The Best Female Villains In Seinen Manga

Summary

• Female villains in seinen manga are complex, nuanced, and far from conventional stereotypes.
• From power-hungry royalty to vengeful warriors, these women bring depth to their stories.
• Seinen manga offers diverse and compelling female villains with unique motivations and impact.

One of the best things about seinen manga is its complex storylines and nuanced characters. Just like in real life, things are rarely black and white in these stories. That’s why it can be hard to find a conventional heroes-and-villains story in a seinen manga, much less a proper female villain.

Thankfully, after poring over numerous seinen series, we discovered several great female villains hidden within some of the biggest action titles in the genre. Some are the main villains of their series, while others are simply one of the antagonists of the story. With that in mind, here are ten of the best female villains in seinen manga, ranked based on the MyAnimeList score of their respective series.

10

Holy Mother Zora

The Corrupted Heroine

• Manga Title: Choujin X
• MyAnimeList Score: 7.45
• First Appearance: Chapter 14

Years before the start of Choujin X, there was a war going on between powerful Choujins that caused countless deaths among humans and regular Choujins alike. Zora, known as Sora Siruha at the time, led the charge against the most evil Choujin of them all, the War Choujin, and managed to come out victorious.

Most people didn’t realize, however, that the war and all the fighting and killing took a heavy toll on Sora’s mind. Slowly but surely, the hero was consumed by her own tremendous power and lost herself in the process. Now, she has turned into a disfigured monster called the Holy Mother Zora, who wants to wipe out everything in order to achieve her idea of true peace.

9

Malty S. Melromarc

The Cruel And Deceitful Princess

• Manga Title: The Rising of the Shield Hero
• MyAnimeList Score: 7.74
• First Appearance: Chapter 1

Malty S. Melromarc is the first princess of the proud country of Melromarc, yet despite her high status, she is an incredibly selfish, narcissistic, arrogant, treacherous, sadistic, and abusive person. She thinks highly of herself and always looks down on everybody else.

Malty is the type of person who won’t hesitate to cheat and betray others to get what she wants. That is precisely what she does to Naofumi when she meet him for the first time. Malty pretends to be his friend only to eventually steal his resources and accuse him of harassment.

8

Tyuule

The Fallen Warrior Queen

• Manga Title: Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There
• MyAnimeList Score: 7.82
• First Appearance: Chapter 28

Tyuule used to be the proud queen of the Warrior Bunnies, a race of ruthless warriors who pride themselves on their terrifying combat prowess. However, due to a severe misunderstanding, her people turned their backs on Tyuule. As if that’s not bad enough, she is forced to become a slave to the cruel crown prince of the Empire.

That series of tragic and humiliating events turned Tyuule from an honorable warrior into a bitter and vengeful evil mastermind. She uses her influence as the closest person to the crown prince to instigate chaos and distrust within the Empire. In fact, she is actually the one responsible for pitting the Empire against the Japan Self-Defense Forces in an attempt to wipe out both parties.

7

Reiko Tamura

The Heartless Maneater

• Manga Title: Parasyte
• MyAnimeList Score: 8.37
• First Appearance: Chapter 5

Reiko Tamura is one of the many people whose brain was eaten by the mysterious parasite, and just like those other people, she also turns into a monster who needs to consume human flesh to survive.

What makes Reiko more dangerous than the other parasites, however, is the fact that she is highly intelligent. She skillfully assimilates into society to gain a deeper understanding of humanity so that she can hunt them better. She has little regard for the lives of humans and parasites alike. All she cares about is her own survival and satisfying her curiosity, and she won’t hesitate to kill and consume anybody to achieve those objectives.

6

Eto Yoshimura

The One-Eyed Owl

• Manga Title: Tokyo Ghoul
• MyAnimeList Score: 8.53
• First Appearance: Chapter 54

In the Ghouls’ society, there’s a legend about a child born from a human and a ghoul. This hybrid creature will have different colored eyes and possess strength far above regular ghouls. Eto Yoshimura is the child described in that legend.

