There are a ton of great villains in anime, but some are so clinically unhinged that they stand out the second they’re on-screen. These villains define the anime that they’re in, and sometimes, they define the art form as a whole.
To be the most unhinged villain in anime, a villain doesn’t necessarily need to be the most vicious, brutal, or fearsome, but they do need to devote themselves to their cause entirely. These villains need to believe in their mission so thoroughly that no hero can convince them otherwise.
Mahito
Mahito isn’t the strongest villain in Jujutsu Kaisen, but he’s certainly the most unhinged. Kenjaku is one of the smartest characters in anime, and Sukuna is an absolute powerhouse, but neither of them are as deranged as Mahito.
Mahito enjoyed breaking Yuji down for the thrill of it. He didn’t have a master plan like Kenjaku, he just wanted to see the world burn. There aren’t many characters quite like him, and Jujutsu Kaisen was much better because he was in it.
Donquixote Doflamingo
There are a ton of excellent villains in One Piece: Blackbeard is the most evil version of a pirate around, Kaido was an immovable object for hundreds of episodes, and Akainu is ferocity personified.
Out of every villain in One Piece, however, none are quite as iconic as Donquixote Doflamingo. From his absurd design, to his incredibly powerful Devil Fruit, everything about Doflamingo just works. He’s a beast ideologically and in battle, and there’s not a moment that he’s on-screen that isn’t devilishly enjoyable.
Frieza
Frieza isn’t just the best villain in Dragon Ball: he’s one of the best villains in anime. He’s evil to his bones, and there’s nothing that anyone can do to change that. He’s such a great villain for so many reasons that it’s hard to count, and he’s a major contributor to Dragon Ball’s massive success.
Frieza forces the Z Fighters to transcend their limits time and time again. He’s the reason Goku turned Super Saiyan for the first time on Namek, and even when he fights with Goku and the rest of Earth’s warriors during the Tournament of Power, his villainy can still be felt miles away.
Takauji Ashikaga
The Elusive Samurai is criminally underrated for a number of reasons: it tells an interesting, unique story, the artwork is, at the very least, profoundly good, and Takauji Ashikaga is a generationally evil villain in anime.
Takauji is closer to a walking catastrophe than a human being. His ability to remain calm and smile through the absolute devastation and tragedy that he caused needs to be studied. There is truly no other villain in anime quite like him.
Griffith/Femto
Griffith’s betrayal of his Band of the Hawk is one of the most devious, darkest moments in anime. There isn’t another moment quite like it, as Griffith sacrifices everyone he knows and loves to gain an immense amount of power.
Griffith transformed into a horrific villain from a fairly admirable hero in a single moment. It’s one of the most iconic scenes in the medium for all the wrong reasons, and it’s one of the many reasons why Berserk is nothing short of legendary.
Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti
Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World is already a pretty unique anime series, but Petelgeuse cranks the uniqueness up a few notches. He’s so deranged that it’s hard to imagine him as anything else.
Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti is one of the best villains in Re:Zero because of how insane he is. He tortures his victims with a smile on his face, utters a weird catchphrase, and is more than willing to transform into a grotesque monster if it means getting what he wants.
The Major
The Major is one of the most evil villains in anime. While most villains use war as a means to an end, The Major just wanted war for the sake of war. He didn’t care about what happened after, he just wanted to shed blood on a worldwide scale.
The Major is also one of the rare examples of a villain in anime who actually achieves their goal. He slaughtered countless people, wrecked the Hellsing organization, and even got rid of the strongest character in the series (for a while).
Dio Brando
Dio Brando is a villain that literally transcends generations. He’s been a thorn in the side of the Joestars for hundreds of years, and if it wasn’t for Jotaro Kujo, he would still be tormenting the family in the present day.
Dio is one of the most unhinged villains in anime because he’s more than willing to do the darkest thing possible if it means achieving his goal. He burned Jonathan Joestar’s dog alive, attached his head to Jonathan’s body, and even became a full-blown vampire.
All For One
The final season of My Hero Academia showed that All For One should be considered one of the greatest villains in anime history. He’s a genius manipulator, a master tactician, and one of the strongest characters in the series.
The final season of the series showed that he essentially created Shigaraki. My Hero Academia had been building Shigaraki as the final villain of the series, but All For One proved that was all part of his plan. He’s an evil genius in every sense, and only an equally deranged character like Bakugo could have stopped him.
Johan Liebert
When villains in anime are brought up, there’s one character that steals the spotlight: Monster’s Johan Liebert. Liebert is barely human in his actions, and yet, he’s more human than most other villains in anime.
His sociopathic nature makes him a stand out every time that he’s on-screen, and he’s one of the few villains in anime that is genuinely terrifying without having to lift a finger.