Of all anime genres, it’s perhaps shonen that has the ability to make its viewers awesome almost all of the time. Geared towards younger and adolescent audiences, shonen anime is chock full of protagonists ready to rise against any challenge and prove that friendship, camaraderie, and perseverance can always save the day. And it’s thanks to shonen’s healthy roster of villains that any series’ hero can prove that good always prevails against evil.
However, as a lot of literature shows, many shonen anime villains often have tragic backstories that lead them to a path of evil and destruction. It’s usually upon learning these tragedies that shonen protagonists tend to show mercy and try to see whether these villains are redeemable or not. However, some shonen villains are just too awesome that they remain iconic to a franchise even without tragic backstories.
8 Freeza (Dragon Ball Z)
After meeting Raditz and Vegeta for the first time, Goku of Dragon Ball Z is reacquainted with his “true” heritage, that of being a part of a formerly-prominent warrior race called the Saiyans that have been driven close to extinction by the tyrant Lord Freeza. Initially only seen as a strange and small fellow on a floating throne, fans of Dragon Ball Z quickly see just how ruthless Freeza can become.
Throughout the “Freeza Saga,” Freeza demonstrated no remorse for insubordination and incompetence, often killing his own troops when irritated. His arrogance and megalomania know no bounds, as he often toys with his enemies before killing them. Bearing the art of transformation, it took Goku becoming the Legendary Super Saiyan just to defeat Freeza in his fourth and final form. What’s worse is that Freeza didn’t have any tragedies in life, to begin with. Being the son of the tyrant King Cold, Freeza was simply raised knowing he would be king.
7 Makoto Shishio (Rurouni Kenshin)
Fans of the Rurouni Kenshin series would undoubtedly remember Makoto Shishio, perhaps the most ruthless enemy Kenshin Himura ever faced. His skills as a master swordsman are near-unparalleled, being considered Battousai's successor as the Ishin Shishi’s secret assassin. Unlike Kenshin who had extreme idealistic views that matched the activist group’s, Shishio relished in combat - and as a result, is extremely ruthless just as he is strong.
In fact, such is his bloodthirst and sociopathic nature that the Ishin Shishi himself distrusted Shishio, and as a result, burned him alive. Unfortunately for them, Shishio survived but at the cost of having severe hyperthermia, with his increased body temperature only allowing him to fight in extreme combat for 15 minutes. Despite this, Shishio’s combat ability matches if not exceeds that of Kenshin, and his unique scabbard allows him to douse his sword in flames.
6 The Major (Hellsing)
When even the materials of a tragic backstory aren’t enough for a character to have one, only then can they be feared as a villain. In the Hellsing franchise, The Major is a former SS First Lieutenant tasked by Adolf Hitler to create an artificial vampirization process, which could create vampires that the Nazis could use to win the war. When a dying Major was the only survivor after a Soviet attack in Berlin, he even rejected the blood that was tempting to give him power, clinging to his humanity to the end.
When he was rescued and revived, he became a part of the Millennium - a secret cadre aiming to create a new Reich to last a thousand years. However, after World War 2, the Major’s new plan was to simply sow as much chaos as he could to plunge the world into an eternal war. It would take Alucard, perhaps the strongest vampire in existence, to stop him. The Major’s sheer obsession and happiness with the idea of war make him one of the most terrifying villains inside and outside the Hellsing series.
5 Sosuke Aizen (Bleach)
It’s one thing for a villain to not have a tragic backstory, and for one to not have a backstory entirely. As far as Bleach readers were concerned, Sosuke Aizen was the kindhearted and respectable captain of the 5th Division until his defection by the time Ichigo Kurosaki entered Soul Society. It was then that this true nature was revealed - a cunning and manipulative Shinigami hell-bent on creating the powerful Hogyoku, willing to sacrifice hundreds of citizens and Shinigami just to create this mysterious artifact.
Hell-bent on attaining ultimate power, the Bleach villain has perhaps become the epitome of ultimate power in his own arc, possibly second to the Soul King himself. Pairing with his arrogance and his cunning nature is unprecedented power beyond that of both a Shinigami and Hollow. It took Ichigo sacrificing all of his power to even scathe him, and even then Aizen could only be sealed and not entirely killed.
4 Yami Bakura (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
The original Yu-Gi-Oh! series took a lot of inspiration from Ancient Egypt, from the protagonist bearing the soul of a Nameless Pharaoh and its key MacGuffins being ancient artifacts. However, one of its most terrifying characters is Yami Bakura, or the malevolent spirit residing in the Millennium Ring.
In the core Yu-Gi-Oh! lore, the basis of Yami Bakura’s spirit is that of Thief-King Bakura, a thief in Ancient Egypt driven to a life of vengeance when he saw his village and family massacred to create the Millennium Items. The evil spirit Zorc Necrophades lured the Thief-King to the Ring’s location, and from there fused their souls together. As a result, Yami Bakura is the human avatar of the Shadow Realm, using his innocent descendant Ryo Bakura to collect the Millennium Items and resurrect Zorc to claim the human world as theirs.
3 Orochimaru (Naruto)
No one in the world of Naruto would spark terror in the eyes of its inhabitants than Orochimaru himself. Hailed as one of the most powerful ninja to exist - the Sannin, alongside Tsunade and Jiraiya - Orochimaru fell into the obsession of discovering immortality and forbidden knowledge that he would stop at nothing to acquire.
Such was the terror of Orochimaru that he's become the central villain of the Naruto first arc, and a secondary antagonist for a larger majority of the series. While one might attribute Orochimaru's twisted sense of arrogance and sadism to the death of his parents, Tsunade herself said Orochimaru was already like this as a child. What's more horrifying is that Orochimaru "changed" his ways simply out of sheer curiosity, especially when he saw Sasuke Uchiha, a young man obsessed with revenge, planned on taking a new route away from destruction.
2 Hisoka Morow (Hunter X Hunter)
Whereas Meruem is frightening due to being the embodiment of perfection himself, Hisoka Morow is on a whole new level of terrifying due to his very nature. Already a skilled Hunter by default, Hisoka’s clownish appearance masks his supernatural-level physical ability and preternatural perception. His trademark Bungee Gum allows him to make his aura elastic, allowing it to stick to surfaces and use it in various means.
Now imagine a fighter as skilled as Hisoka with a personality of one that is simply in search of entertainment through combat. Hisoka is willing to manipulate, deceive, and use anyone for his own gains - and with his objectives being extremely dissimilar even to people he allies himself with, Hisoka will not hesitate to turn on even his own comrades if it meant servicing his goals.
1 Father (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Knowledge is power, and if power can corrupt, so can knowledge. In Fullmetal Alchemist, the being known as Father began as the Dwarf in the Flask, a round mass of black glass in a flask. Originating from the essence of the entity only known as the Eye of Truth, Father is the one responsible for teaching Alchemy to Hohenheim but soon grew jealous of humans because he is the only one of his kind.
It’s through this insecurity that Father aimed to become superior to humans. And despite this backstory in Fullmetal Alchemist, it’s not tragic enough to justify what it does next.
After taking the form of Hohenheim, Father began his plan of assimilating as many individuals and souls as he could to attain ultimate power. It didn’t matter if it had to kill people over and over again to do so. At some point in the series, Father manages to assimilate “God” himself, becoming a being that could technically do anything that it wanted.