15 Most Mysterious Anime Characters

In the anime world, we come across different characters with different personalities, from dumb to intelligent characters and blunt to mysterious characters, and many more. Each character is given a unique personality in every anime which makes them different from others. Mystery is one area that arouses the curiosity of the viewers. However, having a mysterious personality makes the viewers more interested in the character. Writers often add such characters to their shows to take their show to the next level.

Such mysterious characters are given a mysterious story line which extends the anime and gives it a special meaning. These mysterious characters are often manipulative or have a dark past and are secretive. Trying to understand these characters gives the viewers a sense of competitiveness. There are numerous characters that fit this role and it is hard to know about each and every one. So here is a list of our top 15 mysterious anime characters.

Most Mysterious Anime Characters Of All Time

15. Koro Sensei

1. Anime: Assasination Classroom
2. Personality: Extraverted, thinking, perceiving
3. Created by: Kizuku Watanabe
4. Produced by: Juichi Uehara
5. Total number of episodes: 48
6. Genre: Action, sci-fi, comedy
7. Released year: 2015
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Koro Sensei looks like a yellow octopus with tentacles. He is the homeroom teacher of class 3-E. Before being a teacher he was an assassin known as the Reaper. He becomes a teacher in the Kunugigaoka Junior High School and claims that he will destroy the Earth after one year of teaching this class. He is considered to be a mysterious character because of this very reason. No one knows where he came from and what his true motives are. But it was revealed in the later parts of the anime.

14. Ryoji Kaji

1. Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion
2. Personality: Cool, composed
3. Created by: Hideaki Anno
4. Produced by: Gainax
5. Total number of episodes: 26
6. Genre: https: Psychological, mecha, apocalyptic
7. Released year: 1995
8. Streaming on: Netflix

Ryoji Kaji is an intelligent and quick witted person. He takes opinions from others regularly and follows them and is also like a father to Shinji Ikari. IN the starting of the series is shown as a man who works for NERV as a special inspector. Though he is outgoing and an amicable character he does not share his past with anyone. Many try to find the secrets of his past and who the man really is but it is not revealed until a later part of the anime series. This intriguing character marks him on the list of most mysterious anime characters.

13. Ging Freecss

1. Anime: Hunter X Hunter
2. Personality: Shy and stubborn
3. Created by: Yoshihiro Togashi
4. Produced by: Shunichi Kosao Keiichi Matsuda Daisuke Kawakami
5. Total number of episodes: 62
6. Genre: Adventure, fantasy, martial arts
7. Released year: 1992
8. Streaming on: Netflix

Ging Freecss is a carefree character who doesn’t like to stay in one place. He travels around the world in search of new things and discoveries. He doesn’t like to settle in a place and finds his son Gon to be a burden. After becoming a hunter he disappears from the Hunters society and leads his own life.

No one knows the exact location of his except for his very close student. Many try to contact him when they need him but won’t be able to due to his mysterious nature of vanishing. He is considered to be mysterious because he doesn’t let anyone know his location.

12. Hei

1. Anime: Darker than black
2. Personality: Good natured, timid
3. Created by: Tensai Okamura
4. Produced by: Bones and aniplex
5. Total number of episodes: 25
6. Genre: Mystery, sci-fi, supernatural, thriller
7. Released year: 2007
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

While creating the character of Hei, Tensai Okamura, wanted the viewers to be the judge of character Hei. Hence he showed Hei to be a nice character but works as an assassin. In this very aspect itself Hei is considered to be the mysterious anime character. Hei is an unpredictable character and his mind is not stable. Hei is given multiple roles in the anime such as a chinese student, a contractor, a lover and many more. But no one knows the real identity of his except the creator himself.

11. Nine and Twelve (Sphinx)

1. Anime: Zankyou no Terror
2. Personality: Nine is a stern, aloof boy while twelve is a jokester
3. Created by: Shinichiro watanabe
4. Produced by: MAPPA
5. Total number of episodes: 11
6. Genre: Psychological, thriller
7. Released year: 2014
8. Streaming on: Funanimation

The characters named nine and twelve in the terror of resonance are two young boys who are victims of a secret organization that tries to turn orphans into weapons by crude experiments. Their real names or family and details of where they are from are not known in the anime. They call themselves sphinx. One day they steal a terrorist prototype bomb and upload a video on the internet threatening to destroy Tokyo. Not knowing the identity of these two boys leads to confusion between government officials who want to stop them.

