Arch Enemy / Anime & Manga

"Farewells, my archenemies. You were the only ones who could get in the way of fulfilling my destiny."

"I'll make you an offer: you're welcome to do whatever you please to Prince Vegeta... but the other one, Goku, is mine, and mine alone to destroy. You and Broly will leave his death up to me! You're very well-acquainted with the desire for revenge, so you'll understand that I want Goku's blood on my hands!"

— Frieza to Paragus, Dragon Ball Super: Broly

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A - D

• Akame ga Kill!:
  • The Revolutionary Army has the Empire and its de facto ruler Prime Minister Honest. The Empire is a corrupt an oppresive government the Revolutionary Army is rebelling against, and Honest is responsible for the Empire's corruption. The manga series ends with the Revolutionary Army giving Honest a Cruel and Unusual Death.
  • Tatsumi and Najenda have General Esdeath.
    • Esdeath seeks to force Tatsumi to become her lover or kill him if he refuses.
    • Najenda and Tatsumi were former colleagues in the Empire before Nejenda defected from the Empire. Additionally, Najenda lost an eye and arm because of Esdeath.
  • Akame has her sister Kurome, who remained loyal to the Empire after Akame's defection.
  • Mine has Seryu Ubiquitous, who kills her comrade Sheele.
• Kaneda and Tetsuo become this to each other in AKIRA after the latter's Face–Heel Turn upon going mad with power (Though later subverted in the end). The rivalry between the two would eventually give rise to the infamous, memetic Say My Name moments that make up most of their dialogue whenever they meet:
  TETSUOOOOO!!!
  KANEDAAAAA!!!
• Albegas: General Duston is this to Albegas. He looks down on humans and is shocked that an Earthern Super Robot can best his forces, and repeatedly tries to destabilize Earth by fighting it. Albegas uses his hatred to it's advantage by luring him into a trap, before slaying him for good.
• Baikinman from Soreike! Anpanman is Anpanman's Arch Enemy, who was born to fight Anpanman. However, Anpanman treats him as friendly as anyone else as long as he isn't causing trouble.
• The Aristocrat's Otherworldly Adventure: Cain von Silford has Aaron, an evil god responsible for the deaths of Seiya and Megumi Shiina, who were the parents of Cain's previous self Kazuya Shiina.
• Assassination Classroom: Koro-sensei has Shiro, whose experiments turned Koro-sensei into a time bomb.
• Attack on Titan:
  • The Nations of Marley and Eldia are this, dating back even 2,000 years ago when the original King Fritz of the latter nation took over the former, with one of its warriors being responsible for the death of Fritz's concubine (and greatest weapon) Ymir. The original's treatment of Eldia was so bad that when Karl Fritz became king, he conspires with the Tybur family to allow Marley in taking back the mainland and oppress the remaining Eldians as a means of payback, while Fritz takes his own batch of Eldians to Paradis Island as a corrupt form of Utopia, using a curse to prevent Marley from eventually invading the island many years later. By the time the main events of the series occur, Marley has pretty much become the Big Bad to all of the Paradis Eldians, being the ones responsible for turning their Eldians into Pure Titans and sending the Warriors (all of whom are elite Eldian soldiers to which they oppress) to infiltrate the island. When the Paradis Island Operation ends in failure and the island Eldians themselves find out about the history beyond the walls, both nations declare war on each other.
  • Eren Yeager and Reiner Braun. After the latter was revealed to be a spy trying to exterminate Mankind within the walls, Eren took that very personally. Reiner targets Eren because he holds the Founding Titan power and is a dangerous Shifter in general. Eren savagely hates all the Warriors but Reiner holds a special enmity in his heart because he was the Big Brother-figure to the 104th during training, and was also partly responsible for the destruction of Eren's hometown, which resulted in the death of his mother. Post-Timeskip, Eren is much calmer to Reiner and seems to understand him more. Of course, that doesn't stop them from trying to kill each other.
  • Levi, despite being humanity's strongest soldier, manages to have a couple adversaries that push him past his limit.
    • Zeke Yeager, big time, whose animosity towards each other only grows with each encounter and defeat. Levi especially hates his guts for killing so many of the people under his command, and for killing his closest friend, Erwin. For Zeke, Levi becomes such a persistent thorn in his side that the feeling is mutual. Even though they form some sort of an Enemy Mine when Zeke defects from Marley to Paradis, they still are prone to throw jabs at each other, and they clash a second time when Zeke once again betrays him by turning Levi's men into Pure Titans. It's also worth noting that Levi is the one to ultimately finish Zeke off by beheading him in the Final Battle (though Zeke pleads him to do it out of necessity in stoping Eren), whereas by blowing up the Thunder Spear, Zeke is the one that ultimately crippled Levi.
    • Levi also has Kenny Ackerman, his former father figure and uncle who eventually abandoned him after raising him enough to live on his own, and killed his comrade Nifa when they oppose each other. Both men clash numerous times in the Royal Government Arc, Kenny in particularly being Levi's Evil Counterpart (Levi an Ackerman working for the rebellious Scout Regiment, Kenny an Ackerman working for the corrupt Military Police). Though its worth noting that Levi has far less hatred to Kenny compared to Zeke, their last interaction where Kenny passes ending on a somber note.
  • Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman can be seen as this to Bertolt Hoover and Annie Leonhart respectively (though far from a lesser extent compared to Eren and Reiner), as both are direct Foils of each other.
    • Armin is the childhood Best Friend to Eren, much like Bertolt was to Reiner. Other similarities notwithstanding, they animosity increases in the Battle of Shinganshina when Bertolt Took a Level in Jerkass and not only gets into a verbal spat with Armin, but declares he will kill him alongside the rest of the Scouts. And when Bertolt does get into combat mode via Colossal Titan form, he charrs Armin to near-death only for it to be a Batman Gambit on the latter's end as he was providing a distraction for Eren to finish him off. It's all too fitting that Armin's Pure Titan is the one eating Bertolt, ultimately inheriting his power. However in the last arc, Armin ends up allying with Bertolt's spirit, pleading him (and his Titan) to help stop Eren in the Final Battle (which he does).
    • Mikasa is the female in the Shinganshina Trio, much like Annie is to the Warrior Trio. Even in their 104th days, they've already developed some sort of a rivalry with each other due to their similar combat skill and Mikasa's jealousy of Annie's closer relationship to Eren. In the Female Titan arc where Annie becomes the hidden Arc Villain, both gals do clash, in which Mikasa preventing Annie's escape leads to Eren beating the hell out of her titan form. In the last arc however, Mikasa and Annie form a truce as part of the alliance to stop Eren from unleashing the rumbling.
  • Rod Reiss is the Archnemesis Dad to his illegitimate daughter, Historia Reiss, who ultimately becomes his successor as Queen of the Walls. Reiss could care less about Historia, considering he felt shameful for his affair with Historia's mother, Alma, but once the rest of his family is destroyed by Grisha, he decides to take her in, only sending her to the 104th Training Corps under a new name out of fear that Kenny might kill her. Rod would later seek out Historia again as a means for her to eat Eren so that she could reclaiming the Founding Titan and become "God" in his eyes. When Historia finds out about the will of the First King, she rejects Rod's plea and frees Eren, resulting in Rod taking a lick out of the serum and become a 120m Mindless Titan. Historia ends up becoming the one to finish him off and take his place as the rightful ruler of Paradis Island's walled kingdom.
  • Historia also has Kenny Ackerman, who killed her mother and threatened to kill her until Rod has Historia change her identity and send her to the 104th Training Corps. Kenny later targets and kidnaps Historia, bringing her to Rod Reiss in the process.
  • Floch Forster and Hange Zoe become this to each other, being the leaders of the two opposing factions clashing in the final arc (Floch to the Yeagerists, Hange to the remnants of the military and eventually the Marley-Paradis alliance opposing Eren). Floch leads a group of separatists defecting from the military, which results in Hange putting him and the rest of the Yeagerists under arrest for insubordination. However, the Yeagerists do break out, and Floch spends a good chunk of the arc antagonizing Hange, first by holding them hostage when breaking into Nicolo's restaurant, then having them witness Keith Shadis beat up by the newly-recruited Yeagerists, and threatening to finish off killing Levi before Hange takes advantage of Zeke's emergence from the Pure Titan as a means to escape. It's also worth noting that Floch is ultimately responsible for Hange's death, as by shooting the fuel tank from the Flying Boat, Hange ends up sacrificing herself from the Colossal Titans to buy the alliance more time in providing fuel so that Armin, Mikasa, and co. can escape and reach Eren.
• Baki the Grappler: Baki Hanma has his Archnemesis Dad Yujiro Hanma, who killed his mother.
• Bakugan: Dan Kuso has Emperor Barodius, later known known as Mag Mel in Season 4. The the two of them have multiple confrontations throughout Season 3 and the first arc of Season 4. In Season 4, Mag Mel has a Psychic Link with Dan and his Bakugan Drago, which he (Mag Mel) uses to Mind Rape them.
• Griffith to Guts in Berserk by holy Jesus god though they were (as is often the case) once bosom buddies. Even more so in the case of Griffith who had suspect feelings towards Guts, feelings which drove Griffith off the deep end when Guts defeated him and left the Hawks. Guts himself only has postive feelings towards Griffith... until Griffith sacrificed all of his comrades to The Godhand and ascended to demonic godhood himself, with his very first act as a demon god being to rape Casca (Guts's girlfriend) while he was held down and forced to watch. And if that wasn't horrific enough, Guts and Casca's unborn baby was mutilated and changed as a result of the violation, and Casca herself went mad as a result of the ordeal. Needless to say, Guts hates Griffith more than anything on Earth and plans to kill him as painfully as possible. Griffith claims after returning to the mortal realm that he doesn't care for Guts anymore but his own beating heart says otherwise.
  • Skull Knight also has one in Void, the leader of the Godhand. Especially considering the first thing he does when seeing him is try to kill him and carries a sword designed to fight Void's dimensional powers, it's implied a similar history to Guts and Griffith.
  • Zodd considers the Skull Knight his, although Skully doesn't seem to take their rivalry quite as personally, considering him a Worthy Opponent and only shows irritation at Zodd challenging him when he is busy with other matters.
• Beyblade: Tyson Granger from the original series has Boris Balkov as one of his most prominent enemies. Balkov serves as the Demolition Boys' trainer in the first season, and the director of BEGA in the third. Tyson foils Balkov's plans both times.
• Black Cat: Train Heartnet has Creed Diskenth, his former partner who killed his friend Saya.
