Starter Villain / Anime & Manga

• Bamboo Blade:
  • Toyama and Iwasa, who were tormenting Dan in the first episode, prompting Tamaki to come to his defense and join the Kendo Club.
  • This is lampshaded at a later point, when the main group is well-established. Team captain Kirino Chiba has to come up with training regimens for the other members. Her realization that she forgot to make ones for them is quickly brushed off, since Toyama only came to practice to pick on the newbies and girls, and never showed up again after Tamaki taught him a lesson.
  • And subverted later still when Toyama gets into a fight in an arcade. The fact that he hadn't turned in a formal resignation meant that he was technically still a member, resulting in the entire team nearly being shut down over the incident.
• Berserk:
  • The Snake Baron from the Black Swordsman arc is the first major bad guy Guts is shown facing in the manga; the ruthless baron of a local town who is a demon that has worked out a deal with the mayor, with the mayor sending him people to eat in exchange for not burning the town to the ground and killing everyone. He gives Guts a hell of a fight after going Apostle, but once Guts turns the tables with his Arm Cannon, he goes down quickly.
  • His first encounter with demons period is with none other than Nosferatu Zodd, who has gone on to be a recurring rival and occasional ally of the Black Swordsman.
  • Chronologically, however, the first major bad guy Guts faces is the warrior Bazuso, whose defeat is what alerts the Band of the Hawk to Guts's talent.
• The first antagonist of Black Butler is Azzurro Vener, an enforcer of the Ferro family. His appearance is foreshadowed in the first chapter, he appears in the third, and is dead by the end of the fourth. This brief run exists only for two purposes — first, to expose Ciel's role as the royal watchdog of the criminal underworld, and second, to give Sebastian a chance to demonstrate that he is far more than the mere Badass Normal he was initially portrayed as.
• Black Clover: Revchi is a former Magic Knight who stalks the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony in Hage, then tries to steal Yuno's four leaf grimoire in order to sell it for money. When Asta tries to stop him, Revchi easily handles him with his Chain Magic only for Asta to get his five leaf grimoire after refusing to give up, after which he uses the Anti-Magic sword contained within to kick Revchi's ass.
• Bleach:
  • Grand Fisher — The Hollow who ate Ichigo's mom and is significantly more powerful than any of the other hollows Ichigo fights in the first arc. Unlike most starter villains, he actually isn't killed right away, and actually comes back later only for Isshin, Ichigo's father, to completely destroy him.
  • An earlier example is the Hollow that shows up at Ichigo's doorstep and nearly kills his family in the first chapter, since it forces Rukia to transfer her power to Ichigo, turning him into a substitute soul reaper so he can save them. But despite this, it's just a regular hollow and easily slaughtered by Ichigo.
  • A case could also be made for Renji and Byakuya, the first enemies to kick Ichigo's ass and also the first antagonists beyond garden-variety hollows.
  • Asguiaro Ebern is this at the onset of the final arc. He gives Ichigo a decent fight, but shows that he's more trouble than he initially seems when he tries (and fails) to steal Ichigo's Bankai, after which Ichigo still manages to seriously injure him and force him to retreat. By this point, however, Yhwach decides that Ebern has already served his purpose and kills him.
• Buso Renkin: Papillion is the first major villain, eventually succeeded by the LXE, the Alchemist Army, and finally Victor. Funnily enough, though, he manages to stay in the game as a major asset against all of these without ever explicitly making a Heel–Face Turn.
• Call of the Night: While not really a villain, Seri becomes the first real antagonist that Yamori and Nazuna face, luring Yamori to a secluded location and then keeping Nazuna busy as Kabura kidnaps Yamori so the rest of their clique can meet him.
• Cells at Work!: The first pathogenic threat encountered is a Pneumococcus bacterium who manages to escape the Neutrophils who wiped out his brethren and tries to infect the body.
• Prince Clovis from Code Geass is Lelouch's half-brother and the first enemy he kills.
