Anime mentors love acting like wise guides with all the answers.
I don’t mean “withheld a tiny detail.” I mean looked their kid in the eyes and went, “Nope, that’s not what’s happening” while knowing full well it was.
Spoilers for: Mob Psycho 100, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Bleach, Naruto, Assassination Classroom, Attack on Titan.
7. Izumi Curtis (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
The lie: “Don’t commit human transmutation, it is the worst thing you can do” (said by someone who very much did exactly that)
Izumi walks into Ed and Al’s lives like the ultimate no-nonsense teacher. She throws them into survival training, beats them up for fun, and tells them flat out:
“Human transmutation is forbidden. Don’t touch it. Ever.”
Which is correct. Good advice. Powerful mentor move.
She just forgets to add the tiny detail that she already tried it on her own dead child and is literally dying because of it.
Ed and Al spend years thinking they’re cursed, that they were stupid for ever trying it, and that they’re doomed because of it. Their teacher is the one person they respect enough to believe would never cross that line.
Finding out Izumi did the exact same thing, met the same Gate, lost parts of herself, and then came home and said “never do that” without telling them why… that hits like a truck.
She lies in two big ways:
She hides her past sin. They think she is speaking from theory, just a teacher passing on alchemy”s biggest taboo. But no she’s speaking from the worst day of her life and just never says it.
She hides her current state. The coughing blood, the organ damage, the fact that her body is falling apart. She laughs it off, calls it “just a stomach thing,” and keeps playing indestructible sensei.
From the boys’ perspective, Izumi is this unshakable adult who has her life together and is guiding them out of their mess.
From the audience’s perspective, she is a walking cautionary tale pretending her own consequences don’t exist until she can’t hide it any longer.
What makes it hurt is that her lie comes from love. She isn’t manipulating them for power. She just wants to spare them from carrying the same regret, to move forward instead of rotting in the same “what if” she lives in.
But by hiding the full story, she also lets them believe their crime is singular. That they are alone in that guilt.
When the truth finally drops, it doesn’t erase what she taught them.
“All is one, and one is all” does hit a little different when you realize your teacher said it while hiding such a big secret.
Izumi is on this list because she is both:
One of the best mentors in shounen and someone who looked her students in the eye, told them “never do this,” and quietly hoped they would never see how late she was to taking that advice herself
Useful liar. Heartbreaking liar. But still a liar.
6. Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen)
The lie: “I’m protecting you”
Gojo actually tells Yuji the truth a lot. He’s weirdly upfront about “yeah, the higher-ups want you dead,” and “Sukuna will absolutely ruin everything if he gets loose.”
Where he really starts losing points is the whole “Yuji is dead” arc.
After Sukuna rips Yuji’s heart out, Yuji dies. For real. Then Sukuna revives him in their inside-domain talk, and Gojo goes:
“Cool. Let’s just… not tell anyone.”
He has Yuji pretend to stay dead so Gojo can secretly train him, keep him off the elders’ radar, and use him as a Sukuna lab rat without committee interference.
To the higher-ups, Sukuna’s vessel is gone.
To his classmates, Yuji is dead.
To Yuji, Gojo just shrugs and goes, “Alright, get up. Special training time”.
Does Gojo care about Yuji? Yes.
Is he also treating Yuji like a walking middle finger to the jujutsu establishment? Also yes, which I mean fair.
Yuji gets to carry the emotional damage of his own death and everyone else’s grief while Gojo quietly keeps building his little revolution.
5. All Might (My Hero Academia)
The lie: “Symbol of Peace who forgot to mention the fine print”
All Might’s lie is mostly omission, but it’s heavy.
He tells Deku the big hopeful truth:
“You can become a hero even without a Quirk.”
Which is huge. Life-changing. The whole premise of the show.
What he doesn’t lay out is the rest of the contract:
His body is basically held together with tape and stubbornness.
His time limit is much harsher than the public knows.
One For All chews through its users, and combining it with another quirk is not just “kinda spicy,” it’s fatal (shoutout to later lore).
And Nighteye literally foresaw All Might’s horrible death… which All Might basically looked at and said, “Yeah, we’ll figure it out.”
He never sits Deku down and lays out the full cost. Deku keeps signing emotional contracts he doesn’t know the terms of.
From Deku’s view, he’s inheriting power and responsibility.
From All Might’s view, he’s handing a teenager his unfinished war and hoping love and grit will cover the gaps.
I love him as a character, but if we’re honest:
All Might absolutely sells Deku a version of hero work that hides the receipt with “your life expectancy” printed on it.
4. Urahara Kisuke (Bleach)
The lie: “Harmless shopkeeper” / “I totally told you the risks (in my head)”
Urahara greets Ichigo as this chill sandal-wearing shop owner who sells candy and soul reaper gear.
Very normal. Very safe.
Then he’s like, “Anyway, I can help you get your powers back, just hop into this underground murder sandbox and survive three days without spiritual pressure.”
