Sometimes, anime heroes turn bad because of obvious but weak reasons like a girl rejecting them. On the other occasions, they turn "evil" in order to avenge the death of their family or the pride of their country.
This article will have a look at 10 such protagonists, and the focus here will be on good guys turning bad. Whether or not they revert to their original good selves, or they emerge to become anti-heroes, is an entirely different topic of discussion.
10 Slaine (Aldnoah.Zero) Killed His Adoptive Father After Seeing The Princess Die
Slaine is shown as Princess Asseylum’s confidante, and the only terran in the Vers empire who holds a high rank. He loves the princess to death and betrays his superior in order to follow her to the planet earth.
However, when he witnesses the princess die before him, something inside him snaps. He becomes colder, more calculative, and ends up killing the man who adopted him as his own son.
9 Mikaela (Seraph Of The End) Becomes Hateful Of Humans After Turning Into A Vampire
Mikaela is shown as a young and hopeful child who helps Yuuichiro cope with being an orphan in an orphanage. However, he is separated from his best friends and is taken in by Krul Tepes, who turns him into a vampire.
As a vampire, Mikaela becomes cold and distant, always longing for his friend Yuu, and always hateful of the humans who took Yuu away from him.
8 Yukine (Noragami) Died To An Abusive Father & Became More Selfish
Yukine died as a teenager at the hands of his abusive father. This is why he always resented having a regular school boy’s life. These negative feelings within him kept snowballing. He started acting out, stealing things, hiding his activities, and was rude for no reason.
In fact, his selfishness ended up blighting Yato to the point of death. Even when he was being purified, his actions did not make him feel an ounce of guilt or regret. He started crying only when he realized how his actions affected Yato.
7 Tatsumi (Akame Ga Kill!) Learned The Truth Of The King & Became Disillusioned
Tatsumi used to be an innocent wide-eyed boy who only wanted to serve his king. Later on, he learned the truth about the king and his powers and became disillusioned. He eventually fused with his dragon and vowed to take the king down.
Towards the end, Tatsumi became so consumed that he physically transformed into a dragon. He admitted that he felt his human side slipping away, often giving in to bouts of savagery.
6 Lelouch (Code Geass) Triggered A Chain Of Events That Took The Lives Of Innocent People
This is a debatable entry, because some fans viewed him as an anti-hero who did what was necessary in order to free his country from the clutches of the evil Britannian empire.
Other fans argued that killing was wrong, no matter what the intention. From that perspective, Lelouch was a bad guy and even though his intentions were pure, his actions were not justifiable. Especially since he triggered a chain of events where many innocents lost their lives as well.
5 Soo-Won (Yona Of The Dawn) Killed Yona's Father & Took Over The Kingdom
Soo-Won is introduced as the doting cousin of Yona, who even treats a commoner like Hak with respect. But to everybody's shock, he is shown to murder Yona’s father in cold blood, taking over his kingdom and declaring himself as the king.
It is revealed in the manga that he had been planning this revenge ever since Yona’s father murdered his own father. Part of this plan was to put up an innocent front until the time was right to strike.
4 Yu Otosaka (Charlotte) Lost His Sister & Fell Into A Dark Place
Yu is shown as an average goofy schoolboy whose school life passes with a breeze. However, the death of his sister Ayumi results in him losing control and becoming depressed.
He picks up fights with street delinquents and shows great pleasure in beating them into near-death conditions. He laughs out loud when one of the boys cries out in pain and becomes so consumed with hopelessness that he was tempted to take drugs to numb his pain.
3 Foresight (Promare) Turned Out To Be A Cruel Tyrant Who Didn't Care If Others Died
Portrayed as the ever-righteous and beloved savior, Foresight turned out to be a self-absorbed and cruel tyrant. He was a megalomaniac who didn’t mind hundreds of thousands of people dying, so long as his personal dreams and ambitions were achieved.
He was so short-sighted that he wanted to hold on to his Parnassus plan, even if it meant destroying the planet and leaving it completely inhabitable.
2 Yaha-kui zaShunina (KADO: The Right Answer): Wanted To Transfer Humans To His Dimension Despite Losing Lives In The Process
As an all powerful being from another dimension and universe, zaShunina loved feeding on information. He gifted humanity techniques beyond their abilities so that they could keep discovering newer things, thus satiating his desire for new information.
His ultimate aim was to bring humanity with him to his dimension, irrespective of the millions of lives that would be lost in this "transfer of information." In his own words, all he needed was for one human to survive that transfer.
1 Undertaker (Black Butler): Responsible For Hundreds Of Deaths & Enjoys Watching Others Struggle For Survival
He is shown as an eccentric and mysterious character in the first two seasons of Black Butler. It is in the movie The Book of Atlantic that his true side is revealed – he is a shinigami who deserted his cause, stole his death scythe and began catering to his own needs.
In the movie, he was shown to be responsible for the death of the hundreds of passengers aboard the cruiser, but what was worse was how he enjoyed seeing the humans, shinigami, and one demon butler fight in desperation with the overflowing sea of zombies.