Magnificent Bastard/Anime

""Just As Planned.""

- Light Yagami, upon getting his memories back

""Don't you recall? The two of us used to play chess together as boys. Of course, I would always win.""

- Lelouch Lamperouge

"Manning: "When I give you the signal I want you to push that button. That's not so hard." Lean: "That's the hatch release. If I open the hatch, then what?" Manning: "I'll escape in the Decimator." Lean: "You mean the only person who's going to get out of this alive is you?" Manning:  "Beats everyone dying, doesn't it?""
 * The most impressive and villainous character in Ashita no Nadja? . Said character steals the spotlight brilliantly by kicking puppies so well and hard that even the local Smug Snake, who thought the kid would be an easy-to-manipulate puppet at first, in the end utterly fears her. And for all that, the punishment amounts to nothing more than a   Karma Houdini, indeed.
 * Balalaika from Black Lagoon. Ruthless, cool, very dignified ex-special forces commander, now the queen of the mafia. Her huge facial scars can't completely tarnish her incredible beauty, and her fighting skills and intelligence keep her on top of the crime control of Roanapur.
 * Series protagonist Rock seems to be turning into a anti-heroic Magnificent Bastard as he becomes steadily more jaded. Whilst he's manipulating everyone around him and with a Slasher Smile that tells you he's thoroughly enjoying himself, is that his goal is ultimately to save as many lives as possible.
 * He talked back at Balalaika and lived. That alone shows how much of a Magnificent Bastard he is.
 * Let's not forget Balalaika's biggest Rival and pretty much the only mafia leader in Roanapur who can more or less constantly keep up with her: Mr. Chang from the Sun-Yee On Triad.
 * With the latest OVA series it is clear that Chang and Balalaika are equals. Balalaika might have her absolute lead in prowess and wit, but Chang makes it up with his great influence and far superior contacts, with CIA for example.
 * Bleach's Sosuke Aizen. The man caused the exile of six Gotei 13 captains, multiple vice-captains, and both the Kidou Corps captain and vice-captain in a single move, while pinning it all on one of the exiled captains. He got away with this for over a century then had the entire governing body of the Soul Society slaughtered and replaced by him and his henchman without anyone noticing. He then manipulated everyone with ease in a great, long-running Gambit Roulette to steal the Hogyoku trapped in Rukia's soul, take over the Hollow world, create a new army of soul-eating supersoldiers, and then take over... pretty much everything else. He had backup plan upon backup plan, faked his own death, nearly stabbed to death his fiercely-loyal lieutenant (who remained fiercely loyal for a while afterward), took out the fighting strength of the Gotei 13, and very nearly succeeded in obliterating Ichigo's hometown to fuel his ambitions.
 * One arc is pretty much the struggle between two Magnificent Bastard candidates: Shujuro Tsukishima and Ginjo Kugo.
 * The leader of the Wandenreich, Yhwach, pretty much does exactly what Aizen did and plans to overthrow the Soul Society. And he does it all with style. He sends an emissary party to Yamamoto informing him Soul Society will be at war in five days that consists of Yamamoto losing half his entire division in three minutes. Less than 24 hours later, his army invades, taking out more than half the Gotei 13 and multiple captains and lieutenants. He also kills Yamamoto by exposing Yamamoto to doombot that manages to draw out Yamamoto's bankai. Once Yamamoto's power is exposed, Yhwach is able to steal it for himself. He's also carefully implanted soul fragments in all of the shinigami that have fought Quincies, allowing to feed off their power - when any individual dies, Yhwach gets stronger: so every time the shinigami win a fight, they're losing.
 * Mad Scientist Mayuri Kurostuchi started as a depraved Complete Monster, but he reappears in the Arrancar arc by stepping in the way of his fellow Mad Scientist Szayelaporro, counters all of his techniques in increasingly Crazy Prepared ways, deals him one magnificent "The Reason You Suck" Speech that pulverizes his motivations and finishes it with one HELL of a Cruel and Unusual Death. He's later one of the few Captains who can talk back to a completely pissed off Yamamoto and make quite the points as he does so, keeps his Bankai when the Vandenreich steal almost all of them from the Captains, counteracts Giselle Gewelle's extremely hard to fight back against battle techniques, etc. It says a lot that he's a Captain despite his absolute dickery, since everyone is Soul Society is clearly aware that he's too dangerous if let loose.
 * Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion has many, with the Anti-Hero Or Villain Protagonist Lelouch being one of the best examples. He turns a weak regional rebellion into a massive world war against his father, all while under the guise of the fabulously theatrical masked persona, Zero.
 * His older brother Schneizel lacks the theatrics, but more than makes up for it in sheer competence,
 * Considering both, it's In the Blood, after all.
 * Even when Schneizel He then goes on to . His Magnificent Bastardness REALLY shines through, however, when you realize that
 * That entire sequence is even more awesome when you realize: He could have done this from the start. This is what Lelouch becomes after you take away his friends and love interest.
 * C.C. is one of these as well, seeing as she helps Lelouch with almost everything he does. She may be Lelouch's right-hand woman, but she's never outshined by him.
 * Cornelia has her moments as this too while commanding the Britannian army. She's even caught Lelouch off his guard at times!
 * Light Yagami of Death Note employs Memory Gambits, Batman Gambits and Gambit Roulettes left, right and centre while eating potato chips and wielding his pen like a sword to Ominous Latin Chanting. For a while he even manages to get most of the world on his side, whether it be as Serial Killer Kira, or as the facade of an investigator on the police task force looking to bring Kira down. Though as his Sanity Slippage sets in and his arrogance grows, he starts to enter Smug Snake territory until he ends up losing his cool and his control.
 * Jean-Luc LeBlanc, Nietzsche Wannabe and Evilutionary Biologist, of Divergence Eve.
 * Cell from Dragonball Z: In his imperfect form, Cell runs rings around the Z fighters as he masterfully evades their attempts to ambush him while draining countless cities of their population's bio extract. Upon finding himself sorely outclassed by Vegeta later in the series, Cell tricks the Saiyan prince into allowing him to absorb Android 18 by promising to provide him with an opportunity to test the full extent of his newfound power. In the ensuing rematch, he succeeds in reaping vengeance upon Vegeta by breaking him down physically and psychologically. He then more or less toys with the Z-Warriors by forcing them to play by his own rules in the Cell Games or face outright annihilation. In the Cell Games, however, is when he starts to get more overconfident and the reason he loses in the end ironically enough, is that his plan to push all Gohan's Berserk Buttons in order to make him a worthy challenge ends up working far too well.
 * King Piccolo, Cell's predecessor, counts as well. He was truly the original Magnificent Bastard of the entire series. His first course of action upon being reborn is to send out his henchmen to assassinate every great martial artist in order to prevent anyone from using the Mafuba technique against him ever again. And when he beats Goku down the first time they met, he checks for a pulse before assuming he's dead. Too bad for him that Goku's heart started again after he left, for some reason. Also, he was also Genre Savvy enough to realize the heroes would most likely attempt to stop him with the Dragon balls either before or after he got the wish, so at first, he swallowed them. Then he threw them back up once there was sure there was no-one else around left to challenge him, and to finish it off, he killed Chiaotzu when he attempted to give his own wish and interfere with Piccolo's before he could finish, and after having his wish granted, he then proceeded to one-hit-kill Shenron with his breath blast just to ensure that none of the heroes attempt to use the Dragon balls to defeat him.
