Forum - View topicAnime Villains [spoilers]
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Yeah, yeah, this topic's been done before, but I thought it'd be fun to bring it back and add a little depth to it.
Who do you think is the best villain in an anime series? Qualify your answer with examples and comparisons and try to make you answer more than "vicious is the best there im done", please. I'll start. Personally, I think Griffith, from Berserk, is the best villain I've ever seen. Here we are shown a man who is inherently selfish and evil, but commanding and charsimatic. He is not a "bad guy" in the truest sense of the word, he is simply evil. I don't mean evil in a "cackling supervillain" sort of way, but his motivations are not backed by anything pure.. he is corrupt. He isn't shown as being a brutal sort of thug or destructive force. He leads his band of Hawks to vistory and treats his men well, and doesn't go out of his way to destroy other people, but his motivations are always self-serving. His transformation in to Femto is not a "fall", it's his logical character progression. Griffith is aiming for the absolute top, and he achieves this. it's perhaps the most valid and accurate portrayal of "evil" I've ever seen in any television series. It's very layered and complex. Anyone else? |
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Posts: 1365 Location: Birmingham, Alabama |
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Not to be way obvious, but Gendo Ikari is my favorite anime "villian," in large part because he's so ambiguous. He keeps everybody guessing about his plans and motives. How much of that is due to Gainax's brilliance and how much is due to Gainax's not knowing what to do next is up for debate, but I like the fact that he uses an end-justifies-the-means approach to achieve something that arguably is in the best interests of the human race, even if it is just to reunite with his wife.
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v1cious
 Posts: 6235 Location: Houston, TX |
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Knives from Trigun cause he's do damn manipulative. the way he uses people and just pretty much remains untouchable through the whole series is beyond words
Naraku from Inuyasha for the same reason. he's always instigating stuff, like tricking Kikyo into killing Inuyasha Incognito from Hellsing cause he's just Psycho. for someone so powerful, he's just not right in the head. |
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Slim Shinji
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 263 |
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MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
My vote goes to Sojiro from Rurouni Kenshin. For 20+ episodes he is 100% cool, calm, and collected. He has a genuinely nice, friendly attitude even when he's carving people up, and he's not being sarcastic about it, either. There's no malice in it at all. He really is a nice guy and a cold-hearted killer at the same time. Then he fights Kenshin and he totally loses it. Having been taught all his life that he must kill-or-be-killed, Kenshin's creed of fighting to protect the weak instead of dominating them literally drives Sojioro mad. My favorite part of the enitre series is when Sojiro starts screaming and pounding his head into the floor, then he gets up and for the first time ever, he's actually pissed off. He glares at Kenshin, and you can almost feel his mind snapping as he snarls, "You're in my way!". Not that Kenshin is physically in his way, but Kenshin's idealogy is in the way of everything Sojiro believed to be true. It's a great scene. -Mike Crandol |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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Excellent choice Mike. Now I really need to see the rest of the Kyoto arc.
For myself, I would have to pick one of the X/1999 villains because I can commisserate with them. Their not so much "villains" per se (although they are in scripting terms), as idealists. They're trying to accomplish a positive goal that really is a concern, but is difficult to accomplish due to the existance of other contrary ideals that humanity tends to address first. And they don't have any of the usual arbitrary-sounding justifiers either - not caring what the cost is to accomplish your goal, for example - they're just doing what must be done to address the problem that stands before them. I find it interesting, so say the least. Call me a booster. Not sure which one, though. I'm not very good with the whole favorites business. Probably not Fuma though, because he just kind of snaps. I'd probably pick Kakyo or Nataku. Maybe Satsuki. |
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Ataru
 Posts: 2330 Location: Missouri (Strikeman) |
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Largo (Bubblegum Crisis/Crash/2040 - Keeping his clam 80% of the time and is on tricky guy. I have to give it to this guy, you can keep him down.
Reiji Kaeyama (GateKeepers, GateKeepers 21, maybe GateKeepers '85) - The bad guy you want to feel bad for. Due to some stuff that happen to him in his childhood, he Gate of Happiness, turn in the Dark Gate of Jet. After being beaten back in '69, he makes his come back in GK 21 as good guy. What a turncoat.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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Here's what's always amused me about villains-- a lot of the overlord cackling types are Hell bent on destroying the world and everyone on it. What then, pray tell, is the point of ruling over a world with no body to rule over? That just makes me laugh.
Best villians ever-- the ones in the Kyoto arc of Kenshin. Almost all of them. I love the way they all have their own motivations and how the series actually goes into their childhoods and backgrounds and stuff. It really gives them a more fleshed out sense and makes it much more enjoyable to watch than if you just had a random bad guy who just wanted to kill things. |
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