The subject of this? list has likely been the most memefied of all time, but that's likely the work of the villains and traitors who want to make their vile crimes seem more passable ??via the filter of easy Internet laughter. That shall not pass.

Anime is everyone's go??-to for over-the-top action and drama, meaning it also sets the perfect stage for some of the most heartbreak and revenge quest-inciting moments of all time. Let's take an actual serious look at the vilest betrayals in the history of anime.

10. Aizen is actually evil, but actually cooler than you knew (Bleach)

Aizen betrays the soul society to reveal not that he was working with the bad guys, but that he was the bad guy. Aizen then goes on to pull his hair back and toss his glasses away, giving us the second surprise reveal that he??'d been a total chad the entire time. This is an awesome betraya?l that even mimics the popular Hollywood trend of showing the culprit's supposed corpse beforehand an attempt to throw audiences off.

I'm not giving Aizen's betrayal a low ranking beca?use I think it's bad. I'm giving it a low r??ank because I think it's actually a pretty cool betrayal and one that's not heartbreaking at all.

9. Frieza turns on the Saiyans (Dragon Ball Z)

This is one of the best betrayals in anime history because on top of showing true villainy, it also reveals the villain's greatest shortcomings. Though incredibly powerful and respected by the Sayians, Frieza's fear that they'll turn on him has him deciding to destroy t?heir home pl??anet in an attempt to kill all birds with one energy ball.

It's a cute idea, though Frieza probably should've put more thought into the part where he willingly leaves ??Prince Vegeta, the most vengeful and most powerful known Sayian threat to Frieza's rule, out of his murderous plan.

Reiner and Bertholdt (Attack On Titan)

The events of Attack On Titan are kickstarted by the Colossal and Armored Titans, two of the most powerful villains that we encounter throughout the entire series. They show up numerous times to spread death and destruction??, then vanish before getting caught or killed.

The whole thing seems fishy from the get-go, but viewers are struck by a punch in the gut whe?n they learn that these aren't just brainless monsters, nor even full-time Titans. These are actually the Titan forms of Reiner and Bertholdt, two people you'd expect to be fighting agains?t the Titan threat.

7. Itachi does a mass murder (Naruto)

Ninjas are no stranger to killing, but there's killing your enemies and then there's killing your own folk.? Itachi doesn't seem to make that distinction, as he conducts the massacre of h??is own clan.

??In Itachi's defense, he does it out of self-preservation and to save his little brother. This gives this character way more depth than what one would expect from someone responsible for this kind of deed.

6. Ultimate Walter is a completely different guy (Hellsing Ultimate)

Walter spends most of the show being the efficient Butler/handyman of Integra Hellsing in the Millenium organization, then has a change of heart that puts the main characters in serious jeopardy. By itself, this isn't a huge betrayal because turns out he's actually evil because he'd been brainwashed, but it gains a lot of weight if you've known the previous iteration of Hellsing.

Before Hellsing Ultimate, there was just Hellsing, another highly popular anime in which Walter stays loyal to the "good guys" until the end, e??????????????????????????ven nearly sacrificing his own life out of loyalty to the cause.

5. Kaworu loves Shinji but has second intentions (Evangelion)

Kaworu is such a famous character that it's hard to believe he only shows up in one episode of the original Evangelion. He and Shinji, the main character, share the closest Shinji ever has to a ??real friendship, but it just doesn't last.

It turns out that Kaworu is an angel, and his objective is to reach the base of NERV's head?quarters. Even though he's there to pretty much end the world as we know it, his feelings for Shinji are true, which makes this one of the most bittersweet betrayals in anime.

4. Kyubei is the worst cat (Madoka Magica)

What ??if the fairy godmother ??was an evil mischievous being who only "helped" to suit her ulterior motives? That's more or less the hidden premise of Madoka Magica, a story a seemingly cute cat asks girls if they want the power to fight an important battle against evil.

Who would say no to cool anime powers? The problem is that Kyubei doesn't immediately state that those who accept will either have to fight forever or will become that evil ?themselves. Kyubei is less of an empowering mentor and more of a merchant of death who sells non-cures for the disease it's responsible for spreading.

3. Harry MacDowell shows his true colors (Gungrave)

Brandon Heat spends the first half of GunGrave helping his friend, Harry, get to the top of the Millenion, the largest criminal organization in the world. It's only when they're at the cusp of reaching their goal that Harry makes Brandon an offer he can't refuse. Still, Brandon doesn't immediately accept it, and that's more than enough for Harr??y to try to off Brandon right there and then. Harry's rash betrayal paves the way for Brandon's brutal revenge arc in the second half of the series.

Seeing the main character tru?sting his best friend against his better judgement, only to see his supposed best friend killing him off out of feeling offended is just rough.

2. Griffith sacrifices the band of the hawk (Berserk)

What makes this one of the most interesting betrayals of all time is that Griffith states at the very beginning of Berserk that he will do whatever i??t takes to achieve his dream. Still, we see him grow closer and closer to his men, especially Guts, which leads viewers to believe he's actually learned th??at there are more important things in life. Maybe he really did, but his luck takes a turn for the worse. Griffith finds himself tortured over the course of a year, losing most of his physical and likely mental capability in the process.

