Examples of Captain Obvious Reveals in Anime & Manga.
- The reveal in 20th Century Boys that "Yabuki Joe" is actually Kenji is so completely, ridiculously, ludicrously obvious that is most definitely an invoked example. It's so obvious in fact, that the English volumes accidentally spoil it in the translation notes four volumes before it's confirmed.
- Attack on Titan:
- The Female Titan's identity being Annie Leonhart was predicted by the majority of the audience due to Morphic Resonance. The only other person it could've been was Krista (female, short blonde hair, blue eyes) and she was disqualified by being onscreen in a different place when the Female Titan appeared again later.
- To a lower degree, the first twist in the series was also predicted by some, as it was accurately theorized that unlike other titans, Colossal Titan and Armored Titan were people who could shift into Titans. Hence, Eren's false set up as the Decoy Protagonist after his "death" and Rogue Titan's appearance right after were thought to be linked events and it was predicted that Eren was Rogue Titan.
- To anyone who recognized the name Ymir from Norse mythology, it was no surprise either that she was a Titan or — when she turned out not to be a particularly important one — that she was named after one who was very important.
- Beastars: The identity of Tem's killer is considered this, because in the lead up to the reveal, the investigation has clearly eliminated almost every other possible suspect. The killer is a carnivore male in the drama club, and in the fight with him, Legosi realizes he's extremely strong. That alone excludes most characters since Legosi is noted to be a very strong fighter, and the manga actually blatantly spells this out by having the killer show that he's much stronger than the other bigger members of the club. Even worse in the anime which doesn't throw in any extra red herrings at all. A Manga reader could at least be thrown off by thinking that Legosi simply hadn't gotten around to interviewing all the suspects yet.
- Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, in Side:Despair Episode 10, it's revealed that Juzo is in love with Munakata, not with Chisa. Most fans already knew that, but it felt good for it to be confirmed.
- Dragon Ball Z: In Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, it's treated as a pretty major twist that the titular antagonist turns out to be a Namekian—so much so that the shock of it literally knocks Goku out of his new (not) Super Saiyan transformation. But he's a powerful green-skinned alien with fangs, he identifies himself as the leader of a demon clan, just like the only other evil Namekian we've met, his wish for eternal youth immediately calls that same evil Namekian to mind, his name of Slug is the same as the Animal Theme Naming that all Namekians share, and he's familiar with and acts nostalgic towards the Dragon Balls, which are a Namekian creation. Not to mention, the film's release date happened right near the end of the Namek Saga's manga version in Japan, so the race would have been pretty firmly embedded in the minds of any viewers. At that point, it would probably be more surprising if he wasn't a Namekian.
- Elfen Lied: Lucy killed Kouta's father and sister. Kouta's shocked expression when he saw her for the first time in the series and the mention of his dead family put two and two together for the audience.
- ERASED treats The Reveal that Satoru's homeroom teacher Yashiro is Kayo's killer as a major twist, despite the fact that he is literally the only named character to fit the very basic information the audience is given concerning the culprit.
- Fairy Tail:
- The siblings of Hoteye/Richard Buchanan and Yukino Agria (Wally and Angel/Sorano, respectively) weren't surprising to the majority of the fanbase who put two and two together. The former pair of brothers have similar appearances with polygonal bodies, while the latter pair of sisters have white hair and are Celestial Spirit Mages. Oddly enough, Lucy, who's fairly intelligent, heard Yukino's story about her sister and knows both Yukino and Sorano, doesn't seem to make the connection.
- It didn't take much for the fanbase to realize that Silver Fullbuster and Irene Belserion were the parents of Grey and Erza respectively, or at least related to them in some way. However, other dramatic reveals are mixed in with the confirmation in order to keep the reveal interesting.
- Gundam:
- Gundam Build Divers: Sarah is actually an AI. Viewers figured out this reveal as early as the first episode yet it takes over 20 episodes to realize something is very off and just thought she had her reasons.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: It's so blatantly obvious that Vidar is Gaelio Baudin in disguise that it could be argued it's not even supposed to be a secret (at least out-of-universe). They're both played by Masaya Matsukaze, Vidar knows things that only Gaelio could possibly know (like the circumstances of Carta Issue's death), and he has a deep-seated hatred of McGillis Fareed, the man who betrayed Gaelio's trust and "killed" him. Needless to say, when the mask came off, absolutely nobody was surprisednote .
