The 10 Best Redemption Arcs In Anime
Can people really change? According to anime, they can! While those who go bad tend to stay bad, there are a handful of anime villains that have managed to overcome the circumstances of their tragic backstories and become unexpected heroes. Kidnapping, murder, threats of world domination, all of the above are forgivable provided a character is willing to atone! And these characters? They’re the dictionary definition of “penitent.” Prepare to have your hard and wounded heart softened, because these are the 10 best redemption arcs in anime.
Vegeta – Dragon Ball Z
Vegeta started Dragon Ball Z as one of Planet Earth’s Most Wanted. He and his less-than-redeemable buddy Nappa traveled to the planet to steal the Dragon Balls, killing a whole slew of the world’s defenders in the process. He even kills Nappa after his partner loses to Goku! No loyalty! After his defeat by Goku, Vegeta is left totally humiliated. It’s this super saiyan-sized humbling that starts him down the road to redemption (though he does terrorize a few more innocent people first). Eventually, he’s forced to team up with Goku and the gang when fighting Frieza, and after the battle, he marries a woman from Earth: Bulma. It’s Bulma that truly pulls him back from the brink, as he sacrifices himself in a later battle with Majin Buu to save the woman he loves, and her planet with her. After this fight, he finally gets his act together and takes a final step towards romance, well, bromance—he and Goku become best of friends.
Thorfinn – Vinland Saga
Poor Thorfinn, if there was ever a villain with a tragic backstory, it’s this poor child. Forced to watch his father die at the hands of his former Jomsviking comrades, a traumatized Thorfinn joins the ranks of his father’s murderers to take a shot at their leader, Askeladd—the man who gave the killing blow. While plundering a Dark Ages world, Thorfinn becomes the very sort of hard-hearted killer he once hated, a mercenary whose loyality lies only with his internal desire for revenge. After being robbed of the chance to enact that vengeance, Thorfinn is enslaved by the very people he once attempted to conquer. Forced into a life of servitude, Thorfinn begins to reconcile with his violent past and dedicates himself to becoming a pacifist, a person for whom kindness to his fellow man is a more important quality than national loyalty or the acquisition of power. Thorfinn’s experiences force him to become empathetic to all who have been affected by war, even those he once called his enemies.
Itachi Uchiha – Naruto
Naruto has more redemption arcs than a ninja toolbag has kunai. Gaara’s transformation from sociopathic loner to an empathic leader of the free world, Pain’s evolution from hardened villain to self-sacrificing anti-hero, Sasuke’s change from Hidden Leaf Village destroyer to one of its most staunch protectors—who doesn’t get a redemption arc in this show? While Naruto features plenty of redeemable people, the man who wins the prize for “Most Changed Villain” is none other than Itachi Uchiha. While Itachi was always acting in the interests of the greater good, the viewer sure didn’t know that. Before learning Itachi’s true intentions, he appeared as a sadistic mass murderer whose appetite for destruction was almost as ravenous as his desire to torture his little brother, Sasuke. The quality of Itachi’s soul can be summed up in his last words to baby bro: “I will love you always,” spoken as he was protecting Sasuke with the last ounce of his strength. A better big brother there never was.
Reiner Braun – Attack On Titan
Reiner Braun kicked off the plot of Attack On Titan with a seemingly unforgivable act. He and his comrades kicked a hole in Wall Maria, allowing the populace of Shiganshina to be consumed by flesh-eating giants that lay beyond the city’s borders. Little did he know, his act sowed the seeds for his own redemption by creating an even greater villain: Eren Jaegar. Sworn to vengeance against a world that oppressed his people, Eren Jaegar attempted to orchestrate a genocide, trampling humanity under the feet of an army of Titans as part of a globe-spanning atrocity called The Rumbling. In an attempt to atone for his sins and save the very people he was trained to destroy, Reiner teamed up with his former Scout Regiment enemies to stop Eren once and for all. While Reiner was once all too easy to despise, it’s hard not to sympathize with him once you get to know him. He was a child soldier trained to hate by his government, until he finally learned that there is a greater calling than loyalty to one’s nation: loyalty to humanity.
