It’s been months since the last list and I’m really sorry for this delay. I don’t know what’s wrong with me… it’s always like this: I start something cool I really like, but then I leave it aside because there was something else caught my attention and get occupied with it to the point I don’t get time for the earlier thing I was doing beforehand…
But that’s not why we are here, we’re here to talk about something we all love or hate: antagonists! (Originally, I wanted to make it a list of villains, but I realized that my choices are not necessary or totally evil, but they are still enemies to the main characters. So, I decided to make this my top 10 favorite Antagonists of all time.)
10- D-Reaper ADR-01: Juri Type (Digimon Tamers)
If you grew up with Digimon Tamers, then this freak gave you nightmares, right?
After Leomon’s death, Juri was sulking all the time… and when they got back to the real world, we notice that there’s something…… strange about her… if her eyes weren’t enough of a clue then I don’t know what else… But that’s the thing… the Tamers were so occupied with D-Reaper that they did not notice that there was something wrong with their friend. And when the truth revealed, we got one of the creepiest revealing scenes ever that almost reminded me of a Silent Hill or a Resident Evil moment…
The mind screws, the voice, the transformation, it was a creepy scene for what it was…! And she wasn’t just for one episode and never seen again, she stuck around till the end and even had an upgrade to fight of Dukemon’s ultimate upgrade.
And the plan worked for them! D-Reaper was able to fool everyone and use the real Juri to increase its power without noticing and it really gave them a hard time from detecting the source to evolutions to the increase number of other agents. It took over a city and the communication lines and it was all thanks to her and the distraction caused by the other agents for the whole battle. She is a fine example of how one character can control a whole war and doing it under everyone’s radar.
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09- Baraggan Louisenbairn (BLEACH)
Yeah, as much as I now despise that series, to its credit at least it had *some* interesting characters to like, and luckily there was an antagonist that I really liked that is fortunate enough not being Aizen!
Enter Baraggan; the #2 Espada captain who in my opinion was better being the #0 because according to Kubo’s logic the higher number is 0 and not 1. This guy was once the king of Hueco Mundo but he decided to follow Aizen the Invincible because he bored, and the fact that he obliterated his troops, and promises of higher powers... I guess boredom forces you to follow your enemies... Besides that, not only he had a cool design in “human” form and a no-nonsense personality and came to battle with a bone throne, but his release is so freaken awesome! You look at that and it spells “King of Death” for you! Ironically, he looks more like the Grim Reaper than the “Grim Reapers” of the series!
For powers, he got one scary ability… he can control the life span of anything and make it age and wither in a blink of an eye! Nothing can reach him because if something gets closer to him it ended aging and turning to dust within a second! Flesh, bones, steel, stones, even energy attacks! Nothing stands in his way! He is untouchable!
Too bad for him though… he fought the wrong opponent… an opponent who has the right ability to fight his invincible ability. But did that change him? No! Even while rotting away he still had his tough character and didn’t get scared of the idea that he’s dying! He was an awesome antagonist. Short-lived in the series, but still awesome.
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08- Vearn (Dragon Quest: Dai’s Great Adventure)
Next to Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, this was another villain shrouded in mystery.
Ever since I was a kid watching the series, I’ve always wondered what he looked like or how strong is he. He was hyped to be one of the most powerful and most terrifying characters ever in the series. Alas, the anime was cancelled and we didn’t get to see more of it. I always tried to imagine how he looked like… is he like his giant walking fortress? A skull? A shadow? He must be scary and evil looking for the lord of evil… until I saw the manga and got excited to find hope in answering that long time question… And I found it in chapter 159, and it was far from my expectations…
That’s right, THIS… is Vearn the lord of evil that I was waiting to see his face for all my childhood… he looks NOTHING like the images I had of him. But that made it better. He wasn’t a clichéd “evil face” that you can tell he’s evil, he looks like a normal nice old man (if you ignore the third eye and the horns) but even with that face that doesn’t change how powerful he is.
Just look at that smirk... What’s interesting about him is his goal. Why does he want to destroy humanity and conquer the world? So the demons can go to the surface and enjoy the sun. Normally we’d assume demons like the darkness and hate the sun, but he enjoys the same bright sun and he wants to let the demons have that joy as well. But since demons and humans can’t co-exist, one must destroy the other.
Vearn’s personality does not match what we assume of someone who holds such title. Vearn is calm, collected, smiles a lot, polite, doesn’t shout that often. And he respects both his followers and enemies. He even doesn’t mind if his followers had different goals than his. As long as they are under his command, they are free to stay. But let’s not forget, he is still evil and doesn’t have a heart of gold. He still thinks humans do not deserve to live and he wants to destroy them, and when a follower is no longer useful to him, he destroys him with no mercy even if he was already dead.
Vearn was a great overlord from my childhood, and he proved that till the end.
