The Most Violent Yandere Characters in Anime

Key insights

• Yandere characters will go to extreme lengths – including violence – to ensure that their love interest is theirs alone.
• Her love knows no boundaries, which is evident in her obsessive and possessive nature towards her lover.
• Some Yandere characters have tragic pasts that fuel their obsessive behavior and lead to violent and dangerous consequences.

The “Yandere” is probably one of the most iconic character archetypes in anime and manga. Yandere characters obsess over their love interests to an unhealthy degree. They may be sweet and loving on the surface, but behind their sweet appearance lies a dangerously obsessive and sometimes violent streak.

For the Yandere, devotion knows no bounds, and they will do anything – even murder – to ensure that no one gets in the way of them and their “love.” In the darkest cases, they may even resort to killing their lover if their feelings are not reciprocated or if they face rejection.

10 Kaede Fuyou (Mix!)

I can't stand the thought of Rin ignoring her and becoming violent as a result

Kaede Fuyou's obsession with her childhood friend and protagonist Rin has its roots in a complicated past. She initially blamed Rin for her mother's death and suffered overwhelming guilt when she learned the truth. Since then, she has taken care of him exclusively to make amends for her past mistreatment.

She becomes increasingly afraid that Rin will ignore or abandon her, causing her to show a violent streak when other girls, especially Asa, approach him. Interestingly, Kaede's Yandere personality is missing from the original visual novel.

9 Misa Amane (Death Note)

Has no qualms about killing people using the Death Note on behalf of Light Yagami

As a famous pop star, Misa Amane's charming public image hides how messed up she is. She falls in love with mass murderer Light Yagami before she even meets him because he killed her parents' murderer. She is absolutely willing to do anything to win Light's affection, even threatening to kill any girl she sees with him.

Although she almost never commits direct violence, she uses her Death Note to kill criminals on behalf of Light. Unfortunately for her, Light shows little to no interest in her feelings, manipulating and using them to his own advantage.

8 Kotonoha Katsura (School Days)

A shy, reserved girl who desperately wants to make the protagonist love her

school days and his “Yandere Love Triangle” are infamous in the anime community. While Sekai Saionji is also a yandere, Kotonoha Katsura proves to be the more violent one. She begins the story as a shy, insecure high school student who falls in love with the protagonist, Makoto, and eventually falls off the slippery slope and becomes dangerously possessive.

Kotonoha is an example of the classic Yandere archetype, a sweet and love-struck girl who eventually descends into violence due to her romantic obsession. This culminates in the anime's infamous ending, in which she kills her romantic rival Sekai and cradles Makoto's severed head on a boat.

7 Esdeath (Akame Ga Kill!)

A sadistic torturer who wants total control over the protagonist

Esdeath is one of the scarier examples of a yandere who immediately falls in love with Tatsumi and decides that he must be hers at all costs. However, unlike other Yandere characters, Esdeath is more stoic and has her emotions under control even when torturing people.

She refuses to accept that Tatsumi doesn't return her feelings and continues to pursue him even after finding out that he is a member of Night Raid. As the series progresses, she becomes more and more desperate and even sets Tatsumi up for execution rather than let him be with someone else.

6 Karasu (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Dangerously obsessed with Kurama, to the point that he wanted to kill him

Karasu's attraction to Kurama is almost inseparable from his desire to kill him and have complete control over his fate. His obsession is less about romantic affection and more about a desire to dominate and ultimately destroy Kurama, which he disturbingly sees as an intimate act.

What makes him particularly scary is how calm and quiet he is when expressing his “love” and intentions for Kurama. Karasu is also a real sadist and enjoys playing mind games with his victims, especially Kurama.

5 Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia)

The desire to literally consume and become the people she “loves”.

Himiko Toga's quirk is ingesting people's blood to transform into them, so it's no wonder that she would be quite disturbed. In particular, her attitude towards love is rather violent and she believes that hurting someone and shedding their blood is a form of intimacy.

She develops a particular fixation on Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka, which leads to her obsessively pursuing them in order to “become” them. Due to her tragic childhood, she has a rather distorted view of love and affection, and she sees nothing wrong with her obsession with draining the blood of her targets.

4 Satou Matsuzaka (Happy Sugar Life)

Kidnaps the person she claims to love and will do anything to keep her close

Satou Matsuzaka is a particularly twisted example of a yandere, as her possessiveness targets an eight-year-old girl named Shio Kobe. Satou kidnaps the young girl in the name of “love” and she is willing to do anything, even murder, to keep her dependent and isolated.

Satou is desperate for the love and affection that she believes only Shio can provide. Her vision of a “happy sugar life” with Shio makes her vulnerable to extreme actions when that dream is threatened.

3 Shion Sonozaki (Higurashi When They Cry)

Family abuse led her to develop an unhealthy attachment to Satoshi and commit multiple murders in his name

Shion Sonozaki's transformation into a yandere is particularly tragic given her family's years of neglect and abuse. She falls head over heels in love with Satoshi because he was the first person to show her kindness. When Satoshi disappears, she takes it upon herself to avenge him.

She tortures and murders everyone she believes was involved in Satoshi's apparent death, including children and members of her own family. Most tragically, she regrets her actions too late, having already cost several innocent lives.

2 Yuno Gasai (Future Diary)

Her obsessive love for Yukiteru leads her to commit extreme and violent acts

Yuno Gasai is probably the most famous yandere in all of anime and manga, simply because her obsession is so intense and brutal. Yuno vows to “protect” her love interest Yukiteru Amano during the survival game of Deus Ex Machina, which for her means killing anyone who tries to get close to him.

Yuno's obsession with Yukiteru is all-encompassing, even showing that she values ​​no one but him. She also checks all the boxes of the typical Yandere – a girl who is sweet, girly and loving on the outside, but becomes dangerously possessive and obsessive when it comes to a love interest.

1 Lucy/Kaede (Elven Song)

Violent tendencies arise from a mix of tragic trauma and obsessive romanticism

Lucy is a fairly complex example of a Yandere given her multiple personalities. Her violent tendencies arise not just from an obsessive romance, but rather from a mixture of a traumatic childhood and her Diclonius nature. Her original personality as a child, Kaede, embodies the Yandere archetype the most.

Lucy, as Kaede, falls in love with the young Kouta because he is the first person to treat her kindly. When she finds out that Kouta attended a festival with his cousin Yuka, she becomes jealous and brutally kills Kouta's sister and father using her vectors. The only thing that stopped her from killing Yuka too was Kouta's screams for her to stop.