The characters of Grim Reapers make anime more thrilling to watch. Not all grim reapers are evil, as some will only kill those who are evil, and some are evil themselves and will mindlessly kill anyone they like. Since Grim reapers guide the Soul to the afterlife, they are often called angels of death.
Many things are related to the appearance of grim reapers, such as the skeleton’s body, wearing a black cloak, and carrying a scythe. So, let’s see some of the best anime characters representing an angel of death.
1. Grelle Sutcliff
The world of Black Butler is filled with grim reapers. However, they have limited powers in this world. But, they are still very powerful due to their weapons. And Grell Sutcliff is one of them. It is her duty to collect the souls of her targets, and she will use any means to kill her targets. She even conspires with the mysterious serial killer named Jack the Ripper.
She has an eccentric and violent personality and is famous for her chainsaw death scythe. If she was even a little stronger, she would become the deadliest Grim Reaper.
2. Light Yagami
When Light Yagami gets the hold of a notebook that allows him to kill anyone by just writing their name inside, he decides to use it to punish those criminals who manage to escape from their punishment. So, He becomes a death God and reaps their lives.
Although Light is not great with fists, he can sort out the most difficult problems with his brain. He also manages to evade the authorities by skillfully manipulating them. However, things change when the genius Detective L is given the case. Will he be able to solve those mysterious killings and stop Light Yagami from playing the role of a shinigami?
3. Maka Albarn
In the world of Soul Eater, there are powerful weapons called Death Weapon which give you unparalleled power. However, gaining one is incredibly difficult since it requires collecting 99 evil souls and a soul from a witch. Now, Maka Albarn is the only Soul Eater Academy student holding a Death Weapon. Therefore, she is almost unbeatable at Soul Eater Academy.
Maka and Evans form a pair of the most powerful fighters in Soul Eater. Maka’s Death Weapon is known as Soul, and when you pair Soul with her powerful special attacks, you get a deadly combo. It is hard to say where Maka Albarn ranks in our list of best Angel of Death characters. But one thing is certain: she can probably leave many characters in the dust.
4. Celty Sturluson
What if you were strolling at night and you saw a headless girl on a motorcycle? Most would get scared of life and run away, right? Celty Sturluson is a Dullahan, a headless girl riding a bike.
Most people are scared by her looks, but Celty is genuine and humble. So, unlike other characters on this list who are reaping souls, Celty from Durarara is here just because of her horrifying appearance. She is also famous with another name, “Headless Rider of Ikebukuro.” She didn’t come to Japan to scare people; she aimed to regain her missing head.
5. Q (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Q’s sadistic personality makes him the most horrifying character on this list. Q has the power of Dogra Magra, which allows him to manipulate others into mindless attackers by showing them violent hallucinations. He creates bloody and chaotic scenes wherever he goes.
There are many characters with brutal and destructive powers in Bungou Stray Dogs. However, this ability, with his sadistic nature, makes the Q the youngest and most dangerous member of the Port Mafia.
6. Kanade Tachibana
Kanade is an Angel of Death in disguise. The story of Angel Beats! Takes place in a world where those who have died but have some remaining regrets gather inside a school. Kanade Tachibana is the Student Council President of this school. Therefore, she helps students to deal with their problems.
Kanade is known as the angel in this school and the angel of death, a powerful grim reaper. Being a shinigami, she has all the powers to reap her targets’ lives and protect herself whenever needed.
7. Momo, the Girl God of Death
This supernatural drama is based around a Shinigami who is kindhearted and caring. The story of this anime is tragic. Momo is a young girl with long white hair. As a Shinigami, she guides souls to the other world. She uses a black scythe accompanied by a black cat with wings. She tries her hardest to make the passing of souls from one world to another as painless as possible.
It shows us that even for the Grim Reaper, Death can be a sorrowful experience, even though they carry out their duties regularly. Therefore, one doesn’t have to hide their humanity and emotions to become a shinigami.
8. William T. Spears
Unlike Grim Reapers from many anime, William T. Spears from The Black Butler takes his job seriously. For others, it’s simply a 9 to 5 job like any other job, but William collects and reviews souls with great diligence and impartiality.
