[Renall]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

make an example of a forgotten plot thread that isn't a plot hole, and explain why it doesn't qualify as plot hole.

What are you, my English teacher?

• Kumasawa's apparent association with Beatrice is played up as considerably more important and meaningful than "she was just in on it and helped raise her." But in the end, that appears to be all we get out of it. It's not developed, but it doesn't create a problem with the plot such that it could be considered a "hole."
• Kasumi's importance largely is ignored in the end, but it really doesn't matter what happened to her and when and whether it ever really did or whether she ever really existed or whatever. So it isn't really a plot hole if she's not talked about much later.
• Kinzo's wife is largely not mentioned in Chiru. Her suspicions about Kinzo are never explained. That she even existed seems to have been ignored or forgotten. However, it's not a plot hole because nothing she ever did apparently went beyond having suspicions, and we have enough information to understand that her suspicions were reasonable even though we don't know a lot of other things about why she initially became suspicious or how she felt about it in the end.
• Okonogi's "world peace" line apparently doesn't mean anything, but it isn't a plot hole because whether he says it or not doesn't appear to have any effect on the narrative.
• How did Yasu manage to set all that stuff up with a reputable bank and not explain or identify herself or reveal where all that shit came from? It isn't said, but it's potentially possible for her to have done so, so it's merely an underexplained action and not a plot hole. That she was able to do it is not really an issue, so it doesn't cause you to go "wait, that's not possible." You might say "I wonder how," but that's not a plot hole.
• Most things about Asumu are grossly underdeveloped for such an influential person in Battler's life. However, it turns out almost none of them matter because they're not brought up and since we know so little, we can't see any contradictions that might have existed from her influence (i.e. "But Battler wouldn't do that because Asumu always said <x>" is not something we can say).

The story has a lot of unanswered questions or underdeveloped characters and themes. Unanswered questions are not plot holes, however. A plot hole is an inconsistency, impossibility, or contradictory bit of information that causes the narrative to stop flowing properly. None of the things I just talked about damage the flow of the narrative, and most of them wouldn't even change anything if they were completely excised. If Asumu were not even named and nothing about Kinzo's dead wife were ever even spoken about, nothing would change. It's interesting and maybe not developing those things is a problem, but it isn't a plot hole.

Not explaining Yasu's logistics very well is also a problem with the plotting (outside of Our Confession maybe), but it isn't a plot hole.