20 Most Iconic Necromancers In Anime

Highlights

• Necromancers in anime add exciting plot twists and complexities, captivating viewers with dark powers and moral dilemmas.
• Powerful necromancers like Tobirama, Jin Woo, and Adalmann command armies of the undead, making them compelling and feared characters.
• Characters like Kurome, Rades, and Melascula demonstrate the range of necromancer abilities, from limited control to raising the dead with intense power.

Necromancers are those who have the ability to converse with the dead or resurrect the dead. Because the dead don’t always remain dead, their entrance into an anime series inevitably leads to a surprising new plot twist. Despite the fact that this can diminish the audience’s attachment to a character who has died, necromancers remain popular.

The necromancer’s capacity to create minions and command them to fight for him or her is generally enough to satisfy even the most critical of viewers. As necromancers might easily be termed one-person armies, they are usually compelling and feared. The fact that they dabble in magic and the supernatural does not help their image as upstanding citizens.

Updated on November 9, 2023, by Oluwatokiloba Folami: The dead are supposed to stay dead, but some individuals possess the unique and dark ability to command and control the dead, causing them to rise from their eternal slumber to carry out their master’s evil (or not-so-evil) deeds. These individuals with this dark ability are called necromancers. These characters add a fascinating twist to the anime they appear in, capturing the viewers with their dark powers that mostly keep them on the opposite side of good. Whether they are heroes or villains, it does not matter, as their complexity and the moral dilemmas that come with their abilities make the anime exciting for fans to watch.

20 Tobirama

Naruto

Being a necromancer is not an easy job, but Tobirama excels at it. This character is known as the second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, and he also possesses necromantic abilities that let him revive the dead and use them at his discretion. The necromantic ability he performs the most is known as Edo Tensei.

Edo Tensei is not far from the idea of necromancy, but this technique was created and is unique to Tobirama, and it involves the use of the DNA of the person that Tobirama wants to revive. For this technique, a living sacrifice is needed, but normally, necromancers can revive the dead without the use of a living sacrifice. Needless to say, Tobirama is a powerful necromancer and has other abilities that support his necromantic powers.

19 Sung Jin-Woo

Solo Leveling

This popular manhwa series started streaming in January 2024, and although the anime has not gone far, dedicated fans who have the manhwa know and understand Sung Jin Woo’s true abilities. Jin Woo starts off as weak, but he has an awakening that blesses him with powers, and one of the powers is the ability to command the dead, also known as necromancy.

The anime has not touched a lot of Jin Woo’s growth yet, but it is only a matter of time until he uses his ‘Arise’ power. With a simple statement, he can raise anything dead back to life and, automatically, they become his minions. Solo Leveling has so many twists and turns for fans as they watch Jin Woo go from one of the weakest hunters to the most fearsome hunter.

18 Adalmann

That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

Rimuru Tempest has disciples who serve him, and one of them is Adalmann. Adalmann is easy to ignore, but this undead man has incredible powers, and that includes necromancy. Thanks to Ciel, Adalmann has in his possession the Necronomicon, also known as the Book of the Dead. This book helps Adalmann cast dangerous and frightening spells that involve dead people.

It is also safe to note that Adalmann controls an army of undead soldiers. He is very loyal to Rimuru and uses his dark powers to help and protect the leadership of Rimuru.

17 Eri Nakamura

Arifureta: From Commonplace To The World’s Strongest

Eri Nakaruma was not only a necromancer, but she was also a manipulative genius. At first, she seemed innocent and timid, but her true colors gradually showed as the anime progressed. Fans soon discover that there is more to Eri than she lets people see. This young girl has the ability to control the dead and use them as her puppets.

However, because of her traumatic and abusive upbringing, Eri is quite abusive, and she enjoys torturing her undead puppets. It is also worth noting that Eri’s character is deeply rooted in manipulation and betrayal. She has no problem betraying her classmates, and she shows no remorse even after one of them dies.

16 Dr. Franken

Lupin III

The grandson of the high and mighty Arsène Lupin, Arsène Lupin III, is living up to his grandfather’s legacy as he becomes a renowned thief himself. On his many journeys of thievery and badassery, Lupin comes across Dr. Frank N. Stein, an unorthodox necromancer who resembles the original Frankenstein.

Dr. Franken’s necromancy does not involve the use of magic or chants but rather the use of a special serum that he uses to hypnotize corpses and make them do his bidding even after their deaths. Dr. Franken himself is a zombie, and he continually hypnotizes himself so that he can be ‘alive.’

