The following contains spoilers for various anime.Anime is hailed for the diversity of storytelling and the depth of narrative that can be achieved through the medium, with some of the most acclaimed stories reaching those heights due to the expert unraveling of very complex stories in increasingly pioneering ways. We often celebrate stories where there was simply no telling what would happen next; an aspect of the experience we have elevated immensely as proof of a “10/10” anime, but sometimes, being unable to tell what happens next comes not from the inspired ideas and brilliant writing, but from some of the most inexplicable narrative choices.
You always hear about the best, or the most convoluted, or the most insane plot twists, but this time, we’re looking at some of the stranger ones: plot twists that didn’t even need to happen, or plot twists that just completely undermine the story. Here are some of anime’s strangest plot twists.
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School Days
“You Were Lying. There’s No One Inside”
Top of the list, no doubt about it, one of the strangest developments in anime has to go down to School Days for the way it pretended to be another romantic slice of life, but quickly devolved into a debaucherous, cautionary tale as Makoto Ito, the womanizing main character, is viciously murdered by, Sekai Saionji, his classmate, the first person he ever spoke to and the girl he cheated on his girlfriend with.
The same girl who helped him in his quest to gain the affection of his would-be girlfriend, Kotonoha. Makoto’s infidelity knew no bounds, and pretty soon the anime was simply one big scandal after another, culminating in a disgruntled paramour’s mental break, and subsequent showdown on the school rooftop with the main girlfriend.
Sekai, who was abandoned by Makoto after claiming to be pregnant with his child, stabs him repeatedly with a kitchen knife because of the realization that he’ll never want to be with her. When Kotonoha discovers Makoto’s lifeless body, she decapitates him, and uses his cellphone to text Sekai the details of their meeting, where she presents Sekai with the results of her actions. The rapid devolution of Kotonoha’s character as a result of her partner’s constant infidelity created immense psychological distress, and we hear about crimes of passion all the time, but for this schoolyard anime to have turned into the psychological horror it did, in the way it did, is a path that few have tried to replicate. Kotonoha’s line after killing Sekai remains a chilling memory long after one has seen the series.
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
A Finale From a Different Show, Surely
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It follows data scientists at Saitama University, Shinya Yukimura and Ayame Himuro, who decide to lean on their discipline to approach the situation when Ayane confesses that she might be in love with Shinya. Through various experiments, the two try to figure out if “love” can be understood via rigorous scientific theory. The quirkiness and chemistry of the two main characters, as well as the decent side characters, made this a great romantic comedy to watch as it was coming out, but there was an inexplicable heel-turn in the series’ atmosphere in the final episode of the second season that left a bad taste in the mouth of its fans.
The once goofy comedy following a path comparable to that of Kaguya-sama: Love is War! and ended up going down the path of a psychological thriller, with a sociopath and a kidnapping among some of the elements that came up. It was a needless trajectory for the series to take, not to mention that it wasn’t executed very well either, making for one of the most confusing plot twists in anime history.
Zombie Land Saga
Weird, But Fun
Zombie Land Saga is a fun anime about an idol group, nothing out of the ordinary. Except, of course, it’s about a zombie* idol group, and the first episode leads you into thinking you’ll be watching another CGDCT anime (cute girls doing cute things), which you definitely will on some level. The plot twist is the fact that these girls are in fact still very much dead, and the supposed main character whom we follow in the beginning is quickly mowed down by a truck before reawakening among a group of zombie girls who are later introduced as her bandmates.
Zombie Land Saga is a lot of fun, and the concept isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, but when you go in without knowing anything about the series, the first episode is full of unexpected and rather strange narrative choices that just seem to work.
Tokyo Ghoul√A
One of Studio Pierrot’s Biggest Sins
Definitely one of the strangest plot twists in anime in recent memory would have to go down to the second season of Studio Pierrot’s adaptation of Tokyo Ghoul. The second season in its entirety is the confusing plot twist in question, as it is quite the headscratcher as to why the studio wrote a new trajectory for the story, despite the fact that the manga had already been well into its sequel, Tokyo Ghoul:re. In the manga, the twist after Kaneki’s escape from Jason is that he won’t return to Café Anteiku, but rather, start his own faction and become a legend in the Ghoul underworld.
In the anime, however, he joins the Ghoul organization Aogiri Tree, the organization that is, mind you, guided by beliefs of Ghoul supremacy, not to mention the organization responsible for turning Kaneki into a Ghoul in the first place, as Dr Kanou was aligned with Eto, the founder of Aogiri Tree and the legendary One-Eyed Owl. It’s a strange decision to change Kaneki’s actions and motivations, which is even more pivotal than merely switching to the side that is directly against humanity, and makes more sense for his character, especially going into what happens in Tokyo Ghoul:re.
Charlotte
The Whiplash Reverberates Years Later
Charlotte is one of those shows you couldn’t escape when it was coming out, for its interesting exploration of a superpowered world, not to mention the fact that it was written by Jun Maeda of Key (CLANNAD, Angel Beats), but what gave it permanent notoriety was the insane plot twist that sent the series into following its actual story, which was far darker, far bleaker than the series had you think initially.
The death of Yu Otosaka’s little sister, Ayumu, is one of the most unexpected developments you’ll encounter in an anime, especially one that gives the impression that it won’t get too real, but Charlotte does, exposing that they are embroiled in a horrible conflict that Yu’s time-traveling older brother established their Hoshinoumi Academy in order to protect adolescents, who develop supernatural abilities during puberty, from the consequences of their abilities and unscrupulous folks who want to use them for nefarious ends. The series’ pivot from comedy to tragedy has gone down as one of the most infamous bait-and-switches in anime in recent memory.
Tokyo Ghoul
- Release Date
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2014 – 2018
- Network
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Tokyo MX
- Directors
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Shin Matsuo, Taiji Kawanishi, Seo Hye-jin, Masayuki Matsumoto
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Natsuki Hanae
Ken Kaneki (voice)
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Sora Amamiya
Touka Kirishima (voice)
