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Anime fan theories tend to be extremely weird. For every sensible theory, such as guessing a character's identity correctly, there's a wild and crazy one such as thinking a character is a god or something. Sometimes fans are way off the mark and sometimes they're spot on, it usually depends on the fans themselves.
Some of the craziest usually involve death or other such theories about a character's fate. It's a realm where fan versions of canon and the actual canon collide, often going into zany territory. This article will go into 5 crazy fan theories that ended up coming true, and those that ended up being completely off base.
Disclaimer: As these are fan theories about big events in anime, all of these will contain spoilers. The opinions contained therein are only those of the author and fans.
5 crazy anime fan theories that ultimately proved correct
1) Various identity reveals
This one is a combination of identity reveals. From Naruto being the Fourth Hokage's son to Tobi being Obito to Dabi being related to Endeavor, a lot of revealed identities were called by fans some time ago. Sometimes it's context clues, other times someone just has a very sneaky suspicion like when two characters share an eye or hair color.
Whether simply by subtracting a letter from a name and then scrambling it in Obito's case or via a similar power set and hints of obsession in the case of Dabi, anime fans are usually good about calling these. Usually being the keyword, as some people's guesses turn out wildly off.
Sometimes an identity reveal will be completely obvious, if one is good at spotting the clues, and sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Annie being the Female Titan, for example, was an open secret in Attack on Titan for a long time among fans, though that opened the door for more secrets and other theories from that anime.
2) E.N.D. refers to Natsu in Fairy Tail
Fairy Tail had quite the mystery in the form of the E.N.D. acronym. As soon as the acronym was revealed, some fans called it referred to the main character Natsu Drageel almost immediately. How? The N.D. initials were obvious, the Tartaros arc foreshadowed it, and it was hinted at as far back as the Tenrou Island arc.
Beyond that, most fans had quite some time trying to figure out what the "E" in the acronym stood for. It doesn't stand for "evil", it stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel. It likewise requires quite a bit of explaining. To start, the Natsu the audience has been following is not the actual Natsu.
Natsu died when he was a small child, with his brother Zeref Dragneel trying many methods to revive him. Zeref used dark magic to make Natsu a demon, and trained him to kill the Black Wizard and Acnologia. He also sent his brother 400 years in the future and only revealed this late to try to activate Natsu Manchurian Candidate style.
3) Fire Force and Soul Eater shared universe theory
Shared universe theories often attempt to push the idea that two separate series exist in the same universe. Think of how many sci-fi fans think Star Trek and Star Wars are just on opposite ends of the universe. In this particular anime case, however, fans were totally correct about Fire Force and Soul Eater sharing a universe.
Fans had long suspected that Fire Force was connected to Soul Eater, and this was confirmed during Fire Force's final manga chapter. Long story short, the protagonist Shinra Kusakabe ends up changing the world to worship death instead of life which fundamentally changed the way the world worked.
Not only did the final manga panels showcase younger versions of Soul and Maka, but the grinning moon was also visible from early on. There were plenty of easter eggs likewise, such as Shinra working for Fire Force's 8th Company which was Death the Kid's favorite number, and that Arthur Boyle was the original meister for the sword Excalibur.
4) Suletta and Eri are different people in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
One thing most stories have in common, especially if they start with the protagonist as a kid, is to assure the audience somehow that the characters they are following are the same people as who they started as. Fans, however, are used to twists and turns coming in fast and loud when it comes to protagonists.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is no exception. Many fans were already speculating where the show was going during the first season and had stumbled upon a particularly interesting theory: the idea that Eri, the precious four year old in the prologue, isn't the same person as Suletta Mercury despite the similar appearances and mannerisms.
Now, some thought they were owing to a name change as Eri and her mother survived a massacre at their space station. The theories began brewing when episode 6 of the anime revealed that the massacre happened 21 years ago, meaning Eri would've been 25 and not 17 as Suletta is. Episode 14 then confirms it, as Eri's mind was inputted into the Gundam code-named Aerial. Exactly how hasn't been explained yet, but fans felt vindicated nonetheless.
5) Luffy getting stronger Gears past Gear 3 in One Piece/Gear V
It's obvious that shonen anime heroes get bigger and bigger power ups the longer a series goes on. Ichigo's multiple powerups in Bleach, or Goku's various states past Kaio-Ken in Dragon Ball Z are iconic examples of this particular trope. Fans of One Piece definitely figured that Monkey D. Luffy would continue to ascend to that particular point after he attained his first Gear.
As it turns out, fans were absolutely correct. Although Gear 3 seemed to be Luffy's limit, many fans weren't all that surprised when he went beyond this. The really huge surprise for fans, even if some may have seen it coming, was Gear V. Gear V allowed Luffy control over reality via making it as cartoonish as he was and there were more than a few that predicted it all the way back when the Sun God Nika was mentioned.
So, imagine the vindication when it finally happened. It just goes to show that even if a powerup can be seen coming, even if it's an outlandish theory like Luffy being a reincarnation of a legendary figure, it can still be done well provided the execution is good. To many manga fans, that execution was well done and the anime is no exception either.