15 Sports Max

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

The antagonist featured in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean anime series, Sports Max, is a gangster who wields the Stand Limp Bizkit. With his Stand, Sports Max has the ability to raise the dead, generate aggressive and bloodthirsty wraiths, and use them to do his bidding.

The corpses that are brought back to life are invisible and remain so. However, various kinds of species can be brought back, irrespective of the date of their deaths. Moreover, Sports Max can also bring back dead body parts. And if he himself is killed, he will also be raised back as a zombie by his Stand.

14 Giselle Gewelle

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

The Thousand-Year Blood War arc of the Bleach anime and manga series revealed the Sternritter, a group of powerful and chosen Quincy warriors that serve Yhwach. Of the many Sternritters, Giselle Gewelle stands out due to her power, ‘The Zombie.’ With her power, Giselle Gewelle is able to control anyone whom she splatters her blood on. Whoever falls under her control is effectively turned into a walking corpse, and Giselle Gewelle can even order them to commit suicide.

For Quincies, Giselle Gewelle’s abilities work a little differently, as she cannot put them under her control unless they’re dead. However, if they’re dead and fall under her control, then Giselle Gewelle can remotely activate the abilities they had when they were alive.

13 Keyes

Fairy Tail

The Dark Guild Tartaros is a criminal organization with a plethora of members with evil and powerful abilities. One of its past members was Keyes, a former member of the Nine Demon Gates. Keyes was a full-blown necromancer who had the ability to revive dead people as corpses that obeyed his commands.

He could reanimate hundreds of corpses at once, effectively turning him into a one-man army. Even though they were powerful, the corpses that Keyes had reanimated only existed for a short time, and if Keyes were to lose, his magic would stop enabling them to function. Apart from his necromancy abilities, Keyes also had a ton of dark abilities that made him more than a controller of corpses.

12 Yuuka Sasaki

Talentless Nana

The blonde-haired Yuuka Sasaki appears in the Talentless Nana anime series, pretending to have the talent of super strength. While Yuuki pretends to be very outgoing and friendly, Nana, the protagonist of the series, exposes her perverse and jealous personality alongside her true talent of Necromancy.

Yuuka’s true talent of necromancy allows her to control corpses if she has a possession from the dead. Yuuka’s necromancy also allows the dead to use the abilities they had while they were alive. Unfortunately for her, while she can make her corpses appear alive, the corpses lose all function during the day as Yuuka can only practice her necromancy at night.

11 Evangeline A.K. McDowell

Negima!

Despite her seemingly small, naive, and cute appearance, Evangeline A.K. McDowell is actually a vampire over 600 years old who stopped aging at age 10. The Mage of the Beginning used sorcery to turn her into a vampire. Evangeline initially served as an antagonist towards Negi Springfield, the protagonist of the Mahou Sensei Negima show she appears in. However, she eventually became a supporter of Negi’s cause.

Evangeline possesses various skills as a True Blood vampire, and necromancy stands out as one of her strongest ones. With her skill at manipulating people like Marionettes, Evangeline earned herself the title of Doll/Puppet Master.

10 Beldia

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful World!

Beldia was one of the eight generals under the control of the Devil King, the KonoSuba series’ primary antagonist. Beldia, a former commander of the Devil King, was dispatched to look into a strange light that emerged out of nowhere, allowing him to come into contact with Satou Kazuma and his crew.

As a devil general, Beldia was much stronger than the average monster adventurer encountered. His unique ability, ‘Undead Knights Summoning,’ allowed him to summon undead warriors to aid him in battle. Even though the summoned troops could only be given basic orders, they made many perceive Beldia as a strong commander skilled in necromancy.

9 Eucliwood Hellscythe

Is This A Zombie?

The life of Ayumu Aikawa, a youngster who was killed by a serial killer and revived by the master necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe, is depicted in the anime series Is This a Zombie? Eucliwood Hellscythe, sometimes known as Eu, is a colossal force yet remains stoic and quiet. Even her friends acknowledged that she was a strong enough necromancer to control her own realm.

Eu has the potential to distort reality. Because what she says becomes reality, she keeps to herself in order to protect her friends. Eu revived Ayumu as a zombie after learning that he had been killed, and she began living with him.

8 Rades

Black Clover

Rades Spirito is a major antagonist who appears in the Black Clover series as a magician skilled in resurrecting the dead. With his Soul Corpse Magic, he can put his mana into dead bodies and bring them back to life. When it comes to resurrecting dead bodies, necromancers don’t get much more classic than Rades. For the most part, he can bring back corpses that don’t amount to much, but he can also bring back powerful corpses with unique skills.

