October has officially begun, which means haunted houses, horror movies, halloween costumes, and obscene amounts of candy are in season! What better way to kick off the season than with a list of 5 anime scientist characters that have a not one…or two…but hundreds of screws loose!

Kurotsuchi Mayuri (Bleach)

The captain of the 12th Division and Head of the Shinigami Research Department; this psychotic scientist will make most people incredibly uncomfortable. Why? Well for one he likes to experiment…on live test subjects (just ask Ishida), but he also can regenerate parts of his body, he created his assistant and lieutenant, Nemu, and his zanpakuto, Ashisogi Jizou, gives me the willies (yes I said willies). Whenever I see his creepy zanpakuto release itself into a floating caterpillar with a Jizou head and it makes that creepy baby noise, I cringe. But the creepiness is often offset by some strange thing going on with Mayuri or the others characters around him, like Renji and Ishida inadvertently getting poisoned by Ashisogi Jizou since Mayuri really doesn’t care about his surroundings. Kurotsuchi-taicho is definitely one of the most psychotic scientists in an anime series.

Dr. Franken Stein (Soul Eater)

Stein is a top notch Meister with multiple screws loose, which is probably why he has a bolt in his head that he is constantly tightening. Stein is a professor for the Death Weapon Meister Academy, who is completely stitched all over the place. You can typically find him on his rolling chair dressed in a lab coat that is stitched together as well. When you meet him, he will probably even make a grand entrance…which usually means he hits a bump and falls out of his chair. Stein is actually ridiculously cool and strong, but he completely creeps out Spirit. However, he ends up losing his mind throughout the series, which only adds to his mad scientist qualities. So when you add that to the fact that he likes to dissect things (including himself) and he was the reason why Sid became a zombie…he is certainly a candidate for being the most psychotic scientist out there.

Below is the episode of Stein’s entrance to the anime. Check out the whole episode…or part of it and you’ll get what I mean.

Shou Tucker (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Next is Shou Tucker, who was known as the Sewing-Life Alchemist. He is one of the creepiest characters in Fullmetal Alchemist in my opinion…and that says something considering there are A LOT of creepy characters in the show! This alchemist made a name for himself by producing a chimera that was able to speak; however, he had never been able to produce another. Ironically enough, his wife had left around the same time the chimera was created. So when pressure increased for him to create another, Tucker becomes desperate and ends up merging his dog, Alexander, with the only family he had left…his daughter, Nina. As a result of his actions, he is sent to become a test subject and ends up as a chimera himself, further making him creepy and now even more psychotic than before. Have I convinced you why he is on this list yet? *shivers*

Orochimaru (Naruto)

Orochimaru is a former shinobi for Konohagakure, who ends up leading his own village, Otogakure. This ninja, however, is almost completely off his rocker. This shinobi is ridiculously powerful…and OLD, but he just won’t die!!! His goal is power and in order to become powerful, he ends up looking for a way to be immortal. His way of doing this is by transferring himself from one body to the next, and his ultimate desired host was Uchiha Sasuke. So what makes him a mad scientist? Well one of the reasons he was kicked out of Konoha was because of his experiments, which were usually tested on humans. He would perform experiments on his comrades and enemies, and if they were strong enough to survive, they ended up mutating and gaining crazier powers. Two examples of this would be Anko, who has absolutely terrible memories of being his test subject, and Sasuke. Unfortunately, it was rare for anyone to survive and he ended up killing a large number of his own comrades. Add that to his creepy old man laugh and the fact that tends to hide in a dark dungeon-looking hideout and you have the perfect formula for a mad scientist. TA DA!!!

Kazutaka Muraki (Yami No Matsuei)

Do you know the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well…the phrase definitely applies to Kazutaka Muraki, who may look angelic, but is the complete opposite. Kazutaka is yet another anime character with a troubled past. So what’s his story? Kazutaka was apparenty treated by a doll by his mother, which is why he’s obsessed with dolls and treats others like dolls as well. Also, his half brother Saki killed Kazutaka’s parents and when he tried to kill Kazutaka, one of the family guards killed Saki. As a result, Kazutaka became obssessed with bringing Saki back from the dead, but only to kill Saki himself. Throughout the series, you can find Kazutaka playing the good doctor who is upset because he can’t save lives, but the truth is he’s a serial killer who manipulates the souls of the dead to draw the attention of Shinigami. Two faces? Just hope that you don’t get deceived by his angelic smile, otherwise you may end up as one of his test subjects to bring back his brother. Creepy creepy creepy…

Can you name any other mad scientist anime characters?