• Black★Rock Shooter: The eponymous character versus Dead Master. Ultimately Defied in the anime thanks to Power of Love.
• Black Clover: Asta has Lucius Zogratis. The two and them are Dueling Messiahs, and Asta has a grudge on Lucius for turning Sister Lily into a Paladin.
• Bleach:
  • Yamamoto's seems to be Yhwach. Notably, Yhwach is the only enemy that Yamamoto doesn't call "child", and he immediately unleashes his incredibly destructive Bankai as soon as he shows up. The feeling is mutual - they've been at it for at least a millennium and it's pretty obvious that they really hate each other. Notably, after Yamamoto's death and when Yhwach confronts Ichibee Hyousube, the leader of Squad Zero and a Soul Reaper supposedly even stronger than the Captain Commander, Yhwach shows nowhere near the level of personal enmity (even if he respects Ichibee's power) despite Ichibee trying his damndest to insinuate otherwise. He is also this to Ichigo as well for being the one responsible for his mother’s death, and Yhwach considers him to be one of the five special war powers.
  • Nel and Nnoitra have incompatible philosophies. She believes in never fighting without reason and avoiding it if possible, he believes fighting itself is a reason to fight. He hates women, especially women in positions of authority over him, as Nel used to be and Harribel is. Nel dismisses his philosophy and refuses to see him as a warrior. As a result, she feels he needs to be watched over to prevent himself from getting into more trouble than he can handle. Eventually, he rips off her fraccions' masks, smashes her mask and throws her out of Las Noches.
  • Aizen seems to thrive on creating Arch-Enemies for himself, The Arch-Enemies he created were: Kisuke Urahara (an opposing chessmaster and a scapegoat for Aizen's crimes. Urahara eventually orchestrated Aizen's downfall) Shinji Hirako (Aizen's former captain and willing to settle the score with him). Toshiro Hitsugaya (willing to sacrifice his captaincy to avenge Hinamori). Sajin Komamura (willing to sacrifice his life to avenge Tousen). Baraggan (Aizen destroyed his dominion over Hueco Mundo). Gin Ichimaru (seeking revenge for Aizen's theft of a piece of Rangiku's soul). He even claimed to Ichigo that because he's only facing Aizen out of a sense of duty and obligation, rather than a truly personal vendetta, he can't hope to win. While it's true Ichigo couldn't kill Aizen, that was more thanks to the villain's recently-obtained Complete Immortality; he did most certainly beat him.
  • Ichigo also has Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Ulquiorra Cifer and Shukuro Tsukishima.
    • Grimmjow fights Ichigo multiple times and [{The Only One Allowed to Defeat You becomes obsessed with defeating him]]. In their first confrontation, Grimmjow leads an unsanctioned attack on Karakura Town to kill Ichigo and his friends, and his chest gets scarred by Ichigo in the process. Grimmjow forms an Enemy Mine with Ichigo during the Thousand Year Blood War solely so he can kill Ichigo later, since he won't be able to do so if Hueco Mundo is destroyed.
    • Ulquiorra coerces Orihime into going to Hueco Mundo and deliberately lets everyone think that she went to Aizen willingly, painting her as a traitor in the eyes of Soul Society.
    • Tsukishima brainwashes Ichigo's friends and family while he is powerless to do anything about it, making them think that Ichigo is the crazy one. Notably, Tsukishima is the one time where Ichigo explicitly considers murdering someone.
• Blood+: Saya Otonashi has her Evil Twin Diva, who rapes and kills her adoptive brother Riku.
• Bungo Stray Dogs:
  • Atsushi Nakajima has Ryuunosuke Akutagawa, a previous subordinate of Atsushi's mentor Dazai. Akutagawa despises Atsushi for having a better relationship with Dazai than him.
  • Yukichi Fukuzawa, the leader of the Armed Detective Agency, has Ouchi Fukuchi, his childhood friend and the leader of the Decay of the Angel, who are responsible for framing the Armed Detective Agency as terrorists.
• In Case Closed, Shinichi Kudo has Renya Karasuma, the leader of the Black Organization which responsible for Kudo's condition, and of which Kudo is dedicated to bringing down. Additionally, the Black Organization's most present member Gin, who is responsible for him becoming Conan.
  • Magic Kaito: Kaito Kuroba's most personal enemy is Snake, who murdered his father.
• A Certain Magical Index: Touma Kamijou has Aleister Crowley, who orchestrated Touma's move to Academy City and repeatedly manipulates him.
• Chargeman Ken!: Chargeman Ken has General Maou, who seeks to Take Over the World, while Ken defends it from Maou's forces. In episode 10, Maou disguises himself as a girl to manipulate Ken, and tries to have Ken's family killed. Ken kills Maou in the Grand Finale.
• Chrono Crusade: Chrono has his former comrade Aion, who is responsible for the death of Mary Magdeline. In the manga. Aion is also Chrono's Evil Twin.
• Claymore: Clare has Priscilla, who killed her mother figure Teresa.
• Zero and Suzaku in Code Geass, though it's another case of moral ambiguity/ideological antagonism. They eventually get over their issues and honestly work together.
  • For Lelouch himself, both Charles and Schneizel follow this straight. And maddeningly enough, he has the misfortune to get sold out to both to them after they've already caused him enough grief for several lifetimes.
• Cowboy Bebop:
  • Spike in Cowboy Bebop has Evil Counterpart Vicious. He also has Lord Error-Prone Andy, who is a mockery of this trope, being a one-shot foil who's a near perfect expression of Spike's id despite the latter's constant protests to the contrary.
  • Meanwhile Jet (an ex-cop and Spike's Bounty Hunter partner) has Udai, a Syndicate assassin who Jet was chasing when he walked into the ambush where his arm got blown off.
• Cross Ange: Ange has Embyro and Prince Julio Asuka Misurugi.
  • Embyro tries to make her his woman , Mind Rapes her, and decides to kill her after she keeps resisting him.
  • Prince Julio Asuka Misurugi is her brother, who exposed her as a Norma, resulting in her exile and the death of her parents.
• Cyborg 009: The 00 Cyborgs have Skull (known as Black Ghost in the 2001 anime's English dub), who is the face of the Black Ghost organization who turned them into Cyborgs. However, Skull's feud with Joe Shimamura, a.k.a. Cyborg 009 is particularly noteworthy, as Joe once knocked Skull into what looked like a vat of liquid nitrate. Joe would face Skull in-one-on-one combat again during the Yomi arc.
• D.Gray-Man: Allen Walker has the Millenium Earl, who is using his father figure Mana as a host.
• Date A Live:
  • Shido Itsuka has Sir Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, who planned to kill Shido to invert the Spirits Shido bonded with.
  • Westcott is also this to Elliot Baldwin Woodman. Westcott is Woodman's Evil Former Friend, and Woodman is the Big Good opposing Westcott.
• Light and L from Death Note are each other's archenemies, foils, and near intellectual equals.
  • Near is Mello's Arch Enemy even though they're theoretically on the same side.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
  • Being the series' Big Bad, Muzan Kibutsuji draws the ire of a lot of adversaries — namely Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the current head of the Ubuyashiki family (as well as a distant relative of him), the Hashira (the biggest threat to him and his ultimate goal of immortality), Lady Tamayo (whom he manipulated into becoming a demon and causing her family's demise), and the Demon Slayer who nearly killed him 400 years ago, Yoriichi Tsugikuni. However, his most personal are the Kamado siblings, Tanjiro and Nezuko; Tanjiro swears revenge on Muzan, the latter being directly responsible for killing his family and turning Nezuko into a demon as well as being the reason why demons exist in Japan. Muzan on the other hand targets Tanjiro for being a potential threat due to his connection with Yoriichi via hanafuda earrings, and eventually targets Nezuko for having the power to resist sunlight, something he desires for himself.
  • Tanjiro has a secondary nemesis in Upper Three Demon, Akaza, the latter responsible for killing Tanjiro's idol and mentor, Kyojuro Rengoku at the Mugen Train arc climax. Akaza on the other hand initially sees Tanjiro as far from a threat, until Tanjiro repeatedly calls him a coward for running away and Muzan tortures him out of anger for not killing the aforementioned Demon Slayer, to which he swears revenge after breaking his sword in a rage. It's all too fitting that Akaza is the one that Tanjiro pits himself against in the Infinity Castle arc, prior to facing Muzan himself.
  • It's twisted all over the place between Yoriichi and the Upper One Demon, Kokushibo (revealed to be Michikatsu Tsugikuni, Yoriichi's older twin brother). While Yoriichi always admired his brother and considered him a good person, Kokushibo was extremely jealous of Yoriichi's natural talent, which he could never measure up to despite endlessly training, and a significant portion of his motivations centers entirely around his inferiority complex regarding his brother. He insists to himself that he thoroughly detested Yoriichi, including but not limited to describing himself as "blazing with hatred" for him and mentally begging him to die. However, it's clear that this is a case of an Unreliable Narrator (regarding his own backstory, no less). In spite of his envy for Yoriichi, Kokushibo loved his brother deeply, shedding tears over his death and moved by the realization that Yoriichi had kept the flute that he gave him when they were children and continued thinking highly of him even after he became a demon. After Yoriichi's death, he was unable to part with the flute and kept it on his person until his own demise several centuries later. Furthermore, it is remembering Yoriichi's words to him that made Kokushibo falter upon realizing how hideous he'd become in his pursuit of strength, and the last person he calls out to as he disintegrates his brother, asking him why he was ever born, of all things.
  • Upper Two Demon, Doma, is this to Shinobu Kocho, as well as Kanao Tsuyuri and Inosuke Hashibura. Doma has clearly gotten the ire of Shinobu and Kanao, being the one responsible for killing their sister, Kanae, and eventually Shinobu (though this was a Thanatos Gambit for Shinobu to weaken him so that Kanao and Inosuke can finish him off). For Inosuke, he's also the one responsible for the death of his biological mother, Kotoha, who attempted to run away from his cult after learning his true nature in eating his worshippers for his own benefit.
  • The new Upper Six Demon Kaigaku becomes this to Zenitsu Agatsuma. Even before he becomes a Demon, Kaigaku was The Bully to Zenitsu in their childhood, mocking him for his cowardly behavior despite Zenitsu looking up to him, hoping they could be brothers-in-arms one day. All of that is thrown out the door when Kaigaku betrays the Demon Slayer Corps out of his own cowardice, leading to Jigoro committing seppuku, to which Kaigaku goes as far as to rub it in Zenitsu's face. It's no surprise Zenitsu would oppose him out of feeling betrayed, ultimately being the one to kill him.