• Cowboy Bebop: Asimov Solensan is a rogue Syndicate member who Spike and Jet go after in the first episode. He's taken down in that same episode, but the Bebop crew don't get the bounty money because he winds up dead.
• In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Katsuo Tanaka is a bully at the Arasaka school that David has to contend with in the first episode. He's a smug, classist asshole with some fancy though ultimately impractical plug-ins (indeed, all David would have needed to do to avoid getting the shit beaten out of him would have been to take a step back). After David installs the Sandevistan and kicks Katsuo's ass, he never appears in the story again. His father does however and, as director of the Cyber-Skeleton program, he has ties to nearly every tragedy that David suffers after installing the Sandevistan.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The otherwise unnamed Temple Demon is the first demon to be faced by Tanjiro and Nezuko. He serves as a perfect demonstration for a number of facts shared by pretty much every other demon in the series: he immediately moves to kill and feed upon Tanjiro upon realizing he's human, is extremely territorial, arrogant and cruel, and cannot be killed with conventional methods. Even after Nezuko literally kicks his head off, his body and head continue to move independently. It's only when the sun rises that the demon finally dies, burning to ash when exposed to sunlight.
• Digimon:
  • Digimon Adventure:
    • Kuwagamon and Shellmon are the two first hostile Digimon the Chosen Children are threatened by after arriving in the Digital World, both of whom being portrayed as nothing more than wild creatures (with the latter also talking in Pokémon Speak). Kuwagamon being an Adult-level Digimon is too much for the kids and their Baby II-level Digimon to handle, which pushes the Digimon Partners to evolve into their Child-level forms. And while their combined effort is able to knock it down, Kuwagamon stands up again and almost kills them without itself getting defeated, showing that a Digimon of a higher level cannot be defeated by a group of lower leveled Digimon at that point of the story. Shellmon is the first enemy to push a Digimon Partner to evolve into their Adult-level and he gets soundly defeated, demonstrating that evolving the Digimon Partner is necessary to survive in the Digital World. When the Chosen Children return from the real world to the Digital World, Shellmon shows up again and attacks them, only to demonstrate that the Villain Forgot to Level Grind and that the Digimon Partners Took a Level in Badass, as he gets easily defeated by the Child-level Digimon.
    • Devimon, the first Arc Villain. Toward the end of the show, his status is lampshaded, with Leomon pointing out that Devimon was nothing compared to the threats that the heroes have faced since. And considering how Devimon is a Adult-level Digimon, and everyone faced after him was either Perfect or Ultimate level, he's right.
  • Digimon Frontier: Grottemon, one of Cherubimon's henchmen, is the first villainous member of the Legendary Warriors of Ten to appear, and he overpowers the five Chosen Children quickly once he manages to get his hand on his Beast Spirit during his debut episode. For a couple of episodes, he keeps popping up as a recurring threat whom the Chosen Children cannot defeat due to their lack of Beast Spirits, even losing two of their Human Spirits during the process. Once the Chosen Children also get access to two Beast Spirits, they finally are able to beat him, get one of the Human Spirits back and steal his Beast Spirit. After that humiliating loss, Grottemon's other four villainous colleagues are introduced, who all serve as Cherubimon's Quirky Miniboss Squad. Grottemon still ends up getting killed first when the kids get another Beast Spirit, resulting in retrieving the stolen Human Spirit and also stealing Grottemon's Human Spirit. Collecting all Spirits becomes very necessary in order to unleash the full power of the Warriors of Ten.
  • MadLeomon is this for Digimon Fusion. He oversees the Bagra Army's invasion of the Green Zone and is the first enemy faced by Taiki/Mikey and friends. Tactimon is introduced as his immediate superior.
    • The Digimon Xros Wars manga has MachLeomon, a lighter, knife-wielding Palette Swap of MadLeomon that has Super-Speed and oversees the invasion of the Green Zone in the latter's place.
