History LightIsNotGood / AnimeAndManga

* Johan Liebert of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' is so bright and beautiful looking that he could almost be mistaken for an angel, and indeed, the aura he gives off is one of almost unmistakable lightness. He's also the title character and his deeds fit his name, as he goes around killing tons of people and manipulating others into villainy ForTheEvulz.

** Another example is that of the AffablyEvil MadBomber, Zolf J. Kimbley. Kimbley wears a pure white suit, has a pair of alchemical circles drawn on his hands that involves the sun and moon, both symbols of light, and his fighting style [[StuffBlowingUp creating quite a bit of light as a side-effect.]]

* Arthur Angel, the current paladin of an order of exorcists in ''Manga/BlueExorcist''. He is described by Shura as "a saint on the outside and a devil on the inside", and at best he's a {{Jerkass}} who puts HonorBeforeReason and has a bad case of FantasticRacism. His MoralEventHorizon was arguably when he ''cut off [[AntiAntiChrist Rin's]] foot'' just to keep him in place. [[WouldHurtAChild Rin is fifteen]].

* Ezekiel Stane from ''[[Anime/IronManRiseOfTechnovore Iron Man: Rise of Technovore]]'', Is a light haired villain with a biblical name and Wears white, He also has a white throne and his Technovore form is all white.

** Orochimaru [[spoiler: and later Kabuto]] have deathly white skin to mimic the traits of a [[SnakesAreSinister white snake]]. However they were among the most conniving and formidable villains of the series. So it's understandable that trusting them, after their apparent [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turn]] doesn't come easily.

** During his time as [[spoiler: the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki, Obito]] is clad almost completely in white, which also becomes his skin and hair color. When [[spoiler: Madara becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, his face and hair are white and his clothes are also almost completely white.]] The trend of a white-clad villain is later continued by [[spoiler: Kaguya, the series' GreaterScopeVillain]].
** [[spoiler: Most members of the Otsutsuki clan are this since they are aliens with mostly white skin and almost completly white clothing and are the mostly serve the main villains of the series, with a few exceptions of course]].

** A lot about the Marines and World Government play with this trope, from the white uniforms of the Marines to the Five Elder ''Stars'', the leaders of the World Government. The Tenryuubito (Heavenly/Celestial Dragons) who provide the authority behind the World Government are also like this, heavenly titles, revered as gods, all referred to as "Saints" who live in a Holy Land, and most of them are utterly irredeemable.

** All Living non-exiled members of the Holy Knights with the exception of the titular sins have shown themselves to be anything but holy. In one episode alone, one knight insulted and then shut down a town's livelihood for no other reason than a thought passing through his head. A later episode showed a group of knights having no trouble kidnapping a little girl for blackmail material against her father, [[spoiler:and killing said father when the poison he gave Meliodas failed to kill him]] and raining acid on the town to eliminate a target.

* The IneffectualLoner brigade "X Laws" in ''Manga/ShamanKing'' all had angels as their spirits. And they did some pretty horrible stuff, being {{Knight Templar}}s who beat and kill people just so they wouldn't join Hao. Also, in the manga, one of their [[spoiler: original founding]] members defects to join Hao... and this defector used the angel Lucifer as his spirit.

** The main antagonist for most of the Soul Society arc was [[AloofBigBrother Byakuya Kuchiki]]. As a Captain, he wears a white haori over his black uniform. His power is defined by his white Reiatsu which transforms into pure white attacks when his sword releases.[[note]]In the anime, the color of his power was changed to pink for all attacks except the final White Emperor Sword attack. In the manga, all of his attacks are white[[/note]]

** The Quincy uniform is pure white, although their [[BigBad leader]], [[GodEmperor Yhwach]], hides that uniform behind a dark maroon colored cape. He wields the power of Light, but every time he brings forth the Light, it's to kill. The most significant use of his Light is used to destroy the Quincies themselves, calling back their power so he can redistribute it among himself and any living Quincies of his choice. During the Vandenreich's second invasion, he briefly swaps his maroon cape with the usual white-colored white cape worn by the Quincy before changing it back when he prepares to invade the Soul King's Palace. When he assimilates Mimihagi and the Soul King, he completely abondons the light-themed colors of the Quincy in favor the powers of darkness he received from the Soul King.
* Solomon from ''Anime/BloodPlus'' is an angelic blonde bishounen that more often than not wears a white suit. Needless to say that he's also one of [[BigBad Diva]]'s [[OurVampiresAreDifferent chevaliers]].

