Best Anime Necromancers

Summary

• Necromancers in anime, like Malvekanth, Phanora, and Dratena, bring a unique and creepy layer to their worlds.
• Necromancers like Johann Faust VIII and Dr. Franken showcase different methods of reanimating the dead.
• Popular necromancers such as Ainz Ooal Gown and Orochimaru are known for their unparalleled abilities in raising the dead.

Necromancers are those who have the ability to converse with the dead or resurrect the dead. Because the dead don’t always remain dead, their entrance into an anime series inevitably leads to a surprising new plot twist. Despite the fact that this can diminish the audience’s attachment to a character who has died, necromancers remain popular.

The necromancer’s capacity to create minions and command them to fight for him or her is generally enough to satisfy even the most critical of viewers. As necromancers might easily be termed one-person armies, they are usually compelling and feared. The fact that they dabble in magic and the supernatural does not help their image as upstanding citizens.

Updated February 8th, 2025, by Oluwatokiloba Folami: One of the most alluring type of characters in anime are necromancers; these are individuals who can command the dead, bring the dead back to life, and generally interact with the souls of dead people. Necromancers breathe an interesting, creepy layer to their respective worlds with or without question, regardless of whether they are evil in nature, trying to use their abilities to dominate the world or anti-heroes with overwhelming powers trying to save their world. Necromancers’ powers go beyond normal magic, meaning their presence, either as an ally or enemy, is intriguing. In the anime these necromancers appear in, they bring their terrifying presence and supernatural power to the screens.

27

Malvekanth

My One-Hit Kill Sister

Malvekanth is the necromancer in My One-Hit Kill Sister. He makes his debut appearance in episode nine, where he leads an attack on a village under the false belief that Kilmaria, a former demon general, is still aligned with the Demon Lord’s forces.

However, Malvekanth powers prove worthless besides Kilmaria. Despite wielding the power to summon the dead and make them his minions to do his bidding, making him a dangerous opponent, his encounter with Kilmaria proves fatal, as she easily eliminates him to protect the village.

26

Phanora Kristoffel

The Witch And The Beast

The Witch And The Beast follows Guideau and Ashaf, two members of The Order of Magical Resonance; an organization that investigates supernatural disturbances and maintains order in a world plagued by dark magic.

However, the necromancer in this anime is Phanora. She is known as the Profound Witch and one of the leading figures in the Order of Magical Resonance. Phanora is a serious and cold woman who takes her role as a witch very seriously, making her a highly respected witch in the organization. With the ability to control and manipulate the dead, Phanora’s expertise in necromancy impacts the anime’s exploration of the true nature of magic in a world where power often comes at a price.

25

Dratena Belbury

Bogus Skill “Fruitmaster”: About That Time I Became Able To Eat Unlimited Numbers Of Skill Fruits (That Kill You)

The title of this anime sums up the plot. The main protagonist, Light, finds out he is able to eat more than one skill fruit. This comes as a shock because, in his world, it is believed that if a person eats more than one skill fruit, they die. However, the focus is not on Light but on another character who has the skill to conjure the dead.

Dratena has the skill of Necromancy, which is considered a taboo. She is however not scared to use her ability to manipulate corpses and undead creatures through magical threads. Ruthless, unwavering, and Light’s biggest opp, her presence and skills add depth to the narrative.

24

Enya Geil

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders

Unlike various other necromancers, Enya isn’t capable of directly controlling corpses. She does so through her Stand, Justice. For Justice to manipulate a corpse, all Enya needs to do is create a wound, no matter how small, on her adversary. As Justice is a cloud of fog, he simply takes over his victims by entering through an open wound.

Being a necromancer, Justice controls his victims like a puppeteer controls its puppets. Aside from his ability to control corpses, Justice stands out as a necromancer, as he can also control living beings who have open wounds. This makes him a necromancer who not only controls the dead but, under certain conditions, the living.

23

Medea

Fate/Stay Night

The heroic servants in the Fate franchise are capable of a plethora of things. In terms of magic usage, the caster class usually stands above the many. And the Caster, Medea, screams dark magic.

While she was alive, Medea was a practitioner of magic and far from what would be considered a witch. However, after living her life with tons of betrayal, Medea went over to the dark side, and necromancy became one of her many capabilities. As seen in the Fate/Stay Night series, Medea is capable of raising undead dragon tooth warriors from Dragon fangs. These dragon tooth warriors typically serve as expendable warriors.

