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Anime characters often have ulterior motives and keep dark secrets about them hidden from everyone's prying eyes. These secrets are sometimes the cause of major conflicts and push forward the narrative of the story, adding suspense and intrigue to the plot.
Be it for the sake of others or for themselves, some characters go through a lot of difficulties and hurdles in keeping secrets while the entire world actively tries to discover the very thing they are fighting to hide. If you are an anime enthusiast, you may be aware of such anime characters who are good at keeping secrets.
All Might, Aizen, and eight other anime characters who are good at keeping secrets
1) Lelouch Lamperouge
Lelouch Lamperouge assumed the identity of a masked revolutionary, Zero, whose aim was to liberate Japan from the Britannian Empire. He was able to successfully portray himself as a tyrannical leader to the world, and shouldered people's hatred, so that his death would facilitate peace in the world once again.
Suzaku Kururugi, Kallen Stadtfeld, and C.C. were privy to Lelouch's secret identity, with the rest of the world being kept in the dark about his true nature. He played the role of a martyr for his people and was content with them perceiving him to be a villain, all in order to bring them together and unify them in their hatred of him.
2) Light Yagami
In the anime Death Note, Light Yagami kept his possession of the Death Note, a notebook he used to commit mass murder as Kira, a secret. He concealed his true identity and played a cat-and-mouse game with world renowned detective, L, who was determined to catch Kira.
Both characters were highly intelligent and used extreme plans and measures to gain the upper hand. However, L's suspicion of Light being Kira became almost impossible to prove due to the latter being skilled at keeping secrets and planning one of the most complex ploys in the history of anime.
3) Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha was a shinobi of the Leaf Village and ended up massacaring his own clan along with his mother and father. The only person who survived the onslaught was his little brother Sasuke. Furthermore, he also joined the international criminal organization, Aktasuki, and was known as a traitor to the Leaf Village.
However, his story goes a lot deeper, as he did all of this to protect the Leaf Village from an Uchiha coup and save his little brother. Itachi kept this secret all to himself, shouldering the hatred of the entire village and being an outcast all for the sake of peace, making him one of the most tragic characters in anime.
4) Sosuke Aizen
Sosuke Aizen, a villain in Bleach, is known for his cunning nature and his plan to destroy the Soul Society. He was originally the captain of the Fifth Division in the Gotei 13 before he was mysteriously murdered. However, it was later discovered that he had faked his own death to secretly control the Soul Society by replacing Chamber 46 members with his own body doubles using his Zanpakutou.
Aizen shocked the audience with his revelation as an evil mastermind, betraying his admirers and demonstrating his willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. He had a kind and soft-spoken persona at the beginning, which helped him hide his true manipulative nature.
5) Warrior Unit
In Attack on Titan, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie were sent to Paradis Island with a mission to retake the Founding Titan from the royal family and eliminate the people within the walls. They used their Titan powers to breach Wall Maria and joined the Survey Corps, where they became friends with the inhabitants and other recruits.
They managed to conceal their true identities as Titans from their comrades and progressed steadily with their mission. In the later seasons of the anime, Annie was revealed to be the Female Titan, while Reiner revealed his and Bertholdt's true identities as the Armored and Colossal Titan to Eren.
6) All Might
For the longest time, All Might kept the secret of him slowly losing his Quirk under wraps before it was discovered by Izuku Midoriya. He revealed to Izuku that he'd lost a lung and his stomach in a fight against the world's worst supervillain, All for One, following which his body was rejecting his One for All Quirk.
As a Symbol of Peace, however, All Might kept fighting against villains even while his body was giving up on him. This came to a head during his rematch with All for One, where he lost his One For All Quirk permanently while going all out to defeat the villain. The world looked in horror as the strongest hero was reduced to a skinny and sickly looking man following the fight.
7) Korosensei
In the Assassination Classroom anime, Korosensei claimed responsibility for the destruction on the moon and gave governments all over the world a chance to kill him under the condition that he is allowed to be the homeroom teacher of Class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Junior High School for a year.
However, later in the series, it was revealed that he was in no way responsible for what happened on the moon and only wanted to teach Class 3-E because of his promise to Aguri Yukimura, an intern, who showed him compassion and empathy while he was being experimented upon mercilessly.
This intern turned out to be a former teacher of Class 3-E, which made Korosensei try to mold this class and bring out their potential. He was already fated to die after a year due to the experiments done on him, which made his service to Class 3-E his final act as a human being. He kept his motives and his suffering a secret in order to help kids excel, which makes him one of the most beloved anime characters of all time.
8) The Forger Family
The Forger family is in itself a secret alliance, created by a spy who goes by the code name Twilight. He was tasked with getting closer to a prominent political figure in power, which required him to marry and have a child enrolled in the same school as the politician's son.
To accomplish this, he adopted a young girl named Anya and entered into a fake marriage with a woman named Yor Briar, pretending to be a real family. However, they are not just hiding secrets from the world, but from each other as well. Loid is a spy, Yor is an assassin, and Anya can read people's minds.
Neither Loid nor Yor are aware of Anya's psychic abilities, nor do they know about each other's secret identities. Only Anya is aware of the truth about her adoptive parents and the ulterior motives and goals they have.
9) Roy Mustang
Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist was a nuanced character who decided to overthrow the State Military after his friend Maes Hughes was killed. When the blame for Hughes' death was wrongly placed on Maria Ross, Mustang even faked her execution and helped her escape to safety.
Throughout the anime, Mustang kept his suspicions and movements against the Führer King Bradley discreet, meticulously treading the line between caution and action to bring down Bradley's regime. He was a skilled strategist who combined intelligence with power and knew how to keep secrets.
10) Ray
Ray from The Promised Neverland agreed to act as a spy for Isabella in exchange for goods and a promise that he, along with Norman and Emma, would be spared from being fed to demons until they turned twelve. Despite the horrifying truth of their situation, Ray kept the secret to himself and began planning his escape.
He formulated a plan to act as a distraction to Isabella while Norman and Emma made their getaway. Ray's intelligence and quick thinking proved crucial in their escape, and he showed his ability to keep quiet when necessary for the sake of survival. In the end, his pact with the enemy was crucial for their escape.
