10 Most Evil Siblings In Anime
Descriptions
Plenty of siblings can be bullies, but there are some in the world of anime who qualify as just pure skin-crawling evil. Usually, it's an older brother who treats their younger sibling terribly, putting them through emotional and/or physical abuse. Sometimes they will believe they are doing it for their sibling’s own good, such as Naruto’s Itachi Uchiha, but much of the time they are unrepentant sadists who treat their sibling as a convenient tool or punching bag to use as they like, such as Dio Brando in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Villains like these are often found in some of the best shonen anime, where there’s no higher drama than a battle between embittered siblings for the fate of the world. However, the idea goes back to some of the oldest anime ever made, such as Tahomaru in the original 1969 Dororo, whose treatment of his estranged older brother is much crueler than his 2019 incarnation. The evilest siblings in anime are not only capable of great cruelty in general but leave a permanent mark on their good siblings’ lives.
10 Millions Knives - Trigun (1998 and 2023)
Knives is a prime example of a villain who is fully confident that they are the only righteous one in the world. An alien Plant infuriated by humans’ treatment of less humanoid Plants, Knives has been out to annihilate all of them from the face of Gunsmoke and beyond since he was one of the creepiest kids in anime. The only thing missing from his grand plan is his twin brother Vash, but he's not bothered: he's sure he can bring his brother to heel one way or another.
Especially in the 2023 reboot Trigun Stampede, Vash and the other Plants are the only beings Knives believes are worth considering. Vash being a pacifist who loves humans and wants to live in peace with them is laughable to Knives. Certain that he knows best, Knives will happily manipulate, traumatize, and manhandle Vash into doing things his way. In Stampede, Vash openly admits that the only thing he’s scared of is his brother.
9 Raditz - Dragon Ball (1986 - 1989)
Raditz may not be quite as memorable as some of the best villains in Dragon Ball history. But for the short time he has on screen, he leaves a big impact on his brother Goku’s family. When he comes to Earth to see how his little brother’s been getting along with the whole “conquering the planet” thing he was expected to be doing, he is not pleased by the results.
Raditz is as cruel and arrogant as Goku is cheerful and friendly, possibly compensating for having a relatively weak power level. Upon Goku’s refusal to join him, he brutally beats Goku and his friends, kidnaps his young nephew Gohan, and then nearly kills Gohan for being stronger than he is. Though he is easily defeated, he affects the entire rest of Dragon Ball Z by being responsible for his brother’s first death.
8 Schneizel el Britannia - Code Geass (2006 - 2008)
To make it in one of anime’s most dysfunctional royal families, one has got to get a leg up on one’s many siblings in any way possible. Prince Schneizel takes to both the Britannian Imperial Family’s infighting and their campaign to dominate the world very well. He proves to be an even bigger thorn in his rebellious little brother Lelouch’s side than their evil father.
Schneizel is the only character consistently smart enough to outthink Lelouch, forcing his brother to get very good at improvising ways out of sticky situations to avoid being caught and killed. He is always calm, collected, and utterly polite, but this demeanor only serves to hide the sheer depravity he is capable of. His endgame is to slaughter millions of civilians to intimidate the world into bowing to him, and he is even willing to kill the siblings who were loyal to him, gunning down Cornelia when she tries to stop him from going so far.
7 All For One - My Hero Academia (2016 - present)
In one of the best sibling rivalries in anime, as the older sibling with a powerful Quirk, All For One finds his sickly, Quirkless younger brother laughable. He forcibly implants a stolen Quirk into Yoichi, mocking him for his rebellion against All For One’s villainy and widespread theft of others’ Quirks. Even when Yoichi recovers and continues his efforts, his brother fights and belittles him up until his death.
All For One continues his machinations against the rest of the world long after Yoichi dies. He senses Yoichi in the successors to his Quirk, One For All, addressing them as “little brother” — which, considering that the spirits of all past holders of the Quirk continue to live inside the current wielder, isn’t 100% inaccurate. He also seems to take sadistic delight in the pain of Yoichi’s successors, from the particularly vicious way he taunts All Might about having destroyed his body and killed Nana Shimura.
6 Illumi Zoldyck - Hunter X Hunter (2011 - 2014)
Illumi is already one of the scariest characters in Hunter x Hunter. He’s at his absolute worst anytime he’s around his younger brother Killua. As the dutiful eldest son of the Zoldyck assassin family, he relentlessly follows his parents’ orders to bring Killua back into the family, by any means necessary.
