Remember when clowns running around was the worst of our worries? What a year it was.
But just because they don’t rampage on the streets doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally pop up in anime, too. Although these red nosed honkers are usually minor characters. But they’re still people, darnit, with humorous shoes to boot.
So for this list we’re gathering the whole circus to rank the best clowns in all of anime.
15. Pesky Clown
Anime: One Punch Man
This walking nightmare has yet to be animated on the big screens and is currently a webcomic exclusive.
However, he gives us a very good baseline of the typical clown character in anime.
He hangs around amusement parks, carries around balloons, murders those who oppose him, usual clown business. He also has quite the OP power as he draws energy from attention and can use it in order to transform and boost his base stats.
Thank god there’s no Instagram in this world, or Saitama would have a tough rival.
14. Kunihisa
Anime: Naruto
I want to include this kid here, as he sticks more to the modern definition of clown: being an idiot.
He wanted to be a ninja but didn’t feel like doing all this training business. So he just made some hand signs and threw money around so that his bodyguards would come and aid him.
I mean, he was on the right track. But unfortunately for him, blowing up mountains and making meteors fall from the sky beats capitalism in the Naruto universe.
At least Batman had muscle, you know? It’s nevertheless hilarious whenever he performs his “jutsus”.
13. Moderate Harlequin Alliance
Anime: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime
I’m going to put down these four as a group, as they’re honestly still shrouded in a lot of mystery.
They just seem to appear out of nowhere and manipulate whoever’s desperate enough to listen to them.
I feel like this behaviour suits their clown aesthetic pretty well, as they’re like the puppet masters, pulling the strings from behind the curtain and looking at the chaos that ensues.
12. Charlotte
Anime: Magi Madoka
At first I though me and this character could get along, as her thirst for quality cheese is truly remarkable. But now I’m not so sure.
Sure, she was a bit off-putting with her whole tiny creepy doll vibe. But I could have gotten over that.
But why oh why did she have to turn into a worm-looking, man hungry clown demon from hell.
Also, the choir singing about cheese is way less endearing and way more unnerving once people are suddenly categorized as cheese. This show is truly something else.
11. Vanir
Anime: KonoSuba
Okay, with Vanir I’m taking a really vague idea of what a clown is. But his demeanour does kinda fit the theme.
I mean, he sends out little versions of himself that are both adorable and unnerving, while he laughs like a maniac.
Even his capability to possess someone’s body is just perfect for clownish antics.
He starts off as an antagonist, but before long this jester-looking fellow kind of joins the good guys and even shows Kazuma the beauty of marketable intellectual property!
10. Donato Porpora
Anime: Tokyo Ghoul
Most of the clowns on here at least try to look joyful and happy before they eat your face off.
But Donato just looks like the most depressed, harmful clown ever.
At least when he’s wearing his mask.
Speaking of masks, this man’s whole presence is such a performance, as he supposedly takes in children in order to take care of them… but in reality he’s just taking care of his lunch. That’s right, the killer clown cannibal classic: he eats children.
But he does do what he’s supposed to do, and does it well: inspiring fear and a bit of hatred.
9. Death 13
Anime: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
If you’ve ever wondered whether you wanted a child, just hope it doesn’t turn out like this one.
This Satan baby has a Shinigami clown for a stand.
This stand not only attacks you in your dreams(which is just wrong on so many levels) but it also makes you die a most gruesome death.
This is because the dreamworld is like one giant acid trip, with the added benefit of your life being on the line.
The fact that the Shinigami clown also has a catch-phrase and a ridiculous voice really doesn’t help.
8. Talisman
Anime: Psycho-Pass
Spoiler warning ahead.
It’s weird to talk about Talisman since he’s just an avatar, and a terrifying one at that.
What makes it even more troublesome is that the avatar isn’t even controlled by its original creator, but rather by an avatar-obsessed murderer.
His presence in the virtual world was eerie. And once the background of his owner was explained, it just made him even creepier.
So if you’re ever in a VR chatroom, beware the clown people: they might be serial killers.
7. Chudelkin
Anime: Sword Art Online
This little simpy clown turned out to be a way bigger hassle than I thought he would originally be.
I mean, I knew he wasn’t one of the good guys. He even froze one of his own subordinates, after all.
But I really didn’t see it coming when he performed a head stand and summoned a giant fire demon.
Are you confused? So was I. But you never truly know what you’re going to get with clown characters. Anime be crazy.
6. Joker
Anime: Black Butler
This character had me very conflicted.
On the one hand, he did have a tragic past. And the Baron did save his life, so was in his debt and wanted to do his bidding.
On the other hand, he kind of kidnaps children and then later sacrifices them.
On the third hand, he has the same voice actor as Light and shares a bit of that maniac vibe that I tend to like in anime characters.
Truly so many things to consider, but at the end of the day, here he is.
5. Crazy Slots
Anime: Hunter x Hunter
Crazy Slots is Kite’s Nen ability. And it works like a Russian roulette, only that the gun is pointed at your opponent.
You see, every time he summons Crazy Slots alongside a snide remark on how he’s in trouble, Crazy Slots will roll a number between 1 and 9 and then give Kite the appropriate weapon.
The fact that this is the second time I’m talking about a clown-related ability (in two different anime!) really shows how far from their original purpose clowns have gotten. But blame that on Japan, not me.
4. Roswaal L Mathers
Anime: Re: Zero
In season one, I didn’t have much to say about Roswaal.
He was an odd but interesting looking dude that kind of gave off bad guy vibes, but nothing too major.
But then season two rolled around and oh boy did he get way more interesting.
I always knew that he was both clever and a nutjob.
But I never expected that he figured out what was happening to Subaru and was manipulating everything for his own purposes. And once that’s revealed, he gets even more metal and brutal. I definitely didn’t see it coming… but he became one of my favorite characters in season two.
3. The Earl of Millennium
Anime: D.Gray-Man
This man scares the ever-living hell out of me.
I guess that was what the creators were going for. But the fact that he’s just always smiling and always acting so loving and kind makes my skin crawl.
You know, because he’s also the main antagonist of the show. And turns people into akuma, and wants to cast literal god into darkness.
I swear he’s like Babadook’s weird brother or something.
2. Quetzalcoatl
Anime: Beelzebub
I think the Saw movies were already scary enough. But then of course anime had to introduce a clown character as the one pulling all the strings.
And while we’re at it, let’s also give him some demonic powers. Why not, at this point?
Man Quetzalcoatl just freaks me out.
The only good thing is that he loves games so much that you can easily distract him by throwing a Switch over his way.
1. Hisoka
Anime: Hunter x Hunter
Was there ever any doubt that this man was going to be at number one?
Sure, he might be a slight diddler. But the anime makes it work somehow.
Hisoka is an amazing character because he throws so much chaos into the show.
Is he going to kill someone, get horny, help the heroes, make a tower of cards, cut his arm off for some clickbait, or something even more absurd? You really never know what he’s up to!
Plus his Nen ability, Bungee Gum (that has the properties of both rubber and gum) is so fundamentally simple, yet he always manages to find a new way to use it. So he fulfills all his clown duties, terrifying every HxH character that comes near him, while also bringing some randomness to the show.
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