  • The Hand Demon arguably serves as this to Sakonji Urokodaki, being responsible for killing many of Urokodaki's previous disciples, including Sabito and Makomo. For the demon's case, he was captured and imprisoned at Mt. Fujikase by Urokodaki, which fueled the demon's hatred towards the former Water Hashira for robbing him of his Independence.
• Neo Saiba to Taichi Yagami in Digimon V-Tamer 01.
• Digimon Adventure: The DigiDestined have Myotismon, who seeks to kill the eighth DigiDestined child, who turns out to be Tai's sister Kari.
• Doctor Slump: Arale Norimaki has Dr. Mashirito, a Mad Scientist who repeatedly tries to kill her.
• Dororo: Hyakkimaru has his father Kagemitsu Daigo, who sold Hyakkimaru's body parts to demons.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Most of the villains being Arc Villains, the series doesn't have a lot of this, but Frieza is a strong contender for both Goku and Vegeta. Frieza is responsible for the extinction of their species and homeworld, pushed Goku to such a level of Unstoppable Rage when he's normally such a Nice Guy by killing Krillin and kept Vegeta as his servant for years after killing his father. On the flipside, Freeza absolutely despises Goku for humiliating him in their battle on Namek. And it was Trunks, Vegeta's son, that ultimately finishes him off in the following arc. In Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' Frieza outright says that he can't stand to be in an universe where Goku is alive, while in the Dragon Ball Super adaptation of the arc Goku says that any of the excitement and fun he normally experiences when fighting strong opponents is replaced by enmity and disgust when facing Frieza. Given how Frieza is the only villain to make repeated appearances after his first saga, he also qualifies a bit by default. Frieza mainly sees Goku as his nemesis though: During Resurrection F and it's adaptation, he in his own twisted way considers Goku a Worthy Opponent and acknowledges the possibility of Goku defeating him, which is why he bothers coming up with a contingency, whereas the thought of losing to Vegeta never even occurred to him.
    • Frieza comes up in frequent use of main and spinoff games as a major opponent for Goku, and the series desire to repeatedly resurrect him as an obstacle has basically turned him into an Implacable Man unwilling to stop fighting until Goku is dead, even if it is after death. Doesn't help that he has a huge fanbase eager to see him get punched down by Goku again and again.
    • If episode 95 of Super is anything to go by, the mutual enmity and respect between Goku and Frieza is so strong they can communicate telepathically, in the split second they punched each other in the face.
    • By the time of Broly, Frieza even outright admits all of this, telling Paragus that he couldn't care less what happens to Vegeta, so long as nothing stands in the way of his bloodthirsty revenge on Goku. And bear in mind, this is after Vegeta's startling humiliation of Golden Frieza on Earth, in front of an audience, no less.
  • Vegeta and Goku had this relationship for a long time after the former was defeated on Earth. By the end of the series they're relationship evolved into Worthy Opponent.
  • In the original series there is Piccolo, both of them. King Piccolo murdered Krillin and Master Roshi, pushing Goku into a giant Roaring Rampage of Revenge. When King Piccolo was reborn into the current Piccolo, he dedicated his life to killing Goku.
    • Goku and Piccolo remained bitter enemies until Raditz's arrival at the start of Z.
  • Goku also has Dr. Gero, who created the androids to get revenge on Goku for destroying the Red Ribbon Army. Gero posthumously succeeded in killing Goku through his creation Cell.
  • Emperor Pilaf, who seeks to use the Dragons Balls to Take Over the World, is one of Goku's oldest and longest-lasting villains despite his progressive Villain Decay over the years. Pilaf made his debut in the first arc of series, and although Pilaf is later outshined by Red Ribbon Army during the latter's eponymous saga, he outlasts them and confronts Goku again in the Fortuneteller Baba Saga, where he and his minions are the final adversaries Goku must overcome before he can obtain the seventh Dragon Ball and resurrect Upa's father Bora. Pilaf later frees and assists King Piccolo, making Pilaf responsible for all the deaths Piccolo caused. Pilaf was still trying to obtain the Dragon Balls during the time of Dragon Ball Super.
  • Commander Red, the leader of the Red Ribbon Army, is the boss of many of the Arc Villains Goku faced immediately following the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. Commander Red sent the Red Ribbon Army to search of the Dragon Balls, while Goku repeatedly undermined their efforts, eventually reaching the point where Red hired Tao to kill Goku, resulting in Tao killing Bora, the father of a boy whose life Goku saved. After defeating Tao, Goku want on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Red Ribbon Army base, although Red himself is killed by his second-in-command Officer Black before Goku can get to him.
  • Cell to both Gohan and Future Trunks.
    • The Androids from the future would be a better example for Future Trunks, seeing as how they killed almost everyone in his timeline.
  • The Kaioshin to Babidi and, to a lesser extent, Majin Buu. The Kaioshin personally kills Babidi's father and makes it is life mission to stop Buu since Buu killed all his friends and mentors.
  • In Super, Goku Black has become this due to the fact he's gotten Future Trunks, Vegeta, and Goku to all have a personal vendetta against him. It turns out that Black himself essentially feels that Goku is this to him as he's actually a Kaioshin apprentice named Zamasu who stole Goku's Body in another timeline out of spite and envy after he lost to Goku in a sparring match. To be truthful, Goku actually viewed him with curiosity at first, and found him interesting to fight. It's not until Black maliciously reveals that he murdered that alternate universe's Goku, Chi-Chi, and Goten after his body theft and rubs it in Goku's face that Goku starts going after him with intent to kill. Meanwhile, Future Trunks despises him because he killed Future Bulma and re-decimated the Future after they just got it back together and dealt with Babidi and Dabra, while Vegeta hates him for the same reason plus the repeated attempts at killing Future Trunks.
• Durarara!!:
  • While almost anyone can set off Shizuo's Hair-Trigger Temper, just seeing Izaya (and sometimes just hearing his name) is enough to send Shizuo into a homicidal rage. Meanwhile, Izaya screws around with everyone's lives, but that's just because he likes seeing how they'll react; Shizuo's the only person in the world he actually hates. The last few episodes of the second season truly exemplify how much they utterly despise each other; Shizuo is driven to Tranquil Fury and a single-minded desire to finally end Izaya once and for all after the latter tries to murder Vorona and taunts him about it. Meanwhile, Izaya, who has spent the entire series carrying out a convoluted plan to enter the afterlife due to his fear of death being the Cessation of Existence, overcomes that fear and tries to taunt Shizuo into killing him so his enemy will finally be seen as the monster Izaya always claimed him to be. That's right — Izaya hates Shizuo so much that he was willing to die just to screw him over one last time.
  • He also despises Anri and doesn't see her as human at all (Izaya "loves" human beings and has a very twisted way of showing it). The hate is mutual for Anri as well, due to how Izaya manipulates and torments Mikado and Masaomi.

E - M

• EDENS ZERO: Shiki Greenbull appeared to have his adoptive Gruesome Grandparent, Ziggy, until it is revealed that Ziggy (who is revealed to be Shiki's future Alternate Self) is being controlled by Edens One, effectively making the ship Shiki's true archenemy.
• Makoto and Jinnai in El-Hazard: The Magnificent World. In any continuity, Jinnai is convinced by his own warped perceptions of reality that Makoto is behind every single misfortune that has ever befallen him, and out to completely ruin him in the process. For his own part, Makoto starts out completely ignorant of this (how much depends on the continuity) but eventually repeated attempts on his life by Jinnai and his Bugrom forces Makoto to eventually see Jinnai the same way.
• Elfen Lied: Lucy has Kurama, who is responsible for the apparent death of her friend Aiko.
• In Fairy Tail, the demon Deliora ruined Gray's life by wiping out his hometown, killing his parents, and forcing his mentor/surrogate mother Ur to sacrifice herself to defeat him. When Gray encounters Deliora again when the latter is possessing the corpse of Gray's father Silver Fullbuster, Gray loses it.
  • Subverted when it turns out that Silver isn't being possessed by Deliora, he's actually a reanimated corpse, and he just wanted to make Grey angry enough to kill him because he wants him to avenge his death and defeat Tartarus.
  • One can make an argument that Acnologia is the arch-enemy of the Dragon Slayers, seeing as he's the one responsible for the deaths of their adoptive parents. A more concrete example would be Natsu, seeing as Acnologia killed Igneel right in front of him — the rest went out in a more Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence kind of way.
  • Black Mage Zeref and Mavis Vermillion. They were once teacher and student, then (for an all too brief moment) lovers. Now they are sworn enemies, with Zeref vowing to wipe out humanity and Mavis in turn vowing to destroy him. Zeref also seeks to invoke this with his younger brother Natsu — as the strongest of Zeref's demons, E.N.D., he believes Natsu is the only one in the world capable of killing him. Since Zeref is a Death Seeker, he seeks to make Natsu as strong as possible so the latter may kill him, and believes that hating Zeref would provide sufficient motivation. All this being said, the Curse of Contradictions complicates his feelings for both of them. One moment it seems he can't wait to destroy them and bathe in their blood; the next, they are the two most important people in his life, and he can't bear the thought of harming either of them.
  • Over the course of the series, Makarov Dreyer had Jose Porla, Hades, and Ivan Dreyar.
    • Jose Porla was a fellow Wizard Saint and rival Guild Master who tries to destroy Fairy Tail.
    • Hades was Makarov's former mentor and the leaderGrimiore Heart, which was considered the strongest Dark Guild, while Makarov led Fairy Tail, which was considered the strongest legal guild.
    • Ivan Dreyar is Makarov's Antagonistic Offspring who formed the Dark Guild Raven Tail after Makarov expelled him from Fairy Tail. After Raven Tail became a legal guild, it competed against Fairy Tail in the Grand Magic Games, during which Raven Tail cheated, with Ivan himself personally fighting Makarov's grandson (and Ivan's son) Laxus, even though Guild Masters weren't allowed to participate.
• In Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works], Gilgamesh owns every Noble Phantasm in existence and can basically defeat every other servants by using the weapons they're weak against (usually by utilizing the said weapon that has killed the hero historically). Then here comes Archer who is an unknown hero from the future, which means that no weapon is particularly effective against him, is capable of creating imitations of any Noble Phantasm he has seen, allowing him to counter whatever Gilgamesh fires at him and is also capable of creating an infinite amount of swords with Unlimited Blade Works, effectively countering Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon. While Gilgamesh does own the genuine articles, he didn't bother to master any particular Noble Phantasm to its fullest potential. Combined with the fact that Archer can create swords much faster than Gilgamesh can bring out new swords from his vault, Archer's existence is literally the perfect counter against him. This makes Archer the natural enemy of Gilgamesh, who loathes him at every given opportunity and is more than happy to see him dead.
