Worst Anime Mentor Characters

When there’s a protagonist out to save the world in anime, there’s usually a teacher or mentor to help them. Whether the teacher is good or bad at their job is up to fans, but most of them are usually helpful when helping their students. Even some main characters take up mentoring their friends or family when needed.

It can be argued that even the worst teachers will provide some kind of lesson that might go unnoticed at first. However, these mentors are just the worst when it comes to interacting with their students. Some of them are outright cruel, but there’s just something about them that people should avoid when looking for a helpful mentor.

10 Hayate (Pretear)

Knowing that Himeno has a short amount of time to get powerful, Hayate had the right idea of training her, but this idea was poorly executed. His training methods seemed a little silly and almost childish. Plus, he was overall negative when training Himeno and more or less made it clear that he didn’t think much of her. Naturally, this discouraged Himeno, but it was clear that he just wasn’t a good mentor for her.

Sasame and Goh opted for a more practical and positive approach when training with her. It was clear that Himeno just needed someone a little more patient because she thrived under their mentorship.

9 Orochimaru (Naruto)

There are a lot of negative feelings surrounding Orochimaru which has left some fans wondering why he got off the hook so easily. Most of the kids he mentored or kidnapped ended up becoming subjects to his horrific experiments. Anko Mitarashi was a test subject to his Cursed Seal of Heaven and the only survivor out of ten subjects.

Despite all the crimes he’s committed, Orochimaru pretty much got a slap on the wrist and continues experimenting in Boruto. He created his sons/clones, Log and Mitsuki, and his relationship with Log is rocky at best. Orochimaru even manipulates situations around Mitsuki in order to make him make tough decisions.

8 Akane Minagawa (Scum’s Wish)

This woman’s personality is so twisted, that it’s tough to watch. As a teacher, she comes off as caring and nurturing, but deep down she is twisted. She knows that Hanabi is in love with Narumi (another fellow teacher) so Akane starts dating him just to get under Hanabi’s skin. What makes it more twisted is that she really enjoys the pain it causes Hanabi and seeing the girl get jealous over her relationship with Narumi.

Then, there’s her twisted relationship with Mugi, a male student that she knows is in love (and a little obsessed) with her. She gets a thrill out of stringing him along, knowing he’ll love her no matter what she does. What makes the relationship even harder to look at is that the two of them become intimate and Mugi knows she doesn’t love him.

7 Saitama (One Punch Man)

It’s not that Saitama is cruel to Genos, but it’s obvious that he just doesn’t seem to care about teaching him. Plus, it doesn’t help that Genos pretty much forced himself into Saitama’s life and made him his mentor despite Saitama not wanting to. However, Saitama could’ve put a little effort into his mentoring role and taught Genos something about being a hero.

Though it makes for a hilarious watch, it’s still a little sad to see Genos trying so hard to find some deep meaning in every little thing Saitama does. Most of what Genos has learned from Saitama has been through observation and drawing his own conclusions.

6 Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Roy Mustang is a good man and supports the Elric brothers, but his relationship with Edward is antagonistic. Almost every time he and Edward talk, Roy has to tease him about not finding out any new information about the Philosopher’s Stone. Edward openly dreads having to report to him because he knows Mustang is just going to tease him and point out his failures.

It’s not that Roy is an awful person, but his small mentoring role leaves little to be desired. Sure Izumi Curtis was tough on the brothers, but any advice she gave them was helpful. Mustang and Edward work better together as peers than as a mentor and a student.

5 Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Kyubey is notorious for being a character that kept the truth from the girls that they recruited. It recruits girls and turns them into magical girls, but doesn’t mention its exchange for their souls and fighting witches, who were former magical girls. It’s not outright cruel to them, but hiding all the facts from them makes it even worse. When the girls find out the truth, it’s too late for them to do anything.

Even the fact that Kyubey can comprehend any emotion and doesn’t do anything with malicious intent also makes it worse. The girls can cry out that Kyubey uses trickery and deceived them, but Kyubey will calmly say it technically hasn’t done anything wrong.

4 Vellian Crowler (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

If there is one person that shouldn’t be allowed to be a teacher or mentor of any kind, it’s Vellian Crowler. How this man became an instructor is a mystery. He openly shows his disdain for Jaden Yuki and other duelists he deems unworthy. If that didn’t sound bad enough, he tried to find ways to get Jaden expelled from the academy. Plus, he also tried to expel other Slifer Red students just because they had low test scores.

As the show went on, he did get better, but it doesn’t really change the fact that he targeted Slifer students and bullied them because of their grades. It’s a little disturbing to see a grown man act more immaturely than the students he teaches.

3 Takeuchi (A Silent Voice)

Why no one has complained about him is up for debate because this man does not do anything to help his students in need. Takeuchi ignored Shoko when she was bullied by the class and doesn’t care when her hearing aids are tossed out the window and into the pond. When word got out about the bullying she was going through, he placed the blame solely on Shoya (the main bully) which caused the class to turn on Shoya.

The bullying that Shoya went through caused just as much pain as it did Shoko, but what makes it slightly worse is that Takeuchi ignored Shoya’s pleas for help. This bullying caused Shoya a lot of trauma to the point that he was considering taking his own life after he fulfilled his plans to apologize to Shoko.

2 Dino Golzine (Banana Fish)

The father figure/mentor of Ash Lynx. This man was grooming Ash to be the heir of his criminal empire and also as a pet. Dino had a very disturbing obsession with Ash and wanted Ash to submit to him, threatening to kill him if he didn’t. He even kidnapped Eiji when he saw that he was becoming a “weakness” to Ash, but also wanted to keep Eiji as a toy.

It’s clear that the damage he’s done to Ash still lingers and it’s understandable why Ash wants to get rid of him. Regardless of whether Ash met Eiji or not, Dino is just too dangerous and disturbing to let live.

1 Mr. Shu (Dragon Ball Z)

The Dragon Ball universe is known for having tough teachers and mentor figures like Piccolo and Vegeta, but Mr. Shu is one man that shouldn’t be near children. After being hired by Chi-Chi, Mr. Shu seemed like a stern tutor for Gohan, but the man is utterly sadistic behind closed doors. He is physically and verbally abusive towards Gohan and insulted him about Goku’s absence, believing Goku to be a deadbeat dad.

If Gohan made a small mistake in his schoolwork, Mr. Shu used a whip to hit him to attack the young boy. Of course, this didn’t really injure Gohan thanks to his Saiyan genes, but it did hurt. When Mr. Shu thought he’d convinced Chi-Chi that Gohan attacked him unprovoked, he hit Gohan hard enough that it drew blood. Luckily, Chi-Chi literally threw him out of the house and threatened him to never come back.

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