Every hero must have a bad guy, but in the words of Zangief in Wreck-It Ralph, "Just because I'm a bad guy doesn't mean I'm a BAD guy." Likewise, anime has a lot of villains who are bad just because the story needs them to be, but are otherwise probably great to hang out with. Here are just a few in no particular order.

*NOTE* The following contains spoilers. View at your own risk!

1. Griffith (Berserk)

List of Charges:

Killing
Betraying the Band of the Hawk
Raping Casca in front of Guts
Adultery with Charlotte

Okay, this is quite a heavy list starting off, but hear me out. Griffith is guilty as charged, but he would have done none of these things if Guts just kept his promise and didn't abandon Griffith at the most crucial point in his life. Griffith not only loved Guts, he needed him to become a ruler. Guts's betrayal triggered the spiral of Griffith's downfall, and you can't blame him for wanting to even the score. So even though Griffith did all those things, the blood is on Guts's hands.

2. Wamuu (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

List of Charges:

Associated with Kars
Killing Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

Wamuu's a little easier to defend. He was raised and trained by Kars since he was an infant. So Kars is like a father to him and it's the only life he knows. As for killing Caesar, Caesar did attack Wamuu first before even getting to know him. Wamuu only retaliated in self defense, which resulted in Caesar's death. So Joseph's killing of Wamuu was only in pure revenge. The (Pillar) man didn't deserve to die.

3. Sinbad (Magi)

List of Charges:

Killing evil beings
Imperialism
Mind controlling Kougyoku

Sinbad fights against Aladdin many times (although it's all in the manga). They seem to have very different ideas about ruling the people. Sinbad is more of an "ends justify the means" character, making him seem the villain when he does things like forcefully colonizing Magnostadt under the guise of protection and turning Kougyoku into a spying puppet. But he does it all to protect his kingdom Sindria. In fact, in three years, Sinbad is able to abolish slavery and created a global economy, showing that his way of ruling works. Compared to that, what has Aladdin done?

4. Lucy (Elfen Lied)

List of Charges:

Murder of military and government officials
Traumatizing Kouta by killing both his father and sister
Killed an entire orphanage
Turning Nana into a quadriplegic

Lucy has a lot of blood on her vectors. But she's had such a crappy life that some killings were just necessary. The military and government officials were all there for the purpose of wrongly locking her up to be a test subject. The orphan kids killed Lucy's dog with a rock (seriously, what the heck?). And Nana is lucky she's not dead after trying to capture Lucy. Lucy is just a sad girl who needs some hugging. Except when she killed Kouta's family. But Kouta seemed to outgrow that. So it's water under the bridge.

5. Yagami Light (Death Note)

List of Charges:

Killing criminals
Killing government officials
Killing L
Using Misa and others

Yagami Light is a very sympathetic character. He pretty much did everything a person would do if they found a Death Note. He truly believed he was making the world a greater place, and if you look at the numbers, he was doing it well. Crime rates plummeted throughout the world, and the only people he had left to kill were the people at the top, who essentially wanted him taken out because he had more power than they did. After Death Note, we can only imagine how crime rates returned to normal.

6. Kotomine Kirei (Fate Series)

List of Charges:

Betrayal of Tokiomi
Betraying Assassin
"Killing" Bazette Fraga McRemitz
Enjoying misery
Being Gilgamesh's Master
Tricking Rin on multiple occasions

Kirei has quite a laundry list of deeds, but he tried being a good guy. He became a priest just for that purpose. But he couldn't help that he didn't find any joy except in the suffering of others. Even still, Kirei only really ever kills people who are part of the Holy Grail War. These contestants are all willing to kill each other and even innocent people to win, so you could say that Kirei is just killing off the killers. Which is a good deed in my book. Sure, his goals and wishes are not really in line with being a good guy, but his results speak more than his intent.

7. Betelgeuse (Re:Zero)

List of Crimes:

Accidentally killing Fortuna
Killing Rem and Subaru
Being part of the Witch Cult
Attacking Emilia's Kingdom (?)

If Betelgeuse is guilty of anything, it's being clinically insane. This man needs a therapist, not a sword in the stomach. He was actually a pretty cool guy beforehand, and the Witch Cult wasn't even a threat while he was sane. But even now, his actions seem to have some merit. Let's say he believes what many people believe, that Emilia is actually the Witch of Envy Satella. Then his attacking her kingdom is to do the world a favor. He kills villagers, but they're technically a part of Emilia's kingdom and therefore threats. As for Rem and Subaru, he only really ever kills them because they came to kill him. It's hard to say who's good and bad in this show, so saying Betelgeuse is a villain isn't fair. I bet he's great at parties.

What do you think? Do you still think they're villains? Or do you know any other villains that don't deserve the hate they get? Let us discuss in the comments!