The world is filled with great anime and manga series which have interesting and compelling characters, vibrant worlds, and stories that are both complex and engaging. Like any form of storytelling, the plot is extremely important because without it, the story will not make any sense, and for the most part, most anime do a good job at avoiding plot holes that can confuse and irritate fans.
A plot hole is an inconsistency with the story or with a character's development, and although most anime avoid these plot holes, they still exist. It does not matter if the anime in question is universally praised or despised. Some of these plot holes are fixed somewhere down the line, but there are plenty of plot holes that have still not received any sort of explanation.
10 Light Should Not Have Been Able To See Ryuk At The Beginning Of The Series — the book never belonged to Ryuk, it actually belonged to another Shinigami named Rem
Light Yagami is one of several anime heroes who ended up turning evil, and this all happened because he found a Death Note which happens to be one of the strongest weapons in all of anime. The Death Note allows its user to kill anyone as long as they know their real name, but the book comes with quite a few rules.
Each Death Note belongs to a Shinigami, and when a human takes possession of one of these notebooks, they are capable of seeing the Shinigami that it belongs to. Light sees Ryuk after he finds a Death Note on the floor, but the problem is that the book never belonged to Ryuk, it actually belonged to another Shinigami named Rem.
9 Kamui Should Not Have A Job — his lack of a Crime Coefficient should raise a few red flags, but it never does
Psycho-Pass takes place in a future where a powerful bio-mechanical computer network uses the minds of criminally asymptomatic brains to determine whether or not a person is a criminal. Kirito Kamui appears in the second season, and his Crime Coefficient index cannot be detected because his body is composed of parts from 184 different people.
Kamui is capable of obtaining multiple legitimate jobs, which makes no sense since he lacks a Crime Coefficient which normally allows employers to know if someone is a danger to society or not. The lack of a Crime Coefficient should raise a few red flags, but it never does.
8 Pell Should Not Have Survived The Blast In Alabasta — Pell was at the epicenter of a massive blast that was supposed to wipe out an entire kingdom
One Piece has millions of fans all over the world, but even this series has a few world-breaking plot holes. At the end of the Alabasta Arc, a palace guard named Pell uses his Devil Fruit power to turn into a hawk and carry off a bomb that was planted in the city by Crocodile.
Pell is at the epicenter of a massive blast that was supposed to wipe out an entire kingdom, so it makes sense that everyone thought that he was dead. They even held a funeral for him, but it was later revealed that he in fact survived
7 The Earth Should Not Be Fine In Assassination Classroom — If the moon were to explode, large chunks would definitely crash into Earth
Assassination Classroom is one of several anime with a great supporting cast, but it also has a plot hole that literally defies the laws of physics. In the story, a series of experiments leads to the destruction of 70% of the moon, leaving it in a constant crescent shape.
If the moon were to explode, large chunks would definitely crash into Earth, causing an extinction-level event. Even if that didn't happen, such an event would eventually lead to massive tsunamis on Earth which would leave many areas uninhabitable, but nothing like that is ever mentioned in the anime.
6 Yoruichi's Zanpakutō Somehow Disappeared — It makes no sense for her to never use such a powerful tool in battle
In Bleach, every Soul Reaper Captain is insanely strong because they can all use their Zanpakutō's Shikai and Bankai forms. Yoruichi Shihōin was once the Captain of Squad 2, and in a flashback arc, fans can clearly see that she has a Zanpakutō just like her fellow Captains.
Over the course of the series, Yoruichi fights Captain Soifon, a god-level enemy in Aizen, and a power Quincy during the Thousand Year Blood War Arc. She never uses her Zanpakutō in any of these fights though, in fact she is never even seen wearing it. It makes no sense for her to never use such a powerful tool in battle, and an explanation has never been given for her Zanpakutō's absence.
5 The Baby Digimon Should Have Been Wiped Out Ages Ago — it makes no sense that the babies would've survived all those years waiting for their human partners to arrive
In the very first episode of Digimon, the DigiDestined are transported to File Island where they meet their Digimon partners, who are all in their defenseless baby forms. As soon as they all meet, they are attacked by a massive Digimon, and things would've gotten very bad if the baby Digimon didn't all evolve into their Rookie forms.
The island is filled with dangerous Champion-level monsters, and later in the series, it is made quite clear that lower-level Digimon are easily deleted by higher-level monsters. Considering how merciless some of these evil Digimon are, it makes no sense that the babies would've survived all those years waiting for their human partners to arrive.
4 How Did Crocodile Not Recognize Vivi? In fact, all the higher-ups of his organization should've known what Vivi looked like
Pell surviving is not the only plot hole to come out of the Alabasta Arc. Miss Wednesday worked for Crocodile's Baroque Works organization, but it is later revealed that she is actually Vivi Nefertari, the princess of Alabasta.
Crocodile claims that his plan to take over Alabasta was years in the making, but if that were true, he would know that the princess was missing. Not only that, but he would have a general idea of what Vivi looked like, so he should have known who she really was as soon as he saw her. In fact, all the higher-ups of his organization should've known what Vivi looked like.
3 Why Did No One Raise Naruto? The village's higher-ups knew that he was the 4th Hokage's son
Naruto has proved time and time again that he is the world's strongest ninja, and he is also one of the kindest characters in the series, which is amazing seeing as most of the Leaf village shunned him for being the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki.
The village's higher-ups knew that he was the 4th Hokage's son, including Jiraiya who promised Minato that he would look after him as his godfather, yet for some reason, all of these people allowed him to grow up alone and hated by the majority of the village. As a Jinchūriki, he also happens to be one of the Leaf's strongest assets, so leaving him without a guardian makes even less sense.
2 When Planet Vegeta Was Destroyed — it was actually destroyed on the day Goku landed on Earth
Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular anime in history, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its fair share of plot holes. One of the most glaring issues revolves around the planet Vegeta, which was destroyed by Frieza when he became worried that the Saiyans were becoming too powerful.
When Raditz tells Goku what happened to their planet, he says that it was destroyed by a meteor three years earlier, which doesn't make sense because it was actually destroyed on the day Goku landed on Earth, which would be fine if Goku hadn't been on Earth for at least 20 years at that point.
1 Why Kayaba Akihiko Trapped Everyone In Sword Art Online? Akihiko says that he doesn't remember why he did it
It may have a few plot holes, but Sword Art Online is a very good anime. The first half of the first season focused on a revolutionary virtual reality game, and in the first episode, the game's creator, Kayaba Akihiko reveals that the game's first 10,000 players will be trapped in the game until the final boss is defeated.
The problem, though, is that these players will die in real life if they die in the game. When Kirito beats Akihiko, he asks him why he trapped everyone and ruined hundreds of lives in the process, and Akihiko says that he doesn't remember why he did it, and after two sequel series, fans still don't have an answer.