Locked Out Of The Loop / Anime & Manga

Characters being kept in the dark about important secrets in anime and manga.

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• 7 Seeds has the majority of the members chosen for the 7 Seeds Project not be told that they were going to be cryogenically frozen to survive an apocalypse and awaken some time in the future in an unknown world and surive. Subverted with the guides who were told about the project and given a choice to take part or refuse. Further subverted by Karita, who admits that his parents broke down and revealed his participation before it happened, and Hibari whose grandmother told her to "do her best in the future", though Hibari didn't know she meant it literally. And while Hana was just as clueless about the project and her participation in it, she was further locked out of the loop by not being told about her parents' relation and influence on the entire thing.
• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Rentarou has no intention of telling any of his girlfriends that they'd die if he didn't accept them, as he believes that their love wouldn't be 100% genuine if they knew.
• When Coach Munakata dies in Aim for the Ace!, nobody tells his star pupil/love interest Hiromi because she and the team are in a tournament in the USA, and they don't want her to lose. (Not to mention Todou lost in said tournament because he learned about it and fell in an Heroic BSoD.) She only finds out when she goes back home, and predictably she almost crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
• Lillia of Allison and Lillia is a shining example: she is the only member of the main cast unaware that her childhood friend Treize is a bona-fide Prince, and that her dead father is still alive under an assumed identity, and a spy... oh, and dating her mother. Considering the fact that both of these things make her a potential assassination/kidnapping target, you'd think someone would be nice enough to clue her in, but instead, they actively keep this information from her.
  • It takes a villain forcing him at gunpoint to finally make Treize reveal his true identity to her. Later he comments that he would have preferred it if she had never found out… even though their relationship was already becoming increasingly serious by that point. She forgives him, but it still seems like a very disrespectful way to treat the one you love.
• In Amagi Brilliant Park, Seiya is doing almost all he can to help revive the eponymous theme park from near ruin, but it's not until the last few episodes that he finally learns how important it is since without the park, Latifa will quickly die of a curse. When he finally finds out, he begins trying even harder and is clearly desperate, which upsets some other characters until they learn he's finally in on the secret. Failure to tell him until that late almost costs everyone dearly, too, since it forced him to undergo last minute adjustments rather than space out the workload, nearly resulting in the park closing. Thing is, there wasn't really a good reason for them not to tell him in the first place except maybe early on when it could have made him less inclined to help.
• Misaki from Angelic Layer is locked out of the loop about her mother's real whereabouts until the very end of the story. This is a spoiler for the manga, but is revealed early on in the anime.
• In Attack on Titan during the 57th expedition beyond the wall, the Survey Corps run into many problems once the Female Titan shows up. After it's captured, Eren and a few others discussed what happened and he realized that even some of the veteran troops were unaware of the plan to capture her. However, this was because the plan was made due to the high possibility that there was a spy within their ranks. This precaution turned out to be well-founded, as there indeed were spies (plural) within the Survey Corps. This also explained why different groups were told different things before they headed out, such as where Eren was in the formation so it could be narrowed down who was leaking information.
  • It's also the cause of the higher-than-usual death toll of the expedition as all the soldiers thought they were fighting a normal titan. If they had known, as Erwin had, that it was an intelligent titan they would have used significantly different tactics.
  • On a much grander scale, it turns out that the people living inside the walls are this: they have no idea that they're seen as evil, heinous monsters by the rest of the world, nor do they know anything about the origins of the titans, their own people (including that a vast majority of people within the walls are one race (Eldian), which is the race that can turn into titans), etc. This is on purpose, however, as Karl Fritz, the first king of the walls, used the power of the Founding Titan to brainwash all those who followed him to Paradis Island into believing that humanity didn't exist beyond the walls and erased all knowledge of titans. His reasoning was that he wanted to build a temporary paradise before Eldians are eventually driven extinct by the feral titans or by all the other countries that their ancestors oppressed and slaughtered with titans, as the alternative was allowing the horrifying titan wars to continue.
• Berserk: Since he wasn't involved in the horrific events of the Eclipse and Guts never spoke of what happened, Rickert had no idea that Griffith had ascended to become a member of the Godhand and had betrayed the entire Band of the Hawk, or that he raped Casca to insanity and made Guts watch. Thus, when he's reunited with Griffith, reborn into the physical world, on the Hill of Swords, Rickert is initially happy to see him and greets him as an old friend... and then Guts shows up, attacks Griffith in a rage, and tells Rickert what really happened.
• Bleach:
  • Tatsuki has just enough spiritual awareness to know that something's going on, just not what. Does she ever get pissed when Ichigo refuses to tell her. He doesn't come clean to his friends until after the Arrancar arc.
