Characters you don't like, but are well written.

I finished rewatching Afro Samurai, and afterwards I found out how much I disliked Afro. The man only cared about his vengeance no matter how many people he screwed over and arguably did more damage than good. I did however respect that the show and movie don't treat him as a hero, but rather a terrifyingly strong guy who you probably don't want to be around due to the inevitable death that will occur. So fellow anime lovers. Are there any characters that come to mind as people you don't like or downright hate, but acknowledge that they're a good character in literary/artistic terms?

So this might be a bit of a stretch but it's the one that came to mind. I'm gonna say Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangellion. He's super whiny and always complaining but it makes complete sense seeing that he is a middle schooler that is suddenly put in a mech told to fight Angels. I watched that show recently and hated Shinji but thought the way he acts is reasonable for his character.

I used to hate Shinji, but then I wondered how 14 year old me would have reacted in that scenario...it doesn't go well.

Exactly, which is why I think he's completely reasonable in regards to how a 14 year old would react to that situation.

Uh huh. Here's two of them. http://www.basugasubakuhatsu.com/blog/screencaps/Le%20Chevalier%20D%60Eon%2009.jpg

Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass. He has a good backstory and a good growth/development but most of the time I just wanna slap him.