In order to love, you have to be able to hate.
So for every amazing character that you want to plaster all over your wall, there’s a character that you wish would just sit on a pinecone.
Of course, this is very subjective. And some characters are meant to be hated because we can’t all be brooding bad-boy villains.
But let’s take a look at arguably some of the most hated anime characters of all time, according to me at least.
25. Asta
Anime: Black Clover
When I say Asta, I strictly mean how he was portrayed in the first dozen or so episodes.
Because you can’t look me in the virtual eye and tell me that he didn’t completely turn you off from the show.
He just kept having flashbacks over and over again, and spouted his ideologies like he was Naruto or something.
And it would have been fine had he not had the voice equivalent of nails going down a chalkboard.
Or at least if he had whispered and not screamed in my ear the entire time.
God bless that it got better after a while. Otherwise I might have never watched it & found one of my favorite shows.
24. Seryuu Ubiquitous
Anime: Akame ga Kill
Psychotic characters are a hit or miss for me. And Seryuu missed so hard that I had greater sympathy for the tub of lard, Honest, than for her.
It was a cool idea at first. The classic switcheroo.
But as she kept screaming and making a face even her mother couldn’t love, I started to hate her.
And she knows what she did to some of my favorite characters, so bonus hatred there.
If you’re into the whole nutjob schtick just imagine evil Santa Honest to be in this place, or even his favorite marionette.
But I’m sticking to Mrs. cyborg lunatic.
23. Akira Takaoka
Anime: Assassination Classroom
The writers really wanted the audience to hate this guy. And I commend them on a stellar job.
It’s like if Tuco ran away from Breaking Bad, put on a few more pounds, and decided that kicking the hell out of children is way easier than doing it to adults.
From the very second, Akira’s true colors were shown. I hate the guy, he always made me feel so uneasy.
Even the picture of his former “subordinates” gave me the heebie-jeebies.
But it’s mostly the “feel good from overpowering children” aspect of Akira that makes me hate his guts.
22. Pariston Hill
Anime: Hunter x Hunter (2011)
I was originally going to put Neferpitou on here. But then the picture of this smiling bastard popped into my head, and I knew it had to be him.
If you were younger when you watched the last animated arc you probably hated him because he came off as a know-it-all loudmouth.
And if you were a bit older when you first saw him, you could see the very manifestation of every hated politician ever.
The way he toys with everyone and everything, the damage he does out of pure curiosity and boredom. He’s from the same show as a child-loving clown, and yet the latter is universally loved while he makes my blood boil. Go figure.
21. Rachel
Anime: Tower of God
You sneaky little minx you.
Even though Bam speaks only good about her for the entire show, I always just found her a little ‘meh’.
Just your average female saint character the protagonist loves.
But then, major spoiler warning: she does what in the final episode? She pushes our boy Ban of the track to victory. After everything he had done for her.
She has her flashback and it makes it even worse, because we see it was planned from the beginning. Why?
Because of simple jealousy.
It just hurts seeing all of Bam’s friends determined to get the W for a sneaky, two-faced, female dog.
20. Takumi Ichinose
Anime: Nana
Nana as a show is a masterpiece, in my opinion.
Even Takumi gets fleshed out so well that you can’t fully hate him because you start to understand him.
However, I hate everything he represents.
If toxic relationships had a mascot, it would be this guy.
The type that would fully integrate himself into your life, meet your family and friends, lull you into a false sense of security, and then sleep with your best friend while simultaneously making you feel like the bad guy.
Stupid Takumi, I never should have gotten his poster.
19. Estarossa
Anime: Seven Deadly Sins
I just really hate his face. The constant smirk of a man who’s loyal to no one and only seeks power for himself.
There’s a reason why Escanor clapping him in a fight was a highlight of the show.
That concludes why I dislike Estarosa.
Now the real culprit, the entirety of Wrath of Gods. Studio Deen, are you alright?
Can you look at the PowerPoint presentation sequel of a beloved show you’ve created in the eyes and say that it’s not a sin in the world of anime?
18. Danzō Shimura
Anime: Naruto: Shippuden
In my opinion, you have to be knee-deep into utilitarianism in order not to hate this guy.
Sure, he did what the thought was best for the Hidden Leaf. But he never stopped to think about how he affected those around him.
His involvement with the Uchiha incident started a chain reaction for one.
