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leafy sea dragon
Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
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 Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:34 am
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| Zin5ki wrote: | | Seeing outright villainy in anime has never been much to my liking, I suppose. While the world of politics has proven that such a trait is more realistic than I once thought, unabashed foes still tend to be people you'd prefer not lend your attention. Indeed we distance ourselves from real monsters for the sake of our own composure, so exposing ourselves to their fictional analogues typically needs some sort of trade-off—we'll tolerate hearing what a morally noisome character has to say only if we expect it'll be for the good of the rest of a story; an expectation a writer can easily betray. |
Analysts of entertainment, from Robert McKee to Roger Ebert to Sean Malstrom, often state that a story's only as good as its antagonist. Said antagonist need not be another character, but it does make sense in that it's the antagonist that drives the conflict of the story, and the better the antagonist, the better he, she, or it can push the protagonist to greater depths. (Though not every antagonist is a villain, as far as I know, every villain on this list is an antagonist, with the possible exception of Stain, though I'll go more into that below.) James Bond wouldn't be the global icon he is without those over-the-top, larger-than-life villains who test his skills, for instance, nor would Saitama of One Punch Man transcend normal anime audiences and reach for the mainstream without the feelings of emptiness and incompleteness that define him.
That is, you don't necessarily have to root for the villains of a story, and, well, as villains, you're not supposed to anyway. But there is definitely a positive correlation with the most well-regarded stories and how much the audience loves to hate that story's villain(s).
| DigitalScratch wrote: | | I wouldn’t necessarily label Stain as a straight-on villain since he’s meant to be a representation of the “anti-hero,” particularly the ones that pop up in classic American comics. His entire motivation is built on how he was also student in the Hero program (at another school) who was enraged and eventually driven to madness by all the corruption he witnessed in the actual Hero world. Hence why the only hero he chooses to acknowledge is All Might, because to Stain he represents what heroism should be.
Stain’s reasons weren’t necessarily wrong (even Deku agreed with him that there are corrupted heroes) but his way of fixing everything was horrendous. |
I suppose it could vary based on how you interpret it whether or not Stain is a villain per se, though there is no doubt he was the antagonist of that part of the series by directly opposing Deku and his friends. However, Stain could qualify as a villain under the "Knight Templar" (a character who takes up a villainous role in a story due to his or her extremism who thinks he or she is doing something good), "Fallen Hero" (a character who initially wanted to do heroic things but has become disillusioned and deeply cynical), and/or "Tragic Villain" (a villain with a noble past) archetypes. I pesonally see Stain as a villain in the context of the story where he's involved.
Stain is a character with reasonable motives, and while he may have once been fair and just in his actions, by the time he meets up with Deku, that's no longer the case because he's gone much too far. Some villains in American comic books, like Poison Ivy or Magneto, act on noble causes and have sympathetic backgrounds too, but there has never been any doubt that their roles in the story are as villains, to cause trouble and for the heroes to fight and prevail over. (Occasionally, they might be cast as anti-heroes, but that's when a force even worse than them are threatening them too.)
In short, the way I see it, whether a character is a hero or a villain is based on how his or her moral compass aligns with that of other characters and whether the story praises or condemns that character's actions. Anti-heroes inhabit cynical worlds where their actions are often quite extreme, violent, and morally gray, but there are no better alternatives (unless it's a deconstruction of such, like Judge Dredd). My Hero Academia is far toward the idealistic side, and anti-hero characters like Stain and Endeavor are depicted quite unflatteringly.
| FireballDragon wrote: | | But did you seriously have to use his goddamn "It's all 'cause of All Might" face for the thumbnail!? |
Why not? It's become one of the most iconic images of the series. I mean, it took up a whole page in the manga. (Certainly left an impact on me, as I initially saw this image on a vertical tablet screen, meaning I was subject to Shigaraki's creepy face taking up the entire viewing space of the device.)
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russ869
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 422
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:27 pm
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I feel the pure evil, mad scientist, terrorist bacteria from Blood Blockade's "Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone" two-parter deserves an honourable mention here.
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Gina Szanboti
Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11352
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:19 pm
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| russ869 wrote: | | the pure evil, mad scientist, terrorist bacteria |
Now there's a character description you don't see everyday. ;D Nightow, don't ever change.
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RyuuGP
Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 26
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:40 pm
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| Kougeru wrote: | | Made in Abyss dude was easily the most vicious, IMO. What he gave was worse than any death |
But placing Bondrewd higher will be controversial, because at the moment he is technically not out yet except in Nanachi's background and a scene that foreshadowing him as future villain.
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Ashen Phoenix
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2909
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:02 am
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Loved this list and I couldn't agree more about Altair. Re:CREATORS had some amazing plot points and characters (though I also agree 100% on its trouble production and pacing). I hope it's successful enough to warrant more series like it in the future.
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