What makes a good villain?

C

caspergrl

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Some say looks, some say attitude. Me, its all about being creative.

What villain I'm talking about, Lupin III.

And yes, he is a villain. He lies, create, rape (Read the manga if you don't believe me), kill, and pretty much take from the rich. But, he's a likable villain.

When Lupin III goes out and get a priceless “Thing”, he does it in style. Not the old A, B, C trick. Its all about how he's going to do it. Being creative.

What's your ideal of an anime/manga villain?
 
Off the top of my head, I can think of four basic types of villains.
(There are more, I'm sure, but this is just off the top.)

1. The two-dimensional, evil villain only there to act as something for the good guy to punch.
For example, Naraku from InuYasha.

2. The "secretly admired" villain who does things everyone secretly wishes they could do. But of course, no good person would, out of moral integrity, actually do those things.
For example, Light from Death Note.

3. The sympathetic, misunderstood villain who may not even be considered a villain by some, depending on your stance on a certain moral issue.
For example, Lelouch from Code Geass.

4. The good guy turned bad... or, alternatively, a revealed bad guy who was previously thought to have been good.
For example, Griffith from Berserk, or Aizen from Bleach.

I like the second kind, then the forth, but the third type is by far my favorite.
(And I understand that some people may consider Light to be in this third category, but I certainly don't... still a cool villain though.)
 
A good villain must always be one step ahead, they must also be able to make the outcome of any situation favorable (Xanatos Garabit... i think), must be crazy strong, so strong that the good guy is never more powerful than him (so that good guy is always the underdog).

Arrogance is a requirement.
 
I'd say Aizen is one of the better villains from Bleach. His plans just work so smoothly and according to plan, not because of luck, but because that is how he set things up. Not to mention he is incredibly badass, stopping Ichigo's bankai with one finger. Also, his cruelty is really something that I think more villains sometimes lack. Especially when he stabs Momo.
 
I'm pretty tired of the stock anime villains. The ones with some secret plan, who stand around bragging like "How pitiful. I'm going to mock you with my rich, leathery voice, knowing I will surely never get my comeuppance. NEVER I say! HA HA HA! HA-HA HA HA HA!!". Then in the finale, they get smacked around and complain how this is impossible and how their glorious destiny can't be stopped.

Aren't there any hurable anime villains?
 
Oh I love those scenes, particularly if they have a rich, leathery voice. "NO! THIS CAN'T BE! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

My favorite villains are that kind, actually. The heartless monsters with master plans, taunting the hero, running circles around them in fights, then reaching their breaking point and going from a suave, intelligent, haughty jerk to a rage-filled berserker.

Like Crocodile or Freeza or Shishio... well, a lot of Shonen baddies, really.
 
I don't know, does Norio Wakamoto's Cell count? It's a lot less leatherly, and more gravelly, but in the end after Super Saiyan Gohan 2 began to beat him around...well, let's just say he wound up having his e-penis out gunned by a ten year old boy...


Yeah, I know...creepy.
 
I like the third or fourth one. I like villians like Aizen who seem to be good but I bad. He is also very smart. I hate villians like Naraku who almost get beated then run away for like 10 times.
 
In order to be a good villain, you must be manipulative and relentless in what you do. You must also stay one step ahead of the competition and remove anyone who dares step in your way. To me, Cell is that kind of villain.

Sometimes, you can qualify as a villain, if you dont let fear get in the way of your plans to rule. Joker for instance
 
Aizen from Bleach so far has become a good type of villain. Someone who seems to be extremely powerful and that the main hero can't reach unless he learns more. A villain who always is one step ahead and can make his followers fear him as well.

=p Besides the fact that the Bleach manga is so dang so slow.. Aizen is indeed a great villain for the series because the power he has and the way he plots and caculates so far has been great.

Yet the Joker is probably the ultimate villain because he defeats total fear of any action that he does.
 
I'm still waiting for someone to just walk up and incinerate the guy (he and Luthor).

I feel like seeing that would relieve a lot of stress...
 
SamTheGreek probably pointed it best out with the different types of villians.