  • In Digimon Adventure: (2020), a swarm of Algomon are the first enemies that Taichi and Yamato face, with a particularly strong specimen evolving to the Ultimate-level and acting as a boss of sorts for Omegamon. Notably, this gives it power comparable to the villains of the next few arcs.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Emperor Pilaf was the first real villain that Goku and gang faced (after pterodactyls, bear thieves, bandits, boss rabbits and cowardly shape-shifting pigs). In the manga he isn't even an Arc Villain as he shows up at the very end as the final obstacle, while in the anime he and his lackeys makes various off-screen attempts to steal the Dragon Balls over the course of the arc. What makes him this trope over the others is that he sought after the Dragon Balls to take over the world, making him a legit threat despite being a Terrible Trio.
  • The first antagonist Goku ever faces is a giant pterodactyl that ties him up and tries to eat Bulma. He doesn't survive the chapter.
  • In a similar fashion, Colonel Silver is this for the Red Ribbon Army arc in the Dragon Ball manga, as he's defeated soon after he's introduced, but said defeat is what tips the army off to Goku being a threat. This is downplayed somewhat in the anime as Colonel Silver's part of the story is significantly expanded to be its own mini-arc, similar to Muscle Tower for General White and the Pirate adventure for General Blue, thus putting Colonel Silver more on par with them.
  • General Blue could be considered one as far as the series' life-or-death battles are concerned; all previous opponents Goku fought were either too weak to defeat him or strong enough to challenge him, but within the confines of the non-lethal World Tournament. General Blue, through his superhuman physical prowess and psychic powers, managed to hold his own against Goku and nearly kill him no less than three times, with Goku only surviving their first fight out of sheer dumb luck. Fittingly, Blue is offed by Mercenary Tao shortly thereafter, setting in motion the series never-ending Sorting Algorithm of Evil in which Goku faces increasingly powerful opponents.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Raditz for the Saiyan Arc, and by happenstance Z itself. When he first shows up he's the most dangerous threat the heroes had faced at that point, forcing an alliance between Goku and then-villain Piccolo. He dies after a handful of chapters/episodes, but not before revealing there are two more Saiyans on the way who make him look like a pushover. And that's before we learn about Frieza and all of his elite crew, who each are more powerful than the both of them combined.
  • Androids 19 and 20 become this for the Android/Cell Arc. Originally, they were the Androids who terrorized Trunks' future, but Toriyama listening to his former editor's remarks about them being hardly impressive meant that when they finally appeared, they were outdated models easily fought off by the Z-Fighters, while Androids 16, 17, and 18 and later Cell were the real threats of the arc.
  • From another perspective, Mecha Frieza and King Cold could be considered this, as they only show up in the first few episodes to establish how badass Future Trunks is- and, by extension, how threatening the Androids he was talking about must be.
• Eyeshield 21: Sena's first game with the Devil Bats is against the Koigahama Cupids, a mediocre American football team whose gimmick is being a bunch of pretty boys whose girlfriends come to all their games. The plot picks up when their next game is against the far more competent Ojou White Knights, and Sena sparks a rivalry with defensive lineman Seijuro Shin.
• Fabricant 100: No 12 is the enemy Fabricant of the first chapter and is killed effortlessly without getting to use his enchanced legs for combat.
• Bora the Prominence in Fairy Tail. A fire wizard who pretends to be the legendary Salamander (along with using magic charms) to lure women onto his ship, where he sells them as slaves. He's basically there to introduce Lucy to Natsu and inform her that Natsu is the real Salamander, and to get Natsu to offer Lucy a job with Fairy Tail. He also introduces how Natsu's Dragon Slayer magic works when Natsu devours his initial magic attack and quickly starts using fire magic of his own.
• Fate/stay night: Rider, and to a lesser extent her summoner Shinji. In the second route, as part of getting the early stages of the first route over with quickly, Rider is even killed offscreen. This doesn't apply in Heavens Feel, where Rider survives to be a major heroic character.
  • Illyasviel and Berserker Hercules as well. It takes half of the first route to beat them, yet they are far from the main antagonists.