In later episodes, Rades was able to do more than merely reanimate the dead; he was able to bring them back to life entirely.

7 Kurome

Akame Ga Kill

Kurome, from the Akame Ga Kill series, is a necromancer, despite the fact that she is rarely referred to as such. She fights with a long katana named ‘March of the Dead: Yatsufusa,’ which is an offensive imperial arm (strong relics/weapons). With the Yatsufusa katana in her possession, she was able to use her necromancy skills to bring back to life the bodies of up to eight of her victims.

Kurome ranks relatively low among necromancers because of her limited ability to command only eight dead people at once. In spite of this disadvantage, Kurome is not to be taken lightly because she can use the knowledge and powers that the dead once possessed.

6 Melascula

The Seven Deadly Sins

Introduced in the Seven Deadly Sins series, Melascula is a powerful demon with necromancy powers. Her necromancy powers deal with bringing dead people with regrets, hate, and anger back to life. She amplifies the lingering affection and regrets of the dead and gives life to rage that should have no outlet. If the dead are able to hold back their intensified feelings, they will revert to their natural state: being dead.

Being part of a group of demons called the Ten Commandments, Melascula is incredibly powerful. She represents Fate, one of the Ten Commandments. Even though necromancy is simply one of her numerous powers, it is unquestionably one of the most potent and effective ones.

5 Gecko Moria

One Piece

In the series One Piece, Gecko Moria serves as a major antagonist in one of the arcs, using the necromancy powers bestowed upon him by the shadow-shadow devil fruit to cause untold destruction.

As the user of the shadow-shadow devil fruit, Gecko Moria is a man perfect for necromancy and is skilled in reanimating dead bodies. He then uses them as minions to carry out his devious plans. Yet he, unlike other necromancers, restores the dead by implanting them with the spirits of the living. He further enhances the dead bodies making them possess more physical strength than when they were alive.

4 Kairi Shishigou

Fate/Apocrypha

Kairi Shishigou possesses extraordinary ability as a necromancer. In Fate Apocrypha, he fights alongside his summoned servant ‘Saber of Red’ in the Holy Grail War. Kairi takes his necromancy training to fields littered with the bodies of fallen soldiers. He takes this precaution to lessen the number of casualties and prevent any undead from being spotted by the general populace.

In the series, Kairi’s bloodline was cursed, which made it difficult for him to reproduce. Kairi adopted a child in an attempt to pass on his necromancy to future generations, but the child was unable to carry the magic crest, and her death resulted from the transfer.

3 Ainz Ooal Gown

Overlord

From the Overlord series, Ainz Ooal Gown stands out quite a bit from other necromancers. The fact that Ainz Ooal Gown is portrayed as a skeleton and has the power of resurrection helps to solidify his reputation as a necromancer in the minds of many viewers.

Ainz Ooal Gown’s abilities as a necromancer are unparalleled. Since he can bring the dead back to life, including himself, he is nearly impossible to kill permanently. Ainz Ooal Gown’s major ability is to call forth an army of the dead. His ability to raise the dead is particularly effective in large-scale fights, and he routinely uses it to utterly destroy his opponents, no matter how many they may be.

2 Orochimaru

Naruto

Orochimaru is a major antagonist in Naruto, one of the most iconic anime series of all time. With his incredibly cunning mind and powerful abilities, he is a major threat feared by many in the Naruto series.

Orochimaru is well versed in a myriad of techniques and adequately feared for it. One of his many abilities that stands out is his ability to reanimate corpses using a Forbidden Jutsu. Using the forbidden Reanimation Jutsu, Orochimaru can bring the dead back as immortal corpses to fight for him. His reanimated victims maintain their individuality, unlike the victims of many other necromancers, although he still controls their actions.

1 Usagi

Juuni Taisen

When it comes to timeless tales of necromancers, none compare to Usagi, warrior of the rabbit. If necromancers can only bring the dead back to life, then Usagi goes above and beyond by reanimating his own body. Only after killing a person himself can Usagi bring them back to life. Moreover, he can control the corpses even if they have dismembered body parts like a head, brain, or heart.

In the series Juuni Taisen, Usagi serves as the major antagonist, and his necromancer powers serve as a major style of his combat. Paired with inhuman reflexes and physical prowess, Usagi is a formidable opponent.