A light/web novel about a person reincarnated as the youngest child in a noble family, who later learns magic from a zombie magician The main character of the story is a boy born into a noble family that rules the surrounding farming lands but is actually rather poor. He has many big brothers, and therefore he has no hopes of becoming the successor of the family, but he doesn't have any intention of doing so anyway. His father also has an affair with the village head's daughter.

No one pays attention to him or expects anything from him, except for one of his big brothers. Magicians are rare in the world, but his father does have some magic books, even though he cannot use magic himself. It turns out the boy has a great talent for magic and learns very quickly. He also visits the woods behind the estate to train his magic and hunt for game. Because the woods are dangerous, people generally don't enter leisurely, and since the population is desperately needed for farming, there are not many hunters. When he brings back animals he hunted, he is greatly praised for adding meat to their family's fare, which is usually made of unappetizing gruel.

One day, he meets a zombie in the woods, who turns out to be a great magician who died but cannot leave because of his wish to find a disciple. In a short time, the boy learns his new master's magic and also receives his mana capacity. His master grants him his magic storage ring, which among many other items, also includes rations that could feed an army for months. The boy grants his master a peaceful death with his newly learnt magic.

It slowly becomes known that this young master can use magic, and the village head approaches him to usurp his oldest brother's claim to the title of the head of the house. The boy, however, does not wish for conflict nor is he interested in the position.

When his oldest brother marries, all of his big brothers are forced to leave the house, since they have come of age and need to find their own path in the world. The boy gets to stay a few more years because he is still too young. His mastery of magic allows him to fly, and thus he can visit other cities. In the city, he pretends to be a young boy from a neighboring village who came to sell game his father hunted.

When he becomes a bit older, the boy leaves his home to enroll in an adventurer's school. In order not to strain his finances, he applies for scholarship and passes the test with flying colors. He forms a team with 1 other boy and 2 girls.

As a representative of his house, he is invited to attend a party of the reigning local noble. It turns out that they were interested in him because they found out about his connection with his master. His master was a genius magician among their ranks, who was sent to battle but perished and ended up wandering around as a zombie. The noble asks for the battle rations back and the boy returns them. In exchange, they hand over his master's bank account and house.

I think that the description of this novel says that it contains a lot of economic topics. If I recall correctly, the main character is also a reincarnated person from another world. The novel is in the mangaupdates.com database, but I cannot find it. Please help if you know it, thanks!

I found it. It's Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou!
Synopsis from mangaupdates:

Ichinomiya Shingo, a young 25 years old, single, worker of firm company while thinking of tomorrow' busy working day goes to sleep. However the moment he woke up, it's a room unknown to him. He then learn that he is inside a 6 years-old boy and is taking over his mind. He then learn a lot from the memories of the said boy: he was born as the youngest child (8th son and 10th child) of poor noble family living in back country. Having no administrative skill, he can't do anything to manage the vast land his family has.
Fortunately, he is blessed with a very rare talent, talent of magic. Unfortunately, while his talent could bring prosperity to his family, in his situation it only brought disaster. Yes, this is the story of the boy, Wendelin Von Benno Baumeister, opening his own path in a harsh world.


How is it that non reliable mangakas get work again and again? I've seen it time and again that a mangaka just stops what he/she is doing as he / she looses interest and starts the next project instead.

A very big example includes here "Candidate for Goddess". The Mangaka who created it was and is known for doing that time and again.

What really surprises me is that they just get work again and again despite their tendencies (and they even being KNOWN for that). In other branches (programmers as example) you are a goner from the market when you start doing that.

So my question here is is there any infos available on WHY Mangakas who are known for not finishing their work and instead starting something anew get work again and again seemingly very easily?
(is it something cultural I'm overlooking here, or is it something else at work here?)

Business-wise, that is not very important because as long as these mangaka still sells, publishing companies would still like to sign a deal with them. To stop these kinds of mangaka from keep having jobs, then the market must reject their new project. Only then would a publishing company be unwilling to sign them.

