Shonen anime villains have evolved past the point where they were faceless monsters devoid of personality or some semblance of humanity. These days— and even in some instances in the past, they’ve become frighteningly more relatable. Just as the shonen protagonist is the perfect paragon of positivity, the villains have come to represent some negative but familiar human notions.
As a result, they’re more often than not, unforgettable. Some of these villains are so well-written, the words they say and not just the actions they do have come to immortalize them even though they’ve fallen in combat thanks to the power of friendship or shonen protagonist shouts. These anime villains exemplify charisma and confidence more than anything else even in their final moments.
10 Askeladd - Vinland Saga
- “Move forward already… Become a true warrior.”
Some might argue that Vinland Saga is seinen, not shonen, but it actually started off in the shonen category of Japanese manga. Even in the anime, there are still plenty of traces of shonen elements, particularly in the fights. In any case, Askeladd is the sole reason why this anime deserved to be here.
His relationship with Thorfinn, the protagonist, is weird since he also acts as his surrogate father after he killed the poor boy’s real dad. In any case, Thorfinn wanted revenge but was robbed of it after Askeladd was killed by someone else. In his dying breath, he still managed to straighten up Thorfinn and while he wasn’t the vengeful Viking boy’s father, he sure was his daddy.
9 Obito Uchiha - Naruto Shippuden
- “You better become Hokage!”
Obito Uchiha’s life was tragic and wrought with countless struggles thanks to his dysfunctional and murderous ninja clan. Near the ultimate battle of Naruto Shippuden, however, he chose to help the good guys instead in the face of a more dire and monstrous villain that’s even worse than Madara Uchiha.
Obito gave up his life in order to shield Naruto and Kakashi against Kaguya’s attacks. He then thanks Naruto for reminding him of his true self way before the Uchiha shenanigans started ruining his life. Because like Naruto, Obito also wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha. In fact, their personality is quite similar.
8 Greed - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- “I hope I give you the runs, Dad!”
Greed is one of the many villains of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood who’s based on the Seven Deadly Sins. He certainly lives up to his name as he mostly consumes and takes over other people’s bodies when he’s not carrying out Father’s will. At times, he even indulges himself in pleasures associated with his Homonculi name.
Then he got slammed back down to reality after Father betrayed him and consumed him because such was Father’s nature. Near his death, however, Greed had a bit of an epiphany and even tried to save the host body he inhabits before throwing a hopeful curse at his father which is that quote above.
7 Vicious - Cowboy Bebop
- “As you wish.”
All Cowboy Bebop characters have poise and act with the suaveness of a Jazz band. Heck, even some of the best villains in the series share this trait with the heroes, and Vicious, Spike Spiegel’s nemesis, is no exception. He’s about as cool and collected as Spike himself.
Thus, when Spike invited Vicious to a final duel since they both lost their ex-lover, Julia, there was no other decision to be made. Vicious obliged Spike and the two of them fought to the death. They even respected each other enough to hand over each other’s weapons after getting disarmed. Now that’s rivalry!
6 Legato Bluesummers - Trigun
- “Worthless human being. Just like me. But unlike you.”
As a villain, Letato Bluesummers is an unconventional one. He wasn’t trying to conquer the world or kill the protagonist. Instead, he was trying to get the pacifistic protagonist, Vash the Stampeded, to kill him. Because Vash is pretty much the gunslinger equivalent of Rurouni Kenshin— he’s vowed to uphold a creed where he won’t take another’s life after slaughtering too many in the past.
Sadly, Legato has some nifty mind-control powers and while he couldn’t force Vash to kill him with it due to the latter’s willpower, he still manipulated him by putting Vash’s friends in danger. In the end, Legato won despite his death. His last words forever haunted Vash as he was mocking Vash’s friends and admiring the protagonist’s ability to become a weapon of mass destruction.
5 Shishio Makoto - Rurouni Kenshin
- “The weak are food for the strong! So die and let me feast!”
This is something some edgy teenage kids would have loved parroting, especially after having read Nietzsche on the surface level but one cannot deny just how confident Shishio Makoto is in his terrible beliefs. During his final fight with Kenshin Himura, his ideology was unfaltering and as destructive as ever.
Shishio exists to show everything that was wrong in medieval societies where the strong ruled the weak and justice was settled through the pointy end of a sword. Even though Kenshin and his friends defeated him, he still proved to be a powerful swordsman capable of taking on three of the show’s best fighters.
4 Frieza - Dragon Ball Z
- “Poor stupid Saiyan, you honestly think you’ve won? Your puny mind could never understand. I am Frieza, the most powerful being in the universe. And you are nothing but a beast! A fragile animal! You can’t win, because I am mighty and you are not. Now learn… Learn what happens when you mess with the most powerful being in the universe!!!”
Then there are some anime villains who simply won’t give up despite losing fair and square. Frieza from Dragon Ball Z is so convinced of his own superiority even against the Saiyan that he fired off an equivalent of a sucker punch despite only having a third of his body remaining.
This ended up in Goku kamehamehing him to death— a course of action our hero didn’t originally intend since he was convinced that Frieza could change after losing. Too bad Frieza did have Cell or Bu’s healing factor.
3 Gendo Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion
- “And so this is my retribution. Forgive me, Shinji…”
For the winner of the best anime Father of the Year award, here’s Gendo Ikari, forever cultivating dysfunctional children so he can have them pilot messed-up robots. That’s how bleak the original Neon Genesis Evangelion was. Its ending movie, End of Evangelion, finally sees him get his much-deserved punishment.
Truth be told, that ending is probably outdated or not a widely accepted canon anymore considering the most recent films, but it featured a rather tame death for Gendo. Shinji’s EVA simply consumed him but in true Gendo fashion, he was rather calm about it. Fair enough.
2 Dio Brando - JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
- “What the hell? It’s impossible! I am the immortal Dio! I am Dio!”
He might be Dio Brando, but that’s also his weakness. Dio is obscenely arrogant and sure of his Stand powers that he often underestimates his nemesis, Jotaro Kujo. So in their final battle, Jotaro pulled off his most clever moves against Dio and gave the blond villain a taste of his own medicine.
Jotaro’s Star Platinum was able to shatter Dio’s The World with a kick, thus killing Dio in the process. Much like Frieza, Dio is in disbelief that someone initially weaker than him won the fight.
1 Light Yagami - Death Note
- “Somebody… What in the world should I…”
For some anime fans, this probably isn’t a cool line but the context behind it makes it worthy of this list. Light Yagami was convinced that he’s a god dealing out murderous justice by killing criminals with his Death Note. Ultimately, this sort of pride also led to his downfall after two genius detectives ganged up on him, leading to Light getting cornered by the police.
Ryuk then did the honors of writing Light in his own Death Note, killing him. This brought Light back down to reality—he was no better than the typical meat sack of a human and was just playing god. After a whole series of being a repulsive manipulator with seemingly no emotions, he finally shows what little humanity he has left in his panic and fear of death. It’s also the most relatable line he says both in the manga and the show.