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: The so-called "aERIal" theory—that Suletta Mercury, the main character, was not the girl from the prologue, Ericht Samaya, and Ericht somehow lived on inside the Gundam Aerial—was so heavily foreshadowed in the series that it bordered on an Internal Reveal when Prospera finally put the pieces together. Aerial's name is just a lengthened version of Ericht's nickname (hence the theory's name), Aerial is shown to have both an incredibly sophisticated AI and some kind of X-factor that makes it better than other Gundams, Suletta does not show the glowing lines of Gundam use in battle when Eri did, and the apparent date for the prologue was revealed to be twenty-one years ago when Suletta is seventeen. These alone would have presented some pretty significant red flags, but the series also tossed in a ton of visual foreshadowing and dialogue hints (Suletta regularly talks to the Aerial as if it's a person and even refers to it as a sister, her mother Prospera outright calls it her daughter and at one point calls Suletta "that girl", Suletta claims to have no memory of her father when Eri did know her father, the series put out a music video where Suletta and Eri are clearly separate
), and by the reveal, the main counterarguments were just that the theory was either too out-there or too obvious.
- Kindaichi Detective Files: The culprit of The Broken Heart Lake Murder Case being Eiji Touno, who had seemingly been killed earlier in the case, is infamous with fans for being without question the easiest mystery in the series. Not only is "Eiji's" face completely destroyed after the murder, a common trope in mystery fiction used to hide the identity of the victim, but his death breaks the series' well-established trait of always showing the victims right before they're attacked and killed, blatantly indicating there's something fundamental about the circumstances of his death which the story is hiding from the reader.
- Library War: You'll already know that Kasahara's "Prince" is Dojou long before it's finally confirmed since the voice and hairstyle are a perfect match to the silhouetted figure in her flashback. Not to mention, all the times she wonders why "her heart flutters" the few times he compliments her. Plus, he's right there on the box cover art and is the male lead.
- In the Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Prequel Adventure of Sinbad, it's not entirely clear if it's supposed to be a twist that the child assassin is Ja'far. On the one hand, his name goes unmentioned and part of his face is hidden until the end of his redemption arc. On the other hand, freckly albinos are not exactly common.
- There's a minor reveal in Martian Successor Nadesico that the Jovian Chulips are a kind of warp gate that allow Jovian robots to teleport in directly from Jupiter. Of course, since the audience has already seen the Chulips clearly opening some kind of portal, the biggest surprise is finding out that you weren't supposed to know that already.
- Monster Musume: Eventually it's revealed that Mero is actually a princess. This came to the surprise of absolutely nobody since the foreshadowing is so blatant that it's almost impossible to miss. Most notably, almost immediately after being introduced, Centorea goes off on a tangent about Mero's "royal aura". Even in-universe, the amount of surprise is minimal.
- My Hero Academia: Fans had long since guessed Dabi's identity as Endeavor's thought-dead son Toya by the time it was revealed in story. It wasn't too obvious at first, with the only connections being they share a fire quirk and the same eye color. But when it was revealed Endeavor's first son was lost in an accident, and had a fire quirk stronger than his, there was literally nobody else it could be except Dabi.
- Naruto:
- The mysterious masked man Tobi being Obito Uchiha. Despite his statements that he was Madara, many people suspect that this was a lie, especially once it is shown that he is in fact not the man himself during the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc and that "Tobi" is mostly an anagram of "Obito" in both English and Japanese. In the former, the name is just missing a letter, while in the latter it's just the two characters switched.
- Then, of course, there's the fact that Naruto is the 4th Hokage's son...something most of the audience had already figured out since they look similar and the guy's face is carved into the side of a freaking mountain. Just one look at his picture and most of the audience had already figured who Naruto's father was. If you took out the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks and grew his hair out a little, they could be twins. It really makes you wonder how ignorant the people of Konoha were to not see such an obvious resemblance. Interestingly enough, The Reveal is casually dropped during a conversation between Jiraiya and Tsunade.
- There's also the reveal that the Six Paths of Pain are just dead bodies being controlled by Nagato. This wasn't revealed until quite a while after Pain (and later Nagato's) introduction into the story, but it was predicted by MANY people in the fandom.
- The reveal that Boruto's teammate is Orochimaru's son hardly came as a surprise given that he both resembles Orochimaru and gave many readers the same creepy vibes.
- The Reveal that Sasuke and Naruto were the reincarnations of the Sage of the Six Paths' elder and younger sons respectively. While many were still shocked, just as many were left unsurprised, and those that were shocked admitted it was obvious in hindsight, especially after it was revealed that their respective previous incarnations were Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage.
- One Piece:
- Sabo being alive and a member of the Revolutionary Army. It is strongly implied with how he may have appeared to be shot, but his dead body was never shown, and later on, Dragon finds someone injured who he wants to be taken to the med bay on the Revolutionaries' ship. In the latter part of the flashback, Sabo grows to hate the nobles and by extension the government, so it makes sense that he would become a Revolutionary. Furthermore, the flashback was mostly about Luffy and Ace growing up together — if Sabo had just been killed off to never play any role in the story again, his character's existence would almost have been Filler. In addition, one of the chapter covers showed an adult Sabo alongside Luffy and Ace, indicating that his role in the story wasn't finished yet. Despite Oda's initially stating that Sabo is dead, the Dressrosa arc reveals that this is a case of Lying Creator as Sabo is shown to be alive as a Revolutionary.
