There will be a Greatest Anime Characters of All Time in the near future but that is not this list... I will judge the GOAT's on personal and technical basis, this is simply personal and unordered. Unfortunately not all the characters are on CV so I have been forced to miss one or two.
A young boy who desired more than anything to be a hero. Unrelenting loss and tragedy turned him into the definite opposite of everything he aspired to be. An ex-mage hunter with a past so flooded with good, evil and innocent blood that as a child he'd make MacBeth jealous. Despising the very existence of chivalry, honour and heroics his existence in Fate/Zero beautifully contrasts the ideologies of every other character. He has no time for glory or honour, his goal can only be achieved by eliminating everything that opposes him using whatever means necessary.
It's tough to find a more sadistically insane inhuman monster than Alucard, The No Life King. He slaughters "dogs" and monsters with terrifying delight and brutality. A Vampire like no other, nigh-unbeatable he is strife and chaos incarnate - and he thirsts for his demise more than anything. Alucard (Dracula) desires an end to his existence at the hands of a human. Underneath the monster is a vulnerable and spent human. His relationships make him all the more intriguing ranging from a mentor-father/student-daughter with his Vampire "assistant" Seras to more ambiguous intimate master/slave connection with Integra Van Hellsing and complex respect and admiration for his nemesis Alexander Anderson and former comrade Walter C. Dornez.
Unquestionably evil. Johan is a Monster like no other. Absolutely terrifying because of his unparalleled understanding of flawed human nature. Charming, charismatic, intelligent, talented, absolute perfection... and the embodiment of evil. A peerless manipulator with no desire for anarchy or power his very existence creates pain, anger, anguish, hate and reduces the world around him to chaos. Everything terrifying about him is emphasised by the fact that the world surrounding him is so similar to our own.
A naturally occurring enigma in a dystopian future, impervious to a system that identifies criminals by intent/likelihood to commit crime and 'manages' them accordingly. Ranging from therapy to inalterable execution on sight, depending on the severity of their risk. Able to openly execute another human in view of the system without being judged a criminal he's dangerously intelligent and amoral. When the world around him is corrupt and flawed it's questionable wether or not Shogo Makishima is in fact a villain.
The apex of a series inspired by one of the largest arrays of different cultures and influences Spike Spiegel never feels out of place. He is the epitome of style and class. Collected and cool-headed nigh-invariably but running from a violent past that he knows will eventually catch up with him, the guy accepted it when it came and went out in a blaze of glory with no rival.
Edward Elric, Führer King Bradley (Wrath), Ling, Greed, Hohenheim, Hughes, Kimberly, Hawkeye, Scar... FMA/Brotherhood boasts an absolute all star cast of great characters and diversity but Mustang tops them all. Rage, power, loss, love and camaraderie Roy to an extent embodies all of these qualities - he's not the only one but Mustang strikes the perfect balance between vengeance, power and humanity.
Another from FMA/B. Witnessing the slaughter of his family, the mass genocide off his entire race and everything he'd known and cared for explode right before his eyes Scar is a man consumed, wholly, by vengeance. What's intriguing about Scar is his ability to overcome his rage in the face of evil to save the very nation that wiped his civilisation from the face of the earth. When you stand out next to Wrath and Roy Mustang because of your savagery, brutality and hate you know you're something special.
Vino, The Rail Tracer or Felix Walken. Claire Stanfield works under multiple aliases and each one of them has their own individual notoriety - the only common factor is that they're all known for being extremely effective at killing. Wether he's kicking back with his mafia pals; Working for the Gandor family as Vino, the worlds greatest assassin, to handle the opposing mafia families; or indiscriminately massacring rival gangs on the railway posing as the mythical monster the "Rail Tracer" while monologuing about his outrageous solipsistic beliefs - Claire Stanfield never fails to perform and impress.
Faye Valentine is a one of a kind kinda gal. She's got the backstory but, unusually for me, with Faye I overlook her past because I'm more intrigued by her present. She's dangerously charming for a cheating, short-tempered, cunning and sly woman who couldn't care less about most of the people she'll ever come into contact with. She finds friendship in the Bebop Crew, sticking around for the thrill and because in reality she's lonely and cares for the crew more than she'd like to admit.
A vendetta against Britannia, with every conceivable reason for it, and a raging passion for change. Starting with every disadvantage and up against all the odds imaginable starting off with nothing but his tactical brilliance and intellect then granted a mystical ability to give an unappeasable order to others via eye contact. He single handedly begins the formation of the most effective rebellion against Britannia. Adapting to the challenges that oppose him and scraping back victory from almost certain defeat, even when all he could do was survive and endure the suffering on his quest for revolution. Lelouch finally won. Eventually directing all the worlds hate towards him, he was willing turn himself into everything he fought against to allow the world to scapegoat him and rebuild anew once he reached his scrupulously planned end. Lelouch's success invites you to question wether his ends did in fact justify the means by which they were reached.
