Once more the prize for the Top 10 prediction contest was a top 5 list of the winner’s choice. Congrats to Red, this year’s winner, who requested the top 5 antagonists in anime and manga. A great theme, albeit a nightmare to compile. I gave it my best shot, and decided to do this year’s version on YouTube. Hope you enjoy it!
Ivan
January 5, 2021 at 7:15 pmInteresting picks! I’ve only seen HxH, Vinland Saga, Shinsekai Yori and Ushio to Tora, and think the antagonists you chose are indeed very memorable!
If Avatar The Last Airbender were an anime, I would have picked Zuko =]
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2021 at 8:13 pmZuko, yeah… He’s a character who would be hard to class, honestly. If you’re going to call him an antagonist then yes, he would be a very strong contender.
Matti
January 5, 2021 at 7:54 pmNone of them hold a candle to that bastard Maeno from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun.
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2021 at 8:14 pmI’d totally forgotten about him. Bad editors do have their own wing in Hotel Hell.
Red
January 5, 2021 at 8:17 pmThanks for the list! I have seen the top 5 except for a few in the honorable mentions. Interesting to see the similarities between your picks; Meruem, Askeladd, the Count (arguably the main character of their respective parts/arcs) and Shishio, Squealer (overthrowing the current system and creating a new order). I wonder if you have seen Monster as the antagonist in there is also pretty good.
Also for ushio and tora, would you recommend the manga or the anime? as I have not seen it yet.
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2021 at 8:23 pmI haven’t read the manga and I know some fans complained that the anime cut out a lot. All I can say is that the anime worked quite well for me.
Monster would qualify as one of “kick myself” examples I mentioned. I don’t think it would have busted into the the top 5 though.
Snowball
January 5, 2021 at 11:18 pmWhat about Tsurumi from Golden Kamuy?
Guardian Enzo
January 6, 2021 at 8:12 amThought about him. Thought about Ogata too. In the end I thought GK would be more in the vein of a “group cast” award like the SAG awards give out, rather than any one specific character.
rambochild
January 6, 2021 at 2:01 amHi Enzo, I’ve been following this blog on-and-off for awhile, and I’m excited to see that you’ve started a YouTube channel. Congrats!
I watch a lot of video essays about film on YouTube, and I’ve seen a few explorations of anime movies (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anQeqlax0qk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz49vQwSoTE). Unfortunately, they are few and far in between, and the big content producers usually frame anime movies within the context of American cinema. I’m sure it’s no easy task, but I’d definitely be interested in similar critiques more narrowly focused on anime- for example, a study of Akiyuki Shinbou’s stylized direction or common themes across WSJ serializations.
Anyways, thanks for the content as always, and happy new year!
Guardian Enzo
January 6, 2021 at 8:14 amThanks! I have some ideas along those lines, we’ll see what happens.
Monymous
January 6, 2021 at 3:25 amGreat list. Meruem and Hisoka would be my top picks too. My other mentions would include the vampire family from Shiki and Akio from Utena.
elianthos
January 6, 2021 at 3:32 amHisokachinnnnnnn you magnificent mofo
You definitely picked some good choices there Enzo XD. Hisoka and the Count would be in my top 5 too. I had a feeling you’d appreciate Askeladd and voilà there he pops up. My choice after Hisoka and the Count would probably be the Red King from Tamura Yumi’s Basara. Red King-san is the MC antagonist… for a while, but he’s also a lot of other things . In a way like Hisoka he is a bit hard to classify even during his antagonist phase. Functionally & genre-wise he’s much closer to Yona’s antagonist though.
But again it seems I have scrambled eggs for brains these months and I’m really fuzzy on recalling suitable candidates. If the mushi do not apply I’m two slots short :,3 .
elianthos
January 6, 2021 at 3:36 amP.S. / Edit. This was supposed to go after the first sentence above but apparently I’ve triggered some html sorcery.
‘Interesting theme. It made me realize I’m having a hard time thinking of characters who would fit the bill… Most of my favourite series – and after nearly 40 years of animanga my memory really got ruthless – either tend not to feature relevant antagonists, unless they are internal (aka the characters themselves are their own enemy) or those antagonists not a character per se but rather the societal system/settings or beliefs… Do the mushi from Mushishi count? :°3’
elianthos
January 6, 2021 at 3:40 amWell great. My first comment appeared as sent but now I only see the post scriptum to it . My rollercoasterish relationship with WordPress filters continues…
Orin
January 6, 2021 at 9:23 pmGreat choices. Those kinds of lists are inherently subjective, but I’m always happy to see some recognition for the great, great Shin Sekai Yori. Squealer would most probably be number one on my list. You talked about the novel in the video; has there been any official English translation of it yet? I’ve seen some “fan translation” going around and read some part of it but I would rather wait (maybe hopelessly) for a professional translation.
Guardian Enzo
January 7, 2021 at 5:31 pmNope, no official translation and I suspect there never will be. I would never presume to suggest what a fan do in this situatio, but FWIW I think the existing translation is very good.
Marty
January 28, 2022 at 9:59 pmUpon rewatch, I’ve come to the Conclusion that S1 of Vinland Saga has 3 protagonists:
1. Thors (1-4)
2. Thorfinn (5-19)
3. Askeladd (13-24)
I consider the first 4 Episodes to be solidly Thors’ story, and Episodes 5-10 tell Thorfinn’s, but I think a grey area starts to develop between Episodes 11 and 12 that slowly shift the narrative from Thorfinn’s to Askeladd’s.
“Son of a Hero” and “The Light of Dawn” solidified Askeladd as the MC of the Last half of the season (even though Thorfinn would return to the spotlight in his rematch with Thorkell, he still felt to me like a supporting character briefly taking center stage in comparison to Askeladd).
Guardian Enzo
January 28, 2022 at 10:55 pmIf I were in a combative mood, I’d point out that “protagonist” and “main character” are not strictly the same thing. I think Askeladd is the latter for that stretch, but I don’t think he’s the former.