  • Fate/Zero: Likewise, Ryunousuke and Caster Bluebeard. Though they aren't defeated for good until about the halfway point.
• Shin from Fist of the North Star, who doubles as a Token Motivational Nemesis, is the first rival martial artist that Kenshiro faces in the story. Shin was the one who defeated Ken, stole his beloved Yuria away from him, and engraved the seven scars on Ken's chest as a reminder of the humiliation. In the first story arc of the manga, Ken must fight against Shin's four playing card-themed lieutenants, each progressively more skilled than the last, before challenging his old rival.
  • There’s also Zeed, a biker gang boss who displays just how ruthless the post-war world is. He is killed by Kenshiro at the end of the first chapter where it becomes apparent that he knows nothing about the martial arts the major villains and heroes can do. It also establishes that gang bosses in this world are typically vile people and that you won’t feel sorry when they get killed.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Overall, Father Cornello. As a religious leader controlling the city of Lior, he's the first major foe the Elric brothers face, but he's only a pawn of the Homunculi with a fake Philosopher's Stone.
  • Huskisson in the 2005 film Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa.
  • In the Brotherhood anime, while Cornello remains the "true" starter villain of the main story, he's joined by Isaac McDougal the Freezing Alchemist, a character created specifically for the first episode, which is a brand new story. The brothers and the rest of the military are forced into action to stop him from freezing Central City with an alchemical ritual. His motivations and actions serve as heavy foreshadowing on the Homunculi and their designs on Amestris.
• Getter Robo: The anime has Saki, the first Mechasaurus Emperor Gore sends after the Getter team. He's decapitated in his sole appearance, despite being outfitted with anti-Getter energy defenses.
• Gundam:
  • Jamaican Daninghan's entire role in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam's storyline is to chase Kamille Bidan and the Argama until Paptimus Scirocco, Yazan Gable, Haman Karn and the rest of the actual main villains have arrived. Once that happens he's unceremoniously killed off by Emma Sheen.
    • Kamille's rival, Jerid Messa, subverts this, starting out as a bullying Jerk Jock, but graduating to Ace Pilot status and remaining a credible threat until the finale.
  • Michelo Chariot from Mobile Fighter G Gundam, much like Jerid above, starts out as a loud-mouthed gang leader who happens to be the representative of Neo Italy before he is effortlessly decimated in Domon's first fight. He reappears twenty-three episodes later, now part of Master Asia's crew along with Gentle Chapman, Neo Britain's representative. He's not a very good fighter and only manages to become a threat because he's infected with DG Cells and pilots a too-powerful-for-its-own-good Gundam.
  • Reich Anto from After War Gundam X hires protagonist Garrod Ran to acquire Tiffa Adill under the premise that she has been "captured" by the crew of a Vulture landship. In truth, Reich is an employee to Von Alternative, a greedy business CEO who has plans to study Tiffa by locking her away to study her Newtype powers. When Garrod realizes Reich's intentions (only doing so because he sees Tiffa is frightened of Reich), he takes off with Tiffa in tow while Reich pursues in a Daughtress Mobile Suit. He becomes Garrod's first true opponent when the latter activates the titular Gundam X, and is killed in swift order along with his lackeys.
    • Von Alternative himself serves as the Arc Villain for the first 5 episodes, being the one who hired Reich, and being the boss behind the military conglomerate after Tiffa.
  • Miguel Aiman from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is one of the GINN pilots with the Le Creuset Team, and the first of the team to actually confront the Strike Gundam piloted by Kira Yamato. While he is a notable pilot with an in-universe nickname ("Magic Bullet of Dusk"), he hardly poses a threat to the Bigger Stick machine due to its Phase Shift Armor, and is ultimately killed in the second fight he is featured in, with Kira and the Strike carving his GINN in half.
• In Haruhi-chan, Ryoko claims to be the first and weakest member of the Radical Four, who answer to three even more powerful superiors, none of which are seen.
• Heavy Object: A nameless Faith Organization Officer in Alaska.