Prince Zuko – Avatar: The Last Airbender
Prince Zuko’s transformation over the course of Avatar: The Last Airbender is arguably one of the greatest redemption arcs in all of fiction. Brainwashed into nationalist fervor by his abusive father, Prince Zuko begins the series as a banished royal who believes that his worth solely depends on his ability to serve the Fire Nation Throne. It’s only through the unconditional love of his Uncle Iroh and the humanity of the people he was told to oppress that Zuko finally decides to make a change within himself. He grows from an angry young outcast to one of the greatest (and good-est) leaders that the Fire Nation has ever seen, a man who dedicates himself to upholding world peace alongside Avatar Aang—a mortal enemy turned lifelong friend.
Scar – Fullmetal Alchemist
To say Fullmetal Alchemist‘s Scar “had it rough” would be the greatest understatement in anime. As a citizen of Ishval, Scar witnessed the brutal genocide of his people by the neighboring kingdom of Amestris. After the loss of his loved ones, Scar swore vengeance against the Amerstrian military and began killing State Alchemists like those who had murdered his countrymen. After the plot to destroy Amestris was revealed, Scar teamed up with people wearing the same uniforms as those who murdered his family to save the kingdom’s innocent population—even though his people had never been given the same amnesty.
Shouya Ishida – A Silent Voice
The protagonist of the anime film A Silent Voice, Shōya Ishida is an example of how everyday people can be villainous—and worthy of redemption. As a middle schooler, Shōya and his friends relentlessly bullied their hearing-impaired classmate Shōko Nishimiya. After news of the bullying reached the rest of the community, Shōya was left ostracized. Years later, Shōya runs into Shōko once more and attempts to atone for his past by telling her he wants to be friends, which he communicates in sign language. He stands up to his former friends, he takes concrete actions to repair things with Shōko, and he even attempts to sacrifice his life for her when she makes an attempt on her own. At the end of the film, Shōko is truly changed, and fully redeemed.
Reiko Tamura – Parasite The Maxim
An antagonist of Parasyte – The Maxim, this parasite takes over the body of a pregnant human woman, and slowly begins to develop an attachment to the child growing inside of its belly. After stealing the identity of her victim, Reiko studies human beings through a cold and clinical lens—a scientist observing the contents of a petri dish. After her child is born, she begins to exhibit motherly instincts and even shields her newborn son from a hail of bullets with her body, dying to save the child’s life. Even shapeshifting cannibal body snatcher aliens are capable of redemption! Who’d have thought?
Dracula – Castlevania
Dracula’s redemption arc is condensed to a thirty-odd second monologue, but it’s one of the most emotionally impactful transformations on this list. After the loss of his human wife, Lisa, Dracula attempts to subjugate the human population as an act of nihilistic revenge. In an effort to save humanity, Dracula’s son Alucard challenges his father in his own castle, and their wall-smashing, home-wrecking fight eventually leads them to a final confrontation in Alucard’s childhood room. After seeing the place where his beloved son grew up, Dracula gives up the fight in a tearful, penitent monologue to his departed wife—”Lisa, I’m killing our boy.” Dracula, you’re killing me—my heart can’t take this.
Sadao Mao – The Devil Is A Part Timer
Once the feared Demon Lord of a fantasy dimension, Satan spends the majority of The Devil Is A Part Timer laying low in our world—disguised as a teenage fast food worker named Sadoa Mao. Now flipping burgers for minimum wage, Sadoa attempts to make the best of his new surroundings by becoming a model employee. Forced to wait on the same people he once considered lesser beings, Sadao’s perspective on humanity begins to gradually shift. He wants to bring the wonders of the free market back to his home dimension, solving disputes with robust economic policies rather than bloodshed. While he may need to learn a thing or two more about the pitfalls of capitalism, he’s on the right track.
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