* [[SpidersAreScary The Spider Family]] from ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' had mostly white features with the Daughter, Mother and Rui dressed entirely in the color. Each one were powerful demons on their own, with Rui being the strongest among them. Sadly they were an example of both a [[TragicVillain vicious and tragic gathering]], that turned an entire forest into their hunting ground.

** Broly, in terms of movie villains. Adorned in holy-looking clothing. Apparently mild-mannered and harmless. An incredible mass of repressed unstable rage and monstrous power which bursts open and crushes everything in sight including his own father once he's seen Kakarot (Son Goku) again for even ten minutes.

** Angel of the Oracion Seis appears in a feathery white dress and pretty much lives up to her name in appearance. In terms of personality, though... [[WhiteHairBlackHeart not so much]]. It's taken up a notch in the Key of the Starry Heavens arc in the anime, where she summons ''literal angelic beings'' to do her bidding with golden coins in a flash of white light.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[BigBad Father]] is a noble looking old man with white hair and who dresses all in white, and in the ''Brotherhood'' anime actually seems to glow with white light. That being said, [[spoiler:his true form is an EldritchAbomination LivingShadow -- so he's actually more like DarkIsEvil]]. He later [[spoiler:succeeds with his plans and reshapes his body into looking like a young Hohenheim, meaning that he became a long haired, angelic-looking male teenager, going back to playing this trope straight]].
** This trope is also present in the form of certain religion related characters. For instance, the first villain faced is a [[CorruptChurch priest]], Father Cornello, who maintains the guise of a kind old man when his real intentions are quite megalomaniac. [[KnightTemplar Scar]] probably fits as well, though he becomes an AntiHero.

** The Crusade that was assembled when the Nazi Vampires [[spoiler: destroyed most of London]]. They not only looked like a cross between the historical KnightTemplar and members of the Ku Klux Klan, but their mission wasn't to [[spoiler: eliminate the vampires and save London,]] it was to [[spoiler:eliminate the vampires and KILL EVERY PROTESTANT IN ENGLAND.]]

* Ezekiel Stane from [[Anime/IronManRiseOfTechnovore Iron Man: Rise of Technovore]], Is a light haired villain with a biblical name and Wears white, He also has a white throne and his Technovore form is all white.

** J. Geil from ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' has the [[FightingSpirit Stand]], Hanged Man, a ball of light that can bounce off and manifest in reflections. J. Geil, however, is a grotesque SerialKiller, and Hanged Man's humanoid form resembles a sinister-looking mummy with a BladeBelowTheShoulder.

** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist In the first anime]], there is [[spoiler:Hohenheim of the Light]], a man who for centuries murdered countless people to either steal their bodies or make philosopher's stones, before [[LoveRedeems ultimately reforming.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', [[WhiteHairBlackHeart Griffith]] is a godlike demon who would willingly offer his best friend's life for power ([[spoiler: he has, in fact, having sacrificed the Band of the Hawk in order to become a Godhand]]) and is said to bring about an "age of darkness" which definitely does not sound nice. He appears to people in dreams as a hawk surrounded by light and is appropriately called the Hawk of Light by the Pope of this world.

** Lucemon from ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' was most definitely a version of this. He's an insane NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist who claims that he loves humanity and Digimon and will destroy and remake them to create a better world, but he only wants power for the sake of and that all lowly Digimon and humans bow before him like God. He also had Darkness-based powers, but started out pure Light and uses both together in his second form. The Royal Knights, being Holy Knights with light-oriented powers who serve Lucemon, also fit.

** Lucemon from ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' was most definitely a version of this; it also had Darkness-based powers, but started out pure Light. He uses both together in his second form. The Royal Knights, being Holy Knights with light-oriented powers who serve Lucemon, also fit.

** One of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Digimon of the Week]] near the end of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' is a [=ClavisAngemon=], a Digimon who is explicitly from the ''Angemon line''. Not only very few antagonists in the series are angelic Digimon like him, the Angemon line is also usually more in-line with morally white Digimon. It's actually nowhere near as bad as the other qualifiers of this trope though, since the worst he does is to settle inside an apartment alongside a huge group of Digimon and letting them freak the original tenants out.

** One of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Digimon of the Week]] near the end of ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'' is a [=ClavisAngemon=], a Digimon who is explicitly from the ''Angemon line''. Not only very few antagonists in the series are angelic Digimon like him, the line is usually more in-line with heroic Digimon. It's actually nowhere near as bad as the other qualifiers of this trope though, since the worst he does is to settle inside an apartment alongside a huge group of Digimon and letting them freak the original tenants out.