In the end, Griffith sacrifices everyone he supposedly loved just so he can become very powerful. This isn't one of the biggest betrayals in anime because it reveals a character in peak villainy mode, but because of the depth involved in his choice. In his positi??on, how many of us wo??uldn't at least feel very tempted to do the same?

1. Nina's fate (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Early in Fullmetal Alchemist, ?we're introduced to scientist Shou Tucker, his daughter Nina, and their dog. Everything seems fine at first, with the show giving us a few scenes that cement the daughter and ??the dog as characters you'd like to have around going forward.

That's not to be. Shou, out of all characters, reveals himself to be an absolute piece of crap who uses alchemy to merge the bodies of his daughter and their dog. You'd expect this show to come up with a happy resolution to this situation, but the best that it does is just put this new creature out of it??s misery. This whole subplot isn't just one of the saddest moments in anime, but one of the saddest that I can think of and my immediate go-to ??moment whenever someone asks me about a cruel twist.

What makes this the greatest betrayal in the short but intense history of anime isn't the fact that it's betraying the characters. The scientist never swore loyalty to Edward. You would, however, expect that he'd owe his daughter his love. In that scene, Fullmetal Alchemist is betraying the actual viewers, and the result is?? a wound that'll never heal.

The post Top 10 actual anime betrayals appeared first on Destructoid.

Gainax, the animation studio behind works such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann, has filed for bankruptcy.

According to the Automaton report and translation, Gainax acknowledged a May 29 Tokyo District Court fil??ing had been accepted. The company stated it??s cause for bankruptcy was due to mismanagement that began around 2012. Those troubles reportedly surfaced when management and executives began operating the company to suit their private goals, which involved various unprofitable ventures and taking out risky loans.

Hideaki Anno and Gainax

Evangelion series creator Hideaki Anno has always been known for having a complicated relationship with his work and especially its fans. The problem might've been caused or fueled by Gainax itself. Despite the success of Evangelion, Anno claims he ended up never receiving fair compensation for the profits the series had earned. Anno ended up leaving the ??company in 2??007.

Anno went on to form studio Khara, which then acquired the rights to Evangelion and made the Rebuild series. This all unfolded as part of Gainax's attempt to stay afloat by selling its popular IPs, but that was far from the p??ainless separation o??ne might have anticipated.

In 2019, Gainax president Tomohiro Maki was arrested for sexual misconduct. Anno had long departed the company, but was still associated with Gainax in the public eye. The Evangelion creator went on to publicly thank those affected for speaking out.

The slow end of Gainax

Though the studio is known for animating a library of classics over its 40 years of existence, it was never a stranger to turmoil. Even back in 1992, when Gainax was seemingly at the top of its game during the heyday of Evangelion, it saw the departure of important figures such as Shinji Higuchi, the known filmmaker and namesake of Evangelion's Shinji Ikari.

Mismanagement caused Gainax to enter a slow decline in the 2010s, ?and what kept it from going under before was the support received from Anno's Khara. Still, the company's leadership was incapable of dealing ??with the large amount of debt that the company had accumulated over many years of poor decisions.

It's disappointing to see the studio fall, but ultimately, it had been in decline for years before its financial ruin. The Gainax of 2024 is a stark contrast from the days of Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann.

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Remember the '90s? It's already been 50 years �provided you're reading this in 2040, that is. Jokes aside, one of the best thin?gs to break into the American mainstream in the '90s was anime, and it wasn't just because the markets demanded so.

The '90s saw the birth and growth of s??ome of the greatest and most influential anime in existence, so let's look at some of the best out??ings of that glorious time.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

If you were a kid watching anime in the '90s, it's likely that Neon Genesis Evangelion taught you the valuable lesson that anime, too, can introduce you to messed up-stuff you didn't expect to see in cartoon form. Even that's reductive, though, as Evangelion is so much more than ??just characters and viewers screaming ?into the void

Its dark imagery and themes are at the core of what makes Gainax's series special. Evangelion began its life as an answer to the popular mecha series of its time, in which there was always a super-powerful robot perfectly equipped to defeat all the enemies of humankind. Even when these mechas work well, there's always a toll, physical or psychological, to the literal children piloting them. Give this one a try if you want to have a lot of "mecha" action fun and are ready to deal with the consequences.

Watch on: Netflix

Serial Experiments Lain

You might not know this series, but you're very likely to have already seen the face of Lain, its protagonist, somewhere on the Internet. That's a very interesting testament to the staying power of this '90s anime about, among many other things, the random disconnect that some feared could engulf society with the predicted massification of Internet use. Lain was meant to serve as an inquisitive and thought provoking sci-fi tale, and it to??tally works as just that, but it's also one hell of a cautionary tale, if that's what you want it to be.

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime

Cowboy Bebop

American anime fans who don't care for American cartoons because "anime is made from the heart, whereas Transformers, He-Man and the like got shows because Hasbro and Mattel wanted to sell you toys" can't say that about Cowboy Bebop. The legendary genre-mixing and bridge building anime got greenlit as a ploy to sell �you won't guess it �spaceship toys, and it somehow still ended up as one of the best a??n??ime ever.

