Anime Villains Who Mirror the Hero

There are several different types of archetypes when it comes to anime, but one of the most common ones of note is the villain who mirrors the hero. Oftentimes, our protagonist will come across a foe with different ideals, and who feels oddly similar, whether that be in terms of mannerisms, appearance, or origin.

These villains can be fairly interesting, often due to their propensity to remind the audience about certain traits the hero has. However, in spite of these parallels, some villains can become fairly interesting characters in their own right. Here are some villains who act as cynical mirror images to the heroes of their series.

5 Turles

Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might

Oftentimes, villains who originated in the Dragon Ball Z era of films served as counterparts to villains in the mainline anime. This includes Cooler (Frieza’s analogous brother), Janemba (an obvious counterpart to Buu), and the trio of androids in the Super 13 film (who, while less similar, serve as antagonists in a similar vein to the more iconic androids in Z.) However, the most popular villain from this batch broke with the trend.

Turles instead serves to mirror Goku if he never hit his head as a child. He is, like Goku, a low-class Saiyan warrior, who broke from his people. However, while Goku became a protector of earth, Turles became a space pirate who wished to destroy it. It is worth noting that the two also bear significant physical resemblance to one another. Some dubs even refer to Turles as Goku’s brother, which is interesting considering Goku’s brother, Raditz, looks far less like him than Turles.

Turles seeks to use the Tree of Might to augment his strength, apathetic to how it will degenerate the earth in the process. However, Goku is able to take him and the Tree of Might out with a Spirit Bomb. Ultimately, Turles serves as a reminder that Goku’s head injury at a young age might be responsible for the earth’s continued safety across the Dragon Ball timeline.

4 Blackbeard

One Piece

One Piece (1999)

One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates’ ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga’s popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Seasons

20

Creator

Eiichiro Oda

Number of Episodes

1082+

Many major villains in One Piece are similar to Monkey D. Luffy in various respects. A lot of foes he crossed paths with are similarly charismatic pirates, who managed to amass powerful crews. Antagonistic figures such as the weak Buggy, the jaded Crocodile, and the megalomaniacal Doflamingo are quite similar in various ways to Luffy. However, there is one villain he has yet to truly face head on, who seems oddly similar to him in various ways.

Marshall D. Teach, better known as Blackbeard, has been consistently teased as a future major antagonist, currently biding his time and building up his power. Like Luffy, he loves to eat a lot, and a propensity to survive dangerous situations through a mixture of luck and cunning.

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However, despite the pair’s parallels, in some ways they could not be more different. Luffy is both somewhat reckless and yet ultimately caring towards his crewmates as well as anyone he chooses to align himself with. Blackbeard, however, is both more careful yet also more cruel. He began his piracy career with the Whitebeard Pirates, a heavily organized crew whose vast array of members and affiliates gave their captain, Edward Newgate, the designation of Emperor.

Teach traveled with the crew for over 20 years, but it was all part of a long con. Once his superior, Thatch, found the Yami Yami no Mi, Teach murdered him and took the devil fruit for himself. From there, he began to form his own crew, the little-known Blackbeard Pirates. He carefully cultivated his profile, keeping hidden until he felt it was the right time to emerge. Ultimately, his efforts paid off, as Blackbeard took his former captain’s spot as an Emperor. He still cares little for his new crew, with them merely being allies of convenience.

This is all in stark contrast to Luffy, a pirate who cares about his crew and doesn’t care who knows it. He was willing to take on the government in order to rescue a single ally of his, in contrast to Teach who allied with it until he felt confident enough to betray them. While the two have yet to properly fight each other in top form, it is clear Blackbeard and his crew are being built up to ultimately take on Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates.

3 Gaara

Naruto

Not every villain who mirrors the hero has to remain a villain. Such is the case with Gaara, who was once an enemy of Naruto Uzumaki. Like his hidden leaf counterpart, Gaara was a Jinchūriki, with the one-tailed beast, Shukaku, sealed inside his body. In both cases, the two young ninja were ostracized by their villages. Naruto took to this by acting like a problem child, with a variety of quirks and eccentricities cultivated for the sake of getting attention. However, even in spite of Naruto’s time in isolation, he steadily gained support from his peers.

Gaara was similarly isolated, cared for only by his uncle, Yashamaru. However, Yashamaru was ordered by the Kazekage Rasa, Gaara’s own father, to attack his nephew whilst testing his mental fortitude. He made an attempt on Gaara’s life and told Gaara that he hated him, and that no one would ever love him. From then on, Gaara became a vicious person who attacked others out of anger and swore only to live for himself. Only after Naruto defeated him did Gaara truly make a resolve to reform.

Gaara shows that without those who were kind to Naruto early in his life, he could have taken a much darker path. However, he also proves that even under such circumstances, one can still attempt to make amends for their past atrocities.

2 DIO

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

The ruthless Dio Brando serves effectively as a counterpart to the hero in both parts of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series which he appears in. In Phantom Blood, like his adoptive brother Jonathan Joestar, Dio lost his mother at a young age. While Jonathan was born wealthy and Dio was poor, Dio did eventually come into money once he was adopted by Jonathan’s father, George.

Dio’s father, Dario, was notably cruel to his son.

Influenced by Dio, George, inadvertently, was cruel to Jonathan, believing he had treated Dio poorly for no reason. Despite the pair’s similar hardships, their responses to such pain is what contrasts most. Dio believed others should suffer, and sought to use his power to rule over the world. Jonathan wished to use his strength to save others, and was even shown to be considerate of those in opposition to him, which inspired Speedwagon to aid him in his fight against Dio.

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When Dio resurfaces in Stardust Crusaders as DIO, the long-lived vampire does not directly mirror Jotaro Kujo as directly. However, the pair share superficial similarities that make them both the perfect rivals for one another during the part’s final fight. At this point, both derive their strength in part from the Joestar family. DIO makes use of Jonathan’s body in place of his own, which was destroyed near the end of Phantom Blood. Jotaro is Jonathan’s Great-Great Grandson.

The pair also have, effectively, the same stand ability, with both Star Platinum and The World being powerful close-range stands with superhuman abilities. Jotaro eventually manages to bridge the gap by gaining The World’s time stop ability, which he dubs Star Platinum: The World. DIO’s persistence allowed him to haunt the Joestar family across multiple generations, with effects that lasted long after his death. However, in every scenario, he was thwarted ultimately by Jonathan and his descendants.

1 Garou

One Punch Man

One of the few foes to ever survive a serious hit from Saitama, Garou is perhaps the only one who can be considered a proper foil. The pair both continually trained with the goal of gaining power, but while each sought to be a hero, Garou was influenced by his past of being treated like a villain to become one.

Beyond their alignments, Saitama’s power after training appears to be without ceiling. Garou, while similarly high-powered, tends to steadily grow stronger, sometimes even in the midst of battle. Garou defeated numerous heroes as part of his “hero-hunt” effort and clashed with a number of monsters along the way. He even successfully defeated both his former master, Bang, and Bang’s brother, Bomb, believed to be even stronger.

He largely believed in not killing his foes, but he did make exceptions, such as killing Genos to get Saitama to fight seriously. This resulted in his defeat, as well as the eventual resurrection of Genos (due to Saitama altering the timeline through his actions). Despite all his carnage, Bang saw fit to take care of Garou after his rampage, making a conscious effort to reform him.

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