Suspense plays a big part in enjoying a story in any medium. The feeling of a story building tension for a foreshadowed event is second to none. In anime, the suspense usually comes from a mystery that leads fans on a wild but rewarding goose chase. While many of anime's biggest mysteries have answers, an equal amount were left unsolved.
Anime mysteries like The Void Century in One Pieceor the identity of Ash Ketchum's father in Pokémon are legendary in the anime community for being so shrouded in mystique. Authors intentionally left their stories' mysteries unsolved to garner more attention for their work, or they're simply keeping the truth hidden until the time was right.
Updated on June 22, 2023 by Angelo Delos Trinos: To this day, there are many anime mysteries that remain unsolved. Although their lack of closure may be somewhat annoying, these mysteries' lack of concrete answers was the point. Not everything in life has easy answers, and there are more questions out there than anyone realizes. This list was updated to include more deliberately unsolved anime mysteries.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
15 Nurse Joy's & Officer Jenny's Resemblances & Connection (Pokémon)
A running joke in Pokémon was that every town had a Nurse Joy and an Officer Jenny. They all looked and sounded the same. Some fans believed that Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny were always together because they were either family, or in love. Some characters even speculated the same things, but nothing was confirmed or denied.
Why every Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny followed the same career and dress code is anyone's guess. It's also a mystery why they're all the same age, and how many of them are. The games got away with this since they were NPCs. The quintessentially '90s Pokemon anime left this mystery unsolved because it was more fun that way.
14 Ais Wallenstein's Past (Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?)
In Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (or DanMachi), Ais was the adventurer Bell Cranel strived to one day stand beside as an equal. Although recognized as one of the strongest in Orario, Ais harbored a secret past unknown to most people. As a child, the Loki Familia found Ais in the lower parts of a dungeon. Her true age was also a mystery.
Ais' mother, Aria, was born over 1,000 years ago and birthed Ais alongside her husband, Albert Wallenstein. This means that Ais would be over 1,000 years old. Despite this, she retained the appearance of a 16-year-old. Ais' past is one of the ridiculously worded Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon's? biggest enigmas, and the anime doesn't seem like it will resolve it soon.
13 What Exactly Abnormalities Were (Medaka Box)
Abnormals were Medaka Box's empowered characters. Both fans and characters had no idea how exactly this power system worked. Described by Zenkichi Hitoyoshi as "something like adolescent magic," the absurd Abnormalities (or Skills) used throughout the series mysteriously disappeared after the teens grew up.
Although the Abnormalities were intertwined with their user's minds and bodies, no one knew how or why they appeared then vanished after high school. This was likely left unanswered to add to the infamously ambiguous nature of Medaka Box. Despite the series' popularity, this will never be answered.
12 Watchdog Man's True Power & Motives (One-Punch Man)
Watchdog Man arguably carried as much mystique as Saitama in One-Punch Man. After his flawless victory against Garou, fans have been curious about the truth about Watchdog Man. Nearly all of his stats have question marks on them, he guards the most dangerous city for unknown reasons, and he always acts like a dog.
Paired with his ridiculous strength, he's no different from Saitama. Many believe that Watchdog Man is secretly as strong as the overpowered Saitama. This came from the fact that he's undefeated, is bored with life, and only used half of his true power against his enemies. The likelihood of Watchdog Man's true history being revealed is slim.
11 Kobeni Higashiyama's Devil (Chainsaw Man)
The best way for Chainsaw Man's Devil Hunters to even the odds against their enemies is to sign a contract with a Devil. Almost all Devil hunters gain supernatural powers in exchange for a steep price. The cowardly and luckless Kobeni also made a deal with a Devil, but who it is and what she has in exchange are never revealed.
The only hints are the heightened endurance, reflexes, and fighting skills that Kobeni displays during Katana Man's attack. Kobeni also wants to keep her Devil a secret, and the other Devil Hunters (and the anime) left it at that. The Dark Trio's Chainsaw Man could reveal Kobeni's Devil later but, for now, it remains a mystery.
10 The Survival & Whereabouts Of Melie's Sister (Radiant)
A relatively obscure series, Radiant is a magical anime with many mysteries. Outside the mystery of the Radiant itself, the whereabouts of Melie's sister, Venelope, were the anime's second-biggest enigma. Due to Melie's unpredictable personality, her village shunned her. Venelope cared for her, but eventually grew tired of wasting her potential.
This inevitably led to Melie accidentally killing Venelope during an emotional fit. While this was what happened according to Melie, when the audience saw the incident from a third-party perspective, it revealed that Venelope survived. What happened to Venelope afterward still eludes Radiant's characters and viewers.
9 How Rika Orimoto Became The Queen Of Curses (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Rika Orimoto was a presence no one in Jujutsu Kaisen understood. Before her resurrection as the Queen Of Curses in the blockbuster Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Rika had a strange background. Her father mysteriously vanished while mountain climbing with her, and her mother died of unknown causes when she was five. Rika manipulated adults by acting like a grown woman and stole from her grandmother.
As if these weren't odd enough, Rika became the second most dominant Curse despite apparently never experiencing Cursed Energy. Curses were born from negative emotions. The cheery Rika becoming as powerful as she was didn't add up. One could only imagine what really happened in Rika's past, and how twisted she could've been.
