ANN Reader's Choice Awards 2024 (Nomination Period): Best Villain of the Year [1/2] - Forum (2025)

It's time to celebrate the best of the best—and we need YOUR input! Participate in our very first... Reader's Choice Awards 2024!

An anime is not complete without a villain! But wait, what makes a great villain? Is it their background story? Their superpowers? Who is the villain of the year? Nominate your villain of the year for ANN's Reader's Choice Awards!

Instructions
1. Each person may nominate one villain only.
2. The nominated villain must be from an anime series that aired this year.
3. To submit your entry, please use the following format for the first line of your post: Name of Character from Anime Title (bold, italicized, and underlined). You may add additional comments on why you are nominating him/her/it/them in your post.
4. If you wish to change your nomination, you are free to do so during the nomination period. To update your nomination, please edit your original post. Further nomination posts after your initial post will not be counted.
5. Finally, we will lock this thread on December 26, 12:00:00 EST

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Interested in nominating on other categories?
Best Anime OST of the Year
Leading Man of the Year
Leading Woman of the Year
Most Underrated Anime Series of the Year
Best Non-Binary Anime Character of the Year

Novak

The main Inquisitor (i.e. torturer) from Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. I hesitated to nominate him for two reasons: 1) the show began in the Fall of 2024 but is 2-cour so Novak's full journey has not been shown yet and 2) despite his horrible occupation, you can argue he is not a villain. After all, from an In-Universe perspective, he has a respectable position designed to save souls from the horrors of Hell. But setting those qualms aside, I've decided to make him my nominee. Kenjiro Tsuda's distinctive, world-weary voice was the perfect choice for the character. He does not seem to derive any sadistic pleasure from his job but neither does he shrink from what he sees as his duty. I find the torture scenes in Orb to be incredibly harrowing and almost unwatchable, but Novak's presence makes them unforgettable.

Kokoro

from Terminator Zero. The first credible and interesting threat that IP had since 1991.

Gaou from Wonderful Pretty Cure!

FREYA. (Danmachi)

spoiler[ Even though she did it out of selfish love, the way that she did it to make Bell hers and ONLY hers is borderline OVERKILL here! Charming all of Orario into believing the Bell is a part of her familia just so no one else can have him is a tad out of line and OVER THE EDGE HERE, If you ask me! ]

Noboru Taki

Noboru Taki from Hibike! Euphonium 3 is the best anime villain of 2024.

This teacher skirted away from all of his responsibilities and put them all on the students, and completely got away with it.

While it makes for a great story, none of what happened throughout season three, the drama, infighting, etc. would have happened if he would just, you know, be an adult. And worse yet, it feels like he relishes in being in this childlike state, sipping on his juice or milk boxes at his desk, waiting for impressionable students to come ask him for advice. (Hey kids, don't do it. This guy has no idea what he's doing.)

If the goofball percussion teacher calls you out in front of your band for not getting what's going on, you're a problem.

If he was my instructor, I would have quit. Good on the kids for sticking with it and winning in spite of this guy's ineptitude.

What a horrible, horrible teacher.

Hiiragi Utena from Gushing Over Magical Girls

I'm assuming villain protagonists still count, though I understand if they don't, especially if those villains themselves have other villains to go against

Red Keeper from Go! Go! Loser Ranger!

You've gotta love his overwhelming narcissism and utter lack of respect for the autonomy of others.

Turbo Granny

From Dandadan, hilarious fun starter villain who becomes an unwilling "ally" and is responsible for kicking off the series' overarching plot.

I will second Red Keeper from Go! Go! Loser Ranger.

There were a lot of over-the-top villains this year, but I was continually impressed by how skillfully he cloaked his awfulness behind a veneer of respectability and heroism.

I would choose Hitogami from Mushoku Tensei series, even though the story is far from the end.

spoiler[When seeing Hitogami for the first time, I thought that character may mean trouble. As the story progresses it seems that Hitogami is like a puppet master pulling the strings from behind the scenes leading the protagonist to make the wrong decisions but for what reason?]

Turbo Granny from DanDaDan

Red Keeper from Go! Go! Loser Ranger

Turbo Granny from DanDaDan

Iconic performances from iconic VAs in both Sub & Dub.

Takauji Ashikaga from The Elusive Samurai. Red Ranger was my first choice, but this guy was a close second. Elite combination of ruthlessness and rizz.