 * While Vegeta was more a stoic Smug Super in his debut saga, he did show shades of this that made viewers appreciate him. Notably when he told Nappa to stop fighting the good guys and wait three hours for Goku to arrive because he wanted to break Goku's spirits by crushing his son and remaining friends in front of him once he got there, when he avoided Goku's spirit bomb and Krillin's disc attack meant to cut off his tail while in Oozaru form, and when he immediately realized his false moon would still be in effect the moment he saw Gohan's tail had grown back, prompting him to attempt to remove it. In the Namek saga, however, he ascended to full Magnificent Bastardry. He successfully hides his true power from Frieza and his men so that not even their scouters detect it, revealing his secret of doing this to the unsuspecting Cui before killing him. He outmaneuvers Dodoria and kills him only after being told a secret about the Saiyans' destruction. Then he implements his strategy for obtaining the Dragon Balls that will allow him to wish for eternal life: he figures he'll take just one Dragon Ball from a Namekian village and hide it underwater, then lie in wait for Frieza to gather the remaining balls. And not only is this exactly what he does, but he ends up acquiring five balls from Frieza's ship when he's taken there after losing to Zarbon in order to have his health restored (Frieza had hoped he'd tell him where his hidden Dragon Ball was), meaning he took them right from under Frieza' nose! He takes the last ball from Krillin after he had made full use of a Saiyan's power growing stronger after a previous defeat by killing Zarbon. The only reason his plan falls apart is because Gohan finds the Dragon Ball hidden underwater using a Dragon Ball locator. Even after this failure and being forced into an Enemy Mine with the good guys, Vegeta continues to employ cunning plans and come dangerously close to having his way. He lost this magnificence after his first revival due to his characterization being altered significantly to being a Hot-Blooded, foul tempered Anti-Hero, but damn if he wasn't impressive as a bad guy.
 * Super Majin Buu was the most Dangerously Genre Savvy villain in the history of the series and he was only person in the history of the series that was able to Out Gambit Piccolo of all people by wiping out all of humanity in only a few minutes when Piccolo was expecting him to take hours to do it, so that Goten and Trunks got extra time to train, and on top of that, never even leaving Kami's lookout while doing it. He then masterfully pulled off a Xanatos Speed Chess, when he noticed Gohan's growing power, and so he fought against Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks and tested the limits of his strength and his weaknesses (e.g. fusion limit). After briefly fighting Gohan and finding himself overwhelmed, he goes through an intentional Superpower Meltdown, knowing he will regenerate and buys time (and getting Goten and Trunks to recuperate, to fuse again). When he returns he goads Goten and Trunks into fusing again at full power and absorbs Gotenks and Piccolo into his being, deciding 30 minutes is more than enough to handle Gohan, and he was right in that regard. Goku then arrives and the fusion breaks down. Goku says Gohan alone is strong enough to defeat Buu, but then Buu reveals that he planned for this eventuality as well, and had a piece of himself ready to absorb Gohan the whole time, who he goaded into standing still until it was too late. He was also the only villain that did not succumb to Bond Villain Stupidity, which is very atypical for this series.
 * Paragus, father of Broly in the 8th movie, is also a qualifier by virtue of being a persuasive manipulator and a Large Ham on top of it. And he manages this without having much power at all!
 * To contrast these above Big Bads are Emperor Pilaf, Commander Red, Master Shen (as well as his brother Tao Pai Pai), and Freeza, who all lie firmly in Smug Snake territory.
 * In Super, Goku Black brings the already post-apocalyptic Earth of Future Trunk’s timeline to the brink of death, killing both Future Bulma and (seemingly) Mai in the process. He's a thorough No-Nonsense Nemesis with a Mysterious Past and is keen on bringing his foes into his traps, such as when he stabbed Vegeta. He was able to create new techniques at the drop of a hat, especially once his Super Saiyan Rose form was revealed and allowed him to decimate Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks on several occasions. A Faux Affably Evil Soft-Spoken Sadist as well as a Knight Templar, after he fuses with his partner, and become a new entity, Black confirms his role as a technically Invincible Villain
 * in Ergo Proxy, who is even referenced to be "the winner at the end of the world" (with good reason). Not only is he the master manipulator of nearly everything that happens in the course of the series, but he.
 * Hiruma, the team captain and quarterback for the Devil Bats, of Eyeshield 21. Scarily enough, he's also the Team Dad.
 * The Count from Gankutsuou- holy shit. Perhaps even more so than he was in the original story.
 * Most Gundam series have featured, at some point or another, a Magnificent Bastard as an antagonist.
 * From the first Mobile Suit Gundam series, we have the guy who set the standard for Magnificent Bastards to come: Char Aznable, who has had many moments of Magnificent Bastardry, but one of his best is when he  One can't deny the flair of the execution.
 * Kycillia Zabi is arguably one as well, as evidenced by her lengthy and carefully calculated campaign to seize control from her older brother Gihren, as well as her skill as a battlefield commander. Gihren himself would count, but his arrogance and Complete Monster status instead leave him as a high-functioning, Love to Hate Smug Snake.
 * Not to be outdone, Zeta Gundam featured the deviously intelligent Paptimus Scirocco, who quietly manipulated his way from common lacky to becoming the head of the Titans, killing off everyone else who got in his way with a flair and style that just made it hard not to root for the guy as a villain.
 * A second one, as well as the Big Bad for Gundam ZZ, is the Axis Zeon leader Haman Kahn. A ruthless Lady of War and Woman in Black who manipulates and outsmarts almost everyone in Zeta, fights with honor in both series, and is so damn stylish at the same time. It rather telling that the one person that Paptimus Scirocco is cautious of (and has a healthy amount of respect for) is her.
 * Victory Gundam had Tassilo Vago, the sophisticated, scheming and efficient Starscream of the Zanscare Empire.
 * The big three of Mobile Fighter G Gundam - Master Asia, Prime Minister Wong Yun-Fat, and secret final villain.
 * Gundam Wing: Treize. Khushrenada.. How did he make the Earth Federation fall into OZ's clutches? And it ended  Considering the goal of the real Operation Meteor, it is possible that his goal is to  And that's just one battle.
 * The fact the killing shot came from Heero Yuy, who'd been renamed after an assassinated peacemaker, qualifies as the defining sick irony for the entirety of Gundam Wing. Thanks, Treize!
 * He also had rose petals in his bath tub, and knows how to enjoy fine wine and arts.
 * The best part is that the only reason Treize didn't take over the entire solar system when he easily could have less than halfway through the series (Lady Une begs him to at one point) is that Treize suffered from severe self-esteem problems. When Zechs Milliardo finally gives him a reason to fight again Treize seizes control of the entire Earth Nation in exactly five minutes.
