Shounen anime is dominated by all sorts of male characters, many of whom are beloved and adorn many a top ten list. Then there are the shounen characters that nobody likes, which spirals into downright loathing for their very existence and appearance.
From the annoying (Boruto) to the downright evil (Mahito), shounen anime have lots of male characters who fans do not like and wish gone in one way, shape, or form. This article will chronicle those characters who fans detest seeing or are otherwise unimpressed by.
Note: This article will contain spoilers for many shounen anime on this list. It's also just the author's opinion, as many characters have doubtlessly done worse.
Ten highly despised male characters in shounen anime
Here are some of the highly despited male characters in shounen, that players will come across.
10) Boruto Uzumaki (Early Boruto)
Naruto's son got a lot of flack when Boruto premiered. It's uncanny that the title character of a sequel anime can accrue so much loathing throughout the opening chapters of the manga and anime. The reason why requires a fair bit of explanation.
It's mainly a contrast to his father, Naruto. Discerning Naruto's awful childhood to Boruto's better one, many fans utterly detested Boruto's seemingly spoiled genius nature and arrogant attitude toward ninjutsu, his father, and the Hokage position.
This reduced once Momoshiki showed up, as Naruto and Boruto started repairing their relationship, but the salt was already in the wound for some. Chalk that up to a bad start.
9) Near (Death Note)
The poster boy of people not deserving a position others worked for, Near is one of L's replacements following his death in the first half of Death Note. Why Near and not Mello? Simple.
Near acts too much like a carbon copy of L for fans to root for. He's brighter than Light, which fans genuinely don't like as Light had outsmarted everyone in the series beforehand.
The point being, Near doesn't feel like a character who earned that perfunctory, typical shounen anime ending. If the decision was final to defeat Light at the end of the day, fans wished it wouldn't have been at the hands of someone like Near.
At least L had something of a personality and his quirks, but Near had nothing original about him.
8) Minoru Mineta (My Hero Academia)
Mineta may be a teen, but this hero from the shounen anime My Hero Academia earned his fair share of dislike for a reason. The biggest reason nobody likes Mineta is simple: he's a pervert without any real point besides that.
However, other perverted characters in shounen anime are beloved, like Jiraiya from Naruto and Master Roshi from Dragon Ball Z.
The big difference between the aforementioned two and Mineta is simple: depth. Roshi and Jiraiya are both masters of martial arts and Ninjutsu, respectively. They both help teach their students, lend aid in battle and have more character depth and stories to tell than just them being perverted.
Meanwhile, Mineta has lent his fair share of aid in battle, was bullied hard as a kid, and is plenty smart, but most can't stand perverseness being his primary character trait. His rather awful comments towards Eri only increased that hate, saying he couldn't wait to see what she looked like in 10 years.
Eri is six at the time of the anime, for the record.
7) Spandam (One Piece)
Though primarily a comedic villain like Buggy the clown, this villain from the shounen anime One Piece gets his fair share of hostility due to harming Nico Robin after swearing that the Straw Hats would be safe at Enies Lobby. This act of sadism aside, Spandam also gets the hate for being a weak and selfish man.
How selfish is Spandam? He framed Tom the Shipwright's workers, who aided Tom in building sea fairing trains, for a bomb attack on the city of Water 7, causing Tom to take the blame and be subsequently executed to further his own career. His beating of a helpless Nico Robin during her imprisonment made fans hate him right away.
Spandam is a coward, always trying to make calculated moves to save his own skin and never trying to stand and fight despite his belief in Absolute Justice. Fans were grateful when Robin broke his spine.
6) Babidi (Dragon Ball Z)
Hype men usually tend to be liked because they add personality to an otherwise dull person. Pro wrestling usually has bad guy managers who can still whip a crowd into a frenzy when it comes to reacting to their particular client.
Babidi is the type of hype wizard many a Dragon Ball Z and shounen anime fan, in general, loathe to no end.
At least the Ginyu Force was fun, Zarbon and Dodoria were Frieza's elite guard, and Androids 19 and 20 were the prelude to 17 and 18. Babidi doesn't match their energy quite so well, and instead, he's a loud, boisterous villain with a voice like nails on a chalkboard that controls Majin Buu.
