What makes an organization evil? Systematic genocide and oppression of a people? Certainly. Financially controlling a city and using thuggery to keep things in the status quo? Yuppers. Saying they are evil and doing that “Mwahaha!” laugh? In anime, usually that’s a solid one too. While anime certainly has its fair share of organizations, some of them are truly diabolical and others are more akin to Dr. Evil levels of evil. If you are looking for some of the truly best evil organizations ever to grace the Japanese animated screen, we’ve curated a handful.
Best Evil Anime Organizations
Aogiri Tree From Tokyo Ghoul
Whenever you have a group of people oppressed, they can typically be split into two internal groups fundamentally. First, you have a group that just wants to live peacefully and does so making coffee in a cafe. Second, you have a group that just wants to live peacefully and does so through acts of violence and terrorism. This is the division between the ghouls in Tokyo Ghoul. The more atrocities done to the ghouls by the CCG, the more the numbers of radical group Aogiri Tree swell. After a certain horrific event, you even find the main character joining them.
Monstro Preto From Michiko and Hatchin
Everyone in Michiko and Hatchin, including the titular main characters, are morally complex bastards. The main antagonist in the series is Satoshi who inherited one of the larger gangs in the gangland called Monstro Preto from Hatchin’s father, Hiroshi when he left. In order to dominate, he takes territory using children drafted into the gang to take it violently because they are easily replaced and manipulated. Everything in the series indicates that this fictional land is a difficult place to live and you need to take advantage of others to survive.
The Homunculi From Full Metal Alchemist
Under the thumb of Father, the homunculi are powerful super beings where each member represents one of the seven deadly sins. Father thought that by removing these sins from himself, he would become more pure. While he also refers to them as his children, several of them are rebellious. They are certainly evil, one being responsible for one of the most devastating deaths in anime ever, they aren’t exactly the most cohesive evil anime organization. Many just kind of do as they please, including betraying the organization multiple times.
The Espada from Bleach
While we are on the topic of evil organizations that don’t exactly work well together, there is also the Espada in Bleach. These are the strongest Arrancar in Hueco Mundo and often bonded only by a certain loyalty to their leader. Otherwise, this organization is all about strength. Only the strongest are members and they only rely on their own strength. Throughout their arc, you often watch them inconvenience or injure other members of the organization to further their own goals and please their leader.
The Phantom Troupe in Hunter x Hunter
The Phantom Troupe is chaos incarnate in an organization. Led by one man, they are responsible for a long laundry list of crimes in the world, including wiping out the Kurta clan. Some members do things to test their strength. Some member members do things for money. Some are just bored and want some amusement. While there is no question as to what makes this group evil, what makes them interesting is the array of members. Furthermore, the only way to become a member is to kill one and take their place or for one to die of natural causes and another person to get chosen. That’s pretty exclusive.
The Millennium Organization From Hellsing Ultimate
I mean, the Millennium Organization is primarily made up of Nazis, so that’s pretty evil. After the defeat of the normal evil human Nazis, the Millennium Organization was reformed from augmented members that typically consist of robots, vampires, werewolves, and one difficult to classify cat-boy. There are a few very deadly normal humans though.
Akatsuki From Naruto
Known for one of the most memorable dress codes in anime, the Akatsuki was originally created with the best of intentions. Their founder wanted to bring peace through their organizations. However, this attracted those that would lead to his death. Over time, their goal of peace remained the same, but the path towards it and the ideals within the organization became twisted. Now, the leader in the series believed that only causing more chaos and destruction would cause the world to turn away from conflict. It’s not the most logical ideology, but when you’re an evil organization, logic is not often important.
Do you know any more evil anime organizations that you feel deserve to be mentioned? Let the world know of their twisted ideals in the comments section below.
