The entire battle shounen genre considers conflict and peril to be its lifeblood, with the story heavily revolving around the growth and developments the characters go through during fight sequences. This could be through power-ups or awakenings or even transformations. and sometimes as Plot Armors.
But the issue is, most of these powers only work as intended when they’re properly written into the lore of the story and are sufficiently foreshadowed. When characters start using new powers out of nowhere to escape a situation that should’ve killed them, it becomes quite annoying to watch. Here are the
Top 5 Worst Plot Armor Moments in Anime
5. One Piece Fake Deaths
While Oda might be an amazing storyteller, he tends to showcase an annoying habit of over-using fake deaths. Most notable of these fake deaths are Pell’s Attempt at saving Alubarna, Igaram’s Sacrifice, Sabo’s Death, Bon Clay’s sacrifice, and Gecko Moria’s apparent death in the hands of Doflamingo.
All of these were very intense moments in the series where the concept of death added a layer of tension, which was ruined by the ‘resurrection‘ of these characters. And there are a lot more of these examples throughout the series.
4. Zeno Destroys Zamasu
The plot or story was not the strongest point of any Dragon Ball series. But when it came to Dragon Ball Super, it started to feel like all (as far as the Dragon Ball universe is concerned) logic was thrown out the window.
The most egregious and annoying of such moments was when Future Zeno showed up and destroyed Infinite Zamasu. This literally ruined the entire Goku Black, rendering all efforts of Goku and the rest basically unnecessary.
3. Naruto Saves Might Guy
Fans have quite a vibrant array of opinions when it comes to the Fourth Great Ninja War. While most agree that the handling of Madara and Kaguya could’ve been different, a lot of people enjoyed it as well. However, fans were robbed of one of the most intense and emotional deaths in Naruto due to a seemingly ridiculous and dumb plot armor move.
The Eight Gates was hyped to be the move that would definitely kill the user. Naruto saving Guy after he opened the Eighth Gate just ruined the intensity of the scene and a chance for Lee to step up.
2. Ichigo Kurosaki’s Existence
Bleach is often considered to be the weakest of the Big Three. While many hardcore bleach fans disagree with this statement, the anime community as a whole seems to agree with this. The core issue with Bleach is that it relies too much on its main character, Ichigo Kurosaki, who is literally clad from top to bottom in plot armor from the beginning till the end.
Most quoted acts of Ichigo that are considered as blatant plot armor are his getting Bankai in three days, suddenly unlocking his Vasto Lorde form against Ulquiorra, and Ichigo defeating Kenpachi by ‘trusting’ in Zangetsu.
1. The Inconsistent power-ups of Demon Slayer
- As far as the new age of anime is considered, Demon Slayer might as well be considered the King of Plot Armor. Quite literally every single fight in Demon Slayer has some sort of plot armor to a varying degree.
- While this wasn’t the case early on in the first season, as Tanjiro got out of the Final Selection, the plot was always on his side.
His Hinokami Kagura came out of nowhere after little to barely any foreshadowing and in the fights that followed, almost every time Tanjiro reaches death’s doorstep, but somehow manages to get up and fight even if all of his bones are broken and he’s lost a huge amount of blood. This plot armor also extends to the Hashira and other supporting cast, until they’re killed off for shock factor.
Conclusion
While it is important for a character to win, it can only be justified if it’s done in a realistic and well-written manner. Deus Ex Machinas and Plot armors only please and fly by hardcore fans who love a particular anime way too much, while the general shounen audience finds them annoying. For more such lists, stay with Spiel Anime.