"Season 2 of Tokyo Ghoul IS the plot hole": Anime fans discuss the most egregious plot holes in the fandom

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Feb 17, 2025 11:30 AM EST

There are honestly two types of smart writers – those that scrutinise their own writing over and over until there are no plot holes, and those that write in a little wiggle-room for their world building in case they make a mistake (see: unreliable narrator). That latter might be considered a more lazy approach, but it can be done in an effective way. Unfortunately, not every plot line of every anime can be perfectly airtight – that's fine. The least annoying plot holes are those that you wouldn't even notice unless you were some sort of super fan that constantly lurks on forums and watches iceberg videos. However, some plot holes are to egregious to ignore. Whether a character inexplicably acts in such a way that goes against their previous characterisation, or an event occurs that goes against all established laws of the universe set forth by its author, it can be really hard to get back into a show once you notice it. Anime fans discuss the worst plot holes that had them feeling some type of way in the thread down below.  

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  • 01
    Which anime has the worst plot hole?
    via Maria Jose Plaza Torres

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    relentless_s Tokyo Ghoul S2 is THE plot hole.
    via u/relentles_s*******
  • 03
    Wild Island_8589 Just read the manga, honestly. It was painful to ed it up see how bad studio f
    via @Wild_Island_8589
  • 04
    relentless_s I literally had no idea what was going on in anime until I read manga after :re S1 got released. The adaptation after S1 is so a that only a full remake could fix that. But we are probably not getting it anytime soon.
    via u/relentles_s*******
  • 05
    kurtchen11 A bit non-specific but plots that feature a crazy powerful mc allways break down if you start to think to much about it. Most of their problems just should not exist.
    via @kurtchen11
  • 06
    Cheezburger Image 10468783872
    via yangjunjun 2 from Pexels

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 07
    Niyu43 Agree, but one that I think handles this very well is Mob Psycho 100. Kageyama has social and self- steem problems, even though not only is he very powerful but also has a stable household and people supporting him. It's part of the message of the series and part of what makes it so great
    via @Niyu43
  • 08
    Levoso_con_v Except One Punch Man, they somehow make it work.
    via @Levoso_con_v

  • One Punch Man works because that is the whole concept of the show; it's turning the trope on its head.

  • 09
    nobrainsnoworries23 "I sacrificed my arm so that little brat would understand the dangers of the world and lay low until he can join a crew strong enough to protect him from the World Government after his secret Devil Fruit." Shanks. Later. - "He set sail in a BARREL?!"
    via @nobrainsnoworries23

  • At least Luffy is a super lucky manga protagonist that built his own perfect crew!

  • 10
    Cheezburger Image 10468783616
    via Scopio

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 11
    januarysdaughter In fairness, he had a boat at first. Then there was a hole in it, so he got in a barrel to protect himself from drowning.
    via @januarysdaughter
  • 12
    Warm-Touch7812 This makes way too much sense.
    via @Warm-Touch7812
  • 13
    nobrainsnoworries23 Right?! I always believed Shanks wanted Luffy kept near Garp because no one would mess with him. Shanks would swing back by and officially make him part of his crew when Luffy was older. But he underestimated the Will of D.
    via @nobrainsnoworries23
  • 14
    satufa2 Rukia losing a fight against a basic hollow.
    via @satufa2
  • 15
    MamboCircus It could be argued that she was in a bad place mentally at that time but, yeah, she definitely could have done more...
    via @MamboCircus
  • 16
    Kagevjijon I thought this too but after rewatching it the soul society is at fault. They were putting limiters on any soul reapers in Karakura town so any soul reapers would have trouble in the area. These were put in place long ago but Isshin and Kisuke cranked them up super high when the two of them went into hiding and to make soul reapers want to avoid karakura town.
    via @Kagevjijon
  • 17
    ThaneKyrell They only do that for captains and vice- captains. Rukia was just a regular Shinigami, so she did have her full powers
    via @ThaneKyrell
  • 18
    Gotei69Squad34Cpt She had the restriction on her and the hollow attacked too quickly for her to release her Shikai, that at least fills up the hole a bit
    via @Gotei69Squad34Cpt
  • 19
    SpecterVamp It's a minor thing, but Naruto should be 3 years older than everyone in his "class". He had to redo basic stuff for 3 years before mastering transformation jutsus, at which point he became a genin under Kakashi at the same time as Shikamaru and
    via @SpecterVamp
  • 20
    everyone else. But then when we get the story of Minato sealing 9-tails into baby Naruto we see a panel of Itachi holding baby Sasuke. So either Sasuke isn't prodigious like he's made out to be and is just 3 years older than everyone else their grade, or Kishimoto-San forgot
    via @SpecterVamp
  • 21
    ABearDream Has it ever been confirmed that the academy takes an entire year? Or outright said that naruto was there for three years? I always thought he just failed 3 times and that he could retake maybe a couple months later
    via @ABearDream
  • 22
    Sotomene Hmmm but this means that Naruto shouldn't be able to be in a team together with Sasuke and Sakura since they would be in a team with some else months ago.
    via @Sotomene
  • 23
    APe28Comococo Naruto started earlier because he had no parents and Konoha seems to have little in child care. Still not sure how he made it from infant to childhood though.
    via @APe28Comococo
  • 24
    Zech08 Shunned by society, kept in check in secret? Would be kind of silly to NOT monitor a potential walking disaster.
    via @Zech08

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bleach plot animation anime fandom discussion naruto japanese entertainment Japan plot holes cartoons manga reddit thread Reddit writing otaku television
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