 * And even after his death, Treize's influence lives on, as Lady Une invokes his name when verbally beating down Mariemeia's claims and beliefs, and not long afterward Dekim is shot by a former OZ soldier out of respect for Treize's legacy.
 * Next, from Gundam SEED, we have Rau le Creuset, a man so intelligent and erudite he managed to Out of all of the Gundam villains, it is quite possible that he is the only one who came closest to his goal,  Gundam SEED Destiny Big Bad Gilbert Durandal may also count; he certainly has the Manipulative Bastard, Chessmaster, and Xanatos Speed Chess ability to make a good try, and has fairly sympathetic goals to boot.
 * And finally, we have  from Gundam 00. Prior to his Villain Decay, he proved himself to be a devious and cunning bastard among the rest, when he . He then leaves
 * And thus one of the fastest spreading memes in the Gundam meta series was born: Yeah, the revelation was that much of a Shocking Swerve.
 * Then there is Aeolia Schenberg of Gundam 00. Put simply, the entire series is his plan. Even the people who tried to hijack it were part of it. Oh, and he won.
 * If you don't believe that he terribly crossed the Moral Event Horizon, then from Gundam AGE falls in this category.
 * Katekyo Hitman Reborn has the third major Big Bad of the series.
 * But the true mastermind of the whole Future Arc was   
 * The Inheritance Ceremony Arc Big Bad,, is showing signs of this.
 * Saralegui from Kyo Kara Maoh. In one move, he made sure that Yuuri's crew all trusted him and wiped out Large Shimaron's army by He then followed that up by  Remarkably, he still managed to finish up the series with Yuuri trusting him completely until the very end.
 * Johan Liebert - the Monster. He manipulates everyone he encounters as they were puppets on a string and then disposes of them without a second thought, subverts every Pet the Dog moment he's given in chilling ways, and never loses that Dissonant Serenity permanently affixed to his face. The problem is, the straight treatment the series gives his activities also makes him freaking scary to behold. A perfect example of a character who manages to be both this trope and a Complete Monster.
 * Arguably, the closest to Magnificent Bastard in Naruto is who has   Holy CRAP!
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion has Gendo Ikari, the leader of the NERV organization. While far from his only ploy, the greatest reason he is on this page is for his involvement in, even though he wasn't the one in charge. He was enough of a key factor to be considered the one most responsible for it, and he even had his own motive for manipulating its execution:
 * Rebuild of Evangelion took his badassery to new heights. If you think back to it, Hoo-lee shit, is this guy awesome or what?!
 * Recommend studying of his entry on the Memetic Badass page as well.
 * Sir Crocodile from One Piece. This guy manipulated an entire kingdom into a civil war between the king and his people while still presenting himself as a hero to the country. His entire slogan for his plan was, "The love for this kingdom will destroy it." He also added even more insult to the heroes about telling them about a bomb that would blow up the town square that was nearly impossible to stop because he had a backup in case his lackeys failed to set off the bomb. His plan was nearly flawless and would had succeeded if it was not for certain events.
 * In a side-story that took place after his defeat, Crocodile took over his jail block and, when given a perfect chance to escape, chose to light up a cigar and stay put. He would later agree to an Enemy Mine to break out of The Alcatraz that is Impel Down solely for the chance to kill an old enemy (who, incidentally, everyone else wanted to help save).
 * His succesor in the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Blackbeard, is perhaps even moreso. The current part of his Gambit Roulette slash Batman Gambit resulted the biggest battle/war in the history of it's world, and manipulated all sides involved effortlessly, and got exactly what he wanted from it: . And he got away scot free, and because of the WG's pride, won't even be hunted down by them. All for his plan to become Pirate King.
 * Vice Admiral Jonathan of the G-8 "Navarone" facility is a rare semi-heroic example. The Straw Hat pirates just happen to fall directly into the impenetrable fortress at the same time that an inspector with an ulterior motive to have the place shut down pulls in. Rather than trying to deny the event, he takes time and makes observations about the crew, even when they show in front of his very face, turning their quirks to support a morale boost of the base's personnel and discredit the obstructive inspector. It's important to remember that His primary goal is to maintain the Marines' support of the facility, not the capture of the pirate crew, and even when things don't follow his voiced plan, he still comes out ahead.
 * Donquixote Doflamingo also made a gambit of taking over a country, and succeeded in a day and a night. He managed to keep power for a decade. His grip of the country was only shaken because of a single blunder by one of his subordinates, whose powers made everyone else forget about the very existence of the person who eventually led the resistance. Before that, he managed to position himself so well even his enemies (the World Government) were forced to cooperate. He also set himself up with one of the Yonko, Kaido, ensuring that anyone who went after him also risked the intervention of the Yonko. Even though he isn't as powerful as the admirals or the Yonko, he expertly maneuvered his way to the top. Only Luffy and Law are crazy enough/ have enough knowledge to hit him where it hurts.
 * Trafalgar Law, after the Time Skip. He become one of the Shichibukai in order to get in close on Caesar Clown in order to stop his production of the SAD, a chemical crucial in the production of artificial devil fruits, but he also used this attempt to press Donquixote Doflamingo into quitting the Shichibukai. He is smart enough to befriend the protagonist, forming an alliance with him to take down Kaidou of the Yonkou (who wanted the SAD chemical). And last, but not least: he tricked Caesar Clown into stabbing what Clown thought was Smoker's heart, while it in reality was the heart of his own second in command, Monet seconds before she would have released an attack that would have killed everyone except for Clown, which he would have been perfectly fine with. It Makes Sense in Context.
 * Buggy the Clown also qualifies, oddly enough. While not as personally powerful as the above examples, he made it across The Grand Line just fine prior to Impel Down. Once he got captured, he managed to conceal his Devil Fruit abilities while getting locked up in a supermax prison and thus avoided receiving Seastone restraints (and also managed to sneak in powerful explosives), used carefully worded lies and half-truths to talk a bunch of incredibly powerful and dangerous convicts into working for him, thereby gaining one of the strongest crews in the series, and post-Time Skip, it's shown he managed to talk his way into a cushy position as one of the Shichibukai, all while operating under the guise of Obfuscating Stupidity. He's essentially John Constantine in the form of a pirate clown!
 * Manning from Orguss 02 is a perfect example of the trope. Perfect quote, when he's on a plane with two others that's under attack by an enemy Giant Robot:

""Do not look away from each new death. Look straight ahead, and never forget them. Because they certainly won't.""
 * A good few characters from Ouran High School Host Club:
 * Everything Kyouya did had a purpose that would benefit him in the long run (with one or two notable exceptions). He even used the Host Club profit to buy out his father's company unbeknownst to his dad, who thought of him as a loser because of the Club itself. Character Development later turns him into a Guile Hero.
 * Benibara and the Zuka Club are also contenders, having seen right through Haruhi's masquerade and also matching the Host Club in style, charisma, and persuasiveness.