  • Byakuya ordered everyone in his estate not tell to Rukia the real reason why she was adopted into the Kuchiki family. Rukia thought it was because she resembled Hisana, Byakuya's dead wife, but it was actually Hisana's dying wish for her husband to adopt the younger sister she had abandoned in the Rukongai.
  • Souken knows why Ryuuken has rejected the Quincy Clan and even his own powers, and accepts that decision though it pains him greatly. Neither Souken nor Ryuuken, however, will explain this to Uryuu, which has resulted in nine years of nasty estrangement between Ryuuken and Uryuu. Souken does strongly imply, however, that Ryuuken is in some way trying to protect his son. Uryuu is about the only person on Earth to whom this is not immediately obvious.
  • Ichigo's group isn't told that Aizen is after Orihime's powers and that Soul Society is worried about Aizen's plans for Orihime powers. Instead, Urahara forces Orihime off the front line which leads to her being kidnapped when everyone else is distracted by fighting and Ichigo's group charging off to rescue her, which puts a spanner in Yamamoto's plans for dealing with Aizen.
  • Zennosuke replaces Rukia as Karakura Town's Shinigami guardian, but isn't told anything about there being a Substitute Shinigami in the town. As a result, he has no idea who Ichigo is. Later on, the policy changes; when he is replaced by Shino and Yuki, his replacements are told about Ichigo's existence but are ordered to never contact him or rely on him.
  • During the Fake Karakura Town battle, Omaeda was unaware of the plan to protect the four pillars. The others believe it's because he was simply being too lazy to pay attention. It's actually because his captain completely forgot to tell him the plan. As a result, he also doesn't realize the captains entered battle without Power Limiters until his captain is struggling with her opponents.
  • Ichigo didn't know his family heritage for years, even though all the villains that have fought him knew. He only learns Isshin is a Shinigami when he's fifteen, and only because Isshin has to intervene before Aizen reveals something else about his heritage that Ichigo doesn't know. That is a surprise left for Yhwach to spring on Ichigo when he's seventeen. His mother was a Quincy victim of Aizen's Hollowfication experiments and her death is connected to the death of Uryuu's mother.
• Blood+: Both Haji and David adamantly refuse to tell the amnesiac Saya anything about her past, insisting she has to remember on her own. Unfortunately, this results in them forcing Saya into horrific bloodshed and several Break the Cutie moments without even knowing why.
• Blue Exorcist: Rin finds out early in the series that he is actually the son of Satan, a secret his adoptive father kept from him his whole life. Rin briefly worried about having to keep it a secret from his twin brother Yukio, only to find out that he had already known the secret since he was very young.
• Campione!: Godou Kusanagi insists that his little sister Shizuka be kept ignorant about the existence of magic, Heretic Gods, Campione, etc.
• Case Closed:
  • Very few know that first grader Conan Edogawa is really teen detective Shinichi Kudo changed into a child. Conan worries about others, especially his Love Interest Ran, finding out since that knowledge might put them in the crosshairs of the Organization responsible for his condition, should they discover he's not as dead as they've assumed.
  • Ironically locking Ran out of the loop has locked Conan out of the loop about some of the things that Ran has noticed, remembered, or experienced that are plot relevant. Since Conan tries his darndest to keep Ran away from the trouble he gets himself into and Ran doesn't know that he might want to know certain things, they cannot pool their information. Thus there are realizations that take much longer to come to light than they probably otherwise would. A particularly egregious example is the fact that Ran has, in fact, directly clashed with Conan's enemies. Over 500 chapters later and Conan still has no idea that one of the things he most fears happening already once occurred ages ago, because as far as Ran knows, she has no reason to tell him about it. If not for the fact that Vermouth just happens to have soft spots for Ran and Conan because they unknowingly saved her life a year ago, Ran might not have survived that encounter.
  • Despite sharing the same regressed situation as himself, Conan frequently keeps Ai Haibara out of the loop regarding his investigation into the Organization unless she's directly involved. This is partly for safely, since for much of the series the Organization is actively hunting Haibara but are unaware she's shrunk. This has worked both for and against Conan. It once caused Haibara to intervene in one of Conan's plans at the worst possible moment. Later, keeping her ignorant allowed for a Batman Gambit that resulted in successfully Faking the Dead on her behalf. She was indignant about that incident, but otherwise is content to warn Conan about the danger of what he's getting into.
  • Ai herself has a habit of withholding certain information from Conan, which was made evident when it turned out that something Conan had been looking into was something Ai had known all along but deliberately hadn't told him. Ai tends to do this when she believes Conan knowing will lead him to do something reckless or dangerous, or otherwise will put any of their friends at risk. While Ai's paranoia is understandable, this leads to a lot of stalled leads and frustrations for Conan's investigation into the Organization, particularly since he eventually finds a way to learn what he wants somewhere along the line.
