History VillainProtagonist / AnimeAndManga

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': {{Zigzagged}}. [[spoiler:By the end. [[Characters/CodeGeassLelouchLamperouge Lelouch Lamperouge's]] the lesser of two evils when compared to his half-brother's nuke the world plan and he ultimately is pretending to be pure evil and still trying to create world peace, which involves brainwashing countless soldiers to be his slaves and carrying out a global deception, along with oppressing and presumably massacring an innumerable amount of people to make himself the most hated man in history.]]

** Light Yagami. He kills people using the eponymous notebook for his KnightTemplar dreams of a better world, and [[AGodAmI believes himself to be a god]]. Light ''consistently'' sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, and is either ignorant or apathetic to the fact that he's committing atrocities left and right. During his MotiveRant at the end of the series, he still legitimately believes that he's doing the right thing. Light is a purer example of this trope than most, as he is explicitly the BigBad of his series (something backed up by WordOfGod), rather than a NominalHero fighting a greater menace.

* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}''. The first anime leans towards AntiHero, but the manga and OVA series depict him as more of a self-declared monster: terrifying, vicious, and wholly in the business because he loves killing people ([[PragmaticVillainy and because he would have no one to feed upon if humanity went extinct]).

* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}''. The first anime leans towards AntiHero, but the manga and OVA series depict him as more of a self-declared monster: terrifying, vicious, and wholly in the business because he loves killing people.

* ''Anime/TransformersArmada'': Starscream was this in Armada and to a lesser extent, Cybertron.

* [[LightIsNotGood Light Yagami]] in ''Manga/DeathNote''. He kills people using the eponymous notebook for his KnightTemplar dreams of a better world, and [[AGodAmI believes himself to be a god]]. Light ''consistently'' sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, and is either ignorant or apathetic to the fact that he's committing atrocities left and right. During his MotiveRant at the end of the series, he still legitimately believes that he's doing the right thing. Light is a purer example of this trope than most, as he is explicitly the BigBad of his series (something backed up by WordOfGod), rather than a NominalHero fighting a greater menace.

* ''Kichikujima'' series has Kaoru,his father yoshikazu,and sister Mari.

* Ling Xiaoyu from ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance'' is probably ''the'' most heroic example of this trope ''ever'', seeing that she was only in it because her target is a hottie. After her opponent goes out of her way to save her life following a showdown, she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and allies herself with her so they can get to the bottom of what their superiors are really up to.

* ''Manga/PumpkinNight'': The masked serial killer, Kirino Naoko is shown off as the [[BigBad]] at first but that gets subverted, as she becomes more prominent after the first chapter.

* "Manga/PumpkinNight": The masked serial killer, Kirino Naoko is shown off as the [[BigBad]] at first but that gets subverted, as she becomes more prominent after the first chapter.

* [[LightIsNotGood Light Yagami]] in ''Manga/DeathNote''. He kills people using the eponymous notebook for his KnightTemplar dreams of a better world, and [[AGodAmI believes himself to be a god]]. Light ''consistently'' sees himself as a WellIntentionedExtremist, and is either ignorant or apathetic to the fact that he's crossing reprehensible {{Moral Event Horizon}}s left and right. During his MotiveRant at the end of the series, he still legitimately believes that he's doing the right thing. Light is a purer example of this trope than most, as he is explicitly the BigBad of his series (something backed up by WordOfGod), rather than a NominalHero fighting a greater menace.

* [[TheBeautifulElite Iason]] [[FetishizedAbuser Mink]] of ''Lightnovel/AiNoKusabi'' while the {{Deuteragonist}}, is the initial villain of the story because of his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapping]] [[MadeASlave and brutal]] [[RomanticizedAbuse abuse]] of Riki but is ultimately an AntiVillain with TragicVillain traits.

* Agent Six of ''LightNovel/CombatantsWillBeDispatched'' zigzags this. He's part of a group called Kisaragi, who are a self-styled evil organization with the goal to TakeOverTheWorld. They pretty much already have, so they send Six to a new world to take that one over, too. Six, for his part, is a complete pervert, a sexual deviant, and a huge jerk. But he's also a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, and Kisaragi really sent him to this world because [[spoiler:he's just too nice deep down, and they're hoping that he earns enough Evil Points to really become a despicable bad guy]]. In spite of that, his CombatPragmatist tendencies and desire for pretty much every woman around him earns him no small amount of disdain in the new world. That being said, the "good guys" prove that [[GreyAndGrayMorality they're not exactly paragons of virtue, either]], nor are the Demon Lord and his army really all that bad.

