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A look at some of the most memorable, influential, and controversial relationships in anime history.

Anime Characters

The greatest anime bromances&nbsp;can make any <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/types-of-anime-fans/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">type of&nbsp;anime fan</a> emotional.&nbsp;They might even find themselves ugly-crying at the devotion these pairs have for one another. Like amazing <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/greatest-bromances-in-comic-books/stephanroget" target="_blank">bromances in comic books</a>, best anime bros don’t always begin as friends, but by the end of their series there’s no one else who knows them better. Though there are many ups and downs in these relationships, what makes these anime bromances truly great is that they never forget about each other.There’s no denying that when these bros met, their lives changed for the better. The level of trust between these guys (or gals, because it's the 21st century and women can be bros too)&nbsp;is envy-worthy and inspiring, not too mention so sweet you sometimes forget which genre you’re watching. Even though they go through hell and back, they support each other up all the way to the end, and that's something worth celebrating. &nbsp;

It&#39;s difficult to enact change by yourself (even in the world of anime), but with the proper team at your back,&nbsp;anything is possible. The power of teamwork is an important element in most anime, and it&#39;s&nbsp;highlighted&nbsp;in popular series like&nbsp;Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and My Hero Academia.

The strongest anime teams consist of superpowered individuals who have pledged themselves toward achieving a common goal. Sometimes, as with the Z Fighters of DBZ, this goal involves something altruistic like protecting humanity. But&nbsp;there are other anime teams, like the Akatsuki&nbsp;from&nbsp;Naruto, that have far more villainous intentions. Other anime teams don&#39;t have to pick&nbsp;sides, like&nbsp;Hakogaku from&nbsp;Yowamushi&nbsp;Pedal&nbsp;- they&#39;re just trying to support each other in athletic competition.

Whether their goal is heroic, villainous, or somewhere in between, these teams are a sum greater than their parts.

Sometimes, it seems like all of the truly dramatic anime fights are down to the wire skirmishes where it&#39;s not clear until the very end who will win. While there&#39;s nothing inherently wrong with these close calls, no one wants to see the same kind of battle over and over again. Sometimes, what you want is to watch one person absolutely trounce their opponent because they&#39;re just that much more powerful.&nbsp;

One-sided anime fights appear in most shonen series, including&nbsp;One Piece, Naruto, My Hero Academia, Black Clover,&nbsp;and more. They also appear in most serious and disturbing shows like&nbsp;Berserk -&nbsp;and those scenes are a heck of a lot gorier. When the person curb-stomping their enemy is a hero, as is the case when Luffy takes out Bellamy with a single punch, it&#39;s an awesome moment that makes viewers cheer for the hero. When the one taking out their enemies with no effort is the villain, as is the case with Madara when he goes up against the Shinobi Alliance, it shows what kind of danger the heroes are up against.&nbsp; 
 
Which unfair anime fight is your favorite. Vote it up to let the world know what you think.

Have you ever seen anime characters from different series that look eerily similar to each other? It happens all the time. They're probably long-lost twins or something, separated at birth and thrown into different anime dimensions. This list is full of anime characters from different series who look alike, so vote up the ones who could totally be mistaken for twins and vote down the ones you think could only probably pass as distant cousins.Some of these characters have the same hairstyles, same facial features, same facial markings or same color schemes, but some look so similar&nbsp;to each other, it's scary. Even a downright ripoff. Most of all, it seems like almost every character from <a href="http://www.funimation.com/shows/fairy-tail">Fairy Tail</a> has some sort of doppelganger from another anime, so much so that it makes you wonder if the entire Fairy Tail universe is just made up of the long lost twins of other anime characters. Everyone has a twin somewhere, right?

Villains

Just because two anime characters fall on the villainous side doesn&#39;t mean they get along. In fact, many shows feature anime villains fighting each other, a situation that, in theory, should work out for you the viewer.

Two anime villains may beef over personal grudges, like the one the ambiguously villainous Sasuke&nbsp;Uchiha&nbsp;of Naruto&nbsp;holds for the explicitly villainous Danzō Shimura; villains like Greed from&nbsp;Fullmetal Alchemist&nbsp;deciding to show some heroism at the last moment; or even groups like Ladd Russo&#39;s gang from Baccano! saving people from a cult because&nbsp;they&nbsp;want&nbsp;to be the ones who slay those people. They may not be <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-final-fights-in-anime/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">final anime fights</a>, but villain vs.&nbsp;villain battles in anime come extremely close to matching the hype.&nbsp;

Villain vs. villain anime fights offer some of the most exciting brawls&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-world-to-live-in/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the anime world</a> has to offer. Neither side operates with heroic intentions in mind, and they often won&#39;t hesitate to commit horrifically evil acts in the process. With no heroes around, all bets are off and the drama hits a new high.