  Gilgamesh: The sight of fakes crafted by fakes offends me. Scum. Shams that are naught but copies should be swiftly disposed of like the trash they are.
  • After Shirou realizes that Archer is himself from the future and has the same abilities as he does, he promptly devises a plan in order to defeat Gilgamesh. Naturally, he became Gilgamesh's next arch enemy and Gilgamesh is not happy about it.
    Gilgamesh: Impossible! I'm being forced back? By a fraud like you?
    Shirou: Against any other servant, creating a world like this wouldn't let me hold on my own. Having an infinite number of swords wouldn't let me stand up to a servant who had mastered one! But against you, my swords are ready and waiting, so I'm always one step ahead!
• Fena: Pirate Princess: Fena Houtman and Yukimaru Sanada have Abel Bluefield, a British officer who pursues Fena, and was involved in the attack on her adopted father Franz's ship. Yukimaru, who was protecting Fena, recognizes Abel from the attack. In Episode 7, Abel shoots Yukimaru, and in Episode 11, Yukimaru kills Abel.
• In Fist of the North Star, main character Kenshiro's arch-nemeses were his adoptive older brothers Jagi and Raoh, who were both bitter over Ken being chosen as the sole successor to Hokuto Shinken over them (and Toki, but he didn't really mind). Even though Raoh was the bigger rival in the story, Jagi gets special mention because he purposefully set out to ruin Ken's life and is personally responsible for the good majority of the plot. In the early part of the series, Shin fufilled this role, as he was the one who took Ken's fiance Yuria away from him and gave him his distinctive seven scars on his chest, though it could be considered subverted in the meta-sense because he was goaded into doing this by Jagi.
• Freezing: Su-Na Lee has Isuzu Sawatari, a former rival classmate form their time at West Genetics. Isuzu also tries to kill Gengo Aoi, who Su-Na is a bodyguard for, and who Su-Na has feelings for.

Fullmetal Alchemist

• Van Hohenheim has Father, his Evil Former Friend who was created from his own blood, and who destroyed his native country of Xerxes.
• Scar has Solf J. Kimblee, who is responsible for his brother's death.
• Wrath also becomes this to both Greed and Scar.
• Ed and Envy in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), as well as Mustang and Pride.

• Gauron and Sousuke in Full Metal Panic!. The feeling tends to be a lot more one-sided on Gauron's part, as he makes it his personal mission to put himself in a position where he can constantly antagonize Sousuke. It's so bad, it's to the point where it's suggested that he actually stalks and watches Sousuke, and purposefully chooses missions that would put him at odds with Sousuke, allowing them to meet again. Sousuke, on the other hand, finds Gauron insanely annoying, and would really love nothing more than for the guy to just go die somewhere and leave him alone.
• Future Robot Daltanious: Kento hates Kloppen for leading the invasion that ravaged the Earth in 1995, killing his mother and sister, as well as the families of his friends along the way. Kloppen in turn hates Kento for piloting Daltanious and being an Icon of Rebellion against his fascist empire. It's so severe that when Kento loses a duel with Kloppen, he is Driven to Suicide, but decides not to do it.
• GaoGaiGar: Guy Shishiou has Pasder, who is repsonsible for Guy receiving the injuries which necessitated his conversion into a cyborg.
• Gintama:
  • Gintoki Sakata and Kotaro Katsura have Shinsuke Takasugi, their Evil Former Friend.
  • Gintoki also has Utsuro, an alternate personality of his fallen mentor Shoyo Yoshida, and Oboro, who was responsible both for Shoyo's arrest and for forcing Gintoki to choose between killing Shoyo or letting Katsura and Takasugi die in his place.
  • Umibouzu has Kamui, his Antagonistic Offspring who cut off his left arm.
• GoLion:
  • Akira Kogane, the leader of the GoLion team, has Prince Sincline, who has a Villainous Crush on Fala and perceives Akira as an obstacle, even though Akira only considers Fala a friend.
  • Princess Fala has Emperor Daibazaal, who is responsible for the deaths of her family.
• GUN×SWORD - Justifying the Designated Girl Fight, Carmen 99 and Fasalina are arch enemies. Fasalina is responsible for destroying Carmen's hometown, causing the death of Carmen's best friend from childhood, and Carmen ends up blamed for Fasalina's actions and shunned and exiled from her town.
• Char Aznable and Amuro Ray are perhaps the most iconic throughout the Gundam fandom. What started out as a professional military rivalry, later turned deeply personal after the death of Char's assistant Lahlah Sune, whom both men loved, when she attempted to intervene in a battle between the two of them. In the end their rivalry leads to a Mutual Kill in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
  • Zeta Gundam: While Paptimus Scirocco might be the Big Bad and Yazan Gable the resident Hero Killer, it's Titans' Ace Pilot and former Jerk Jock Jerid Messa who is protagonist Kamille Bidan's archetypal archnemesis. The two of them essentially go back and forth on killing one another's friends and loved ones (Jerid kills Kamille's mother, girlfriend, and one of his friends; Kamille Jerid's crush, his Big Brother Mentor, his girlfriend, and a truckload of his subordinates), until the rivalry turns deeply personal. By the end all that Jerid in particular is living for is his dream of seeing Kamille's head on a pike.
  • Judau Ashta and Haman Khan from Gundam ZZ play the trope rather differently from the usual Gundam rivalry. Haman is in love with Judau, who kind of reciprocates, but Haman's philosophy of life is completely irreconcilable with Judau's idealism. Mutual attraction and a Newtype connection between the two, rather than hatred, is what makes their opposition into a personal feud, to the point that when they go looking for a duel, the reaction of their respective crews is to Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone.
    • Contrasting them is the equally twisted relationship between Roux Louka, Judau's right-hand girl, and Haman's treacherous subordinate Glemmy Toto. From shortly after his first appearance, Glemmy becomes obsessed with Roux, stalking her wherever she goes, and doing his best to gain control over her, while Roux alternately manipulates and defies him, using him for information one moment, then trying to kill him the next. Glemmy, in return, begins to subvert Roux's expectations, using her attempts at manipulating him in order to gain advantage over her crewmates. In the end, it's Roux who kills Glemmy, who accepts it with grace.
  • In G Gundam the Canadian fighter Andrew Graham considers the Russian Fighter Argo Gulski his nemesis because he blames him for his wife's death. Also Domo Kasshu's and Master Asia's difficult relationship might be some kind of arch nemesis.
  • In Gundam Wing Zechs spends too much time on the good side to be this for Heero despite their constant battles, but Wufei definitely has one in Treize Kushrenada.
  • Rau Le Creuset of Gundam SEED is the Arch Enemy of Earth Forces' Ace Pilot Mu La Flaga. Their rivalry goes back to early in the war, and is extremely personal, even before The Reveal that Le Creuset is a dying clone of La Flaga's father. Early in-show, the Le Creuset team, and especially Athrun Zala are set up as the Archenemies of the Archangel, and Kira Yamato in particular. By the end they have pulled a Heel–Face Turn and Le Creuset takes their position as Kira' Arch Enemy.
  • In Gundam SEED Destiny Shinn Asuka and Rey Za Burrel both consider Kira Yamato to be their Arch-Nemesis, although Kira doesn't necessarily agree. An interesting case in that the arch enemies never so much as knew each other by name, only by the machines that they piloted (and in Shinn's case, recognizing Kira's fighting style after they each got a Mid-Season Upgrade).
  • In Gundam 00 Graham Acre considers Setsuna F. Seiei and his Gundam Exia his arch nemesis for their crimes (though he calls it a special kind of love...) But he's really more The Rival in that regard. A better fit for Setsuna's archnemesis is psychopathic Blood Knight Ali Al-Saachez for destroying not just his life, but also killing off Lockon Stratos' family as well.
  • In Gundam AGE Decil Galette is Flit Asuno's Arch Enemy starting late in Season 1 and continuing into Season 2. Flit might hate all of the Vagan with a passion, but it takes Decil's return to send him into a murderous enough rage that he sorties himself, while Decil is living for revenge after Flit humiliated him in Season 1's climax.
    • Gundam Build Fighters Try: Sekai Kamiki has his former mentor Junya Inose.
• Asahi makes fierce enmity with Satou Matsuzaka in Happy Sugar Life due to their mutual obsession with the young Shio Kobe.
• Hellsing.
  • Alucard has Alexander Anderson. Both regard the other as a Worthy Opponent.
    • The two organizations they work for, Hellsing and Iscariot respectively, are arch enemies and rivals.
  • Alucard also has the Major. The two have been enemies since World War II, decades before the beginning of the series proper. The Major, who refused to become a vampire when given the chance, despises Alucard for doing so. Despite this, the Major considers Alucard a Worthy Opponent, and Alucard himself makes a "Not So Different" Remark about how they are both "incorrigible warmongers." The Major's endgame against Alucard is to have Schrödinger erase him from existence, and it takes Alucard thirty years to regain his corporeality.
• Higanjima-Miyabi is this to Akira Miyamoto and his older brother Atsushi.
• High School Exciting Story: Tough: Kiichi Miyazawa has his uncle Kiryuu Miyazawa, who crippled Kiichi's father Seiko.
• Highschool of the Dead: Rei Miyamoto has Koichi Shidou, who forced her to repeat a year of school because her father investigated his father's corruption.
• Higurashi: When They Cry has Furude Rika and Miyo Takano, who have been at each others' throats for 200 years due to a Groundhog Day Stable Time Loop. Takano invariably kills Rika, at which point Hanyuu pushes the Reset Button, and it gets more personal for poor Rika, who is completely conscious of the time loop. Rika only finds out Takano is her Arch Enemy in the second-to-last loop, and Takano is never aware of the loop..
  • Gou changes the dynamic due to Takano abandoning her plans of her own volition. The main antagonist of the sequel series who fills the role is Satoko Houjo after she had gotten looper powers as a means of keeping Rika in the loop forever.
• In Hunter × Hunter, Hisoka is the closest thing Gon has to one. He has an unnerving obssession with Gon and anticipates the day he "ripens to his full potential" just so he can have the chance to fight and possibly kill him, and Gon also had a desire to fight Hisoka earlier in the series for hurting his pride. Neferpitou becomes this to Gon during the Chimera Ants arc, after murdering Kite and using his corpse as a training dummy for other Chimera Ants.