* The very end of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' shows that [[spoiler:Togame]] ''always'' intended to sacrifice people, swords, friends, even her own feelings in a mindless pursuit for revenge. Period, end of story. She still genuinely loves Shichika, and she has [[DarkAndTroubledPast a very good reason for her behavior]], but she never managed to let go of her desire for RevengeBeforeReason, to the point where she often goes against her very nature in order to achieve it.

* Aur from ''LightNovel/MaouNoHajimekata'' is a cold and nefarious man who made a point in his introduction that he absolutely loathes humanity and will do whatever it takes to make them bend over to his will through all kinds of evil plans. Throughout the series we see he wasn’t joking: he goes on to enact genocide, enslave human settlements, and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape women to submission]] [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization until they start liking it]].

* Momonga/Ainz Ooal Gown from ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'', upon entering the New World, finds himself with basically limitless power, no rivals or higher authorities, and a large group of even eviler minions about as strong as he is that assume he wants to take over the world and take achieving it as their mission. While Ainz himself is mostly uninterested in world domination, he doesn't shy away from cold-blooded murder, torture, slaughtering the innocent, blackmail, running crime organizations from behind the scenes, and letting the truly reprehensible Demiurge do whatever he pleases. As time goes by, his morals slip more and more and his crimes are mostly kept at manageable levels by the fact that he's incompetent, bad at planning ahead, and severely lacking in ambition. The anime downplays this as much as possible to make him look like an antihero, so when later story arcs came around that made it impossible to hide, some viewers were shocked that the story had been following the bad guy the whole time.

* Keyaru from ''LightNovel/RedoOfHealer'', after being put through absolute hell and getting another shot at life, becomes a SerialRapist and a truly vicious bastard whose first and foremost motivation is revenge for himself and those he gathers for his party, and the way that he carries out this revenge is just as vile as what was initially done to him. He murders, rapes, and steals, rampaging across the land, seeing the law as little more than a "guideline", and the fact that this revenge actually helps the helpless and protects the innocent is a happy byproduct.

* Tanya Degurechaff from ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil''. She's a [[EnfantTerrible black-hearted, vicious, utterly ruthless]] ChildSoldier [[EvilSorcerer sorceress]] in an [[AlternateUniverse alt-universe]] UsefulNotes/WorldWarI where warfare is supplemented by magic.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGoku'', Bardock may be trying to save his race from Frieza, but he's still an unrepentant member of a genocidal race, making the conflict EvilVersusEvil.
* The eponymous Franchise/LupinIII [[CaperCrew and his gang]] are the longest-running, most successful, and ''still'' one of the most popular examples of the trope. Whether it's the television series or the annual MadeForTV movies, the plot always centers on Lupin's pursuit of his next big score, with [[HeroAntagonist Inspector Zenigata]] always hot on his trail to slap the cuffs on 'em.
** In [[Anime/LupinIIIPart1 the first anime series]], Masaaki Osumi, the original director, made Lupin a cynical and morally ambiguous character that wouldn't hesitate to kill those who stand in his way, but tries to kill as little as possible to keep his family name reputation to the best. The first seven episodes reflect this as well, as the atmosphere is dark and mature with sometimes a melancholic tone that hide a strong message. He murders a group of rival gang members by flooding their base with water, then throwing high tension cables into the water, causing them a slow, painful death. In the second episode, he smirks while his rival in love Pycal burns to death. These darker elements of Lupin's personality were largely excised after Creator/HayaoMiyazaki took over the series, however, with Lupin from then on mostly killing in self-defense and rarely taking glee in it. Miyazaki also made sure to give Lupin and his pals PetTheDog moments (usually by having them save innocent victims from even WORSE criminals), a trope that the franchise has steadily relied on in the decades since.
** In [[Manga/LupinIII the original manga]], not only does Lupin murder people left and right (whereas in most animated adaptations, he most often kills in self-defense), but he's also ''a rapist'', something that is used as almost a RunningGag of sorts. Needless to say, this specific character trait has been left out of every adaptation (he's usually a HandsomeLech or a ChivalrousPervert instead).

* As it turns out, ''Manga/{{Judge}}'' has this with [[spoiler: Hiro and Hikari, too]]. [[spoiler: He and Hikari created the ''Judge'' game as a sadistic RevengeByProxy towards the jury and judge, who gave the drunk driver who ran over and killed Atsuya a milder sentence.]]

