Brutality or the act of savagery is something that no one likes and is the cruelest behavior performed by anyone in the whole world. No one likes being tortured relentlessly and the mere thought of this can creep out a person however, this simple ideology is not followed by some of the most cold-hearted anime characters as they love to make the beat the crap out of their opponent without showing any signs of mercy.

Whether it’s the protagonist, antagonist, or a supporting character the cold and cruel behavior of some of the annoyingly ruthless anime characters hasn’t gone unseen by the fans. These ridiculously sadistic characters show no signs of emotions or feelings at all towards the victim and even if they do feel empathy, they don’t act on it.

And, in today’s article, we’ll take a look at the collection of most ruthless and cold-hearted anime characters who don’t give a damn about anyone. So, without any further ado let’s get started.

10. Gates – Full Metal Panic!

Gates is a mad scientist and in the most cliché way possible. He is one heck of a crazy person who is known to kill or punish his subordinates for the slightest of reasons. Gates kills through a variety of methods including shooting a commando in the head when he back talked and kicking his second in command off a helicopter and nearly drowning him in a pool.

Being the head of Amalgam’s Execution Squads, Gates’s antics make him ferocious and relentless, but highly unreliable when it comes to more professional contracts. Regardless of his high intelligence and strategic planning, Gates is a type of person who only cares about himself and doesn’t hesitate to eliminate the side links once his plans fall into place.

9. Yamori (Jason) – Tokyo Ghoul

Yakumo Oomori, commonly known as Yamori and Jason in the ghoul society, has been nicknamed after the fictional murderer Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th” and his name is the perfect representation of his behavior. Jason is a psychopathic ghoul who loves to see others suffer. While all ghouls must eat human flesh to survive and are obliged to kill as a result, this guy takes it to the next level.

Jason has a torture chamber made especially for his playtime where he tormented Kaneki for ten days. He injected Kaneki with needles to suppress his Ghoul powers and cut off his fingers and toes dozens of times. Later, he also placed a Chinese red-headed centipede in Kaneki’s ear. All of these show how violent and sadistic a person Jason is who is willing to torture anyone without a shred of remorse.

8. Mahito – Jujutsu Kaisen

Mahito’s introduction in Jujutsu Kaisen never seemed a good sign however, like Jogo and Sukuna fans considered him just another Special Grade cursed spirit but, they were wrong. Unlike other cursed spirits, Mahito did something so horrible and cheap that a person can only expect from one of the cold-hearted anime characters alive.

He turned a poor, innocent guy like Junpei into an ugly-looking curse by his Idle Transfiguration. Mahito could have avoided that scenario and he was in a good position to kill Junpei easily but, he didn’t do that. On purpose, he turned Junpei into a curse to make Yuji suffer and then laughed at his inability to do anything. And, just wait patiently for the Shibuya Incident arc, when Mahito will be on everyone’s hitlist.

7. Sanemi Shinazugawa – Demon Slayer

Demon Slayer fans (especially manga ones) will not be happy at all to see Sanemi on the list of cold-hearted anime characters however if you’re an anime-only then you’ll be glad to see him here. Sanemi is indeed an abrasive, hot-blooded, and stubborn type of person who is quick to lash out. He is often indifferent towards others and can get mad extremely easily.

Besides, he harbors a deep hatred toward demons and is convinced that humans and demons can never coexist. He does not believe Tanjiro’s insistence that Nezuko wouldn’t eat humans and moves to prove his own point by stabbing through the box with Nezuko inside. Although he proved to be wrong, he doesn’t truly accept the Kamado siblings. Still, you can root for him as he’s not like others on this list.

6. Gendo Ikari – Neon Genesis Evangelion

Gendo Ikari fills two spots at the same time – being a ruthless, cold person and the worst anime dad in history. How can a father be so cruel that he first abandons his son as a toddler, then randomly summons him to pilot a mecha! Indeed, he has his ambitions and goals like bringing his wife back from the dead, which indicates that he’s capable of love. But, who sacrifices his own child for the sake of a crappy plan.

