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Anime villains tend to err on the side of either deplorably evil or somewhat sympathetic despite using methods that are evil.
Sometimes anime villains are presented as the "Well-Intentioned Extremist" trope, wherein they have the right idea but their approach is completely wrong. These villains may seek world peace but use nuclear weapons or their equivalent to achieve it or want the environment to heal by wiping humanity out.
There are plenty of examples of anime villains or villain-adjacent characters who fit that trope. This article will dive into 10 of those anime villains that may otherwise be agreeable if not for their dastardly methods.
Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers for all the anime and manga mentioned, including various fates of said anime villains. It also reflects the author's opinion and may contain some extreme ideology.
Examining 10 ''well-intentioned'' anime villains
1) Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass)
The charismatic Lelouch vi Britannia in Code Geass has quite the journey from student to rebel leader to Emperor of Britannia and anime villain. While Code Geass is loaded to the brim with well-intended anime villains, Lelouch ultimately takes the proverbial cake (and runs with it.) In the latter half of the series, he is betrayed by the Black Knights, triggering the Zero Requiem.
To that end, he averts the greater evil of Charles and Marianne and establishes his newfound emperorship. This involved distancing himself from his former allies, brainwashing a nation to follow him, and having them throw their lives away to stop Schniezel from doing something worse.
This culminates in his death via Suzaku, after which it's revealed that Lelouch orchestrated everything so peace could be achieved following his death. It worked, but the fact that he had to sacrifice many, brainwash others and bring harm down upon many more soured a lot of it. To be fair, any other alternatives that were tried (Euphemia's Special Exclusion Zone, reaching out to allies, etc.) crashed and burned.
2) Satsuki Kiriyuin (Kill la Kill)
Satsuki is a major case of whiplash for an anime villain in the crazy anime Kill la Kill. For one, she's not the actual villain, but she surely acted like one. Satsuki's ultimate goal is the destruction of Life Fibers and her corrupt mother Ragyo Kiriyuin. It was a worthy goal to have alongside Lelouch's goal of destroying the Britannian Empire.
The problem was the way she went about it. Though Satsuki treated the Elite Four of Honnōji Academy like family, she had nothing but disdain for everyone else. She purposefully established the Honnji Academy to prepare an army of students to handle Goku uniforms, but she also established a nasty caste system ruled by opportunists and sadists.
By the end of the series, Satsuki and Ryuko move on from Honnōji Academy, with it being destroyed, Ragyo being stopped and the threat of the Life Fibers ended. It took a while, but Satsuki eventually saw herself as in the wrong and atoned for her actions.
3) Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan)
Attack on Titan's controversial ending aside, Eren Yeager's ultimate goal wasn't wrong per se. Wanting your island of persecuted people to be left alone, especially after seeing everything that happened in Ymir's memories and fighting for freedom isn't wrong.
But what makes Eren Yeager the last anime villain in Attack on Titan is his methods in doing so. He doesn't extend any invitation to other subjects of Ymir or the oppressed refugees, he doesn't simply threaten the Rumbling to crush the nation of Marley, or think of any other method. He just goes forth with the full Rumbling.
This results in, according to the manga, 80% of the world's population dead. That means people that are just as oppressed as Paradis' Eldians including Eldians held by Marley, refugees from Marley, and people that weren't even involved in the war are all dead. This is obviously genocide on a global scale and there shouldn't be any doubt as to why it was wrong.
4) Stain (My Hero Academia)
The "Hero Killer" Stain is most definitely a good example of an anime villain with a good point, albeit an insane one. He and Lady Nagant share the same criticism of the hero society: it's a sham, orchestrated by blackhearted people in Nagant's case and populated by fake heroes in Stain's case. Their solution ultimately mirrors each other: kill those responsible.
The big difference is that Lady Nagant is more of a tragic case that only killed the former head of the Hero Public Safety Commission after he threatened to kill her and was immediately sent to Tartarus. Stain, on the other hand, took his villainy up a notch by killing multiple heroes and had to be caught multiple times.
It's worth noting that Stain didn't ultimately join All for One's insanity, nor Shigaraki's crusade, and he wasn't enthused by the eventual fall of the Hero Society. He may be a serial killer with a soft spot for All Might, and Class 1-A by extension, but he has standards.
It's just too bad he killed so many heroes, and heavily injured Lida's brother in the process of making a point. As of now, he's energized All Might to keep fighting and seems to want All for One gone.
5) Char Aznable (Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack)
One of Gundam's most famous anime villains, Char Aznable started out as Casval Rem Deikun. As a child, his father was murdered by the Zabi family who then tried to murder him and his sister Artesia multiple times. As a result, the young man started on a path of revenge against the Zabi family.
This path led to him joining up with the Zeon Republic's army and cutting a swath through various people including anyone that got close to his true identity. By the time Zeta Gundam rolled around, he appeared to be trying to make amends and trying to end the conflict between Earth and space-borne humans.