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' elevates [[spoiler:Akemi Homura]] into the position of a GodOfEvil, due to her belief that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans partly due to her love for her friends. She's also the most proactive character in the movie and the one with the most focus. As ''Puella'' is well-known for its deconstruction of the MagicalGirl genre, [[spoiler:Homura]]'s promotion to protagonist... unfortunately means that she ''[[TheBadGuyWins actually succeeds in her goal]]'' and has to brainwash her friends to get it to work. [[TragicVillain Even she's not happy over it]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist even though she fully believes it was justified and necessary]].
** [[spoiler: The Pleiades Saints]] from ''Manga/PuellaMagiKazumiMagica'' are out to stop the witches... by [[spoiler: kidnapping and cryogenically freezing them when they’re still magical girls]]. Also, [[spoiler: many of the members of this organization end up turning against each other as well]]. Special mention goes to [[spoiler: [[TheMole Kanna Hijiri]]]], who ends up being [[spoiler: the FinalBoss]].
** Though fairly brutal [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]] (to the point of being {{Serial Killer}}s), Oriko Mikuni and Kirika Kure of ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'' get by far the most focus and development of any character, are involved in a conflict where GreyAndGreyMorality is the order of the day, and eventually [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins win]]]]. This is particularly the case in ''Sadness Prayer''--while the original manga had something of a ThirdLineSomeWaiting plot and initially cloaks them in mystery, ''Sadness Prayer'' takes place entirely from their point of view. They're considered the villains due largely to being {{Canon Foreigner}}s who opposes [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica the original characters]]. Spinoff ''Extra Story'' [[PetTheDog drops the "Villain" part]], with the duo being entirely heroic in that story due to a different timeline.
** ''Manga/PuellaMagiSuzuneMagica'' has [[spoiler: Suzune Amano]], a MagicalGirl SerialKiller who [[spoiler: [[MercyKill wants to stop her targets from becoming witches]]]]. Though in this case, she’s [[spoiler: [[UnwittingPawn being manipulated]] by Kagari [[HijackedByGanon and Kyubey]]]].
* ''Anime/TransformersArmada'': Starscream was this in Armada and to a lesser extent, Cybertron.
* ''Anime/MDGeist'' is revealed to be a Villain Protagonist (or SociopathicHero) when it turns out he's such a BloodKnight that he's willing to ''start'' the RobotWar he was sent to prevent, just to ensured [[BloodKnight he'll always have strong opponents to fight]]. The second OAV gives strong implications he's still following orders from the Earth Government, who have decided to wipe out the colonists on Jerra and start over.
* Mireille Bouquet from ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' who never questions her job of killing people (although she's more NominalHero).
* The very end of ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'' shows that [[spoiler:Togame]] ''always'' intended to sacrifice people, swords, friends, even her own feelings in a mindless pursuit for revenge. Period, end of story. She still genuinely loves Shichika, and she has [[DarkAndTroubledPast a very good reason for her behavior]], but she never managed to let go of her desire for RevengeBeforeReason, to the point where she often goes against her very nature in order to achieve it.

* Princess Punie Tanaka of ''Anime/MagicalWitchPuniechan'' is definitely not as good as her "princess of Magical Land" persona makes her appear to be. Her incantation says it all: "Lyrical Tokarev, kill them all!"
* Yuuhi and Sami, the main duo of ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer''. Sami has vowed to destroy the Earth herself after saving it from the eponymous hammer, and Yuuhi is extremely loyal to her for that end. The other Knights besides Yuuhi don't know about Sami's intention; Yuuhi and Sami plot to turn against them as soon as the world is saved. [[spoiler:After much CharacterDevelopment for both of them, they get better. Yuuhi eventually 'defeats' Sami, who didn't really want to destroy the Earth at that point, and the two go on to live HappilyEverAfter.]]
* Aur from ''LightNovel/MaouNoHajimekata'' is a cold and nefarious man who made a point in his introduction that he absolutely loathes humanity and will do whatever it takes to make them bend over to his will through all kinds of evil plans. Throughout the series we see he wasn’t joking: he goes on to enact genocide, enslave human settlements, and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape women to submission]] [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization until they start liking it]].
* The protagonist, Ryo Narushima, in ''Manga/{{Shamo}}''. He murders his parents in the first 3 pages of the book, and throughout the series commits (or at least attempts to commit) multiple acts of murder and rape.
* Mayo Sasaki in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi: Eikoden''. While she's not truly ''evil'', she is [[{{Jerkass}} extremely selfish and unsympathetic]], and her obsession with stealing Miaka's beloved husband Taka/Tamahome, coupled with her irresponsible behavior, causes a lot of trouble for the warriors of Suzaku.
* Yoshitaka, the male lead of ''Manga/HeIsMyMaster'' is a sociopathic pervert with little to no redeeming qualities.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDCE73Stargazer'' does this with the pilot of the Strike Noir, Sven Cal Vayan. He is the character with the most focus and the only one that (due to the length of the story) got any degree of backstory. He's also shown to be extremely cold, more than willing to gun down entire crowds of refugees on the off-chance that one is a terrorist, and shows no trace of remorse or grief when a wingman gets killed. He does eventually get better, but not before getting into a ChainedHeat situation with the HeroAntagonist of the series and the pilot of the Stargazer.

