Anime heroes come in many different shapes, sizes, and ideologies. From the wimpy yet endearing harem leads who take the lady’s punches while taking your favorite waifus, to the blood soaked anti-heroes who will save or murder you depending on what side of the bed they fell off that morning, no other hero attracts your attention more than one dealing with the duality of man and monster. An internal struggle traceable to the classic days of horror, a person’s battle to keep their inner demons under control not only adds psychological depth to a hero, but also makes them more relatable. Even if you or the writer don’t risk transforming into a hulking behemoth and feeding on the masses, we all fight within ourselves to bless or curse the world when we feel forced into a corner. However, what happens when it feels one isn’t given a choice in the transformation, that life’s circumstances are pushing us into becoming the monsters everyone claims we are? The following shows, in the author’s opinion, are the top ten anime where the hero deals with the internal struggle in choosing between remaining themselves or becoming a literal monster. Unfortunately, any heroes that remain human, keep similar properties to their previous state, were monsters to begin with, or who enter a berserk rage for a short period of time without risking a permanent, monstrous shift don’t qualify for this list.

Naruto Shippuden

A not so highly acclaimed sequel to a highly acclaimed series, Naruto Shippuden continues the chronicles of a self-righteous ninja where the only thing louder than his speeches of dreams and friendship is the orange outfit he proudly wears. Even though the sequel suffers from inconsistent villains and lengthy battles that would make a seasoned Dragon Ball Z fan wince, it still carries the struggle within between man and monster with Naruto’s inner battle for control against a powerful demon sealed inside him from birth: The Ninetailed Fox, or as the elitists love to dub it: The Kyuubi. The demon fox taking less of an antagonistic role in the second half than the first, Naruto eventually has to decide between a new power inherited from his former master or to trust the power of the demon within him. Which road does he take? You’ll have to suffer through the 4th Great Ninja War to find out ;). But seriously, Naruto isn’t as bad as your friend who binge watches Serial Experiments Lain and wrote that dissertation on a psychoanalytic analysis of Angel’s Egg thinks it is. Go watch an episode or ten and decide for yourself… Or a possessed 4-tailed Naruto will wreck your house.

Attack on Titan

Who doesn’t wish they could turn into a 20-foot behemoth when someone pisses them off? Such wishes are a reality for Eren Jaeger, the protagonist of Attack on Titan. Traumatized as a child for seeing his mom getting turned into a morning snack by the giants this anime is getting its attack on… on, Eren decides to strut on the tightrope of antihero by having only one goal in mind: to murder every single Titan moving. To completely genocide them. Well, there was also something about getting tired of humans being hunted to near extinction and desiring to see the world outside the walled hovel humanity now calls home... but mostly to genocide all the Titans. As luck would have it, Eren Jaeger suffers from Protagonist Syndrome, which guarantees him a past he can’t remember and the hidden power to turn into one of the badass monsters he hates so much. Combine this with the destitution and angst the characters experience making the emotional conflict in the show appear genuine, and Eren struggling to discover what he is while learning how to not turn his teammates into lunch when he transforms, and you have a halfway decent show on your hands (Actually, the writer believes this show is very good.) Speaking of giant monsters…

Dragon Ball

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in a box on top of a 50-foot shop, everyone’s heard of Dragon Ball Z, the show that saved anime in America in the mid 90s. Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh fans, please put your hands down; the awesome anime fans are talking. However, the writer has always had a grudge with his contemporaries concerning this all-time classic. Take away the Z and add a GT, and everyone gets pissed. Take away the Z for a Super, and everyone gets hype. Unfortunately, when you take away the Z and add… nothing, people stare more dumbfounded than an amnesia patient held prisoner in a clean room. Dragon Ball is anime that started it all, when Yamcha had a debilitating fear of women, Krillin was a threat as Goku’s rival, Piccolo was more evil than maternal, and Bulma would show you her cha-cha to get what she wants. Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Despite all these facts which seem like a distant fanfic compared to the Dragon Ball Super of today, the most surprising was Goku’s ability to turn into a giant, rampaging monkey on the night of the full moon. A tantrum making a Titan onslaught look like toddlers arguing over toys, Goku’s Giant Ape transformation was so formidable he killed Grandpa Gohan, his adopted father, during one of his rampages, and the only way Master Roshi could deal with the problem was to obliterate the moon (All the deaths caused by the sudden tidal and climate changes were a small price to pay, right?). It was only later in DBZ when our heroes learned removing a Saiyan’s tail from the root prevented the transformation, and ended the threat of Goku getting the worse case of full-moon madness while going on moonlit strolls.

Bleach

Man, how the mighty have fallen. You loved Bleach, the writer loved Bleach, everyone loved Bleach. It was the anime with the most boring protagonist ever but a party of interesting, eccentric side characters you wouldn’t want to miss for the world. Then the fillers, anime jargon for episodes steering away from the central conflict or the source material’s original path, came. We got more filler than a cheap Chinese restaurant using more flour than meat in their dishes, more filler than an Apple pie baked to perfection, filled with air. Bleach followed the journey of protag Ichigo Kurosaki to rescue his perpetually damsel in distress friends while killing evil spirits who refused to pass on, called Hollows, on the side. Watching Ichigo discover he has the abilities of everyone he meets, like he’s the most overpowered supermutt ever bred, may at times seem as fun as watching a puddle of Bleach dry, but one ability made Ichigo just as incredible as his more interesting, Soul Reaper colleges: his ability to turn into a Hollow. At first barely able to control himself, Ichigo’s hollowfication begins with him wearing a mask fit for a horror movie while a split personality mercilessly slashes through any perceived threats. During his further stages, he becomes a berserker completely unrecognizable from his human self where only the power of friendship can bring back his sanity. Bleach may have become one of the most despised, biggest anime you’ve ever heard of, with some hardcore believers still clinging to the Save Rukia and the Arrancar Arcs as its saving graces, but there is one thing any anime fan will agree on: You don’t want to get on the bad side of a Hollowed Ichigo.

Overlord

It’s pretty common to find anti-heroes in any medium nowadays, but you’ll have to dig a little deep in an online forum if you desire some villain-protagonists who believe their actions are righteous. Rarer than a two-headed gecko is the anime protagonist who completely embraces the dark side. In the anime Overlord, the story’s lead finds himself trapped in his favorite RPG with all the NPCs in the game, including those tasked with protecting his team’s guild, now sentient. What sets Overlord apart from your run-of-the-mill-trapped-in-a-game storyline is one teeny detail: Every NPC and player in their guild had to be a monster. In the worst case of the old wives’ tale that if-you-keep-making-that-face-it’ll-get-stuck-like-that, the longer our Skeletor-obsessed lead finds himself trapped in his monstrous state, the more his personality transforms to fit the character he’s stuck as, from feelings of compassion becoming dry-boned apathy, to his libido dying quicker than a dead man’s… well you get the idea. Finding yourself trapped in the body of an undead in your favorite RPG may seem like a condemnation to virtual hell, but the writer gets a feeling Lord Ainz is making the most of his situation by being a high level wizard, commanding his own guild of powerful monsters, and having a hot 2nd in command who he accidentally programmed to fawn over his every move.