  • Chrollo Lucifer is Kurapika's Arch Enemy, due to being the leader of the group responsible for slaughtering his entire clan.
  • The one person Killua hates and fears more than anyone else is his own older brother Illumi. Illumi is psychotically devoted to Killua and has done some truly awful things to him and to others because of it.
• Igano Kabamaru:
  • Yoshi Minato was like a sister to Ran Ookumo, but when they had a crush on the same guy, they began viewing each other as enemies. This feud continues fifty years after their initial spat, even as they're gray haired old women and run schools that rival each other.
  • As the Student Council President of Kin'gyoku, Shizune Meijiro's arch-nemesis the Student Council President of Ōgyoku, Shuu Meijima. The hatred is mutual as Meijima takes pleasure in showing up Meijiro during the race and stresses him out so much he faints, and his pasttime is plotting Kin'gyoku's downfall.
• Inuyasha and his friends have Naraku.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Dio Brando is this to Jonathan Joestar in Phantom Blood, Joesph and Jotaro in Stardust Crusaders, and arguably to the Joestar bloodline as a whole for the rest of the series. Even after he is permanently slain at the end of Stardust Crusaders, the mess he left behind causes trouble for Jonathan's descendants.
    • In Battle Tendency, Joseph has Kars, the leader of the Pillar Men who Joseph opposes, and the creator of the Stone Mask which transformed Dio into a vampire, making Kars indirectly responsible for everything Dio did as a vampire. Kars in turn seeks vengeance on Joseph for killing Esidisi and Wamuu. Eventually, Kars cuts off Joseph's arm, and Joseph accidentally inflicts a Fate Worse than Death on Kars.
  • In Stardust Crusaders, Jean Pierre Polnareff has J. Geil, who raped and murdered his sister Sherry.
  • In Diamond is Unbreakable, Yoshikage Kira acts as this to pretty much the entire main cast. Namely, he's this to Josuke (who Kira considers the biggest threat to his goals), Jotaro and Koichi (who are the reasons Kira is forced to change his identity), Rohan (who's the most proactive in the hunt for him), and Reimi (whose death he is responsible for). However, most of all, he is this to Hayato Kawajiri, who proves to be the biggest obstacle in Kira's plans. He's the first person to figure out that Kira has killed Kosaku and stolen his identity, he outsmarts Kira into deactivating Bites the Dust, and he plays a key role in the final battle against Kira.
  • Similar to Kira, Diavolo from Golden Wind is this to most of the cast. Namely, he's this to Giorno (whose goal is based around ending Diavolo's drug trade), Bruno (due to Bruno learning that Diavolo plans to kill Trish), Trish (due to Diavolo's goal to kill her), La Squadra (after Diavolo murdered two of their members), and Polnareff (who Diavolo personally crippled and sees as the biggest roadblock in his goals).
  • Stone Ocean:
    • Enrico Pucci is this to Jotaro Kujo, his daughter Jolyne Cujoh, Emporio Alniño, and Weather Report.
    • Pucci sought revenge against Jotaro for killing DIO. He used Jolyne as bait to get to Jotaro, and takes Jotaro's Stand and memories, leaving Jotaro in a coma. Jolyne becomes of of Pucci's most persistent enemies. Later on, Pucci gives Jotaro the Sadistic Choice of either killing Jolyne of saving him.
    • Pucci killed Emporio's mother, and Emporio becomes the one to kill Pucci.
    • Weather Report of Pucci's twin brother. Pucci sent unknowingly sent KKK members after Weather, leading to Weather's lynching (which he survived) and Perla's suicide.
    • Ermes Costello has Sports Maxx, who killed her sister.
  • Steel Ball Run: Johnny Joestar has Funny Valentine, as they are feuding for possession over the parts of the Saint's Corpse. Valentine eventually kills Johnny's mentor Gyro Zeppeli.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: Yuji has Sukuna and Mahito.
  • Mahito turns a high school student named Junpei Yoshino into a monster, and subsequently kills him, which Yuji feels ashamed for failing to stop. Later, Mahito is all too happy to keep pushing Yuji's buttons by going out of his way to cruelly slaughter more innocent people and kill Nanami and (seemingly) Nobara just to hurt him.
  • Sukuna takes control of Yuji's body in Shibuya and kills thousands of people while fighting Mahoraga, before reducing most of Shibuya to a ruined wasteland and allowing Yuji to retake control so that he can watch the result. And much later, he invokes the Binding Vow he made with Yuji to forcibly transfer himself to Megumi's body.
• Kaiju No. 8: Kafka Hibino has Kaiju No. 9, who absorbed his friend's father and seeks to steal Kafka's power.
• Kichikujima- Hanakuro to the family specifically Yoshikazu.
• Kill la Kill:
  • Ryuko Matoi has Ragyo Kiryuin (who ordered the murder of Ryuko's father) and Nui Harame (who carried out said murder).
  • Satsuki Kiryuin also has a vendetta against Ragyo Kiryuin, her abusive mother who supposedly killed her younger sister (who turned out to be the very much alive Ryuko), and ordered her father's death.
• Kingdom: Ri Shin has Ri Boku and Hou Ken, both of whom he seeks to kill to avenge the death of his mentor Ou Ki.
• Lupin III: Arsène Lupin III has Inspector Zenigata, who seeks to bring Lupin to justice.
• Kirby: Right Back at Ya!:
  • Kirby has King Dedede, who keeps sending monsters after him. Dedede is also this to Tiff, who a big supporter of Kirby and a vocal critic of Dedede, who she often suspects of wrongdoing.
  • Meta Knight has eNeMeE, who is responsible for the deaths of most of his fellow Star Warriors.
• Lady!!: Lynn Russell is this to Mary Waverly. Mary initially looked down on her as a step-sister and would play pranks on her. When George Russell ended his engagement to Madeleine Waverly, Mary believed Lynn was the reason why (not realizing that George would have never married Madeleine anyway) and decided to punish them by ruining the reputations of the Russells, and starts by getting her wealthy grandfather to bankrupt them.
• Mashle: Magic and Muscles: Mash Burnedead has Innocent Zero, his Archnemesis Dad who rips out his heart.
• Mazinger Z:
  • Kouji Kabuto has Dr. Hell, who is responsible for his grandfather's murder.
  • Tetsuya Tsurugi has the Great General of Darkness, who leads the invasion of the surface world on behalf of his Emperor, while Tetsuya, as the pilot of the Great Mazinger, was the greatest thorn in the Great General's side. The Great General considered Tetsuya a Worthy Opponent, and eventually faced Tetsuya in a duel which ended in the Great General's death.
  • Duke Fleed has King Vega, who murdered his family and turned his homeworld into a radioactive wasteland. Vega is also the father of Rubina, who was Fleed's fiancée until Vega openly betrayed the Fleedians.
• Johann vs Tenma in Monster, but Nina wants in on it for a good reason.
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: Rudeus Greyrat and Orsted have Hitogami.
  • Hitogami antagonizes Rudeus and his loved ones, and is responsible for Roxy's death in a Bad Future, because his descendents are prophesized to defeat him.
  • Orsted is a member of the Dragon Tribe, who lost their original world because of Hitogami. Hitogami is also responsible for the downfall of Orsted's father.
• My Hero Academia:
  • The arch-enemy of All Might and, by extension, all users of the Quirk One For All is a villain known as All For One. All For One has the power to steal the Quirks of others and either grant them to whoever he pleases or use them himself in combination. He created One For All originally by giving his brother a power stockpiling quirk which combined with the brother's ability to pass down his Quirk to others. All For One serves as the Greater-Scope Villain for much of the series, giving orders to the League of Villains until he's forced to act openly. At that point, All Might is the only one capable of standing against him in a battle that manages to cause massive collateral damage after both sides suffered Game Breaking Injuries in their previous encounter. The conflict seems to be ended with All Might's retirement after beating All For One, but All For One wasn't quite done yet and gets back to business after breaking out following the Paranormal Liberation War to then go after his successor, Izuku.
  • It's heavily implied this will develop for their proteges, The Hero Izuku "Deku" Midoriya and The Antichrist Tomura Shigaraki. Izuku is working to become the new Symbol of Peace while Tomura wishes to tear the world of heroes down for his own order, continuing the work of his mentor, All For One, though All For One is such a raging narcissist he hijacks Shigaraki to take on the role following the events of the Paranormal Liberation War, as alluded to above. This eventually stops when Shigaraki wrestles control back from him and takes full ownership of the role of Izuku's greatest enemy.
  • Ochako Uraraka and Himiko Toga also seem to have this this relationship, with Himiko at one point going well out of her way to lure away and then fight Ochako during the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, even mocking Ochako about when she turned into the latter and used Zero Gravity to kill, something that greatly disturbs the young hero.
  • Dabi was already an Evil Counterpart to Shoto Todoroki, but the reveal that he is actually Shoto's Not Quite Dead brother Toya Todoroki and him almost killing Shoto and their father, Enji (the professional hero Endeavor), as well as ruining the latter's career as a hero, has solidified this between them.

N - Y

• In Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the title character has Miraplua. As the movie was released when the manga had its first two volumes, she instead has Kushana.
• Naruto:
  • Naruto Uzumaki has Obito Uchiha, the leader of the Akatsuki. The day Naruto was born, Obito extracted Kurama from his mother Kushina and set it losse on the Hidden Leaf Village, which led with the deaths of both of Naruto's parants and the sealing of Kurama inside Naruto's body, leading Naruto to grow up as an orphaned outcast.
  • Kakashi Hatake also has Obito Uchiha, his former squadmate who became a Rogue Ninja bent on remaking reality after after witnessing Rin's death, and by extension, Kakashi's failure to uphold his promise to protect her.
  • Sasuke Uchiha considered Itachi his arch-nemesis for a long time until learning the truth behind the latter's killing of the Itachi clan, leading to the former turning his ire to Naruto and the Hidden Leaf Village, especially Danzo Shimura, who ordered the massacre in the first place.
  • Itachi Uchiha had an antagonistic relationship with Orochimaru. The two of them were colleagues in the Akatsuki before Orochimaru tried to steal his body, only for Itachi to sever Orochimaru's hand. As a result, Orochimaru deserted the Akatsuki and spent several years trying to steal the body of Itachi's younger brother Sasuke. Itachi, not taking kindly to this, spent the last few minutes of his life freeing Sasuke from Orochimaru's influence. To accomplish this, Itachi fought Sasuke hard enough for Orochimaru to surface from Sasuke's body, at which point Itachi sealed him away, subjecting Orochimaru to a Fate Worse than Death. While Sasuke himself eventually released Orochimaru, Itachi's efforts put Orochimaru out of commission for several arcs.