Buu thankfully killed him shortly after his duel with SS3 Goku.
5) Tetta Kisaki (Tokyo Revengers)
If Near is a carbon copy of L, then Tetta Kisaki from the shounen anime Tokyo Revengers is that taken to extra villain levels. What does that mean? Well, he's responsible for everything the heroes face and more.
That usually wouldn't be a bad thing, except that he keeps showing up and is behind more than a few heinous acts.
No doubt, villains and antagonists can be fun. It can be fascinating to watch heroes try to overcome or outwit brilliant villains. Then there are the villains who always seem to have the perfect counter for everything the heroes do.
From orchestrating Hinata's murder to Toman's fight with Valhalla, to even stopping a time traveler, Kisaki seems to have a perfectly villainous rating that fans cannot stand. To make matters worse, it all started because he believed Hinata to have been "stolen" from him by Takemichi Hanagaki after Takemichi saved her from bullies while Kisaki hid.
4) Mahito (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Ah, Mahito. What's there to say about one of the main villains in Jujutsu Kaisen? Well, a lot, actually. He's a cursed spirit aiming to kill humanity and replace them with cursed spirits.
He's responsible for untold death and destruction, especially during the Shibuya incident. He's near invulnerable at times, using his ultimate techniques, thus avoiding permanent injury.
He's also responsible for transfiguring and killing Junpei and Nobara in front of the main character Yuji to goad him into making a mistake or at least into fear so he can kill him. Neither time really pays off as he ends up beaten down during the Shibuya incident and ultimately absorbed by his would-be ally Pseudo-Geto.
3) Danzo Shimura (Naruto)
Here's one that's not a surprise. Neither is the number one. Danzo Shimura is the infamous false Sixth Hokage after Tsunade was injured during Pain's attack on Konoha in the shounen anime Naruto.
This man garnered more hatred than Sasuke for his role in nearly every bad thing that befell Sasuke, Itachi, Kakashi (when he joined the Anbu), Sai, Yamato, and even Nagato/Pain. Why are so many people affected by one man?
In short, Danzo orchestrated the Uchiha Clan Massacre by forcing Itachi into it, worked alongside Orochimaru to slaughter Leaf citizens, emotionally manipulated Kakashi into spying on the Third Hokage, nearly had Yamato killed, had Sharingan's pulled from Uchiha corpses to enhance his own power, and sided with Nagato's village leader to try to assassinate the original Akatsuki.
All that led to death and pain down the line and a well-deserved end for Danzo.
2) Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
One of the worst parents in shounen anime, Gendo Ikari makes the number 2 spot. Why Gendo and not Shinji? Simply put, Gendo caused Shinji to be the way he is.
Throughout the shounen anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, the movie End of Evangelion, and the reboot Rebuild of Evangelion movies, Gendo Ikari is a constantly abusive thorn in Shinji and the rest of NERV's side.
Gendo has done some pretty messed-up stuff during the anime. This includes:
- Emotionally distancing himself from Shinji.
- Showing Rei more affection because she reminds him of his wife, and only because of that.
- Letting Shinji take so much damage and punishment, he screams.
- Practically demanding an apology before his death in the original.
The horror of the Human Instrumentality Project would sound great to the number 1 entry as it involves killing billions with the Third Impact so he can see his wife again.
1) Shou Tucker (Fullmetal Alchemist)
To be honest, everyone knew this one was coming. A seemingly nice man in the shounen anime Full Metal Alchemist, the so-called "Sewing Life Alchemist," is revealed to be an uncaring monster of a husband, father, and human being all in one.
Do note that the following crimes he committed were because of his need to keep his State Alchemist license at any cost.
Tucker unveiled a grand discovery two years before the series: he had produced a chimera capable of human speech! It only said it wanted to die and didn't live very long.
His second one did and even spoke, though the horrifying reality was soon displayed. Tucker had made his own wife into a chimera two years prior, and now, it was his daughter Nina and the family dog Alexander.
This horrifying discovery was doubled in that Tucker felt no guilt for his actions. Naturally, nobody felt remorse when he died via Scar in Brotherhood or when he was trapped as a chimera himself in the 2003 version.
Disclaimer: All external media in this article are the property of their respective owners and Sportskeeda claims no ownership of the same.