There are many anime characters that are incredibly stubborn and unyielding. Some of these characters are even more stubborn than the average anime protagonist. Here are 20 of the most stubborn anime characters, ranked from 1 to 20.
However, the opposite quality can be just as tricky.
While it’s sometimes inspiring to see a character going towards their goal, even if the entire world tells them not to, other times you’re just screaming at the screen while the MC makes a mess out of a simple situation.
Yes, we’re gonna be ranking all the most stubborn individuals in anime.
20. Aoi Toudou
Anime: Jujutsu Kaisen
This man plays by his own set of rules, and no one on Earth can make him change.
Except for maybe a tall woman with a big ass.
But if he’s decided he wants to battle, he’ll get to it, regardless of his mission.
And if he decides that you’re his new best friend, you have no right to refuse. In fact, you better start making those bff bracelets while he’s still in a good mood.
While this can make him really endearing, it also makes him the biggest wild card in the entire series, as you never know what his next objective will be.
19. Nozomu Itoshiki
Anime: Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
Before he could even walk, Zetsubou decided that life is trash. And he has refused to look at it in any other light since then.
The man is so consistently depressed and pessimistic that it’s almost admirable.
Even when faced with Kafuka, the saint of optimism, Zetsubou will find a reason to be depressed.
It doesn’t matter how much you talk to him or how much you make him feel loved, this man has decided to hate life. And that will likely never change.
18. Katsuki Bakugou
Anime: My Hero Academia
It’s not like Bakugou is the only character in the series who wants to be a hero as great as All Might.
But man, is he the most stubborn about it.
If you ever dare to even mention how you’ve gotten stronger while he’s within earshot from you, he’ll take it as a personal offense and scream at you for five minutes.
And don’t get me started on his relationship with Deku.
It took countless seasons for Bakugou to just admit that Deku is a hero to begin with, as he was so dead-set on calling him a pebble and nothing more.
17. Taiju Ooki
Anime: Dr. Stone
Taiju is such a pacifist that he makes Gandhi look like a war-loving tyrant in comparison.
The dude just does not like to hurt others, and he would literally rather die than land a blow. And that’s not just me making a wild guess either – he was literally put into that position already.
When he was the only thing standing between Tsukasa and his friends, Taiju just took the beating of his life, instead of using his strength to fight back.
Even though this decision could have easily lead to his friends being killed, you kind of have to respect the noble nature of his stubbornness.
16. Illumi Zoldyck
Anime: Hunter x Hunter (2011)
Hunter x Hunter definitely had more than just one stubborn character, especially when it comes to their search for revenge.
However, I decided to go with Illumi because geez, will this guy never let go of Killua.
Even their father has shows leniency when it comes to Killua having friends. But Illumi doesn’t even want to hear it.
Ranging from straight blackmail to mind control, Illumi will do anything within his power to keep Killua on the path that he deems is appropriate.
And regardless of how many people tell him to let his brother live his own life, this dude will likely never change.
15. Goku and Vegeta
Anime: Dragon Ball Z
It’s impossible to put one over the other, as the Saiyan race just spawns the most stubborn people ever to walk the planet.
When they set their sights on an enemy, God himself can’t stop them from pursuing that battle. It doesn’t matter if their wives scream at them, or if Earth could be destroyed as a result… if Saiyans want to fight, they’ll fight.
The same thing goes for training.
Heck, both of them managed to be absent fathers just because they wanted to do push-ups in space.
14. Inosuke Hashibira
Anime: Demon Slayer
Inosuke only wants one thing in life: to prove that he’s the strongest.
He just likes to dart from one battle to the other, usually avoiding anything that might chill him down or allow him to heal.
His only saving grace is that he’s so stubborn that he’s easily manipulated.
If you present any task as a competition, not only will Inosuke do it without complaint, but he’ll also give it his all.
Luckily for the squad, Tanjirou caught on to this little loophole quite early on.
13. Megumin
Anime: KonoSuba
If Megumin wasn’t so incredibly stubborn, KonoSuba would just be a completely different series.
Among the main cast, she’s by far the strongest when it comes to offensive capabilities.
But she’s so dead set on making the biggest kaboom possible that she refuses to opt into any mid-tier spells.
Not only is she insistent on making a huge kaboom(which she can only do once a day before passing out), but she also refuses to go a day without making something blow up.
Honestly if she just specked into mid-tier spells, the main cast would have actually cleared many dungeons with ease.
12. Heinrich Lunge
Anime: Monster
It’s no secret that this man is a workaholic.
He takes great pleasure and pride in his work, and refuses to leave any case unsolved.
However, that last part has shown to make him quite the stubborn mule.
Once he’s decided that Tenma is a criminal, the man simply ignored all the evidence that showed otherwise, and twisted everything he learned to fit his narrative.
In fact, his stubbornness nearly gets him killed at one point, as he simply refused to admit his mistake.
Not to mention that he loses his family in his wild goose chase.
11. Narberal Gamma
Anime: Overlord
On a surface level, Narberal is pretty dope.
She’s a battle maid who listens to no one other than Ainz, and can carry her own weight regardless of the circumstances.
However, she’s so stubborn when it comes to hating humans that it’s unreal.