* ''Manga/{{Wolfsmund}}'' begins as a series of tragic stories only connected by the presence of sadistic bailiff Wolfram and the eponymous border pass that he oversees. Virtually no one has gotten past Wolfsmund alive or unscathed thanks to him. [[spoiler:However, it eventually becomes clear that the story is really about the formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy; Wolfram himself is merely an embodiment of why the Swiss hate Habsburg rule so much, and ends up being a DecoyProtagonist who is executed [=3/4s=] of the way through the story.]]
* Sheila of ''Manga/{{Superior}}'' wants to achieve a future where humans will never again slaughter demons. However, she believes that the war will never end so long as both humans and demons continue to exist. Naturally, her solution is a bit . . . [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide final]]. (Exa's near-absolute pacifism provides the jolt she needs to stop killing, at least temporarily, but matters aren't helped by the fact that ''she's'' the one person Exa wants to kill, as vengeance for slaughtering his entire village.)
* ''Manga/TentaiSenshiSunred'' focuses mainly on day-to-day life of the title character's ArchEnemy Vamp of Florsheim and all his EvilMinions. Vamp is a HarmlessVillain (and his minions moreso) and obeys ContractualGenreBlindness, and the whole thing is one long string of VillainsOutShopping. It's very much PlayedForLaughs.
* ''[[Literature/WarriorCats The Rise of Scourge]]'' focuses on bloodthirsty murderer Scourge, as he commits murder, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment murderously]].
* Ling Xiaoyu from ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance'' is probably ''the'' most heroic example of this trope ''ever'', seeing that she was only in it because her target is a hottie. After her opponent goes out of her way to save her life following a showdown, she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and allies herself with her so they can get to the bottom of what their superiors are really up to.
* ''Manga/ExcelSaga'' is a humorous take on this that can be argued to be an outright parody. The eponymous [[TheDitz Excel]] willingly serves Il Palazzo and his "ideological" organization [[OddlySmallOrganization ACROSS]], whose express goal is to TakeOverTheWorld, but is ''in'' ACROSS ''because'' of [[{{Bishounen}} Il Palazzo]]. Excel's services to ACROSS are marked by her GenkiGirl status mixing with [[AffablyEvil her cheerful]] and often loud proclamations that ACROSS will subjugate [[{{Muggle}} the ignorant masses]] under their will, [[HilarityEnsues alongside her incompetence usually preventing ACROSS from achieving anything substantial towards reaching their goal, all the while showcasing its incredibly quirky humor]] [[PunchClockVillain consisting of attempting to fit in Il Palazzo's plans amidst her and her partner Hyatt's part-time jobs]] due to living in PerpetualPoverty. The humor is, however, [[SuddenDownerEnding toned down quite a lot during the last episodes of the anime]], and is in lower quantity in general in the manga (compared to the anime, which is even ''titled'' 'Quack Experimental Anime: Excel Saga'). In the anime, however, it's more the fact that [[spoiler: Excel was kicked out of ACROSS without her knowing then shot by Il Palazzo, then lost her memory]] than her becoming truly evil. It doesn't stop Excel from totting a large blade down [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight the middle of a street in plain sight]] in the night while cheerfully singing about murdering the author.
* Natsuo of ''Manga/{{Teppu}}'' definitely qualifies. The realistic high school setting of the manga means that she's probably not going to be murdering anyone, but she has demonstrated herself to be ruthless, selfish, arrogant, and frequently sadistic. For example, she initiates a fight with her future rival just because she's bored, and her rival's cheerfulness and self-confidence pisses her off. Natsuo has gotten a little less arrogant over the course of the series so far, but otherwise she's still just as much of a bitch as she was at the start.
* Sasuke Uchiha of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' was this for a majority of the series after the first TimeSkip. Despite [[FaceHeelTurn abandoning and turning against]] his fellow protagonist [[TheHero Naruto]], half the story would still dedicate entire arcs solely about him and his endeavors.
* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' almost all the main characters are villain''ous'', and some arcs (like the first arc, and the initial Roberta arc) sees them take the actual villain's role by doing stuff like kidnapping, or doing stuff like supporting Balalaika, who is the BigBad of the Yakuza arc (with the Washimine clan and Yukio being the closest thing to 'the hero', [[spoiler:up until the point where TheBadGuyWins]]).
* In ''Anime/{{Canaan}}'' the main character Canaan is a gun-for-hire that kills mercilessly, [[spoiler:even when her innocent soul mate Maria lays witness to her line of work]]. Albeit, her cold personality is softened in Maria's presence, and her enemy [[BigBad Alphard]] is [[ALighterShadeOfBlack much worse]].
* [[TheBeautifulElite Iason]] [[FetishizedAbuser Mink]] of ''Lightnovel/AiNoKusabi'' while the {{Deuteragonist}}, is the initial villain of the story because of his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapping]] [[MadeASlave and brutal]] [[RomanticizedAbuse abuse]] of Riki but is ultimately an AntiVillain with TragicVillain traits.
* Michio Yuki from ''{{Manga/MW}}''. He is the main focus in the manga as he spends his time committing murder, not to mention collecting ransom money on his victims. He also crossdresses women in his plot. His goal is to find MW and use it to end the world in vengeance for his own mortality.
* ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid:'' It's quite easy to forget that Sun and the rest of her family are Yakuza, albeit Yakuza [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything who aren't seen doing any villainy aside from trying to ruin Nagasumi's life]].
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** [[BigBad Tomura Shigaraki]] becomes the main protagonist for the [[VillainEpisode "Meta Liberation Army" arc]], which focuses on his and the League of Villains' [[EvilVersusEvil conflict]] with the eponymous organization, while also shedding light on his past, motives, and struggles to succeed [[GreaterScopeVillain All For One]] as the ruler of the criminal underworld.
** It's eventually revealed All For One himself ''invokes'' this trope: he genuinely sees the world as being ''his'' story with him as the VillainProtagonist, emulating his the EvilOverlord of a manga he read as a kid.
* Yes she's adorable, but Ika Musume from ''Manga/SquidGirl'' ''is'' trying to conquer the surface world. She's just really, really bad at it.