Now, most readers are just casual readers. They just read when they like it and are not that attached to a series very much. Only hardcore fans would follow and know everything about a series. Thus for most reader, whether this mangaka is known for being such a person is not very important.

In fact many don't bother knowing who the mangaka is. My sister, who is not an otaku although she ocassionally read manga, knows Naruto, Fairy Tail, Bleach, One Piece, and many other mangas. But if you tell her Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima, Kubo Tite, Oda, then she'll say, "who's that?" The only mangaka she knows is Fujiko F. Fujio (because it's Doraemon). What they need to know is just the title of the manga and whether it is interesting or not.


Why can't Alphonse trade his alchemy for Edward's alchemy? At the end of the FMA: Brotherhood (Fullmetal Alchemist) series, Edward tried to use alchemy and failed because he wanted his brother back and the law of equivalent exchange clearly states that

  Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

Therefore Alphonse's alchemy would be an equal value to Edward's alchemy. so my question is if Edward Elric traded his brother's (Alphonse Elric) body and soul with his alchemy, why can't Alphonse trade his alchemy for Edward's alchemy?

Previously, it was asked Why can't Edward get back his power to do alchemy? That question was (in my perspective) saying Ed should use a philosopher's stone to do alchemy, because a philosopher's stone ignores the law of equivalent exchange. My question focuses on the observation that a transmutation by Al to give up his alchemy for Ed's should be a good example of following the law of equivalent exchange.

This is an expansion of my thoughts in Why can't Edward get back his power to do alchemy?

There is no explicit indication that this is impossible, but it would not be in keeping with the tone of the manga (which Brotherhood roughly adapts) were Edward able to recover his alchemy. Edward's decision to trade his gate for Alphonse is portrayed as rather final, per Truth's question to him after he proposes the exchange:

  The Gate of Truth exists within everyone. That is how everyone can use alchemy. Will you degrade yourself to an ordinary person, unable to use alchemy?

Brotherhood points out more explicitly:

  Are you sure about this? If you lose your gateway, you'll never be able to use alchemy again.

It is thus unlikely that the exchange can be reversed; Edward even notes that his recovery of Alphonse is "the Fullmetal Alchemist's final transmutation." Furthermore, the personal nature of the gate makes me doubt that it is possible for someone else to make an exchange for Edward's own gate. (If Edward is the only person who can access his gate and thus, be able to give it away, then he is probably the only person who would be able to exchange it back, in the scenario where regaining one's alchemy is possible.)

Aside from the issue of whether the exchange is technically possible, Edward also does not really care about regaining his lost abilities. Even if he mourned the loss, it is doubtful that he would let Alphonse sacrifice himself in this manner. (Alphonse notes after the time-skip that Edward does not mind keeping his automail leg "as a reminder" and that "apparently he had no intention of trying to get it back" — Edward only really cared about recovering Alphonse's body. Surely Edward does not care about being "an ordinary person" who cannot use alchemy, if he is even willing to live with his automail leg.)


What is Tokyo Ghoul RA? I saw on "Tokyo Ghoul RA" episode 5 on Pinterest, and it is something totally different from Tokyo Ghoul regular episode 5. Could someone please explain what the difference is?

RA is another synonym for "Tokyo Ghoul: Root A", which is the second season.

It has 12 episodes.


How sasuke is still able to use curse mark? I saw that, Itachi caught orochimaru while coming out of sasuke's cursed mark with his Totsuka sword.

Naruto wiki says below,

  During Sasuke's battle with Itachi Uchiha, he lost the cursed seal, along with Orochimaru (having earlier been absorbed into Sasuke's body), as they were removed with the Sword of Totsuka.

But, How did he use it with susanoo while fighting madara ?

It was not Sasuke's curse mark that was used, he's with Jugo when Susanoo was infused with sage chakra, so Jugo's chakra was used to gain Senjutsu Susanoo and form the same pattern as Sasuke's curse seal.

