Best Female Isekai Villains, Ranked

Isekai anime is an escapist fantasy genre, centering around a protagonist who comes from the real world and is transported, or reincarnated, into a fantastical world. Antagonist characters in this genre tend to be villainous people who are consumed with power, greed, and scheming. Traditional isekai nearly always have overpowered male villains, but some isekai break the mold.

Female villains can be just as evil and conniving as male isekai villains. More modern isekai, especially villainess isekai, are very popular with shojo anime fans, and they tend to reverse traditional roles between heroes and villains. Unpacking these villain character types makes for some creative twists and turns.

10 Crestia Bell Looks Innocent in The Devil Is a Part-Timer

Often, it’s easy to recognize that an isekai villain is the big-bad, but not so with Crestia Bell in The Devil Is a Part-Timer. In this reverse-isekai, the evil warlord becomes a plucky, even heroic, protagonist. Crestia Bell is a villain, but for a while she presents herself as a sweet and helpful neighbor.

Crestia Bell is far more than a helpful side character, though. She’s really a master assassin sent by the Church. She’s the kind of villain who falls into ruin by the “means to an end” kind of reasoning. Crestia justifies her killing as necessary for serving her faith, which, of course, is no real justification whatsoever.

9 Lieselotte Unpacks Two Major Character Types in Endo & Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte

Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte is an unorthodox isekai. There are more ways than portals and reincarnation for normal people to enter a fantasy realm. Two video game players find a unique way to peer into the world of their favorite otome game.

Endo is very familiar with video game and anime character types, and he recognizes that the villainess character Lieselotte is really just a tsundere. At first glance, that could make Lieselotte a weakly written villainess, but since she’s a woman in a strict social world, it’s actually very likely that she would be demonized into true villainy because her personality isn’t “likable” enough. Lieselotte makes a complex, and humorous, isekai villain who unpacks some social roles with the help of two gamer observers.

8 Albedo’s Love Is Obsessive in Overlord

Albedo is a succubus demon in Overlord. Her love for Ainz is obsessive and jealous, but she’s also a product of other mens’ creations and manipulations. She’s essentially programmed to be in love with Ainz, which complicates her character as a villain.

It seems like Albedo is a cookie-cutter, cruel femme fatale; she’s back-biting and has a near-mindless devotion to Ainz. She also has a great character design, with demonic horns, a goddess-like gown, and spider motifs, making her reminiscent of a black widow spider. However, the fact that these traits aren’t her choice makes her character more than a flat stereotype.

7 Emeraude Bears a Great Responsibility & Sorrow in Magic Knight Rayearth

Emeraude’s story is a very tragic one in Magic Knight Rayearth. Her birthright is a responsibility to her entire world, and it weighs heavily on her shoulders. Serving Cephiro dominates her entire life, and when she wants to take a break from it and exercise some autonomy, her whole world splits apart.

Emeraude is a complex and sad villain; she doesn’t become evil for greed or power but because of a great personal sorrow and an impossible position. She fell in love with a man who would do anything for her–even die for her freedom. Watching the love of her life die for her breaks Emeraude, and she becomes the worst version of herself. Losing the great love of her life, seeing him sacrifice himself, would be enough to break the minds of many good people.

6 Yui Has a Redemptive Friendship in Fushigi Yugi

It’s always torturous when two best friends diverge on different paths, like Yui and Miaka do in Fushigi Yugi. It’s easy to say that Yui becomes a villain because she’s spurned in love. Her villain journey is a bit more complicated than that, though, and Yui has a heartfelt redemption arc.

Yui is a young lady who isn’t very secure in herself or the people around her. Miaka is one of the few people she trusts, but their relationship’s shaken when Yui falls in love with Miaka’s love interest, Tamahome, and gets brutally rejected. The central Fushigi Yugi villain, Nakago, exploits her pain and chips away at her bond with Miaka, outlining the path for Yui’s descent.

5 Katarina Claes Wins Hearts & Minds in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Katarina Claes is meant to be the villainess of the otome game, Fortune Lover in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! In the visual novel canon, Katarina’s meant to have a nasty ending. A hit to the head reveals Katarina’s previous life, which was in the real world where Fortune Lover isn’t her home but a visual novel. The series is a sweet meta-flip on traditional isekai character types as a villainess character tries to redo her life.

Knowing the end of her story encourages Katarina Claes to turn things around. She goes from being a complete royal brat to being a winning hero. Katarina unintentionally gathers the hearts of many, many love interests, like the heroine of an otome game would.

4 Kikyo Is a Tragic Antagonist in InuYasha

InuYasha is an isekai with both the portal and reincarnation trope. Kagome travels to a magical and dark past world where bloodthirsty monsters hunt her and the dog demon, Inuyasha. She has an esoteric connection with Inuyasha because she’s the reincarnation of a priestess he once loved, Kikyo. Kikyo eventually comes back as one of their worst, and most heartbreaking, enemies.

Kagome and Kikyo are alike in some ways, though they have opposing interests. Like Kagome, Kikyo was once devoted to protecting the innocent and arresting evil. But a tragic end and tampering with Kikyo’s grave turns her into something that’s obsessive and wretched. Though Kikyo was once a great person who served her community and loved Inuyasha, beyond death, she wants to drag him down with her.

3 Yubaba Is Both Good & Bad in Spirited Away

Yubaba is a complex witch character in Spirited Away. She’s partly inspired by the Russian folkloric witch, Baba Yaga, who’s also capable of cruelty and compassion. Though she’s not exactly evil, she still subjugates an entire workforce of people, stealing their names and autonomy for her own gain.

Yubaba makes a great antagonist because she’s not black and white; she’s also open to changing her mind by the end of the film. She’s capable of love, especially for her child, but she tends to care more about riches and control than being fair-minded. She’s the kind of villain who has a personal code of ethics, but that doesn’t stop her from being a devious trickster.

2 Lilia Reinoise Is a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing in I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss

Lilia Reinoise is supposed to be the hero of the otome game Regalia of Saints that Aileen’s reincarnated into, in I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss. But nothing is as it seems in the otome game world. Prince Cedric is no prince charming, but a homicidal maniac; his fiance Lilia is no different.

Cedric’s sweet and gentle princess-to-be, Lilia Reinoise, may have a lovely reputation, but she’s incredibly duplicitous. She uses her beauty and sweet voice as a smokescreen and her plaintive tears as a weapon for her nefarious schemes, especially against Aileen. The engaged couple, Aileen and Claude, are supposed to be the villains of the otome game, but they always end up acting the hero, especially compared to the supposed golden couple, Lilia and Cedric.

1 Kagura Deserved So Much More in InuYasha

Kagura is one of the most beloved female characters in InuYasha. She’s an offshoot of the central villain, one of his strongest incarnations. Kagura is absolutely a threat to the heroes, but she also chafes against Naraku’s dominating bridle and bit.

Kagura tries to turn against Naraku more than once, because what she truly wants is freedom. She’s also capable of love that isn’t selfish or obsessive; she has feelings for Sesshomaru (a morally gray character capable of heroism and cruelty), and she cares for her sister, Kanna. Kagura may be dangerous, but she’s also complex, authentic, and a free-thinker.