  • Jiraiya and Tsunade have Orochimaru, their former comrade who betrayed the Hidden Leaf Village, and who later killed their former sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
  • Pain is considered one to Jiraya, his former sensei, after Jiraya's death, Naruto developed a vendetta against him.
  • Kisame Hoshigaki to Might Guy, although Guy keeps forgetting him.
  • Shikamaru had Hiden, who killed his sensei Asuma.
  • The Second Tsuchikage and Second Mizukage had a long-standing grudge, which eventually led to their final battle where both perished.
  • Madara Uchiha to everyone. Literally speaking, everything that went wrong in the 'verse that would eventually lead to the plot can be blamed on him. The fact that his ultimate goal is to destroy free will is what causes the entire ninja world, who has been in almost a constant state of war for the last century, to unite and stand against him, speaks volumes about what kind of man Madara Uchiha is. Madara himself considers Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju to be his archenemies. In fact his rivalry with Hashirama is so fierce, Madara has a near orgasm of excitement when he senses the first Hokage on the battlefield. On the other hand, Tobirama killed Madara's brother Izuna, prompting Madara to unnecessarily throw an extra receiver onto him once he got a chance.
  • Gaara's was his father, at least until he died. Ironically, Gaara wasn't the one who killed him (though, there is no doubt he probably wished he was at the time) — Orochimaru was. By the time they finally had their fight (via Edo Tensei), Gaara had already forgiven him.
  • Minato Namikaze has Tobi and Kurama.
    • Tobi extracted the Nine-Tails from his wife Kushina and used him to destroy the Leaf Village, Minato and Kushina being forced to sacrifice their lives, and in Minato's case, his soul, leaving their son an orphan. Tobi becomes an even more personal enemy for Minato when he is revealed to his former student, Obito Uchiha, who blames Minato for not preventing Rin's death.
    • Kurama, the Nine-Tails, once considered Minato to be his nemesis because Minato sealed him away. Though he is later forgiven.
  • Hiruzen Sarutobi has his former student, Orochimaru. Orocchimaru went rogue after Hiruzen caught him performing unethical experiments. Years later, Orochimaru, with the aid of the Hidden Sand Village, launched an attack against the Hidden Leaf Village, with Orochimaru personally fighting Hiruzen. Hiruzen sacrifices his life and soul to cast the Reaper Death Seal against Orochimaru. Unable to seal Orochimaru completely, Hiruzen settles for sealing him arms, thus stripping him of his ability to perform ninjutsu under Orochimaru breaks the seal several years later.
  • Kaguya Otsuksuki to her two children, Hagoromo and Hamura.
  • Naruto and Sasuke's conflict escalated to where when Sasuke attempted to become Shadow Dictator of the world, he said the only one standing in his way was Naruto. Not just because he's the only one to match him in absurd power by this power, but also because he is still his best friend and views that attachment as a burden. The bitterness finally ends with Naruto beating sense into Sasuke into one final fight.
• Negi Springfield in Negima! Magister Negi Magi has Fate (no, not that Fate), who seems to go out of his way to make personal attacks on Negi's friends.
  • Setsuna has her own Arch Enemy in the psychotic Tsukuyomi.
  • From the sequel UQ Holder!, Touta Konoe has one in Tena "Cutlass" Vita, who, like him, is a clone of Negi from a failed experiment to replicate Negi and Asuna Kagurazaka's powers. She has a loathing for immortal beings (and anyone who leads a "privileged" life) in general but has a particular ax to grind against Tota for his optimism and, like Fate above, carries out especially vicious attacks on Touta and his friends. Also similarly to the Negi-Fate dynamic, Cutlass' curb-stomping of Touta is part of what motivates him to get stronger. It finally culminates in Cutlass orchestrating an elaborate terrorist attack to force a Sadistic Choice on Touta to psychologically break him, a plot that ends with Yukihime killing her.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari has his abusive father Gendo Ikari.
• Ninja Hattori: Kanzo Hattori and Kenichi Mitsuba have Kemuzou Kemumaki, who repeatedly antagonizes them. Kemunaki is Hattori's rival as a ninja, and Kenichi's romantic rival for the affections of Yumeko Kawai.
• One Piece: While for the most part averted due to the use of Arc Villains, there have been exceptions:
  • Monkey D. Luffy has made several personal enemies throughout his adventures.
    • Marshall D. Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard, who handed Luffy's brother Ace over the the Marines, leading to his death. Shortly before Ace's death, Luffy learned that Blackbeard, who he already knew to be responsible for Ace's capture, was the seemingly friendly man in Jaya, who encouraged Luffy to pursue his dreams. Blackbeard rubbed salt into the wound by saying that if Ace hadn't fought him, Blackbeard would have gone after Luffy instead, provoking Luffy into attacking him until Jimbei reminds him that rescuing Ace is more important. After the Time Skip, Blackbeard further increases Luffy's animosity by making a failed attempt to take Ace's Devil Fruit, and later, by attacking the Revolutionary Army, which is run by Luffy's father, Dragon, and has Luffy's other brother, Sabo, as a member. This is reinforced by the fact that Blackbeard is Luffy's Evil Counterpart and Shadow Archetype, as both of them place a high value on dreams, despite having vastly different morals, and both of them are competing the become King of the Pirates.
    • Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, formerly known as Admiral Akainu, the Marine who killed Ace, and gave Luffy himself an X-shaped shar on his torso.
    • Kaido, a pirate who Luffy was preparing to defeat ever since he allied himself with Law at Punk Hazard. Kaido hates Luffy for destroying his SMILE business, to point where he refuses to let Big Mom kill Luffy. Luffy in turns hates Kaido for the suffering he caused to the Mink Tribe and the people of Wano. During their first physical confrontation, Kaido defeats Luffy and sends him to a Hellhole Prison, in the hopes of breaking his spirit and turning him into a minion. Their feud culimates with the Raid on Onigushima, which results in Luffy awakening his Devil Fruit, defeating Kaido, and taking his place as one of the Four Emperors.
    • Charlotte Linlin, a.k.a. Big Mom, who comes into conflict with Luffy after he ate candy meant for her. Big Mom later attempts to force Luffy's friend Sanji to marry her daughter with the intention of killing him at the wedding. Luffy travels to Big Mom's territory, Totto Land, where he defeats her Co-Dragons Cracker and Katakuri, helps foil her plan to kill Sanji and his family, and escapes her territory with a copy of her Poneglpyh, humiliating her greatly. A vengeful Big Mom pursues Luffy to Wano with the intention of killing him.
    • Donquixote Doflamingo. During the first half of the series, Luffy indirectly comes into conflict with him on multiple occassions. During the Jaya arc, Luffy defeats Doflamingo's nominal subordinate Bellamy, which Doflamingo considered an embarassment for the Donquixote Pirates. During the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Doflamingo's formerly-owned Human Auction House tries to sell Camie, a mermaid Luffy befriended, into slavery. This leads to the incident where Luffy punches a Celestial Dragon, and the Straw Hats Pirates end up being disbanded for two years as a direct consequence. Luffy and Doflamingo fight on opposite sides during the Summit War of Marineford, although they do not fight each other personally. After the Time Skip, Luffy becomes more actively antagonistic to Doflamingo as he allies himself with Doflamingo's vengeful ex-subordinate Law at Punk Hazard and together they capture Caesar Clown, which jeopordizes Doflamingo's SMILE production, and by extension, his alliance with Kaido. During the Dressrosa arc, Doflamingo manipulates Luffy by using the Devil Fruit of Luffy's late brother Ace. By the end of the Dressrosa arc, Luffy despises Doflamingo for the suffering he caused the people of Dressrosa in general, and Rebecca, who he befriended, in particular.
    • Crocodile, who inflicted great suffering on the homeland of Luffy's Honorary True Companion Vivi, and who nearly killed Luffy himself on multiple occasions. Luffy, who may be one of the most forgiving people in the series, has aided several of his enemies, including Buggy and Mr. 3, but immediately had his live-and-let-live tendencies shut down the very moment he met Crocodile again while in Impel Down. Luffy would have never let him out of his cell had it not been for Ivankov.
    • Rob Lucci, a Cipher Pol agent who frames the Straw Hat Pirates for the attempted murder of Iceburg, and who takes Nico Robin to Enies Lobby, leading to the incident where Luffy declares war on the World Government. Luffy and Lucci fight each other during the Enies Lobby incident, with Luffy just barely emerging victorious. When Luffy and Lucci meet again on Egghead, Lucci fights Luffy, who is now one of the Four Emperors, in defiance of the World Government's orders.
  • Sanji has Vinsmoke Judge, his Archnemesis Dad. Judge viewed Sanji for being weaker than his siblings, and for having compassion. When Sanji was a child, Judge allowed Sanji's brothers to bully him, and eventually had him imprisoned. Years later, Judge attempted to force Sanji into a marriage with one of Big Mom's daughters, threatening to kill people close to him if he failed to comply.
  • Nami has Arlong, and it's incredibly justified as Arlong is the one who invaded her hometown, enslaved her people and killed her adoptive mother right in front of her. Arlong then kept Nami captive in his fortress and forced her to create maps for him, which he could use in his world conquest. But the sickest part is Arlong bears no ill will to Nami and sees her a invaluable tool in his schemes and forgives her even when she attempts to assassinate him multiple times, only making sure she can't ever escape from him by using her loved ones as hostages so she couldn't be truly free. It's due to the four boys (Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Sanji) fighting Arlong for her and especially Luffy wrecking Arlong Park as a whole, that Nami is so close to the four of them. Nami truly believes they can beat anyone, and says so to Vivi when faced against Crododile (a Warlord of the Sea).
    • It's due to Arlong that Nami is so reluctant to go to Fishman island and (as Sanji points out) has a lot of legitimate reasons to hate Jimbei since he's the one who released Arlong upon her home sea. But Nami forgives Jimbei and holds no grudge against the Fishman race as a whole (only Arlong), finally understand why Fishmen hate humans.
  • Vivi, who's practically an angel, hates Crocodile with such a passion that he was the only person she has ever expressed the desire to kill. Then again, he's more than earned her hatred, and that of all of Alabasta for that matter.
    • Crocodile himself has or had one in Whitebeard, because according to Word of God, Whitebeard defeated a younger Crocodile, which had the side effect of turning Crocodile into the evil mastermind we see in the story.
