JRPGs as a genre have some of the genuinely, most hated characters across all of video games. However, there’s a bit of a divide between these character archetypes. There are great villains that are sympathetic, and there are irredeemable monsters that people genuinely loathe.
That means this list isn’t going to feature Sephiroth, Kefka, or other characters that people love to hate. Instead, it’s only the worst of the worst.
Which characters are just the most-hated in all of JRPGs? From the “constantly annoying” to “thoughtlessly committing war crimes”, here are the characters we detest seeing in some of our favorite games.
Which JRPG characters are the most hated of all?
1) Suguru Kamoshida (Persona 5 Royal)
Persona as a series has a wealth of characters that could be considered the most-hated JRPG characters of all time. It’s filled to the brim with characters that are just monsters – like Adachi, from Persona 4.
But few characters fill us with pure hatred like Kamoshida, the gym teacher. He rules over the school with an iron fist, bullying male and female students alike.
That alone would be enough to make him hated – who didn’t hate being bullied by insecure teachers with power? He’s so much worse than the other villains that get taken down – he’s more believable, he’s closer to us as people.
His repeated sexual assaults of Shujin Academy teachers and students easily one of the most hated JRPG characters of all time. Behind his good looks and Olympian-level skills, lies an insecure, gross monster.
2) Luca Blight (Suikoden 2)
Suikoden 2 housed one of the most-hated JRPG characters of all time: Luca Blight. An underrated franchise, Luca Blight was purely psychotic and vile.
No matter what happened in his youth, it doesn’t make him a tragic character. He’s a tyrant, delighting in humiliating people before killing them – such as a lone woman in Ryube. He made her act like a pig before simply killing her anyway.
He is a mass murderer, committing genocide without even thinking twice. He’s thrilled that he’s killed thousands of innocent people. His only goal is destruction.
Before he was finally killed at the end of Suikoden 2, he didn’t have a moment of reflection where he was sad about what he did. There was no regret, no remorse.
3) Oda Jun (Yakuza 0)
Many of the antagonists in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series are often redeemed in some fashion or another. There are some completely vile, hated characters in this JRPG series though. One that immediately leapt to mind was Oda Jun, from Yakuza 0.
He acts as a loyal subordinate and friend to Tachibana throughout the game, but has been working against him the entire game.
His actions towards the blind Makoto were reprehensible – selling her into slavery, despite knowing for sure that she was Tachibana’s sibling was gross.
On top of that, to try and ease his guilty conscience, he tried to kill the girl later in the game. He was cruel, and mean towards a woman that was essentially powerless. While he didn’t slaughter hundreds or thousands of people, his actions towards just one person that couldn’t harm him leaves a bitter taste in many fan’s mouths.
4) Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy 7)
No matter which version of Final Fantasy 7 you’re playing, Professor Hojo remains one of the most-hated JRPG characters. He’s never given any kind of action or backstory that makes him feel tragic.
Nope, Professor Hojo is a monster. He devises a wealth of monstrous scientific experiments on humans and animals alike. He’s cruel, and even seems to delight in the suffering of his subjects.
He seemed to be inspired by human monsters like Josef Mengele of the Nazis, in the way he cruelly experiments on hundreds of human beings.
His crimes are actually too numerous to cover in a list. From trying to have multiple SOLDIERS sexually assault Aerith, to even experimenting on his unborn son, there are few monsters as cruel as Professor Hojo, or as hated in the genre of JRPGs.
5) Z/Zed (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)
Z, the primary antagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was surprisingly cruel, in his own way. He’s the kind of character that feels his evil actions are for the Greater Good. He set in motion a perpetual cycle of death and misery, all so he could preserve his “endless now”.
Since people are reborn, suffer, and die again, people can all eventually be “winners”, even if it takes cycles of tragedy.
He’s cold, cruel, and often very unfeeling. He’s slowed time to a standstill, the reason he does these things is to prevent some kind of despair coming in the future.
There are no good, redeemable features for this man. Just when his plans were coming undone, instead of accepting defeat, he tried to destroy the entire planet.
These JRPG characters aren’t ones that we wind up feeling some kind of remorse for after defeating them. Instead, these fictional worlds feel like they’re a much better place, without these fiends in them.