By the time of Char's Counterattack, his ideals went from humanity mutually getting along to humanity being forced into space to get along via a massive asteroid being dropped on Earth. His logic went that If Earth-born humans would continue to discriminate against spacenoids then there wouldn't be an Earth.
The various goals, granted were good and noble. The attempted destruction of Earth wasn’t.
6) Ilia Amitola (RWBY)
Since Adam Taurus is far too extreme, and Sienna Khan had far too little presence, RWBYs well-intended anime villain is Ilia Amitola. A young girl who grew up poor in the rich kingdom of Atlas, Ilia's parents barely managed to enroll their daughter in the ritzy Atlas Academy.
Ilia would be radicalized after her parent's death in a mining accident, where her supposed "friends" at Atlas Academy snickered at an explosion that took many Faunus lives. As a Faunus herself, Ilia was already having to be careful in the heavily discriminatory kingdom. That was her last straw.
She joined Adam Taurus' crusade, was part of an assassination attempt on Blake Belladonna's parents, and nearly succeeded in kidnapping Blake to deliver to Adam. All because she was taken advantage of by Adam. Blake forgave Ilia and showed her she could do better. This ultimately proved beneficial as Ilia helped stop Adam's assault on Haven Academy and disrupted the assassination attempt.
7) Shougo Makishima (Psycho Pass)
As stated multiple times on this list by now, going against a corrupt government, a horrid society, or bigotry isn't wrong. Shougo Makishima isn't wrong for going against the Sybil System that enforces social order and control in Psycho Pass. In fact, of all the anime villains in the show, he's the only one who feels rhetorically correct.
The trouble again is that rhetoric cannot absolve anime villains of horrid actions. The many deaths resulting from Shougo's speeches and actions, whether direct or indirect, were on him. He didn't target specific people perpetuating the system, but innocents that had nothing to do with it.
On top of killing one of Akane's friends, he also wiped out Japan's grain supply. This caused many people to starve. What use is a society free from corrupt and controlling AI if it cannot feed itself? What use is a revolutionary who cares not an iota for the people he's supposed to be saving? Simple, nothing at the end of the day.
8) Pain/Nagato (Naruto)
Speaking of revolutionaries that didn't seem to care, Nagato started out as a war orphan alongside Yahiko and Konan. The three were determined to change the world for the better. Alas, it was not to be as Yahiko was killed in a botched hostage situation via the despot Hanzo.
Consumed with rage and grief, Nagato adopted the moniker Pain and said that if the world didn't see empathy then he'd force it to and became an iconic anime villain in Naruto. Among the many horrid acts he committed included the killing of many Jinchuriki, including Gaara, the Akatsuki generally not caring who they killed to get their way, and the tactical nuclear strike that was Shinrai Tensei on Konoha.
Having a salient point about the world and being so grief-stricken and rage-filled as to strike against it have been reasons anime villains lash out all the time. But even Nagato realized that mass death and destruction wouldn't bring the peace he desperately sought. Granted, it took Naruto Uzumaki and him battling hard to prove it, but Nagato did eventually surrender and heal those he had hurt.
9) Hanami (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Given that it is Earth's only natural resource, environmental preservation is a moral imperative. Pollution, climate change, and other accelerants have only quickened the Earth's decline and humanity is beginning to see the effects firsthand. Is it any wonder there are characters like DC's Poison Ivy or anime villain Hanami from Jujutsu Kaisen that ultimately become eco-terrorists with that aim then?
The rhetorical point of protecting the environment doesn't mean that humanity is the real virus, nor does it warrant eradication. It was just ecofascism, which Hanami embraced after Mahito manipulated him and his comrades into doing so. Aside from the rhetorical point, Hanami's methods aren't spectacular either.
Invading the Jujutsu academy and ultimately using his trees to try to bind and kill many of the sorcerors is counterproductive to his ends. Not to mention that he's a cursed spirit believing humanity is the real curse to the environment. While the point of humanity needing to halt environmental destruction stands, wiping them all out isn't an answer. Hanami would die for it in the end.
10) Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
A controversial pick as much as anime villain protagonist Light Yagami from Death Note would've been, Kyubey is definitely one of the worst anime villains through and through. The stated goal of the Incubator is to prevent the literal heat death of the universe. Not a bad goal in the slightest!
There are a few problems with that, however. The first is the means by which this particularly adorable-looking anime villain gets this goal accomplished. It's deceptive: make girls into magical girls and fight evil demons and witches.
Sounds cool? Well, what about the idea that witches are magical girls that fell into despair?
Turns out, in order to prevent the universe from collapsing, that takes a lot of emotional power. The only way to do that, apparently, is to harvest the emotional energy and life force from teenage girls by turning them into magical girls. There's no end for them except death or despair. The worst part is that Kyubey believes what he's doing is perfectly fine.
Thankfully, it's proven wrong when Madoka reaches godhood.
