The List

7 Cringe-Worthy Villain Deaths

The more hated the villain the more satisfying it is when they meet their end. In the laws of fiction, the deaths grow more gruesome depending on the heinousness of the villain's actions. This week we're counting down seven particularly cringe-worthy deaths in anime. Since a death scene is automatically a spoiler, read at your own risk!

7. Balladbird Lee (Gungrave) Ruthless assassin Balladbird Lee makes his last stand against Grave in a subway after kidnapping the doe-eyed Mika. During the showdown, Lee takes the form of a giant humanoid spider-thing which Grave proceeds to fill full of Anti-Superior bullets. The bullets cause Lee's body to break apart from the inside out. The villain is left in the subway as a disintegrating pile of dust.

6. Berserker (Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works) Berserker meets a gruesome end in the Unlimited Blade Works film compared to the quick once-through he gets in Fate/Stay Night. In the film, Illya and Berserker face Shinji and Gilgamesh. Berserker is chained in place after taking multiple stab wounds only to find himself at the receiving end of Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon Noble Phantasm, an attack that pierces Berserker at multiple points. It is worth noting that Berserker has 11 separate lives and the Gate of Babylon drains the remaining ten when summoned.

5. Light Yagami (Death Note) Genius student Light takes it upon himself to rid his country of ills by systematically killing Japan's criminals through a supernatural book. Bestowed on him by a death god during a fit of boredom, Light's murders become so prolific that a task force is put together to track down the culprit. Usually one step ahead of the humans, Light is eventually cornered and shot multiple times. The real surprise comes when the the book's original owner decides to do him by writing Light's name in the Death Note.

4. Lt. Rip Van Winkle (Hellsing Ultimate) The opera-loving artificial vampire fears she will go out like Casper from the opera "Der Freischütz." Stylizing herself after the musical's protagonist, she is terrified of a devil named Samiel, a character she equates to Alucard. When he comes for her aboard the H.M.S. Eagle, she is petrified into submission and systematically skewered by her own rifle and drained of blood.

3. Shishio Makoto (Rurouni Kenshin) Time proves to be Shishio Makoto's undoing in his final battle against Kenshin. As a burn victim lacking sweat glands, Shishio is no longer able to regulate his body temperature. His core temperature escalates as the fight goes on. Staggering, he continues to fight until finally the fats in his body ignite and he spontaneously combusts into a pile of ash.

2. Mushizo (Ninja Scroll) Ninja Scroll's Eight Devils of Kimon all meet particularly bad ends, but by all accounts Mushizo is the worst. The hunchbacked ninja gets his disfigurement from a hornets' nest inside of his back. Usually, he can control them to attack his foes and the hornets are cool with living in his porous back. When Jubei takes the fight underwater, however, the hornets freak out and begin stinging and biting Mushizo from the inside out. He dies from a mix of venom and asphyxiation.

1. Makoto (School Days) The king of non-commitment, Makoto meets his untimely end after a messy break up with his sort-of girlfriend Sekai. Makoto chooses to run back to his first girlfriend, Kotonoha, prompting Sekai to murder him in a fit of rage. While Makoto's status on this list as a villain while he is also the protagonist of the story might seem strange, it is accurate. The guy starts out as a bumbling, milquetoast lead and quickly changes into a emotionless sexbot that disregards the feelings of everyone and anyone around him. It is not too upsetting he ends up as a decapitated head in a gym bag.

The new poll: What's your favorite anime film released in the U.S./Japan so far this year?





The old poll: The last poll asked which traditional Japanese snack is your favorite? Perhaps the predictable favorite, the winner was Pocky! Here's the full results:

1. Pocky 33.0%
2. Takoyaki 11.2%
3. Onigiri 9.2%
4. Ohagi/Mochi/Daifuku 6.2%
5. Taiyaki 5.6%
6. Nikuman (steamed bun) 5.1%
7. Hi-chew Candy 3.3%
8. Croquette 3.3%
9. Edamame (soy beans) 2.9%
10. Senbei (rice crackers) 2.6%
11. Koala's March (Koala Yummies) Cookies 2.4%
12. Hello Panda biscuits 2.1%
13. Dorayaki (red bean pancake) 1.8%
14. Yan Yan 1.5%
15. Kakigōri (shaved ice w/condensed milk) 1.4%
16. Kappa Ebisen (Shrimp Flavored Chips) 1.0%
17. Pretz 0.5%
18. Arare 0.3%
19. Kaki Peanuts 0.1%
20. Inago (locusts) 0.1%
21. Kara Mucho 0.0%