• After the low-stakes but very personal Token Motivational Nemesis, High School D×D has Riser Phenex, the first foe with a goal that affects everyone on Rias's team, and a squad of his own that can keep up with them in a fight. Since that goal is an Arranged Marriage with Rias and that squad is his Peerage, though, all of them survive - he might be the plot's first real challenge, but he's still just a garden-variety selfish asshole and everything he did was technically above-board. After falling from grace when he loses an Engagement Challenge to Issei, Riser undergoes some off-screen Character Development and becomes a huffy but sincere supporter in his future appearances.
• Several examples in most Parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Phantom Blood:
    • Dio himself is an odd example despite being the Big Bad. As children, Dio was Jonathan's tormentor, making the boy's life miserable in order to break him, only for Jonathan to eventually snap and beat Dio up so badly he decides to steer clear of Jonathan's wrath and play nice with him for several years. As adults, Jonathan is definitely the better between the two of them until Dio gets vampiric powers, although Dio still loses their first fight after he becomes a vampire due to arrogance and not being fully acclimated to his new powers yet. It's only after this defeat that Dio starts to build himself up as the major Big Bad he would become for the rest of the story.
    • Jonathan's first oponent after learning the Ripple is the newly zombified Jack the Ripper. Zeppeli decides to make killing him a final test for Jonathan before they go hunt down Dio, giving him a glass of wine and telling him to slay the serial killer without spilling a drop.
  • Battle Tendency:
    • Straizo is the first major antagonist Joseph fights and the one who tells him of Speedwagon's whereabouts. He's also the only non-Mook villain to be a normal vampire instead of a Pillar Man, with his only real trick being a hamon-proof scarf.
    • Santana is this for the Pillar Men, as he's the first to show up and entirely separate from the other three (who are in Europe while he's in Mexico), and also the youngest and least powerful, only giving Joseph trouble because Joseph was a complete novice with hamon at the time, while he needs a month of Training from Hell to match the others.
  • Stardust Crusaders: Noriaki Kakyoin serves as the first enemy Stand User to attack the Joestar group and the first indication that DIO is actively targeting them. However, as Kakyoin was simply Brainwashed and Crazy at the time, the following opponent, Gray Fly, is a much better example, being the first truly villainous Stand user the Crusaders encounter. He's also the one who turns a simple flight to Cairo into a journey spanning multiple countries.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: The escaped convict and Serial Killer Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri; Jotaro is partly motivated to travel to Morioh after Joseph's Hermit Purple produces pictures of Angelo and his Stand, Aqua Necklace. He gets quickly defeated by Josuke, and the plot turns to the other Stand-wielding serial killers in Morioh (plus a few normal people who got mistaken for stand-wielding serial killers), which Joseph had known nothing about.
  • Golden Wind: Leaky-eye Luca, the first mobster from Passione Giorno encounters, and the only known Stand-less member. Giorno's defeat of him is what causes Giorno to gain the attention of Bruno, leading Giorno into joining Passione.
  • Stone Ocean: Gwess, Jolyne's cellmate who forcibly shrinks Jolyne as part of an escape attempt. The fight against her introduces the concept of Stands to Jolyne.
  • Steel Ball Run: Mrs. Robinson is the first truly antagonistic opponent Johnny and Gyro encounter, and the one to show just what the other contestants of the race are willing to do to win. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a Stand and only lasts a couple chapters.
  • JoJolion: Ojiro Sasame is the first opponent Josuke encounters with the intention of killing him, and is also the one who gives Josuke his first clue to his past. Otherwise, he has little to do with the main storyline and his Stand is too Awesome, but Impractical to be of much use for the most part. He eventually comes back and demonstrates an upgrade to his Situational Sword of a stand, but winds up killed by Jobin. He does get to be a Spanner in the Works as a consolation prize, as he leads Norisuke to discovering what Jobin's been up to.
• KanColle has the Anchorage Princess, who is introduced and defeated in the first episode.
