Anime has seen a massive popularity spike in recent years, and tends to cover a wide range of styles and genres. For the most part, each series possesses decent storytelling and well written characters. Most anime revolve around a main protagonist and their friends, and they usually have to deal with at least one major villain.
While there are anime villains who are only evil for the sake of being evil, there are also many villains who are far more complex. A complex villain always has a goal in mind, and that goal forces them to do terrible things. These goals usually coincide with a villain's backstory, and those backstories tend to reveal that some villains are misunderstood.
10 Big Mom Seeks A World Without Discrimination (One Piece)
One Piece has its fair share of terrible villains, but Big Mom is not one of them. She is one of the Four Emperors, which means that she is one of the strongest characters in One Piece. She ate a Devil Fruit that allows her to manipulate and extract souls.
Big Mom is vicious - she wanted to kill Sanji and his family after he married her daughter. She became villainous after her parents abandoned her as a child for being different. She dreams of a world where discrimination does not exist, and nearly every race is currently represented in her kingdom.
9 Light Yagami Wanted A World Free Of Injustice (Death Note)
Many anime fans would agree that Death Note is a must-watch series - despite its ending being one of the most controversial changes made by an anime adaptation. Light Yagami started Death Note as an ordinary teenager, but he turned into the world's most wanted criminal after finding the Death Note.
The notebook allowed him to kill anyone as long as he knew their name. At first, Light only used it to kill criminals who escaped proper justice. Light ends up developing a God complex, and he eventually uses the notebook on non criminals. Light may have lost his way, but all he wanted was a world free of injustice.
8 Tsukasa Shishio Wanted A World Where The Pure-Hearted Could Live (Dr. Stone)
Tsukasa was the primary antagonist for the majority of the first half of Dr. Stone. He was only freed from the Petrification because his physical strength was seen as an asset. After a while, Tsukasa believed that the world was better off without adults because they corrupted everything.
He decided to destroy every adult statue he could find, and he vowed to stop Senku's Kingdom of Science from reversing the Petrification. Tsukasa wanted a world where pure-hearted youths (like his sister) could grow up without being mistreated by the same adults who ruined the world to begin with.
7 Zeref Just Wanted His Brother Back (Fairy Tail)
A number of anime heroes have been saved by a villain's stupidity, which is exactly what happened when Zeref saved Natsu. As far as Fairy Tail is concerned, Zeref is the strongest and most evil mage in history. He can use a type of Black Magic that allows him to kill anyone he wishes.
Zeref caused a lot of pain in various nations, and he only turned out this way because he wanted to get his brother back. Natsu is Zeref's younger brother, and Natsu and their parents were killed by dragons. Zeref tried to bring him back with magic, and he ended up getting cursed as a result.
6 Hanami Wishes For The Earth To Be Respected (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Jujutsu Kaisen has its share of controversial moments. For the most part, Jujutsu has good villains. Hanami is a special grade cursed spirit who appears in several arcs. Despite being fairly peaceful, Hanami eventually begins to enjoy fighting.
Hanami wishes to kill all of humanity so the world can be left in the hands of cursed spirits. This sounds terrible, but Hanami has his reasons. He believes that he is saving the Earth by removing humanity, as humanity have done nothing but abuse the planet.
5 Eren Became A Villain For The Sake Of His Friends (Attack On Titan)
When Attack On Titan began, Eren's only goal was to kill every Titan. Much like Attack On Titan, his goal took an unexpected turn. Eren has made a lot of bad decisions, but the worst came when he used the power of the Founding Titan to wake all the colossal Titans in the walls.
With this power, Eren triggered the Rumbling. This saw the Wall Titans stomp most of humanity out of existence. He wanted to wipe out humanity so that the fighting would stop, and so that the people of Paradis Island could be safe. He actually wanted his friends to stop the Rumbling, so the world could see them as heroes.
4 Hero Killer Stain Wants A World With True Heroes (My Hero Academia)
Izuku has had a number of great fights in My Hero Academia, including the one he had with Hero Killer Stain. Stain killed Pro Heroes - individuals who help civilians, and who battle villains. He has the power to paralyze anyone if he tastes their blood.
Pro Heroes get paid for what they do, so Stain believes that most people only choose to become Heroes for the money and fame. His goal is to purge the world of fake Heroes so that real ones, like All Might, can protect society. Heroes like All Might don't expect any type of reward in return, and therefore don't have an ulterior motive.
3 Lelouch Wanted To End All War & Bring About Peace (Code Geass)
Lelouch was a Britannian Prince who was exiled to Japan after his mother's death. When his father invaded Japan, he vowed to end him. After meeting C.C., Lelouch acquired the power of Geass, which allowed him to plant commands inside people's minds.
By the end of Code Geass, most of his allies and family considered him to be a villain. Lelouch assumed the title of Emperor and became a tyrant. It turns out that this was a ruse to make him the world's common enemy. He chose to make the world hate him so a new age of peace could be ushered in.
2 Muzan Kibutsuji Wishes To Live A Life Without The Fear Of Death (Demon Slayer)
Muzan was the world's first demon, the progenitor of the entire demon race, and Demon Slayer's main antagonist. He is responsible for turning hundreds of people into demons, and his actions have led to the death of countless humans.
When he was still human, Muzan was terminally ill. Since then, he fears death. He created demons because he hoped that one would eventually overcome a weakness to sunlight, thus making him truly immortal. No one wants to die, and that earns Muzan a bit of sympathy.
1 Madara Uchiha Wanted A World Without War (Naruto)
Madara Uchiha is one of the strongest ninjas in history. He willingly became the host of the Ten-Tails so he can trap the world in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. This genjutsu was meant to keep everyone on Earth in a dream world for eternity.
This plan caused a great deal of pain and destruction in Naruto, Madara did it for a good reason. Madara grew up in a time when scores of children were forced to fight and die in wars, including his brothers. He believed that the Infinite Tsukuyomi would end all war, and that it would allow everyone to live in happiness.