Favorite Anime

[Spark Of Spirit]

But Light is a hero!



Seriously, good list.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks!

What would your favorite anime villains list look like, if you don't mind me asking?   

[Spark Of Spirit]

It would be a hard list to pin down, honestly. I could try and stretch for 16. In no order, they would be:

Millions Knives (Trigun)
-The perfect counter-point and flipside to Vash drowning in his own small world and ego.

Legato Bluesummers (Trigun)
-The man without free-will who can control will, hates the world but himself more, and wishes to end everything but would much rather end himself first, Legato is a mass of contradictions which makes him an interesting character to try and figure out.

Shishio Makoto (Rurouni Kenshin)
-The corpse of the past that refuses to die. Shishio represents everything left behind in the old era and everything Kenshin must destroy before the world can move on from the war. It's controversial, but the fact that he killed himself in his own rage is the best possible way that it could have ended. Shishio was already dead, and so did everything he represented.

Seta Soujiro (Rurouni Kenshin)
-He became an excellent killing machine by simply pretending that nothing and nobody mattered. He covered everything up which allowed him no conscience, no guilt, and no fear. But, he was weak. He was not beaten by the sword, but by the realization that he was a horrible human being that had no future because he erased his past. For manga or anime, such a villain is rather uncommon, but in Rurouni Kenshin he fits right in.

Yukishiro Einishi (Rurouni Kenshin)
-He's a brat, self-concerned, and lacks any sort of depth because of his narrow focus to kill Kenshin. Despite all this, he is the last stumbling block for Kenshin before he can move on with his life. Einishi represents everything Kenshin tried to bury (like Soujiro) that has arisen to finally confront him. Einishi is shallow because he has no character, he has no character because he is simpleminded in his empty-headed goal of crushing one man. He's a lot like Knives in that way, only Einishi poisoned himself with revenge and not the meaninglessness that Knives did.

Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho)
-How can one man be so smart, yet so narrow-minded in such important matters? Sensui is obsessed with being right, not doing the right things. He has to, has to, be the good guy and the one sending the villains to the guillotine. The problem is he's unbalanced, unable to discern anything from broad strokes, and is completely unaware of what good and evil actually are. For someone so smart, that one flaw makes him so highly dangerous.

The Toguro Bros. (Yu Yu Hakusho)
-The brothers who sold their souls for the shell of an immortality. The thing that makes them interesting is how different their paths were. Elder Toguro lost his mind as well as his soul to bloodlust and Younger Toguro lost himself to the despair of never being able to die (which is what he clearly wanted above all) and yet they also end up having separate fates. Younger Toguro dies and falls into purgatory with the chance of one day regaining his soul again while Elder Toguro falls his immortality to an endless and mindless loop of bloodshed (which is what he wanted) that will never end. For shonen villains, they are remarkably fleshed out.

Manjoume Inshu (20th Century Boys)
-One of Urasawa's best villains, Manjoume has always been my favorite character in 20th Century Boys. Manjoume is simply a con-man who simply wants something he can grab onto bigger than himself and in the process ends up cobbling together a monster of his own goals. What always got me about him was how he grew throughout the story to realizing the dead-end of his goals and even trapping himself in the past where things "were at their best", when, obviously, they were not- he was fairly miserable back then. Manjoume is responsible for forming Friend andis responsible for the mad world he created and wanted so desperately to escape... to which he did.

Johan Leibert (Monster)
-How important is it for you to know who you are? It only means everything.

Rin Kobayashi (Please Save My Earth)
-Manipulator, liar, hateful wanderer, and childish pest. Alienated and forgotten, not once, but twice, and is ready to show the world how little he is willing to put up with its garbage anymore. Now nobody will stop him from accomplishing whatever it is he wants to do. They have no right to stop him, and they never will. Rin is a powerful psychic with the goal of making a world that is the perfect one he imagined long ago- the world that earth is not. Despite the selfish and shallow things he does, you can't help but feel there's someone in there that wants to be stopped and only wants to go home again.

Askeladd (Vinland Saga)
-Askeladd represents the worst of the world in all of its vices and greed, he is vicious, cunning, and merciless. Thorfinn spends most of the first arc of the story trying to kill him, and after a twist in the same vein as Shishio, learns that killing Askeladd is not really possible (to explain more would be a spoiler) but is able to be the final push to make Thorfinn learn that his hatred of Askeladd is not too dissimilar from his own self-hatred, and the step he needs to move on.

Griffith (Berserk)
-Mostly for his Golden Age appearance up to his "wish". Griffith could have stopped at any time, he could have had a good life, he could have been a good person. But it wasn't enough for him. He needs to be king, to rule, and why? Because he believes he is above everybody else. I don't really enjoy Berserk on a character level (mostly on the world lore), but Griffith was always the most interesting and it is a shame that he might never really develop at the rate Miura is going.

Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
-Tenacious. Obviously I can't really list him past Namek, but that's mainly where I'm putting him. The last remnant of a proud race resorted to scrounging and manipulating to get ahead. He might not be the deepest villain, but he sure is a good one.

Vicious (Cowboy Bebop)
-A man decayed. While it would be hard to list any Bebop characters as heroes seeing as they're bounty hunters, the clear villain is the empty shell known as Vicious. All he really is is a psychopath with a sword, but as a reminder of the past Spike can't leave behind he is quite effective.

