What is an anime without a great villain? They are central pieces to the story and aid in character development, fuel conflict, and hold the viewer’s interest. Villains also help viewers to understand the goals and motivations of the hero. As a result, antagonists in stories are equally as significant as the heroes.
Anime, as a medium, is tasked with producing different kinds of villains for fans consumption. They could be morally grey and misunderstood like Tsukasa from Dr. Stone or outright evil and sadistic like All For One from My Hero Academia. Summarily, anime villains are one of a kind, and the summer of 2022 offered many amazing ones.
10 Negative Weiss – RWBY: Ice Queendom
Not only do huntresses-in-training Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long face monsters threatening their world, but they also have to battle a new and terrifying evil, Negative Weiss. She is the cold and sinister version of Weiss Schnee and the main antagonist of RWBY: Ice Queendom.
Negative Weiss was created when a Nightmare, a thorny flying Creature of Grim capable of possession, brought to life a negative aspect of Weiss Schnee in her Dreamscape. Negative Weiss is an unsympathetic and authoritarian individual, and due to the powers given to her by the Nightmares, she is also a formidable villain.
9 Walter – My Isekai Life
Balancing his new life in a new world is the least of Yuji Sano’s as he also has to be wary of powers lurking in the shadows planning to destroy his world. One such power is Walter of the Blue Moon cult, whose main objective is to summon the fabled sage, a nigh-omnipotent being, and bring death and destruction to the world.
To further his villainous objectives, Walter formed the Blue Moon cult out of the Blue Moon church, an organization founded by his old friend turned enemy, Father Steyl. Walter is a challenging antagonist for Yuuji and his allies, especially at the show's climax when he takes a dragon-like form.
8 Animus – Lucifer And The Biscuit Hammer
Yuuhi Amamiya’s boring and average life are turned upside down when a talking lizard informs him he must use his newfound powers to stop a mage who wishes to destroy the world with the Biscuit Hammer—a large mallet hovering over the world. This mage goes by the name Animus and serves as the series' main antagonist.
Animus possesses many godlike abilities, including teleportation through space and time. For instance, he went back in time re to annihilate the Earth with his biscuit hammer. In addition to his intimidating hammer, Animus also controls an army of golems that follow his every command, making him a foe to be reckoned with.
7 Yukiji Bando – Fuuto PI
Apart from protecting the city of Futo from Dopants, the Kamen Rider Double, Shotaro Hidaki and Raito Sonozaki have to contend with the mysterious and villainous Yukiji Bando. As the leader of Street (a criminal gang) and the former CEO of Chi Operations, Yukiji makes a very strong villain and proves difficult for Shotaro and Raito to defeat.
In addition to the wealth of resources at his disposal, he can also transform into an Aurora Dopant. In his Aurora Dopant form, Yukiji can shoot powerful energy blasts from his hands to either kill or incapacitate his opponents.
6 Asmodeus – Engage Kiss
In his quest to uncover the truth of his family’s disappearance, Shu Ogata does not come across many other roadblocks quite like the ancient demon, Asmodeus. They act as the main antagonist of the romantic comedy series, Engaged Kiss.
Asmodeus’s main goal is to bear a human-demon hybrid to serve as a portal that will allow demons to pass into the realm of man. Asmodeus has in their arsenal a plethora of abilities, such as immortality and shapeshifting abilities, that makes them a scary villain to come up against..
5 Anko Uguisu – Call of the Night
Call of the Night follows the blood-sucking romance of Kou Yamori, an insomniac, and Nazuna, a vampire. Both these characters face obstacles that challenge their relationship throughout the anime, like the Vampire Council, and Anko Uguisu also represents one of those obstacles.
After Nazuna is unable to turn her into a vampire, Anko, consumed by vengeance and the despair of her parent's death, devotes the rest of her life to killing vampires. Consequently, Anko becomes a strong vampire hunter who threatens to thwart Kou’s effort to become a vampire.
4 Faraday – Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Faraday is originally shown as a previous Militech employee, who fixes jobs for Maine and his crew, seemingly not having a lot of stake in the grand scheme of things. However, Faraday ends up going against Maine’s understudy, David Martinez, who he betrays in order to gain favor among his superiors at Arasaka.
Accompanying his wealth and vast connections, Faraday is very meticulous and has keen attention to detail. He is also ruthless, ready to eliminate anyone who feels will stand in his way or deems surplus to requirements.
3 Majima – Lycoris Recoil
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As the leader of the terrorist group responsible for attacking and bombing the Kita-Oshiage subway station, Majima is the main villain in Lycoris Recoil. His objective is to put an end to the peace upheld by the Direct Attack, a secret agency responsible for combatting crime.
By committing acts of terrorism, Majima hopes to counter the "bleached, sanitized, healthy, and unwholesome fragrance of a lie" he claims to detect. Following his escape from the Lycoris after their attempt to thwart his terrorist attack and capture him, he finds out about them and proceeds to hunt down Lycoris agents.
2 Kakeru Ryuen – Classroom of the Elite
While not many characters within Classroom of the Elite are morally upstanding, Kakeru Ryuen takes the cake for being the most underhanded and despicable of them all. He is the infamous delinquent who leads his class through fear and coercion.
Kakeru also has a gang of goons performing his dirty deeds at his disposal, adding to his intimidating reputation. Despite his predisposition to violence, he is quite intelligent, being able to convince Kōhei Katsuragi to help him during the final test in season one of the show. Due to these traits, he is the kind of villain every hero would be wary of.
1 Tsaindorcus Vaision – Overlord
The fourth season of Overlord retains its enjoyable and interesting character but introduces one deemed strong enough to rival Ainz Ooal Gown in the form of Tsaindorcus Vaision. He is a Dragon Lord, often referred to as the Platinum Dragon Lord.
Tsaindorcus’s goal is to eradicate the New World of players as they are a danger to it. Being a previous member of the Thirteen Heroes, he has been called the strongest being in the New World. Tsaindorcus also possesses the ability to destroy undead beings, a great threat to Ainz Ooal Gown.