Top 5 Edgiest Anime Characters of All Time!
The dichotomy of good and evil is one as old as time itself and ubiquitous in all forms of art; the portrayal of this conflict is, in essence, what determines the quality of any story. Anime as an artform is known for its over-the-top and blatantly extravagant means of telling its story, with characters often having disproportionately exaggerated facial expressions and body parts to suit their overall personas. Sometimes, these aggrandized traits can present themselves in more ways than just through appearance: some villains (and even heroes) become infamous through their superfluous mannerisms and downright shocking deeds. These characters hover on the edge of insanity and make the infliction grief and suffering the trait of paramount importance in their personas. Be it sadism, a misguided sense of justice, narcissism, tragedy-induced or some other perversion of the psyche, these characters have all left their mark in the course of anime history for their hardcore and (literal!) cutting-edge demeanours in their respective stories. Today, Adilsons looks at the Top 5 Edgiest Anime Characters ever! Beware, heavy spoilers will follow so you are advised to stop reading if you see the name of a show that’s still on your watchlist! For the sake of avoiding redundance, we are omitting characters such as Guts (from Berserk), Light (from Death Note) and Sasuke (from Naruto) which everyone already knows about; that said, here’s what to expect from the rest of the article:
5. Isacc “Zack” Foster- Angels of Death
4. Yuno Gasai- Future Diary
3. Minatsuki Takami- Deadman Wonderland
2. Kureo Mado- Tokyo Ghoul
1. Vector- Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
5. Isacc “Zack” Foster- Angels of Death 
Angels of Death is the most recent anime to be released on this list; it tells a rather mediocre story and was quickly pushed to the background by better releases coming out around the same time. It had a forgettable cast, a vague ending and a rather unimpressive way of telling its own story, earning itself a 6.5 score on IMDb; nothing to write home about. Nevertheless, it was the edgy, bandaged deuteragonist of the show, Isacc Foster, that grabbed our attention. Entirely derelict of empathy, the foul-mouthed, ill-mannered serial killer is the first adversary Rachel faces in the B6 floor of the facility. Easily outwitted by the girl, he breaks the established rules and pursues her to the higher floors, eventually pairing up with her; his only reason for not killing her being her utter lack of an expression when confronted with the possibility of death.
Raised in an abusive home and subjected to a near-death experience at the hands of his mother’s lover (who tried to burn him alive), Isacc Foster was left at the mercy of a –wait for it- foster home, where he faced starvation and ridicule. Inspired by a horror movie, he began his murderous spree, killing the attendants and a woman before being taken up by a blind man. Most ironically, his new guardian was murdered at the hands of some thugs, leaving Isacc alone and vengeful once more. Angels of Death is a show that struggles to add any sense of depth to its characters, but we must express our gratitude to the show for giving us Isacc, without whom we wouldn’t be able to kick off our list of anime edgelords!
4. Yuno Gasai- Future Diary 
We’ll say this much: if the year were 2011, Yuno would be at the top of our list. The poster girl of yandere anime, Yuno is synonymous with the phrase “mad with love”. Raised in an abusive home and forced to live in a cage, Yuno’s upbringing leaves much to be desired. It is due to this abuse that she became entirely fixated on Yukiteru and made marrying him the sole goal of her life, taking his passing childhood promise to the absolute extreme. Initially sweet in her mannerisms, the vast majority of her ambitions remain elusive until the penultimate episode of the show, when it is revealed that the entirety of the Survival Game was a product of her own will as the winner of the game in her universe. Realizing that she couldn’t revive Yukiteru in that reality (even with her powers as God), she created another branch of reality and attempted to restart the game from scratch. In so doing, not only did she hijack the new reality and murder her counterpart in the second world, she set into motion the rift that would later create yet another branch of reality (the third world).
The earl 2010s was a period that was marked by lots of edgy, violent and gorey anime (think Blood C, Corpse Party, Higurashi When They Cry, etc), but Mirai Nikki had something many other contenders of the genre didn’t: emotion. As is stated on the wiki: It is shown many times in the series just how deeply insecure Yuno truly is when she says her life would not be worth living if she could not be the centre of Yukiteru's world. Her crippling fear of losing him is notably the only thing that can cause her usually disturbing composure to crack. It is exactly this rationale that took this anime to the forefront of every pre-teen’s watchlist in 2011. Looking back, we were all quite the edgy generation!
