Villains and protagonist are equally important in anime. The problem, however, is not all are strong and powerful. A common trope in anime is to throw in a villain who’s super weak, simply for comedic relief. While everyone loves a good giggle, there’s a huge gap between the strongest and weakest villains in anime.
Being the strongest doesn’t necessarily mean the most powerful. A mastermind villain is strong due to their tactical and manipulation skills, controlling others and the environment around them. In anime, these characters often receive equal screen time with the protagonist and heroes. Receiving deep character development, a villain’s story goes beyond stereotypical generalizations.
Weak villains, on the other hand, are either in a story for laughs or because they weren’t fleshed out like an antagonist should be. Anime fans should either be in love with a villain or completely against them. Any type of middle ground potentially can ruin a good story. With so many characters and an abundance of tales in anime, picking the strongest and weakest is difficult. It’s a subjective outlook, biased towards the individual who enjoys and dislikes certain anime villains.
Instead of focusing on power alone, we took a more objective approach. Included are villains etched in history, along with a few newbies on the anime scene. Some characters are easily recognizable, while others may not be. Digging through the archives of anime, here are the strongest and weakest villains of all time.
25 Strongest: Ainz Ooal Gown
Featured as the MC in the anime series Overlord, Ainz Ooal Gown is a super OP villain. Formally known by the name Momonga, an expert gamer, he finds himself trapped in his favorite video game as the character Ainz Ooal Gown. Momonga created Ainz, specializing his class as an Overlord.
Lord Ainz is skilled in combat and is over-the-top in sorcery. With only NPC’s left in the game, it’s his responsibility to oversee the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Despite being the protagonist of the series, Ainz Ooal Gown is a true villain.
24 Weakest: Ramen Kenpo
Ramen Kenpo is a great example of a trope anime comic relief character in the series One Piece. Using Ramen noodles as his weapon of choice, his trademark style is blowing them out of his nose.
Other moves include the Ramen Gyoza Set, where Kenpo “claps” the arms of his ramen armor suit to trap his victims. There’s also the Senmen Muchi, in which he uses the noodle like whips during an attack and defensive maneuvers. Ramen Kenpo is not a hard villain to beat, but he sure is amusing.
23 Strongest: Madara Uchiha
From the clan Uchiha comes Madara, better known as one of the greatest villains in the Naruto anime series. Not only is one of the strongest characters on the show, Madara Uchiha is a master manipulator too. Faking his own passing, Madara drove the plot of Naruto for most of the series.
Born with OP chakra, Madara is perceived to be villainous to the core.
Most of his attacks are ninjutsu based, but Madara is also highly skilled in taijutsu too. He stole Kakashi Hatake’s Mangekyō Sharingan and used his brothers Sharingan to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
22 Weakest: Akihiko Kayaba
Creator of the nerve gear for his game Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba is awful but not strong. Hiding behind the technology, he traps thousands of innocent gamers in a VR based world. While Sword Art Online proved to be extremely difficult to most, resulting in many passing away, Akihiko Kayaba did nothing but sit back and watch the drama unfold.
Defeated by Kirito in the end (much to anime fans displeasure) Kayaba failed to ever become a strong villain in the SAO series.
21 Strongest: Beast Titan
The anime series Attack on Titan does a superb job of erasing the common good vs. evil trope in storytelling. Of all the Titans in the show, the Beast Titan stands out as being the strongest. He can communicate, unlike other humans taking on the titan form, and tactics of using others to do his dirty work set him apart as a villainous mastermind.
Not much of the Beast Titan has been revealed in the anime series up to this point. With humanity busy battling for power, however, the Beast Titan is one to watch out for when the dust settles.
20 Weakest: Giovanni
Featured as the main antagonist in the Pokémon series, Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket. He’s supposed to be the strongest, but his position was inherited rather than earned. Upon being defeated by Red, Giovanni walked away from his leadership role.
Giovanni fans, if there are any, are happy about this move because he left to improve his skills and become stronger. There’s also theories and rumors stating Giovanni might be Ash Ketchum’s father in the anime. Maybe one day he’ll achieve his goal of world domination.
19 Strongest: Medusa Gorgon
Known as a high-level witch in the anime series Soul Eater, Medusa Gorgon is not one to be messed with. Despite having her name spelled wrong on her prison door, Medusa is feared and respected.
In the Soul Eater series, she inhabits her sister Arachne, making her stronger than when the series began.
She only cares about herself and tackles problems through a scientific lens. And don’t underestimate her ability to manipulate. Medusa is based off the Greek Mythology tales, but with a true anime twist.
18 Weakest: Keera L. Greenwood
Featured in the new anime series How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, Keera L. Greenwood is the brother of Shera L. Greenwood. Whereas Shera is bubbly, kind, ecchi, and a few fries short of a Happy Meal — Keera is creepy, manipulative, and also not very bright.
Keera is obsessed with his sister and will go to any measure to have her. He thinks he’s smarter and stronger than he really is, resulting in his ultimate downfall. Keera is not a villain fans will rally behind.
17 Strongest: All For One
As the true leader of the League of Villains in My Hero Academia, All for One’s goals go beyond beating his opponents in physical strength alone. He wants the hero way of life to come crashing down and will do anything to make it happen.