* Lucemon from ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' was most definitely a version of this; it also had Darkness-based powers, but started out pure Light. He uses both together in his second form.
** The Royal Knights, being Holy Knights with light-oriented powers, also fit.
** [=SlashAngemon=] would be another example.

* In the prologue of one of the ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' books, a 12-year-old runaway is found by a man. Said man is [[{{bishonen}} androgynously beautiful]], dressed almost entirely in white and (thanks to a trick of the light) appears to even be glowing. Is it an angel? Nah, it's Huey Laforet -- terrorist and MadScientist who just so happened to be looking for "raw materials" for some [[ForScience very morally questionable experiments]].

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'': The first enemies the Gremory Group faces are the fallen angels, immortal beings who can create weapons of light. This light is incredibly strong to the devils, the story's [[DarkIsNotEvil main protagonists.]]
* The majority of Paladins from ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'' are extreme zealots of the Church of Celestials, who consider their actions as holy and just, despite how twisted their actions are.

* In ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'', morality and fashion sense/powers don't always mesh:

* Spoofed in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', when Amelia, right in the middle of a villain's grand appearance, declares that he can't possibly be the bad guy because he's wearing white, whereupon the other characters collectively facepalm.
* [[spoiler: The Sword of Light]] from ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}''. ''Slayers Try'' reveals that it is actually one of a set of five weapons from another dimension that are that dimension's equivalent of the Five Dark Lords.

* ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'' is another classic example of this: The "Enemy of the World" is a blond {{bishonen}} with six white wings, who dresses all in long white robes and is first seen standing atop the enormous cross which hovers over the Vatican. The hero, in contrast, is a white-haired pretty boy with black wings who dresses all in black and wields a scythe made of his own blood.

* Ryo Asuka from ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' wears nothing but white clothes, his apartment and car are completely white in color, [[spoiler: and his angel form consists of purely white skin and wings]]. However, sociopathic, has no capability of feeling empathy, is driven purely by logic, doesn't think highly of humans, and has shades of bloodlust. [[spoiler: It doesn't help that he's the BigBad of the series.]]

** Dust Release/Particle Style is this by ability alone. It's a very exclusive transformation of earth, wind and fire elements, forming a shapeable [[LightEmUp beam of light]]. Mostly it was wielded by the Tsuchikage, as a devastating [[OneHitKill One-Hit Kill]] as it literally vaporizes the victim completely.

* [[SpidersAreScary The Spider Family]] from ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' had mostly white features with the Daughter, Mother and Rui dressed entirely in the color. Each one were powerful demons on their own, with Rui being the strongest among them. Sadly they were an example of both a [[TragicVillain vicious and tragic gathering]], that turned an entire forest into their hunting ground.

** VillainProtagonist [[TheSociopath Light Yagami]] is this [[MeaningfulName quite literally]][[note]] Get it? [[DontExplainTheJoke Because his name is Light and the trope is ‘Light Is Not Good?’]][[/note]]. All of his symbolism in the opening credits, his speeches, and his ideals state that he is firmly Light-aligned. Yet his method for purifying society (kill all criminals), and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness the way he deals with those around him]], peg him clearly as the series' BigBad. His powers aren't directly Light-inspired, though everything else about him is. For added melodrama, "Yagami" means "night god". {{Word of God}} states that the reason Light became so evil was because he '''was''' [[PureIsNotGood so pure to begin with.]] Light was so squeaky-clean that he ''[[GoodCannotComprehendEvil couldn't understand]]'' how some people could be so cruel and self-centered, and so evil's very existence in the real world threw him all the way off his axis and off the deep end. He couldn't think of any other method of dealing with evil other than pure, unrestrained slaughter, no matter the cost, and he [[HeWhoFightsMonsters became a million times worse than the kind of people he sought out to destroy.]]

** VillainProtagonist [[TheSociopath Light Yagami]] is this [[MeaningfulName quite literally]]. All of his symbolism in the opening credits, his speeches, and his ideals state that he is firmly Light-aligned. Yet his method for purifying society (kill all criminals), and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness the way he deals with those around him]], peg him clearly as the series' BigBad. His powers aren't directly Light-inspired, though everything else about him is. For added melodrama, "Yagami" means "night god". {{Word of God}} states that the reason Light became so evil was because he '''was''' [[PureIsNotGood so pure to begin with.]] Light was so squeaky-clean that he ''[[GoodCannotComprehendEvil couldn't understand]]'' how some people could be so cruel and self-centered, and so evil's very existence in the real world threw him all the way off his axis and off the deep end. He couldn't think of any other method of dealing with evil other than pure, unrestrained slaughter, no matter the cost, and he [[HeWhoFightsMonsters became a million times worse than the kind of people he sought out to destroy.]]

