Anime heroes are supposed to be role models with no bad qualities. They are expected to be filled with kindness and compassion, yet there are certain anime heroes, who have numerous negative traits and they do not hesitate to show them off.
One of the most toxic qualities that a hero can possess is being manipulative. These characters do not hesitate to use their wit to outsmart their target and trick them into doing things on their behalf. On numerous occasions, these manipulative characters have taken advantage of the feelings of other people and used them to further their own goals.
Updated April 5, 2023, by Suzail Ahmad: When one thinks about anime protagonists, the first characters that usually come to mind are powerful, noble heroes. However, there are many heroes who do not fit into this mold. Instead of being virtuous, they are cunning, deceitful, and manipulative. Some of these characters have to rely on these tools to reach their goals, but for others, they are deeply ingrained in their personalities. While manipulation is not a noble thing, it is hard to deny that it can come in extremely handy in certain situations. Over the years, the creators of various series have given the manipulative trait to the main protagonist in order to set them apart from the rest. The decision has proven to be correct, as it has helped bolster the popularity of their respective series. Considering there has been an influx of new characters with this particular quality, the list has been updated to include some of the most manipulative anime characters.
15 Subaru
Subaru is the main protagonist of Re:Zero. He is an interesting character who makes irrational decisions all the time, but he is a master manipulator. Subaru is an eloquent speaker, and his words are powerful enough to fool the smartest of people.
Throughout the series, Subaru lies and manipulates his friends and his enemies. The secret to his manipulation lies in his ability to recall all the failed futures that he has experienced. With the extra knowledge, Subaru can effortlessly manipulate the people around him.
14 Merlin
Merlin is one of the main characters in Seven Deadly Sins. She is the most talented mage in the entire world, with no equals. For a long time, Merlin's friends were under the impression that she was a human. She tricked them into believing that she was their friend and did not have any ulterior motives.
After the Demon King was defeated, Merlin finally revealed her true intentions. She wanted the Chaos inside Arthur to be unleashed. She told Meliodas and co. that she had been planning to use Arthur's powers for a very long time. Merlin even tried using Elizabeth's curse to her own advantage by forcing Meliodas to do all the work. Before she even met her fellow Sins, Merlin tricked the Demon King and the Supreme Deity into giving her an enormous amount of power.
13 Hitoshi Shinso
Hitoshi Shinso is a student from UA High School's Class 1-C. He became a stoic after being discriminated against by other people, mainly because they knew about his Quirk. Shinso's Quirk is called Brainwashing, and it allows him to brainwash people. As a result, people who were aware of his powers were intolerant toward him.
The continuous discrimination entailed serious consequences, including Shinso's hatred toward people who had more heroic Quirks. Shinso tends to avoid using his Quirk in normal situations, but if the need arises, he can use it to completely catch his enemies off guard.
12 Joseph Joestar
Joseph Joestar is the main protagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency. He is vastly different from his predecessor, Jonathan Joestar, who was an absolute gentleman. In comparison, Joseph is a cunning person who relies mainly on his wits to defeat his opponents. Joseph fought multiple opponents in Part 2, many of whom were physically superior to him.
To get around this imbalance of power, he would often trick them into lowering their guard and strike them with Hamon where they would be weakest. The combination of these two abilities made him unstoppable. Joseph's trickery wasn't restricted to just fights either. He used it on a daily basis, mainly to get out of difficult situations. Joseph's unique approach to fighting made him a very popular JoJo character.
11 Nami
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Nami is the navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates. She joined the crew in East Blue, and her cartographic and navigational skills have helped the crew to reach many islands. Nami is not a very strong fighter, but that doesn't stop her from putting her life on the line for the sake of her crew.
Like the rest of the Straw Hats, Nami has shortcomings as well. In her case, she is known to have a fondness for money, and she will do anything to get her hands on any kind of treasure, including manipulating people. Mostly, it is used as a gag, but at times she has used her guile to trick other people. A few examples of her openly manipulating other people include tricking the Straw Hats into trusting her, after which she stole the Going Merry, and the time she bribed Zeus into becoming her servant by feeding him thunderclouds.
10 Lucifer
Lucifer is one of the main characters from The Devil Is A Part-Timer! He is a very cunning individual, who plotted to take down his former leader, the Demon King. Although his plan ended in failure, it did not stop Lucifer from using his trickery from time to time.
An example of his deceitfulness is when he wanted to get back his console that he couldn't retrieve as he was too lazy. So, he made up a story as he knew that his friends would go to the location and find his console.
