Anime that has you Rooting for the Bad Guy!

For fans of isekai, it’s only natural to root for the good guy, the hero, the monster slayer who lays waste to multitudes of jiggly little slimes and paves their path with the corpses of their evil foes. But, there are some anime that tout the virtues of the less than popular characters. These anime shine a light on the underappreciated extras and even, elevates the lowly villain to a place of honor with all their hilarious schemes.

The Great Jahy will Not Be Defeated!

The Great Jahy will Not Be Defeated! is an anime in which the villain has become a surly, cheapskate, adorable little kid that just can’t help but be evil in the most in-effective way.

Life is hard for Jahy, but it wasn’t always that way. Not too long ago Jahy was the evil second in command of the demon realm. Unfortunately, the hero busted into Jahy’s throne room, blew the place up, and shattered the demon crystal causing Jahy and many other residents of the underworld to be blasted into the human realm. When Jahy woke up after the explosion, she found that all her power was gone (causing her to take the form of her child self) and the demon crystal was in tiny little pieces. Being penniless, homeless, and powerless, Jahy is forced to work as a bar waitress, live in a tiny, dingy, empty apartment, and search for the crystal pieces in what little free time she has.

But Jahy doesn’t let that keep her down! No matter her current form, Jahy is just as evil as ever and she has no intention of paying rent on time, being a decent employee or even avoiding stealing from her own underlings. Though her plans don’t ever seem to be all that effective and often she does more good than evil regardless of how much she doesn’t want to, she’s still got her evil laugh and a sneaky plot to climb her way to the top!

The Devil is a part timer

Though The Devil is a Part-timer is an anime in which the villain is a bit more of a hero rather than a comical character, it still has you rooting for the bad guy and his adorable demon generals. Things were going well for the devil (Sadou Maou) of another world. His war against the humans and the holy hero (Emi Yusa) was making great progress, his demonic generals were pillaging and burning villages. Things were great. Then the tide turned and the holy warrior with her supporting knights attacked the devil’s castle directly. The devil’s army was decimated and the devil seemed to be on the ropes. At the last second, he manages to escape through a portal with his head general (Shiro Ashiya).

Into our world. Much like the anime The Great Jahy will Not Be Defeated! once again the main character’s magic power is sapped away in our world and his super muscly form is reduced to the body of a rather skinny 20-something guy. His head general isn’t much better off. Sadou and Shiro are penniless, homeless, jobless, and worse off they don’t even speak the language in this new world. Thankfully for them, they still have a little tiny bit of magic, just enough to brainwash a few helpful people, to get themselves started in their new life. And just like any young and poor person, the devil’s first goal is to make money and his first job is flipping burgers at the local definitely-not-McDonal’s.

Though this job is hardly dignified for the former ruler of the demon kingdom, it’s all part of his plan for a very slow world domination . . . eventually. But first he has to keep this feeble world safe from all the other nefarious people that want to wreck the place. Not only that, but he also needs to dodge attacks from the holy warrior that followed him to his new world!

Endro!

Endro! is an anime where the villain is still the villain and does actively try to take down the hero of the anime, though she’s just so cute while trying that it’s hard not to root for her. Technically speaking the anime Endro is about a world saving hero (Yusha) and her friends, but it’s the adorable demon lord (Mao) that’s the real gem of the anime.

Defeated by that world’s greatest hero and then blasted back in time, the demon lord tries to get her revenge in the form of becoming a teacher at the hero academy in the past. Mao believes that if she can be the greatest hero’s teacher, she can prevent Yusha from ever becoming a hero in the first place and then the demon lord would never be defeated. There’s just one little problem, the demon lord lost most of her power when she was defeated and so now she is just an adorable little girl with a lisp than no one takes seriously.

But that won’t stop Mao from plotting to ruin Yusha’s grades! Mao tries so hard to be evil and yet it only makes her even more lovable.

Do you have any favorite anime that has you rooting for the bad guy? Leave a comment below!

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The anime exclamation of the week is: Saiko! meaning Great!

I’m currently watching:

• My Hero academia
• Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun
• Tokyo Revengers
• Backflip
• My Next Life as a Villainess
• Bungo Stray Dogs
• Fena: Pirate Princess
• The Case Study of Vanitas
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
• The Great Jahy will Not Be Defeated!
• Inari Kon Kon
• Kageki shojo
• Level E
• Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan