The power of friendship is one of the most important narrative elements in an anime. In some anime, it’s so important that they had to introduce the fake friend trope to make the true friendships stand out better. And besides, the best villains are the ones who used to be friends, or at least who the protagonist thought was their friend.
The thing about fake friends in anime is that they reveal themselves in a grand and messy way. When a “friend” decides to throw off their mask, it’s usually a bitter cocktail of tears, anger, and trauma—the perfect recipe for an anime protagonist’s breakdown. As such, there is no shortage of it along with fake friends in the following anime.
8/8 Otome Needs New Friends (School Days)
Heartbreaking doesn’t even begin to describe what happened to Otome Katou during her middle school years School days. Her three friends, Kumi, Minami and Natsumi (also known as the trio) befriended her only to commit some terrible crimes against her. The most serious offense was secretly recording a video of her having sex with Makoto, a guy she likes.
As if that wasn’t enough, all three of Otome’s mentioned fake friends slept with her Makoto, practically approaching Makoto’s serial cheating tendencies. Unfortunately, the betrayal for Otome didn’t stop there, as the trio also leaked the recording to the entire school.
7/8 Kaworu made Shinji’s life even worse (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Shinji entered Neon Genesis Evangelion could just take a break. When he finally found a friend he could confide in and share his feelings with, Kaworu turned out to be the 17th Angel, which is an enemy Shinji must kill. Admittedly, this whole kindness shtick was Kaworu’s act as an angel.
Shinji only later found out about Kaworu’s true nature and intentions. The more miserable part for Shinji was that he was the one who had to kill Kaworu by pushing the latter into a red past with his giant mech. It was probably the last straw that caused Shinji to lose his mind and what was left of his resilience.
6/8 Kaede Kayano was an alien assassin all along (Assassination Classroom)
Assassin’s Classroom is no stranger to surprises and sudden plot twists that seemingly came out of nowhere. One of them was Kaede Kayano, an originally innocent student in Korosensei’s class. But it turns out she wasn’t a student at all. She was an actress who dressed up as a student for a chance to assassinate Korosensei.
More than that, she also underwent a similar procedure that turned Korosensei into a living weapon. Her reveal was full of a sad story about her sister’s death, which she blames Korosensei for, fueling her desire for revenge. Fortunately, Korosensei has a knack for fixing relationships and problems, but anyone who knew Kaede as a student probably has trust issues after knowing her true self.
5/8 Light Yagami has no shortage of one-sided friendships (Death Note)
It’s rare for an anime to explore the fake friend trope through the lens of the actual fake friend, though Death note is a rare anime anyway. Light Yagami is the false friend in question here, and throughout the series he has created and maintained “friendships” in order to use friends as tools and strategic advantages.
The most worrying victim was Misa Amano who was also madly in love with light. Just watching Light use her lifespan as an asset was upsetting enough. What’s even more painful is how one of Light’s most dangerous enemies, L, considered him a friend and even liked him. But in the end, Light didn’t believe in friends; only in tools, considering that he is also one.
4/8 Lelouch countered Rolo’s fake friendship (Code Geass)
Lelouch is quite used to betrayal both tactical and casual, but the one he suffered at Rolo’s hands is more traumatic than the rest. Because Rolo was a spy and assassin whose job was to keep Lelouch in check. Lelouch figured this out too soon and turned the tables on Rolo’s fake friendship by being a fake friend himself.
However, this took a toll on Lelouch and towards the end of the ordeal he suffered a mental breakdown and threw all the psychic damage he could at Rolo, claiming that he has always hated him. Therefore, this twin case of false friendship went down in anime history as one of the most convoluted pretend games.
3/8 Aizen has always been a main antagonist (bleach)
Aizen is often hailed as one of the most manipulative and sinister villains of all time. As one of the main antagonists in Bleach and its many arcs, Aizen ticked off too many villain tropes, including being a fake friend to everyone in Soul Society. After all, he was one of the most recognized leaders and figureheads in Soul Society.
Then, like a flash in the dark, Aizen suddenly revealed to everyone who knew him as a friend and ally that he had been plotting all along, and that any connection he had in Soul Society was never sincere. This etched him into the annals of anime villains as one of the most successful, at least in terms of execution.
2/8 Reiner and Bertholdt had a giant secret (Attack On Titan)
Reiner & Berthholdt’s reveal came earlier than expected in the giant anime, and even then it was surreal and humorous. Reiner casually admitted to being a spy due to his brewing personality disorder. So there was some shock value to their revelation, and the heartbreak probably didn’t come immediately.
However, over the course of the anime, the strain of Reiner’s betrayal and false friendship was further emphasized through his guilt and depression. It taxed him as much as it did his allies on Paradise Island, perhaps even more. And Bertholdt? Well, he rests in Armin’s stomach, since that’s probably the only thing that can bear his name.
1/8 Griffith valued his ambition over his comrades (Berserk)
All of these betrayals pale in comparison to the ultimate fake friend reveal courtesy of Griffith Berserk. Because from the start, Griffit, a poor peasant boy from the slums, had dreamed of having his own fantasy kingdom, no matter what the cost. So he formed his own band of mercenaries and cut his way precisely to the top of the feudal hierarchy with the help of his comrades. They saw him as a kind of messianic figure.
But at the end of the journey, Griffith ended up sacrificing all his comrades in the Band of the Hawk for a shot at deity. There was no hesitation on his part, meaning he never valued the mercenary family he created. The chaos he caused and the mountain of corpses he sacrificed to achieve his selfish goal make him one of the worst false friends and traitors in the history of fiction.