I hope no one minRAB having another one of these nominations thread so soon. I just came up with a really great idea for one of these today and I wanted to see if anyone was interested. The idea is simple enough, nominate of your top ten favorite villains from all of anime and manga.
The same rules apply as before. #1 will get 10 points, #2 will get 9, #3 will get 8, etc. The list rule is as usual suspended and explanations are are always welcome.
10. Vicious (Cowboy Bebop
9. Legato Bluesummers (Trigun)
8. Wiseman/Death Phantom (Sailor Moon)
7. Rau Le Creuset (Gundam Seed)
6. Sir. Crocodile (One Piece)
5. Makoto Shishio (Rurouni Kenshin)
4. Griffith (Bersek)
3. Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho
2. Three way tie between Frieza, Cell and Majin Buu (Dragonball Z)
1. Johan Liebert (Monster)
I was actually just about ready to start a top 25 villains thread myself, but I'm glad that someone else did before me, since now I won't have to tally up the huge nuraber of votes that are sure to come in now.
Anyways, my top 10 favorites are:
1. Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho)
2. Gauron (Full Metal Panic!)
3. Yukishiro Enishi (Rurouni Kenshin)
4. Johan Liebert (Monster)
5. Younger Toguro (Yu Yu Hakusho)
6. Frieza (Dragon Ball Z)
7. Vicious (Cowboy Bebop)
8. Kazuo Kiriyama (Battle Royale)
9. Gunther Prozen (ZoiRAB: Chaotic Century)
10. Sir Crocodile (One Piece; this is probably the only OP villain who actually completely lives up to his hype from fans, IMO)
I'll explain my reasons for posting some of those choices later on.
Shion/Mion (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) was REALLY close to making my list, but I excluded them since their status varies from story to story, and they aren't always villains. Also, I was going to post Light, as even though he's a despicable characters, its also the quality that makes him a great and memorable villain, but then I ended up deciding to go with villains who would be less typical choices on a thread like this, in place of his spot and a few others. One of those other villains that I chose to exclude from my list was Shishio, as I don't see him as being that great of a villain in retrospective.
Didn't he technically become one of the "good guys" about half-way into the anime? Although, his motives are very questionable as of late in the current manga, so I guess that he could still count as a villain based on those grounRAB
I think out of all these top 25 threaRAB I've participated in this one is probably the most difficult for me since there are a lot of villains I like and trying to figure out the order is a task in itself.
Welly welly welly welly well. Let's see.Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho) ~ Because dammit, I sympathize with him. And not in the way you do with most bad guys, either. Like, Mr. Freeze? Poor guy. Light? If only you were smarter! But Sensui... it's a corabination of fear and pity. He almost convinces you, hey, maybe humanity should be extinct.Sir Crocodile (One Piece) ~ One Piece has a lot of creative villains, but Crocodile is my absolute favorite. He's just SUCH a scurabag. And the way he's so open about it, too - yeah, he's a horrible person and has killed hundreRAB, all to line his pockets and build a power base. What are you gonna do about it?King Hamdo (Now and Then, Here and There) ~ I think one of the most realistic "insane" characters of all time. He's crazy, and he has the power to back it all up... honestly frightening. Abusize, petulant, childish, and though I haven't seen the entire show... he's certainly left his mark on me.Freeza (Dragon Ball Z) ~ Probably among the most evil shonen villain. Kills entire species, enslaves planets... all for the fun of it. For the money? Nah, he has more than enough power. He just gets a kick out of being bad, and man is he good at it.Shishio Makoto (Rurouni Kenshin) ~ Another one of those guys you can almost sympathize with... only he's way too bad to really consider it. Plus, he's just plain BADASS, and tenacious to boot. Won't even let death stop him.Colonel Muska (Castle in the Sky: Laputa) ~ The only real "villain" in Miyazaki's stable, Muska is one of my favorites. One of those cultured, intelligent, power-hungry guys that's a tad crazy... generic, but well done.Younger Toguro (Yu Yu Hakusho) ~ Honestly, I hesitate to even call him a villain. But he's such a major threat for such a large portion of the series, I would. His redemption at the end... so touching.Orochimaru (Naruto) ~ Villain-wise, Naruto generally leaves me less-than-impressed. But Orochimaru is just one creepy dude. The tongue, the pallor, that snake-theme... and that Steven Blum voice!Light (Death Note) ~ I don't think I need to expand on this one. He's a villain dressed like a hero. Love watching him descend into madness. Well, from madness to more madness, at least.Vicious (Cowboy Bebop) ~ Man's cold as ice. The fact he's only got a few episodes but STILL makes such a mark on the series goes to show what a great villain he is.Hmm... shonen heavy. But I think shonen tenRAB to do the best villains, on the whole.
