With Kaguya-sama: Love is War‘s season 3 ending on June 24th, 2022, with an hour-long special (per ForeverGeek). With ComingSoon.net confirming a fourth season on the way, it will be some time before anime fans of the series will get to see the many sides of Kaguya.
While Kaguya’s Yandere tendencies can be truly frightening, yanderes are spared far and wide throughout anime. Between all of the countless series, certain Yanderes stand out among the rest as some of the cutest, yet scariest girls in all of the anime who have no qualms about murdering those they love.
Shuka Karino – Darwin’s Game
Shuka Karino, alongside Sudou Kaname, is a death game participant in Darwin’s Game. While initially Kaname’s enemy and wanting to prove her strength against him, Shuka falls in love with Kaname after he defeats her in combat and decides to join Kaname’s clan the Sunset Ravens in their attempt to clear D-Game.
Shuka, known as the Queen of Thorn for her ability of the same name, is an exceptionally skilled fighter who shows no aversion to killing her enemies. She shows no remorse to anyone who threatens her, and even less mercy to those who threaten her lover Kaname, slaughtering dozens in the process.
Kaguya Shinomiya – Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Kaguya Shinomiya is the daughter of the Shinomiya family, which is known as the most influential company and family in Japan. Kaguya serves as the Vice-President of Shuuchi’in Academy’s Student Council where she spends her free time crafting elaborate plans to make the Student Council President, Miyuki Shirogane, confess his feelings for her before she has her feel exposed.
Though Kaguya would most likely never actually kill anyone, when fellow student council member Chika Fujiwara constantly derails her meticulous plans to get the president to confess, Kaguya quickly switches from a sweet personality to cursing Chika and wishing death and destruction upon her. While played for laughs, her quick switches in Kaguya-sama: Love is War, a long-running manga slated to end in 2022, from friendly to disdainful, make it unclear what Kaguya is truly capable of.
Himiko Toga – My Hero Academia
Himiko Toga is a young high school girl in My Hero Academia, whose quirk gave her a horrifying fascination with blood, leading to her having warped senses of love. After committing a deadly crime, Toga was ostracized from the world with her only salvation being the League of Villains who welcomed her with open arms as none before had.
When Toga feels intense feelings of love, she wants to become the object of her obsessions. Her quirk, which enables her to transform into a person by ingesting their blood leads her to attack the person to secure their blood. Toga truly is a pure and loving teenage girl, it’s merely her warped perception of the world that causes her to commit large amounts of heinous crimes.
Kurumi Tokisaki – Date A Live
Kurumi Tokisaki, the third Spirit in the Date A Live series, is the most cunning and unpredictable character on the show. Switching between a soft-spoken-young woman, and a mass-murdering psychopath, Kurumi, whenever she appears, has Shidou and the other spirits on high alert knowing full well she could easily kill them if she wished.
Kurumi’s killing spree is difficult to classify. Kurumi has killed thousands of people to steal their lifespans to live long enough to gain the powers she needs to kill the Spirit of Origin. However, the majority of her victims are the dregs of society and never innocent people, and by killing the Spirit of Origin in the past she will save countless lives, especially the life of her true love, Itsuka Shidou, whom she has saved countless times.
Hitagi Senjougahara – Monogatari Series
After being cruelly tricked by a con man and then having her “weight” stolen by a Crab God, Senjougahara encounters Araragi Koyomi who offers his assistance in fixing her supernatural malady. Initially distrustful of others, after experiencing Araragi’s genuine feelings, she falls in love with Koyomi and the two date throughout the Monogatari Series.
As Araragi willingly risks life and limb to help those around him, the majority of which are young women, Hitagi with her past of being neglected becomes exceptionally jealous of the attention he receives. Though she of course loves Koyomi, she has made it abundantly clear to him that if he ever did cheat on her, she would make him thoroughly regret his immortality.
Hisoka Morrow – Hunter X Hunter
One of the strongest Nen users in Hunter x Hunter, Hisoka is first introduced as a fellow Hunter Exam applicant alongside Gon and Killua in Hunter x Hunter. Hisoka’s flippant attitude and playful mannerisms lead to him enraging many characters, including series protagonist Gon.
Hisoka is an odd case of a Yandere, as he prefers to save those he sees potential in for later and only kills them after they have had ample time to fully mature. He has even acted as a “protector” to Gon, as after Gon was ambushed during the third phase of the Hunter Exam, Hisoka killed Gon’s ambusher as he wanted Gon to pass and become stronger.
Esdeath – Akame Ga Kill
General Esdeath was a high-ranking general of the Imperial army and is known for her indomitable strength and savage cruelty displayed throughout the dark Shonen manga, Akame ga Kill. Her Teigu or Imperial Arms “Demon Extract” granted her exceptional ice-based abilities, which when used in conjunction with her exceptional fighting and swordsmanship skills, led her to become a major threat to the assassination group, Night Raid.
After Esdeath returns from a large campaign, she hosts a fighting tournament in search of a potential lover and meets Tatsumi, a member of Night Raid. After she learns of his affiliation and captures him, her love for Tatsumi, even while knowing that he will never love her, is so great that she threatens to kill her subordinates if they attempt to hurt him.
Kotonoha Katsura – School Days
Born into a wealthy family, Kotonoha is bullied and ostracized by her classmates who envy her wealth and beauty. After entering high school at the start of School Days, she becomes fast friends with Sekai Saionji and Makoto Ikou who she soon ends up dating. However, Makoto soon tires of Kotonoha’s clinginess which she is unaware of as she had previously never had a friend.
As Kotonoha’s first friend and lover, Makoto’s constant betrayal of their relationship by sleeping with multiple classmates drove her over the edge. With no outlet and the feeling of wanting him all to herself, she decides that she must kill him to keep him for herself. At this point, her mind snaps into a state beyond repair, and her impaired psychological state causes her to decapitate Makoto and sail off into the sunset.
Yuno Gasai – Mirai Nikki
A participant in a Survival Game in which the final diary holder would become the God of Time and Space, Yuno Gasai, alongside her Diary of Future Love or “Yukiteru Diary,” works with Yukiteru Amano in their attempts to stay alive. While her diary only informs her about the actions of Yukiteru, she uses the small amount of information along with her ingenuity to often save both her and Yukiteru’s lives.
During Mirai Nikki, Yukiteru is constantly attacked by those who are after his diary and the title of God, causing Yuno to quickly adapt to dispose of any threats to her and Yukiteru. Yuno’s intellect as one of Shonen’s smartest protagonists, is tested through her constant use of traps, and proficiency with a wide array of weapons which she uses in bloody montages to cut through scores of enemies with a smile on her face.
Nadeko Sengoku – Monogtari Series
Shy and reserved, Nadeko is a girl who finds it difficult to make friends with her classmates and quickly gravitates toward Tsukihi Araragi, the youngest sister of Araragi Koyomi. She quickly becomes enamored with Araragi, affectionately calling him “Koyomi-onii-chan,” though unfortunately for her, he only thinks of her as the friend of his younger sister.
When Nadeko learned that Araragi was dating Senjougahara and that her love would be unrequited, she lashed out at Koyomi. Frighteningly as she chose to bond with the Jagirinawa and became a snake goddess, every time Araragi goes to apologize she brutally tears him to shreds. Sengoku in her jealousy, quite literally delivered the wrath of a god onto Araragi towards the end of the Monogatari Series.