• A Certain Magical Index and its sister show A Certain Scientific Railgun:
  • The heroes often leave their loved ones in the dark about their adventures despite working and fighting side by side with them in others. Touma keeps his amnesia hidden from everyone but his doctor because he didn't want Index to cry, and continues to keep her out of the Magic Side adventures because he's worried about her being a Living MacGuffin again. Mikoto keeps the whole Sisters incident secret from her friends because she thinks it's her responsibility, not to mention failing to tell her parents about the many times she's fought city-wide threats.
  • Hardly anybody in Academy City knows that magic exists. Whenever anybody on the Science side sees magic, they just assume it's some weird esper power. Even when the magician chants a spell and the Instant Runes start popping up. After all, esper powers involve a "Personal Reality" and selectively ignoring the laws of physics. Whenever a magician starts trying to Magi Babble at an esper, the esper just assumes they've come up with this bizarre explanation to support their Personal Reality and their power. Most magicians give up trying to explain magic to espers pretty early on.
• Chainsaw Man: It's ambiguous if Denji ever managed to glean that Reze was abducted & brainwashed by Makima and didn't abandon him like he initially thought, since Pochita was the only one who ever fought her when she was under Makima's control and Denji didn't appear in the final battle with Makima until after Pochita had killed all the Hybrids. Additionally, Makima, Kishibe, and for some reason Yoshida all know about Pochita's Ret-Gone power but nobody bothered to tell Denji with Pochita himself likely deliberately keeping quiet about it.
• The second season of Code Geass opens with Lelouch suffering from Laser-Guided Amnesia and an entire government surveillance team camped out at his school to keep it that way. Predictably, that doesn't last long.
  • Emperor Charles zi Britannia didn't tell Lelouch why his mother, Marianne, got killed and instead sent him and Nunnally to Japan which his empire invaded later on. And it turns out that he did it to protect them from his brother, V.V., who killed Marianne out of pure jealousy and Marianne turned out to be alive as she resides in Anya Alstreim's body for a long time so she and her husband can continue their plan to "destroy God". When Lelouch learned about this, he wasn't pleased about this and called them out for being selfish.
  • This also worked with the Zero Requiem, which is Lelouch's Thanatos Gambit to unite the whole world by becoming Necessarily Evil and had Suzaku kill him as Zero. The only people who knew the true extent of the plan are C.C., Lloyd, Cecile, Nina and Jeremiah. When Suzaku killed Lelouch, Kallen and Nunnally eventually realized what he had done, much to their shock and grief.
• Cross Ange: Oh, Princess Angelise gets hit with this hard in the first freaking episode. When we meet her, Angelise is the First Imperial Princess of the Misurugi Empire, beloved by all, and expected to undergo her "baptism ceremony", where she will come to the Tower of Mana and use her Light of Mana. But then in the middle of her ceremony, "her" Mana shuts off the Tower. Suddenly, her brother Prince Julio places his own father, the Emperor, under arrest, and declares to the Empire that Angelise is a Norma. Norma are reviled by the entire Mana Community for their inability to use Mana, as they believe Norma willingly reject Mana to be vile, bloodthirsty animals. Angelise beforehand had no idea of this, but it's revealed after she is arrested and shipped to Arzenal that her parents intended to hide the truth and protect her, passing her off as a respectful Mana user while her maid, Momoka, discreetly performed tasks for her with her own Mana. Angelise is left refusing to believe any of this and rejects the reality of any of it, trying to justify that her asshole brother merely framed her for it and that something about Arzenal is keeping her from accessing her Mana. It's not until the end of Episode 3 that she finally has it sink in that she is now stuck piloting Humongous Mecha to fight otherworldly DRAGONs, as that is the only worth a Norma is supposed to have. And it isn't until Episode 10 that she finally realizes that her Empire, including Julio and her own little sister Sylvia, want her dead for the sole crime of being born, after which she finally realizes that Norma aren't monsters at all; Mana humans are.
• Machiya from DEAD Tube is played like a fool by the Film Research Club, he once believed they were all good friends of his, tight knit for their common hobby; turns out they were all DEAD Tube regulars, murder loving psychos, and had sex orgies behind his back just to add salt to the injury, all resulting in a mass string of Broken Pedestals and Machiya facilitating all of their deaths by Mashiro’s hand.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Throughout his childhood and some of his adult life, Goku had no clue that he transformed into an Oozaru during a full moon, which caused the death of his grandfather Gohan. He doesn't learn the truth until he fights Vegeta and sees him transform, realizing not only that he killed his grandfather, but that he also destroyed the arena during the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.
