Whether the Anime/TV/Book is named after the Villain or not, I know I think it's interesting. How about you?

Yeah! It's always fun to see things from the bad guy's point of view.

I've actually never seen anything from the villains point of view. Anybody have something they could recommend for me, preferably an anime? I'd like to check it out.

I think Shadow the Hedgehog pulled it off in his own game.

Honestly, it depends on the context of the story.

 

If a person is  doing rotten things, and the writer somehow expects me to be on board with what's happening and cheering the villain on, then no.

 

But if the story is more of a character study, looking at the villain and trying to show why they do the things that they do, and gives you some level of catharsis and thought behind it, then yes. (James Cagney's gangster films are actually remarkably good at this).

I would like more games/anime like that

i love it!

if it works, yes. Look at Akira; he was barely even in the movie, yet it is a massive hit.

The danger of centering around the villain is that they're, well, the villain.  The villain by definition of being a villain usually will not have as many likable traits as the hero.  Note that I'm saying villain and hero over antagonist and protagonist, because they're different.  The protagonist is who the story centers around, and the antagonist opposes the protagonist.  A villain is usually the antagonist because they're purposely given traits to make the audience against them, just like the hero is given traits that make us support and sympathize with them, which is why they're usually the protagonist.  We support the protagonist and want the antagonist to fail.  The best way to do that is to make them, respectively, the hero and the villain.

 

BUT!  A villain is still a character, and if we have reason to like him, then we'll support him.  Well, maybe not support--villains are up to no good, after all--but a villain can still be a strong, engaging, interesting character that nonetheless has traits we can like despite knowing full well they're up to no good.  Being suave, being funny, being snarky, being lovably incompetent, even being legitimately nice despite villainous motives and possibly methods, are all handy ways to get us to like the villain while still allowing them to be the villain.  Even if they have evil motives and methods, if there's just something to them, like they're so funny or so manipulative or so crazy awesome, then the audience will hopefully go, "Wow.  I wanna see more of this guy!"

 

But, not all works pull this off.  It's not always easy to sympathize with the villain, because sympathy is relative to the person, and it's more difficult to garner sympathy for people we know damn well are doing bad things.  If they do manage to pull it off, though, it can be great and an interesting spin on things.

The danger of centering around the villain is that they're, well, the villain.  The villain by definition of being a villain usually will not have as many likable traits as the hero.  Note that I'm saying villain and hero over antagonist and protagonist, because they're different.  The protagonist is who the story centers around, and the antagonist opposes the protagonist.  A villain is usually the antagonist because they're purposely given traits to make the audience against them, just like the hero is given traits that make us support and sympathize with them, which is why they're usually the protagonist.  We support the protagonist and want the antagonist to fail.  The best way to do that is to make them, respectively, the hero and the villain.

 

BUT!  A villain is still a character, and if we have reason to like him, then we'll support him.  Well, maybe not support--villains are up to no good, after all--but a villain can still be a strong, engaging, interesting character that nonetheless has traits we can like despite knowing full well they're up to no good.  Being suave, being funny, being snarky, being lovably incompetent, even being legitimately nice despite villainous motives and possibly methods, are all handy ways to get us to like the villain while still allowing them to be the villain.  Even if they have evil motives and methods, if there's just something to them, like they're so funny or so manipulative or so crazy awesome, then the audience will hopefully go, "Wow.  I wanna see more of this guy!"

 

But, not all works pull this off.  It's not always easy to sympathize with the villain, because sympathy is relative to the person, and it's more difficult to garner sympathy for people we know damn well are doing bad things.  If they do manage to pull it off, though, it can be great and an interesting spin on things.

There's this Anime I watch, where the Anime is named after a villain. She hangs with the good guys no problem, yet always has evil intentions.

I've actually never seen anything from the villains point of view. Anybody have something they could recommend for me, preferably an anime? I'd like to check it out.

One I can think of off the top of my head is Death Note. The Death Note let's the user kill those who's name gets written in the book any possible way. The story focuses around the one who got the Death Note and why he uses it.Edit: Sometimes I like it, other times not so much.

Edited July 25, 201312 yr by Tigerruss

One I can think of off the top of my head is Death Note. The Death Note let's the user kill those who's name gets written in the book any possible way. The story focuses around the one who got the Death Note and why he uses it.Edit: Sometimes I like it, other times not so much.

Oh yeah I saw Death Note! I guess you could consider him the villain, but I always saw Light as something of an Anti-Hero.

Yes. I'd like to see cutscenes from Xemnas's point of view.

Yes, though I haven't really seen many series like that and I prefer characters who are neither villains or heroes

 

There's this Anime I watch, where the Anime is named after a villain. She hangs with the good guys no problem, yet always has evil intentions.

 

What's the name of the anime? It sounds pretty interesting.