10 Anime Final Bosses That Made Their Heroes Work Hard for Victory

Anyone who has watched a lot of action anime They will know that they are often nothing without their villains. As the driving force of a plot, most of the time, villains are typically the characters that get the most screen time and development after the heroes, and this makes them just as fun to watch as the heroes, if not more so.

More than his likability, of course, what often sells a great anime villain is his power. A good villain will always be one who can challenge the heroes physically, mentally, or some combination of the two, and most of the time, The best anime villains will be those who make the heroes work as hard as possible before finally achieving victory in their arduous battles. This is the biggest trait you would expect from a “final boss” in an anime, and there are some villains who do an especially excellent job of embodying this idea.

10

Dion Brando

Character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, by David Production; First appearance in episode 1

Dio Brando, often shortened to just DIO, is the main villain of the first and third parts of the David Production film. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. After discovering a mystical stone mask, DIO abandons his humanity to become a vampire with the goal of world domination, a quest that spans a century and is only thwarted by the efforts of the Joestar family and their allies.

Be it your debut in Phantom Blood or your return in Stardust Crusaders after winning the powerful Stand The World, DIO is probably the villain in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure who forces the heroes' greatest effort to defeat himwith most of the characters fighting him and his minions dying before DIO falls. Even after death, DIO's presence has a lasting impact on the entire franchise, and this is a perfect testament to how powerful a threat he has become.

9

Meruem

Character from Madhouse's Hunter X Hunter; First appearance in episode 91

Meruem is the king of the Chimera Ants and, naturally, the main villain of the Chimera Ant arc of Madhouse's Hunter x Hunter. Meruem leads the Chimera Ants in an attempt to conquer the world that was only stopped by Gon, Killua, and the Hunter Association, all of this contrasted with Meruem's growing understanding of friendliness and humanity in general.

Meruem didn't fight much in the Chimera Ant arc, but not only was he far above Gon in power, but Meruem defeated Netero, the strongest Hunter in Hunter x Hunterand he was probably only defeated because he allowed himself to be defeated. Meruem's death in Hunter x Hunter only came about through a combination of the efforts of some of the strongest characters in history and human empathy, and he remains one of anime's most iconic villains because of it.

8

Kaido

Character from Toei Animation's One Piece; First appearance in episode 736

Kaido is a former emperor and leader of the Beast Pirates, one of Toei Animation's most infamous pirate crews. One piece. Kaido is considered the “strongest creature in the world” and is famous for being nearly invincible, and after Whitebeard's death in the Paramount War, he was often considered the strongest pirate in the world and the person with the best odds. find One Piece.

The saga of Luffy and his friends' fight against Kaido lasted a decade in real time and when the time finally came to fight Kaido It took a massive alliance of thousands of fighters, in addition to Luffy fully mastering Haki and awakening the true power of the Gum-Gum fruit, for Kaido to be narrowly defeated.. There was incredible preparation for the fight with Kaido, and One piece made it more than live up to the hype.

7

Father

Character from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood; First appearance in episode 1

Father, also known as the Flask Dwarf, is Bones' main antagonist. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. As part of his master plan, Father spent centuries developing a massive conspiracy within the country of Amestris to perform large-scale human transmutation and achieve godhood, with Edward Elric and his friends being the only ones who could stop him and his friends. Homunculi.

Not only did Edward and his friends need to organize a massive military coup to try to defeat Father, but when it came to just Father, Father's powers continued to be a huge threat to everyone in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood even when your life was slowly reducedand Alphonse had to sacrifice himself to give Edward his arm back so they could win. My father was a big enough threat to force an entire army against him, and overall it was quite justified.

6

Sosuke Aizen

Character from Bleach by Studio Pierrot; First appearance in episode 23

Sosuke Aizen is the main antagonist of the first part of Studio Pierrot Bleach. Former Soul Reaper captain, Aizen spent centuries secretly assembling an army of humanoid Hollows called the Arrancar so he could invade the Royal Palace and kill the Soul King, a goal he narrowly achieved if not for Ichigo and his friends. .

With Kyoka Suigetsu's illusionary abilities, the unlimited power of the Hogyoku, and his constant planning for almost every possibility, Aizen nearly single-handedly destroyed the Thirteen Companies of Court Guards, to the point that Ichigo only defeated Aizen by unlocking the power of the Final Getsuga Tensho, and he still would have lost without Urahara's help.. Yhwach, the villain of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood Waris proving to be an even greater threat than Aizen, but with the battle still ongoing, Aizen remains the toughest final boss in Bleachfrom afar.

