Love to Hate Him

Some bad guys do their thing so well you can't help but hope they'd win sometimes. Some villains are so good at being bad you root for THEM the whole time, instead of for the sweetness-and-light good guys. When they lose (as they eventually must) you tend to feel for them Some antagonists are so bad they're good, and they're sometimes better than the good guys.

Not Quite Standard Disclaimer:
The images here were gleaned from many different sites--wherever I happened to see a good picture of the Leading Man in question...In some cases I had to chop him out of a bigger picture, brighten the image itself--anything to get HIS solo mug up there. If I'm using your image and you don't like what I've done to it, tell me about it and I'll take it out. Remember: all images here belong solely to their creators.

All guys are plugged in ALPHABETICALLY per page, and in the order I received the suggestions, to avoid the reams of hate-mail I can imagine for inadvertently maligning *your* Leading Man.

Why do all the guys in Sailormoon fall for that whiney Usagi? It hardly seems possible! And yet--there it is: Diamond initially pursued world domination to gain power for the Dark Moon Family. Later on he was obsessed by neo-Queen Serenity--and consequently Usagi.

As is typical in Sailormoon, he was a misguided soul. They always are. The real (note: very ugly) bad guy was manipulating them all for his own ends. Diamond's pretty cool though--that mantle of authority, the way he controls his people, his belief in his own power--it all adds up to one tough customer.

This image courtesy of The Hunk-Meisters of Sailormoon.

Serena190 says:
          Arrrrrgh!!! I saw your "love to hate him" section and I found...NOTHING!!! Not one thing on Dilandau!!! I mean, come on! He is soo fine!!! He is by far the hunkiest guy AND villain in the ENTIRE Escaflowne series!!! He's like the cutest albino boy this side of...well...anime! [...] his evils looks, the way he talks, the way he goes insane, the way he smiles malevolently...he uses that cool robot thingy sooo well...KILL VAN!!! KILL HIM FOR ME!!!!!!!! He deserves a place in your page...he's so much hunkier than any villain anywhere!!! He's dreamy........***drooling***

I didn't get all that far into the anime... Serena also donated the image you see here.

Rei says:
          ...he's sooo cute! He's not as "pretty" as Allen, but he's definitely handsome in a rugged, silent, sensitive kind of way. He has the words "tortured soul" literally tatooed on him, i.e. that tear drop. He died for what he believed in and in doing so atoned for all of his sins, sob, sob, sniff, sniff! You hate him at first, but as the show progresses you see just how much he cares for his brother and Gaea, and you feel such compassion for his sad life. He's not really a bad guy, he's just an idealist who was taken advantage of by Dr. Dornkirk.

I only saw the first three volumes, so I haven't gotten any insights into Van Fanel's older brother, but I liked what I saw of him... This image is from Lord Folken

The right-hand man of Diamond, he was very close to him--in fact, the Prince is his older brother! He was the first to suspect the hidden agenda of--whatzizname, the black hooded man. He was also much cuter than Diamond, in that he actually went out and did something. His final farewell scene had more impact than the season ender of the entire Sailormoon R storyline. He was a favorite at that point.

Poor Sapphire--he really was just doing what Diamond told him to do, despite his misgivings. He put the interests of his leader before his own--and when he discovered the plot against Diamond, he sacrificed his life to expose it. A true martyr to the end.

This image courtesy of  The Hunk-Meisters of Sailormoon.

Rowena Lim says:
          By far one of the handsomest men in Sailormoon! (He appears in Sailormoon S) Even when possessed by the Daimon Master he still loves his daughter Hotaru very much. He became possessed by the Daimon Master because Hotaru died and he exchanged his soul for her revival.

I didn't know that! We're only about 12 episodes into the series right now and I swore I wouldn't "cheat" and trawl the nets for information; Tomoe just seemed like a particularly driven (and nasty) scientist type guy. Rowena also kindly scanned the image for me... By the way, you have GOT to see Rowena's Sailormoon Cyber City--simply one of the best!