 * Tamaki and the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, get their moments as this too.
 * Ryoko Asakura of Haruhi Suzumiya fame has some qualifications down. Not only is she intelligent, but her charismatic and cheerful personality makes it so easy for one to lower their guard around her. She had Kyon and the audience fooled twice. Even though we should know better by the second time, she has us fooled anyway.
 * Haruhi Suzumiya herself displays tendencies of this on occasion. She's at least got the ruthless, bold and charismatic part down.
 * Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena. He seduces multiple women including  as well as some guys  . He also: rigs ; creates ; convinces ; and runs a private school in his spare time. And he gets away with all of that. (
 * Lord Laertes Van Di Montague from Romeo X Juliet, who  And that's just the beginning...
 * Kunzite from Sailor Moon. After over a season of Monsters Of The Week, most of the Shitennou repeatedly showing themselves to be incompetent, and Usagi continuing to win and even gain ground against the Dark Kingdom, it was a breath of fresh air to see Beryl's Dragon set clever traps, catch the entire team and almost finish them off (and only fail because of a scout he didn't know about), tear through Usagi's obvious Out-Gambitted ploy like it was made of wet paper, and finally go down fighting against Sailor Moon instead of getting the You Have Failed Me... treatment. Even if he's not as awesome as some of the examples on this page and went through a five episode period of Badass Decay, the series could've used more like him.
 * Professor Tomoe, who is not only a brilliant (and hammy) Mad Scientist but also subverts the Bad Boss trope and actually got very far in his objectives as a result in spite of his underlings frequent incompetence.
 * Cele Cele of the Amazoness Quartet showed qualities of one in episode 156 when she successfully manipulates her target into betraying his own dream while in the guise of a sympathetic and charismatic Rich Bitch.
 * Sailor Galaxia. Her complex scheming and effective manipulations of all of her soldiers, as well as her sheer power and style, puts her squarely here in this trope. Particularly in the manga, where her agency is her own rather than of the Bigger Bad Chaos.
 * Xellos for The Slayers fits this bill quite nicely, even moreso in the original novels.
 * Jillas from Slayers TRY. You would normally think a Goldfish Poop Gang member would be unable to manipulate the entire party against their actions. Think again.
 * Big Bads like Rezo the Red Priest, Hellmaster Phibrizzo, and Valgaav are all solid contenders as well for their charm, style, and effective gambits.
 * Medusa the Witch in Soul Eater. Manipulates her daughter... son... child into becoming a Dark Magical Child... but subverts the usual Heel Face Turn instead. Blackmails other witches, like Eruka, into working for her by planting parts of her body in them that explode whenever she wills it. Matches the best Technician and Death Scythe in Shibusen in battle,, gives The Corruption to the main heroine/hero duo, comes Back from the Dead by stealing the body of a little girl with the promise of returning it later (a promise she actually keeps  ) but still fully using said little girl's body as an advantage so no one can attack her, drives the best tech crazy, frames him for murder, drives out a good witch who wanted to defect, and
 * Then she proves herself to be an Uber Magnificent Bitch when she reveals that
 * In the manga, Medusa may be even more of a Magnificent Bitch,  What would normally be  ... becomes   in Medusa's hands. Hoooo Leee Sheeeeet.
 * In short: the only time Medusa lost, it was because she won.
 * Askeladd Olafson from Vinland Saga has pulled off damn near every gambit there is, kicked the dog, and kicked ass all with style. It's very easy to forget how much of a bastard he can be. There is actually quite a surprising number of Magnificent Bastards for a manga about blood thirsty vikings.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's brings us Rex Goodwin; a very different villain given the genre. For all of the first season, he operates behinds behind the scenes, manipulating the Five Signers in order to force them to reveal themselves. For example, in order to get Yusei Fudo to participate in his tournament, he kidnaps his friends and threatens him with their deaths. Yeah. And the kicker; it's revealed that his reasons for this were inherently noble, and he has received no comeuppance for his actions. And throughout all of this, he has maintained a calm, friendly demeanor.
 * And then it's revealed that, which makes him even more magnificent and even more of a bastard!
 * Maximilian Pegasus from the original series also displayed magnificence in his bastardry as a Laughably Evil but Not-So-Harmless Villain who successfully pitted Yugi and Kaiba against one another through manipulations and underhanded dealings, then clobbered Kaiba in a duel, using the mind reading powers granted to him by his Millennium Eye to maintain an edge, and brutal sarcasm to unnerve him. In his duel with Yugi, he left Yugi unconscious and nearly pulled off a win, only ever losing his cool for fractions of a second whenever he appeared to be getting crushed in the duel. In the end he's proven to have an honorable streak, and releases his prisoners as part of his deal with Yugi. In the manga he gets killed off by the character mentioned below, but in the anime he lives on to do more business in this series, GX, and spinoff movies.
 * Yami Bakura, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring from the original series, is perhaps an even bigger example. In his debut appearance, he's shown to be the Pharaoh's equal in being a master of all games and he manipulates all events to fit in with his "game." Afterwards, he begins a Gambit Roulette that lasts for the remainder of the series and almost brings  into the living world. Not to mention that he's gleefully deliciously and charismatically evil the whole way through.
 * Seto Kaiba in the Death-T arc and the Duelist Kingdom arc in the manga. While before he was a bully of the week, albeit a formidable one, upon his return he was a dangerously intelligent literal Chessmaster of a villain who is very close to defeating Yugi at the end, and retained many of these traits and skills in his Anti-Villain role in the arc he reappeared in, once again coming dangerously close to defeating Yugi in their rematch and then still technically winning the duel by playing Yugi's sense of morality and concern for other's well being against him.
 * Dartz had 10,000 years to complete his master plan, and it shows. He's set everything up so that no matter whether he and his minions win or lose, he still wins. He is the richest and most powerful man in the world owning a tiny piece of every company on Earth, and has enough capital to buy out Kaiba-Corp for no other reason than to provoke Kaiba. He has supernatural powers that outshine anything Yami Yugi has in his arsenal (The Power of Friendship excluded, naturally), has assembled the most broken deck in the series, and survived monster armies, Egyptian Gods and the loss of his own soul before he was defeated.
 * Sakyo from Yu Yu Hakusho. Even before his main role in the Dark Tournament arc, he effortlessly used Yusuke's team to cause the downfall of one of his rivals. Yoko Kurama is also a protagonist example.
 * And later, we have the only living being able to Out Gambit  and get away with it:  . Not only he did that, but   Fucking awesome.
 * There's also Shinobu Sensui, who expertly manipulated disadvantaged superpowered youths into heinous acts in an attempt to stall the good guys, . Later, after, Sensui manipulates Kuwabara into.
 * Suzaku and Younger Toguro also qualify. The former for being the first villain to really get to Yusuke on a personal level, and the latter for
 * Although she is one of the good guys, Haruna Saotome herself is this in regards to pactios, or anything involving magic. Ships everyone with Negi, DRAGS Negi to Comiket, and makes plans to conquer the entire Magic World.