* While Kurosu in ''Manga/AnaSatsujin'' may not be a perfect example of this, he does count solely because of who his girlfriend is: Miyaichi, a not only unrepentant but proud serial killer, who definitely does count. He counts because he finds this out ''before'' he decides to start dating her, and while not agreeing with her activities, doesn't do much to stop her and sticks with her after she starts roping him into helping her with her kills.
* Two of the protagonists in ''Anime/TerrorInResonance'' are terrorists who are planting bombs all over Tokyo. [[spoiler:Granted they aren't trying to actually kill anyone .]]
* Afro from ''Anime/AfroSamurai'' practically embodies this trope; while he is always motivated by [[InspectorJavert some narrow view of "justice,"]] nearly every interaction he has with other characters [[spoiler:including his own conscience]] makes it exceedingly clear that he is flat-out in the wrong when it comes to his [[SociopathicHero killing sprees]], which only serve to [[spoiler:further throw off the balance of an already CrapsackWorld.]]
* "Golden Lion" Shiki, the main antagonist of ''Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld'', is the main protagonist of the prequel to the original [[Manga/OnePiece manga/anime]], ''One Piece: Chapter 0''.
* Momonga/Ainz Ooal Gown from ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'', upon entering the New World, finds himself with basically limitless power, no rivals or higher authorities, and a large group of even eviler minions about as strong as he is that assume he wants to take over the world and take achieving it as their mission. While Ainz himself is mostly uninterested in world domination, he doesn't shy away from cold-blooded murder, torture, slaughtering the innocent, blackmail, running crime organizations from behind the scenes, and letting the truly reprehensible Demiurge do whatever he pleases. As time goes by, his morals slip more and more and his crimes are mostly kept at manageable levels by the fact that he's incompetent, bad at planning ahead, and severely lacking in ambition. The anime downplays this as much as possible to make him look like an antihero, so when later story arcs came around that made it impossible to hide, some viewers were shocked that the story had been following the bad guy the whole time.
* ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin'' is about a woman who breaks out of jail and kidnaps the daughter of her old lover so she can lead them to him. Michiko and Hana develop a strong familial bond over the story but she still took her from her ([[AbusiveParents abusive]]) foster parents and is on the run.