  • Frieza and his men still have no clue who Future Trunks is even by the time of Resurrection 'F'. When they arrived on Earth, they think he's either dead or retired to some backwater planet since they can't find him anywhere. In the retelling in Dragon Ball Super, Frieza meets Present Trunks, but fails to realize that this Trunks isn't the same one who killed him (and in the dub, even assumes he's Future Trunks' son purely based upon the resemblance).
  • Future Trunks himself gets a fair bit of this during Super, including not knowing that Goku had came back to life, that Android 18 and Krillin got married, that Gohan had become a scholar and mostly retired from fighting, or who Beerus was. Present Trunks also never learned about his Future version until he returned, and initially thought that Future Trunks was his long-lost brother.
    Future Trunks: I'm so lost.
  • Goku is oblivious to the fact that Monaka is an ordinary person and not the World's Strongest Man of Universe 7. Beerus made up that Motivational Lie to give the fighters a goal to strive for, but everybody except Goku finds out the truth.
  • In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Frieza reacts with mild disappointment that Broly doesn't know how to go Super Saiyan, while Paragus is reacting with awe and disbelief that Vegeta was able to do so, as he only knows it through myth and legend.
• Dr. STONE: Senku deliberately keeps most of the details of their plan a secret from Taiju, in case he's interrogated or lets something slip. Looks like he learned from Taiju accidentally telling Tsukasa about the miracle water. He also keeps the "Fake Lillian" plan a secret from everyone in the village except Gen and Chrome, though this is because he didn't want to burden their consciences with the deception.
• In Elemental Gelade, Coud was informed that Edel Garden, the place Ren was planning to head to, was a very dangerous place and warned never to bring her there at the end of vol 8. Coud decided to go ahead anyway without telling Ren.
• Renton suffers a lot from this in the first season of Eureka Seven. Since he's technically a full member of Gekkostate, he ends up getting involved in a lot of missions without being informed as to what exactly is going on... and then the others (particularly Holland) actually blame him when he messes things up.
• Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA:
  • Illya had no idea about the existence of magic because her parents wanted her to live a normal life. It isn't until she stumbles upon Ruby and Rin and gets turned into a Magical Girl that she learns. Even after this, she's kept in the dark about her maids Sella and Leysritt's magical powers.
  • Shirou Emiya has no idea about the existence of magic or that his family and neighbors are involved in Magical Girl shenanigans.
  • Illya's classmates also have no idea about magic or Illya's adventures.
• Fate/Zero: Saber was oblivious to the fact that Kiritsugu and Irisviel owned her lost Noble Phantasm Avalon or that Irisviel eventually has to be sacrificed to summon the Holy Grail.
• Due to Mustang's plan to smuggle an accused Maria Ross to Xing in Fullmetal Alchemist, her partner Denny Brosh wasn't told of her true fate until late in the final arc (though for good reason, as he couldn't lie to save his life). Her parents were also excluded on her request. And in a more minor example, Mrs. Bradley never had a clue that her husband and son were Homunculi until after the final battle.
• In Gourmet Girl Graffiti, apparently Kirin told everyone but Ryou she was moving in with her in episode 12. The latter is quite surprised when many of the characters start showing up to help with the move. In her defense, Kirin swears she did tell Ryou about it. As for Akira, she also forgot due to looking for the present from Ryou's grandmother to give her on her graduation day.
• In Great Pretender, protagonist Makoto is the only member of the group who doesn't know that the FBI agent trying to "capture" Laurent is actually a member of their group and is in on the con. The group didn't tell him in part so that all of his reactions would be genuine, but in part because they admit it's fun to see him freak out. And on a much greater scope, outside of his first con with the group, he isn't told that his father was a former member of Team Confidence, and the reason Makoto was scouted in the first place was as part of a long and intricate revenge plot that involves his dad and the yakuza leader he once worked with.
• In Great Teacher Onizuka, Onizuka was informed by the hospital doctor that he would really die if his head suffered any further serious blow. He ended up not telling anyone about it in order not to cause any worry, but some students found out anyway through the doctor.
• Haruhi Suzumiya:
  • There's an alien, a time-traveller, an esper, and Kyon trying to prevent the titular character from realizing that she's omnipotent, in fear of what she'd do with the power. True, she does, after Character Development at least, soften up into being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but, well, that still leaves her A: as at least a part-time Jerkass and B: she doesn't tend to think before acting. Yeah, even being Locked Out of the Loop doesn't prevent her from using her Reality Warper powers, but at least it's unconscious and relatively minute in scope while she's oblivious — if she knew she could recreate reality at will, she could exhibit much more drastic manifestations of her power.
