A majority of villains in anime commit some impressive feats. Whether it be leveling cities, killing heroes, or simply putting into motion unfathomable sociopolitical changes, villains love to cause a scene and make sure there’s plenty of commotion afterward.
For some villains, however, their earth-shattering moment of villain infamy just comes too soon. Sometimes the most impressive, or terrifying, feat they’ve committed happened before their series even began, leaving them to forever be a shadow of their former self, or they have heaps of potential that simply never gets explored. Whichever way a villain peaks too soon, it’s always disappointing to not see them truly hit their stride.
10 Itachi Uchiha Committed His Most Heinous Act In Flashbacks (Naruto)
While Itachi isn’t a typical anime villain, he still falls victim to performing his most notorious act far too early on. Before Naruto even begins, Itachi has already murdered the entire Uchiha clan, with the one exception being his younger brother, Sasuke.
Itachi is a formidable opponent with a lot of skill, but because of the circumstances surrounding the mass murder of his clan, he never does anything anywhere near as villainous and is seen as less of a threat than other Naruto villains.
9 The Phantom Troupe Came & Went Too Quickly (Hunter X Hunter)
The Phantom Troupe solely occupies the Yorknew City Arc of Hunter x Hunter as its villains, and that is where their identities as villains firmly stay. After Kurapika takes Chrollo’s Nen away from him, the troupe is turned into a comedic relief group without their leader, appearing sporadically over the remaining arcs to spit funny arguments at each other and occasionally do something important.
The Phantom Troupe never reaches the heights they did during their original arc. Feitan, one of their members, has a stand-out moment in the Chimera Ant Arc later on, but all the others fall off in terms of being villains.
8 Rize Kamishiro Revealed It All In Episode One (Tokyo Ghoul)
Being the woman whose death started it all and created the circumstances that allowed Tokyo Ghoul’s Kaneki to become the one-eyed ghoul he is today, Rize sometimes felt wasted on such an early out. With her legacy being so long-lasting despite such a minute amount of screen time, she’s the definition of peaking too early.
Audiences are told later on, on multiple occasions, that Rize was a formidable ghoul and was well-known within their community. That only makes it all the more disappointing that no one ever gets to see her in her prime, when she was likely even more horrifying than most other Tokyo Ghoul characters.
7 Chief Lion’s Anticipation Is Worse Than His Reveal (Beastars)
Season 1 of Beastars does an impressive job at creating a thick atmosphere. After the death of a beloved student at Cherryton Academy, every character is on edge and the viewers feel the same, wondering what awful villain will appear at the end to tie it all together.
While viewers certainly get a horrifying villain in Chief Lion, who insists on terrifying herbivores before he eats them because he believes it makes them taste better, he doesn’t stick around for long. Louis kills him himself, and Chief Lion is left to be a villain whose reputation comes from whispers and past actions rather than on-screen terror.
Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the kind of villain who exists to make audiences uncomfortable. A sort of shock-factor antagonist, Gluttony’s complete disregard for human life derives from the fact he’s perpetually hungry and wants to eat them more than anything else.
The first few times viewers see Gluttony in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, he’s a real threat. It really feels like if he gets his hands on Edward or Alphonse, he’ll viscerally eat them in a horrifying display, but he simply loses that energy as time goes on. Gluttony seems to be almost danced around in later fights, and his untimely demise at Pride’s hand is underwhelming and fast.
5 Wretched Egg’s First Appearance Can’t Be Matched (Deadman Wonderland)
The opening scene of Deadman Wonderland is a bloodbath. Ganta, the protagonist, is sitting in his classroom one day when suddenly a strange cloaked entity appears outside the window. This entity knocks him out and proceeds to murder everybody in the classroom except him, which leaves Ganta to wake up surrounded by his friend’s corpses and accused of their murder.
That entity was the Wretched Egg, Deadman Wonderland’s mysterious antagonist. The anime was canceled after only one season and so, naturally, the classroom massacre is the Wretched Egg’s biggest achievement as a villain.
4 Frill Loses A Certain Edge Without Her Physical Body (Wonder Egg Priority)
Providing a new take on the magical girl genre, Wonder Egg Priority introduced Frill as its leading villain, an artificial human who resembled a 14-year-old girl. After a lengthy series of events, Frill murdered both Acca’s wife and daughter out of jealousy before Ura-Acca burned her physical body, though her influence could still be felt.
Despite some of the most gruesomely terrifying scenes in Wonder Egg Priority only occurring due to Frill’s orders, Frill was simply scarier when she had a physical form. Watching her hold the hairdryer behind her back before she electrocuted Acca’s wife or watching her smile after his daughter’s death elevated her atrocious actions to a level not yet reached by anything she’s done via the Egg World.
3 The Spider Demon Family Leave A Lasting Impression (Demon Slayer)
The Mount Natagumo Arc of Demon Slayer introduces viewers to the spider demon family created by Rui, one of the Twelve Demon Moons. Each key member of this family gets their time in the spotlight before they’re all killed one by one, ending with Rui. Their time certainly isn’t short, but there’s something about their concept and execution that feels like it leaves too quickly.
The spider demon family is a heartbreaking, tragic tale of a family that could’ve benefitted from some of the members reappearing further down the line. This isn’t to say the arc wasn’t brilliantly executed or that the deaths didn’t feel right — it’s more a testament to how well-written the characters were, and how some viewers believed they were killed before hitting their stride.
2 Annie Leonhart Was Encased In Crystal For Most Of The Series (Attack On Titan)
While Annie is now finally regaining her freedom, she has been noticeably absent from Attack On Titan for a very long time. A large part of her arc, both in the anime and the manga, has her encased in the crystalline shell she used to protect herself from near-death earlier on in the series, and she only reappears towards the end.
If Annie hadn’t been captured, she would’ve done a better job than Bertholdt and Reiner at carrying out their original plan. Annie was smart, driven, and had no qualms about betraying their fellow scouts. She peaked far too early and was sidelined for far too long.
1 Stain Should’ve Spread His Word Further (My Hero Academia)
While Stain’s arc in My Hero Academia did wonders for Tenya Iida’s character development, with him being the definitive stand-out hero of those episodes, it feels like Stain’s message gets lost along the way. Stain represented a very valid criticism of the hero system in My Hero Academia, and he was silenced far too early.
Stain didn’t necessarily need to leave later, as his confrontation with Iida, Todoroki, and Midoriya was timed well, but there needed to be more about him passing along his ideology. While it’s said that Stain influenced many villains, it isn’t touched upon much at all in the anime, and it can often feel like Stain never made an impact at all.
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