While a lot of anime heroes will stop at nothing to get stronger, smarter, or more prepared, a common denominator is that they want to achieve these things the right way and on their own. However, this does not ring true for every anime hero out there. Some anime heroes care about winning no matter the cost.
Whether this is in the form of cheating, gaining power from a suspicious source, or even less-than-honorable battle tactics, these characters have no limits to what they would do to win when they felt it truly mattered. For better or worse, these characters would do anything to win.
10 Code Geass' Lelouch Lamperouge Was Willing To Kill His Family
Not only was Lelouch willing to kill his own family and use the Geass powers to manipulate others against their will, but he was also willing to go toe-to-toe with his former best friend, Suzaku Kururugi. This was all in the name of liberating Japan, of course, but Lelouch also went a little overboard with power.
Lelouch was willing to sacrifice those who supported him, and he was even willing to brutally end his family members. What he did to Euphemia and Rollo was bad enough, but it was not the end of Lelouch's problematic methods.
9 Boruto Was Willing To Cheat In Front Of His Father During The Chunin Exams
Boruto Uzumaki was a talented shinobi. He was one of the best in his class, and he was a great leader. However, he hated his father for overshadowing him. So, he acted out to get noticed and to draw a distinction between himself and Naruto.
While this was sometimes a good quality, it was not always a positive thing. He used a scientific ninja tool to cheat in front of the entire village during the Chunin Exams. This felt like a betrayal both to his best friend Shikadai, who he beat using the tool, and his father, who expected better of his son.
8 Sasuke Was Willing To Put His Body On The Line And Take Orochimaru's Curse Mark In Naruto
Sasuke Uchiha committed many crimes during his time as a rogue ninja. So, it was no surprise that he would do anything to reach his goal. However, during the original series, there was hope for Sasuke. That is until Orochimaru gave Sasuke the curse mark.
Not only was Sasuke willing to put his life on the line to gain extra power from this curse mark, but he was also willing to kill his best friend, Naruto. Eventually, he changes, but it took an entire series to do so.
7 Ciel Sold His Soul To A Demon In Black Butler
Ciel Phantomhive's family had been killed under mysterious circumstances, and Ciel was determined not only to get to the bottom of the situation but also to get revenge for their deaths. So, he made a deal with a demon named Sebastian Michaelis.
Using his connection with the demon, he was able to tap into a great power. However, his soul was the collateral. Plenty of anime characters would do a lot to ensure their victory over their enemies, but Ciel was literally willing to sell his soul to the devil.
6 Midoriya Constantly Puts His Body And Health On The Line In My Hero Academia
Izuku Midoriya was born with no Quirk. However, after meeting All Might and impressing the Number One Hero with his heroism, All Might passed down the One for All Quirk to Midoriya. There was just one serious drawback to the ultra-powerful One for All Quirk. It destroyed the user's body if they weren't able to control it.
Despite everyone trying to get Midoriya to avoid overexerting himself, MIioriya constantly wrecks his body trying to save others and be the best hero he can be.
5 Eren Caused The Rumbling To Get His Revenge In Attack On Titan
Things started out much more simply, albeit extremely traumatically, for Eren Yaeger. As far as he knew, many people were killed by the titans, his mother being one of them, so he wanted to stop the titans. However, after a few seasons, he learns the darkness and complexity of the world and the titans' existence.
As an antihero, he decided on revenge. His plan was to cause The Rumbling, a calamitous event that would claim countless lives. He was willing to kill innocents and cause mass destruction to achieve his goal of revenge.
4 Gin Ichimaru Joined Aizen To Defeat Aizen In Bleach
Gin Ichimaru seemed like the antagonist at first, but it turns out he was actually a hero willing to do terrible things to make sure those he cared about were safe. He even played the long con and went undercover within Aizen's ranks.
Though he died in the end, his plan did succeed in getting enough intel for Aizen to be made a bit more vulnerable. In the end, he cared so much that he was willing to kill and make himself out to be the villain to make sure the Soul Society was able to thwart Aizen's plan.
3 Berserk's Griffith Sacrificed His Whole Crew For Power
Griffith started out as a heroic and well-respected military commander, but after his time in prison, he was completely changed. He always had a selfish tendency, but after his experience of being tortured, he was willing to do anything to gain power.
Not only did he commit serious crimes against Casca, but he also sacrificed his entire crew to gain his power and become Femto. In the end, however, the fact that Griffith was willing to do these things made him a villain more than a hero.
2 My Hero Academia's Lemillion Sacrificed His Quirk To Save Others
Lemillion was as formidable as he was because had the permeation Quirk, a power that made him virtually untouchable. However, there was one weakness. He had to be tangible to save others. So, Overhaul took advantage of this and forced Lemillion to get hit by a Quirk-eliminating a bullet to save Eri.
Lemillion wanted nothing more than to save others. It was his number one goal as a hero. So, he decided to take the bullet. Though he did not win the fight, Lemillion saw this as winning at being a hero, despite having to put his hero activities on hold from then on.
1 Joseph Joestar Was Willing To Work With A Nazi And Run Away From Fights In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency
Joseph Joestar was not only the smartest of the Joestars, but he was also one of the most beloved thanks to his humorous personality and his cheeky remarks. However, he met his match in the Pillar Men of Battle Tendency.
He was forced to team up with some unlikely allies, one of which was Stroheim, a Nazi soldier who also became a cyborg. While winning was important to saving humanity, some fans consider Joseph teaming up with Stroheim problematic.