While it's easy to fall in love with the strength and idealism of anime heroes, one should never ignore the greater complexities of the anime world. Not every piece of plot armor is built the same, and some anime characters are just bound to crack and change under the weight of their hefty storylines.
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While it's easy to find plenty of anime villains who can turn good halfway through the story, there is a rare breed of anime heroes who go through a bit of an edgy phase which, in sci-fi/fantasy terms, means a lot of trouble for the rest of the world. As entertaining as it is to see anime heroes use their gifts and potential for good, they can craft grim and compelling stories on the off chance that they turn evil.
10 Light Yagami (Death Note)
Among a few other sad things about Light Yagami, he was never positioned as a "pure" good guy. While he did focus on using the Death Note to wipe out the world's criminals, it's hard to really root for the guy taking a little too much pleasure in killing people with a pen. However, when he started, Light was an arguable anti-hero who went down his bloody path for justice initially.
After actually meeting his Death God, he was fully enabled to continue his journey. It wasn't until after this encounter that Light showed his true cowardice. He began lying, manipulating those closest to him, and killing anyone who ever got too close to the truth.
9 Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)
In the grander plan of Code Geass, Lelouch always knew that he was going to be punished for his revolution and it was really just a part of his own, selfish vengeance against a family and royal class that betrayed him.
However, there was always a tinge of sincerity and altruism to his actions that kept his closest followers and even some fans believing that he was going to be the good guy through and through. But instead of redemption, Lelouch turned darker with time.
8 Shiro (Deadman Wonderland)
When Shiro first debuted in Deadman Wonderland, few thought that she would be as dangerous and pivotal to Ganta's trauma as she actually was. Appearing like a dove from the air, Shiro was a white light during Ganta's horrific prison sentence. She acted as one of his only friends and her charming naivete was a breath of fresh air. However, not everything stays pure.
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While Ganta initially viewed her as a friend, the story would reveal that Shiro was actually the one responsible for murdering all of his friends and getting him sent to Deadman Wonderland. The fans were quick to pick up on this, making every moment until the actual reveal to Ganta feel tense as he stood beside one of the most dangerous inhabitants in the entire prison.
7 Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)
Ken Kaneki is the victim of a lot of unfortunate circumstances. One really bad date inadvertently had him turned into a Half-Ghoul. Though he found plenty of friends to help him with his transition, Kaneki still struggled. His initial optimism and innocence would finally get crushed when he fell under the hands of Yakumo Oomori, aka Jason.
Following up to his already complex situation, Kaneki suffered horrific torture from Jason that turned him into the white-haired, malicious Ghoul.
6 Shu Ouma (Guilty Crown)
In Guilty Crown, Shu Ouma got caught in the middle of circumstances larger than himself. A fateful meeting with the character, Inori, had him become the centerpiece of an entire revolution.
Though he struggled at first, Shu eventually adapted to his new role as a hero. And then, tragedy struck time and again. Pushed by a collapsing society and his responsibilities to his friends and classmates, Shu eventually became a cold, ruthless leader who saw people as nothing more than the Voids they carried.
5 Stain (My Hero Academia)
As shocking as it was to discover that Stain used to be a hero-in-training much like Deku, the current story of My Hero Academia has been revealing a growing trend of old heroes turning bad.
When Stain was just a student, he aspired to become a hero like All Might but was shocked to find how corrupted and disingenuous hero society actually was. In one of My Hero Academia's best villain storylines, he eventually left school and dedicated his life to culling heroes to find those with true altruism in their hearts, unfortunately killing or injuring a bunch of heroes in the process.
4 Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Most people, anime fans included, probably shouldn't watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica without some prior knowledge of the Magical Girl genre/trope. The idea is meant to be an outline for a series of children's anime that had cute girls with wands fight off evil with friendship. This series was made with those ideals in mind and did its best to corrupt them.
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Sayaka Miki was one such girl who was tricked into becoming a magical girl and, after getting her heart broken, starts lashing out at the world with her powers. Her descent not only has her kill a train full of boys but also incidentally turns her into a Witch, the very enemy that magical girls in this world have sworn to eliminate.
3 Yukiteru Amano (Future Diary)
In Future Diary, Yukiteru was just a lonely, high school kid who got pulled into a death game by his world's god.
The death game's constant challenges and his growing sympathy for Yuno's bloodshed eventually made him complicit and increasingly involved in the betrayal and murder of other people. In one of Future Diary's most pivotal character arcs, Yuki goes from just trying to survive to being one of the game's most merciless competitors.
2 Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)
As much as people loved Sasuke for his cool demeanor and stoicism, few could actually hold out that he was going to be a purely good character throughout the story. Traumatized from the murder of his entire village, Sasuke Uchiha grew up angry, arrogant, and vengeful. This initially made him a heated rival with Naruto; but when his own limitations started becoming apparent and he grew increasingly restless to kill his brother, Sasuke. He eventually betrayed the Village Hidden in the Leaves and became a top agent for Orochimaru.
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As the story continued, he went on to join the Akatsuki, the series's main villain organization, and also became an enemy to all the villages, going as far as to challenge all of the Kage. Besides highlighting him as one of the series' most powerful characters, this stunt made Sasuke a top villain.
1 Griffith (Berserk)
There are a few anime and manga fans out there who saw Griffith's unstained hair and bright smile and immediately knew not to trust the guy. Those people were ahead of the game. Griffith was the leader of the Band of the Hawk who took in Guts as one of his lead fighters and took on some of the most perilous missions and battles to help the kingdom.
As close as Griffith was to his group, he eventually showed how little those relationships actually meant to him. Having always wanted power and strength (to name a few of Berserk's core themes), Griffith succumbed to the temptations of the God Hand and sacrificed all of his friends to attain godly power. He used his newfound abilities to unleash monsters upon the world and then took advantadge of the terror and confusion to facilitate a new kingdom under his rule.
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