There’s nothing more dramatic than anime heroes who become villains. Viewers accompany virtuous characters throughout the hero’s journey, watching them grow stronger and stronger, so it's even more unsettling when they decide to put that strength in service of more nefarious purposes.
These heroes may have had a falling out with the other characters, figured that being good just doesn’t pay anymore, or had their definition of “good” become drastically different from everyone else’s. Either way, a good guy has gone bad, usually complete with a glammed-out new look and inconveniently cooler powers, and now they’re everybody’s problem. It’s up to their former friends to either turn them back to the heroes’ side or destroy them.
10 Hakuryuu Ren - Magi: The Labyrinth Of Magic
Magi’s anime changed its source material to give Alibaba a short corruption arc, but he’s got nothing on Hakuryuu. Though the culmination of his villain arc is only in the manga, the seeds are planted in the anime, which ends with his and dark Magi Judal’s partnership reveal as its cliffhanger. Staying with his friends won’t give him the power he needs, so he breaks his ties with them.
Hakuryuu’s brothers and father were murdered by his mother, and he spent his life powerless to take revenge. However, he and Judal don’t intend to stop with her. They usurp the Kou Empire and take out their pain and hatred on the entire world, from Hakuryuu’s cousins and rivals for control of Kou, to Alibaba and Aladdin when they refuse to go along with their worldview.
9 Eren Jaeger - Attack On Titan
If the Eren Jaeger of Attack on Titan’s first episode met the Eren of the final episodes, neither of them would recognize the other. He began the series determined to save humanity from the monstrous Titans, even before losing his home and mother to them. His Titan powers were something he did his best to use to protect others.
However, the discovery of too many secrets and truths about his world destroyed him. Final Arc Eren’s definition of “humanity that must be protected at all costs” has narrowed down considerably, to the horror of the once-beloved friends he’s broken from. His connection with others who inherited Titan powers leads him to use his command over Titans in acts that would make his younger self sick.
8 Shinobu Sensui - Yu Yu Hakusho
Yusuke Urameshi is already familiar with human cruelty, albeit not at all to the extremes of Chapter Black. He’s also more willing to accept that demons are capable of good, as seen in his friendships with Kurama and Hiei. His predecessor Sensui’s comparative inflexibility led to his catastrophic downfall.
Sensui was set in the belief that all humans were good and to be protected, and all demons evil and to be destroyed. Confronted with humans mercilessly torturing demons for fun, he has a full-on breakdown. Still unable to accept anything other than an absolute, Sensui plots to destroy humanity alongside his new minions, including Itsuki, his other half in one of anime’s best villain couples.
7 Jaden Yuki - Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Even happy-go-lucky doofballs are capable of supreme villainy. For the majority of the series, Jaden is a ball of sunshine bouncing around Duel Academy. He is always happy to make new friends, and will only get seriously angry and ready to fight if someone is threatening his friends.
Unfortunately, it’s that exact protectiveness that allows his past self, the cruel and merciless Supreme King, to take him over when he loses those friends. As the Supreme King, Jaden no longer cares about anything but winning duels, no matter who has to be sacrificed for it. He is cold, humorless, and can terrify with just a look.
6 Crona - Soul Eater
In the anime, Crona is able to overcome one of the most tragic backstories in anime, breaking free of their evil mother, Medusa, and permanently joining the heroes. In the manga, not so much. When they’re pressured to return to Medusa’s side, they not only don’t come back, but are plunged irreversibly into Madness.
Medusa’s admission of love to Crona, a calculated move to drive them to a breakdown knowing they wouldn’t be able to handle it after a lifetime of abuse, makes them snap and kill her. Unlike in the anime, her death doesn’t free them, only pushes them to fulfill her plans. Though they seal Asura away for Maka’s sake, they have lost the capacity to care what happens to the rest of the world.
5 Suguru Geto - Jujutsu Kaisen
Anime-onlies are currently seeing the tragedy of Gojo and Geto’s youth play out in full. As a student at Jujutsu High, Geto was actually the hero and more idealistic of the pair. Believing that jujutsu sorcerers were intended to protect the powerless, he scolded Gojo for laughing at the idea and touting his own superiority instead.
Losing Riko Amanai badly shakes Geto’s faith in the jujutsu world, and soon it's shattered completely. Taking two young jujutsu sorcerers abused by powerless humans as the first members of his cult, Geto goes rogue and plans to kill all nonsorcerers. Watching Geto’s turn forces Gojo to mature and adopt the ideals that he's known for as an adult, knowing he must kill his former friend someday.
4 Gauche Suede - Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee
Young Lag Seeing, one of Miyuki Sawashiro’s best characters, was inspired to become a Letter Bee after being safely “mailed” across the treacherous world of Amberground by Gauche. By the time he’s finally joined the elite force, Gauche has mysteriously gone missing, and Lag makes it his mission to find him. But when he does, he’s shocked at what he sees.
The amnesiac Gauche is now Noir, mercenary for the shady organization Reverse. Noir betrays every ideal Gauche held as a Letter Bee, stealing people’s precious letters for money and attacking innocent humans, including Lag. With the “heart” he and the other Marauders take from the letters, they further Reverse’s efforts to blot out Amberground’s artificial sun forever.
3 Mikado Ryuugamine - Durarara!!
At first, newcomer Mikado appears to be the normal, everyman audience surrogate taking in all the absurd and supernatural happenings in Ikebukuro. But it soon becomes clear that he fits in a lot better than even his closest friends realize. In fact, he may be scarier than the serial killers and omens of death roaming the streets of the district.
True to his name, Mikado is the leader of the Dollars gang. The more he sinks into Tokyo's criminal underworld, the lower he is willing to go for power. He goes from readily disbanding the Dollars to end a violent gang war, to setting two other gangs against the Dollars to make his own group stronger, in between stabbing new allies to show them who’s boss and shooting his best friend.
2 Homura Akemi - Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion
Despite the happy ending that Madoka tries to bring all the magical girls in the show's finale, Homura is the only one still miserable. For two years, all fans had to go on was one of the most shocking post-credits scenes in anime to speculate on what became of her. The twist of Rebellion reveals Homura’s true intentions.
If Madoka was determined to become the savior of all magical girls, then Homura in her grief and love becomes a demon tearing her down from her plane of godhood. After enduring countless years’ worth of time loops to save Madoka’s life, Homura snaps and ensnares her in an alternate reality with false memories to finally keep her safe with her, knowing that Madoka will treat her as an enemy if she ever escapes.
1 Sasuke Uchiha - Naruto (2002 - 2017)
The Uchiha clan provides several of the most shocking plot twists in Naruto. Obito’s very existence turns the plot upside down, Itachi cast himself as a monster forever to protect the village, but it’s Sasuke’s entire journey that has the greatest impact on the story. In Part One, the entire show turns on Sasuke's defection.
Every time he’s on screen in Shippuden, Sasuke just sinks further and further into villainy. Killing his brother only makes things worse: the reveal of the truth about Itachi’s betrayal and the Uchiha clan only comes afterward, and Sasuke turns his vengeful feelings on the Leaf, ready to destroy them all for the ruination of his family. It takes reaching rock bottom for him to be willing to listen to what Naruto spends the entire series trying to tell him and return to his friends for good.
An anime hero can become a villain for a variety of reasons. Whether they believe they are doing the right thing or simply enjoy being evil, they are some of the most difficult villains for the remaining heroes to face, making this one of the most exciting tropes in anime.
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