There are many stereotypes for how fans expect anime heroes to look. Some of them are bright and optimistic, always smiling and reassuring the public. Meanwhile, other heroes appear more mysterious and introverted while attending to their duties as a hero. Regardless, quite a few anime heroes appear more villainous in their appearance, though their actions are nothing short of noble heroism.
Whether due to their broodingly terrifying appearances or rather unhinged, unfriendly attitudes towards the public, it would be easy to mistake some of anime's most popular heroes for being evil villains.
10 Brook From One Piece Could Be Confused For A Villain
Brook from One Piece is the Straw Hat Pirates' resident musician and one of the swordsmen. He died and then came back to life after eating the Yomi Yomi no Mi, giving him the appearance of a tall skeleton wearing formal attire.
Though he's as far from a villain as they could possibly come, his appearance could be misconstrued as that of a cartoon villain. His behavior is also rather eccentric and vulgar, which is occasionally off-putting to the other characters.
9 Obanai Iguro's Attire And Personality Could Get Him Mistaken For A Villain
Obanai Iguro is the Serpent Hashira in Demon Slayer. He wears predominantly black and white clothes with a white snake named Kaburamaru around his shoulders. His personality is rather cold, and he can easily become ruthless during a battle.
He's also been shown to do some rather questionable things, such as tying up lower-rank Demon Slayers and using them as training obstacles. Despite this, he has shown that he has a soft spot for Mitsuri. Regardless, Obanai could easily be regarded as a villain because of his bizarre appearance and reserved personality.
8 Katsuki Bakugo's Temperament Has Even Impressed The League Of Villains
Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia is known for his volatile personality, unabashed vulgarity, and for having a notoriously short fuse. Despite coming in first place at the U.A. Sports Festival, he was so enraged by the nature of the victory that they had to restrain him on the podium.
This caught the attention of the League of Villains, and many civilians believe that Bakugo's explosive personality is villainous. Despite this, Bakugo has proven that he is a hero at heart.
7 Shadow From SK8 The Infinity Looks Like A Villain At Night
When Shadow from SK8 The Infinity participates against others during "S," his face paint and unsportsmanlike behavior could get him mistaken for a villain. When the audience is first introduced to Shadow, he's seen throwing fireworks at Reki to sabotage him, not caring if he gets injured in the process.
Despite this, Shadow has become a fan-favorite in the series because despite how he looks at night on the mountain, he's actually pretty tame during his day job where he works as a florist.
6 Eren Yeager Has Sparked Debates About If He's A Tragic Hero Or A Villain
Attack On Titan's protagonist, Eren Yeager, doesn't only look like a villain, he's also acted like one. Attack On Titan cannot be viewed in black and white terms. Because of the things Eren experienced, he became determined to exterminate every Titan to get justice for his mother's death. This led Eren to fall down the deep end, committing a horrible genocide.
Despite his intentions to protect, the outcome was undeniably atrocious because he harmed many innocent people. Additionally, people have a hard time telling if he's a villain or not because of the many ways his physical appearance has changed throughout the show.
5 Shinra Kusakabe's Smile Is Deceiving
In Fire Force, the details regarding Shinra Kusakabe's origins are murky. He's considered a devil because he lost his mother and brother due to human combustion and — because he smiles while under stress — people blamed him for it.
As viewers see more of how the story rolls out, they find out that this is an involuntary reaction from Shinra. He realizes that smiling during times of tragedy makes him look bad and that it's caused him trouble, but he just can't control it.
4 Elias Ainsworth's Appearance Is Just As Mysterious As His Origins
When people first glance at Elias from Ancient Magus Bride, it's understandable why they'd assume he's a villain. After all, his head is a wolf skull with goat horns, and his eyes glow bright red from deep within empty sockets. His height is also rather menacing.
Despite his respectful personality, Elias finds it hard to relate to humans. His origins are somewhat confusing as to what exactly he is or where he came from. Regardless of his inability to relate to humans and his intimidating appearance, Elias still seeks to understand human emotions.
3 Itachi Uchiha Redeemed Himself, But He Still Looks Like A Villain
Itachi Uchiha from Naruto is a controversial character. Initially, he was introduced as an antagonist, but his actions were redeemed when the audience heard his motivations. Aside from this, his appearance could be construed as villainous.
Itachi's eyes are a deep red color, and he tends to gaze at people in a very intimidating way. Additionally, after he was reincarnated, his skin became a stark white with deep lines in his face, along with onyx-colored eyes that just appear soulless.
2 Ectoplasm Is A Pro-Hero Who Could Easily Masquerade As A Villain
Ectoplasm from My Hero Academia is a Pro-Hero who teaches math at U.A. High School. He often helps out with training the students. His hero costume is one that's rather eccentric. His teeth are fully exposed due to the jaw guard he wears, and the dark color palette is rather ominous.
Ectoplasm's eyes appear to be completely blacked out and inverted in his hero costume as well. It's not the appearance one would expect from a Pro-Hero, but he could very easily masquerade as one of the villains.
1 Ken Kaneki Changed Drastically Due To His Trauma
The Kaneki that the audience meets at the beginning of Tokyo Ghoul is a completely different person from Kaneki at the end of the series. He starts initially with a clean appearance and an innocent personality.
However, he became entirely different due to his trauma from experiencing unconscionable amounts of violence. His hair turned white after the torture he endured, and it continues to shift between black and white throughout the series. Since he often dons his ghoul mask, his appearance becomes even more unsettling.