5 anime fan theories that were wildly off the mark
1) The U.A. Traitor is Toru Hagakure (or anyone else) in My Hero Academia
My Hero Academia's U.A. Traitor arc that occurred before the Final War was poised to answer one question fans had since it was brought up early on: who, exactly, at U.A. put the staff and students in danger? Many people had theories that ranged from all the staff, minus All Might of course, and students of Class 1-A and 1-B were even put under the microscope since there weren't massive clues at the start.
Since the obvious suspects (Deku, Bakugo, All Might) were eliminated, many popular suspects emerged including Endeavor, Toru Hagakure, Kaminari, and even Ochaco. Hagakure was the most popular suspect due to her invisibility quirk. There were even whispers that there was no traitor, and that the whole thing was effectively a ruse to get everyone paranoid and fighting each other.
In the end, however, Yuga Aoyama aka the Shining Hero Can't Stop Twinkling was revealed as the traitor. Now, to be fair, some people had this as their final guess. But that number is effectively measured in single digits, compared to everyone that was shocked at what followed.
2) Kyon is the god, not Haruhi, in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
It almost felt too good to be true when Haruhi was revealed to be a god in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. So much so that some fans decided to disbelieve this and go forth with a counter theory: that the main male protagonist and relatively normal tsundere Kyon was the god and not Haruhi.
This is a bad theory for any number of reasons too numerous to list. This particular anime is already weird in many respects: it has aliens, time travel, espers, and other things already existing in it without the notion of literal godhood in play. Besides which, it's a twist that would be painfully predictable by blocking out the titular female character in a shonen anime in favor of the male.
If that particular hint didn't clue readers into why that's a bad theory, then consider this: how often do female characters in shonen anime get to be this powerful and interesting as a lead character? Not that often. This fan theory would certainly make the anime at least five times less interesting.
3) Ozpin's cane is a Relic in RWBY
Ever since the Relics were brought up as a plot point in RWBY Volume 4, many fans have questioned and theorized what items could possibly be Relics. One of them looked like a staff, revealed in Volume 8 to be the Staff of Creation, and so some people decided to push the idea that Professor Ozpin's cane aka Long Memory was a super powerful Relic that would grant the user time travel or some other such nonsense.
The fact that Ozpin was revealed to be lying about a great many things circa Volume 6 didn't help matters, further propelling that theory into the proverbial stratosphere. Alas, fans of this anime were told multiple times both in the show via Volume 5 and by the cast and crew that the cane wasn't a Relic.
The fact that the Relics were revealed to be a Lamp, Staff, Sword, and Crown respectively still hasn't stopped some from pushing this outlandish theory. One thing about fan theorists is that, even when a story ends or firmly debunks a particular theory, they'll cling to it long after the series or creators debunk it. RWBY is just one example of this happening, and not the only one within the series either.
4) Lelouch faked his death in Code Geass
Speaking of theories that were debunked a long time ago, Code Geass was an anime that was positively explosive with all manner of fan theories regarding the characters' deaths. One of the big ones was Lelouch's at the end of the series. Long story short, Lelouch planned everything following his defeat of Schniezel down to the moment of his death via Suzaku.
While many fans understood and even approved of Lelouch's gambit of allowing himself to be the world's final villain and was killed as such, there were others that didn't care for it. Some wished that Lelouch was revealed to have faked his death and was simply hiding out in the populace, or just going back to having something of regular life.
That didn't happen in the anime. Before anyone decides to bring up that it did happen in Lelouch of the Resurrection, the creators of Code Geass have repeatedly stated that those movies are an alternate telling of the original anime. In the original anime, Lelouch is dead and in the movie, he kind of came back wrong anyway.
5) Death flags, thy name is Chisato in Lycoris Recoil
Death flags are a funny thing to talk about across fandom, since fan theorists apply a very liberal sprinkling of them to almost everyone they get their hands on. Whether a character is a mentor like Qrow from RWBY, or even a main character like Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan, if a fan believes the character is getting any kind of focus this must mean they're being set up for death.
Thus was the case in the seinen anime Lycoris Recoil and its titular character Chisato Nishikigi. Various reveals, including that she had an artificial heart, really started to compound the number of death flags some people had for her. Her heart suffering severe damage and leaving her with only two months to live likewise increased these theories.
The anime, however, pulled a curveball by having Chisato survive and gain a new artificial heart that extended her lifespan to an uncertain amount. Normally, this would be a cause for concern, but this was accepted by most fans of the series. Though some have expressed concern for the anime bait and switching them, it's not a huge problem people have with Lycoris Recoil.
Thus ends the list of 5 anime fan theories that came true and 5 that were wildly off the mark. As stated prior, anime fans will cling to a theory no matter how outlandish it is at the time and either be overjoyed or vindicated by the confirmation or horrifically angered and vengeful when they're debunked.
As per anything, a theory is just a theory and an opinion until proven otherwise. Even the most plausible theories have this asterisk applied to them, and it's very important to remember that. If any readers have any other anime fan theories that were either proven true or false, don't hesitate to comment.