 * A ton of characters in Mirai Nikki count. It looks like the biggest one of all is
 * from Macross Frontier is slowly revealed to be a shining example of this trope.
 * For most of the first half of the series, we are only given very subtle hints at  role in the grand scheme of things. Even the first time we actually see   working towards   goals, it's with a disguise so well done that fans were arguing if it even was  . Even the choice voice actor playing the role was seemingly meant to mislead.
 * It's only around halfway when
 * Later on we learn that
 * All the while.
 * And the reason for all this,
 * Legend of Galactic Heroes has quite a few, but one that really stands out is Adrian Rubinsky, who manipulates both sides of a massive intergalactic war to increase his own profit, and eventually
 * Most of the enemies in Fullmetal Alchemist are either outright monsters or have a very tragic element to their existence. However, Zolf J. Kimbley walks the fine line between Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard. Despite his psychopathic tendencies, he has a very strong (if completely alien) moral and warrior code that he follows, one that he is aware of being at odds with society (which is why he takes great lengths to mask it). But his Crowning Moment of Awesome for this trope was when, in the manga, !
 * Perhaps the earliest sign that he had tendencies toward this was during the Ishbalan massacre. Even though he delighted in the genocide, he was one of the very few soldiers present willing to acknowledge the full weight of his actions and remember those he cut down while others chose to look away.
 * Most of the enemies in Fullmetal Alchemist are either outright monsters or have a very tragic element to their existence. However, Zolf J. Kimbley walks the fine line between Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard. Despite his psychopathic tendencies, he has a very strong (if completely alien) moral and warrior code that he follows, one that he is aware of being at odds with society (which is why he takes great lengths to mask it). But his Crowning Moment of Awesome for this trope was when, in the manga, !
 * Perhaps the earliest sign that he had tendencies toward this was during the Ishbalan massacre. Even though he delighted in the genocide, he was one of the very few soldiers present willing to acknowledge the full weight of his actions and remember those he cut down while others chose to look away.


 * The Father of the Homunculi. He founded the country of Amestris to perform a ritual, hundreds of years later, in the window of a few minutes. When everyone brought the fight to his doorstep, he abused the Toll required of Human Transportation to teleport all of the sacrifices he needed straight to him. When he was short, he forced someone to transmute. When Hohenheim tried to destroy his container, he revealed that he had evolved beyond the need for it. When Greed tried to usurp him, he revealed that he had been standing in the wrong spot, since he knew Greed would try that.
 * Colonel Roy Mustang serves as Edward Elric's recruiter and direct superior for most of the story. He is wildly charming, always has a back up plan, carries out undercover missions, uses his charismatic playboy exterior to hide his movements from enemies and allies alike, and ambitiously plans to become the Furher of Amestris.
 * Furher King Bradley and General Grumman also display tendencies of this trope.
 * Amusingly, Hayate the Combat Butler has a character who straddles the line between this and Guile Hero. Miki Hanabishi is known for her plots to make trouble for Hinagiku, in fact it's clearly stated in her profile that she enjoys it, but generally seems to be using such tactics to push Hina to the forefront of the competition for Hayate's affection. While at the same time pursuing Hinagiku with her own romantic interest.
 * A possible example is Mikado Sanzennin, Nagi's grandfather. A pretty much fearless Tsundere like Nagi is terrified of him, and with good reason.
 * Durarara!! has Orihara Izaya. Everything that happens in Ikebukuro is a result of his massive game of Xanatos Speed Chess. Except in book four, but he makes up for it in five and six because he felt left out.
 * Black Butler has Lau in the anime and
 * Even more of a worthy choice is
 * Ciel Phantomhive himself is basically a Magnificent Bastard in training (if he's not already one). He's a Badass Adorable Deadpan Snarker Chessmaster who's arguably even more dangerous than his demonic Battle Butler.
 * Souichi of Challengers and The Tyrant Falls in Love is a relatively down-to-earth version of this. When a professor attempts to rape him, Souichi attempts to murder the guy.  stops him, but Souichi still manages to stab the guy deep in the ass with a pair of scissors. When Soichi and Morinaga witness a guy on his cellphone ignoring the pleas of a woman who has an assistive device in her heart, Souichi gets fed up when the woman collapses and snatches the phone out of the guy's hand then snaps it in half. Soichi is not a supervillain and he hasn't got the world under his thumb, but he's a damned terrifying force when his protectiveness of his brother, his sense of justice or his hatred of gays is crossed, which is often.
 * Vincent Nightray from Pandora Hearts also fits this title pretty well.
 * Xerxes Break too; he and Vincent each appear to have the upper hand on the other at points, and it's unclear who is actually the master manipulator between them.
 * TONS of characters are getting in on the game. Duke Barma and Oz have have had their moments. But the most jarring example:  Holy crap.
 * Souma Saiki from Sakura Gari is mostly a Broken Ace, but shows shades of this -- specially when he
 * Kanako from Star Driver, you are fighting against the Ginga Bishounen who has beaten everyone else and you are ineveitably next on the chopping block? Why you betray your call to be "professional" (Splitting real life from your life in the Crux) and steal the first kiss of the Ginga Bishounen (without using a glass wall to make it innocent).
 * from Puella Magi Madoka Magica seems to be the kind of person who walks the line between Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard. So far his plans are very cruel and have had huge consequences (like ), but except for , it has all gone just as planned. It's even better/worse when you see that
 * However, he gets screwed over by someone else at the last moment...
 * Even then, he doesn't exactly 'lose.' It's not as efficient a method of harvesting energy, but it still allows  to accomplish his mission, just in a somewhat more modest way.
 * Some fans take this further, speculating that was in fact All According to Plan; indeed, some ascribe everything that happened in the series to his machinations, even the parts that seemed to go against his conscious intentions.
 * Kenneth Yamaoka from Eagle: The Making Of An Asian American President.
 * Rurouni Kenshin's Shishio Makoto came up with the plan to burn Kyoto right to the ground . This is just his biggest, most expensive example though. He practically lives for this trope.
 * Ukyo, the Big Bad of Samurai 7.
 * The main point of Iason Mink's character in Ai no Kusabi is that he is both magnificent...and a complete and utter bastard. Only his high status in society let's him get away with it.
 * Kokujo, of Duel Masters, uses his phenomenal skills in psychological warfare to completely destroy the hero in their first duel. The dub furthers his status by having him shamelessly call himself "an evil genius."
 * Toua Tokuchi, the protagonist of One Outs, definitely qualifies.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist Choji Suitengu of Speed Grapher, a sophisticated businessman who uses his wealth and power in his agenda to eliminate greed and power. Oh, and he smokes rolled up dollar bills.
 * Knight Templar Lieutenant Colonel Dewey Novak of Eureka Seven, a military commander and aspiring dictator who knows all there is to know about charisma, sophistication, power, influence, and exploitation. And genocide, too. A defining moment for him is when he tells his younger brother Holland that he knows how the masses who consume the various media outlets on which he's made his speeches think - they aren't interested in hearing the truth: if convenient lies resonate emotionally with them and tell them what they want to hear, they'll buy into them. That's why he feels justified in bending the truth or lying to suit his sinister purposes.