She can meet the nicest guy on the planet, and she will still call him an insect and ask for permission to kill him. Although she can control her hatred to some extent when Ainz is around, we all know that she doesn’t plan on ever changing her views.
10. Roswaal L. Mathers
Anime: Re: Zero
Roswaal is quite the sneaky little manipulator, so I’ll have to go into spoilers here.
Initially, the dude just seemed a bit goofy and powerful, but nothing more than that.
But we later learn that just like a lot of the main antagonists, he’s obsessed with Echidna.
And everything he has done so far has been for the sole purpose of resurrecting her. Even when the cast finds out about his plans and even tries to foil them, Roswaal just keeps going towards his own goals, with little regard to what everyone thinks.
9. Seiya Ryuuguuin
Anime: Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious
Although we do get an explanation to Seiya’s insane cautiousness by the end of the series, the dude is still ridiculous.
Just like the title would suggest, he’s overpowered. But is extremely cautious about everything all the time.
Even when people beg him to stop while he’s blowing up a village to defeat a low-level slime, he just shrugs it all off.
And if he has even the slightest concern that he might lose, he’s out of there, regardless of how powerful his allies might be.
8. Eren Yeager
Anime: Attack on Titan
Early on in the series, Eren was probably the most stubborn character I ‘ve ever seen.
His blind rage towards the titans was so powerful that he was prepared to run at entire hordes, regardless of years of training telling him not to.
He was so set on killing titans that he refused to ever think about the possibility that maybe he just wasn’t strong enough to do it all on his own.
He does get some nuance later on, but as the first part of the final season showed us, he’s very much still selfish and stubborn in his ways when it comes to achieving a goal he sees as righteous.
7. Eris Boreas Greyrat
Anime: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
This one is slightly forgivable, as she’s just a spoiled child.
But man would I blow my brains out if I had to take care of her.
She’s so stubborn when it comes to her unwillingness to learn, that she had to have her teeth kicked in before admitting that maybe she needs a bit more training.
And even then, she constantly fell of the trail, as she simply did not care for academics and judged them all as useless.
If it wasn’t for the master-class manipulation skills of Rudeus, she never would have learned anything that does not involve hitting someone with a sword and/or fist.
6. Seryuu Ubiquitous
Anime: Akame ga Kill!
Seryuu has a very deadly and toxic combination: stubbornness and borderline delusions.
She’s so dead-set on being the good guy that she turns a blind eye to all the obvious cues showing that she’s not any different from her enemy.
She continually talks ill of them because they’re assassins, and yet she has no issues with murdering people in the most brutal ways.
There’s no trial or a chance for redemption. She just executes on sight.
So the fact that she managed to stay on her high horse until the very end is almost applaudable.
5. Motoyasu Kitamura
Anime: The Rising of the Shield Hero
Simp king stubbornness is just downright terrifying.
This dude was so set on protecting his queen and taking her words as gospel, that Naofumi could have resurrected Jesus Christ himself, and Motoyasu would still think that he’s a bad guy.
I get that she played her cards well.
But at least the other two heroes started asking questions, while Motoyasu was set to die on that hill.
Because admitting that you’re wrong is not manly or something, who knows.
4. Erina Nakiri
Anime: Food Wars!
Even though Erina is called the God Tongue, that same tongue really like to weave lies when it suits her.
Especially when it comes to Souma and his cooking skills.
Even though he has repeatedly shown extraordinary skills and has even made her achieve the Food Wars sweet spot, she still stubbornly goes on about how he’s worthless.
And sure, the fact that it some tsundere stubbornness makes her just seem hot. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s a sore loser.
3. Laurent Thierry
Anime: Great Pretender
Knowing this guy is basically a curse, in my opinion.
He’s the type of dude who sets out on his grand scheme or adventure, and pays little regard to how everyone around him actually feels.
My boy Makoto wanted an out so many times, and yet Laurent just keeps tricking him right back into his paws.
Because the man is too stubborn to ever just call something a loss and move on.
And sure, the whole thing was presented as this 300 IQ scheme. But at the core of it is a manipulative man with too much free time, and an unwillingness to just quit already.
2. Thorfinn
Anime: Vinland Saga
Thorfinn is another case of the vengeance plus stubbornness combo. I get that he was traumatized when he saw his father die in front of his eyes, but no normal person would have taken it as far as he did.
He followed the killer for years, worked for him, almost acted like his son, and killed dozens (if not hundreds) of soldiers.
Just for the chance to face the killer in battle.
And then when he inevitably lost the 1-vs-1, he would just do it all again.
The man does not take “no” for an answer.
1. Naruto
Anime: Naruto
This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but Naruto is the king of stubbornness.
From the way he claimed to become Hokage even when he was literally the worst at everything, to his persistent chase of Sasuke, the dude’s ninja way really doesn’t budge.
I especially can’t stress the Sasuke part enough.
We’re talking about a dude that was like an S-class threat to the village, and Naruto still refused to admit that he needs to be taken down.
And this sort of “I know you’re good deep down” mentality transcends just Sasuke.
Naruto’s talk-no-jutsu is a staple in the entire anime, as he refuses to condemn even the bloodiest of murderers.