Jugo in Sasuke's Susano

Orochimaru explaining Jugo's chakra

Source: Ch. 648


Why is Big Mom afraid of Shanks? Why is Big Mom afraid of Shanks? Is it because of his ultimate Haki? Or is it because of the fact that he even survived after clashing with Edward Newgate and getting in a war with Kaido?

Big Mom is arguably the weakest Yonko, but she makes up for this by forming allies with different nation. Hence, the numbers of her offspring.

Shanks is definitely a force to be feared for good reasons.

He has only 1 ship - As we currently know, Shanks only has a caveat of a crew in 1 single ship and that says a lot. Numbers in the OP world can mean a lot and him being in the New World with just a single ship and exceptional crew members who are known to be great at Haki (Beckman, Lucky Roo and Yasopp).
Former Cabin Boy of the Pirate King, Roger - He was known to be a part of Roger's Crew with Buggy, although this doesn't mean much because of the latter's credibility, being part of the crew might help him develop his Haki.
Haki Strength - Shanks is shown to be a master of 2 types of Haki, Armament and especially Conqueror's Haki, greatly depicted when he boarded Whitebeard's ship. He also used to occasionally fight with Mihawk, the World's Greatest Swordsman before his arm got severed.

Just these three alone would make you fear the red-haired Pirate. Also, he interrupted Kaido's attempt to attack Whitebeard during the Battle of Marineford and stopped said battle by just announcing the war is over which prompted Sengoku to do it which proves that Shanks is definitely someone you don't mess with.

If he can stop Kaido, the World Government/Marines, and make Blackbeard shiver then this just proves my point.

TL;DR Big Mom is afraid of Shanks because he's just too powerful for her.


Would Nyu have developed murderous tendencies after enough time had passed? When Lucy is forced into her 'Nyu' personality, she is reduced to a basic level of intelligence, with a diminished vocabulary and no access to her vectors. As the chapters progress, we see her begin to learn - specifically new words, like 'Kouta' and 'Yes'.

Early in the story, we learn that Diclonius children gain access to their vectors and begin to kill humans at around the age of 3. Given that Nyu is in a childlike state, and that she's learning much like a normal Diclonius child would, does that mean that she too would begin to murder humans after around 3 years?

Or would the fact that she isn't actually a child mean those consequences wouldn't occur?

I've already finished the story, so no need to worry about spoilers.

Side note:
If I remember rightly, at some point in the later chapters (just before Kaede house is attacked), a particular event occurs where Nyu regains most of her intelligence, and can string together proper sentences. I can't remember exactly what happens, since it's been a while since I've read it, but for the question's sake, let's just assume that never happened, and Nyu stayed as she originally was.

Fyi: The snapshots are nsfw, so they are put spoiler tags.

Kaede has been able to use her vectors in Nyu-mode and is also able of speaking properly. During the 6 months timeskip of chapter 72, Nyu was able to learn speech and in chapter 87 she unlocked her vectors in Nyu-mode. See below for more details. It hadn't been three years, but you were right in thinking that she would be able to grow her second personality the same way she did her first. I guess she could learn faster at this stage, as her brain was fully grown by now, compared to when she was still a child. Kaede was also always seen as the more intelligent Diclonius, because she was able to reach a high age without being found out. And if it wasn't for her friend, she would have never been caught, despite being a child.

When Kaede was taken hostage by Chief Kakuzawa in chapter 86, he claimed that she had a split personality and that her Nyu-side could not use her vectors, just as you claimed.

This argument was countered in the next chapter though. In chapter 87, we can see Chief Kakuzawa push Nyu to her limits, claiming that she has no place to go to and that they should create a new world together filled with real demons. Getting fed up with his story, she snapped and Nyu became able to release her full power, despite staying in Nyu-form. Chief Kakuzawa (and thus Lynn Okamoto himself) confirmed that she hadn't changed back to Lucy-form, despite releasing really powerful vectors.