* Licht from ''Manga/BlackClover''. He is glittery and bright {{Bishonen}} who uses some kind of light magic, often brightens an area simply by being there, and is dressed in white. He's also a dangerous leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, a group of would-be revolutionary terrorists.

* ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' has [[DarkActionGirl Annie]] own an Espeon. The result is a Pokemon that's associated with the sun in the mitts of a haughty and ruthless {{Jerkass}}.

** Freeza. His main colors? Pink, purple, and white. Especially in his final form; he's like a bastion of whiteness. In regular demeanor he's completely regal. And he is indeed the lord. Of an intergalactic organization of planet pirates responsible for multiple genocides, ''including at least one of a race that worked for him at the time.''
*** However, Freeza is more of a subversion in his second form, since he has a much more diabolical appearance than in its final form, with resemblance to Satan.

** The main antagonist for most of the Soul Society arc was [[AloofBigBrother Byakuya Kuchiki]]. As a Captain, he wears a white haori over his black uniform. His power is defined by his white Reiatsu which transforms into pure white attacks when his sword releases.[[note]]In the anime, the color of his power was changed to pink for all attacks except the final White Emperor Sword attack. In the manga, all of his attacks are white[[/note]]
** [[BrokenAce Sosuke Aizen]] and his army of [[EliteMooks Arrancar]] all wear predominantly white clothing, though unlike the Quincies below, this relates to white being the color of death in East Asian culture as it is the color of bone (which Hollow masks resemble). When he fuses with the Hogyoku, he assumes several OneWingedAngel forms with a majorly white appearance, with his third form in particular, resembling an angelic being.

* The Hyuga clan of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' often dresses in white, and many of their names have to do with the sun or other sources of light. However, the leadership of the clan oppresses the branch house with a curse mark that can cause great pain or kill those with it when it's activated, and some members of the branch house possess resentment toward the head family that can be potentially murderous. Despite this, it is implied that Hiashi, current head of the clan, is rethinking the role of the main and branch families, especially after Hizashi sacrificed himself for the sake of his brother and village rather than the head family, and the current heiress, Hinata, is a kind individual who cares for the members of the branch family.
** During his time as [[spoiler: the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki, Obito]] is clad almost completely in white, which also becomes his skin and hair color. When [[spoiler: Madara becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, his face and hair are white and is clothes are also almost completely white.]] The trend of a white-clad villain is later continued by [[spoiler: Kaguya, the series' GreaterScopeVillain]].

** During his time as [[spoiler: the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki, Obito]] is clad almost completely in white, which also becomes his skin and hair color. When [[spoiler: Madara becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, his face and hair are white and is clothes are also almost completely white.]] The trend of a white-clad villain is later continued by [[spoiler: Kaguya, the series' GreaterScopeVillain]]. [[spoiler: In fact, most members of the Otsutsuki clan are this since they are aliens with mostly white skin and almost completly white clothing and are the mostly serve the main villains of the series ]].

** During his time as [[spoiler: the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki, Obito]] is clad almost completely in white, which also becomes his skin and hair color. When he [[spoiler: becomes the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki, Madara's clothes are also almost completely white.]] The trend of a white-clad villain is later continued by [[spoiler: Kaguya, the series' GreaterScopeVillain]].

** [[TheManBehindTheMan Ragyo Kiryuin]] is possibly one of the most [[ExaggeratedTrope extreme cases]] of this trope in anime that isn't an outright EldritchAbomination. For starters, she has [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white hair]] with [[MulticoloredHair glowing rainbow highlights,]] a wardrobe completely filled all-white [[PimpedOutDress Pimped-Out Dresses,]] and a [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows rainbow-colored]] HolyBacklight coming from four unidentifiable places at once. Although, in the midst of the light, her appearance/face/[[HiddenEyes eyes are darkened]]. She's also a CorruptCorporateExecutive that wants to [[OmnicidalManiac exterminate all human life]] because [[spoiler: an ancient MagicMeteor [[AliensAreBastards told her to do it]]]], but that's secondary [[EvilMatriarch to her parenting skills.]] Just TakeOurWordForIt: Ragyo is a [[AbusiveParents really,]] [[ParentalIncest really,]] '''[[ParentalAbandonment really]] [[WouldHurtAChild bad mom.]]'''

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:Kyubey is a small, white [[CuteIsevil adorable creature]]. He also tricks innocent girls into becoming [[EldritchAbomination witches]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist to stop the universe from being destroyed by entropy]]]]. There's a reason [[FanNickname fans call this character "The White Devil."]]