Killua isn’t afraid of much, but he’s deeply afraid of his brother. Illumi psychologically torments Killua, threatens to murder anyone he tries to befriend, and hid a needle in his brain forcing him to run from stronger opponents. The needle is particularly insidious since it’s why Silva lets Killua leave only on the condition that he not betray his friends: he knows that’s exactly what Illumi’s needle will force him to do. Illumi’s obsession with Killua also deepens past his orders: he is delighted at the idea that if Killua manages to kill him, he will remain in his brother’s heart forever.
5 Ran Izumii - Durarara!! (2010 - 2016)
Izaya Orihara, brother to two of the best twins in anime, has no love for his little sisters Mairu and Kururi. But even his psychologically scarring them for his own amusement pales in comparison to another evil brother lurking in the background of Durarara!! From how he’s introduced having Saki’s legs broken to torment Kida, it’s obvious right away that he’s nothing but bad news.
When Izumii’s little brother Aoba shows up in the second season, it’s not hard to put together why he’s as unsettling as he is, even compared to his much wilder brother. As it’s expanded on in the novels, Izumii regularly beat Aoba as a child, until one day he escalated the abuse in some way that made Aoba snap and set his room on fire. Aoba is devious, manipulative, and has an unhealthy relationship with pain, all of which can almost definitely be traced back to his brother.
4 Sanji’s Brothers - One Piece (1999 - present)
Sanji prides himself on being one of the strongest members of One Piece's Straw Hats, and an even better chef. But he never gives his crewmates any hint about his background, and, as it turns out, he had pretty good reasons to. The rest of the Vinsmoke family, save for Sanji’s older sister Reiju, are some nasty pieces of work.
Their father Judge experimented on his unborn children to make them perfect soldiers, stripping them of human emotion. Sanji was the only one immune, making him a failure to his father and a punching bag to his stronger, crueler brothers — Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji — his entire childhood. Yonji in particular is a rare example of a younger sibling in anime being a vicious bully to their older sibling.
3 Akio Ohtori - Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997)
Anthy Himemiya’s adult brother Akio showing up drives Revolutionary Girl Utena down a much darker path. Responsible for some of the scariest episodes in non-horror anime, Akio directs everything at Ohtori Academy. His ambition is to claim End of the World at all costs, including the well-being of his sister.
Akio is excellent at acting like a kind and generous authority figure, so no one suspects what Anthy is really dealing with behind closed doors, even Utena, who is closest to Anthy. He forces Anthy into the role of the Rose Bride, uncaring of how badly her grooms treat her. Worse, he takes his resentment over losing the power of Dios out on Anthy, manipulating and abusing her both to further his goal and for his own pleasure. While she isn’t the only student Akio takes advantage of, she is the one trapped closest to him.
2 Diva - Blood+ (2005 - 2006)
Evil younger sisters in anime are rare, but they’re lurking around where viewers least expect them, like in one of the best anime about vampires. Take Diva, for instance: her older twin Saya never even knew she existed for the longest time. Saya and Diva were separated at birth in an experiment, with Saya being given a normal life and Diva being isolated and tortured.
While it’s not clear exactly what Diva’s captors expected to gain from treating her so, it’s clear what they created: a bitter, vicious monster who thinks nothing of performing atrocities. To boot, she is much worse in the anime than the manga, being fully aware of just how much pain she’s putting Saya through and enjoying it. Her worst act, targeting Saya’s adoptive little brother to assault and murder, is anime-only, as is her desire to kill Saya instead of live happily with her sister.
1 Johan Liebert - Monster (2004 - 2005)
Johan holds most of the world in contempt, seemingly existing only to make them suffer in one of the most underrated psychological anime. But there are two people he places above others: Dr. Tenma, who saved his life as a child, and Nina Fortner, his long-lost twin sister. However, this doesn’t mean they’re spared — in fact, Nina might be the person most traumatized by proximity to her brother.
Johan cares for his sister, in his own way, and would probably like to show her affection. But unfortunately for Nina, Johan’s way involves murdering every set of foster parents she had, manipulating her into shooting him when she catches him at it, and even taking on Nina’s memories and identity for himself when it suits him. As an adult, Nina decidedly no longer returns her brother’s affection: her carefully rebuilt innocence and happiness are destroyed when he comes back into her life, and the longer the show goes on, the more desperate she is to kill him and free herself from their connection.
There is just something compelling about evil siblings, whether they're in anime or other mediums. Still, with monstrous siblings like Johan, All For One, and Illumi running around, it's difficult to deny that anime hasn't created some of the evilest siblings in the history of fiction.
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