Shonen anime can often be viewed by critics as shows where the plot takes a backseat to the combat. And while many shonen series are ranked by how great their fights are, there’s more to a great shonen series than that.
There’s no great shonen series that doesn’t have either solid world building or character development, and with that often comes a bunch of unanswered questions and mysteries. While some series eventually answer the biggest questions in their series, others leave viewers in the dark until the very end, or never answer the question at all. At least the fans have plenty to speculate about.
10/10 Where Did The Demon Slayer Mark Come From? (Kimetsu no Yaiba)
The Demon Slayer Corps has spent centuries battling against Muzan and his demons, but their limit has always been Muzan’s highest-level soldiers. Against the Upper Demon Moons, even the Hashira have found themselves defenseless. But over the series, heroes have begun developing the Demon Slayer Mark, which makes them capable of moving faster and increasing their strength.
With this, they’re able to fight evenly with even the Upper Moons. But exactly how the Demon Slayers even achieve this is never clarified, merely that it happens, and once one Slayer reaches it soon several others will as well.
9/10 Why Do Commoners Have Such Weak Magic (Black Clover)
Black Clover has been a slow burn series, growing on fans gradually over the course of multiple arcs. As the series has expanded and developed its characters and world, there have been more fans for the show and manga. But there’s one question that hasn’t been answered: why do commoners all have weak magic and all the strongest characters are royals?
Considering the level of mana people have is decided randomly, it seems difficult to believe that there haven’t been at least a few commoners with large amounts of magic. There’s no explanation for this, other than Tabata wanting to reinforce the idea that magic is equivalent to social standing and money in this universe.
8/10 Why Is Soul Society So Terrible (Bleach)
Soul Society is meant to be where souls go during the afterlife. They remain there for a certain period of time before eventually being reincarnated into the normal world again. But Soul Society’s actual society is pretty awful. There are plenty of innocent souls existing in those areas that starve, never getting the attention or the resources they need to survive.
Considering this is effectively meant to be heaven, it’s a little frustrating that no one seems to be trying to make existing there any better. It seems like the only way out for those born in the wrong district is to become a Soul Reaper and risk their lives.
7/10 Why Does Kakashi Hide His Face? (Naruto)
One of the biggest sins of Naruto‘s filler involves offhandedly showing what Kakashi looks like in an episode of filler. It feels like a waste of a moment considering how much time the canon version of the series spent showing Kakashi going to every length to hide his identity.
Even in episodes of Boruto, there are plenty of people wondering what he looks like, and never finding out. Still, while fans might be aware of what he looks like, no one’s ever explained why he goes to such lengths to hide his identity. Sure, it’s the true “ninja way” but no one else puts that much work into hiding who they are. Is it just that Kakashi looks cooler that way?
6/10 What Were The Missing Universes Like? (Dragon Ball Super)
In Dragon Ball Super, it’s explained that there are twelve different universes, and each of them are paired with a “mirror” universe. Though the Tournament of Power introduced warriors from all twelve universes, fans haven’t gotten to see much of those universes. But there’s an even bigger mystery that remains unsolved: long ago, there were originally eighteen universes, and Zen-Oh erased them all from existence.
Currently, there hasn’t even been a glimpse into those missing six universes, even though its possible the Super Dragon Balls brought them back at the end of the Tournament of Power.
5/10 Who Created Quirks? (My Hero Academia)
Perhaps the biggest unanswered question remaining in My Hero Academia is how did Quirks come into being? The anime talks about how one day humanity just started getting superpowers, but the series has never gone into detail.
The manga has detailed what society became before All Might became the Symbol of Peace, but none of it goes far back enough to explain where Quirks come from. It’s not the most important question the series could answer, but it’d certainly be a big deal to learn where they came from.
4/10 Who Turned The Earth To Stone? (Dr. Stone)
The Dr. Stone manga has been finished for some time now, so people who want to could easily go find the answer to this question. But anime only fans will still find themselves wondering about the biggest mystery in the series. At one point, all of humanity was turned into stone and remained that way for several thousand years.
While Senku’s main goal is getting humanity back to the level of modern technology, it isn’t his only goal. Discovering the being responsible for transforming humanity will be crucial if they don’t want it to happen anymore.
3/10 What Happened In Pino’s Past? (Eden’s Zero)
Eden’s Zero is one of the hottest new shonen anime being released, with the second season coming out soon. One of the main characters of the series is Pino, a young AI robot who joins the Eden’s Zero crew as one of Shiki’s friends. Pino no longer has her memories after they were erased by one of the people who attempted to own her.
Though she’s been forming new memories with the crew, what exactly happened to her before she joined the group is definitely going to be a big deal. Unlike Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima has much more of the story planned out for this series.
2/10 Who Gave Anya The Ability To Read Minds? (Spy x Family)
Spy x Family continues to be the darling of the anime world even in the Fall season. But there’s one question on fans’ minds: who gave a six-year-old the ability to read minds in the first place?
This is a question the show likely won’t answer because of its focus on comedy, but they really should. It’s mentioned that a scientist group experimented on her and gave her the ability to read minds, but she’s also not the only subject. Are there others? Why give the powers to young children?
1/10 What Is One Piece? (One Piece)
One Piece is a thousand episodes strong, making it one of the longest running serial anime series on the air right now. But despite its length, there’s one thing that still hasn’t been clarified, twenty years into the series. Exactly what is One Piece?
Viewers know that the legendary pirate Gol D. Roger left all his treasure in “one piece”, but that’s the beginning and end of their knowledge base. Eiichiro Oda has a plan to answer this, and the hints suggest it is something substantial rather than “the friends they made along the way”, but for now all the fans are in the dark.