal is both cunning and brutal, unconcerned about who he has to harm in order to advance in the Yakuza ranks.
Running badger games, kidnapping, and torturing are just a few of his accomplishments during the first season of the show. He weirdly also raps about everything the entire time he is doing all of this.
37. Rachel – ‘Tower of God’
The best antagonists in anime are usually the ones you don’t see coming, which is doubly true when they’re the protagonist’s friend, the reason for living, and love interest. That’s why Rachel is so wonderfully horrible at the end of season one of Tower of God.
When Bam discovers it is Rachel, he forgives her and wants to help her. However, Rachel has been insane since first meeting Bam, since she was envious of his innate powers with Shinsu magic and even his ability for making friends. Because she fears he will abandon her, she decides to try to kill him.
36. Bryan Hawk – Hajime no Ippo: Rising
Bryan Hawk is everything Hajime no Ippo fans have come to accept about series regular Takamura cranked up to 11.
Hawk revels in disrespecting his opponent and the sport at every turn, presenting himself as Takamura’s barrier to entry into the world championship. He ignores his training, fights civilians whenever he wants, and takes joy in insulting everyone. Worse, he possesses the necessary talent to back it up.
35. Funny Valentine – ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’
Funny Valentine possesses significant political influence in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s reality as President of the United States. But, owing to his Stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, he can manipulate reality by hopping dimensions, and also the concept of misfortune itself, directing all sorrow away from himself and onto other people.
Despite his patriotism, he’s willing to go to any length to acquire what he wants, no matter how immoral it is. He’s hell-bent on obtaining the Corpse pieces by any means necessary, although his preferred method is dispatching his troops to kill and bring the parts back to him.
34. The Beast Titan – ‘Attack On Titan’
The Beast Titan is one of the Nine Titans. It has a unique ape-like appearance and is slightly larger than most Titans. He is 17 meters tall. It is currently in the possession of Zeke Jaeger, and first appeared during the invasion of Wall Rose. Throughout the conflict, the Beast Titan serves as the Titan forces’ commander.
He defeats his contenders due to his ability to hurl massive rocks with ease and precision, as well as his defensive hardening. But he has even more horrifying abilities: he can turn Ymir’s followers into Titans and control their conduct to some extent.
33. Garou – ‘One Punch Man’
Garou is an example of what happens when society is cruel to children, resulting in them becoming monsters. Garou was never chosen as a hero when he was younger and thus, he came to identify with the monster’s suffering of continually losing on TV.
Garou took this to a new level as he grew older, developing his martial arts talents to the point where he was virtually unstoppable and employing them to become the ultimate monster. He gets so deadly that a number of the association’s highest-ranking heroes gather together to attack him while he’s injured, yet he still triumphs.
32. En – Dorohedoro
Dorohedoro is a show about a lizard-man named Caiman who is striving to track down the wizard who cursed him in order to reclaim his former body. To do so, he must insert them inside his mouth and show them to the guy who lives in there.
The actual beauty of the program, though, is that even the wicked Wizards, like En, have some down to earth traits.
31. Accelerator – ‘A Certain Magical Index’
Accelerator isn’t particularly strong, but he has abilities based on Vector Transformation. Vector Change and Vector Conversion allow him to control vectors (magnitude and direction) and influence objects that have vectors such as bullets, heat, and electricity.
He can reverse the vectors of anything that comes at him with his passive ability Redirection, making him nearly impossible to hit. Vector Manipulation, his more active skill, allows him to do everything from cause earthquakes to rewire someone’s neurological system and manipulate their blood. While fighting, he invokes fear and is quite sadistic. He only believes in power and trusts no one.
30. Light Yagami – ‘Death Note’
Light isn’t the most powerful in terms of physical strength. He makes up for it, though, with his formidable intellect and otherworldly talent, the Death Note. He can eliminate anyone whose name and face he recognizes by using the notepad.
Light is a cold-blooded psychopath who is only motivated by his vehement hatred of criminals and is willing to go to any length to become a living divinity. He has a self-centered disposition, as he constructed Kira’s identity in order to head a cult devoted to himself, despite the fact that his followers had no idea he was their savior.
29. Naraku – ‘Inuyasha’
Naraku is the most well-known villain in the Inuyasha universe, and he is responsible for practically all of the protagonists’ problems. He can call wasps from hell, generate toxic miasmas, reconstruct and mend his own body, absorb the powers of other demons, graft himself to his minions or lie dormant in their bodies.
Above all, Naraku is power-hungry and egotistical, demanding nothing more than absolute domination over others. Despite being a hany himself, he had nothing but hatred and disgust for all other species and felt himself superior in every way, as seen by practically all of his scathing remarks
28. Esdeath – ‘Akame ga KILL’
You know you earned a spot on this list when you are capable of mowing down 100,000 warriors on your own, including ten teigu users. When it comes to fighting, Esdeath, the Jaegers’ leader, is an absolute beast. She becomes much more terrifying when she introduces her own teigu, which allows her to manipulate ice and even produce ice warriors that she can command.
