These days, it’s hard to find a truly good villain. Most villains are made to be sympathetic, or are some ambiguous life form with no personality, assuming there even is a clearly defined villain. In the old says, a villain just had to look cool and have a name like “Crystal Boy” to be memorable. It’s rare to really see a true villain who has personality without being sympathetic or tuning into a good guy by the end. Here are some of my favorite villains that are just complete bastards. Please feel free to announce your own favorite villains in the comments, not necessarily bound by these guidelines.
People not included: Reformers, Environmentalists, and Sympathetics
look at that fucking evil face
1. Dilandau – This is what I call a classic villain. He’s a sadist, insane, and has a bone-chilling laugh. He’s mentally unstable and quite full of himself. He’s also extremely powerful and fundamentally deviant. He doesn’t sit around behind the scenes, but is in the action. There is a classic scene where he gets cut and starts screaming ‘MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!’ in rage. Unfortunately, like everything else in Escaflowne, Dilandau is ruined by shitty plot twists in the second half.
HERE IS YOUR MESSENGER!!! A BLACK CORW - ON A TOMBSTONE!!!
2. Vicious – Vicious is a mean mother fucker who can take on a gunman with a sword on equal grounds. his crowning moment of evil was probably cutting a man across the eyelids saying ‘you will cry tears of scarlet’. Oh, and he’s voiced by Norio fucking Wakamoto.
3. Akio – This guy could be called something like a sex demon. He literally fucks every single character in Utena. Male, female, family members, he fucks everything in sight. He truly does not give a fuck about other people beyond using them and getting in their pants. He’s also an epic-level badass who drives better than anyone alive.
Form 2 - much hotter.
4. Medusa – I didn’t like Medusa at first, but she’s gotten to be an interesting character. She’s got a lot of Joker-style planning several steps ahead of everyone else. She gets major bonus points post-loli for showing just how evil she is and taking on an entire new world of creepiness.
5. Hansel and Gretal – I know I said no sympathics but dude… just dude. Just seeing a picture of them gives me chills.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
What do you mean by ‘sympathetics’? I realize that I don’t like ‘pure’ villains so much. I like the people who do villainous things but are still well-rounded characters.
Ikari Gendo is one, from NGE. Alberto the Impact is another, from Giant Robo OVA. Master Asia, who is just too awesome for words.
The other characters I can think of are redeemed within the anime, so they’re really not so much villains but rather heroes undergoing a bad time (at least in the beginning of their arcs). Best not to spoil your readers by including their names in this comment.
sympathetic is like ‘doing it to save my sister’ or some such shit. the ones you mentioned are who i call ‘environmentalists’. All extremely awesome, though.
I’d have to put Johan Liebert from Monster on my list of favorites because he’s really well-written. As you watch the series, you really do feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand in his presence because just looking at his cool demeanor and , you know you’re looking at the face of evil incarnate. It also helps that he’s extremely intelligent and comes up with sadistic plans to put his victims through mental anguish before disposing of them outright. The effect he has on the viewer is very similar to Hansel and Gretel on your list.
LOL’ed hard from reading the captions under Vicious’ picture.
the real villain is the tv station that, for example, rearranges the schedule and screws up the show. Or the studio that won’t bank on a second season so they prepare an artificial end to a first season in a wait and see attitude. Or the viewer (!) who can’t find a way to get rich quick and have enough free time to give anime all the love it deserves..
what show is hansel and gretel from? with a bone chilling pose like that, it’s gotta be worth it to watch.
Black Lagoon, but they don’t show up till ep 13 or 14 and are only around 3 eps… but what an amazing 3 eps. Great show altogether, too.
It’s rare to really see a true villain who has personality without being sympathetic or tuning into a good guy by the end.
I laughed at your first choice being Dilandau. I laughed bitterly, but I laughed. He and Akio are very much at the top of my villain list too.
Also, I’d vote for Johan for making me semi-scream on a couple occasions by appearing out of nowhere and having the camera zoom in on his friendly, smilig face. Now that I think about it, Seishiro from Tokyo Babylon might do well on my list because his clearly faked easy-going attitude and the evil sakura leaves symbolism he promotes make him awesomely creepy. I like my villains smiling as smiling is the scariest expression in existence when done right.
Hamdo from Now and Then Here and There is a fucking asshole.