Even though it's over 20 years old now, the animation, the characters, the overall heart of the show and, obviously, the soundtrack, make Cowboy Bebop one of the most memorable experiences you can get ??out of all media.

Watch on: Hulu, Crunchyroll

Initial D

Whether or not it's the actual inspiration, watching Initial D for the first time nowadays might bring you to the realization that you're watching One Punch Man with cars. Yes, while I expected something along the lines of the anime version of Fast And Furious �another series it might have ?greatly inspired �I ended up getting a hilarious multi-series story about a young driver so good that his main challenge in life is his failure to care about racing as much as a??ll the drift sickos around him. The 3D-animated cars look a bit jarring at first, and the soundtrack is an acquired taste, but this classic never fails to bring in the laughter and the most thrilling racing moments ever put to the small or big screens.

Watch on: Hulu, Crunchyroll, Netflix

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon provided the perfect anime starting point for a bunch of '90s kids. It follows the monster-of-the week structure you see in so many American tv shows, but then becomes so much more. It's a comedy at heart, one that follows a legendary klutz who leads a great cast of characters, but, unlike the Pokémon series, Sailor Moon knows when to grow out of its original formula when the plot gets mo??re serious towards the end of each season.

Watch on: Hulu, Amazon Prime

Pokémon

Can you even remember the world before Pokémon? I can, and, even though I'm not the biggest Pokémon fan, I must admit that it simply was a less fun place. Pokémon started its one-two-punch quest for global domination with the Game Boy video games, but its anime companion also played a huge role into making Pokémon the juggernaut that it seemingly will never stop being. The plot of each episode is simple and formulaic ??enough that you could probably get a random generator to make them, but the characters and the cuteness make Ash's quest to become the greatest trainer in the world one of the most endearing series of all time.

Watch on: Netflix (season 1), Amazon Prime, YouTube

Dragon Ball Z

Even though DBZ began in �9, it had most of its run?? in the '90s, and it’s one of the first anime people talk about in conversation about '90s a??nime, so I doubt anyone will be bothered that I'm putting it here.

If there's a neverending debate surrounding who'd win in a fight between Goku and Superman, that's because Goku is the strongest fictional hero from Japan, yes, but also because he's its most popular. There's no comparison when it comes to a positive role model for men in anime (though there are far better parents out there!), nor a more influential shonen. Watch it for the legacy value, yes, but also because it remains an absolute blast to watch. Any person of my age can attest to that as we're all cursed to not be able to spend a whole month without re-watching some banger DBZ clips online.

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime

Berserk

Many series rule all the way to the end, only to culminate in the most lackluster manner imaginable. The original Berserk anime doesn't even have an actual ending, and its still one of the greatest anime of all time. This is one of the darkest and most well-realized anime ideations of European fantasy, and a known influence in the Souls series. Consider giving it a go s??o long as you're ok with some considerably disturbing imagery and themes.

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime

One Piece

One Piece only began airing in 1999, so it didn't really earn its juggernaut status in the '90s. Still, it's clearly the anime that learned more right lessons from Dragon Ball Z, and the one tha?t has been passing them on to so many other anime that came ?after.

If you're looking for a long-running shonen about pirates that will bring to you the biggest and coolest cast of characters and some of the most memorable moments in anime of the past three decades (and counting), then this is the one piece missing in your life for you.

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

Digimon Adventure

The original Digimon anime exists because of the success of Pokémon, but, like many of the greats, it's less of a ripoff and more of response. Whereas Pokémon went no further than just showing the daily life of a boy in a quest, Digimon kicked the formula into high gear by throwing a bunch of kids into a cool but incredibly dangerous world. No more waking up to hopefully capture a new Pokémon and earn a new gym badge.

These kids weren't having fun trying to capturing Digimon �they were the ones captured by the world of Digimon, and the only possible quest here was finding a way to escape it. The cast is great, the monster design is edgier and arguably cooler than that of Pokémon and the fights were just much more brutal. Digimon is darker, scarier, and, thus not just a great alternative to Pokémon, but an all-timer on its own right.

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

Yu Yu Hakusho

I haven't seen Yu Yu Hakusho, but editor Eric Van Allen warned me that the gods of old Anime might take offense from me not putting it on this list, so you can find his wo??rds on it below:

Yu Yu Hakusho is a classic, yet still somehow underrated compared to the other giants of shonen storytelling. Yusuke Urameshi's journey into the afterlife, becoming an Underworld Detective immersed in cases surrounding demons and ghosts in our world, holds up surprisingly well to this day. The art and animation is fantastic, and each battle is a joy to watch, especially in the excellent Dark Tournament arc. Sure, Goku has the Kamehameha, but Yusuke's Spirit Gun is its own kind of iconic. Anyone looking to understand how '90s anime turned a generation of Toonami watchers into anime aficionados should spend some time watching Yu Yu Hakusho.

- Eric Van Allen, known Toonami watcher

Watch on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

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