Esdeath is a vicious, brutal, and murderous individual who lacks empathy for those individuals she regards as weak. She rationalizes her immoral behavior with her father’s old creed: “The strong survive and the weak perish.”
27. Crocodile – One Piece
Crocodile has a sense of style, is intelligent, and can be rather threatening when he wants to be. Crocodile, unlike many of the other villains on this list, earns points because he isn’t the worst person on the globe.
During the Marineford storyline, he saves Luffy and Ace from certain death. He is clearly bad, always opposing Luffy and his companions, yet he isn’t a cliche villain who wants to dominate the world.
26. Gendo Ikari – Evangelion Series
Gendo Ikari, a regular contender and even winner of “Worst Anime Dad of All Time,” is everything a father or human shouldn’t be.
Following the death of his wife, Gendo abandons his son Shinji, but when he finds that Shinji is the key to operating the EVA Unit 01 and fighting huge alien monsters known as Angels, he contacts him again. Despite Shinji’s apprehensions, Gendo persists in pressuring him until he agrees.
25. Acnologia – ‘Fairy Tail’
Acnologia, according to Zeref, has the power to take over the globe – and he’s probably correct. He is a pioneer of Dragon Slayer Magic, which he employs to literally reap the souls of dragons. He also has healing skills, the ability to fly, super-strength, and more magic than his body can hold.
Acnologia is extremely dangerous, malevolent and temperamental towards dragons, so he respectively scrutinizes them as infinitesimal. According to Zeref’s words about Acnologia, “he [saw] them as nothing more than insects pestering him” despite originally being a human himself and preferring his original human form in a casual instance.
24. Ryô Asuka – Devilman Crybaby
Ryô Asuka, the sociopathic yin to Akira “Devilman” Fudo’s sympathetic yang, is the polar opposite of his companion. Ryô enjoys manipulating, killing, and generally harming others because it’s what he wants and feels is right. He only cares about Akira and is driven by his own self-interests.
For most of the series, this entails dragging Akira and the rest of humanity into his irrational urge to reveal demons’ existence.
23. Mahito – JuJutsu Kaisen
While it’s clear that cursed spirits, like humans, seek to live a full and free life in line with their own beliefs, this doesn’t excuse Mahito’s heinous crimes in JuJutsu Kaisen.
Since the arrival of this blue-haired, stitched-up spirit on the scene in the program, nothing but awful has happened. He installs the Sukuna finger at Junpei’s residence in a few brief episodes, causing her to be killed by an evil spirit.
22. Yujiro Hanma – ‘Baki The Grappler’
It’s not always sophisticated powers that make a villain genuinely powerful; sometimes it’s muscle. Yujiro is a mercenary who works for numerous nations doing their dirty work. His fighting style is both varied and dangerous, thanks to his mastery of all forms of unarmed combat.
He’s recognized for being an amoral lunatic who commits the most heinous crimes, capable of murdering a large number of people without remorse. Before Jack Hanma’s birth, multiple sequences show him destroying large groups of troops, frequently bending their firearms in a sadistic display of force before killing them. He has also neglected his son.
21. Walter C. Dornez – Hellsing
Walter Dornez became a popular favorite throughout the Hellsing series, as the butler’s banter with Alucard and his devotion to Integra made for a great character.
However, as the show progresses, we find that the vampire’s jealousy has grown too strong, leading him to millennia and a path toward villainy. Walter eventually finds himself confronting Alucard and Integra, attempting to kill the vampire in a 1 on 1 battle.
20. Johan Liebert – Monster
Monster is the type of show that lulls viewers into complacency before dropping the hammer, so it’s no wonder that Johan Liebert, the show’s villain, does the same.
Johan is unassuming in nearly every way, and practically everyone he meets ignores or forgets him. Sure, some people might remember seeing him here and there, but he can blend in and disappear whenever he wants. However, this is exactly what he prefers.
19. Gotou – ‘Parasyte ~The Maxim~’
Gotou is a parasite-infested man with five distinct parasites on his body. They don’t make him sick, they give him the strength of five other super-powered monsters bundled into one. He can also change his body considerably, morphing it into a variety of bladed weapons or hardening it for defense.
He’s one of the more intelligent of his kind. He has a superior attitude toward humans, believing that they are insignificant. In combat, he shows no remorse, dismembering his opponents without hesitation. In his transformed state, his thoughts become more primitive, focusing solely on survival and exterminating the human race.