Betrayal is an act that many people find&nbsp;unforgivable. In&nbsp;anime, it always seems to happen in a big way and when you least expect it. It has the ability to bring out the worst in people, and has been known to result in some pretty intense battles and tragic character endings. With that being said, fans can agree that an epic betrayal paves the way for the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-revenges-of-all-time/felicia-miranda" target="_blank">best revenges in anime</a>. In fact, some of the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-shounen-anime-ever-made/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best shounen anime</a> wouldn&#39;t be around without it!

The most epic anime betrayals usually take the form of a hero turning into a&nbsp;villain, or of an innocent character&nbsp;revealing a dark side. Compiled here are&nbsp;some of the craziest&nbsp;betrayals ever witnessed in anime. Be forewarned: there are spoilers ahead!&nbsp;Vote up&nbsp;the most shocking&nbsp;duplicity and deception schemes that took you by surprise.&nbsp;

It&#39;s surprisingly rare for anime villains to be in romantic relationships. Most of the time, they&#39;re too busy with their nefarious plans to bother with love. But it is possible for villains to form relationships.

Sometimes, the love they feel is exactly what makes them redeemable. Without his connection with Komugi, Meruem from&nbsp;Hunter x Hunter&nbsp;wouldn&#39;t have found a purpose in his life outside of destruction. But there are other cases where love drives people into villainy in the first place - Gendo Ikari from&nbsp;Neon Genesis Evangelion&nbsp;is perfectly willing to destroy the world to see his wife again. Some villains are on the same side as their lovers - Ai and Marco from&nbsp;Future Diary&nbsp;are a dangerous team. Others are enemies who love each other anyway - Mavis and Zeref from&nbsp;Fairy Tail&nbsp;are on opposite sides of a war, but that doesn&#39;t stop their feelings.&nbsp;

Which of these anime villain relationships do you actually ship? Be sure to vote up your favorites.

For anime fans looking for double or even six times the fun and adventure in a new series, the answer is here: sibling protagonist anime. Siblings of the standard hero and heroine are lucky to have more than a name, but these series feature entire families as main characters. A few series on the list promote pairs of siblings that are part of a larger cast of characters, as seen in Gintama or <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/anime-like-ouran-high-school-host-club/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Ouran High School Host Club</a>, so while they may not be the ultimate protagonist of their shows, they influence the story, are given ample screen time, and undergo their own development.The <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-sibling-relationship-movies-list/all-genre-movies-lists">stories of these brothers and sisters</a> span multiple genres, from slice of life to science fiction. The companionship and close-knit relationships between these siblings range from beautifully loyal to questionably affectionate, but their journey together is no less entertaining. Which sibling anime is the favorite? Vote up your favorite duos and dynamics!

Imagine you&#39;re at a family reunion, and instead of your relatives asking you about your schoolwork or job or your relationship, they&#39;re asking you about your last battle against a supervillain. While that may not be the reality for most of us, it is the reality for the members of some of the strongest anime families out there.&nbsp;

Some of these powerful families are close-knit, loving ones. While Goku of&nbsp;Dragon Ball Z might not be the world&#39;s greatest dad, he still has a pretty good relationship with his kids, especially when it comes to training. Other families are more fractured - the Uchiha clan in Naruto&nbsp;was almost completely wiped out by one of its own members, and the Hanma family in&nbsp;Baki the Grappler&nbsp;is more focused on trying to defeat one another than anything else.&nbsp;

Which of these families do you think is the strongest? Go ahead and vote them up!

Fictional Characters

There&#39;s a lot that goes into making a great villain. One of those things is their relationship with the hero. Often, villains are a heck of a lot more interesting when they have a real history with their opponent - or at least an interesting dynamic. The same applies to the heroes: sometimes, it&#39;s more fun to see them locked in conflict that&#39;s a little more personal than a standard clash between good versus evil.

What are the most interesting hero-villain relationships in anime? There are plenty to choose from. One classic example is Vash the Stampede and Knives Millions from&nbsp;Trigun,&nbsp;twin brothers with wildly different views on humanity. More recently in The Promised Neverland,&nbsp;there&#39;s the relationship between Isabella, the supposedly loving caretaker of Gracefield House, and the orphans fighting desperately to escape her.

