Let’s face it, sometimes it’s the villain, the anime antagonist that makes a lot more sense than the hero. I know, that sounds super weird but bear with me here. Despite being the strongest anime characters in their universe, some anime villains have a lot more to them than what meets the eye.
So here, we’re about to talk about some of the best anime villains that didn’t start that way, being the very hero that people love and remember in the past that troubles them, even today.
5. Itachi Uchiha - Naruto
One of the strongest anime villains, strongest anime characters to be exact, Itachi Uchiha is one of those anime characters that don’t need much of an introduction. Being one of the most talented teens from the village, it wasn’t a surprise that the ANBU would soon be nothing but child’s play for this prodigy right here. But in order to become the strongest anime villain, you have to do the unthinkable, commit the forbidden act even if you don’t have much of a choice.
Made to choose his clan or the village, Itachi has had one of the worst teen years any anime antagonist has seen to date. Ensuring the safety of his brother, massacring his entire clan surely doesn’t pave the way for a future anime hero even if it’s the one and only Itachi Uchiha we’re talking about here.
But sometimes, you don’t have a choice. The world is cured and when you’re caught up in the darkness that has swallowed the higher ups as a whole, you’re going to go beyond the point of no return. Still considered as one of the top strongest anime characters, Itachi Uchiha would always live in the hearts of the fans no matter what!
Believe it!
4. Sensui Shinobu - Yu Yu Hakusho
But there are some things that make even the strongest of anime characters go berserk, all it takes is a mere glimpse. Coming across a human party where demons and monsters were being tortured, the very beings that Sensui had been keeping the mankind safe from, who’s even the predator at this point?
Disgusted and broken beyond belief by the torturous sight that tainted both his heart and his soul, Sensui just broke. Murdering each and every human being in that room in cold blood, it was that day the guy went from being the best spirit detective to the best anime villain in his universe in a second.
You can’t help but feel for the guy since someone like him didn’t deserve something like that, not even in a million years. But that very development ended up giving us one of the top anime villains so, can we even complain about anything?
3. Stain - My Hero Academia
Stain loathes heroes to no end and considering All Might as the only real hero out there, wants to kill the fakes no matter what. Being one of the best anime villains of the modern era, his short-lived stay in the series wouldn’t be forgotten at all.
His ideology, his beliefs and most of all the voice acting behind those lines just gave his character so much meaning and ended up with him making a lot more impact than most other characters in the My Hero Academia universe.
I’m pretty sure he'd have been a top anime hero in the series if it weren’t for that, even the most powerful anime character wasn’t that out of reach. But he took a different road and became the very monster the modern society worshiped without batting an eye.
2. Shinsuke Takasugi - Gintama
But despite his comrades all taking down different paths, none of them ended up as Takasugi, someone who just aimed for world destruction ever since he saw his sensei get decapitated by the hands of the very man he trusted his life with. Killing people left and right, building the best anime villain posse Gintama has seen to date, Takasugi is pretty up there when it comes to the best anime villains in Gintama.
Plus, the best part about that fact is how the anime sensed it from a mile away and gave the fans exactly what they wanted, bigger and better than ever!
1. Yagami Light - Death Note
Outsmarting the whole country at times, bringing us the perfect cat and mouse game we’ve seen ever since the tom and jerry days, Yagami Light is pretty high up there when it comes to anime villains. But at first, he just wanted to lower the crime rates, to make Japan a peaceful country, to cleanse the rotten souls that plague the nation.
But along the way, the thought of him becoming the god and doing whatever he deems necessary completely took over him, making him turn into the very monster that was using him to cure his boredom since day one. From being the best anime protagonist to one of the strongest anime villains over a span of a couple of episodes, Death Note was one hell of a ride.