  • They also must keep it a secret that they are an alien, a time-traveler and an esper because they fear if she had proof they existed, she would subconsciously create more of them, or even stranger beings, or who knows what else might seem "fun" to her.
  • In fact, the idea that Haruhi is God incarnate is just what they think Haruhi's secret is. Or rather, it's what Kyon and most of the readers think, thanks to Itsuki "Completely Trustworthy" Koizumi. Yuki and Mikuru's factions have their own theories. They're all keeping watch on her because none of them are entirely sure what she is or what she's capable of, but they're all pretty confident that letting her find out about and/or overuse her powers would be very dangerous.
  • As early as the second book, Kyon goes against the advice of the others and directly tells Haruhi everything that has happened up to that point. She yells at him to stop messing with her. He never attempts this again, but does later threaten that he would in order to keep Yuki's employers in check. ^note By that point in the series, a Stable Time Loop caused a time-traveling Kyon to be the one who encouraged a young Haruhi to continue believing in the supernatural, giving her the advice under the alias John Smith. Haruhi never told anyone about this event, so Kyon recounting it to her in detail and telling her that he is John would likely make attempt number two convince her.
• Major plot point in the first arc of Higurashi: When They Cry. Keiichi's friends don't tell him crap, so he gets paranoid and bludgeons them to death. They just didn't think it was much of a deal to tell him... and holy crap they were wrong.
• Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Hestia keeps Bell Cranel from learning he has the powerful skill Liaris Freese, which is the secret to his rapid level ups. She knows he sucks at lying and keeping secrets, so if she told him, he would likely blab it and make himself a target for kidnapping or assassination.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders: After discovering that Avdol is still alive, Polnareff excitedly rushes off to tell his comrades the good news... only to discover that all of them knew this and just decided not to tell him because he sucks at keeping secrets.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: Tomoko has this in two ways; first, she is left completely in the dark about the events going on in Morioh; second, Josuke deliberately makes sure not to tell her that Joseph is back in town during said time.
  • Golden Wind: Despite having a personal connection to both Dio Brando in particular and the Joestar lineage in general, Giorno Giovanna is never informed of their history or his links to them. It ends up not being relevant to his own goals, in any case.
  • Stone Ocean: Jolyne Cujoh had no knowledge of Stands or anything else her family's been involved in because her father, Jotaro, remained aloof from her and her mother in an attempt to keep Jolyne away from all that.
  • Steel Ball Run: Wekapipo wantons vengeance on Gyro for his exile from Naples to avenge his sister, until once he's beaten, he learns that Gyro's father has been keeping her safe.
  • JoJolion: Out of all the Higashikata family members, Joshu is the only one with almost no knowledge about the family's supernatural side. Even Tsurugi, who is ten years younger than him, isn't left in the dark.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: Geto scoffs when Gojo insinuates that Yuta Okkotsu is as much of a threat to his plans as he is, stating that only he's been able to accomplish so much because he had Rika to fight his battles for him. Implying that he's unaware of where Yuta's power really comes from.
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
  • Despite having spent more time when them than anyone else and being a self-proclaimed "Love Detective", Fujiwara has no idea that Kaguya and Shirogane like each other (let alone their Duel of Seduction), even though just about everyone else picks up on it in about five minutes. She doesn't find out until Chapter 222, when Kaguya admits to her that they've been dating for four months and have already slept together.
  • Seeing as she didn't join until the start of Shirogane's second term as president, Iino is the only member of the Student Council who doesn't know the truth behind the Ootomo incident.
  • Mirin and Subaru both know that Hayasaka has a job that keeps her from hanging out with them after school, though neither of them are aware that she's Kaguya's valet. One of them even compliments Hayasaka on her maid "cosplay" during the culture festival.
  • While it was somewhat ambiguous for most of the series, Chapter 273 confirms that Kashiwagi had absolutely no idea that Maki had a crush on Tsubasa, and it's likely that Maki would have taken that secret to the grave had she not accidentally overheard it.
• Lady!!: George refuses to fully explain Misuzu's death to Lynn at first, as he believes it'll hurt her way too much. And in a Kick the Dog moment, the ones who tell Lynn that her dear mom is dead... are Madeleine and her kids. (More like they drop the bomb on her not knowing that she's in the dark about it, then the kids start mocking her until a rather tearful Sarah explains what happened in a much gentler manner.)
• Guld in Macross Plus, who sexually assaulted his friend Myung but due to trauma and drugs used to suppress his aggressive Zentradi nature he's forgotten most of it, other then the image of his friend Isamu with the partially disrobed and crying girl... so he thinks that Isamu was the rapist. Not exactly made better by how the also emotionally broken Isamu and Myung actually decided to not tell him anything about it.