8 The Soul In Unit-00 (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
One of the darkest revelations in Neon Genesis Evangelion was that the Evangelions were powered by the soul of someone close to the pilot. Shinji Ikari's mother, Yui, brought Unit-01 to life, while Unit-02 harbored Asuka Langley Soryu's mother. By this logic, Unit-00 was also powered by a human spirit, but their identity was never revealed.
Unit-00 was piloted by Rei Ayanami, a clone of Yui. Some fans guessed that Unit-00 was powered by another Rei, not unlike how the Dummy System was really a Rei clone. Others thought that the original Rei clone resided in Unit-00. The groundbreaking Evangelionleft this and more unanswered because it prioritized Shinji's tragedy over lore.
7 The Existence Of Heaven (Bleach)
Bleach answered most questions it spawned, except for the most glaring one: the existence (or not) of Heaven. The Soul Society parallels Earth; most souls go there after a person dies. Hell exists for evil souls that committed heinous crimes while alive. While these afterlifes were well established, there was never a mention of a realm for those who lived pure lives.
One could argue that the Soul Society was a realm comparable to Heaven. However, far too many bloody and immoral incidents happened in or were even caused by Soul Society for it to be paradise. It's entirely possible that Heaven doesn't even exist in Bleach because being morally and spritually perfect is simply impossible.
6 The Cause Of The Time Loops (The Tatami Galaxy)
When the unnamed college student in the modern time traveling classic The Tatami Galaxy decided to make the most out of his last year in school, he found himself in a time loop that showed the outcomes of all his choices. He seemed aware of the cycles, but he focused on other things, and didn't linger on questioning the loop's mechanics.
The protagonist's priority was to get on Akashi's good side and start a relationship. The loops repeated for as many times as the protagonist needed to start the right chain of events to succeed. It was irrelevant to the protagonist's growth as a person whether the loops were made by the God of Matrimony or not, or if such a god even existed.
5 Haruhi Suzumiya's Godhood (The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya)
In The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the eccentric but otherwise ordinary Haruhi was god. For whatever reason, the world and reality literally revolved around her. The world reacted to Haruhi's moods, and she could make her most random whims a reality without realizing it. She supposedly rebooted the world after she got bored of it.
Haruhi's overpowered godhood attracted the attentions and fears of aliens, spies, and time travelers. What the full extent of Haruhi's powers were and how exactly she became "god" were never explained. The anime didn't bother to answer these mysteries because Haruhi's humanity and relatable desires were what really mattered.
4 Yayoi Kanbara's True Origins (Beyond The Boundary)
Beyond the Boundary's stunning imagery and breathtaking fights made it a hidden gem in 2012. It followed Spirit Warriors as they exterminated the evil Youmu. The Youmu wreaked havoc throughout the world, killing and taking over the bodies of innocents. As bad as they were, the series protagonist, Akihito Kanbara, might have been one of them.
Akihito's mother, Yayoi, was one of the anime's strongest Spirit Warriors. Throughout Beyond the Boundary, however, many signs alluded to Yayoi being a half Youmu. She even claimed to be both worlds' intermediary for ages. By extension, this would make Akihito a full Youmu. The truth, while insinuated and teased, was never revealed.
3 Kaori Miyazono's Terminal Diagnosis (Your Lie In April)
When Kaori Miyazono revealed she was terminally ill, it devastated viewers. As Your Lie in April progressed, Kaori's health deteriorated, with her body slowly failing. From Kaori's account, her body was always weak, and she was diagnosed to be terminally ill in childhood. Despite all her symptoms, her exact illness was never detailed.
Kaori's illness was actually controversial due to her symptoms matching several real diseases. It could be argued that the specific disease wasn't as important as Kaori's last years. There's no telling why the heartbreaking Your Lie in April chose to leave her disease unknown. Nonetheless, it was sad to see it destroy someone's life so quickly.
2 The Rogue Mikoto Misaka Clone (A Certain Scientific Railgun)
A mystery that most A Certain Scientific Railgun fans wouldn't know about was only mentioned twice in the light novel. According to Mikoto Misaka's clones, there was a rogue Misaka clone called #00000, also known as Full Tuning. This clone's disconnected from the Misaka Network, and her name suggests that she's a perfect clone of Mikoto Misaka.
Outside two sentences in the light novels, Full Tuning was never mentioned anywhere else. Some fans speculate that this clone may be the real Mikoto Misaka, while the Misaka that the audience knows was actually another clone. Full Tuning's whereabouts are unknown even to her sisters, and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
1 The Beasts In The Mist (One Piece)
After airing for over 20 years, it's no surprise that One Piece has more mysteries than any other shonen anime. While irrelevant to the main story, there's a mystery stemming way back in the Thriller Bark Arc. At the end of arc, the narrator described giant beings that were big enough to dwarf Thriller Bark, the biggest pirate ship in the world.
These colossi had glowing red eyes, towered over the horizon, and were covered by a thick veil of mist. With their gargantuan sizes, these ominous giants likely contributed to the disappearances of hundreds of ships in the Florian Triangle. To this day, this remains one of many mysteries that eludes fans of the eternally rewatchable One Piece.