18. Marshall “Blackbeard” Teach – ‘One Piece’
Blackbeard, like Luffy, wants to be the Pirate King, but he is willing to inflict a lot more harm to innocent people in order to achieve that goal. This guy is not only incredibly strong, but he also has two Devil Fruit abilities: the Quake-Quake Fruit, which allows him to generate earthquakes, and the Dark-Dark Fruit, which allows him to control darkness.
He’s power-hungry and greedy. In order to recruit only the best convicts in Impel Down as companions, he devised a brutal method: he ordered them to murder each other and would only accept the strongest ones who survived.
17. Frieza – ‘Dragon Ball’
Despite not appearing until the manga’s second half, Frieza is considered to be the most iconic villain from the Dragon Ball franchise. He effectively served as the main catalyst of many of the events depicted in the story, due to the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld Planet Vegeta at his hands.
During the Namek and Frieza sagas, Frieza willingly assisted Goku and the rest of the Z warriors in reaching tremendous new heights, before reappearing in Resurrection ‘F’ in a dazzling new form. The renowned villain even teamed up with Goku and his allies in the Tournament of Power storyline.
16. All For One – ‘My Hero Academia’
All For One is a key antagonist in My Hero Academia. Despite the fact that he has been imprisoned for quite some time, he is still working behind the scenes to get Shigaraki to do his will. His ability, which bears his name, allows him to take other people’s powers indefinitely.
All For One is a psychopathic character with perverted ideas who will go to any length to establish his influence throughout Japan, including manipulating and exploiting others for his own gain. He says that justice and morality do not adhere to reality, hence he does not believe in them.
15. Griffith – ‘Berserk’
Griffith possessed the powers of an ordinary skilled fighter before sacrificing a member of the Band of the Hawk to become Femto. As he transforms into Femto, he gains the ability to bend reality, defy gravity, and even manipulate causality. In essence, the man transforms into a god, but at a great price.
All traces of his morality, feelings were utterly wiped after he was resurrected as Femto. Griffith has evolved into a selfish, heartless, pitiless, remorseless, indifferent, and sadistic monster, viewing Guts and the Hawks as nothing more than tools that he discards when they are no longer useful.
14. Gilgamesh – ‘Fate/Zero’
Gilgamesh is one of the most powerful characters in the Fate universe as an Archer-class Servant of Tokiomi Tohsaka in the Fourth Holy Grail War. He has access to a vast armory of weapons, the most powerful of which is Ea, a sword capable of destroying the entire planet and capable of physically creating it by slicing it away from heaven.
Gilgamesh is a manipulative, arrogant, and selfish character who claims ownership of the entire universe and claims to be the one and only monarch. He refuses to recognise anyone’s authority, including that of the gods. He is quite dangerous.
13. Dio Brando – ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’
Dio Brando is the major villain in the JoJo saga, so it’s only natural that he would be one of the strongest. His Stand, The World, allows him to freeze time for everyone except himself, allowing him to crush opponents before they even realize what’s going on. He has an insatiable hunger for power.
Dio is revealed to be an ambitious megalomaniac. He will go to any length to obtain what he wants, even if it involves stomping people, as he did to Jonathan Joestar when they were both children. He also gave up his humanity to become a vampire.
12. Father – ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’
Father, who began as a small dwarf in a flask, rapidly gathered an incredible amount of power. He acquires the ability to do alchemy while avoiding the law of comparable exchange after sacrificing Xerxes’ people. This enables him to make everything from homunculi to a small sun.
As a result, he considers humanity to be insignificant and treats people with apathy. He has carried out numerous gruesome massacres, killing hundreds of thousands and trapped their souls in eternal pain, and he would have killed millions without hesitation if he could not face the thought of losing control of the situation.
11. Touichirou Suzuki – ‘Mob Psycho II’
Since middle school, this formidable Esper has excelled in all he has attempted, owing to his natural magical abilities. Suzuki’s psychic abilities grew stronger over time, prompting him to rely on them more and more, giving him confidence along the way. He became increasingly brazen as he grew older, acting exactly the opposite of Mob and believing that his power made him untouchable.
As a result, he plots world dominance and establishes Claw for that aim. He manipulates,and kidnaps Espers over the following 20 years to assemble an army to achieve his goal of world dominance at any cost.
10. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki – ‘Naruto’
Naruto’s ultimate opponent is Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. While she doesn’t get as much attention for her strength as Madara does, she possesses it in spades. She is an alien who ate the Chakra Fruit and got godlike abilities, as well as being essential in humanity acquiring chakra access.
She can survive in space, travel between dimensions, master all sorts of doujutsu and chakra-based techniques, and alter reality to her will, among other talents. Her one major flaw is that she does not anticipate anyone to be anywhere close to as strong as she is, thus she occasionally overlooks strategy or technique.
9. The Demon King – ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’
The Demon King is the ruler of the Demon Clan, as well as the one who handpicked the Ten Commandments and granted them their Commandments. He’s the main antagonist in the series. The Ruler, his hallmark ability, allows him to heal from any attack directed at him, including Meliodas’ Full Counter.