All for One’s showdown with All Might is one of the best battles in the entire anime series, so far.
Just when you think he might be done for good, he always manages to either revive or continue to manipulate events around him.
16 Weakest: King
To humans, King from Garo: Vanishing Line is a nightmare come true, but for the Golden Knight he’s no match. King is a master manipulator, always having others handle the dirty work. But when forced to battle himself and without his “tools,” King can’t hold his own.
The only thing King has going for him is that he’s essentially immortal. Losing, for all eternity, however, isn’t a highlight one wants on their resume. Amongst the horrors, he might be King, but in strength, he’s simply weak.
15 Strongest: Gilgamesh
Summoned in the Archer class during the fourth and fifth Holy Grail War of the Fate/Stay Night series, Gilgamesh is one of the strongest villains in the Fate franchise. His only weakest is that he’s a servant.
Trumping the powers of Hercules, Gilgamesh is like a god. Having multiple Noble Phantasms at his disposal, it’ll take a lot more than sheer will to eliminate Gilgamesh. Pluck his pride, and another servant will have a fighting chance. But not if he takes them out first.
14 Weakest: Alexis Leskinen
Professor Alexis Leskinen plays a major role in the second installment of the Steins;Gate franchise, Steins;Gate 0. While not strong in combat at all, he is a manipulator. He wants control of the time machine but often underestimates his time traveling opponents.
Leskinen’s pride is his downfall.
He thinks he is the smartest man in the room due to his inside information, leading often to mistakes and oversights. Leskinen employs others to do his dirty work, and when forced to make instant choices, he chooses incorrectly.
13 Strongest: Orochimaru
Famed as one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru is a villain in Naruto who’s been slightly redeemed in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. But at his core, will always remain somewhat of a villain.
His ultimate goal is immortality, and if something should stand in his way of achieving this dream, Orochimaru won’t hesitate in removing the obstacle. His greatest skill lies is his summoning of snakes and using the Eight Branches Technique. Orochimaru is also brilliant, having amassed more knowledge than any other characters in the Naruto franchise.
12 Weakest: Garlic Jr.
Garlic Jr. can appear to be strong in the Dragon Ball franchise because of his immortality, but in truth, he’s quite weak. He’ll defeat a character here and there, however, Garlic Jr. can never keep them down for good.
He operates using any advantage available. Once Garlic Jr.’s opponents realize his tactics, however, he’s no match against there much higher skill levels. Plus, any mean-spirited character surrounding themselves with weak henchmen, is ultimately a weaker villain. In the Dragon Ball franchise, Garlic Jr. falls quite short of being a strong villain.
11 Strongest: Sōsuke Aizen
Hiding in plain sight, Sōsuke Aizen is a villain from Bleach with a knack for manipulating. Understanding others around him, better than they do themselves, Aizen uses his abilities towards being a mastermind tactician.
In addition, he can hold his own in a fight using a variety of Kidō spells (like Hadō #88). Aizen is well versed with a sword and his overall speed (defense and attack) is blinding fast. Whether using spells, weapons or merely his bare hands—Aizen is one tough villain.
10 Weakest: Gato
Someone on the Naruto writers team felt adding a businessman villain into the mix was a good idea. Gato is by far one of the weakest villains in the Naruto franchise, while also being annoying. Known for being cowardly, Gato hides behind others (a common theme amongst weak villains).
To make matters worse, he really doesn’t have any powers. For an anime focusing on ninja arts, Gato was a bad addition most Naruto fans would prefer to forget.
9 Strongest: Johan Liebert
Escaping a fatal wound in his younger days, Johan Liebert became the epidemy of intensity in the anime Monster. Saved by Dr. Kenzo Tenma, young Liebert overheard him wishing his superiors had never been born. Liebert took it upon himself to make sure the doctor’s wishes came true.
He looks completely normal and can blend in anywhere.
Liebert goes by aliases, and always has an agenda. Johan can also charm like a gentleman when needed, fooling those around him. Liebert is a true monster and villain.
8 Weakest: Twice
My Hero Academia has a few cool villains, and Twice is not one of them. He creates clones of himself as his Quirk but has a very unstable mind because of it. Twice is not a physical fighter, and when put in close combat situations, he’ll choke.
He’s also a bit talkative and annoying, which just adds extra weight on his already weak character. His humor, however, is on point. So, at least Twice has that going for him in My Hero Academia.
7 Strongest: Blackbeard
With a name like Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard sounds much more menacing. And his powers live up to the name in the anime One Piece. Former pirate in the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Blackbeard is now one of the Four Emperors. Teach has immense physical strength. He also managed to remove Whitebeard’s devil fruit powers after he’d passed. Whatever he needs to do for power, Teach will gladly cross the line to achieve it.
Master of darkness powers, Blackbeard is a true boss villain and not one to be taken lightly.
6 Weakest: Tobigera
Trained in the art of taking people out, Tobigera is a master villain. He’s able to adjust his appearance on a moment’s notice and is extremely efficient in carrying out his tasks, for the most part.
Of all the Anten Seven in the anime series Outlaw Star, Tobigera is the last to be defeated.
Known as a popular classic anime on Cartoon Networks Toonami, Tobigera is a fan favorite for weakest villains. His ultimate weapon of choice is nothing more than a simple mask.