Secondly, his Root squad just strips the very fabric of the human soul to create the perfect soldier.
His arm is just a messed up story on its own. And above all, he’s your typical boomer, am I right fellow kids?
17. The Sybil System
Anime: Psycho-Pass
The Sybil System just ramps up the hatred as the series goes on. And these are some major spoilers here, so read or just skip ahead, fair warning!
At first you think that they are just a plot device. Just some AI that helps the heroes out.
Then you realize they have a personality.
Then you realize that their personality is capable of sacrificing everyone and everything for their end goal.
And then you learn why I used “their” instead of “its” in the previous sentence. It truly is just a downhill slope of hatred with the Sybil System.
The body they use to convey their messages also doesn’t help.
16. Moeka Kiryuu
Anime: Steins;Gate
This might be a hot take, I’m not really sure.
The thing with Moeka is that she has no positive influence on the story. I kind of either hated her, or forgot she was part of the series, depending on what timeline we were watching.
The texting schtick god a few laughs out of me. But the nutcase syndrome she had going on just really put me off her.
And when she was more on the villain side, oh boy, I hated everything about her.
It doesn’t help that the rest of the cast is lovable as hell.
15. Malty Melromarc
Anime: The Rising of the Shield Hero
I hate this character with my entire being.
Not a moment passed while watching the show that I did not wish for Kazuma to be isekai-ed into the world and drop kick her pretentious head.
She betrays the protagonist, in a similar fashion to Rachel. But she does it out of like weapon racism or something.
And she doesn’t just stop there, oh no.
Sge makes sure to step all over Naofumi every chance she gets. Just seeing her face makes my blood boil.
14. Sweyn Forkbeard
Anime: Vinland Saga
Characters in the position of a king are just so easy to hate. It’s like anime wants me to be anti-authoritarian.
And they really went to town on this guy, even with how he was depicted.
With a face hideous enough to make the witch from Snow White seems like a dime, and the twisted brutality of a true mad king.
Floki is definitely up there with him when it comes to hated characters.
But something about the sleazy king who doesn’t even care about our boy Canute made me irrationally angry.
13. Near
Anime: Death Note
If Near was from any other show, I know that I would have loved him.
But unfortunately the writers did too good of a job with portraying L as the ultimate lovable, quirky genius that Near just couldn’t fill his shoes.
Having Light win the battle against Near was an alright decision. But having L’s Walmart brand knockoff little disciple be the one who finally put the madman to rest, that was just a slap in the face.
And don’t even get me started on mister Sugar Tooth. He just felt like a KitKat add within the show.
12. Haruhi Suzumiya
Anime: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2
Before you burn my house down, let me explain.
As a character, Haruhi gets on my nerves from time to time. But she can also be extremely likable.
However, on a meta-gaming basis, it’s her fault that the Endless Eight arc came into existence. And no other anime arc has ever filled me with enough confusion and rage than that arc.
I thought I was just going insane or something, because I couldn’t believe the fact that I just watched the same episode over and over again.
It was probably the only time in my life when a character made me drop a show. And I think that’s more than enough rage to make her eligible for this hatred list.
11. Tomoko Kuroki
Anime: WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Unpopular!
I hated Tomoko because she made me hate myself.
For context, the story is an equivalent of a cringe compilation. But somehow even worse.
And it’s all about being young, anxious, sexually confused out of your gourd, and somewhat helpless.
Watching Tomoki literally struggle with saying “hi” while simultaneously being cocky and ungrateful made me reminisce so hard, that I felt like I hit second puberty.
As a character, she did nothing wrong. But she definitely stirred so much hate and anxiety in my blood that I can’t help but put her on this list.
10. Boruto Uzumaki
Anime: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
In every way that Naruto succeeded in capturing the hearts of millions of fans, Boruto failed miserably.
Because all of a sudden, we don’t have an underdog facing real adversity and danger… but rather a spoiled genius whose biggest problems in life chalks up to daddy issues.
Naruto’s parents literally died while he was an infant. And yet he didn’t whine as much as his son did because he couldn’t attend a birthday party.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, he had to do my boy Shikadai like that? Trash tier.
9. Makoto Itou
Anime: School Days
The entire show was already a massive L so you can’t really expect S-class writing here.
But even with the bar so low, Makoto managed to disappoint.