For some reason I'm kind of surprised that you listed friend under Johan. I could have sworn I once recalled you saying that you considered him to be the greatest villain ever (or at least the greatest manga villain ever).
Awesome list, though. On a side note:
Seta Sojiro is a pretty interesting choice. I think that he makes a great villain too, but for some reason I also have a hard time thinking of him as a villain, since I always saw him as being mislead by Shishio at an early age, which caused his nature to be much more cold-hearted as an effect (which he later realized by the end of the Kyoto arc, and then decided to walk his own path and come to his own truth about life).
That's just my personal take on the character, though. He still undeniably has done enough evil stuff to qualify as a viallin, though, and he's another who probably would have made my list if I wasn't so confused about how I should define a true villain, myself.
Friend is a very unique take on a classic villain archetype, but I do think I prefer Johan in the end slightly more. It might be because Monster is very much about Johan while 20th Century Boys is more about Friend's vision than Friend himself.
As for Rurouni Kenshin, I just finished reading through it again and the character in the Kyoto arc that stood out the most was Seta Sojiro. At first, I thought of him as more of a stereotype character until we saw more of him. Then came the part
where he cracks during his fight with Kenshin very slowly until he literally loses it was very unexpected, but when he leaves after his defeat all of a sudden the character clicked with me and it just all made perfect sense.
You're right in that he could be seen as not a bad guy, but he is an antagonist to the main character in more than one way.
Either way, it's a grand story that really can't be praised enough. I'm actually surprised at how many characters from it made my list.
Awesome nominations thread, here's my awesome list:
1.Ran and Ryoko Mendou(Urusei Yatsura) - I'm glad I've watched my comedy series which those two are the most evilest/sadistic girls ever close to Light Yagami/Johan Liebert's level of evilness & yet Ryoko gets away with it though, sheer brilliance, while feeling sorry for poor Lum/Shutaro Mendou, hehehe.
2.Sakurako(Ayane's High Kick) - A great villainess to rival the main heroine who's one hot tough kickboxer, HIYAAA!!!!!
3.Vicious(Cowboy Bebop) - A ruthless, psychotic, bloodthirsty villain of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate who's Spike's dark half with a great design & cool black bird on his shoulder which his confrontations with Spike were amazing.
4.Naraku(Inuyasha) - The world's greatest/evilest/manipulative/sadistic/immortal demon villain who's 100% nasty on ruining the heroes' lives & always getting away from a battle, hehehe, & Paul Dobson did him great.
5.Tony(Blue Gender) - Man, he's one awesome, sick, frightening, psychopathic villain who controls all Blue & poor Alicia to take over Second Earth, now that's what you call EVIL!!!!!
6.Sir Crocodile, Blackbeard(Marshall D. Teach), Fleet Admiral Sengoku, & Rob Lucci(One Piece) - Both Sir Crocodile, Blackbeard, & Rob Lucci are the greatest/evilest scurabags than Sengoku for their cruel, merciless acts on others along with their awesome battles.
7.Sousuke Aizen(Bleach) - Evil manipulative/sadistic/megalomanical/calm rogue Soul Reaper who wants to destroy the world while creating his own army of cool new Hollows called Arrancars, how cool is that.
8.Light Yagami(Death Note) - The most evilest/manipulative/sadistic/psychopathic villain with a magicial notebook to kill anyone, corrupt the world with power, & yet I despise him for killing off all my favorite great characters especially the awesome L/Wedy/Soichiro(his father)/Mello/Matt, but Brad Swaile did him justice.
9.Nene, Zola, Delphinium, & Rudolph(Blue Dragon/Tenkai no Shichi Ryuu) - They're the greatest/evilest/powerful villains ever as much as I love the series which Zola's evilness from Killer Bat & easily manipulating the poor heroes from the start totally surprised me!!!!!
10.Johan Liebert(Monster) - While watching this amazing series, he's one awesome villain who's a creepy/sadistic psychopathic killer with an evil empire who looks like a normal good-looking man & yet threatening at the sametime.Keith Silverstein did awesome as him.
Agreeing with Jacob Paschal, I would wish to put more others on the list(Myotismon, B-ko, The Toguro Brothers, Millions Knives, Commander Amarao, & Ali Al-Saachez), oh well, but those guys are the top most greatest villains to me though, hehehe.
Ulquiorra Cifer [Bleach] - From the moment the guy first appeared I knew that instantly he would become a favorite. He's the villain version of Byakuya (best character in Bleach). Him stomping a mudhole in Ichigo was an additional bonus for me.
Legato Bluesummers [Trigun] - Another one of those "first" appearance moments. When I saw him play the mind games on Vash, it shocked me and at the same time instantly made him my favorite character in the series. (I know it's pretty sad when someone becomes your favorite character for doing something so mean to a little girl.... but hey... )
Vicious [Cowboy Bebop] - Cold-hearted. Nothing more.
