Postby Davidizer13 » Sat May 25, 2013 10:42 am
There's a great one at the end of the original Mobile Suit Gundam with Char. He's not super evil, but he's been fighting for Zeon, who are pretty much space Nazis, so that he can get revenge on the family who killed his father, twisted his father's ideals and took control of Zeon. Over time, he develops this rivalry with a hotshot kid pilot named Amuro on the opposite side of the war, and they clash at some of its biggest battles, and through other circumstances the battles become hugely personal.
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Eventually, though, the tide turns and Zeon starts losing, and losing badly. The last episode is giant robot D-Day in space, and Char and Amuro have this incredible fight; they end up trashing each others' mecha, but keep fighting on, literally wrestling with each other through the Zeon fortress. Then Char's sister shows up, tells him how foolish fighting with Amuro is when he could be fighting this ruling family behind it all; Char goes "Oh! Right!" and strikes the decisive blow, apparently sacrificing himself in the process. So it's redemption for the wrong reasons, but it counts, right? It's one of my favorite scenes in anime, definitely a great way to end the series.