Anti-heroes add a layer of depth to the series that they’re apart of. While series likeDragon Ball, Naruto,andJoJo’s Bizarre Adventureall feature relatively normal main characters with heroic qualities, they also featuresome of the best anti-heroes in anime, showcasing a good guy who might not use the most noble methods to face true evil. Anti-heroes are characterized by their intentions, their actions, and the outcomes they’re left with.
While anti-heroes in anime come in all shapes and sizes, they often serve as a great contrast to another more righteous and noble hero. A true anti-hero might have some hint of altruism lurking in their hearts, but on the surface, they can appear as far more cold and self-interested. Unlike more traditional heroes, an anti-hero isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty and cross a moral line or two in order to achieve their goals. The best anti-heroes in anime often straddle the line between hero and villain, leaving fans to debate the morality of their actions long after the anti-hero’s anime ends.
After All Might’s reign came to an end, Endeavor became the new number one hero inMy Hero Academia.While they’re relatively similar in terms of strength, they couldn’t be less alike. All Might wanted to be the Symbol of Peace, smiling in battle and reassuring everyone who was worried about him by using one of thestrongest quirks in the series. Endeavor didn’t have the same luxury, and instead usedsheer force and brutalityto dominate his enemies. Unfortunately, his quest for power led him to neglecting or outright abusing his children.
My Hero Academia Easter Egg Reveals Where Tomura’s Name Actually Comes From (and Its Super Dark)
My Hero Academia villain, Tomura Shigaraki, already has a tragic backstory, and the origins of his name are equally as heartbreaking.
.
He’s an aggressive, power-hungry character who doesn’t take the time to reflect on his actions until much later in the series. Before he realizes the damage he’s caused to his family, he domineers them andforces them to grow strongerso that they can one day take the mantle of number one hero. Despite the pain he’s caused his loved ones, he fights for good, and all the other heroes are grateful for it. He’s a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and there aren’t many other characters in the series with the mental and physical durability of Enji Todoroki.
While most heroes are reluctant to fight their enemies,Revy couldn’t be more excited.Other main characters want to limit damage to their opposition as much as possible, but Revy doesn’t share the same pure of heart motivation. She loves gunning down her enemies, using a variety of pistols, rifles, grenade launchers, and more to blow them to smithereens. There might not be any other character in anime who relishes in their enemy’s defeat like Revy does.
She’s the main gunfighter in the Lagoon Company and the company couldn’t have gotten luckier. She has her own custom Berettas that have had the barrels extended for added lethality and even threaded the ends of them to include room for muzzle breaks, suppressors, and whatever else she needs to get the job done quickly, quietly, or just brutally.
Askeladd fromVinland Sagais an odd anti-hero because he starts the series as an anti-villain. He’s objectively the main villain of the prologue of the story, as he kills Thorfinn’s father Thors cruelly and unfairly. But he doesn’t have the qualities of a regular villain, as he also honors Thors request to let his crew go without harmand even raises Thorfinnthe best that a pirate captain could. As the series progresses, he becomes both Thorfinn’s most hated enemy and his most trusted ally, creating a wonderfully unique relationship.
Oddly enough, it seems that Askeladd truly wanted the best for Thorfinn, despite the anguish he caused the boy. He raised Thorfinn to beone of the strongest characters inVinland Sagawhen Thorfinn was still just a kid, giving him the tools he needed to survive in the cruel world of early England. Askeladd is a complicated character whose story arc only makesVinland Sagaeven more interesting because of his additions to it.
Lelouch vi Britannia has one of themost overpowered abilites in all anime. The Geass allowed him to essentially mind control anyone he was talking to and making eye contact with, giving him the ability to live with unchecked power and do exactly as he pleased. If it wasn’t for the Geass malfunctioning at the end of the first season, Lelouch could have gone his whole life without being stopped. It’s said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and there’s a strong argument to be made that Lelouch fell victim to his own strength.
Lelouch ruled exactly as he saw fit, and while he wasn’t an outright tyrant like some anime villains, he certainly wasn’t as noble as most anime heroes.Lelouch wanted the best for himself, his nation, and the people around him, but he was willing to do some morally questionable things to get there.
Spike Spiegel is one ofthe coolest characters in anime. He’s handsome, smooth, and a great fighter all at once. What he lacks in awkwardness he more than makes up for inmoral ambiguity, as he’s not exactly the hero ofCowboy Bepop.He’s the main character and certainly an anti-hero, getting the job done using his own questionable methods several times throughout the series.
