tagged me for Villains Appreciation Month, saying that we had until the end of June because she notified us late. I don't have any particular villain that I'm a major fanboy of and could write an essay regarding, so here's 16 villains throughout media that I've enjoyed quite a bit.

1. Chibon (Unmei no Ito). The idea of Chibon being portrayed as a silhouette for the majority (Totality?) of the story does sound like a very cool idea that paints him in both a fearsome and mysterious light.

2. Rae (Real life). This villainess has refused to post anything Unmei no Ito-related for ages. If this continues for a couple of years, we'll have been given blue balls for half a decade. Post the fucking Prologue before I mow you down with a machine gun, Rae.

3. Inuyasha (Do I really need to mention the series?). While Inuyasha's something of a rough bad boy for the entire series and a conflicted anti-hero for the first two seasons, it's only during the first three episodes of the anime and the manga's first volume that he's genuinely portrayed as a borderline villain, and I think he does a great job in this short-lived role. Things such as planning to let Kagome plummet to the Earth after she helps him reclaim the Shikon Jewel are a lot of fun, and help to establish the striking contrast between Inuyasha in volume 1 and volume 58 (A contrast which makes perfect sense despite how huge it is, since Inuyasha has more than valid reasons to be such a jerkass at the start, and Takahashi does a good job in developing both his older and newer selves).

4. Professor Umbridge (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). I think three words sum up my feelings on Umbridge: Fuck that bitch. Oh wait, here's six more: I hope the Dementors got her.

5. Lucci (One Piece). I actually had a nightmare about Lucci once. XD That scene where he kills all those random soldiers in that one... I forget where it was, some enclosed building, but the claustrophic and hopeless nature must've creeped me out a bit.

6. Happosai (Ranma 1/2). A villain's goal is generally to make you hate him or her. This doesn't tend to work on me because I'm a robot. However, Happosai is most definitely an exception to that rule, and he's more of a general antagonist than a villain (Outside of a few story arcs anyway). This is probably because he's an antagonist that's also a primary character. Once he's introduced in volume seven, that's it. A virus has been introduced to the Ranma's manga that's going to stick around for the rest of the series. It will never be pure again. Sigh. At least he, like everyone else in the series that isn't a Saotome or Tendo, becomes somewhat fazed out as things go along.

7. Mint (Threads of Fate). Her actions in the game might have been heroic, saving the world from Doll Master and his crew, but in general she is a villain to humanity. She's the most adorable, charismatic, amazing, lovable villain ever, but a villain nonetheless.

8. People who don't like Threads of Fate (Real life). I have no use for people who don't enjoy Threads of Fate. I have murdered every one I've ever come across.

9. Phibrizzo (Slayers Next). I have to give credit to this guy for being the most ridiculously overpowered villain I've ever encountered - the guy has control over life and death, so he definitely has a Game Shark for reality - and for providing me with one of my all-time favorite anime scenes. The death of the Slayers crew got some wonderfully-acted screams from Lina and Amelia (The former in despair, the second in pain as she was the first to go), some of the best voice acting I've ever encountered, and I was glad to see Lina respond to Zelgadis more emotionally than almost anyone else, since I was quite the little Lina x Zelgadis shipper at 16 and 17.

10. Dude (Happy Gilmore). I forget this guy's name, the golfing rival of Happy Gilmore. His smarmy, arrogant attitude caused me to rage hard as a kid.

11. The snow (Clannad). One character suffers a near-death experience thanks to freezing in the snow, and another does die - which, given some of the circumstances surrounding it, is even crueller than it sounds. Snow's pretty deadly in Clannad.

12. Rawk Hawk (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door). Is it possible for a villain to be any more fun? No, sir, I don't think it is.

13. The Six God Generals (Tales of the Abyss). While I don't find any of them too outstanding on their own, I think Abyss deserves props for having a band of villains that is so consistently solid (I do enjoy all of them quite a bit), and the way everyone's backstory ties up with a member of the group is very interesting (Except Sync, who isn't matched up with anyone).

14. Voldemort (Harry Potter). While I don't hate Voldemort like I did Umbridge, he was an exceptional villain who I enjoyed following from the ages of twelve through twenty. He worked great during the first three books as some abstract, intangible figure whom I wondered if he would ever come to be revived, once he started playing a more active role in book four I found myself very entranced by his sophisticated, debonair manner, and once he became a fleshed-out character during books six and seven with a very defined set of character flaws, I liked him even more.

15. Princess Emeraude (Magic Knight Rayearth). Generally, despite all the shit villains put the heroes through, once the bad guy's defeated everything's okay and the world is happy and magical again. Not so with Princess Emeraude. She leaves our heroines (Hikaru, Umi, Fuu) with the single most defining bitter memory of their lives. At the start of the second season (Which takes place... three or four months later, I think) they're still in the midst of a crippling depression, and they're stuck with a case of PTSD that very well might endure for the rest of their lives.

16. Kefka (Final Fantasy 6). And we round out the list with Kefka, one of the most fabled villains in RPG history. Honestly, I've never been impressed with the guy by and large. He's... okay, I guess, but I'm mostly neutral to him. I do have to give him credit for destroying the fucking world, though. That's kinda sorta the mark of a successful villain, and he's chiefly responsible for the post-apocalyptic second half of the game, which is a good thing since the World of Ruin left a much deeper impression on me than the World of Balance.

Anyway, hope that wasn't too boring. Ask if there's any specific villains you want my thoughts on, Hikari, everyone else.