Under the name of the One-Eyed Owl, Eto forces her way to the top of the food chain and uses her power to slaughter every ghoul and Ghoul Investigator who dares to stand up to her. During her reign of terror, she consumed an untold number of ghouls and humans alike.

5

Suirei

The Silent Mastermind

• Manga Title: The Apothecary Diaries
• MyAnimeList Score: 8.64
• First Appearance: Chapter 22

Suirei is a former court lady in the Outer Court, specifically in the military wing of the palace complex. She is a quiet woman who not only prefers to keep to herself, but also goes out of her way to use makeup to hide her true appearance.

From poisoning the Minister of Ritual Implements to an attempted killing of the Emperor’s younger brother, Suirei is the mastermind behind many dangerous incidents in the palace. Maomao eventually uncovers Suirei’s sinister plot, only for her to swallow a poison and die on the spot. Unbeknownst to Maomao and everybody else in the palace, that mysterious substance only put Suirei’s body in a death-like state. When nobody notices, she wakes up from her slumber and escapes the palace.

4

Noi

The Easygoing Mass Murderer

• Manga Title: Dorohedoro
• MyAnimeList Score: 8.68
• First Appearance: Chapter 4

Noi is an elite magic user who works as a cleaner for En, the head of the infamous En Family. The job of a cleaner is basically killing, torturing, and interrogating anybody who dares to stand in the way of the En Family. Noi works together with her long-time friend, Shin. Not only that, but En himself is actually Noi’s older cousin.

Noi is the type of person who can slaughter dozens of people and then gleefully eat plates of steak afterwards. That’s why she is quite possibly the most nonchalant villain on this list. To her, killing comes as naturally as breathing. There’s no higher purpose nor any sinister plot behind her acts of gruesome violence. It’s just something that she enjoys doing with her friends and family.

3

Psykos

The Woman Who Created The Monster King

• Manga Title: One-Punch Man
• MyAnimeList Score: 8.72
• First Appearance: Chapter 66

One of the biggest challenges that the Hero Association has ever faced is when the monsters join forces under an organization called the Monster Association. All that is due to the one who sits atop the association, as the strongest monster in the world is the Monster King Orochi. Or is he?

The true mastermind behind the whole thing is actually a woman named Psykos. Not only is she the one who creates and manages the massive Monster Association, but she is also the one who created the Monster King Orochi in the first place. Other than her terrifying intellect, Psykos also possesses a fearsome strength. In fact, she is one of the most powerful Espers in the world, second only to S-Class Rank 2 hero, Tatsumaki, the Tornado of Terror.

2

Bi Ki

The Ruthless Queen Mother

• Manga Title: Kingdom
• MyAnimeList Score: 9.01
• First Appearance: Chapter 183

Bi Ki is the mother of the thirty-first king of Qin, Ei Sei. This makes her the Queen Mother of the state of Qin. However, before she rose to the highest position in this warring country, Bi Ki used to be a regular girl who dreamed of living with the man she loved. Unfortunately for Bi Ki, from being forced into prostitution to being branded a traitor, her life is filled with nothing but tragedy.

However, those tragedies never break her spirit. On the contrary, they become fuel for her ambition to attain greater power and influence. From betrayals to manipulation to murder, there’s nothing she won’t do to achieve the highest position in the country, and once she became the Queen Mother, she will do even worse things to maintain her position.

1

Slan

The Sovereign Of Demonkind

• Manga Title: Berserk
• MyAnimeList Score: 9.47
• First Appearance: Chapter 6

Slan is a member of God Hand, a group of demonkind sovereigns whose purpose is to spread evil throughout the world. This means she is one of the most evil entities in the whole series. Furthermore, she is also a succubus who finds pleasure in seeing other people fall into despair. That’s why she, along with the other God Hand members, is responsible for so many tragic incidents that take the lives of so many innocent people.

Beyond her role as one of the God Hand, Slan also has a cult of loyal followers who will do anything she wants them to, no matter how depraved or dangerous it is. In this cult, she is known as the Goddess of Flame. From murder to performing cannibalistic rituals, Slan’s subjects will do anything to please her.