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07- Dio Brando (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures)
The most awesome and charismatic vampire ever! (Not a fan of Hellsing
yet so don’t quote me on this)
This guy was a devil since day 1 in the Joestar family! It wasn’t even a minute meeting Jonathan and already he had plans to destroy his life! He takes his place and becomes his the father’s favorite son, he turned all the kids against JoJo, he locked the dog in the incinerator and left him to burn alive, he stole Jojo’s girlfriend’s first kiss, and he even attempted to poison his new father to take all the property to himself and he’s still not a vampire yet!!
And when he turned to the vampire, it got even crazier… this guy refuses to die no matter how much you try to kill him! Every time JoJo thinks he finally killed him he survives and returns to haunt the living again! Even as a severed head he never goes down that easily! And to top it all off, it took generations in order to defeat him once and for all. That’s right, because one generation is not enough for him.
As a vampire you’d think all he does is blood sucking but that’s not all. He got the power to defy gravity (sticking under the ceiling, walking on walls), his hands can freeze blood, he can stop time using his famous “The World” ability, and let’s not forget the #1 most awesome attack ever: Road Roller!!
This guy is so fun and so over the top but you can’t help but fall under his charisma! And I’m waiting patiently for the anime adaptation of Stardust Crusaders just to enjoy seeing him in action!
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06- Yukishiro Enishi (Rurouni Kenshin)
Even though I like Shishio, I think Enishi was the best antagonist in the series.
Up till this point, Kenshin fought what were obviously bad guys and stopped their crimes against the nation or his friends. So we could all assume that Kenshin won’t do anything wrong and won’t be seen as a criminal beyond being the Man Slayer he was…. But that wasn’t the case…
Kesnhin was revealed later that he killed his wife! Even though it was an accident he still took the guilt like he really did kill her on purpose. Unfortunately, His wife’s little brother saw everything and the path for revenge has opened its doors… So this time, the antagonist got a vendetta against our hero; it’s personal, and Kenshin was still guilty. It’s not the same as his previous fights where he was clearly at the side of justice. It’s a reversed role this time.
And Enishi was a formidable foe. Not only was he able to defeat Kenshin’s fighting style, but he was the first antagonist in the series to crush his soul period in a brilliant and unexpected plan! He turned Kenshin to an empty shell of his former self left to rot until he dies. He made him lose his will to live. Not even Shishio was able to do that.
Enishi was one heck of a character. But you know the sad part is? His arc was never animated. The animated series was canceled before we get to see his mightiness in its full image. Sure we got that OVA that tells Kenshin’s past (Which as you know I don’t like and thought it was pointless without the whole plot) and he got like a scene or two in the other OVA, but not the whole thing, and that’s very disappointing, especially with a huge percentage of anime viewers who don’t like to read manga for all the reasons you could think of (black & white, no voices, no music, no animation, don’t read at all, etc.).
We got a new manga, a live action movie, and a special retelling of the Kyoto arc, but no Revenge arc The Animation yet. The fans are missing a lot.
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05- Miyo Takano (When the Cicadas Cry)
Talk about how crazy and diabolical you can get to achieve your desires… This creepy lady was suspicious the first moment you get to know her… never the less; she is one psychotic lady you don’t want to know her or you’ll get involved in one of her experiments.
So what’s the deal… Takano tries to prove that the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Why? Just to clear her adopted grandfather’s name after being mocked for it. And after seeing her flashback as a child in hopes of making you feel sorry for her, what does she do? She plans a mass genocide to the entire village! Elders, women and children! Even the children!! There goes my sympathy for her! If her goal wasn’t crazy enough then I don’t know what it is…!
And that’s not even the start… she had some hand on some of the mysterious deaths that occurred in the village including murdering Rika’s parents just so she can study her without their interruptions. Later on, she would kill her over and over again to prove the existence of the syndrome. And to hide her crimes, she fakes her death and uses the volcanic gases as an excuse to conceal the real reason for the mass genocide that happened within the village.
Sure she didn’t have any super powers, but all she needed was her brain and a sponsor to back her up. All that bloodshed just to clear the name of the one person who really cared about her.
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04- L (Death Note)
Since you all know I dislike Light, then it’s obviously I’m gonna root to his enemy. One of the most iconic characters of all time: L
He’s a unique character. No question about it. The design (The easiest cosplay ever!), the manners, the gestures, the brain, L is someone you can’t take your eyes away from. But what makes him unique in this list, is he’s on the side of justice. He is the good guy. But we are supposed to be against him because he’s against Light who we are supposed to side with.
L has proven to be one of the smartest characters ever in the series. He easily pinpointed Light’s initial place from the first start in one smart move. And he is such a smarty that he got a 100% in all exams he attended without studying! I wish I had a brain like that when I was at school!! He takes notices in every small detail and doesn’t ignore any of it. For example when he was examining the Death Note the first time he had, he noticed the page with the torn part used by Rem earlier. If it was any normal guy he’d ignore thinking it’s normal to have torn bits here and there, but not L. He knew that wasn’t normal.