At first he’s just as bland as they get. “If he were a spice, he would be flour” type of a character.
Which is boring to watch.
And when he did get some character progression, all we learned was that he’s a massive prick who really likes toying around with people’s emotions.
And not in the cool “bad boy, Byronic hero” type of way, just the douche way.
8. Nobuyuki Sugou
Anime: Sword Art Online
In the virtual world, he’s known as Fairy King Oberon. The mighty pixel pervert who kept Asuna locked up in a cage so he could stare at her, along with other things, like a fresh piece of meat.
But everyone’s a lot worse online than they are in real life, right?
In real life, he’s a borderline criminal/kidnapper who took advantage of Asuna’s coma-like state so that he could marry her. I swear this man must have never received a hug from his mother, because I can’t envision someone as twisted as this guy to come out of a loving home.
7. Minoru Mineta
Anime: Boku no Hero Academia
Pervy characters are a hit or miss for me. And Mineta was not even close.
Maybe it’s because he looks like he’s five years old. Or because he’s wearing a diaper and has balls on his head.
But I just found him creepy and weird.
And what made me dislike him even more is the fact that because he exists, people like Shinsou can’t get into class 1A.
And this may just be me, but I would pick the quiet intellectual type over the rampant pervert with little power and questionable motives any day.
6. Sakura Haruno
Anime: Naruto
I know I already talked about Naruto characters, but I really can’t help myself.
Shippuden Sakura I could almost kind of stand… Boruto Sakura is even an alright character… but the original Naruto Sakura is the very form of hatred for the viewer.
And it’s all because people in the universe can’t seem to just say what we all know: that she’s useless.
They just keep going on about what good chakra control she has, and how team seven is the next big three.
Mind you this is the same character whose entire “improvement arc” was just her cutting off her hair and then still getting clapped like a pre-schooler.
5. Shou Tucker
Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Burn in anime hell.
I firmly stand by the opinion that if you justify this guy in any way, shape, or form, you should not be allowed to reproduce.
If you want to know what he did, well spoiler alert ahead.
He took his own flesh and blood, his young daughter that loved him so much, and put her in the greatest agony a human can experience.
He actually saw tempering with his daughter’s body a lesser problem in his life than that of losing his title. God, this guy makes me need anger management classes.
4. Umaru Doma
Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan
I hate to break it to you, but if you don’t think that Umaru is a spoiled little brat who needs to be taught some manners, you might be spoiled as well.
Not only does she put on airs of being the perfect little high schooler who everyone adores, but she is also just a little child who throws tantrums whenever something doesn’t go her way.
I’m not sure if she ever had to seriously put effort into anything, aside from making puppy dog eyes and screaming. And that just makes me hate her with a burning passion.
It’s one thing to do this as a toddler. But a whole different story to remain that way well into your teens.
3. Gisuke Sasaki
Anime: Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin
Now I’m sure you’ve heard of the experiment where they allowed average people to act like prison guards. Summary: it turned them into garbage people.
But even among garbage, Sasaki is scum. Spoilers ahead!
By working together with Ishihara, another stain on humanity, he takes inmates and manipulates them into having intercourse with him to gain a lighter sentence.
He never fulfills his part of the promise, however, even leading one character to commit suicide after learning the truth. Even though he got what he deserved, it’ll never be enough to atone for what he had done.
2. Shinji Ikari
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
I really don’t like cry-baby characters (unless they’re a Devilman) but especially when they remain a little wimp for the entirety of the show.
Evangelion is pretty dark. So it’s absolutely understandable that people are not exactly all smiles over there.
But having Shinji just cry over and over and over again was extremely annoying.
The very reason the “get in the robot Shinji” meme was so popular in the community was precisely because of how often he had to whine for an hour before doing anything of significance.
1. Yukiteru Amano
Anime: Mirai Nikki
Everything I just said about Shinji is very much present with Yikiteru, with the added bonus of hearing his name every time the pink psychopath comes onto the screen.
Everything is always about protecting Yuki or getting Yuki’s attention, his affection, whatever.
And not even from just Yuno.
He even had Aru behaving like that. And honestly, I don’t see the appeal.
All I see is a whiny brat who got a piggy-back ride through 90% of the plot and then magically became relevant at the very end. There must be something to love here, but I’m not seeing it.