  • Robin utterly hates Spandam for trying to kill her new friends the Straw Hats, abusing her all the way to Gates of Justice, and most importantly due to Spandam being the son of Spandine — the man who ordered her home island to be destroyed and her mother and friends massacred. This is why the first thing Robin does after being unchained is to slap Spandam a thousand times and later snap his spine to interrupt his hate rant.
  • Franky also detests Spandam, as Spandam was the one who used Franky's battleships against innocent people to frame Franky's company/family. Spandam fueled Franky's hatred further by capturing Tom (Franky's mentor and father-figure), and gloating over Tom's fallen body, causing Franky to go nuts and smash Spandam's face with a rifle, disfiguring him for life. Spandam soon hated Franky so much he was willing to screw the rules and "speed up" Franky's execution by hitting him with a speeding train but was unsatisfied that Franky's body was never found, and became indecently delighted to find Franky alive so he could enact his revenge. But Franky's contempt for him is stronger, and the first thing he does upon seeing Spandam again is to try and bite his head off and later threatens to smash him into a pulp when he sees Spandam beating on poor Robin. Spandam nearly kills Franky when the shipwright burns the blueprints to an ancient weapon and flies into such a rage that he kicks Franky off the Tower of Justice. Franky finally gets his revenge when face to face with Spandam and wastes no time pounding Spandam into the ground with an elephant since Spandam was not taking the hint.
    • It's due to their shared hatred and other connections that Franky is so close to Robin.
  • Brook has Gecko Moria, who stole his shadow, leaving him unable to survive in sunlight for five years, after which Zoro reclaims Brook's shadow for him.
  • Tony Tony Chopper has Wapol, who oppressed Drum Island (Chopper's home island) and laughed at the death of his father figure, Hiriluk.
  • Akainu to the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates for killing Ace.
    • Aokiji also has major beef with Akainu, though more from an ideological standpoint. However, their enmity and rivalry did not become so prevalent until Sengoku retired and both competed for the position of Fleet Admiral. Aokiji, normally indifferent, even somewhat adverse to the idea of inheriting such a tedious job, was completely against Akainu becoming Fleet Admiral. This feud between them, the first ever major conflict between Admirals, became so heated that it eventually degenerated to a Duel to the Death on the barren island of Punk Hazard, with the winner becoming Fleet Admiral. The victor wound up being Akainu; but for all his ruthlessness, not even he could ignore the decades he and Aokiji served together as comrades and ended up sparing his opponent's life. However, Aokiji despised the idea of serving under his rival so much that he ditched the Marines and gave up his position as an Admiral, and later joined the Blackbeard Pirates.
  • Blackbeard to the Whitebeard Pirates for betraying them and killing their crewmate Thatch, then orchestrating the Marineford War for his own personal gain, thereby indirectly causing Ace's death, and then personally killing (with the help of his crew) Whitebeard himself.
    • Blackbeard is also one to Shanks. Blackbeard gave Shanks the scars on his eye. Shanks took Blackbeard seriously as a threat at a time the World Government still considered Teach a nobody. When Shanks threatened to fight any combatant at Marineford who did not cease hostilities, he challenged Blackbeard specfically. During the Egghead arc, Shanks is asking for news on Blackbeard.
  • Trafalgar Law hates Donquixote Doflamingo to the point that Law is willing to do anything to ensure Doflamingo's death, even at the cost of his own life. Doflamingo, after the last two arcs, has come to hate him just as deeply.
    • Doflamingo is also a personal enemy of the Riku royal family, the previous rulers of Dressrosa. Let's put it this way: what Crocodile did to Vivi and Alabasta was nothing compared to what Doflamingo did to the Riku family and Dressrosa as a whole.
    • Though he was unaware of it at the time, Doflamingo's own brother Rocinante (aka Corazon, Law's idol and father-figure) held great enmity for him for the murder of their father, Homing. Doflamingo only found out moments before murdering Rocinante personally, which would earn him Law's hatred. Law would then spend the next thirteen years of his life plotting his revenge.
  • Chapter 764 implies that those bearing the D. initial are this to the World Nobles — to the point that they're nicknamed "God's Natural Enemy". In hindsight, this wasn't really surprising at all, considering how much practically every D. in the series constantly chafed against the World Government and the World Nobles in particular. Law's conflict with Doflamingo just happened to be another example, albeit one we weren't entirely aware of first, while Luffy's actions speak for themselves.
  • The Revolutionary Army, led by Monkey D. Dragon, has the World Government, which is obstensibly led by a group of Celestial Dragons known as the Five Elders, but in reality ruled by Imu. Dragon was initially a peaceful protester against the World Government, but switched to violent means after they destroyed Ohara, with his friend Clover being among those who died in the incident. Played With in that the Revolutionary Army's goal is not to destroy the World Government altogether, but simply the Celestial Dragon system controlling it.
  • The Straw Hat Pirates also have the World Government. While all pirates (except the Seven Warlords of the Sea and their crews, and even they are automatically declared criminals again once the Seven Warlords system is abolished) are outlaws in the eyes of the World Government, they do not active oppose the Government. The Straw Hat Pirates, who otherwise did not care about them, outright declared war on the World Government by burning the World Government flag at Enies Lobby in order to show Robin they are willing to make an enemy of the Government in order to save her. Before and after, the crew, especially their captain Luffy, were involved in several major incidents that were problematic for the World Government. Additionally, several individual members have had their lives negatively affected by the World Government even before becoming Straw Hat Pirates.
    • Luffy's brother Sabo was attacked and presumably killed by a Celestial Dragon, resulting in Luffy spending years believing Sabo was dead.
    • Roronoa Zoro was tortured and nearly executed by Marines at Shell Town for petty reasons.
    • Nami and her home village of Cocoyashi were enslaved by the Arlong Pirates, an extremist splinter faction of the Sun Pirates who went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against humanity after the Marines killed the Sun Pirates' captain Fisher Tiger, who was an escaped slave of the Celestial Dragons.
    • Chopper's home island was oppressed by the World Goverment-backed ruler Wapol.
    • Robin's home island of Ohara was destroyed by the World Government, who spent the following decades hunting Robin.
    • Franky's father figure Tom was taken into custody by the World Government.
    • Jinbe's captain Fisher Tiger was killed by Marines.
  • The Kozuki Family and the Akazaya samurai who serve them have Kaido, who killed Kozuki Oden, and Kurozumi Orochi, who usurped the shogunate of Wano from Kozuki Sukiyaki.
  • Yamato has his father Kaido, who abused him for years for emulating Kaido's deceased enemy Kozuki Oden, even going so far as to put explosive shackles on him, and eventually tries to kill him personally.
    • Two of the Akazaya, Duke Dogstorm and Cat Viper, have Jack the Drought, one of Kaido's Co-Dragons. Jack devastated the Mokomo Dukedom, which Dogstorm and Cat Viper ruled over, and severed Dogstorm's leg and Cat Viper's arm.
  • Carrot has Charlotte Perospero, who was responsible for the death of her mentor Pedro.
  • Gol D. Roger had Rocks D. Xebec, a pirate who was considered his first and greatest rival. Roger had to ally himself with Monkey D. Garp to bring him down.
  • Gan Fall has Eneru, who usurped him as the ruler of Skypiea.
  • Prior to his conversion into a cyborg and subsequent Death of Personality, Bartholomew Kuma's greatest enemy was Saint Jaygarcia Saturn of the Five Elders. As a Revolutionary and a former slave of the Celestial Dragons, Kuma already opposed the World Government by default; but the one enemy that he's persistently been involved with is Saturn, who has been a looming presence in his life since the day they first met, back when Kuma was just a child slave in God Valley. Saturn in turn seems to have a particular focus on squashing Kuma as "punishment" for him being both born of the Buccaneer race as well as upholding the folklore of Sun God Nika and his ideals of freedom. This animosity between them later passes on to Kuma's adoptive daughter Jewelry Bonney, who blames Saturn for Kuma's full conversion into a cyborg, an act that functionally killed her father and causes Bonney to try and kill Saturn in turn. As if this wasn't bad enough, Saturn reveals he was personally responsible for using Ginny, Bonney's mother and perhaps the only woman Kuma ever loved, as a guinea pig for his experiments, which gave her the Sapphire Scales disease before she passed it on to Bonney when she was born; this, in turn, led to Kuma becoming the template for the Pacifista Project in exchange for curing her, a deal which Saturn altered to force Kuma to lose his personality in the first place.
• One-Punch Man:
  • Silver Fang had Garou the Hero Hunter, his former disciple, moreso because —as revealed in the manga— Bang in his youth was just as violent as Garou, drowning in his talent with martial arts (especially his Explosion Release Fist) and using his power to enjoy himself; however, after Bomb defeated him, he understood his brother had no killing intent unlike him, so he humbled himself, sealed his Explosion Release Fist, and developed the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. Thus, when Garou starts his rampage (using both martial arts, no less), he sets to stop his student as a personal duty of setting him in the right path again.
  • Blast has God, a powerful being who offered him power, only for Blast to refuse him, fight him, and survive. Blast spent his time as a Hero of Another Story opposing God even before the founding of the Hero Association, and kept other members of the Association oblivious to God's existence.
• Oshi no Ko: Aquamarine Hoshino has Hikaru Kamiki, his Archnemesis Dad who he seeks revenge against for presumably causing his mother's death.
• Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: Aliceliese and Sisbell Lou Nebulis IX have their older sister Elletear, who betrayed their family because of their mother's mistreatment of her. Elletear also tries to seduce her sisters' Love Interest Iska.
• Red and Giovanni in Pokémon Adventures are the most important. Also, Yellow and Lance, with a dash of Evil Counterpart for good measure. The only reason Petrel managed to get the drop on Lance in the HGSS arc is because he took the appearance of the person who disturbs Lance the most — Yellow.
  • The Johto arc has Silver and Blue's nemesis Pryce.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • The most bitter rivalry Ash ever had was against Paul over their methods of training Pokemon, which was intrinsically intwined into the story of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl in a way that was unlike anything done before or since in the series, with Ash's clashes with Paul entangling every aspect of his journey from their individual team members to their relationships with other figures like Cynthia, Maylene, and Brandon they meet along their ways. A combination of Break the Haughty on Paul's part and Ash eventually beating him in the Sinnoh League again led them to bury the hatchet, and while they didn't exactly become friends afterward, they did develop a new respect for one another.
  • Galactic Commander Saturn's Toxicroak to Brock's Croagunk. Their hatred is so intense that Croagunk will even ignore Brock's advances on women if Toxicroak is nearby.
