Frieza, by far. He manages to be so absolutely despicable that it's awesome to watch. I haven't seen Monster or A Date Live yet, so I'm not really aware of its two villains. Light Yagami I think is overrated. A lot of his plans work when they honestly really shouldn't and he kind of gave me annoying Anakin Skywalker vibes. Esdeath is cool and a well-rounded character (way better than Prime Minster Honest), but she's far from the best anime villain. All For One, although I think he's cool, is somewhat of a generic evil overlord compared to the other more sympathetic and interesting villains in My Hero Academia.

I would personally say Light's my favorite. Frieza and Johan are up there as well in their own ways, but I'm simply not quite as familiar with the latter (though I suspect it would be very close if I were), and Frieza's mostly just fun to watch for being so unapologetically despicable. Light, however, to me, is a very realistic example of someone young with both idealistic ambitions and good intentions, but for all his intelligence and potential, still has a very black and white concept of morality like many people his age, and has them twisted by the ability to play God. Because of that, his whole character just makes for great social commentary. I think Brad Swaile's performance in the English dub also helped a lot, with immortalized lines like a certain one relating to a potato chip (everyone knows the one).

On a side note, it's a huge shame that Squealer/Yakomaru from Shinsekai Yori/From the New World isn't on here, as well as doesn't have a page on this wiki altogether for that matter, because boy, he's right up there with Light as one of my all-time favorites.

Of those presented in the list, the best is Johan. But I would add Griffith here.

DIO

Frieza. All hail Emperor Frieza!

I would have voted for Frieza earlier, but I honestly don't like the direction he's currently taking in Dragon Ball (I hope they don't redeem him). I would have voted for Light instead, had it not been for his pathetic defeat at the end of the manga/anime. AFO strikes me as a good villain but I think it is an exaggeration to say that he is one of the best of all time. And I haven't seen either Akame Ga Kill or Date A Live. So my vote goes to Johan, possibly one of the best-developed characters in all of fiction. Although I still think that Shogo from Psycho Pass is one of the best villains in all of anime.

The ending the anime gave Light redeemed him in my eyes with its more sympathetic tone but his breakdown beforehand was pretty pathetic and I still prefer Frieza.

I like my queen esdeath, BTW I more like nihilistic villains, so I'll choose Isaac and Johan.

Frieza got me to like anime but cell is the real reason why i begin to watch anime overall.

Imagine voting for generic shōnen villains like Frieza or… All for One, or “muh big‐tiddy anime waifu!!” fan service characters like Esdeath, when they’re on the same poll as Johan.

Frieza, the superpowered, cackling, androgynous alien lizardman who blows up planets and whose personality is that he’s a sadist, versus Johan, evil and nihilism incarnate (while still only a human being, albeit nearly as inhuman as possible) whose character explores the real‐world plausibility of a concept like “pure evil” via red herrings that constantly provoke the viewer into questioning what made him into what he is (if anything) and what could’ve made him different. His complexity stems not from moral ambiguity since he’s obviously depraved and horrible, but from the ambiguity of his circumstances and nature along with the subtle hints at a philosophy beyond simple nihilism (e.g. fatalism); what makes any of these other characters complex?

Frieza is the kind of character that everyone can agree is just an asshole, but Johan’s success as an Antichrist‐like figure—the Antichrist being a sort of false messiah, being very agreeable and likable to the general populace in order to sway them to his side—is so great that there are viewers who sympathize with him, who think he isn’t as bad as he is or could be redeemed, or go as far as to romanticize him. It’s like he’s emotionally manipulated the viewers themselves.

I haven’t watched most of these, but from what I’ve seen and gathered: Light seems like a plot‐armored protagonist (even more so than Johan’s plot armor as an antagonist, which is more justifiable) whom people think is a genius because he’s literally omniscient and the plot is written to suit him, Isaac is an edge‐lord who’s the embodiment of quantity over quality in terms of crimes and all‐around seems like the writers tried way, way too hard to make him the ebilest character ever without giving him much substance, and My Hero Academia is absolute weebshit garbage that requires no further consideration. Johan is simultaneously more vile and more compelling than any of these.

Johan wins.