5

Gendo Ikari

Character from Neon Genesis Evangelion by Studio Khara; First appearance in episode 1

Gendo Ikari is a major antagonist in Studio Khara Neon Genesis Evangelion. While in the original anime he fought for control of things with SEELE, the Evangelion Reconstruction the tetralogy gradually made him the sole antagonist and the one everyone needs to defeat to stop the Human Instrumentality Project.

On a metatextual level, Gendo gradually evolves from someone who is merely a threat to Shinji to someone who requires an entire army to defeat, and when it comes to just Gendo and Shinji, Shinji can only defeat Gendo in Evangelion Reconstruction finally making an honest effort to appeal to Gendo's humanity. The way Gendo evolved as a threat on a meta level was great to see, and his ultimate defeat was the perfect culmination to the entire Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

4

Yami Bakura/Zorc Scavengers

Character from Yu-Gi-Oh! from Gallop; First appearance in episode 12

Yami Bakura is the main antagonist of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Gallop anime. While Yami Bakura spent most of the series in the background, he was secretly biding his time until he could force Yugi and his friends to enter the Dark RPG, a reenactment of Atem's life as the Pharaoh, and regain his true form as Zorc Necrophades, the almost invincible God of Darkness, thus giving him the power to destroy the world.

Although Yami Bakura wasn't much of a threat in his first few appearances, all of his scheming eventually elevated him to Yu-Gi-Oh!is the strongest villain in the final arc, and it gets to the point that Atem was only able to defeat Yami Bakura after his transformation into Zorc Necrophades by summoning the equally powerful God of Light, Horakthy.. The progression of Yami Bakura's threat level was great to see and made for an incredible climax at the end of Yu-Gi-Oh!

3

Frieza

Character from Toei Animation's Dragon Ball Z; First appearance in episode 44

Frieza is one of Toei Animation's main villains Dragon Ball Z. Frieza first came into conflict with the Z-Fighters in the Namek Saga when both parties were searching for the Namekian Dragon Balls, and when the Z-Fighters finally stopped Frieza from wishing for immortality, a fight between them and the strongest person of the universe has become inevitable.

The fight with Frieza is infamously long, but with how much power has increased on both sides of the fight to the point that Namek himself is destroyed, the incredible length of the fight against Frieza perfectly illustrated how powerful he was and how much effort it took for him to fall. Frieza returned to Dragon Ball in recent years, and with the power of Frieza's new Black Frieza form, the next fight with him will be even bigger in scale.

2

Walpurgis Night

Character from Shaft's Puella Magi Madoka Magica; First appearance in episode 1

Walpurgisnacht is the main villain of Shaft Puella Magi Madoka Magic. A witch so powerful that her very existence is treated as a natural disaster, Homura has spent countless time cycles trying to find a way to destroy her that doesn't end in Madoka's death, but no matter how hard she tries, she never succeeds. find a solution.

It's one thing for Walpurgisnacht to be strong enough to force Homura to travel back in time countless times to try and defeat him, but when the time finally came for Walpurgisnacht to be defeated, It took Madoka using her desire to become the physical embodiment of a universal concept for Walpurgisnacht to finally fall forever.. Walpurgisnacht was the perfect embodiment of how horrible Puella Magi Madoka Magicthe world is, and it will be a wonder to see how it will be followed.

1

Anti-spiral

Tengen character Toppa Gurren Lagann from Studio Trigger; First appearance in episode 24

The Anti-Spiral is the main antagonist of Studio Trigger Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The Anti-Spiral has made it their mission to destroy any world with an overabundance of Spiral Power to prevent their Spiral Power from growing out of control and destroying the universe, and when Earth becomes their latest target, it falls to Simon and Team Dai- Gurren to defeat the Anti-Spiral and free the universe from his tyranny.

Not only did everyone have to overcome one statistical impossibility after another just to see the Anti-Spiral, but in the final battle, it took Team Dai-Gurren to harness power that eclipsed the universe in size and scale just to match the Anti-Spiral before Simon finally defeated him in a bare-knuckle brawl.. The constant escalation in the fight against the Anti-Spiral was incredible to watch, which is why he stands out as the final boss of the anime that put the most pressure on the heroes.