• Hayate was the only one unaware of the Wolkenritter's activities up until episode 9 of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. She wasn't really bothered by it when she found out, mainly due to the fact that she had more important things to worry about at the time.
• The eponymous Magic Knights of Magic Knight Rayearth are greeted by Guru Clef, the only person besides the Pillar who knows all there is to know about the job. Depending on the translation, he gives them and Presea a technical truth about fulfilling Emeraude's wish or a Motivational Lie about restoring her rule. The true "legend of the Magic Knights" is that Emeraude summoned them to kill her, fearing that her love for Zagato would destroy Cephiro since it distracts her perpetually from her Pillar duties, which she cannot resign from unless it's through death. A triple Heroic BSoD ensues when this is revealed and the girls are forced to kill Emeraude.
• The sisters in Magikano are quite persistent in making sure Haruo doesn't use any magic or realize they're witches.
• Kozue, from Mahoraba. Every single person at Narutakisou knows about her disease. Except for her.
• Nikora in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch wants to keep Lucia Locked Out of the Loop about many things — her lineage, Saving the World, her boyfriend's disappearance — but it never seems to work out. Also, it appears that the entire mermaid world is being misled so that they don't interact with humans, thinking that they'll turn into foam.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Saikawa is the only main character who is unaware that magic and the supernatural is real and that several cast members are dragons in human form. It is likely the others don't let her know because she wouldn't keep her mouth shut.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, halfway through the series, Shinn Asuka and Rey Za Burrel are promoted to a special portion of ZAFT known as FAITH, which is a set of special forces that are answerable to none save the Supreme Council or the Supreme Chairman. Since their usual wingman, Lunamaria Hawke, wasn't made part of the group, Rey uses this to his advantage, constantly keeping her away from Shinn while he indoctrinates him in Durandal's big plans.
• It happens in a dark yet oddly amusing way in Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. When one of the Vegan pilots psychic abilities goes out of control she starts causing massive feedback to all other psychics present as well as takes control of their mecha and makes them all start attacking each other, both her friends and foes. In between cuts of the psychic pilots groaning and yelling at her to stop, we see cuts of Asemu, the only guy there who doesn't have psychic abilities so is unaffected by all this, who has no idea what the hell is going on.
• My Hero Academia:
  • The few people who know the truth about the unique transferable Quirk One For All have to keep a lot of people they're close to in the dark:
    • Inko Midoriya was told by her son Izuku that he's a rare "late bloomer" to account for why, despite being diagnosed as Quirkless, he suddenly "developed" one just in time to enroll in UA High School.
    • In My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, the fact that All Might's old friend David Shield is unaware of the true nature of One For All is a major plot point: David is talked into hiring what he believes are fake villains to stage a hostage situation so he can steal back a Quirk-boosting device out of a misguided attempt to help his friend, not knowing that All Might's diminishing Quirk level is completely normal and that the Quirk-boosting device could never reverse it.
    • After Izuku and Bakugo, who figured out the truth about the former's new Quirk after several recent events, have an after-curfew brawl in a training area after the Provisional Hero Licensing test and are stopped by All Might, when the boys get chewed out by Aizawa, their homeroom teacher is the only person in the room who doesn't know the real reason for the fight.
  • When several of the main characters go on a reckless and unsanctioned attempt to rescue Bakugo from the League of Villains, Aizawa rips into the entire class for not doing anything to stop them. Bakugo himself was obviously in no position to do anything, and Hagakure and Jiro were both comatose from a previous villain attack, and so are spared Aizawa's tongue-lashing.
• Naruto:
  • There's the entire adult population of the village concealing the fact that the eponymous main character had the nine-tailed demon fox that nearly destroyed the village sealed inside him, so he could live a 'normal' life. It didn't work. He just thought they hated him for no good reason instead (and to be honest, even that is not a good reason to hate him either). Although it did work with the children of the village (which was probably the Third's intention). While Naruto was never very popular, his peers lack the naked fear of him you see from the kids Gaara tried to befriend in his flashbacks.
  • Another loop they tried to keep Naruto out of was the fact that Tobi/Madara and Kabuto decided to declare a fourth world war. Justified in that they kept it from him to protect him, as Tobi's goal was to capture Gyūki and Kurama. Everybody figured that if he was aware of the war, he'd rush to the front lines to fight Tobi. Guess what Naruto does when he does find out about the war.
  • Naruto gets this a lot. Several important figures didn't tell him that his father was the Fourth Hokage, and his mother was the previous jinchuuriki, information that would have come in handy earlier than when it was actually revealed. On the other hand, if that information had leaked outside the village, it is highly likely that Minato's enemies would've tried to kill Naruto, or at least kidnap him in an attempt to steal Kurama's power.