What is the significance of the painting in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time? I've already kind of sorted out all the other mysteries of this movie but only this painting thing is killing me.

What is that painting? What's the story behind it? Why does it actually exist in the first place? And most importantly, what is the relationship between Chiaki and that painting?

The painting contains the formula to time travel.

As said by Auntie witch:

  This painting was drawn hundreds
  years ago in a time of war and famine.

  Why did someone draw this painting when
  the world was on the verge of destruction?

The most plausible answer to that question is that the painting contains the time travel formula.

Also, as seen in the movie Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010), Auntie witch discovers the formula trying with different kind of herbs. The painting contains those herbs and the quantity needed.

In the first movie The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (1983), the time traveler says to Auntie witch that they are trying with different herbs to perfect the formula.

So, according to those facts, that is my answer. The painting contains the formula to time travel.


Did Ace master any Haki abilities? Ace was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard crew, but he hadn't displayed power befitting of his title. Besides the fact that he was a Logia user with the power to control fire from Mera-Mera No Mi, he has not demonstrated any other type of powers like Haki.

For example:

In the Alabasta Arc, he fought against Smoker, but he wasn't able to put up a good fight, claiming that both were Logia users and the fight would end with no result.

This also raises questions about Smoker's Haki abilities and the fact that even Smoker wasn't able to use Haki at that time.
He wasn't able to hit Blackbeard when Blackbeard used his Logia power.
He showed no resistance when Akainu hit him, not even weak Haki, and took the hit head-on.

He never fought Logia users with Haki, nor has he shown remarkable Kenbunshoku Haki.

Haki was revealed after the time skip, but it has been there since Rayleigh's and Roger's times. Were Ace's abilities limited to his Devil Fruit power only?

Yes, Ace had possessed Haoshoku Haki.
According to Portgas D. Ace article on One Piece Wiki:

While not portrayed in the main storyline, it was revealed in a flashback that Ace possesses Haoshoku Haki, which at the time he had no conscious control over. Ace first demonstrated the ability at 10 years of age, when he knocked the Bluejam Pirates crew unconscious after an outburst of rage (only Bluejam himself remained conscious from the Haki release, and he was a high-tier of East Blue at the time). Much as Luffy used his Haki to knock out a crowd of Kuja warriors, Ace used his Haki to knock out the attacking members of Bluejam's pirate crew.
Ace was first shown to have knowledge about it when during the Battle in Marineford, he witnessed Luffy unknowingly unleash his Haki and remarked "You too?". He has never been seen using Haki apart from during his childhood.

Ace unleashed Haoshoku Haki in chapter 587...

... and Bluejam's pirate crew after they are hit by Ace's Haki.

He might have developed and mastered other types of Haki too, but they are not shown in the manga. After all, he was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and had the power of D.


What is the difference in height between Midoriya and Mirio Togata? According to the My Hero Academia Wikia the difference in height between Midoriya and Mirio is 15 cm. But in this shot from season 4, Midoriya is at least a head shorter.

Are Midoriya and Mirio Togata’s heights in the right proportion? What are their real heights?

The wiki heights are correct, the anime just likes to exaggerate size differences.
Even if it's a pretty big exaggeration in this case.

Here in this picture Midoya is 520 pixels tall, about the first top 145 of those pixels cover the part shown in your screenshot.

Your picture is higher resolution / from closer to the characters, and Midoya is 225 pixels tall there (I cut off the top of his hair), and Mirio is about 230 pixels taller (attempted to compensate for the head slant).

So, let's transform that pixel-information into a centimeter-based height difference in the picture:
166/520*145/225*230 = 47 centimeters (or 28.5% of a Midoya)

To see if this is a one-time occurrence (not all shows are consistent, after all, let's have another quick look at this picture:

Nice upright poses for both Mirio and Nejire, and as an added bonus Nejire is only supposed to be 2cm shorter than Midoya.
Yet, again, there is a huge difference between the two.
Using the same logic (and this Nejire reference picture from the MHA wiki):
164/510*290/1005*290 = 27 centimeters.