* Tanya Degurechaff from ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil''. She's a [[EnfantTerrible black-hearted, vicious, utterly ruthless]] ChildSoldier [[EvilSorcerer sorceress]] in an [[AlternateUniverse alt-universe]] UsefulNotes/WorldWarI where warfare is supplemented by magic.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' uses this trope to full drama after the TimeSkip. [[spoiler: AntiVillain Reiner Braun serves as the protagonist throughout much of the initial arc before series protagonist [[ByronicHero Eren Yeager]] makes his brutal re-entrance into the narrative. Labeled the "Enemy of Peace" by the rest of humanity, Eren slaughters military officials and civilians alike in the nation of Marley and forces his old friends to rescue him. After returning to Paradis, he turns against the government and is appointed as the leader of the "Yeagerist" faction devoted to installing him as the supreme leader of humanity. The group assists in poisoning important members of the military, uses a bomb to assassinate Commander Zackley, and even take Eren's former comrades prisoner on his orders. The [[HiddenAgendaVillain lack of insight into Eren's actual mindset or goals leaves considerable ambiguity,]] but his actions are definitely villainous.]] As the story progresses, [[spoiler:Eren is also revealed to be TheChessmaster and a GreaterScopeVillain, especially as the mastermind behind the Reiss Family massacre. He commanded Grisha to give the Founding Titan to him. Later, Eren establishes himself as the BigBad by ordering the Wall Titans to raze the world outside Paradis.]]
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Keroro half the time, though he's [[HarmlessVillain not a very effective one.]]
* Korosensei from ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' is an AffablyEvil artificial octopus who encourages the students of E-Class to kill him before he destroys the world, while he is teaching them some valuable lessons as their teacher. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed later on that he didn't actually reduce the moon to the way it is, and that he wanted his students to kill him before the same structure that made him finishes the job in destroying the world.]]
* ''Manga/TalentlessNana'' is all about the eponymous Nana Hiiragi, a [[spoiler:sociopathic serial killer who's made it her life's mission to murder all superpowered "Talented" individuals. Eventually she starts on her path to a HeelFaceTurn once she discovers the truth about her past.]]

* ''Manga/BlackButler'': In most stories, the amoral demon and his bitter, driven master would be undeniable antagonists, especially given how little they hesitate about killing people who get in their way, seducing people for information, etc.
* Griffith of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' was at best, a Nominal Hero, being only one step short from a true villain as his actions inspired awe from people. Even after the Eclipse, specifically within the context of the chapters focusing on his war against the Kushan Empire, Griffith assumes the role of the protagonist with Emperor Ganishka as the antagonist.

* The eponymous ''Franchise/LupinIII'' [[CaperCrew and his gang]] are the longest-running, most successful, and ''still'' one of the most popular examples of the trope. Whether it's the television series or the annual MadeForTV movies, the plot always centers on Lupin's pursuit of his next big score, with [[HeroAntagonist Inspector Zenigata]] always hot on his trail to slap the cuffs on 'em.

* Griffith of ''Manga/Berserk'' was at best, a Nominal Hero, being only one step short from a true villain as his actions inspired awe from people. Even after the Eclipse, specifically within the context of the chapters focusing on his war against the Kushan Empire, Griffith assumes the role of the protagonist with Emperor Ganishka as the antagonist.

** This is UpToEleven in [[Manga/{{Lupin III}} the original manga]]. Not only does Lupin murder people left and right (whereas in most animated adaptations, he most often kills in self-defense), but he's also ''a rapist'', something that is used as almost a RunningGag of sorts. Needless to say, this specific character trait has been left out of every adaptation (he's usually a HandsomeLech or a ChivalrousPervert instead).

* [[TheBeautifulElite Iason]] [[BastardBoyfriend Mink]] of ''Lightnovel/AiNoKusabi'' while the {{Deuteragonist}}, is the initial villain of the story because of his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapping]] [[MadeASlave and brutal]] [[RomanticizedAbuse abuse]] of Riki but is ultimately an AntiVillain with TragicVillain traits.

* In ''LightNovel/LivingAsIPleaseAsALoliDemonKing'', the protagonist Milla, Demon Lord of Insanity, has noble goals and motives but has no issue with any and all forms of atrocity in order to realize them.