9 Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
Naruto is often considered to be a kind and good person, but in reality, he is extremely manipulative. In almost 90% of his fights, Naruto used his talk-no-jutsu to make his enemies drop their weapons and surrender.
It all started in the fight against Zabuza, where he made the "Demon of the Hidden Mist," cry. There have been many other instances, where he has manipulated other people into changing their ways. Even though Naruto had the best of intentions at heart, that does not change the fact that he is a master manipulator.
8 Hachiman (OreGairu)
Hikigaya Hachiman is the main protagonist of OreGairu. The anime falls into the romance-comedy category, so it is quite baffling to see a manipulative character like Hachiman. At the beginning of the series, Hachiman was a loner with almost no friends.
Gradually, he met new people and became friends with them, but his habit to use underhanded means did not go away. With his intelligence, Hachiman would often change the tide in his favor.
7 Lelouch VI Britannia (Code Geass)
Lelouch is among the most famous anime characters of all time. He resented the kingdom of Britannia and their sick and sordid ways, and once he got his hands on the Geass, he knew exactly what to do. Lelouch's Geass granted him the power to make any person obey him.
It did have its limitations as the power didn't work on the same person twice, so Lelouch had to be very careful before deciding to use it. Lelouch used his Geass to command others and make them do everything that he wanted. Lelouch did not care about what happened due to his commands, which became clear when he used the Geass on his cousin and it led to a massacre.
6 Yagami Light (Death Note)
Yagami Light is the main character of the Death Note series. Before picking up the Death Note, he used to be an extremely intelligent student, who lead a normal life, but once he got his hands on it, everything changed. Light became a megalomaniac, who wanted to punish all the criminals of the world, at least that is what he had initially planned to do.
Once the police started to investigate, Light became a manipulative serial killer. He started to control all the people around him, which included the likes of Rem, Misa, and Soichiro. Light's manipulation didn't stop after L's death, he continued to influence the members of the police force until his death.
5 Eren Yeager (Attack On Titan)
At the beginning of the series, no one would have believed that Eren would become a sadistic mass murderer., but as the series continued, Eren's dark side came to light. He went to Marley and stayed there for a long period to gain more information about them. Eren's visit to Marley also served another purpose, which was to force the Survey Corps into taking action.
Eren also tricked his friends into doing his bidding, and they couldn't believe that he fooled all of them. The true nature of Eren's plan wasn't revealed until the final season. Another example of his manipulation was when he used his power to force his father to steal the Founding Titan.
4 Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho)
Despite his looks, Reigen is actually a very intelligent person, who is able to read the body language of another person, and this particular ability has helped him to give advice to other people advice or find out their weaknesses. With his sharpness, Reigen could easily send his clients, enemies, and even his own student down the wrong path.
Reigen considers himself the best psychic around, and in reality, he has absolutely no skill, so he uses Mob to cover up his tracks. Reigen's biggest attribute is definitely his ability to exploit other characters. On numerous occasions, he manipulated Mob to finish tasks and Reigen also made the young esper think that his master was irreplaceable.
3 Askeladd (Vinland Saga)
Askeladd was an interesting character. When he made his debut in the series, Askeladd came off as a just mercenary, who did not have any other skills, but as the series went on, he showed that he was a complex character.
With his incredible intelligence, Askeladd was able to plan ahead and adapt to a situation without any problems. Due to his high intelligence, Askeladd had no problems manipulating others. He used his smartness to deceive others, and they did not realize that they had been duped until much later.
2 Griffith (Berserk)
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Griffith used to be the leader of the Band of Hawk and under his guidance, the mercenary group gained a lot of fame. They went from being nobodies to being knights of the Midland Empire. Griffith had numerous qualities which made him dangerous and one of them was his ability to influence other people.
His charisma made it difficult for others to turn him down. When the assassination of the King failed, Griffith gave Foss no other choice but to betray the Queen and the others, which led to their deaths and left Griffith with no enemies
1 Yoshino Takigawa (Blast Of Tempest)
Yoshino is the main protagonist of the series, and yet at times, his behavior makes him look the complete opposite. On the surface, he looks like a perfectly normal guy, but it couldn't be further from the truth. It wouldn't be a stretch to call him a psychopath, who manipulated people and turned them against one another.
He is an excellent liar, who can keep a normal face while lying, which made it nigh impossible for the people around him to figure out whether he was lying or not. Throughout the entire series, he manipulates other characters, which caused serious harm to their mental health.