10. Mystogan

1. Anime: Fairy tail
2. Personality: Very kind, reclusive
3. Created by: Hiro Mashima
4. Produced by: A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Entertainment, and Satelight
5. Total number of episodes: 328
6. Genre: Adventure, fantasy
7. Released year: 2009
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Mystogan is a member of the Fairytale guild bearing S- class magic. During the early parts of the anime he is shown to wear a mask which makes him a mysterious character. He always wears a black cloak and is covered in bandages. His real name is Jellal and is an Elodas counterpart of Jellal Fernandes. Later in the anime his true identity is revealed and he is quite similar to his counterpart with the same blue hair, dark eyes and red tattoo on the right side of his face.

9. Claire Stanfield

1. Anime: Baccano!
2. Personality: Handsome, enthusiastic, happy go lucky kind of person
3. Created by: Ryogo Narita
4. Produced by: Brain’s Base and Aniplex
5. Total number of episodes: 16
6. Genre: Adventure, mystery, supernatural
7. Released year: 2007
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Claire Stanfield is his birth name and he is also known by the name of Felix Walken. He is a person who thinks that he is the only one who is true to exist and all other beings are a part of his dream. This phenomenon is termed as solipsist and he is a solipsistic person. He thinks that he is the center of all the world and the world revolves around him. It is like he is main hero of the story that he created in his mind. It is because of this nature of him, no one truly knows the real identity or personality of his.

8. Kyon

1. Anime: Haruhi Suzumiya
2. Personality: Snarky and cynical manner, normal human being
3. Created by: Nagaru Tanigawa
4. Produced by: Kyoto Animation
5. Total number of episodes: 14
6. Genre: Comedy, science fiction
7. Released year: 2009
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Kyon is a nickname given to him by aunt. His real name is not known in the series and he appears to be a mysterious character. Since young Kyon believed in aliens, time travelers and other fantasy stuff but as he entered high school he disregarded the idea of such things. He became friends with Haruhi and soon found out that she was an otherworldly being. He gave the idea of starting a club known as S.O.S Brigade. Soon other members join the club and he finds that they are even otherworldly beings such as aliens and time travelers.

7. Izaya Orihara

1. Anime: Durarara!!
2. Personality: Enjoys chaotic situations, cunning and charming
3. Created by: Ryogo Narita
4. Produced by: Akeko Yokoyama, Atsushi Wada, Hiro Maruyama, Kozue Kaneniwa, Yasuyo Ogisu
5. Total number of episodes: 24
6. Genre: Action, suspense, urban fantasy
7. Released year: 2010
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Izaya Orihara is shown as a calm and harmless person who claims to love humans in the starting of the series. As the series escalates he is revealed as the true culprit who tries to manipulate people. He works as an underground broker who likes to collect information and give it to people as he likes only to cause chaos. He works behind the scenes and causes mayhem to other characters. He is an important possession of both police and criminals because of his ability to collect information accurately and quickly.

6. Kusuriuri

1. Anime: Mononoke
2. Personality: Calm and cool headed
3. Created by: Ninagawa Yaeko
4. Produced by: Toei Animation
5. Total number of episodes: 12
6. Genre: Ghost story, mystery, psychological horror
7. Released year: 2007
8. Streaming on: Netflix

Kusuriuri’s main profession is exorcism and he is the main lead in the series of Mononoke. He lives a nomadic life traveling from one place to another and performs exorcism. He has a great knowledge of the supernatural and tries to eliminate the spirits known as the Mononoke in the series. Most of the time he is uninterested in other people and his whole mind is set on to eradicate the spirits. His race is unknown but most assume that he is from kitsune race which translates to fox.

