I for one love the occasional edgelord because they’re everything my younger self wanted to be in life. If you also love channelling your inner edgelord through anime, then you’ll adore this list. I’m going over some of the best edgy characters that anime has to offer. For reference’s sake, when I say “edgy” I mean extremely dark, brooding, mysterious, basically a Byronic hero.
15. Ragna the Bloodedge
Anime: BlazBlue: Alter Memory God, just look at that name. Does that not scream teenage angst? And he lives up to that quite well. This man doesn’t even have a fuse, he’s just constantly angry at everything and everyone. Constantly prepared to demonetize your YouTube video if you dare quote him. With the whole vampire situation and his giant sword, you just know that he names all of his attacks with the words death, blood, or soul somewhere in there. He does have quite the tragic story. But an even more tragic MAL rating, so the bottom of the list he goes.
14. Judar
Anime: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Compared to the last entry, Judar is a lot tamer. But also a lot more fleshed out. He generally doesn’t seem to care too much for authority and just does his own thing, regardless of who that may hurt or affect. He’s also extremely arrogant and really likes to flaunt his power to let you know that he’s the boss… if Sinbad isn’t present, that is. With his dark getup and a history full of pain, suffering, and manipulation, it’s only a matter of time before he just goes completely insane. And I for one am ready for it.
13. Juugo
Anime: Nanbaka Currently, Juugo isn’t all that far gone. But I have a gut feeling that if we ever get a new season he’s going to get a lot darker. With the classic “you have hidden powers that you don’t use because you might end up killing someone” set up, and the person who destroyed his life in his sights, I think Juugo might give the authorities an even better reason to keep him locked up. If my theory doesn’t satisfy you, just imagine I put Musashi (or even better Elf) on here and call it a night.
12. Zora Ideale
Anime: Black Clover As far as personality and backstory go, Zora is your typical edgy character. He prefers to do things by himself, generally doesn’t trust his squad all that much, and has a scarring past that led to his hatred towards a certain group of people. He also fits the image pretty well. With his shark teeth, cool mask, and spiky red hair, what’s not edgy here? His power is a bit unusual for the archetype, as it has little upfront force and is more about laying traps. However he still manages to be cocky and effective with this power, so he knows his value.
11. Ryuunosuke Akutagawa
Anime: Bungo Stray Dogs This guy is like the definition of edge. Wearing all black? Check. Wearing a cape? Also check. Having demonic-looking powers that are also black? You know it. And when paired with Nakajima, the soft boy of the show, it’s only made more evident. Ryuunosuke has his goals, the approval of a certain someone, and he sees everyone as enemies that are stopping him from reaching it. He doesn’t care much for friendship or love. He just wants validation. And to kick a few butts along the way.
10. Ban
Anime: The Seven Deadly Sins I think “the sin of greed” fits in with a lot of these characters, as it’s usually their high ambitious drive that makes them step over everyone and everything. If we concern ourselves with just his looks, Ban fits the category in every way. The menacing look, the scar, and the bad boy getup. Personality-wise he usually leans towards the good guy trope. However, he’s had his moments where he showed exactly how far he would go to attain something he truly wanted.
9. Yuu Otosaka
Anime: Charlotte I can’t go into this one without major spoilers, so you have been warned. Yuu definitely had a very quick and dramatic fall arc. I say arc but it was more like two episodes. Initially mischievous at best, after having lost his sister, he goes a bit berserk. A montage of him beating up random thugs and laughing like a maniac ensues, ending with a “say no to drugs” message. He goes back to normal for a while and then he goes berserk again… but this time for the good of humanity. The man definitely had his ups and downs. It’s just that all of his ups were in the first few episodes.
8. Vegeta
Anime: Dragon Ball Z Early Vegeta sure was something. He was like a ball of hate that saw everyone as beneath him, and human bonds as trivial or as weaknesses. And then he met Kakarot, now making it his life’s mission to just surpass him in every way. He wasn’t afraid to play dirty. Nor did ethics stand in his way when victory was at hand. Sounds like a typical edgelord to me. As time went on his blade was dulled quite a bit. And he sits in the friend/rival seat now, with his moody image hanging out in the past.
7. Karma Akabane
Anime: Assassination Classroom When he’s calm and collected, you would definitely gloss over Karma. He looks, more or less, like your average high school boy. But one sinister laugh is all it takes for you to see the edge from within. As far as character introductions go, Karma was definitely one of the best. And his tactics against Koro-sensei were certainly outside the box. Now don’t get me wrong, Karma is one of my favorite characters. However, he does mellow out further in the series. Which is why I can’t put him at the top, but he’s here for sure.
6. Tomura Shigaraki
Anime: Boku no Hero Academia The guy has severed hands attached to his face and body, need I say more? He was quite the clumsy antagonist at first, seemingly doing evil for evil’s sake. But he does get a bit more fleshed out later on, in the manga at least. And oof, you surely start to understand why he isn’t a fan of most people. With a quirk like decay, an entire group of evildoers, his own sense of what is right, and the most charming smile, I think it’s safe to say Tomura belongs here. Also a special shoutout to Dabi. I wanted to put you on here my dude, but one character per show is the rule I’m sticking with.
5. Lucy
Anime: Elfen Lied You don’t often see female characters seen as edgy, as they usually just go into yandere territory. Lucy, however, is quite different. I have seen people call her the edge queen just for the absolute gory mess that was the first episode of this show. It’s like, I could understand why she didn’t like those people. But man, you didn’t have to turn them into minced meat. And even after that scene, whenever she showed up there was a high chance of a head flying off because she has no chill whatsoever.
4. Izaya Orihara
Anime: Durarara! I’m sure by now you’ve picked up on the fact that what constitutes an edgy character is quite subjective. However, I think we can at least agree that owning a switchblade and egging people on to pull a Logan Paul forest is objectively edgy. And if you’re still not convinced, he also likes to throw a severed head around like a ball and do his favorite Shakespeare impressions. His intelligence definitely makes him an interesting character to watch. And with what I’ve already said, I think it’s justified to put him right here on our list.
3. Ken Kaneki
Anime: Tokyo Ghoul Another classic when it comes to this sort of thing. The “success?” story of a character who went from quivering good guy to “let me crack my knuckles and smash your skull in” type of a character. And it’s no secret when the change occurred, whenever his hair is completely white, you already know what to expect. He’s definitely on the cringier side of things. Especially with that bombshell of a last season. But I’m pretty sure he alone made Hot Topic’s revenue jump by a few million. So his place is definitely well-deserved.
2. Killua Zoldyck
Anime: Hunter x Hunter (2011) If we’re talking about family issues, few characters can stand in the ring with Killua. Because he was trained as an assassin for his entire life, he has quite a twisted outlook on life. Everything seems to be calculated: when to strike, when to run, who to kill. The animation team only amplified this by making him look like a demon spawn whenever he gets serious. Sure, he goofs around more often than the typical edgy character. But he also ripped a guy’s heart out, put it in a bag, and then left it next to his corpse. So yeah.
1. Sasuke Uchiha
Anime: Naruto: Shippuden I’m sorry Sasuke haters, but he’s simply the king. The show itself is a mating ground for the archetype; just think Obito, Nagato, Itachi, so obviously the most prominent among them is going to rank supreme. With revenge being half of his personality early on, he was as mysterious and dangerous as they get. Then he learned some stuff and wanted more revenge. And then some other revenge, then something about being Hokage. I don’t know, he’s a complex dude, but he certainly never got PG on us.