• Daimonji from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Kenichi first got involved in martial arts in part to defend himself against bullies like him. Kenichi's defeat of him is what sets him on his path toward ever greater foes. When Daimonji later comes after him for revenge, Kenichi utterly trounces him, showing how far his training has progressed.
• Lyrical Nanoha: Fate Testarossa. In contrast to later opponents of Nanoha who are various kinds of living super-weapons made from the Lost Technology of Ancient Belka and beyond and are threats to The Federation, Fate's just a more skilled and experienced mage equal to Nanoha in strength in addition to being a failed clone. Of course, thanks to a Heel–Face Turn and becoming a co-lead afterwards, she managed to avoid the fate of most Starter Villains and gets to grow stronger together with Nanoha.
• Magi: Labyrinth of Magic: Head, leader of a bandit gang raiding caravans. He basically exists to establish Aladdin and Ugo's dynamic before being crushed to death in the first chapter.
• Maria no Danzai: Kowase is the first of Maria's targets, giving her no trouble whatsoever and Maria not even showing up on his radar before she kidnaps him. Maria later notes that she specifically targeted him first because since he's a coward he's bound to run and escape if not dealt with quickly.
• While not a villain, Akune from Medaka Box is the first opponent who gives Zenkichi a challenge in a fight (specifically a judo match), and comes close to beating him. The more proper version, however, would have to be Unzen Myori as he was the first antagonist that actually forced the protagonist to use physical force.
• The first villain that Izuku from My Hero Academia fights is the Sludge villain and this allows Izuku to meet his idol All-Might and prove to Bakugo that he is not as tough as he looks.
• Haruka Suzushiro and the rest of the Ori-Hime unit in the My-HiME manga, who are trying to get their rivals Mai, Natsuki and Yuuichi expelled.
• Naruto:
  • The first opponent Naruto ever fights is Mizuki, one of his academy teachers who tried to use him to steal a scroll of forbidden jutsu. The Mizuki fight kickstarts major series elements- Naruto learns his signature Shadow Clone Jutsu and his performance convinces Iruka to let him graduate, but Mizuki is a low-level chuunin acting alone, and ultimately an obstacle easily overcome by an academy student.
  • A case might also be made for the antagonists from the "Land of Waves" arc: Zabuza and Haku are employed by Gato as a deadly fighting force and provide dangerous adversaries for the heroes at this point (Zabuza almost kills Kakashi in their first fight, while Naruto and Sasuke together are unable to defeat Haku until Naruto draws on the power of the Kyuubi, and even then they only survive because Haku was too nice to kill them); compared, however, to succeeding villains such as Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, they're small fry, being only around Jounin level skill and without any organization to support them.
  • Akatsuki members Deidara and Sasori serve this role in Shippuden. They're dangerous enough to capture Gaara and give the heroes a good fight, but still ultimately warm-ups compared to future villains.
• One Piece:
  • Alvida and Ax-Hand Morgan both apply, as they were said to be extremely strong villains, but are nothing compared to just a few guys down the road.
  • Both of the above were barely better than thugs and taken down with no trouble at all. The true example is Buggy the Clown immediately afterwards, by virtue of being the first person introduced, other than Luffy himself, to have eaten a Devil Fruit, and the first to give him any run for his money. He's still only strong by East Blue standards.
  • After the Time Skip, we have Hody Jones. Sure, he's ages above Morgan and Alvida - they don't even come close to Hody - and he would have probably been a challenge before the timeskip, but after, he's absolutely no threat to Luffy at all and only manages to get in one hit even after going One-Winged Angel, whilst Luffy spends the whole span of their fight beating down on him, showing off his new moves. Even Zoro manages to One-Shot Hody's pre-One-Winged Angel form.
    • This is emphasized further by the fact that both of these fights take place largely underwater, which should be a huge advantage for a fishman like Hody and a huge disadvantage for a human, especially a Devil Fruit user like Luffy. Also the fact several of the main officers of the New Fish-Man Pirates are defeated off-screen by minor non-Straw Hat characters before the final confrontation; they're simply no threat without constantly scarfing down Energy Steroids.