22

Johann Faust VIII

Shaman King

Popularly known as Faust VIII, this man is well known for his necromancy abilities. Johann used to be a simple, dedicated, and highly intelligent doctor who worked to cure a young maiden’s incurable disease. After many years, he finally succeeded and married the young maiden; however, her life was cut short by a burglar who murdered her.

Obsessed with bringing her back to life, Faust VIII delved into the dark arts for many years and finally mastered necromancy. Johann’s necromancy doesn’t create undead creatures out of the void or purely from magic. He reanimates real-life skeletons by calling on spirits to possess the bodies.

21

Kabuto

Naruto Shippuden

This medical ninja didn’t always have the ability to resurrect the dead or to function as a necromancer. However, after he made up his mind to make a name for himself and leave the wing of others, everything changed. Kabuto sought power, and his search led him to various abilities, including a perfected reanimation jutsu.

Before Kabuto, Tobirama and Orochimaru had practiced this form of necromancy; however, despite not being the original creator of the impure world reincarnation technique, Kabuto used his medical expertise and took it closer to perfection than ever. When reincarnating Madara, Kabuto managed to select various abilities that Madara had throughout his life rather than simply resurrect him in the state he was in at the time of death.

20

Tobirama

Naruto

Being a necromancer is not an easy job, but Tobirama excels at it. This character is known as the second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, and he also possesses necromantic abilities that let him revive the dead and use them at his discretion. The necromantic ability he performs the most is known as Edo Tensei.

Edo Tensei is not far from the idea of necromancy, but this technique was created and is unique to Tobirama, and it involves the use of the DNA of the person that Tobirama wants to revive. For this technique, a living sacrifice is needed, but normally, necromancers can revive the dead without the use of a living sacrifice. Needless to say, Tobirama is a powerful necromancer and has other abilities that support his necromantic powers.

19

Sung Jin-Woo

Solo Leveling

This popular manhwa series started streaming in January 2024, and although the anime has not gone far, dedicated fans who have the manhwa know and understand Sung Jin Woo’s true abilities. Jin Woo starts off as weak, but he has an awakening that blesses him with powers, and one of the powers is the ability to command the dead, also known as necromancy.

The anime has not touched a lot of Jin Woo’s growth yet, but it is only a matter of time until he uses his ‘Arise’ power. With a simple statement, he can raise anything dead back to life and, automatically, they become his minions. Solo Leveling has so many twists and turns for fans as they watch Jin Woo go from one of the weakest hunters to the most fearsome hunter.

18

Adalmann

That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

Rimuru Tempest has disciples who serve him, and one of them is Adalmann. Adalmann is easy to ignore, but this undead man has incredible powers, and that includes necromancy. Thanks to Ciel, Adalmann has in his possession the Necronomicon, also known as the Book of the Dead. This book helps Adalmann cast dangerous and frightening spells that involve dead people.

It is also safe to note that Adalmann controls an army of undead soldiers. He is very loyal to Rimuru and uses his dark powers to help and protect the leadership of Rimuru.

17

Eri Nakamura

Arifureta: From Commonplace To The World’s Strongest

Eri Nakaruma was not only a necromancer, but she was also a manipulative genius. At first, she seemed innocent and timid, but her true colors gradually showed as the anime progressed. Fans soon discover that there is more to Eri than she lets people see. This young girl has the ability to control the dead and use them as her puppets.

However, because of her traumatic and abusive upbringing, Eri is quite abusive, and she enjoys torturing her undead puppets. It is also worth noting that Eri’s character is deeply rooted in manipulation and betrayal. She has no problem betraying her classmates, and she shows no remorse even after one of them dies.

16

Dr. Franken

Lupin III

The grandson of the high and mighty Arsène Lupin, Arsène Lupin III, is living up to his grandfather’s legacy as he becomes a renowned thief himself. On his many journeys of thievery and badassery, Lupin comes across Dr. Frank N. Stein, an unorthodox necromancer who resembles the original Frankenstein.

Dr. Franken’s necromancy does not involve the use of magic or chants but rather the use of a special serum that he uses to hypnotize corpses and make them do his bidding even after their deaths. Dr. Franken himself is a zombie, and he continually hypnotizes himself so that he can be ‘alive.’

15

Sports Max

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

The antagonist featured in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean anime series, Sports Max, is a gangster who wields the Stand Limp Bizkit. With his Stand, Sports Max has the ability to raise the dead, generate aggressive and bloodthirsty wraiths, and use them to do his bidding.