Does he properly explain that if Ichigo fails, he turns into a Hollow and loses himself completely?
Not really.
Does he have a backup plan that is also insane?
Absolutely.
Urahara’s whole mentor style is weaponized omission.
He never outright says, “You’ll be fine, no danger here,” but he constantly underplays exactly how bad it could get. The training with the chain around Ichigo’s chest? The “we’re just going to let this hollowfication ride and see if willpower saves you” bit? Yeah.
Ichigo thinks he’s learning how to be stronger.
Urahara is low-key field-testing “how far can I push this kid before he snaps.”
Useful mentor? Yes.
Still lied by packaging “this could destroy you” as “just another training arc.”
3. Erwin Smith (Attack on Titan)
The lie: “I believe in you” (he believes in the basement)
Erwin doesn’t lie in the cartoonish way, but he is a mentor figure, especially to Levi and the new recruits, and his main move is:
“I will aim you at hell and call it hope.”
He tells his soldiers they’re fighting for humanity’s future.
He talks about seeing the outside world.
He makes it sound like the suicidal charge is a noble, necessary act.
And he does believe in that future… just not in the way the rookies think.
If we’re being honest, the thing pushing him forward isn’t “humanity”. It’s the basement. He just wraps that obsession in speeches.
He lets them project their own dreams onto those speeches and never corrects them. He doesn’t say, “I’m sending you to die so I can maybe die satisfied.” He lets them believe they’ll be remembered as heroes changing history, when he’s not even sure anyone will survive to write it down.
Is he wrong strategically? Not really.
Is he honest on a mentor-to-kid level? Absolutely not.
Erwin’s lie is that this is for humanity. In reality, it’s about the basement.
2. Koro-sensei (Assassination Classroom)
The lie: “I’m your teacher and your assassination target and also I kind of did this to you”
Koro-sensei walks into Class 3-E like a weird yellow mascot and says:
“Hi, I blew up most of the moon. I’m going to destroy Earth in a year. You have that long to kill me. Also I’ll be your homeroom teacher now ”
On paper he’s honest.
In practice he is lying by omission constantly.
He doesn’t tell them right away:
The full truth of his human past
His connection to Aguri
How much the government is using the kids
That his death date is not just “villain deadline,” it’s literally tied to his body breaking down
He presents the assassination game as this wild, empowering “you can kill your teacher and save the world” setup, while quietly making sure they develop skills and bonds that will outlast him.
The kids think they’re training to murder a monster.
They’re actually being taught how to live after their favorite teacher dies on purpose.
Koro-sensei lies in that soft, horrible way where he gives them just enough truth to keep them playing along, but never enough to let them say no.
1. Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho 100)
The lie: “I am absolutely a powerful psychic and not a tax-evading freelance therapist”
Reigen is the king of this list and it’s not close.
He meets Mob as a scared kid with terrifying psychic power and goes, “Good news! I, Reigen Arataka, am an experienced psychic who can teach you everything.”
He is not.
He is a con man with god-tier improv and a massage license.
Reigen lies about a lot of things:
Having psychic powers
The legitimacy of half his exorcism jobs
His rates
His entire professional background
…while genuinely, sincerely trying to keep Mob safe.
He’s constantly pulling moves like:
Charging clients for “exorcisms” that are 90% talk therapy and 10% table salt
Telling Mob to hold back “to avoid property damage” when he’s actually terrified of this kid nuking the city
Talking like the most enlightened mentor on earth while going home to instant ramen and empty DMs
The wild part is that his lies accidentally work as protection.
Reigen’s scam accidentally creates a bubble where Mob can:
Use his powers in controlled bursts
Learn how not to define himself by them
Hear, over and over, “You’re allowed to be a normal kid”
He absolutely exploits Mob at times. The show doesn’t pretend otherwise. But he also throws his entire fraudulent body between Mob and every adult who might use him worse.
Reigen’s whole arc is about his lies finally catching up with him and him having to step up without them.
And that’s why he’s number one here.
He is the most obvious liar… and somehow still one of the best mentors anime has ever produced.
Anime mentors lie. Like… a lot.
I love the classic “wise mentor on a mountain” archetype as much as anyone. But the older I get, the more interesting the messy teachers become.
The ones who hide things “for your own good.”
The ones who pass their own baggage off as life lessons.
The ones who lie because they’re scared the kid will walk away if they hear the full truth.
Sometimes that lie ruins everything.
Sometimes it weirdly saves the student.
Most of the time it does both.
This list isn’t about who traumatized their students the most or who made us cry the hardest.
It’s about mentors who looked at a scared kid, chose a version of the story to tell them, and hoped it would be enough to get them through the next fight.If you’re already mentally adding names to the list (Biscuit Krueger, Giyu, whoever), good.
Pull up a chair and make your case.
If you’re interested in how this kind of mentor actually shapes a character long-term, I go deeper into that in my Edward Elric character breakdown.
And if you’re catching up on some of these shows, most of them are streaming on Crunchyroll.
