25 Best Anime Supervillains Of All Time

The Puppet Master - originally Project 2501 - holds a unique place on the list as the only non-organic entry included; that is to say, the artificial intelligence developed by government unit Section 6 was constructed, not born.

And that’s part of what makes him/her/it so terrifying. Ghost In The Shell touches prominently on the theme of cybernetics and their integration in society, and The Puppet Master is the physical embodiment of when that becomes a threat.

Or is it? Our protagonist, Major Motoko Kusanagi, in the end wilfully agrees to merge with the AI, whose true intentions could be harmless. Does it just want to “live and die” as it professes, or are its motives more menacing?

Like Schrödinger's cat, it's pertinent to assume both eventualities are plausible; the first awakened A.I. to exist could be the saviour of mankind, or it could bring about the technological cataclysm.