  • In the Shippuden movie Blood Prison, Naruto is locked out of the loop about the mission he was assigned to without his knowledge until AFTER the mission was concluded. Which means he was seemingly abandoned by everyone close to him, locked into a prison, and suffered both physical and emotional torture without knowing WHY.
  • Sasuke was unaware for the longest time that his big brother and clan-killer Itachi was in fact Good All Along and did the deed to ensure the Uchiha couldn't start a bloody coup in the Hidden Leaf, only known to the higher-ups in the Leaf and Tobi/Obito, the one who helped him do the job. The thing is, Itachi wanted Sasuke out of the loop and considered death by Sasuke's hands his atonement, to the point he physically and psychologically screwed Sasuke up to give him motivation and left contingency plans in case Obito tried to contact Sasuke with the truth post-death, hoping that Sasuke would thus redeem the Uchiha and be seen as a hero. Unfortunately, that didn't work and Obito told the still-unstable Sasuke the truth and gave him a new target for revenge: The Leaf.
• Shinji Ikari, the main character in Neon Genesis Evangelion, is for the most part very unaware of the shady going-ons behind the scenes of Nerv, even though he has a very important post inside the organization as a Humongous Mecha pilot. His friend, Kensuke, is quite shocked to learn this fact, as he finds out that Shinji can neither confirm or refute any of the rumors he hears through his own sources in the organisation, as Shinji honestly knows next to nothing. It all comes to a head as Misato Katsuragi decides it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Shinji that the fourth child is Toji, his best friend. When she does try to tell him, her message gets cut off just at the last moment. He ends up finding out in the worst possible way: he sees the heavy injured Toji in the remains of the Eva 3 plug which Shinji had just been forced to crush with his own (Eva's) hands.
  • Misato likewise is ignorant of the corruption in NERV, and has no idea its stated purpose of destroying the angels is a front. She has no idea about SEELE, or the REAL Third Impact scenario in play. Ritsuko and Gendo keep most of this from her until Kaji tells her what little he was able to dig up. She doesn't take the truth well.
• One Piece
  • Due to the isolationist nature of Amazon Lily's society, most of the Kuja women are ignorant of the broader happenings and nature of the world, to the point they aren't even aware Devil Fruits exist. The pirates in their society, due to being more traveled, are a bit more savvy to these sorts of things.
  • Wano Country:
    • Thanks to their Bystander Syndrome, most of the natives of Wano are completely ignorant of events and individuals that are well-known to the rest of the world. This becomes extremely prevalent when Big Mom enters the picture, especially after she briefly becomes amnesiac. With the exception of Momo (who has experienced part of the world outside of Wano), locals like Tama, Kiku, and Hyogoro haven't a clue of who she is, let alone the fact that she's as dangerous as Kaido, the brutal warlord they’re trying to overthrow. As a result, they're confused when Chopper, Luffy, and, most of all, the Beast Pirates, including one of Kaido's top lieutenants in Queen, show themselves to be absolutely terrified of her.
    • Played for Drama in flashback, Oden is forced to humiliate himself by dancing naked in the street to stop the kidnapping of Wano's citizens. The very same citizens who would despise him for humiliating himself.
• Hitomi Shizuki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica is never told that her best friends Sayaka and Madoka, as well as their classmate Homura and their sempai Mami, are involved in the whole Magical Girl stuff. This bites Sayaka in the ass later.
• Queen Millennia: Yayoi's Earth parents only know that she's not their actual daughter, Yayoi herself prefers to not make them worry. Even after witnessing her as Queen Millennia and all the cosmic stuff happening in the story, when she gives them a farewell, the only thing on their mind is if professor Amamori has told her she's adopted.
• In Romeo × Juliet, the Capulet sympathisers keeps Juliet's true identity as the last heir to the throne a secret from her until her sixteenth birthday. Considering that the story is based off a tragedy, this turns out to be a terrible idea.
• Minato Sahashi of Sekirei remains Locked Out on two very significant pieces of information.
  • Minato is a Heroic Bastard, and raised by a domineering mother that refuses to talk about his father. Almost every single other character in the series seems to be aware of the obvious, which is that Big Bad Minaka Hiroto is his biological father. Even his younger sister and several of his enemies are aware of this fact, but no one seems interested in letting him in on the secret. The subject is often avoided or ignored, and an omake reveals that he once attempted to ask his mother to Tell Me About My Father. She strictly forbid any discussions of his father in the Sahashi household from that day forth, and he simply accepts that his father is "dead or something", completely unconcerned about learning more. Not even Kazehana mentioning in a wistful fashion how much he looks like his father is enough to make him curious, even when she admits to the identity of the man that broke her heart.