Principal Hiroshi Uchiyamada (GTO)
-I've never felt so sorry for a character that is so hard to like. But man, Uchiyamada is such a hysterical character and great foil to Onizuka that you can't help but smile every time he shows up. I know he technically isn't a villain (being that GTO is a comedy), but his lesser traits do lead to a lot of the story's best material so I'm including him.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Excellent list! I pretty much love all those characters, and you've summed up some of the reasons why they are so great perfectly. Rin is the only one on your list I don't know, since I haven't gotten to watch or read Please Save My Earth! yet, but I've heard and read good things about his character, and I love child villains, so I'm sure once I get to that series he'd become a favorite as mine as well.

I'll also add that Manjome and Askeladd were on my list at one point, but I decided the list was getting too big so I had to cut them out (alongside some other favs of mine like Tetsuo and Rock Holmes). They are awesome characters though, and some of my favorites from both those series. Elder Toguro is also an old favorite of mine for just how despicable he is, while I think Soujiro was a fascinating character and probably the third best villain in Kenshin.

As for Vegeta, because he becomes a hero by the end of the story, I didn't want to put him in my list. But I will say that his role in the Saiyan and Namek arcs was excellent and exactly what I like from a great villain, and that plus the character development he receives in the Buu saga are a lot of what makes him my favorite character in all of Dragon Ball.

And Uchiyamada is one of the most wonderfully hilarious obnoxious yet sympathetic characters I've seen in manga.  Stories that featured him prominently tended to be some of my favorites when I was reading GTO. He's easily my second favorite character in GTO, after Onizuka himself. Like Ran from Urusei Yatsura, though, he's not really a villain despite usually being put in a antagonistic role, so I left him off my own list. That said, he's definitely one of the best comedy antagonists around. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

For Please Save My Earth I recommend watching the OVA first. It'll give you a good dose of what the story is basically about.

I also thought about Rock (he's such a strange character in how he's used, isn't he?) and Tetsuo, but they just missed the cut.

But I also have a hard time listing a villain if the hero isn't a great foil to him. Otherwise, you end up wanting the good guy to fail, and what's the point of that? (Note: I don't mean characters like Light who are not good guys at all, I mean actual good guys.)

[LumRanmaYasha]

For Please Save My Earth I recommend watching the OVA first. It'll give you a good dose of what the story is basically about.

Will do. 

I also thought about Rock (he's such a strange character in how he's used, isn't he?) and Tetsuo, but they just missed the cut.

Yeah, Rock is definitely one of Tezuka most interesting characters in how he was used over time. There was article over at tezukainenglish.com that did a great job detailing his transformation from boyhood hero to one of the most complicated and nuanced villains (and characters in general) in Tezuka's mangas. Sadly, I can't seem to find it now, but it was a great read. Maybe I'll write one myself once I've finished going through all of the Tezuka manga I can find in english.

\
But I also have a hard time listing a villain if the hero isn't a great foil to him. Otherwise, you end up wanting the good guy to fail, and what's the point of that? (Note: I don't mean characters like Light who are not good guys at all, I mean actual good guys.)

Yeah, if the hero and villain aren't a good match for each other, it's not really interesting to see either of them in conflict. Though, I'm curious as to what specific examples you are referring to, since I didn't have this problem when I was thinking of my choices, myself.

[VLordGTZ]

Favorite villains in no order

[LumRanmaYasha]

Great choices! 

Xellos is yet another character I forgot about, but he's one of Slayers' best. I'm also happy to see Rezo and Mogamett make your list as well. 

[gunswordfist]

I need to watch all of the Namek arc in DBZ Kai. I think I didn't appreciate Vegeta being his own 3rd side among the Z warriors and Frieza and his men. A dynamic like that is rarely seen in good anime.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The spring Viz Media anime survey is out, and there are questions about the Ranma 1/2 blu ray releases in it! 

[VLordGTZ]

I hope that question about "the first Rumiko Takahashi Series you watched" is hinting that Viz is considering giving Takahashi's other series the Ranma treatment.  I would kill to see a Maison Ikkoku blu-ray release and manga re-release.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I hope that question about "the first Rumiko Takahashi anime you saw" is hinting that Viz is considering giving Takahashi's other series the Ranma treatment.  I would kill to see a Maison Ikkoku blu-ray release and manga re-release.

Heh, I have to wonder/hope that if enough people answer with Urusei Yatsura they might consider license rescuing it. Having all of UY on blu ray in the U.S. (especially Beautiful Dreamer), would be amazing. But I'd also settle for the manga getting a full english release in the states too, of course.

But yes, I really hope that they give Maison Ikkoku a similar treatment. From what I can tell, the blu rays have been selling very well for them, so I hope that gives them the incentive to try it out with MI too.  We can only hope, right?

[LumRanmaYasha]

Set #2 is looking mighty fine! 

[gunswordfist]

10. S-CRY-Ed
9. Big O
8. Lupin
7. Trigun
6. Heat Guy J
5. Fist Of The Northstar
4. Yu yu Hakusho
3. Samurai Champloo
2. Fullmetal Alchemist
1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Baki's out of the top 5 or 6 for the first time. Second season is so low budget. Kind of like how cheap Guyver's last half of episodes were.

Finally found a list of old of mine that contained more than 5 entries. Updated: Note: I need to rewatch/watch every episode of all the shows that have not made this list

10. Rurouni Kenshin
9. Outlaw Star
8. Baki The Grappler
7. Heat Guy J
6. Fist Of The Northstar
5. Hunter X Hunter 2011
4. Hunter X Hunter 1999
3. Yu yu Hakusho
2. Fullmetal Alchemist
1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

[gunswordfist]

I still love this list.