Which dynamics keep&nbsp;you interested? Vote them&nbsp;up!

Anyone who thinks blood is thicker than water hasn&#39;t watched enough anime. The style is loaded with familial brawls, some of which are among the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-final-fights-in-anime/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">best anime final fights</a> of all time. Because the adversaries share a genetic&nbsp;bond, their issues usually run deeper than the immediate moment, which makes&nbsp;most anime sibling fights feel especially vicious.&nbsp;

In Naruto,&nbsp;Sasuke&#39;s&nbsp;attempt to exact revenge on his brother Itachi&nbsp;is incredibly&nbsp;memorable. The pair&#39;s final encounter features notably&nbsp;stunning choreography and gorgeous animation, and the&nbsp;potent mixture of love and hatred that exists&nbsp;between the brothers elevates the moment to a new level.&nbsp;

When two relatives square off after a lifetime of disagreements, the resulting fight always carries an additional layer of meaning.&nbsp;&nbsp;

No matter how much you love anime, you have to admit that sometimes it's not the most original. In fact, it can feel like you're watching the same character in different anime. This is especially true when it comes to tragic origin stories. Sometimes, anime characters with similar backgrounds have generic things in common, like <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/sad-anime-characters-with-dead-parents-v1/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">dead parents</a> and <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-anime-parents-ever/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">child abuse</a>. Other times, it gets so bizarrely specific you have to wonder if it's intentional.&nbsp;While watching anime characters with the same story can get old, it can also be oddly enjoyable. Let's say you really love Kotomi Ichinose&nbsp;from CLANNAD. If you do, then imagining her as a Sailor Scout is a fun mental exercise, one that's made a heck of a lot easier by the fact that Kotomi and Sailor Jupiter have uncannily similar back stories. Besides, if you didn't like repetition at least a little bit, you probably wouldn't be watching anime in the first place. With that in mind, let's examine these pairs of anime characters who are basically sad clones of each other.

The <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-couples/ranker-anime" target="_blank">best anime couples</a>&nbsp;have unique stories of how they met and fell in love. Among their beginnings are some of the best first meetings in anime. The greatest initial encounters between love interests&nbsp;are those that are outside the norm. They are moments that are so bizarre, you can't possibly forget it. Sometimes, they're so beautiful that they move you to tears, and other times, they're so comical you can't stop laughing.Not all of these first encounters are the beginning of a love story. Some first meetings&nbsp;are the start of a significant friendship or even the development of a rivalry. First meetings are often the turning point of the plot, and may at times be shrouded in mystery for the majority of a&nbsp;series. They all prove that at any moment, your life could change forever. Vote up the most awesome first meetings between two characters in anime.&nbsp;

There are a lot of anime siblings with screwed up relationships out there. Some of these horrible anime brothers and sisters are trying to kill each other, some&nbsp;are trying to screw each other, and others come from horrendously&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/most-dysfunctional-anime-families/crystal-brackett">dysfunctional anime families</a>&nbsp;with terrible&nbsp;parents who make it pretty much impossible for their kids to get along. You&#39;ll find weird anime sibling relationships in everything from action hits&nbsp;Naruto&nbsp;and Kill la Kill to emotionally driven shows like&nbsp;Yuri!!! on Ice and March Comes In Like A Lion. Some of these messed up anime siblings could seriously use some family therapy.

One of the coolest things that can happen in an anime is when two former enemies join forces to achieve a common goal. Often, this happens when a villain decides to put aside their villainous ways and join the good guys - that&#39;s what happens when Sasuke decides to help Naruto&nbsp;take down Madara&nbsp;in Naruto.&nbsp;But at other times, it&#39;s merely a temporary truce - Hisoka from <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-hunter-x-hunter-characters/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Hunter x Hunter</a>&nbsp;has no desire to side with <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-killua-zoldyck-quotes/ranker-anime?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Gon and Killua</a>&nbsp;for any longer than is convenient for him.&nbsp;

Whether these hero/villain alliances are heartwarming or awesome, they offer a new lens through which to look at both characters, and a rare opportunity to see two very different characters cooperate.&nbsp;

