Whether they’re shonen supervillains who want to counteract the do-gooders by destroying the planet or slice-of-life antagonists who only exist to create more drama, fans appreciate the level of complexity that anime villains bring to the table. They’re some of the most interesting and exciting characters to talk about, especially when they have complicated motivations, tragic backstories, or overpowered super moves.
However, not every villain is respectable. Some are only evil for evil’s sake. Others constantly fail and never get a chance to put their evil deeds into motion. Whatever the case, it’s difficult to respect some of these despicable foes.
10/10 Team Rocket’s Constant Failures Are Laughable
Pokémon
Pokémon’s Team Rocket made it their life mission to capture Pikachu and all of the rare Pokémon. Unfortunately for this villainous trio, nothing ever goes according to plan.
Jessie, James, and Meowth constantly think up the most ridiculously elaborate tricks and antics to finally capture whatever Pokémon they have their eyes set on at the time, but it always falls through. Team Rocket’s constant failures are hilariously unfortunate. No matter how hard they try, they keep screwing things up and blasting off for another day.
9/10 Gentle Criminal & La Brava Are Legends In Their Own Minds
My Hero Academia
Gentle Criminal and La Brava from My Hero Academia are quite the theatrical duo. Gentle Criminal is a tea aficionado who takes great pride in his mustache and only became a villain because he couldn’t make it as a hero. Unfortunately, he’s not doing so great as a villain, either.
La Brava is his sidekick. She grew up with a warped perspective of love, leading to countless rejections. She became a shut-in and worked on becoming a masterful hacker until she came across one of Gentle’s videos. He took La Brava under his wing. It wasn’t enough to make him a successful villain, though they believed otherwise until the bitter end.
8/10 Eren Jaeger Is A Mass Murderer
Attack On Titan
Eren Jaeger from Attack On Titan has always been reckless and impulsive, but he was a hot-headed, genocidal maniac by the series’ conclusion. The warning signs were always there with him, but the audience and other characters overlooked them until it was too late.
Eren is a compelling antihero, but he doesn’t deserve redemption. After all, he did wipe out 80% of the world’s population. Before the Rumbling, however, Eren also hurt Armin and Mikasa, despite them being his closest friends. No amount of excuses will make his actions forgivable, especially considering that Mikasa essentially babysat Eren for the entirety of Attack On Titan.
7/10 Kabuto Betrayed Team 7
Naruto
Kabuto had the potential to become a fan-favorite character in Naruto, but his betrayal of Team 7 haunted him for the rest of his time in the series. He was genuinely helpful during the chunin exams but turned on Naruto and the gang just as quickly.
Kabuto essentially became Orochimaru’s lackey and nothing else. Kabuto constantly gets in the way and disrupts the flow of the story, so many viewers feel like the story would have been better without him or if he got less screen time.
6/10 Forever The Orangutan Used His Brains For All The Wrong Reasons
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Many JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure side characters are unlikable and infuriating, but few compare to Forever from Stardust Crusaders. He was the first Stand-using animal fans saw in the series and used his ability to become one with the ship. Forever was highly intelligent, capable of lighting a cigarette and reading magazines.
Unfortunately, Forever wasted his potential brilliance on being a perverted peeping Tom who snuck in on Anne in the shower. The scene made viewers uncomfortable, and most people wish they could forget about it after watching it.
5/10 Hanamiya’s Underhanded Tactics Infuriated Everybody
Kuroko’s Basketball
One of the most intense matches in Kuroko’s Basketball was when Seirin High played against Kirisaki Dai Ichi. The team’s captain, Hanamiya Mokoto, is a notoriously dirty player who isn’t afraid to resort to underhanded or violent tactics to take down his opponents. He’s obsessed with the idea of breaking them, whether it’s physically or emotionally.
The game infuriated Seirin’s players and viewers alike as they watched Hanamiya target Teppei like a pit bull. He took advantage of his injuries and tried making them worse. Hanamiya also tried to hit Kuroko over the head with a basketball, making fans even angrier.
4/10 Malty Melromarc Destroyed Naofumi
The Rising Of The Shield Hero
Malty Melromarc from The Rising Of The Shield Hero wasted no time in ruining her likability after her debut. She came off as a potential ally initially but was quick to turn on Naofumi.
Malty turned the entire Kingdom against him and spread false rumors about him to damage his reputation. She effectively destroyed Naofumi for a while, and it took a ton of effort for him to bounce back. Though she has a gorgeous character design, Malty proves that, sometimes, a pretty face isn’t enough to save someone if they have a reprehensible personality.
3/10 Muzan Is Evil Just For Evil’s Sake
Demon Slayer
Muzan from Demon Slayer is constantly criticized by the fandom because he was almost too underwhelming to be considered the series’ true big-bad. A few members of his Twelve Demon Moons, like Akaza or Doma, deserved to be recognized at the Demon King more than him.
Quality of his writing aside, Muzan is evil just for evil’s sake. Though this works for some villains like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s DIO, it just didn’t sit right with many Demon Slayer fans for Muzan to be this kind of foe. Plus, the motive behind his unprovoked attack on the Kamado family is still unclear.
2/10 Mahito’s Treatment Of Junpei Was Just Uncalled For
Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Mahito has an eerily cool character design and a dangerous cursed technique that should be forbidden. Fans were unsure how to feel about him initially but had a terrible feeling after Mahito got his hands on Junpei.
Mahito took advantage of a vulnerable, downtrodden teenager and manipulated him into committing an atrocity. Yuji talked Junpei down before something truly terrible happened, but the despicable Patchwork Curse used his Idle Transfiguration to brutally kill him before he had a shot at a better future.
1/10 The Jiggle Butt Gang Always Tried Their Best, But Couldn’t Succeed
Fairy Tail
Fairy Tail’s Jiggle Butt Gang is one of the funniest villain organizations in anime. They couldn’t orchestrate a successful plan if their lives depended on it. Though other villains are hard to respect because of their evil deeds and terrible personalities, the Jiggle Butt Gang is just too ridiculous to take seriously.
The Jiggle Butt Gang is a group of three thieves who constantly think of ridiculous antics to score some treasure. Despite their best efforts, nothing ever goes according to plan and they hilariously fail every single time.