The corpses that are brought back to life are invisible and remain so. However, various kinds of species can be brought back, irrespective of the date of their deaths. Moreover, Sports Max can also bring back dead body parts. And if he himself is killed, he will also be raised back as a zombie by his Stand.

14

Giselle Gewelle

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

The Thousand-Year Blood War arc of the Bleach anime and manga series revealed the Sternritter, a group of powerful and chosen Quincy warriors that serve Yhwach. Of the many Sternritters, Giselle Gewelle stands out due to her power, ‘The Zombie.’ With her power, Giselle Gewelle is able to control anyone whom she splatters her blood on. Whoever falls under her control is effectively turned into a walking corpse, and Giselle Gewelle can even order them to commit suicide.

For Quincies, Giselle Gewelle’s abilities work a little differently, as she cannot put them under her control unless they’re dead. However, if they’re dead and fall under her control, then Giselle Gewelle can remotely activate the abilities they had when they were alive.

13

Keyes

Fairy Tail

The Dark Guild Tartaros is a criminal organization with a plethora of members with evil and powerful abilities. One of its past members was Keyes, a former member of the Nine Demon Gates. Keyes was a full-blown necromancer who had the ability to revive dead people as corpses that obeyed his commands.

He could reanimate hundreds of corpses at once, effectively turning him into a one-man army. Even though they were powerful, the corpses that Keyes had reanimated only existed for a short time, and if Keyes were to lose, his magic would stop enabling them to function. Apart from his necromancy abilities, Keyes also had a ton of dark abilities that made him more than a controller of corpses.

12

Yuuka Sasaki

Talentless Nana

The blonde-haired Yuuka Sasaki appears in the Talentless Nana anime series, pretending to have the talent of super strength. While Yuuki pretends to be very outgoing and friendly, Nana, the protagonist of the series, exposes her perverse and jealous personality alongside her true talent of Necromancy.

Yuuka’s true talent of necromancy allows her to control corpses if she has a possession from the dead. Yuuka’s necromancy also allows the dead to use the abilities they had while they were alive. Unfortunately for her, while she can make her corpses appear alive, the corpses lose all function during the day as Yuuka can only practice her necromancy at night.

11

Evangeline A.K. McDowell

Negima!

Despite her seemingly small, naive, and cute appearance, Evangeline A.K. McDowell is actually a vampire over 600 years old who stopped aging at age 10. The Mage of the Beginning used sorcery to turn her into a vampire. Evangeline initially served as an antagonist towards Negi Springfield, the protagonist of the Mahou Sensei Negima show she appears in. However, she eventually became a supporter of Negi’s cause.

Evangeline possesses various skills as a True Blood vampire, and necromancy stands out as one of her strongest ones. With her skill at manipulating people like Marionettes, Evangeline earned herself the title of Doll/Puppet Master.

10

Beldia

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing On This Wonderful World!

Beldia was one of the eight generals under the control of the Devil King, the KonoSuba series‘ primary antagonist. Beldia, a former commander of the Devil King, was dispatched to look into a strange light that emerged out of nowhere, allowing him to come into contact with Satou Kazuma and his crew.

As a devil general, Beldia was much stronger than the average monster adventurer encountered. His unique ability, ‘Undead Knights Summoning,’ allowed him to summon undead warriors to aid him in battle. Even though the summoned troops could only be given basic orders, they made many perceive Beldia as a strong commander skilled in necromancy.

9

Eucliwood Hellscythe

Is This A Zombie?

The life of Ayumu Aikawa, a youngster who was killed by a serial killer and revived by the master necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe, is depicted in the anime series Is This a Zombie? Eucliwood Hellscythe, sometimes known as Eu, is a colossal force yet remains stoic and quiet. Even her friends acknowledged that she was a strong enough necromancer to control her own realm.

Eu has the potential to distort reality. Because what she says becomes reality, she keeps to herself in order to protect her friends. Eu revived Ayumu as a zombie after learning that he had been killed, and she began living with him.

8

Rades

Black Clover

Rades Spirito is a major antagonist who appears in the Black Clover series as a magician skilled in resurrecting the dead. With his Soul Corpse Magic, he can put his mana into dead bodies and bring them back to life. When it comes to resurrecting dead bodies, necromancers don’t get much more classic than Rades. For the most part, he can bring back corpses that don’t amount to much, but he can also bring back powerful corpses with unique skills.

In later episodes, Rades was able to do more than merely reanimate the dead; he was able to bring them back to life entirely.