So, Nejire in that shot in more on equal footing with Mirio than Midoya in your shot, despite her being 2cm shorter 'officially'.
This can be done for narrative purposes, or to just make the composition of a shot work better.
But the values listed on the wiki are always the reference values worked with, they're just not always strictly adhered to.

TLDR Summary:

No, their proportions in your screenshot are not the right proportion
(but that is a common thing in MHA and animation in general)
These characters are 166cm and 181cm tall respectively, the values you also found on the wiki. They just don't look it in that screenshot.


Is the "wakakusa" ad a references to something? In episode 4, there is an ad for "強力わかくさ" or "strong green/fresh grass."

Is this a reference/parody to something (out-of series reference), like the "Dogs Playing Pool" in the background of episode 3 at the pool hall? If so, to what?

The pose itself seems to be a reference to a similar billboard ad from the American Sci-fi movie Blade Runner. In this ad, a woman dressed as a Geisha is holding a pill in a similar way to the image above. The dress is similar for both characters, as is the object being held.

You can watch the ad here.

The ad plays several times throughout the movie. The image is followed by the text 強力わかもと, which is not exactly the same as the Uchouten Kazoku text but is close enough to be fairly sure this is the reference. I'm not sure what わかくさ means here. It could be 若草 (green/fresh grass) but my best guess is that they changed the name just enough that it would avoid violating copyrights but still be recognizable.

The Blade Runner ad is itself a reference to the product 強力わかもと (Strong Wakamoto), which is a gastrointestinal drug to aid with digestion produced by わかもと製薬 (Wakamoto Pharmaceutical) (ja.wikipedia link).


Is there a reason for the child of Maria and Mamoru to be called Messiah? So the official name for the child of Maria and Mamoru is 救世主 (Kyūseishu), which basically means "savior" or "the Messiah"... It is unusual (and ironic) for a character to be called like that -- especially when she(he?) is pretty much the biggest threat for humanity at that time. Why Messiah among all names? Is there a reason for this?

It's because Messiah is the savior or the Messiah for the Queer Rats, not the humans.

It's implied that Squealer found out (through a False Minoshiro) that the Queer Rats

   are actually genetically altered humans (mixed with the DNA of mole rats as Saki speculates at the end)

and for all intensive purposes, slaves to cantus users much like that of the Slave Dynasties (where non-cantus humans were slaves to the ruling class of cantus users). Any attempt of rebellion against the humans would be slaughter because the Queer Rats can't fight against cantus powers in the end.

Supposedly from the same source Squealer learned about the Death Feedback (and possibly what an Orge is) in which cantus-users of the 4th group have genetically altered themselves to be unable to kill other members of their own speices. we even see earlier in the series that something that looks human but isn't (like a Queer Rat in the distance) can trigger the adverse reactions of the Death Feedback.

By raising Maria and Mamoru's child as a Queer Rat (via imprinting) he/she (in the anime it's a girl, in the manga it's a boy, not sure about the novel) would not be affected by the Death Feedback when killing humans (because to Messiah he/she is a Queer Rat or that Queer Rats are human and actual humans are something else) and as described by Tomiko Asahina when she was telling Saki about when the village was in danger from an Ogre it took deceit and mutual destruction to kill a single Ogre (the doctor who killed the boy who was the Ogre ended up dying). This is even more evident when Shisei Kaburagi faced against Messiah where despite being the stronger cantus user he was weakened and killed by Messiah.

Now to my understanding Messiah as a name is never used by the humans and it's the Queer Rats, mainly Squealer, that refer to Messiah as their Messiah, their savior. Most of the humans refer to him/her as an Ogre while Saki refer her to as Maria's (and Mamoru's) Son/Daughter


Are the chosen anime within Welcome To The N.H.K. of any significance? In the anime of Welcome To the NHK, the show that is constantly played nextdoor is Puru Puru Pururin.