3. Minatsuki Takami- Deadman Wonderland 
Be not fooled; she may look sweet and go by the nickname “Hummingbird” but Minatsuki is the last girl you want to face in a Deadman deathmatch. Sadistic and downright perverted, Minatsuki maintains her façade of innocence with such finesse that even her own brother couldn’t see her for the monster she was. Psychopathic and sexually aroused through others’ pain, she shows her true colours only when paired up vs. Ganta in the Carnival Corpse. Her branch of sin, Whip Wing, allows her to freely manipulate her blood as whips, allowing her to inflict extensive damage & pain through her barbaric attacks. Her vile nature reaches its peak when her brother intervenes in her deathmatch and attempts to dissuade her from attacking Ganta, only for her to use him as a human shield and resume her onslaught. Following her defeat, she begins to show a softer side to the main cast but still lashes out from time to time, revealing the edgy little girl within.
Her backstory, although short, reveals the reason behind her psychopathy; abandoned during the earthquake by her own mother, who opted to save a plant instead of her own daughter, Minatsuki harbours deep-seated feelings of abandonment and indignation at the world as a whole. In the end, however, she is hinted at having a romantic inclination towards Ganta and stands by his side when it matters most. Maybe there is some good to Minatsuki’s persona...? We’ll let Ganta answer that for us.
2. Kureo Mado- Tokyo Ghoul 
Tokyo Ghoul remains to this day one of the biggest tragedies in anime; it gained enormous hype on release, but the anime never managed to do the manga any justice. Even so, season 1 of the show remains widely appreciated and continues to be received positively by new fans of the franchise. It is in the first season itself that we are introduced to the menacing First Class Ghoul Investigator Kureo Mado. Decisive and ruthless, the character is introduced as an eccentric old man obsessed over collecting quinques, even allowing ghouls to fully reveal their kagune to make extraction possible. An expert combatant and battle-hardened fanatic, the stark contrast in his treatment of ghouls and humans is presented to the viewer very early on in the show. Casually chatting with his victims while swinging viciously at them, Mado’s skill is put on full display during his battles with several unnamed ghouls, Yamori, Ryouko, Touka and finally, Hinami herself. Methodical and sadistic, his sudden demise at the hands of a demented Hinami comes as a shock to all.
Perhaps what makes Mado’s behaviour even more shocking is the wide range of emotion which we see him capable of feeling; his fatherly disposition towards Amon is evident in all of their scene together and is best evidenced via his quote: "When you’re in front of the enemy, even if your hands are trembling, fight. That's what it means to be a 'professional.'" Later on, it is revealed that Mado’s intense hate towards ghouls is derived from the loss of his wife at the hands of the One-Eyed-Ghoul. Although it doesn’t redeem Mado from the consequences of his bloodlust, it does help us understand why the investigator did what he did in his quest to avenge his lost wife. Terrible as he was, Mado was still a human capable of loving others; the same, unfortunately, cannot be said of our number one entry...
1. Vector- Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal 
The pinnacle of sadistic megalomania, Vector, otherwise known as Ray Shadows (or Rei Shingetsu in the sub), is neither the final villain of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal nor the most skilled opponent Yuma’s had to face in the course of the show’s run. Instead, Vector’s claim to notoriety stems from his unparalleled ruthlessness and blatant disregard for any emotion other than rage and envy. One of the only thoroughly irredeemable characters in the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, Vector orchestrated most of the events in the show, manipulating Dr. Faker (and through him, Kite) and Vetrix into furthering his goal to destroy Astral World. Despite being outranked by Nash & Don Thousand in both power and duelling prowess, Vector remained a force to be reckoned with, right until his bitter end. A loose cannon among the Barian Emperors, no tactic was too low for him to exploit; betrayal, mass genocide and unrelenting mind games were all daggers in his arsenal pointed directly at Yuma and Astral.
He went to extreme lengths to achieve his goals, growing increasingly treacherous and malevolent with every defeat, even going as far as to forge alliances with Number 96: Dark Mist, and finally, Don Thousand himself. Even on the verge of death at the hands of Don Thousand, he attempted to drag Yuma with him to his doom, showing brief remorse only when Yuma met his attempt with thorough compassion. Vector’s backstory reveals his corruption at the hands of Don Thousand, who manipulated him into believing that he’d murdered both of his parents. This is exemplified through his over-hundred number, aptly called Number 104: Masquerade, hinting at not only his deviousness, but also the fact that his own memories had been a lie all along. His viciousness was seen in his previous life as well, as is shown when he goes to war against Nash, Marin and Dumon, eventually executing everyone in his own kingdom (or banishing them, as stated in the dub) following his defeat.
Ruthless, egotistical and perpetually mocking his opponents, Vector goes down as the number one edge-lord on our list of edgy anime characters. Think you know someone even more try-hard & cutting edge? Let us know down in the comments!
PS: This is the author's 100th article!!!
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