  • Miya, his terrifying landlady, is very strict about keeping under wraps the fact that she is Sekirei #01, and hinted to be a goddess. Almost every single one of her other tenants, including half of his harem, are aware of this fact; they've simply been threatened into silence, and work very hard to keep Minato from learning the secret. Miya even jokingly (we hope) threatens to kick him out if he ever learns her secret. This turns out to be an empty threat, as he takes learning her secret in stride and remains respectful of her neutrality in the Sekirei Plan. She becomes a vital source of information, and remains a trusted mentor to the group.
• In the early episodes of Sonic X, Chris tries to keep Sonic and friends' existence a secret, including to the others in the household. His grandfather finds out in Episode 2, and Mr. Tanaka is later revealed to have known all along, leaving housemaid Ella in the dark. She knows that something is up, but can't prove what, and by the time she's finally let it on it, she's almost convinced herself that she's gone crazy.
• Soul Eater has a couple. The existence of the Kishin to everyone who isn't Shinigami or Asura himself. Everyone else gets a watered down version they can deal with — Spirit's early version of the meister who gave normal souls to his Weapon fits neatly as a warning tale to students to follow the rules and be brave. The Death Scythes get their initial instructions on the basis of Asura being a potentially dangerous monster in hiding. The truth, for the moment, appears to be a good deal more complicated and deranged. Kid gets a personal lockout regarding his origins, as until the very end of the series only Shinigami (and possibly the teachers, but definitely Spirit) know what Kid is, and what Shinigami intends for Kid to do.
• Strike the Blood:
  • Kojou Akatsuki's childhood friend Asagi Aiba knows that the supernatural exists, but Kojou and his friends keep it a secret that they are supernatural beings and involved in adventures because they were concerned that she would get herself hurt or killed if she joined them. She eventually finds out.
  • Kojou's sister Nagisa also knows the supernatural exists, but due to being traumatized from a demon attack, she is completely terrified of the supernatural and has panic attacks whenever it is brought up. Kojou and his friends keep it a secret they are supernatural beings.
• In the final episode of the 3rd Tenchi Muyo! OVA, we come to find out that Tenchi's own mother imposed this one him concerning her passing, deciding to use her death as a massive joke. When Katsuhito and Noboyuki went through with it, Tenchi was more than a little pissed. To be fair, though, a lot of Tenchi's heritage was this to him.
• In Tiger & Bunny, Kotetsu's daughter Kaede is the only member of his family that's unaware that he's a superhero. Word of God says it's an attempt on his part to protect and not worry her. While the secretiveness is a Fatal Flaw on his part, he might have something of a point as the very first thing that Kaede does after discovering her father is Wild Tiger is run off to Sternbild alone to try to save him.
• The Real Sakura from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- is cursed with a Black Seal by Fei Wang Reed where upon her 14th birthday, the Seal will consume her and die. While Syaoran, and the others including her parents are made aware of this since it was first planted at 7 years old, Sakura herself is completely unaware about her upcoming death until her birthday when it nearly consumes her before Syaoran rewinds time in a desperate attempt to save her.
• In Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, male lead Kouhei (and the audience) is led to believe that his immunity to ghost attacks and his inability to see them at all was because he was "Spiritually retarded" and possessed no spiritual powers unlike his immediate family. It is eventually revealed that he is, in fact, an incredibly powerful psychic whose abilities were sealed for his own protection when he was a baby, at least partly by telling him repeatedly that he had no powers. Even in this sealed state, however, he was powerful enough to banish evil spirits by denying they were even there.
• X1999: Princess Hinoto withhold information from Kamui that Fuuma is the other twin star who will be on the opposing side depending on which side Kamui choose and whoever is the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth, he will kill Kotori. As expected, these ended up true when Kamui was forced to watch Fuuma kill his own sister.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Botan, Yusuke, Kurama, and Koenma (and in the anime, Shizuru) know that Yukina is Hiei's sister. Whether or not Yukina has figured it out is left as an exercise for the audience (she calls Hiei "brother" at one point, then backtracks and says she would like her brother to be like him), but Kuwabara definitely doesn't and Hiei will probably kill you if you change that.
  • Kuwabara thinks this is in play when he's the only one who doesn't realize Genkai was dead until he fights Elder Toguro in the Dark Tournament finals, and believes that he was left out because they think he would be scared off if he learned the truth. Kurama tells him that Yusuke didn't tell anyone else (most of the others felt her death), and Yusuke says that he merely couldn't bring himself to say it and admit that it was true.

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