• The first villain of One-Punch Man is Vaccine Man, a monster who looks like a dark-purple version of Piccolo who claims to represent nature's wrath towards humanity. While he's fairly powerful in-universe and is capable of wiping out a single city by himself, he's ultimately used to show how Saitama can kill anything in the most anticlimactic and unsatisfying manner possible and dies before the story even actually starts.
• Psycho-Pass: Nobuo Ogura is a Salaryman who snaps after getting a bad Psycho-Pass and kidnaps a woman. He doesn't survive the first episode.
• Tatewaki Kuno in Ranma ½ starts as the first real rival for Ranma, but after his first true duel, he becomes almost completely ineffectual against him.
• In Reborn to Master the Blade, protagonist Inglis's first real antagonist is the arrogant, cheating son of a merchant, Rahl. At age 5, he initially humiliates her town's knight order and her father, the Captain, by secretly cheating during with magic during a "fair" sparring match. Inglis sees through his trickery and eventually manages to beat him herself and force him to admit defeat. 7 years later, he reappears again, having "generously made an offering" (bribe) to the technologically-advanced Highlander society to become a member himself, and wastes no time abusing his newfound diplomatic immunity and benefits like owning slaves or trying to forcibly take Midlander women for his own. After he is transformed into a Magic Stone Beast, Inglis fights him again and kills him for good.
• Re:Zero has Elsa Granhiert, a Professional Killer that serves as Subaru's first killer in many of his loops in her plot to retrieve Emilia's insignia from Felt and Old Man Rom.
• Rurouni Kenshin:
  • Udo Jine is the first villain in the series that Kenshin has trouble defeating, and is the first opponent that forces Kenshin to revert back to Hitokiri Battosai.
  • An earlier example is the Hiruma brothers. Hiruma Kihei tries to sell the land around the Kamiya Dojo, and has his brother Gohei impersonate the Hitokiri Battousai while claiming to use the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style of swordsmanship to ruin the reputation of Kaoru's dojo. In the 1996 anime, Gohei is made into a composite of himself and his brother with a different motivation (vengeful former student of Kaoru's father), but the same means of carrying out his plans.
• Sailor Moon:
  • Jadeite, the only of four sub-villains who didn't have an obvious visual gimmick or theme, with his character's shtick instead being that he was, well, the Starter Villain. The live action adaptation, however, actually kept him around past the start, and thus tossed him "excessive toadying" as his theme (which was admittedly somewhat present in the anime too).
  • In both the original series and Crystal (and by extension the manga), Sailor Moon’s first opponent was a lowly Youma named Morga. The manga and Crystal tend to move much quicker regarding generals, so Jadeite met his end two chapters later.
• Phoenix Ikki from Saint Seiya is the first major villain the Bronze Saints have to deal with before the Pope and his Silver Saints start their full-force strike against them.
• Shakugan no Shana: While he's not the first Crimson Lord Shana has faced in her lifetime, plot-wise, Friagne the Hunter is the first villain to present a major threat to Misaki City and the first to be defeated by Shana in tandem with Yuji. Once he's dispatched, he along with Marianne are never heard from again. Only the ring and altar he leaves behind would prove significant to the plot later on.
• Tekkaman Blade: Tekkaman Dagger, albeit he was a bit more resilient and annoying than average. He still was far weaker than the rest of the villains.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Viral is the first named Beastman the heroes face after reaching the surface. He ends up being a recurring foe and eventual ally.
• Descartes and Loose Ruth in the Trigun anime and Dr. Nebraska in the manga (he has to wait until the fifth episode of the anime).
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Seto Kaiba was Yugi's first opponent (unless you count the one-shots who appeared in the previous chapters, but he's definitely the starter villain of the Duel Monsters anime) and the first confrontation between them started the biggest rivalry in the history of the franchise.