- Also during Dressrosa, the reveal that the one-legged toy soldier is actually Rebecca's father is an incredibly easy one to see coming, given that all the Living Toys are established to have been former humans transformed, and the soldier acts as a father figure to Rebecca to begin with. Him being the legendary gladiator Kyros, however, is much harder to spot.
- During Wano, the reader is introduced to Komurasaki, an oiran renowned for her beauty, and who we later learn is the daughter to be the daughter of a samurai, and have a staunch hatred for Shogun Orochi. Literally the very next scene after she's formally introduced, we learn about Hiyori, Momonosuke's little sister who was left behind when he and some of his retainers travelled forwards in time, meaning she would be an adult woman whose samurai father was killed by Orochi. Sure enough, the two are revealed later to be the same person.
- Also from Wano is the revelation at the end of the Whole Episode Flashback that Kyoshiro, the enigmatic Yakuza leader seen periodically throughout the arc, was actually Denjiro of the Akazaya Nine. While fans were thrown off the trail initially due to it appearing he was the wanted Serial Killer Kamazou, after this was revealed as a Red Herring fans were quick to figure out the truth, since the anime's OP very clearly showed Kyoshiro alongside the other members of Akazaya Nine, and Kyoshiro had been shown to have a deep connection with Hiyori, even helping fake her death.
- At the start of the final arc, it's revealed that Jewellery Bonney was actually Bartholomew Kuma's daughter, seeking vegenence against Dr Vegapunk for transforming her father into a cyborg pawn of the World Government. This surprised practically no one, given that Bonney had infiltrated the Reverie disguised as the queen of the kingdom Kuma was said to have once ruled and expressed clear anger at Kuma's state, establishing a clear connection between the two of them, and her design sheet included in guide books stated she wanted Vegapunk to "restore" her father.
- Pokémon Adventures: Yellow is the girl who Red met and caught a Rattata for before his fight with Giovanni. Given how they share a Pokémon, compounded by how similar their designs are, you'd have to have completely forgotten the former's existence to be surprised.
- Pretty Cure:
- In Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!, Kurumi Mimino aka Milky Rose being Milk is so obvious, yet only one character figured this out for a while before the reveal. The other characters actually realized some similarities, but they still didn't figure it out for four episodes.
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Even if you haven't seen the leaks caused by the Pre-Heart toy, it was pretty obvious that Ruru would eventually defect from the Dark Tomorrow Company the moment she decided to spy on Hana's family. If that wasn't blatant enough, then the focus on her and Emiru's growing friendship in episode 15 certainly solidify this fact.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: "Glare" made just as big a deal out of The Reveal that Vera Miligan was the main culprit behind the events of the first five episodes as the original novel had, despite J.C. Staff having inexplicably spoiled the twist by showing her overlooking the aftermath of the chaos she'd wrought in The Stinger of "Colosseum". She's wearing a hood, but enough of her Hiding Behind Your Bangs hairstyle is shown that it's still pretty obvious.
- Rent-A-Girlfriend: Ruka being a rental girlfriend is a somewhat well-known aspect of her character, so it's easy to forget that in her introductory arc, in which Kuri takes her on a double date with Kazuya and Chizuru, it was supposed to be a plot twist. The key words being "supposed to," since some easily guessed this based on how it seemed overly convenient that Kuri got a girlfriend and how Ruka easily guessed that Chizuru was a rental girlfriend.
- Sailor Moon: Tuxedo Mask's secret identity and the reveal of Usagi's past life were not very surprising, as their alter egos were shown countless times in the series...and, in Usagi's case, the opening of the first series and the ending of the second.
- Speed Racer: Racer X's secret identity being Speed's Long Lost Sibling is an infamous example. Speed's brother was first mentioned in the same chapter Racer X was introduced, and he kept dropping hints that he was related to Speed's family. A frequent source of parody.
- takt op. Destiny: Anna being the next Destiny. Not helping much that in the game, she is voiced by Kaede Hondo, who was the voice of Anna in the anime. And lo and behold, turns out she is the same character in the game.
- Tiger & Bunny:
- Yuri Petrov is Lunatic. He looked Obviously Evil and no attempt was made to disguise his voice.
- Fake-Tiger is a robot. There was an episode right before his introduction featuring the scientist who was making combat robots to fight superheroes that were capable of matching Tiger and Barnaby in hand-to-hand fighting.
- In Tomica Kizuna Gattai Earth Granner, it's completely obvious that the mysterious hero Granner G is actually Mach Go, the idol of Raiga and Kuga, right down to his Catchphrase of "Mach" in his sentences and acts very much like Go even as Granner G.