While cults aren't particularly common in anime, their inclusion makes for some seriously twisted storylines. They can produce some of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsettling-anime-antagonists/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">creepiest villains imaginable</a>, even though some of them <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/anime-villains-who-turned-good/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">turn good</a>&nbsp;when the brainwashing wears off. They can also provide some truly <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/sympathetic-anime-villains/leo-reyna" target="_blank">sympathetic backstories</a> for all kinds of characters.While some use the word&nbsp;to refer to any new religion, a cult needs to have a few specific features in order to qualify. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/27/cults-definition-religion" target="_blank">According to</a> psychiatrist&nbsp;Robert Jay Lifton, a true cult requires a charismatic leader, an initiation ritual that brainwashes inductees, and coercive motives. Anime cults manage to achieve all of these prerequisites, and because they exist in a fantastical, animated world, their sick goals often put the most terrifying <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/real-murder-cults/eva-woods" target="_blank">real-life cult stories</a> to shame.&nbsp;

Friendship is a powerful theme in the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-anime-world-to-live-in/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">world of anime</a> - but that doesn&#39;t mean that every anime character is actually good at the whole friendship thing. In fact, there is an abundance of abysmally bad anime friends who deserve to be taken to task for their terrible behavior.

Who are <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-anime-of-all-time/anna-lindwasser?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the worst anime</a> friends? Some of them have done such dramatically awful things that there&#39;s no possible way they can ever make up for them. Griffith from&nbsp;Berserk&nbsp;is a great example - he dramatically betrayed his friends by sacrificing most of them in exchange for god-like power. Other terrible anime friends may not have committed crimes against humanity, but are still guilty of interpersonal cruelty. Eriri&nbsp;Spencer Sawamura&nbsp;of Saekano: How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend&nbsp;might not have taken Tomoya&nbsp;Aki&#39;s life, but she sure did betray him by abandoning their friendship to preserve her reputation, then blamed him for causing her pain.

No matter what precisely they&#39;re guilty of, these anime friends are truly the worst.

A lot of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/best-family-anime/reference">families in anime</a> are seriously messed up. Like the kind of messed up that goes way past your typical arguments or family distance.&nbsp;From psychotic households with&nbsp;backward&nbsp;family values&nbsp;to families with members that have obsessions with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvpJjbphJWQ">bringing loved ones back from the dead</a>, this list is a collection of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/anime-characters-with-parent-issues/justin-andress">dysfunctional anime families</a> that would be terrible to be a part of. Be sure to let others know which family is truly the worst by voting up the most awful families and voting down the ones that aren't so bad.The families of these anime characters go beyond plot devices and character development; they really shape the entire stories of these shows, mostly leaving major characters with some sort of complex or fearsome path to vengeance. So, next time you think your family is bad, just take a look at what these anime characters have to live with.

It's surprisingly common to find&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-anime-parents-ever/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">anime parents who are&nbsp;absolutely&nbsp;terrible</a>&nbsp;at parenting. Sometimes the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/sad-anime-characters-with-dead-parents-v1/anna-lindwasser" target="_blank">parental figures are&nbsp;dead</a>, or just off on permanent overseas business trips. That said, there are some parents in our favorite anime shows&nbsp;who are just plain amazing.Parenting is no easy job, but these&nbsp;great moms and dads&nbsp;make it look easier than spotting the protagonist in an anime classroom.&nbsp;Some of them make huge sacrifices for their kids, while others are simply rocking the day to day grind of child-rearing. Good parents in anime are rare, so it's worth getting to know the ones who do exist.&nbsp;

Who are the best anime rivals that you can&#39;t get enough of? If there&#39;s one thing that almost every anime has, it&#39;s an intense rivalry between two of the main characters. For this poll you&#39;ll be voting for the greatest anime rivalry of all time, regardless of genre or anything else. These characters are obsessed with being better than the other, whether it&#39;s a battle of wits like that between Yugi and Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!, or a physical battle of strength and pride such as the rivalry between <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/funny-goku-and-vegeta-memes/taylor-park?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Goku and Vegeta</a> in DBZ. Heck, the entire storyline of Samurai Champloo is pushed forward by the rivalry between Mugen and Jin. If not for the competitive nature of these two, they would have never agreed to follow Fuu.

Let the world know your favorite anime rivalry by voting for your top picks below. If there&#39;s a particular anime character rivalry you feel deserves to be on this list, leave us a comment and we&#39;ll add it to the list!

Anime Friends, Foes & Families

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The 33+ Greatest Rivalries in Anime History | Best Anime Rivals

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Midoriya and Bakugo

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Who are the best anime rivals that you can't get enough of? If there's one thing that almost every anime has, it's an intense rivalry between two of the main ...