 * The latest Bakugan Big Bad Mag Mel. The guy managed to effortlessly trick the heroes into giving him the power to free himself from his prison before they even know he existed. He proves to be a Manipulative Bastard and Chessmaster so cunning that he's always several steps ahead of the group and even the one time thus far he's lost, he still got half of what he wanted and the Brawlers find out while they were fighting his forces on one of their ally's homeworlds, Mag Mel had utterly demolished Bakugan Interspace with another attack that cripples the transporters so no one can get out except his minions, who are free to get in and out at will. While he's not exactly charming, he realized this and made (literally) his Co-Dragons extremely charismatic and planted them in Bakugan Interspace to raise followers and generally cause chaos.
 * AxeKnightmon of Digimon Fusion, whose magnificence is aided by being as Badass as his name would suggest.
 * There was also from Digimon Adventure 02. The guy was pretty much behind everything that happened in the series, and he started it all with just.
 * Devimon and Myotismon from the original Digimon Adventure could be the first ever contenders for this trope in the franchise.
 * Devimon, as the first ever Big Bad, was behind all Black Gears and traps set for the children on File Island and rarely lost his composure, even while dying! Not to mention that he was probably the only Digimon villain who had some sanity in him, except the conquest thing. Even in death, he still pulls some strings behind the scene; by appearing before the Digimon Emperor he played on Ken's superiority complex into making him use some of his own data to create Kimeramon and so, Devimon had full control of it and gladly use Kimeramon against the Digidestined and the emperor.
 * Meanwhile, Myotismon's entire scheme for traveling to the Real World is a gambit to kill the Eighth Child before she can fulfill her destiny and defeat him. He distributes mock crests to his minions so that they can tell when they're near the chosen child, and when that fails, he uses that child's potential partner to pick out the child for him (all while keeping the digivice and crest safely far away). He is charming enough to beguile human women so he can drink their blood in a weirdly sexual way, and his plans are shrewd enough to be frighteningly competent. And this is just the first season!
 * The franchise's greatest example would be Millenniummon, since unlike all the others he ultimately achieved what it wanted . His actions led to nearly everything that went wrong with Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 (including those of the ones mentioned above), but because he managed to remain undetected and completely out of reach he became The Unfought. He also succeeded in creating himself without being noticed by an omniscient being. Details can be found in the series synopsis page.
 * Millions Knives from the Trigun manga. A frighteningly superpowered Badass Abnormal with charisma to spare and the flaws of a Shakespearean character.
 * Legato Bluesummers from the anime. An utterly terrifying, nihilistic, relentless agent of death with the ability to mentally control any villager--man, woman, or child--to their deaths. His first appearance absolutely terrifies Vash, whom he makes his mission to completely break.
 * Or the manga for that matter. And in that version,.
 * Yuto Kigai and Seishiro Sakurazuka from X 1999. Yuto is polite, softspoken, a little snarky, very caring towards Satsuki and yet is able to carry out Kanoe's instructions without even getting his suit dirty. Seishirou is a charismatic murderer with a charming smile, a Star-Crossed Lovers bond with Subaru Sumeragi, very cruel and very stylish puppy-kicking acts under his belt, and in the end he.
 * While it's still a little earlier, it looks like  from Mawaru Penguindrum is heading towards this. Her method of   is a little... odd, but the rest of her actions are very efective.   Not good.   Fucking awesome.
 * has some inklings of this too. In his quest to, he has managed to   Later  . And later it's revealed that some time ago   Thus, he has almost completely  , all while looking fabulous in that coat and   hair of his, and specially in  's eyes. Hmmmm!
 * Semmerling from Riding Bean. She does begin to lose her cool somewhat but then, who wouldn't?
 * The Major from Hellsing starts a war that levels London, manipulates all of his enemies into doing exactly what he wants them to do when he wants them to do it, and he gives one HELL of a speech. He seems to conduct everything like the conductor of a symphony, which is even lampshaded at one point. Oh, and he defeated Alucard.
 * Meowth of Team Rocket, of all people, attempts to be this in the Best Wishes series. During the journey to Nimbasa City, he played the gang like a fiddle by pretending to be fired from Team Rocket and wanting to join with them instead, and nearly got away with their Pokemon along with the other members of Team Rocket, who were operating a surprisingly well thought out plan. Unfortunately for them, it's another situation where Failure Is the Only Option.
 * Meowth meets his match when he goes up against Dr. Colress in the "Episode N" arc of the same series, who was able to play off of his overconfidence to dupe him into becoming his test subject to use against Team Rocket. Unlike the rest of Team Plasma who seek to control Pokemon for World Domination, Colress is in it purely For Science!. He clearly has no true respect for Team Plasma's leader Ghetsis (he does not speak to him with the same reverance as his grunts do), he's constantly thinking ahead of anyone else, and was always advancing his technology so that he could control the minds and hearts of Pokemon, even legendary ones like Reshiram. And he did all this in his own style. Even in the end, the guy doesn't let crushing failure (and going to jail) get him down: he just vows to move on to a new approach!
 * Giovanni, Team Rocket's boss, has always been this. Particularly demonstrated in Mewtwo Returns and the Operation Tempest two-parter of Best Wishes, where he takes a direct role and is just barely defeated both times.
 * And while we're talking of Pokémon, let's not forget Mewtwo's original persona from Pokémon: The First Movie. Let's see. Tries to take over the world (or just mass produce a whole race of Clone Pokémon to prove their superiority to naturally born Pokémon in the original version) in an outrageously audacious fashion, is almost never seen to lose his cool (and regains it pretty quickly once it's lost), quite the planner, charming in a calculating, suave kind of way, and, let's face it, was going to win until Mew showed up.
 * Lysandre from the XY series is no slouch either. He tricks Alain into retrieving Mega Evolution Energy and an ancient stone he needs for his plans, roping along Hoenn Champion Steven while doing it to battle some Legendary Pokémon, and for most of his tenure in the main series he's a Villain with Good Publicity of the highest order. By the time he executes his scheme, not only is everyone caught by complete surprise, but when an organized resistance composed of Ash's group, Alain, the Kalos Gym leaders, one of his own elite henchmen, and not one but two Champions oppose him, he turns out to be Crazy Prepared and has several solid contingencies in place. He didn't see Zygarde having another transformation up it's sleeve coming, though.
 * In Pokémon Special, Giovanni manipulated nearly every event in the first Chapter of the manga and can predict how a battle will turn out, what moves his opponent will make, how to counter-attack, AND the time it will take for it all to happen, all with a suaveness, dignity, and imposing demeanor of a Diabolical Mastermind Yakuza boss. Given he's been a trainer for YEARS, and, it makes sense. It also makes him a poster-boy (man?) for this trope.
 * Green also demonstrates aspects of this, despite being a heroine; she She eventually becomes a Guile Hero.
