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Open Secrets in Anime and Manga.


  • In ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept., as of episode 7, the fact that Jean is of royal blood was so secret even he didn't know it. When the characters discuss this, they talk in hushed voices and try not to let it get out. Yet, by episode 10, everyone seems to know, including the Acca employee who meets Jean when he comes to audit that incredibly secluded desert district.
  • Aruosumente:
    • The more the story progresses, the more it looks like everyone knows what happened ten years ago — except Legna, whom everyone does their utmost best to keep in the dark. Some assume he also knows already, but the Senate especially are hell-bent on keeping the truth from him.
    • The fact that His Majesty often comes to the laboratory to enjoy himself while inventing or just talking to Jasmin or Lante seems to be an open secret everyone keeps from Legna as Legna has a reputation as a joy killer.
  • Beastars: The Back-Alley Market, a market on the edge of town where people can buy and sell meat. Everybody in the town knows about it, and most carnivores use it, however, everybody collectively acts as if they knew nothing about it, with the exception being carnivores talking with each other, and Sebun mentions that a carnivore telling her about the market is something she never experienced, and everybody just pretends that the enforcing of Vegetarian Carnivore rules are working. Louis attempting to bring up the subject in live broadcast apparently breaks general rules of what the town's media can talk.
  • The fact that Akina's an otaku is an open secret among her classmates in Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san!. She thinks she keeps it hidden but everyone in her class is well aware, as shown when several girls try to awkwardly strike up a conversation with her but back off because they aren't sure how to talk to an otaku. Akina's old middle school Girl Posse are also quick to realize that she has a major crush on Kaede, another thing Akina thinks she's hidden.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist, it seems that Ed has "I performed a human transmutation" written on his shirt. Most alchemists he meets figure it out within an episode. While his automail arm and leg aren't much of a clue (lots of people have automail, and it's implied that some people even replace fully functional limbs with it), the fact that his brother is a suit of Animated Armor tends to be a dead give-away that they have crossed a line never meant to be crossed.
  • The use of Nen in Hunter × Hunter, the setting's effective magic system, is supposedly a secret known only to people who belong to circles that are in on it and seem to be subtly taught to hunters once they pass the Hunter Exams. However, it is also openly publicized in an arena tower that not only seems to televise the fights between powerful Nen users, also have commentators explaining what the contestants are doing in the Arena with their Nen… to a large public. It gets to a point that the only main character that should realistically be ignorant about Nen is Gon, for growing up on an isolated and morose island in the middle of nowhere. Killua should know about Nen just by osmosis from his heavy Nen-practicing family of world-famous assassins, Kurapika's deceased clan is implied to be formed of powerful Nen users as well (otherwise they wouldn't register on Nobunaga's memory. Even Uvo eventually remembers the clan and its powerful members) and Leorio's general world and history knowledge should make him aware of it as well (even if just by passing knowledge about the Celestial Arena).
  • This trope is mentioned by name in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, with Iino pointing out just how obvious Shirogane and Kaguya were with their Secret Relationship when they decide to go public (no less than 10 people were confirmed to have known about it prior to this point).
  • Lyrical Nanoha: As revealed in StrikerS Sound Stage X when Runessa tried to access certain information, most of the details behind the Jail Scaglietti incident are a military secret, including the fact that Vivio is the clone of the last Sankt Kaiser. Or at least, it would be, if not for the fact that Vivio's a friendly Cheerful Child and the fact that said revelation is important to a lot of powerful groups. This meant that most of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid cast knows of Vivio's unique situation, which includes Vivio's civilian friends, all the members of the Saint Church, and practically every major competitor in the Inter-Middle that we know of. It isn't until ViVid Strike! that we get an idea of how little information about Vivio is available to the general public, as an attempt by Rinne's gym to research her brought back nothing about her Sankt Kaiser heritage.
  • Metropolis (2001): Everybody knows that Rock is Duke Red's Dragon, even though there are no official links between the two. Pero even name-drops this trope when discussing it.
  • In Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Quattro's real identity as Char. Not only would the audience not be fooled (the same character design, the visible scar, the same voice actor) but the fact that he flies around in a custom red Rick Dias shows that he isn't exactly keeping a low profile. It even gets lampshaded when he officially reveals his identity...
    Kamille: Hmph. Some secret...
  • Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun: The assistants try to keep the fact that they are working for Nozaki a secret, sometimes even from each other. Nozaki himself does not hide the fact that he is the shoujo mangaka Yumeno nor does he think that his assistants should keep their affiliations with him a secret. He is actually very open about his profession, but the majority of his classmates do not believe him.
  • In My-HiME when Akira decides to wear a mask and use her ninja skills to help defend the school from the rampaging Orphan Monsters; Akira's roommate Takumi realizes instantly, but tries to humor the whole "secret identity" thing.
    Takumi: Oh, if only there was a ninja protector who could save us!
    Akira: [rolls eyes] I'm going for a walk.
    [Takumi happily smiles]
  • In Naruto a law exists that forbids anyone revealing that the titular character is the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox. While this means that Naruto's generation and those younger are ignorant of the Nine-Tails, every person able to remember the attack knows about it. The secret becomes even more open in Shippuden where several members of Naruto's generation openly discuss the matter. As of the Fourth Ninja World War it is officially not a secret anymore. Part of the coalition's main objectives is to protect Naruto (and Killer Bee).
  • In early volumes of Ranma ½, Ranma tries to keep secret the fact that he transforms into a girl when doused with cold water, mostly from his fellow students at school. (His father and the Tendos know all about it.) At some point, the secret just disappears, and everyone knows about it and doesn't care much. (Except for the particularly oblivious and denial-worthy. Looking at you, Kunou.)
  • In the School Rumble manga, Yakumo's friends clumsily prepare her a surprise birthday party and she spends the rest of the day pretending she doesn't know. She comes home to find Tenma also preparing her a party.
  • Okabe Rintarou of Steins;Gate is very insistent on keeping his time-traveling experiments under wraps lest "the Organization" discover find him out. This would be much easier if he didn't have a tendency to go on loud Mad Scientist rants about conquering time in his thin-walled "laboratory", or if SERN hadn't found him out the moment he sent the very first D-mail.
  • In Tamamo-chan’s a Fox!, Tamamo Fushimi is a high school girl who is secretly a fox spirit from the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto. What she doesn't seem to realize is that though she appears to be an ordinary human to adults and cameras, her fellow students can see right through her disguise.
  • In To Love Ru, the fact that Lala is an alien is treated like this for quite a while, as everyone either already knows, or doesn't care when they find out.
  • In UQ Holder!, Kuromaru does his best to hide the fact that he has No Biological Sex, but he doesn't exactly do a good job of hiding it. Furthermore, it's implied that the fact is listed in his UQ Holder file and isn't that difficult to access. Basically, the only person who isn't aware of the fact is Touta.


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