He did forget one type of villain: the Hammy type. Sure, he's not deep or intriguing. But if the show you're watching is suppose to be fun, then having a cheesy, over-the-top villain would add to the fun. He's absurd, silly, evil, overacting AND LOVING IT!

On another note, the deeper, more serious villain should have a sense of charm. The type that's a sneaky mastermind with style. Sure, he could do evil acts, but he acts with style. He's suave, likable, and always polite.

Another characteristic would be charisma. The villain should be able to get a lot of people to believe in him. Heck, the some of the best may cause people to actually agree with them.
 
A few, perhaps....

Char Aznable (at least at first). He wants to destroy the Zabi family. He's confident in his abilities but is usually defeated by the Gundam's abilities or by circumstance, not by arrogance.Zechs Merquise. Capable of recognizing his own faults and limitations. Even at the end he's remarking that he's "stained with blood," showing that he isn't acting out of a sense of "destiny" or for personal glory.Ashram from Lodoss War. In the OVA he's very powerful but loyal and subservient to Emperor Beld, who was very arabitious. In the TV series he surprisingly develops into a good leader that can put his people first, becoming more of an antagonist than a bad guy.The Zentradi from Macross. They come after the Macross on Earth since it originally belonged to an enemy of theirs. They're leery of human culture and attempt to comprehend it. Their Supreme Commander enRAB up being hostile toward humanity basically out of fear of being pacified and "contaminated" by that culture, rather than a simple desire for conquest.Zabuza from Naruto. Basically fights for profit. Never believes he's unstoppable. His most arrogant moment was mocking the Sharingan. Although, he does have "this can't be!!!" moments.Not many, admittedly, though these are good ones. Maybe more will be thought of...

_____________________

Good villains can take many shapes. It's all about execution. If you write a black-and-white villain that does evil deeRAB without apology, he neeRAB to loom large. He neeRAB to be competent, smart, and to have a serious goal. Ribbons Almark and Vicious have no good qualities, but they're credible. Villains that are simply cruel are easy to hate but don't make a "great villain" in my book.

Villains that have very good reasons for doing what they do are always interesting. Sometimes you'll have a more honorable villain serving a less honorable master, or a villain that is letting good enRAB justify terrible means.

The "tragedy made me evil!" bit can work very well, so long as it isn't abused. Realistically, wrongdoing is all too often rationalized and justified. So villains that have had their worldview dramatically twisted by events not of their making can be very compelling. It makes for good conflict, and both the hero and the viewer is forced to ask what they would do if they were presented with the same set of circumstances.
 
Lupin is not a villain in the literary sense of the word. He is the protagonist. You can argue that Lupin is evil, but there is always a more-evil antagonist for him to compete with/fight/outsmart.

My favorite anime villains are both from Satoshi Kon... Me-Mania from Perfect Blue and, of course, Shonen Bat from Paranoia Agent -- who is especially perfect since he
takes on all the aspects of villainy ascribed to him by the minRAB of those he terrorizes.
 
Speaking of villain death-reactions, which do you prefer?

-Denial. "This can't be happening!"
-Bargaining. "Please don't kill me!"
-Madness. "Losing has driven me nuts! Let us die together!"
-Acceptance. "So I've lost and am going to die. Oh well."
 
Definitely this one. Most of them don't have in them to do it, so those that are capable of handling a defeat get a lot of respect from me. Vegeta imitations are all too common.

Fate/Stay Night ending spoilers:
My favorite defeat of this type belongs to Gilgamesh, who dies with affectionate worRAB in praise of Saber. Given his supreme arrogance you'd think he'd be beside himself, but no. Gilgamesh is no DBZ villain.
 
Presence helps, like in the case of Johan Leibert. He has a presence to him that the audence can feel though his actions and the reactions of the characters. He's not in every episode, he vanishes for a good period of time but you can always feel him. He's an ominus shadow decending on the world, the very essence of evil in human form. when he shows up something really bad is about to happen, but not always by his very hanRAB.
 
One that lets the damage speak for itself, without the need for boasting, taunting, or exposition.

It's a universal truth, spanning all mediums.
 
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