    • Kaiba may have been Yugi's greatest rival, but Ushio, Yugi's first foe in the original manga and Toei anime, may have had an even bigger impact. He may have been little more than a thug (at least then), but after Yugi stood up to him for bullying Jonouchi and Honda, their opinion of Yugi changed for the better, resulting in Yugi gaining his True Companions. Completing the Millennium Puzzle is what allows Yugi (or rather, Yami Yugi) to defeat Ushio, kickstarting the rest of his adventures.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Dr. Chronos wanted to deny Judai entry into Duel Academy because he not only showed up late for his entrance exams but he barely passed the written portion. However, he gets a call from the chancellor ordering him to allow Judai to take the practical exam. To ensure Judai is sent packing, Chronos uses his own personal deck instead of the decks specifically constructed for the test... and loses. He then spends the first half of the first season trying to get Judai expelled, until the Seven Stars Assassins appear with decidedly more destructive goals than just being a petty teacher. Over the course of the series, he actually grows rather fond of Judai, going as far as to cancel all his classes so he'll have insufficient credits to graduate so that Chronos doesn't have to say goodbye.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: The aforementioned Ushio grew up to be a police officer in New Domino City who Yusei has to challenge in a Riding Duel as a diversion so his friends can escape arrest, though he is decidedly less malicious than his manga counterpart. In a city where corruption in law enforcement is the norm, Ushio keeps his word when Yusei defeats him, although Ushio keeps trying to arrest Yusei multiple and follows him to New Domino City. Ushio eventually becomes Yusei's ally, resulting in him becoming a Friend on the Force for the rest of the series.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL: Shark. The school bully with professional-level dueling abilities who plays circles around Yuma until Yuma makes a pact with the magic door from his recurring dream that causes him to meet Astral and kickstart the plot. Shark quickly becomes a main character afterwards and grows alongside Yuma to the point that the two have a fated final duel near the end of the series that determines the fate of the worlds. Said final duel between the two has multiple call-backs to their rivalry and multiple duels they had with each other, with Shark even trying to counter Yuma's Signature Move that defeated him in their first duel, only for that to backfire on him when Yuma decides not to finish it like that again.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Strong Ishijima. The world champion who wants to humiliate Yuya in front of the entire world to settle a grudge with Yuya's father, who mysteriously went missing right before their title match 3 years before the start of the series. He very easily drives Yuya into a corner, but when Yuya decides to persevere anyway despite how clearly outmatched he is, he awakens to the never before seen Pendulum Summon, at which point the tables are completely turned and Ishijima gets One-Turn Killed. Unlike other characters of this franchise, Ishijima never comes back after his defeat.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: The first full duel in the series is a Speed Duel against a Knights of Hanoi Mook. His ace is the 3000 ATK beatstick Cracking Dragon, which has an effect that punishes summoning anything with a level, and he has the simple but powerful skill of drawing two cards instead of one during his Draw Phase once per duel. His main purpose is to push Playmaker in his first Speed Duel so that he can use Storm Access and then sweep thanks to the new Link Monsters conveniently having properties that allow Playmaker to beat Cracking Dragon.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS: Roa Kirishima is the first actively malicious foe Yuga and co. encounter and the first to have more than one episode dedicated to his conflict with them. He's introduced as an out-and-out narcissist who emotionally and physically abuses his cousin and bandmate Romin. He's also not above cheating and ruining Yuga's life to get his way and his motivation in his arc is to cope with his feelings of inadequacy over not being The Chosen One. He's also the only arc villain in the series that Yuga defeated in their first duel despite the cheating. However, in his very next appearance he's a much more heroic character, having been identified as one of Yuga's comrades by current arc villain Neiru's supercomputer. Subsequent episodes make it clear he's just an emotionally-stunted pre-teen who received too much superficial attention too young and doesn't know how to have meaningful relationships.
• YuYu Hakusho: Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei are a group of these. While Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei's status was ultimately supposed to fall victim to this trope, but his role was rewritten once he was discovered to be an Ensemble Dark Horse.