Going back to his design, his face and expression are almost unreadable. You can’t tell what he’s thinking or he’s telling the truth or a lie. And this worked a lot when he was working with Light. He knows they are together on one mission and did say he thinks he’s his friend, but he still had his doubts and did not blurt everything to the guy he still thinks he is his enemy.
Unfortunately for him, his one weakness is his ignorance to the Shinigamis and what are the real rules of the Note and that’s why he couldn’t tell the lies from the truth in which caused his demise. But his death wasn’t the end. He had a legacy to follow his steps and stop that megalomaniac.
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03- Baron Ashura (Shin Mazinger Z)
One of the most bizarre looking characters ever… for years, we could not know what the heck it is: A man? A woman? What exactly?!!
Beyond its strange look and unidentified gender, Baron Ashura didn’t have that much of a character in the old time (as far as I remember). It was mostly a follower to Dr.Hell who controls his Mechanical Beasts and nothing deep about it.
That was until “Shin Mazinger Z” when we got its character fleshed out more as well as its origin. And boy was it great!! This version of Ashura still had its memories of the Roman/Greek gods and how it was before being two in one. For that, it had a huge grudge on Mazinger Z because it looked so much like Zeus and Ashura hated his guts and so we got a legit reason for its rivalry with Kouji instead of just being a follower. And if that wasn’t enough, this time Ashura got the power to knock down a 5-storey high robot with its fists!! That’s hardcore!!
Later on in the series, Ashura was the main focus of the series and it seemed like it wants to help and even sided with the good guys… but that was all part of a plan… and who was the victor? Try and make a guess…
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02- Demon King Piccolo (Dragon Ball)
For a long time, Freeza used to be my favorite Dragon Ball villain for how impact he made on the series. But looking back, I see Piccolo deserves that honor before Freeza.
Piccolo was the first Dragon Ball’s first Super villain. Even though Taopaipai was the first enemy close to kill Goku and he’s awesome and he should’ve been on this list, but he was still human and not the main villain of the time. Piccolo on the other hand, he was an immediate threat once you realize that Muten Roushi was afraid of his power!
Piccolo was a great threat to our heroes. He was so powerful that his spawns were enough to kill dozens of powerful martial artists including Kuririn with ease! Now we already saw characters die in the series, but that was the first time a main character dies. And it was still the time when death meant something…
For Piccolo however, not only he was close to kill a full-powered Goku when he was still old, but he made Muten Roushi waste his life in vain, kills Chaozu, gets his wish AND kills Shenlong! The Dragon god was killed by this devil thus eliminating all kind of hopes left to stop him! And on top of that, he took over the world! It was for a brief time, but he did none the less!
Even fighting Goku wasn’t a breeze… they were evenly matched and keep in mind this was before the Super Saiyan transformations and before depending on Qi attacks. It was still a hand to hand fight and each delivered his best shot until Goku finished him off. But did that stop everything? No! Piccolo released his final spawn that ended up the more famous Piccolo and the series was changed since then.
So let’s see again: Freeza killed two of the main characters, failed to get his wish, failed to conquer Namek, lost his battle against Goku by his own attack, and got killed later by Trunks, and that was the last of him. Not as successful as the Demon King.
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01- The Phantom Troupe (Hunter x Hunter)
In my opinion, the best villains I’ve ever known. How so? Because this group got the strongest bond in any villain group ever!
The Phantom Troupe is not your typical villain group. The members have the best team work for villains. They are more than comrades; they are more of a family. They care for each other, they play with each other, they laugh with each other, they enjoy their time together, they respect each other, they cry for each other and they avenge each other. Which is a problem I have with a lot of evil organizations here and there: They don’t appear that they are having genuine fun. They do evil stuff just for the sake of being evil, and they’re all at each other’s throats.
Even the leader Chrollo Lucilfer is far better leader than any other leaders I’ve ever known. He is evil, but wise. He is smart, but not cocky. He is strong, but knows his limits. Even when he’s out of power, he can defeat his enemy with his words only. He is a leader, but he doesn’t see he is the most important one of the group. He sees what’s important are the members, and not the head. He doesn’t mock them or sees them as mere pawns that he can toss them away like trash any time he wants. He even cries when a member dies. That’s how much of a devoted character that he is. And to top it all, the members are ready to die for him even if it was against his will. This is another problem I had with other evil leaders: They don’t respect their followers.
Despite their kindness, they are still villains. They are one of the most formidable criminals in their world and are feared by everyone. Especially looking at their origin; “Meteor City”; a city filled with people abandoned by society and are ready to kill thousands to avenge one of them. They made a lot of successful raids and stole everything they got their hands on, and they can even fake their own death to escape the authorities.
Friendly with each other, respectful leader, successful, dangerous, smart, and they enjoy every moment of it. Which is why, I decided to pick the Phantom Troupe to by my #1 villains of all time.
And that was my long awaited Top 10 list.
Originally Posted by thatguy3331
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