He also respects and follows the rules and regulations. We can judge his character by his attire; he wears a black suit and tie with rectangular-shaped glasses, and his hair is always nicely combed.
Even when he faces extreme emotions, The Grim Reaper Code always remains his priority. Therefore, beings who compromise this routine, such as his coworkers or other demons, irritate him.
9. Ikkyu Soujun
What if suddenly, a maniac who believes that humans need to be wiped from the planet gets a hold of something that will make people take their own lives? Well, this old monk, Ikkyu Soujun, who has been living for 600 years, thinks that humans are not worthy to live on this planet and should be wiped out.
So, when he gets the hold of a lost Beethoven Suicide Symphony, he plans to let everyone hear it. Therefore, he plays it from space to make most of the population take their own lives. Ikkyu is probably one of the deadliest villains in the history of anime.
10. Reapers (Black Butler)
This is one of the best fantasy anime in history. Sebastian from the Grim Reapers may be good at killing, but soul collection or the death process isn’t technically under his control. Grim reapers are tasked to handle the administration of death. It acts as their payment because they have taken their own life while they were humans.
There are several rules and regulations regarding their afterlife. Still, they are one of the most abnormal characters in the show. For example, William takes rules and regulations seriously.
On the other hand, Ronald prioritizes having fun and is often seen slacking off. In Grells’s case, she likes to go wild with her chainsaw instead of using a traditional scythe like other Grim Reapers.
11. Shinigami (Naruto)
The Shinigami from Naruto is used to seal other spirits. This was first seen when the Third Hokage sacrificed himself to save the Leaf village from Orochimaru. The Shinigami consumes both the summoner’s and the summoner’s target’s soul; therefore, it’s a very powerful character. But its character is shrouded in mystery.
We have seen Minato Namikaze(4th Hokage) and Sarutobi Hiruzen(3rd Hokage) summon him. However, summoning the Shinigami doesn’t guarantee the enemy’s death because the amount of the target’s chakra that the Shinigami can pull depends on the summoner’s chakra.
We see this when the 3rd Hokage summons Shinigami to save the village from Orochimaru, but his chakra isn’t enough to seal Orochimaru completely.
12. Hua Cheng
Heaven’s Official’s Blessings story follows a ghost who fails to reach supreme rank and becomes one of the four great calamities. He becomes a symbol of death and destruction due to his evil deeds. However, Hua Cheng isn’t as bad as Heaven’sheaven’s deemed him to be.
He may act ruthlessly and devoid of emotions. But, underneath that, Hua is gentle and polite towards his lover, Xie Lian.
13. Ryukx
After getting the powers of Death Note, Light Yagami has become a shinigami. But, his companion Ryuk is a real shinigami. So, how can we leave him off this list? Being a raper of lives, he can easily tell anyone’s remaining lifespan by taking a glance at them, and then he uses his death note to take the lives of those whose life span has ended.
There are other reapers in this series, but Ryuk is the most powerful angel of death. Being a real shinigami and a resident of hell itself, Ryuk is probably the most dangerous and scary-looking Shinigami.
14. Tsukuyo
Gintama is probably one of the funniest anime programs, with many hilarious moments and funny characters. But this girl doesn’t have that great backstory. When Tsukiyp was just a child, she was sold off to the Yoshiwara red-light district. There, she was subjected to a lot of physical and mental abuse, but due to her strong willpower, she didn’t give up and put up a fight against those who kept her there.
However, her life changed after she met one of the highest-ranking courtesans of Yoshiwara, Hinowa. She helped Tsukiyo in many ways, and after that, Tsukiyo decided to fight so he could keep Hinowa away from any danger.
She gets training from Yoshiwara’s greatest assassin and becomes stronger to protect those she cares about. Now, She protects the courtesans of the red-light district from shadows and earns the title of Courtesan of death.
15. Rory Mercury
One day, a gate suddenly appeared in Japan connected to a different world. In this world, magic exists, and some creatures are only heard of in Isekai novels, such as elves, dragons, and gods. Therefore, the Japanese government took control of this gate and sent its military representative to create better relations with the world’s residents.