  • Mewtwo with Giovanni, made even more awesome as they stood facing each other amongst the flaming ruins of the Team Rocket lab. Though Mewtwo considers Mew his greatest enemy as he was cloned from it, though it's purely one sided as Mew has the intellect of a toddler.
  • Team Rocket's Meowth feels this way towards the entire Persian species, but especially Giovanni's. His greatest goal in life is to replace Persian as Giovanni's prized pet.
  • Misty had special enmity with Jessie as the respective female of their trios, Jessie especially hated Misty calling her old. Though Misty is no longer present in the later sagas, Jessie doesn't show the same hatred towards other girls in Ash's party.
  • Colonel Hansen in the Mirage Kingdom two-parter is this to Misty and Princess Sarah.
  • In both the games and the anime, Groudon and Kyogre are this to each other.
  • Team Rocket is a subversion towards Ash and whoever his companions at the time are. While they are the villains that appear and bother Ash the most and like to think of themselves as Ash's greatest enemies, Ash himself considers them to be an annoyance at best, and there are several times that they worked together to face greater threats.
• Kyubey to Akemi Homura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. There are some parallels to Takano Miyo and Furude Rika from Higurashi: When They Cry.
  • In fact, as of Rebellion thier relationship somewhat resembles Lambdadelta and Bernkastel respectively from the sequel.
• The Pretty Cure series has had their share of these:
  • In Futari wa Pretty Cure, Jaaku King is the Arch-Enemy to the Queen of Light.
  • In Fresh Pretty Cure!, Eas was this to Cure Peach until her Heel–Face Turn, even if Peach wasn't really aware of it.
  • In HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, Dark Precure is this to Cure Moonlight. She's an Evil Knockoff who is especially created to defeat Moonlight. Also Dark Precure is the Cain to Moonlight's Abel.
  • Subverted in Suite Pretty Cure ♪. It seems that Mephisto is the Arch-Enemy to Aphrodite, but it later turns out that Mephisto actually is the king of Major Land, Aphrodite's husband and he's brainwashed by the real Big Bad Noise.
  • In Doki Doki! PreCure, Regina is this to Cure Heart. Sadly, both actually love each other (in a platonic way), and Cure Heart wants to save Regina because she's brainwashed by her father King Jikochuu, Regina is still a villain.
• Princess Mononoke: Moro has Lady Eboshi, who seeks to destroy the forest Moro protects. Eboshi shoots Moro, and Moro later bites of Eboshi's arm.
• Psycho-Pass:
  • Shinya Kōgami has Shōgo Makishima, who is responsible for the death of his friend Itsuru Sasayama.
  • Makishima also becomes this to Akane Tsunemori by killing her friend Yuki.
• Raideen: Prince Charkin views Akira Hibiki and the titular robot, Raideen as this. Charkin gloats that defeating them both would be a great honour. When they spar in their One-Winged Angel forms and it's clear Charkin is going to lose, he commits suicide to avoid the shame of defeat.
• Ranma ½: Ranma Saotome has Happosai (outright stated to be Ranma's Arch Enemy in the datebook), his perverted Anti-Mentor whose antics often bring the two of them into conflict.
• Reborn to Master the Blade:
  • Inglis Eucus has Rahl Rambach, who she defeated in a duel after he unfairly defeated and bullied her cousin Rafael. Years later, a vengeful Rahl seeks to make Inglis his Sex Slave.
  • Leone Olfa has her treacherous older brother Leon.
• Redo of Healer: Keyarga has Proum Jioral, an Evil Overlord whose daughter Flare abused him, and who seeks revenge on Keyarga for supposedly killing Flare and his other daughter Norn, unaware that Kayarga actually brainwashed them.
• The Rising of the Shield Hero: Naofumi Iwatani has Malty S. Melromarc, who gave a False Rape Accusation against him.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Himura Kenshin has Shishio Makoto and Yukishiro Enishi.
  • Shishio Makoto orchestrated the assassination of his old comrade Ōkubo Toshimichi, which was carried out by Shishio's apprentice, Seta Sōjirō. In addition, Shishio's vision to turn Japan into a Social Darwinist society makes him ideological enemy for Kenshin, who has devoted himself to protecting others.
  • Yukishiro Enishi sought revenge against Kenshin for killing his sister Tomoe, who was also Kenshin's wife.
• Sailor Moon: In the manga, Sailor Moon has Chaos. It is responsible for all of the conflict which Queen Metalia, Wiseman, Pharaoh 90, and Queen Nehelenia cause in Sailor Moon's life, as they are all incarnations of Chaos.
  • Sailor Moon also has Queen Beryl, who was an enemy of Sailor Moon's previous incarnation, Princess Serenity. In the manga, she waged war against the Moon Kingdom because Prince Endymion (the previous incarnation of Mamoru Chiba) fell in love with Princess Serenity instead of her, and Serenity committed suicide after Beryl's actions led to Endymion's death. In the anime, Beryl killed both Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion.
• Saint Seiya: Hades to Pegasus Seiya (the reincarnation of Pegasus Tenma, who sacrificed himself to defeat Hades. At the end of the original series, Hades stabbs Seiya in the heart, which leaves Seiya comatose and dying in Next Dimension) and Athena (Hades' niece, who go goes to war with every 243 years).
• Samurai Champloo: Jin has Kariya Kagetoki, who ordered Jin's master Mariya to kill him, forcing Jin to kill Mariya in self-defense.
• Sei Juushi Bismarck: Shinji Hikari has the Deathcula leader Hyuza, who was mortally wounded by Hikari's father in the past, forcing Hyuza who transfer his mind into the main's computer of Hell's Paradise.
• The Seven Deadly Sins: Melodias and Elizabeth Liones have the Demon King and the Supreme Deity, Meliodas' father and Elizabeth's original incarnation's mother respectively, who placed curses on them which lasted for millenia.
• Shaman King: Yoh Asakura has his Evil Twin Hao Asakura.
• Shiki: Natsuno Yuuki has Tatsumi, an accomplice to the murder of Natsuno's friend Tohru, who forces the vampirized Tohru to kill Natsuno, only for Natsuno to return as a Jinrou, the same type of vampire as Tatsumi himself.
• In Soul Eater, Medusa is the Arch Enemy of Maka, on Maka's part due to Medusa's connection to the black blood and Crona, and on Medusa's side thanks to Maka's Soul Perception. Asura is this Lord Death and his DWMA Students, Staff, and many of their allies, including The Heroine Maka and her friends.
• Space Adventure Cobra: Cobra has Crystal Bowie, who took his arm, and Lord Salamander, who has Cobra's Love Interest Dominique skinned (in the anime, Salamander brainwashes her).
• Spirited Away: Sen has Yubaba, a Wicked Witch who she becomes an indentured servant for, and who seeks to enslave her permanently.
• From Talentless Nana, Nana initially had Kyouya due to him becoming suspicious of her murders. However, this eventually changes to her opposing Tsuruoka once he revealed that he was the one who killed her parents.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Simon has the Anti-Spiral, the overall Big Bad of the series, The Man Behind the Man to Lordgenome (who was the boss of the man who killed Simon's Big Brother Mentor Kamina), and the Mind Hive of the Anti-Spiral race, of which Simon's Love Interest Mia is a member, meaning that the Anti-Spiral's death also means Mia's death.
• Tokyo Ghoul:
  • Ken Kaneki has Nimura Furuta, one of the Big Bads of the series, who is responsible for his transformation into a ghoul, and who used Kaneki has his Unwitting Pawn.
  • Kureo Mado has the One-Eyed Owl, who killed his wife Kasuka.
• Toriko: Toriko has Starjun (who kidnapped his companion Komatsu), Joie (who possessed his mother's body), and Acacia (his Archnemesis Dad).
• Trigun: Vash the Stampede has Millions Knives, his Evil Twin who seeks to Kill All Humans, which puts him at odds with the All-Loving Hero Vash.
• In Twin Star Exorcists, there's Rokuro Enmadou and Yuuto Ijika. Yuuto was seemingly Rokuro's best friend when they were younger and was responsible for the Hiinatsuki Tragedy in which all of Rokuro's fellow cadets were turned into Kegare through twisted human experimentation, forcing Rokuro to kill them all and traumatizing him to the point he tried for years to avoid becoming an exorcist. On Yuuto's part, Rokuro was the only person who managed to form a connection with Yuuto after his descent into madness and darkness and was the one to defeat him during the tragedy, despite believing himself more skilled and powerful. While Yuuto shows himself to be dismissive of Rokuro's abilities upon his return, it's telling that while he sees other people as "things" he has an actual interest in Rokuro. In short, the enmity between the two is very personal and can only end in one or the other's death.
• In Umineko: When They Cry, both Battler and Beatrice, as well as Bernkastel and Lambdadelta have reached this point with each other. Subverted; Battler and Beato end up married while Bern and Lamb are working together.
• Variable Geo: Miranda Jahana is Yuka's main antagonist throughout Advanced V.G. and all other continuites. The OVA adaptation escalates their conflict by having Miranda purposely target Yuka's best friend, Satomi, and uses her as her new vessel in order resurrect herself. It inevitability leads to another confrontation, in which, Yuka frees Satomi from Miranda's control. Yuka and Satomi then unleash their combined might against Miranda.
• Vinland Saga: Askeladd and Floki to Thorfinn, as they are responsible for the death of Thorfinn's father.
• Voltes V:
  • Kenichi Go, has Prince Heinel, as Kenichi is the leader of the Voltes team resisting Heinel's invasion of Earth. The two of them have swordfighting duels against each other twice in the series. For his part, Heinel's view of Kenichi changes from an Arch-Enemy, to a Worthy Opponent, and then to a younger brother, who he gives his life to protect.
  • Kentarou Go, originally known as Prince La Gohl, has Emperor Zambajil Zu, his evil cousin who exposed him for being born hornless, resulting in Gour being branded a traitor, and enabling Zambajil to inherit the Boazanian throne.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yami Yugi has Yami Bakura, one of his most recurring enemies throughout the series. Yami Bakura also happens to be the Fusion Dance of two of Yami Yugi's ancient enemies from his life as Pharaoh Atem: Zorc Necrophades (whom Atem sealed away at the cost of sacrificing himself) and the Thief King Bakura (who despised Atem's family for massacring his village).
  • Seto Kaiba had Maximillion Pegasus, who tried to take over his company and took his brother's soul.
• YuYu Hakusho: Yusuke Urameshi has Younger Toguro, who coerced him into participating in the Dark Tournament and killed his mentor Genkai.

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