Not all anime villains are irredeemably evil, but there are several who care about their ambitions to the point of discarding empathy altogether. They share no feelings for others but are heavily invested in their grandiose (albeit often meaningless and ill-defined) projects in a bid to obtain some form of satisfaction.
One can only imagine how much good anime villains would be able to bring about in their respective universes if they simply choose to use their powers to help those who needed it the most. They don't have to become heroes, of course, but they could stand to be just a little less evil.
10 Father Could Have Used Alchemy To Help Amestris Grow (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Father isn't human. His true identity is that of a strange amalgamation of knowledge from beyond the veil known originally as Dwarf-in-the-flask Homunculus. It's not clear why he decides to remain behind on earth after being summoned, but his decision to stay results in massive geopolitical changes spanning hundreds of years.
Father wants more human lives added to the Philosopher's Stone that's part of him, but he could just as easily use those souls he's already collected to help improve the lives of the citizens of Amestris much like Van Hohenheim does.
9 Hisoka Morow Could Technically Still Turn Good In The Future (Hunter X Hunter)
Hisoka's villainy coincides with his desire for a good fight, and he is smart enough to know how to avoid being killed by those who manage to defeat him.
He rambles on about battling Gon and Killua at their peak strength and tends to associate with extremely violent criminals, but Hisoka remains as cryptic as ever. Nobody knows where he comes from, how old he is, or literally anything else about his past. As such, Hisoka becoming a hero, or at least slightly less villainous, is not out of the question.
8 All For One Insists On Holding Onto His Power (My Hero Academia)
In a world with Quirks, most people have some kind of superpower or another. Furthermore, many of them have abilities that are so strong that they can make a name for themselves as Pro Heroes, people who can be classified as celebrity social activists in a way.
There are also people who would rather become villains, the most powerful of them being All For One. His Quirk allows him to steal and reuse as many Quirks as he can, not to mention transfer them from one person to another. This level of power, unfortunately, doesn't come with a similar degree of responsibility.
7 Gendo Ikari Refuses To Be A Better Father Despite His Many Chances (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Gendo Ikari isn't exactly an antagonist, but his actions and choices clearly suggest that he cares for nobody but himself, spending half his life developing a project that he dreams would reunite him with his "dead" spouse, Yui.
Instead of bemoaning his losses, Gendo could have channeled his energy into raising Shinji, making him more confident and, perhaps, more eligible to hold the reins of Instrumentality in his teenage hands.
6 Younger Toguro Has No Reason To Throw Himself Into Eternal Torment (Yu Yu Hakusho)
The Younger Toguro is secretly ashamed of the path his life has taken, which is why he commits horrifyingly heinous crimes, the worst being the murder of his ex-best friend and possible lover, Genkai. He claims that all he wants is the ultimate match, and he succeeds in getting what he wants when Yusuke defeats and kills him in the Dark Tournament.
As a spirit, Toguro bizarrely announces to Koenma that he wishes to spend 100 million years in the worst Hell available to atone for his crimes. Genkai tries to dissuade him of that wish, claiming that he doesn't deserve his self-inflicted punishment, but to no avail.
5 Eren Jaeger Destroys The World Without Knowing The Outcome (Attack On Titan)
As the Attack Titan, Eren is able to perceive timelines in their entirety, from past to present to future, often getting himself entangled in the mess of events that take place during his life. Without himself knowing the reason why, Eren Rumbles the world into the ground, destroying large swathes of the globe and killing countless innocents.
He seems to believe in the necessity of payback for the "crimes" inflicted on Eldians by the rest of the world. Ultimately, Eren is portrayed as helpless, a victim of his own circumstances. Did he really ever had a choice?
4 Aizen Sosuke Would Have Been A Huge Asset In The Final Arc (Bleach)
Aizen believes that he waxes eloquent whenever he speaks about the future of Soul Society, which, in his eyes, would mean replacing the Soul King with himself. Despite being overwhelmingly arrogant, Aizen loses the final battle of the Fake Karakura Town arc to Ichigo simply because he underestimates his young opponent.
He returns on behalf of fanservice at the end of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, where he temporarily tricks Yhwach and delivers his iconic line. Aizen is way too useful to be benched; if only he was more trustworthy.
3 Ragyo Kiryuin Revels In How Terrible A Parent She Is (Kill La Kill)
Anime protagonists sometimes have awful parents. Ryuko and Satsuki's mother, Ragyo, is a prime example. She stays behind the scenes for a large fraction of the storyline, emerging to reveal her final move: sacrificing humanity to the alien Life Fiber.
Ragyo doesn't think it immoral to harm her own children in the process. In fact, she laughs uproariously while dealing with Ryuko and Satsuki's seemingly fatal wounds. As the most powerful person in Japan, Ragyo has a lot to offer that's not global genocide.
2 Meruem Is Incredibly Close To Undergoing A Complete Personality Overhaul (Hunter X Hunter)
The Chimera Ant King spends the first few weeks of his life gloating about his incalculable power, but everything changes for him when he meets Komugi. The Gungi champion shows Meruem that nobody is perfect at everything, triggering a cascade of borderline human emotions in him.
After his battle with Netero, the Ant King further metamorphoses, choosing to knock out rather than kill the Hunter assassins who plan to murder him. It's quite unfortunate that Meruem dies before he becomes a good person.
1 Light Yagami Misuses The Powers He Accidentally Receives (Death Note)
Possessing an artifact as overpowered as the Death Note is a massively moral responsibility, one that Light Yagami shrugs off as one would a bothersome mosquito. He begins by "executing" criminals who "deserve" to die but quickly moves on to anyone who might oppose him, the self-proclaimed "god of the new world."
Light's vision of the ideal world remains in his head alone, but the fact that he chooses to inflict it on other people without considering the consequences is symptomatic of some serious megalomania. He's intelligent enough to evade the likes of L, so he certainly has the potential to do great things.