Gendo’s pragmatic, cold, and calculating attitude leads him to use any means to achieve his personal goals. When Shinji doesn’t immediately get with the Evangelion program, instead of rooting for him Gendo shows no sympathy whatsoever. He couldn’t care less about his son’s well-being or anything else that doesn’t align with his plan. Those aren’t exactly the actions of an empathetic man.

5. Danzō Shimura – Naruto

How much can you hate an individual? Not more than this guy who manipulated the children to do heinous acts. Yes, we’re talking about Danzō Shimura from Naruto who is not just one of the most cold-hearted anime characters but is also, the most hated character in all of anime. As Root’s leader and a member of Konoha’s Council, Danzō claims to be an ally to the village, but that’s just an act.

His true intentions mostly revolve around gaining personal power. He is cold and calculating and words like emotions or empathy have no place in his life. Some of the things Danzō does in service of that power are pretty heinous. To gain control of the village’s politics, he employs every available ninja resource – even if that means using children as scapegoats or hiring criminals to work for him.

4. Alucard – Hellsing

Hellsing features the “original” vampire Alucard who swore devotion to the Hellsing family after his defeat at the hands of Abraham Van Helsing. As a result, Alucard started hunting vampires all around the world. However, he’s totally against the idea of sparing someone and kills with abandon, for ridiculous reasons that include feeding, fun, and avenging insults.

Alucard is known for his bloodlust and love for violence. Supernatural powers are his main weapon but other than that Alucard possesses a variety of abilities like immortality, invisibility, blood, and weather manipulation that give him control over his enemies. Although, his “humanity” occasionally peeks through, but for the most part, Alucard is a cold-blooded murderer who is hailed to be the supreme leader of the Hellsing world.

3. Shogo Makishima – Psycho Pass

Shogo Makishima doesn’t sound like a bad or cold-hearted person at all when you’ll hear about his prime goal. He genuinely cares about the world he lives in whose stated goal is to liberate Japanese society from the Sibyl System, as he believes that it is turning its citizens into non-thinking automatons instead of independent thinking human beings. Sounds concerned and passionate right!

But, he is nothing like that. Shogo is a criminally asymptomatic individual and is utterly ruthless when it comes to achieving this goal. His heartless actions include slitting a woman’s throat in front of her best friend, inciting riots, and attempting to cut off his nation’s food supply. Shogo Makishima’s goal seems noble but he’s the pure definition of a serial killer in every way possible.

2. Light Yagami – Death Note

Light Yagami would have been a typical high school student if he hadn’t gotten his hands on a Death Note. A simple-looking notebook changed his life drastically as it granted death to anyone whose name is written on it. His sense of justice and motives were clear from the very start until he began to do inarguably unjust things.

After receiving the Death Note, Light started punishing the evildoers of the society and granted them a cruel death. He wanted to make an evil free world but, as time passed he devolved into one of the cold-hearted anime characters himself. Despite seemingly good intentions, he ended up killing hundreds of innocent people including his own father. By the end, any compassion he once had was nowhere to be found.

1. Johan Liebert – Monster

Johan Liebert is arguably the best villain in anime history who appears to be a calm and polite individual but beneath his pleasant exterior lies the heart of someone who is decidedly evil. He kills for the sake of killing without any motives, hatred, anger, or anything in between. With just his incredible intellect Johan was able to wreak havoc and terrorize an entire city’s population.

Almost every one of his actions stems from the desire to experiment and “test” people for his own pleasure. At the age of 10, he killed his adoptive parents. To escape an orphanage, he caused a deadly dispute between the staff & the children and then burnt the place down. Although it is shown that his paradox and strange charisma are due to his traumatic childhood, it was never explained why Johan is like this.

Which one of the following cold-hearted anime characters do you hate from your guts? Feel free to comment down your thoughts and make sure to recommend some other characters like the ones listed above, also don’t forget to share this article with your fellow otaku friends.

We post daily anime & manga news articles, so make sure to follow us on Instagram. You can also check out our anime ranking page for more articles like this.