7 Anime Where The Villain Wins At The End

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This article contains major spoilers for every series mentioned.

Stories generally follow a familiar pattern: a hero faces a central conflict and ultimately resolves it, often by defeating a villain. Anime is no different – it frequently uses this same structure.

Sometimes, a story really surprises us by going against what we expect. A great way to do this is to have the villains win! So, let’s take a look at some of the best anime where that happens.

Enrico Pucci Successfully Reset The Entire Universe

Anime: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 6: Stone Ocean

Right from the beginning of Stone Ocean, it’s clear that Pucci was a devoted follower of Dio Brando and determined to finish his plans. As the story progresses, Pucci’s Stand, Whitesnake, evolves into its most powerful form, Made In Heaven, granting him the ability to drastically accelerate time. He intended to speed up the entire universe to its ultimate conclusion, effectively resetting it. Though he didn’t fully succeed, the world was still reset, creating a new timeline and essentially restarting the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series.

Eren Yeager Was The Hero And The Villain

Anime: Attack on Titan

Initially, Attack on Titan focused on Eren as the main hero. But as the story progressed, he transformed into the central villain, aiming to wipe out most of humanity except for those of Eldian descent. Even though the heroes ultimately stopped him, Eren still managed to kill eighty percent of the world’s population and inflict lasting damage. He only accepted death when he permitted the heroes to defeat him.

Kirei And Gilgamesh Emerge As The Victors

Anime: Fate/Zero

The Fourth Holy Grail War had a deeply unhappy conclusion. Kiritsugu ultimately obtained the Holy Grail, but it had already been tainted by Angra Maiyu, leading to a chaotic and pessimistic outcome. While Kirei and Gilgamesh weren’t directly responsible for the Grail’s corruption, their survival suggests they were the true victors of the war.

Adam Smasher Proves That There Are No Happy Endings In Night City

Anime: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

David Martinez faced a tough life, but found a sense of family with a group of Edgerunners. Their fight against the powerful Arasaka corporation was incredibly dangerous, and tragically, David was killed by the infamous Adam Smasher, nearly destroying the entire crew. The story concluded with Lucy leaving Night City for the moon, suggesting that true happiness requires escaping the city’s grasp.

The Major Captures Alucard, Which Is What He Wanted

Anime: Hellsing Ultimate

I was absolutely floored learning about The Major! He’s not just a villain, but a full-blown megalomaniac who started a huge war and caused millions of deaths, all just to imprison Alucard. He deliberately sparked a massive conflict in London, and the sheer scale of the loss of life forced Alucard to do something incredible – absorb Schrödinger’s soul to essentially erase himself and be locked away for decades. Even though Millenium was defeated, The Major died with a chilling smile, knowing he’d achieved his goal of neutralizing Alucard. It’s a truly disturbing and fascinating backstory!

SEELE Achieved A Goal No One Could Have Prevented

Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion

The ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion is famous for being both shocking and deeply moving. The series’ main antagonists, SEELE, wanted to end all human suffering by merging everyone into one unified mind, and they actually achieved this with the Third Impact. The series concludes with Shinji and Asuka as the sole survivors, leaving a powerfully sad impression and solidifying Evangelion‘s place as a landmark anime.

Ryo Asuka Gets Everything He Wanted, At A Price

Anime: Devilman Crybaby

Throughout Devilman Crybaby, Akira struggles to stop a war between humans and demons. The shocking twist is that his friend, Ryo Asuka, is actually Satan – the one who orchestrated the entire conflict and ultimately causes humanity’s destruction. Even after achieving his goal, Ryo feels no satisfaction, as he deeply loved Akira, the one he was forced to kill. To make matters worse, God appears and is revealed to be malicious, resetting the universe so the cycle of events can repeat itself.

All these series can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

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2026-05-14 22:38