There are plenty of different reasons to be a fan of anime, and it’s impressive just how wide the range is when it comes to selecting content. It honestly feels like there’s an anime series for every person globally, and it’s helped the medium grow from a more fringe form of entertainment to mainstream interest.

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Many anime series receive acclaim, but a frequent factor in a show’s success is the main obstacle’s level of effectiveness. An intimidating and compelling villain is sometimes more important than a captivating hero. Some strong series suffer from certain antagonists that receive too much attention while others go neglected.

10 Diavolo Presents JoJo’s Golden Wind With A Nearly Unstoppable Villain

JoJo Golden Wind Diavolo Time Erase

Each new chapter to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure features more determined and powerful villainous Stand users, and Golden Wind pushes these powers to unprecedented levels. Diavolo is a compelling villain since his identity is kept a secret for so long, and he’s technically the alternate personality to the meek Doppio. Diavolo’s King Crimson Stand is practically unbeatable, and Giorno and company would be toast if not for a convenient Stand Arrow.

Diavolo is frightening, but he’s too overpowered for his own good at times, which forces the anime to jump through certain hoops to keep the encounter going.

9 Cioccolata Is Truly Unhinged And Has The Potential For Greatness

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind Cioccolata and Green Tea

Diavolo is the head threat in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, but Bucciarati’s gang faces many smaller mercenaries during their mission through Italy. Cioccolata causes a tremendous amount of damage, and his Green Day Stand puts the entire city in danger via a flesh-eating mold.

Cioccolata is even more effective as a villain because he seems to have genuinely lost his mind, and he comes from a morbid background as a surgeon. Cioccolata feels like a detached serial killer, and his devoted lapdog, Secco, only adds more strangeness to the equation.

8 Majin Buu Is Derivative Of Dragon Ball Z’s Past Threats

DBZ Kid Buu

A frequent problem that shonen anime face is that every new villain that appears has to be progressively stronger than the last. This structure initially works for Dragon Ball Z, but it's become quite played out by the time it reaches its final arc.

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The battle against Majin Buu is unnecessarily long and drags its feet in the same way that the previous fights against Frieza and Cell do. What’s supposed to work as the anime’s big finish comes across more like a lunatic that doesn’t have much personality.

7 Cell’s Pursuit Of Perfection Gives Him Greater Depth

Anime Dragon Ball Z Perfect Cell Smug

Dragon Ball Z contains some highly memorable villains, but Cell often gets overlooked, and his true accomplishments as an antagonist aren’t usually appreciated. Frieza and Buu get more love, but Cell pushes the most interesting ideology of the lot.

His search for perfection is not dissimilar to Goku’s quest to grow stronger, and his ability to turn Goku and the other's own moves against them is a unique touch at the time. It should also not be forgotten that Cell technically succeeds in Goku’s death, which most villains can’t claim.

6 One-Punch Man’s Orochi Is An Epic Demon That’s Hard To Understand

One-Punch Man Orochi

One-Punch Man faces a unique problem because right from the first episode, it clarifies that 99% of the enemies that Saitama faces can’t survive one of his punches. This means that most villains don’t get a chance to stick around and develop themselves, but Orochi is a compelling exception.

Orochi trumps even Boros, and he’s a demonic monster of the worst persuasion. However, the enemy is so huge and powerful that it turns into the very kind of cliche that One-Punch Man attempts to subvert.

Garou using martial arts

The smartest approach for the villains in One-Punch Man is to scale smaller in some ways. Saitama has already defeated dangerous extraterrestrials and monsters that grander creatures begin to feel disappointing.

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Garou is much more complex than any of One-Punch Man’s kaiju-sized threats because he’s actually a human. It means more to learn how Garou gets pushed to this villainous place in his life and that he has agency on the matter and is not just a mindless, evil beast. It also allows him to struggle with his own mortality.

4 Gintama’s Takasugi Shinsuke Is Barely Present And Coasts On Potential

Anime Takasugi and Gintoki fighting in Gintama

Any anime series that runs for over 300 episodes is going to cover its fair share of villains. Gintama is an unusual exception since it effortlessly fluctuates between serialized dramatic storytelling and more absurdist gag humor. Takasugi Shinsuke is a skilled samurai with ties to Gintoki’s past.

He’s important to Gintoki’s overall story, but he’s barely present in the anime and feels like a major hanging thread until he sporadically returns. Other enemies have a larger presence and actually have actions to fall back on and not just the prospect of what might happen with them.

3 Utsuro Turns Gintoki’s Mentor Against Him In A Painful Manner

Anime Gintama Utsuro Sword Fighting

Gintama is an anime that fluctuates between pure silliness and dramatic details about the characters' backstories. It takes a surprisingly long time to dig into Gintoki's formative years, but eventually, the significance of his mentor, Shoyo Yoshida, comes to light.

Unfortunately, Yoshida houses a dangerous demon inside of himself that's known as Utsuro. Utsuro's manipulation of Yoshida creates real tension, and it plagues Gintoki in an emotional way that's rare for the character. It’s painful to see Gintoki get forced into combat with this formative figure from his life and struggle to resolve this situation.

2 Attack On Titan Creates Empathy For Reiner’s Bold Actions

Reiner reveals that he is the Armored Titan AOT

Lots of anime series change and evolve across the course of their runs, but few explode and reinvent themselves and their perspective than Attack on Titan. It’s a major blow when it’s revealed that Reiner is a traitor and a Titan in season two.

However, season four heavily gets into Reiner and his people's past and treats him as much of a hero as Eren. It’s remarkable how the tables get turned, and Reiner turned into an unlikely ally as the whole world falls apart in Attack on Titan.

1 Floch Is A Traitor To The Bitter End Who Loses His Humanity

Attack On Titan Floch

Attack on Titan’s final season makes the audience and characters reconsider everything they thought they knew, and the lines between heroes and villains become impossibly blurred. Eren Jaeger himself positions himself as a major villain and controversial figure, but Floch Forster helps his reckless actions.

Yelena is also an important player in this coup, but Floch proves himself to be more ruthless and truly abandons his morals to follow whoever is the strongest in this war. It’s still possible to understand the actions of characters like Eren, Grisha, and Yelena, but Floch is purely unrepentant and beyond redemption.

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