 * The Masked Man / Pryce of the Gold, Silver, and Crystal Chapter, whose plan was years in the making and came just an inch of success in the end.
 * Team Galactic's Cyrus also qualifies; he's ahead of the good guys, even Cynthia, throughout most of the Diamond and Pearl Chapter.
 * Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius, leader of Team Plasma in the Unova arc, has some serious credentials for magnificence too, being a Crazy Prepared Manipulative Bastard and The Chessmaster extraordinaire who actually subverts his game counterpart's Smug Snake status in the BW Chapter, having planned everything out well in advance (including his fallback scheme) and never losing his composure.
 * Lysandre of the XY/Z Chapter is also a strong qualifier. Like Giovanni and Cyrus he's suave, intelligent, stylish and ruthless, and like Ghetsis, has a back-up plan that he launches immediately once his initial master plan fails.
 * Michio Yuki from MW. He kidnaps his victims in order to extract money from the corrupt politicians who covered up the titular chemical warfare that took away his conscience. He even impersonates the women he killed as part of his plan.
 * Miyo Takano from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni certainly counts. She masterminded the events of the first six arcs, and loves frightening people with tales of Hinamizawa's past. Definitely a Magnificent Bitch. Also manages to be COMPLETELY EVIL (but mostly because of what the orphanage leader, Nomura, and Tokyo did to her).
 * Interestingly, Takano's magnificence is heavily influenced by a Bigger Bad and fellow Magnificent Bitch, her employer, Nomura, who also manages to be a Complete Monster at the same time. She demonstrated a plan to close up a company by tricking Takano into helping her and manipulating everything in order to cause the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, and nobody even seemed to notice that she was behind it all (which makes her a Karma Houdini as well). Another perfect example. Helps that she has a great evil voice provided by Rie Tanaka.
 * Shion Sonozaki tries her hand at being this in the first half Musubienishi-hen, disguising herself as her sister to manipulate Keiichi into pretending to be her boyfriend and hero. At least until she resigns from her mischief after Keiichi blows her cover and realizes who she really is, after which she really opens up to him in tears after hearing him say "That's why... this one's on me..." before his loss of consciousness. She displayed further shades of this trope in Meakashi-hen where her premeditated torture and killing spree in the name of getting answers and taking revenge on those who'd wronged her and her beloved Satoshi ends up a complete success, leaving the entire main cast sans Rena dead.
 * Similarly, Umineko no Naku Koro ni gives us Beatrice, an Anti-Villain with standards who, as a Game Master, often clashes with Battler and uses magic to elegantly commit a series of bizarre murders on Rokkenjima. She's truly impressed by Battler's performance, and often looks for ways to make him surrender as best as possible. Oh, and she's also a Laughably Evil Large Ham.
 * Bernkastel counts as well., and ? She definitely deserves a praise for those. Notably, like Nomura,.
 * And what about Lambdadelta? Her plan is to "trap" Bernkastel by making the battle between Battler and Beatrice last for eternity, which seems to be successful.
 * Higanbana of her self-titled series counts as well. Offering Marie a chance to become Mesomeso and acting as a villain against heroic characters or an Anti-Hero against villainous characters is definitely saying something.
 * Perhaps the most impressive and villainous character in Mon Colle Knights happens to be Redda, the Big Bad and final villain. He has a deviously cruel sense of chessmastery and mastery of manipulation, is Bishounen in appearance (especially behind that scary mask of his), and shows a nice Xanatos Gambit . Another perfect example of a villain that happens to be both this and a Complete Monster, so much that even the Laughably Evil Terrible Trio of Villains Out Shopping fear him.
 * Now,.
 * Altena from Noir plays the Mama Bear role for the young saplings. However, she intentionally manipulates both the Sodats and the three saplings (Kirika, Chloe and Mireille), in order to achieve her master plan—which is to recreate the bloody history of the Sodats. She's completely dedicated and willing to die for her goal. And in the end, she does.
 * Naraku from Inuyasha is definitely one, if you can look past his For the Evulz and Villain Ball tendencies, or his frequent Villain Sue Karma Houdini status. Especially during the Mt. Hakurei Arc, in which he manipulated a priest and a powerful group of super powered bandits into becoming his Quirky Miniboss Squad with a few words to earn their loyalty.
 * Keima from The World God Only Knows can be argued to be one when he is in "God of Conquest" Mode. Even when certain events happen that confuse other characters, he simply interprets them as "flags/events" and proceeds as planned. Even for something as inconsequential as Shiori quietly yelling at him for being a jerk.
 * There's even a point in the manga where Haqua looks at a giant stack of notes Keima wrote as "The Demon of Conquest" and finds that he has written stage directions as well as lines for every single possibility that would occur during the event. All for a quick 5-minute chat.
 * Shogo Makishima from Psycho Pass is Wicked Cultured and highly knowledgeable in literature, music, theater and ass-kicking (he at first seems like a Non-Action Big Bad, but turns out to be a Blood Knight who is simply bored of most fights because almost no one is good enough to land a hit on him). He desires to bring down the Sibyl System that controls the futuristic Dystopia he lives in, at any cost. He also enjoys getting people to submit to their worst impulses and then disposes of them once they've lost his interest. Despite being villainous for that last part, he does care for people in his own twisted way....he believes the Sibyl System has regressed humanity by suppressing humanity's darker instincts along with their freedom of expression and ability to make their own choices. Makishima is also a master of Xanatos Speed Chess, the Indy Ploy, making allusions to classic literature (especially Dystopian literature) and making "The Reason You Suck" Speech to anyone. To top that off, he is an Übermensch who is literally unable to be judged by the slave morality of his world (the Sibyl System), similar to how Nietzsche himself described the Übermensch. He also becomes a Hero Killer as well, both in that the protagonists take extra caution when dealing with him and the literal sense.
 * Attack On Titan gives us Erwin Smith, the Commander of the Survey Corps. Drawing partial inspiration from the tropenamer, Erwin is a handsome and charismatic leader, noted to always lead from the front and hailed as a strategic genius for greatly improving the survival odds of the army he commands. He is also completely and utterly ruthless, willing to do whatever it takes for the good of humanity -- described in the narrative as a man willing to cover his hands in blood and a man willing to throw away his humanity to win against monsters. Even with humanity facing utter extinction and many a Pyrrhic Victory, Erwin stays cool as a cucumber and remains unshaken in his resolve. When brought before a council and told to explain himself, he states without hesitation that his plan -- which left a major city badly damaged and many dead among both the military and civilian population -- was a success. The council is forced to agree with his reasoning and let him keep his command.
 * Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott in Date A Live developing a gambit to throw Tohka Yatogami over the edge of the Despair Event Horizon and invoke her Inverse Form that he's been trying to harness after thinking up several ways to get her to do so, including Cold-Blooded Torture. He also goes on a long and detailed list on what he would do Tohka in order to push her to the brink, like electrocution, oxygen deprivation, peeling her nails, ripping out her teeth, and trample her dignity as woman. He subtly manipulates everyone to get what he wants. First, trying to murder Shido just to evaluate Inverse Form Tohka's power. Then, when Roger Murdoch and a few other DEM executives conspire to remove him by all means necessary, he indirectly forces Shido and the Spirits into foiling the assassination plan, given they had to prevent said plan from causing any harm to the city.