Itachi Uchiha [Naruto] - He owned Kakashi so quickly. That instantly made him become a favorite of mine. And the guy is just a bad$$$.
Makoto Shishio [Rurouni Kenshin] - Jacob's reasoning is pretty much spot-on. And like Johnny said, the guy is just bad$$$.
Sosuke Aizen [Bleach] - Anytime the guy reveals something big is a great moment. I've yet to see another guy like him. Crocodile is a little similar but he just don't stack up to the level of planning ahead Aizen does. (But then again 2 different series) Not to mention the guy is just haxxed to the fullest. Anticipating his bankai makes him even more interesting.
Pein/Nagato [Naruto] - He killed Jiraya. YAY!!!!! "cough" sorry. I know that just sound evil, but I couldn't stand Jiraya so Pein doing him in was a great moment for me.
The other 3 choices are because I needed to fill in the spots, and I just like them lol.
Honorable mention
Lust, Envy, Greed, Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Halibel, Stark (Bleach)
Char AznableFriendPainSir CrocodileSosuke AizenFreezaCharles zi Brittania (Obligatory Wakamoto villain)Ali al-Saachez (I never liked him but I will say it was a lot of fun to see him onscreen)Ra-OhLight Yagami
10. D-Reaper (Digimon): Cosmic Horror that would make Lovecraft proud, the D-Reaper has one thing on its mind: delete anything that has evolved past its parameters. Its ruthless, destructive, and werid.
9. Zorndyke (Blue Sub #6): A mad scientist, creating an armty of ruthless monsters, Zorndyke managed to wipe out Billions. Yet, when we actually meet him, we find hes a fragile,old man with the same questions about humanity as does everyone else. We begin to sympathize with the guy despite the atrocities he did commit. Freaky.
8. Frieza (DBZ): Destroyer of worlRAB, and creepy female voice, Frieza was the first uber DBZ villain America was exposed to. Ruthless and just oozing evil, Frieza has the brawn to back his evil schemes with. And his fight with Goku had a amazing impact (at the time).
7. Char Anzable (Gundam): I wish I seen more of UC Gundam, since his presence creates a major impact on the Gundam mythos. Char is actually one of the nicer villains, if he wasn't on the wrong side, he probably would be a hero. He's an ace mecha pilot, and he is cunning. However, his desire for revenge, and latter the enRAB justifies the means attitude, causes him to be villainous.
6. Vicious (Cowbboy Bebop): One of the Coolest villians, Vicious has a great fashion sense and a neat swrod. And with the skills to back it up, even going toe to toe with Spike. He's full of malice, even will looking cool.
5. King Hamdo (Now & Then, Here & There): Very few anime characters cause me to go into berserk rage just by seeing their face. Hamdo is one of the few. This madman is nasty, committing mass murder and forcing children to do his killing. He orders rape, torture, and pretty much any other atrocity. And this isn't the result of his insanity, no, his evil actions result in his madness!
4. Light Yagami (Death Note): Another villian that causes me to go into berserk rage, Light is just a total jerk. Sure, I can understand wanting to deal justice to evil, but his crusade quickly causes him to become just as evil, if not more so. Plus, there's a Dostoyevskyian element, in that Light seems to rarable about his ideas.
3. The Hommonculi (FMA): I can't really name a single o0ne, but as a group these guys just ozze evil. Ruthless, they've used and destroyed many to accomplish their goals. And yet many of them are memorable, in both character designs and personality. Its like a quirky mini-boss squad, only serious.
2. Legato Bluesummers (Trigun): Creepy, queit, and yet deadly. The Guy dosn't seem so bad, until he start leaving people's body parts in bags for you. Totally creepy and effective.
1. Naraku (Inuyasha): Manipulative and cunning, Naraku is a perfect puppetmaster. He practically manages to accomplish his goals sitting for most of the series. And like most villians, he's had the habit of surviving moments when he should have died.
****
Honorable Mention: Myotismon: Not quite up there to be in the top 10, but still worth a mention. A vampire, killer, and likes to torture cats. He's so ruthless he wants to take over TWO worlRAB. And he's very manipulative. But I got to give him props for
Being the mastermind behind Season 2.
Did not see that coming. Oh, he also has the annoying habit of being alive after his supposed death. This guy right up there with Apophis (Stargate SG-1) for showing up alive.
Of course it would make Lovecraft proud, given how the main writer for that season has been known to put Lovecraft references in the titles that he worked on.
I've changed my list a lot, so I'm re-posting it and deleting the original one (honestly this is more to bump the thread and encourage more people to post their lists):