5. Lelouch vi Britannia

1. Anime: Code Geass
2. Personality: Highly intelligent, calm, sophisticated and arrogant
3. Created by: Goro Taniguchi and Ichiro Okouchi
4. Produced by: Sunrise
5. Total number of episodes: 50
6. Genre: Alternate history, mecha, military
7. Released year: 2006
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Lelouch vi Brittania witnessed the murder of his mother and hates his father because of his negligence to search for his mother’s killer. He is sent to Japan as a pawn to spy on the Japanese government. He made a friend in Japan to whom he promised to save Japan from the clutches of Britannia. Later he meets a girl named C.C who grants him the power of Geass which helps him to command any being to follow him. He uses this new found power to fulfill his promise to his friend and also to find the killer of his mother.

4. L

1. Anime: Death Note
2. Personality: Intelligent, extremely meticulous and analytical
3. Created by: Tsugumi Ohba
4. Produced by: Toshio Nakatani, Manabu Tamura and Masao Maruyama
5. Total number of episodes: 37
6. Genre: Mystery, psychological thriller, supernatural thiller
7. Released year: 2006
8. Streaming on: Netflix

L’s real name is not known in the series in the start. He is shown as an intelligent detective who solves any case given to him. But he comes across a tough opponent who he thinks is very challenging. His name and identity is kept a secret from the whole world, especially from the main antagonist, his tough challenger, since he has the ability to kill people by knowing the name and appearance of the person. L traps the antagonist many times, but he escapes every time. It is like a war between two intellectuals who don’t know the name and identity of each other.

3. The Count of Monte Cristo

1. Anime: Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
2. Personality: Kind, innocent, lovingman, honest
3. Created by: Gonzo
4. Produced by: Gonzo
5. Total number of episodes: 24
6. Genre: Science fiction
7. Released year: 2004
8. Streaming on: Prime Video

The story is about a sailor named Edmund Dante about how he was betrayed by his friends and was accused of crimes that he didn’t commit and was sent to prison. He escaped the prison and started another life as a Count and seeks revenge on those who betrayed him. He moves from place to place gathering information and trying to locate the people he was betrayed by. The whole is a narrative done by one of his enemy’s son named Albert de Morcef. The Count faces a lot of challenges while trying to avenge himself but remains successful in every step.

2. Johan Liebert

1. Anime: Monster
2. Personality: Well mannered, charismatic and compassionate yet somewhat aloof
3. Created by: Naoki Urasawa
4. Produced by: Monster Beverage Corporation
5. Total number of episodes: 74
6. Genre: Crime, mystery, psychological thriller
7. Released year: 2004
8. Streaming on: Netflix

Johan Liebert is a sociopath who is very skilled in manipulating to such an extent that he manipulates people to either kill others or themselves. He drives people insane by torturing them to such an intensity that they commit suicide. He is considered to be the best villain and most mysterious anime character because of his bloodlust and also the motives of his killings are unknown. He doesn’t show his emotions most of the time and the one time he perceived his emotion was of pure sadism when he was manipulating Detective Richard Brown’s mentality.

1. Lain Iwakura

1. Anime: Serial Experiments Lain
2. Personality: Quiet, shy and kind
3. Created by: Yasuyuki Ueda
4. Produced by: Yasuyuki Ueda
5. Total number of episodes: 13
6. Genre: Cyberpunk, psychological horror, techno horror
7. Released year: 1998
8. Streaming on: Crunchyroll

Lian is actually a computer program designed to connect the wired world and reality. She is a quiet girl and doesn’t talk much which makes her a mysterious character throughout the series. Her abilities include high intelligence, reality warping and control of the wired. It is hard for her to differentiate between what is real and what is an illusion as he hallucinates a lot. The knights have conducted such experiments on her to make her lose herself from which she will be ablt to connect the world of the wired.

Conclusion

From Koro Sensei to Lain Iwakura, the level of mysteriousness increases and each character shows that they are in such a way due to their own reasons and beliefs. These characters have their own hidden pasts and stories that the viewers do not know and label them as mysterious characters. Viewres are always curious and raise points to be discussed on the internet which makes others more intrigued about these characters. Illustrators include such characters because they find that such story lines keep the viewers engaged while watching the series and makes them more involved and participating towards the series.

They leave an impact on the viewers which they remember the series for a longer period of time and is advantageous to the production team. They even allow the audience to interpret and participate along with the characters of the series during the run time. Fans are attracted to such characters because they exhibit real life situations and personalities. The creative side of the audience is also aroused as they try to solve and understand the characters. The anime has conquered depth in their meaning due to these characters.