He’s a bounty hunter throughout the series, which is already not the most noble of occupations, and he was also part of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate beforehand. When he was in the Red Dragon, he was one of the Syndicate’s strongest fighters along with his partner Vicious. Though Spike often does act in his own self-interest, frequently to the detriment of everyone else on the Bebop, it’s made clear that he does care for his crewmates at least somewhat, despite his protests to the contrary.
Jotaro Kujo is the most morally questionable character out of all the Joestars in theJoJo’s Bizarre Adventureanime, save for Joseph. Jotaro startsStardust Crusadersangry with his own mother, cursing at her within the first few episodes. While he leads an adventurous crusade with his allies across the world in order to defeat the evil Dio, he wasn’t exactly a good guy while he was doing it. If Jonathan was the morally righteous and most heroic out of the Joestars, Jotaro is the least.
Jotaro fights for what’s right and stands up for his friends on multiple occasions. He’s not afraid of Dio and even goes toe-to-toe with him in some of the best fights inJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.While these are objectively heroic qualities, Jotaro has a few more than aren’t.Jotaro doesn’t respect his elders, is always willing to inflict serious damage on his enemies, and is willing to gamble with the souls of his alliesif it means victory.Jotaro might not be the strongest Joestar, but his attitude certainly makes him one of the darkest.
Sasuke Uchiha is one of thestrongest characters inNaruto.He’s also one of the few characters to truly try and do his own thing, leaving his home village in an attempt to get stronger so that he can kill his brother Itachi and enact revenge for slaying their clan. Sasuke ends up being a force for good at the end of the series. He even proclaims his intention to become the next Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village to the surprise of everyone during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Like Jotaro, Sasuke has a lot of great, heroic qualities that are often eclipsed by his willingness to do anti-heroic things in order to accomplish his goals. He’s more than willing to sacrifice hostages, tries to assassinate the Kage at the Five Kage Summit, and evenjoins the Akatsukito get stronger. He even traps all the Tailed Beasts and fights Naruto to the death at the end of the series, a pretty villainous thing coming fromone of Naruto’s best friends.
Like Lelouch vi Britannia, Light Yagami fromDeath Noteis another character who got corrupted by his own power. He’sone of the smartest characters in all animeas well. InDeath Note,Light is given the titular Death Note and is able to kill anyone in the world by writing their name down in the fabled notebook. While this might seem like a good thing, as Light is able to kill plenty of criminals, it makes him a pseudo-god when he doesn’t exactly have the right to be.
15 Best Death Note Quotes
Death Note has earned its rightful status as an anime classic, and these are the ten best quotes that summarize what the beloved series is all about.
Light quickly becomes a megalomaniac, killing hundreds of criminals across the world. Crime rates go down, but the general perceived safety of both wrongdoers and normal citizens also plummets as well. While criminals rightfully deserve to be punished, it probably shouldn’t be by a man in his late teens and early 20s.
Eren Yeager had too much on his plate inAttack on Titan.He had one of theworst dads in animeand suffered severely because of it. Eren only wanted to protect the island of Paradis that he was raised on and his friends who grew up along with him, and he was willing to become evil incarnate if it meant protecting their peace and futures. He was putin an incredibly hard positionwhen he gained Titan-Shifting powers. He understood that the rest of the world would never truly give his island peace, and he couldn’t stand it.
One of the most heartbreaking scenes inAttack on Titanoccurs just after Eren gets his Titan powers and sees the future from the Paths. When he and his friends reach the ocean, everyone celebrates, as they’ve never reached it before. Erenlaments their progressas it only solidifies what he saw in the paths as truth. He then realizes that he’ll go on to kill 80% of the world’s population, becoming closer to a villain than a hero.
Vegeta isn’t just the best anti-hero in anime, he’s also one of the best characters in general. He’s cool, powerful, and even becomes noble enough to be a good father and husband later in the series. If Goku embodies the most noble parts of a warrior, Vegeta is his opposite. Vegeta will do whatever it takes to win, and he won’t show an ounce of remorse while doing so. While on Namek,Vegeta personally killed several villainswho were already defeated to verify he would never have to fight them again.
10 Best Anime Rivals Who Follow In Vegeta’s Footsteps
Vegeta is probably the best rival character to be introduced in anime, but there have been plenty of rivals after him who are just as great to watch.
It’s an interesting move that Goku would never do, asGoku himself has helped his enemiesalmost as much as he hurts them. Vegeta, on the other hand, would never help his enemies and rarely even helps his allies. If Vegeta is helping an enemy, it’s just so that they can be stronger when he wants to fight them later on in the series.