Rory Mercury is one of the residents of this country. She is immortal and has a childlike appearance. However, this little girl is no ordinary person. She is a demigod about to ascend to godhood on her 1000th birthday.
Rory is a god of death, and she carries a giant red scythe used to save evildoers’ lives. She is immensely powerful due to her instant healing, amazing speed, and extraordinary strength. Her innocent and childlike appearance and her actions of taking the lives of evildoers create a stark contrast and make her more fearsome.
16. Johan Liebert
Johan captivates his victims with his charming personality and handsome looks. But, after that, he shows his true nature in front of them: a sadistic and ruthless person. Johan believes it is natural for every creature to die and life is just a small flash.
Therefore, he doesn’t hesitate when killing many people. This maniac personality makes Johan one of the most terrifying angels of death.
17. Asura
Only one person in the soul eater can beat Asura, and that is Lord Death himself. So, it speaks for this man’s capabilities. Asura is a Kishin made from a fragment of death and one of the first demon gods to ever exist in this world.
Moreover, his sadistic tendencies make him more terrifying, and he also consumes his weapon to gain its abilities. Lord Death made a prison from his skin when the situation escalated and sealed Asura inside.
18. Rinne Rokudo
Rinne Rokudo from RIN-NE has had it rough after his grandparents passed away. Moreover, his father steals money from him and keeps getting him more debt. Rinne is half-human and half-shinigami; his grandfather was a human, and his grandmother was a shinigami.
Rinne has red hair and red eyes. He performs the duty of a Shinigami, ides souls between the land of the living and the land of the dead. He also offers Shinigami services, such as solving spiritual problems for his classmates, and earns some extra money. He is portrayed as a kind Shinigami who doesn’t force spirits to pass on quickly but helps them.
19. Lord Death
Lord Death from the Soul Eater oversees the Death Weapon Meister Academy. To maintain the world order and protect humanity from the terror of witches and kishin, he is in charge of training the meisters and demon weapons to kill them and take their souls. The strongest of them all becomes Death Scythes, Death’s weapon.
Once in the past, his look was one of the scariest in the history of horror anime. Soon, however, he realized that this appearance was only effective in war, not finding students for his school. So, he made his appearance look more friendly and adopted a cheerful, eccentric, and happy behavior. His students and his son, Death the Kid, look up to him as a cool leader.
He shows his playful side to his students, but during the battle, his shadowy side and destructive power emerge, making everyone realize again that he is still Death.
20. Beerus
Lord Beerus first appeared in the Dragon Ball Super as the God of Destruction of Universe 7. Beerus is one of the strongest characters in whole anime history. He is considered the 2nd strongest in his universe, while his teacher and attendant, Whis, is the strongest.
He can easily destroy any planet in the blink of an eye. When he fought with Goku, they nearly ripped apart the whole universe.
As a God of Destruction, his job is to balance all life forms in the universe. He does that by destroying enough plants so that they balance out the new life that is constantly created. Therefore, his job is the opposite of Supreme Kai, who creates life. Beerus’s appearance is probably derived from a god of Egyptian mythology.
21. Korosensei
Koro Sensei from Assassination Classroom introduced himself as the one who destroyed a huge part of the moon, making it look crescent-shaped. He also declares that he will do the same thing to Earth if he isn’t killed within a year after he finishes teaching classes 3-E. The word Koro Sensei means Unkillable teacher.
Normal bullets don’t affect him at all. Therefore, special bullets were designed to kill him. Those bullets would not harm any students, but they could kill him. He can travel at an extraordinary speed of Mach 20. Mach 1 is the speed of sound; therefore, he can fly 20 times faster than sound, so even the fastest aircraft would not match him.
As someone who claims to destroy Earth, His appearance isn’t that scary or frightening. Korosensei looks like a yellow-colored, 3-meter-tall octopus with a large head and a big smile that never fades away. He has octopus-like tentacles, which he uses as his hands. His color can change based on his emotions.
His past revealed that he was an assassin in the past, which added more belief to his threats. However, as the story progresses, his students realize he isn’t a monster.
He cares deeply for his students and always tries his hardest to help them in any way possible. He was a part of a failed mutation experiment, and now the organization wants to kill him.