He’s ridiculously strong, appears to be immortal, and is capable of everything from sword fighting to enslaving people with darkness and laying curses on them. He is also the father of Meliodas and Zeldris, two of the most powerful demons and the two strongest members of the Ten Commandments.
8. Kyubey – ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica’
Kyubey is the main antagonist in the series, and is a Magic Incubator/Messenger. As a result, he (like his race) is unable to express any emotions, consequently he’s frequently depicted as cold, arrogant, calculated, and plotting, characteristics that make him appear villainous in the anime.
Kyubey may appear weak, but they have the ability to bend reality to their desire. Kyubey can grant any wish a person desires, ranging from curing physical wounds to turning a girl into a god, in order to convince young girls to fight witches. Kyubey’s only goal is to preserve the universe from entropy.
7. Ainz Ooal Gown – ‘Overlord’
Ainz Ooal Gown, formerly known as Momonga, is the main protagonist villain of the Overlord series. Momonga becomes a big skeleton master of an evil guild after becoming trapped in a video game, and he has so many powers that he unquestionably qualifies to appear on this list.
He has his own pocket dimension, can utilize Super Tier Magic, is a Level 100 warrior, and once cast a spell that wiped out 70,000 soldiers in one hit. This is a shortened version of a long list of abilities; this nasty bag of bones is not to be taken lightly.
6. Meruem – ‘Hunter x Hunter’
Meruem is the Chimera Ant King, making him by far the most powerful Chimera Ant. He killed a lot of other Chimera Ants right after he was born just for the fun of it. Aura Synthesis, his most notable ability, enables him to absorb other people’s Nen abilities by digesting their bodies.
He’s a cruel, vicious, and aggressive leader. Meruem’s mindset reflects the Queen’s desire to give birth to a flawless progeny, with the Ant being scornful of everybody. He considers himself superior to all other forms of life and felt no empathy for his dying mother after his birth.
5. Yhwach – ‘Bleach’
Although Aizen is the most well-known of the Bleach villains, Yhwach is to be reckoned with as well. He is a powerful Quincy with an incredible lineage – he’s the son of the Soul King. He has the ability to anticipate and change the future, collect energy from the atmosphere and weaponize it, claim other people’s abilities as his own, and bestow bits of his soul on others.
When Yhwach believed that his subordinates were no longer useful, he would kill them. He used Auswählen to usurp powers from his subordinates during the war against Soul Reapers, murdering many of them.
4. Madara Uchiha – ‘Naruto’
Madara Uchiha is the ultimate fighter, as evidenced by his ability to not only defeat the entire Shinobi Alliance, but also to carry out his Infinite Tsukuyomi plan. His Eternal Mangekyou and Rinnegan provide him a plethora of abilities that, when combined with his physical strength, make him nigh unbeatable.
Madara was born with extremely powerful chakra, even by Uchiha norms, regarded as demonic. This is partly due to the fact that he inherited Indra’s chakra. His huge chakra reserves enable him to fight uninterrupted for twenty-four hours before finally collapsing, and summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
3. Boros – ‘One Punch Man’
It’s difficult to compare the strength of One Punch Man’s antagonists to those found in other anime because of Saitama’s tremendous and unfathomable might. Boros, on the other hand, is easily the most powerful of the other One Punch Man adversaries, and is one of the few who has come close to testing Saitama’s real strength.
Boros manages to punch Saitama through multiple pillars during their fight, generating a massive dust explosion. More impressively, the villain survived a straight punch from Saitama’s Meteoric Burst form and regenerated almost instantaneously after being blown to bits by the hero’s Consecutive Normal Punches.
2. Sōsuke Aizen – ‘Bleach’
If there’s someone who deserves to be on this list, it’s the king of betrayal. He possesses a vast range of abilities, including teleportation, sensory manipulation, regeneration, and raw fighting prowess, in addition to being frighteningly smart and cruel.
He appears gentle in his manner of speaking, however it’s only a ruse to hide his dangerously manipulative character. In reality, he doesn’t care about his subordinates at all and is willing to use practically anyone as a pawn to achieve his objectives. He’s willing to go to any length to achieve his goals, including manipulating or killing others if necessary.
1. Beerus – ‘Dragon Ball Super’
Beerus is so powerful as a God of Destruction that even Goku could not touch him during their first meeting. Despite his appearance and behavior, he is capable of destroying entire universes with a single thought. He doesn’t stay in the villain category the entire time, but he’s certainly one of the most powerful villains ever.
Beerus earned his status as a destroyer, unlike the Kai and Supreme Kai, who were born with godly ki and were destined to be deities. Beerus demonstrated his strength and was granted the ability to destroy in order to assist maintain the universe’s equilibrium.