 * Takamura Mamouru from Hajime no Ippo and HOW...
 * Blood-C has
 * Director Kakuzawa from Elfen Lied. He practically has everything fall into his hands, has people dance in the palm of his hands and almost always has a stoic face and lets little bother him. He's practically a textbook example of what a good corporate villain might be like and one can't deny that he's got some style. Whether it’s using his own employees like pawns, firing off vector virus missiles or having a second diclonius son at the ready, he seems Crazy Prepared for pretty much anything.
 * Fairy Tail has Future Rogue. The guy manipulated the entire Fiore Royal Family into using an Artifact of Doom powered by Zeref's magic and Celestial Spirit Magic by telling them it would save their country from a swarm of dragons coming to destroy them. In reality, using the Artifact of Doom was what caused the dragons to appear, and he promptly used a Compelling Voice spell to force the dragons into becoming his submission, as part of a ploy to kill Acnologia and take his place as the Dragon King. The dragons he summons proceed to curb-stomp the very mages whose magic is designed to kill them, while Future Rogue wipes the floor with Natsu. The only reason his plan didn't succeed was due to The Power of Friendship causing one of his dragons to rebel against him.
 * In Jackals, Lee Mei Lang is so skilled and awesome in her villainy that you can't help but root for the total bitch she is.
 * Even better, the reason she took over Tennouren to begin with was to destroy every gang in the city including her own. All in order to essentially gain an ARMY * . To wit, she and her spider-whip henchgirl are the only people to walk away from the gang wars completely unscathed.
 * JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has no shortage of examples, with the most obvious being Dio Brando. His entire character motivation is to make the protagonist's life a living hell, and he's willing to kill puppies to do it. And that's before they've even started high school.
 * Satsuki Kiruyin from Kill la Kill. She takes advantage of Ryuko Matoi's arrival at Honouji Academy, using Ryuko's battles with her Absurdly Powerful Student Council to make the final adjustments to her Goku Uniforms to stage a full scale invasion of Japan, while also purging the system of any dissenters for good measure. Ryuko herself points it out!
 * Gyokuen Ren from Magi Labyrinth of Magic is not called the Ko empire's witch for nothing. She married the emperor and gave him four children. She then lit an arson in which she had the emperor and their two eldest son burn in the fire with the youngest son watching in order to nurture his rage and desire for revenge. She then married the new emperor, her brother-in law. All this allowed her to extend her influence in the world and cause many wars with her evil cult to advance her plan. She also kidnapped Judar, the new magi, just when he was born to have him open dungeons for the empire army in order to reinforce the empire. Then, she poisoned her new husband after making him write a last will that decrees her the new empress of the most powerful country in the world. Then it is revealed total insane magnificent bitch indeed.
 * Kazutaka Muraki from Yami no Matsuei - where should I start? He's handsome, rich, works as a famous cardiac surgeon, wears mostly white clothes and is seen as an "angel" by most people. He's also a sadistic murderer, rapist and manipulative bastard. Basically, if something bad happens, you can be almost certain he had his hand in it. Did I mention that his main "goal" in "life" is to bring his dead brother back to life using the body of one of the main characters...just so he could kill his brother by himself?. Oh, and he loves porcelain dolls.
 * He debatably loses much of his magnificence once his most revolting crimes become known and he starts showing more Smug Snake and Complete Monster traits beneath his charming facade.
 * Seryu Ubiquitous from Akame ga Kill! developed a backup strategy during her fight with Mine and Sheele in case she was in a jam, ordering Coro to enter Berserker mode and try to crush the life out of Mine, which forced Sheele to come to her rescue only to get shot from behind by her by surprise. And that's not all; she even called for backup from the Imperial guards beforehand. She truly proved herself to be one step ahead of the good guys in that fight, and from her laugh as Coro munched on Sheele in the aftermath of the fight, you could just tell that she was enjoying said victory. She was even able to beat down Mine during her second showdown with her with her own hands in a series of punches when her other weaponry failed against her. In fact, had it not been for the damage done to her body, she definitely would've killed Mine that way.
 * In Ao No Fuuin, we have Takao. His entire actions throughout the story were either orchestrated or predicted by him. Takao is the one who cloned Rago, bringing about the heroine Soko. His role as the Genbu has him work to protect Soko and he uses her to resurrect the Oni tribe, the reason she was cloned for to begin with. Despite Soko refusing to willingly do so, he either forces her to do it or brainwashes her with his Mind Manipulation. And even when it looks like Soko finally got away from him and can be happy with Akira, Takao isn't concerned. He knows Soko is too responsible and will return to his side. And even when he's about to be killed, he makes sure his final words will stop her from abandoning the Oni tribe and take up her duty as their leader. This guy is good!
 * Sgt Frog: One manga had Momoka's father try to force her into another private school, causing Fuyuki and the others to stand up to him. The end reveals that Dark Momoka planned the whole thing. She told her dad that she wanted to go to a private school so he could meet and gain respect for Fuyuki.
 * Tokyo Ghoul and its sequel has several of these running around.
 * The Clown Gang. In a Cruel Twist Ending to the original series, it turns out that they have been around the entire time and manipulating everyone. Uta and Itori have spent the series steering Kaneki along through various encounters, with Roma spying on Anteiku, Nico spying on Aogiri and later giving Kaneki information about them to steer him along, and Souta being the one that dropped the steel beams on Rize and started the whole thing. In the sequel, they begin messing with the heroes again for purposes still not fully understood.
 * The One-Eyed Owl, Eto / Sen Takatsuki. There since the very beginning, they've been quietly manipulating events. Even when they seemingly lose, they still manage to come out with some gain while further sowing seeds of discord and doubt in everyone involved. Along the way, they've managed to manipulate Hinami into her eventual Face–Heel Turn, plant seeds of doubt in Amon's mind about the CCG, made Kuro and Shiro realize they were being manipulated by Dr. Kanou, manipulated Takizawa and Kanae into fighting a mentally-unstable Sasaki, and (in the anime at least) exposed Anteiku in order to capture her father and create a power vacuum in Tokyo.
 * In the sequel, we have Nimura Furuta. Seemingly a minor background character, they turn out to be a sinister Red Herring Shirt that masterfully manipulates everyone around them. Mid-battle, he casually drops the meek and clumsy personality......by shoving a comrade into the path of a fatal blow, and using it to take down Matsumae. He reveals that he knows Tsukiyama from his days at the Ghoul Restaurant, and cheerfully kills Matsumae before using her kagune to finish off the only witness. By the time backup arrives, he's beaten himself up and tells a sob story about being the only survivor. This fools his superiors, and he pretends to become hysterical with grief over the death of his partner.....but is actually laughing over it all.