We know this character is not from a real show (although it has a website alluding to this), so it's not an external influence.
In the manga, an Ojya the witch is mentioned, along with lyrics from the relevant show:

Please give me the courage in my heart to help me fold away this carpet of sadness and discover the me inside,
Oh yes, the delicate heart of a lady,
Just look in my eyes and tell me you love me,
It's like a fairy tail
...

Do we know if this is an actual show? If so, is it of any relevance?
In the light novel, the show that is played constantly is Ojamajo Doremi (or Magical DoReMi in English) and a life-size figurine is introduced from Martian Successor Nadesico

 Yamizaki declares that the figurine is God and tries to convince Satou to worship it.

Do the choice of these shows have any significance?  Are there any (rough) similarities in plot to Welcome to the NHK?
TL;DR - Do we know the show that was in the manga, Do the shows in the light novel have any meaning or were they just chosen arbitrarily?

It always reminded me of Di Gi Charat ("Dejiko") but I don't have any evidence that this was intentional. Visually they're pretty similar, and both are sort of used as mascots (Di Gi Charat being the mascot for the Broccoli gaming company). They also both append random words to the end of their sentences (e.g. "purin"). Additionally, according to Wikipedia:

  An animated Dejiko and her sidekick Gema first appeared on in a television advertisement for Gamers, set to the store's theme song, Welcome! by Hiroko Kato

But again, don't know any official source that says one way or another about the similarity.


How closely does Rurouni Kenshin resemble real life? Rurouni Kenshin is an anime based on several historical facts. How accurately are the events in the series portrayed?

I don't mean just historical events used in the series, such as the Shinsengumi, but how accurate is their real life portrayal of the art of swordsmanship. Is it really possible to obtain such power with dedication to daily training portrayed in the series?

Since your question is remarkably broad (historical facts, events, the art of the sword, the base for all of the characters & plot points), and since some aspects of Rurouni Kenshin's historicity have already been answered in other questions on this SE here, here, and here, and there are useful fan websites like this, this, this, and this, I will collect here some of the mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki's own comments in a number of interviews about how historically-accurate the series is.

Interview at AnimeExpo 2002 convention in 2 different fan translations (he was speaking in Japanese):

#1:

  Hmmmmmmm, Rurouni Kenshin started as a short story, so I didn’t do much research on it, but in the year and a half between the story and the start of the series, I spent a lot of time reading [books about Meiji]. I did the manga because I wanted to draw kimono and swords, so don’t count on all of the details to be completely accurate. . . . Also, I am a big fan of the Shinsengumi. . . . The model for Kenshin was one of the old hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. This man was an assassin and slayed … He had a tough life, and in his last years he started to repent for all of the killings, but he kept his will and was executed by the government. So he is not very well respected in Japan. . . . Some moves are based on actual moves. Sanosuke’s fuwai no kuwami is just an exaggerated double punch. The other half of the moves are created by him swinging his sword around in the privacy of his own room. A third category pays homage to his favorite shows like Sunrise Showdown. Shishio’s final move is just a big-ass homoro dama.

and

  I have practiced Kendo, but I am very weak. That is where my love of sports comes from, but I am very weak. If I were good at Kendo, I wouldn’t be drawing manga.

#2:

  Kenshin started as a shot story without much research. In the year and half, he had between when the series started he read a LOT of books. He wanted to draw kimonos and swords, so its not very accurate to the Meiji period. . . . He is also a big fan of the Shinsengumi, but he couldn't do the actual revolution since he wanted to do more human drama. . . . There was a hitokiri of the revolution [name missed], who had his own mind, and never really bent to the government. He did end up repenting for his killing, however he DID get executed for never submitting to the government. . . . A lot of the moves are based on real martial arts moves, just over-exaggerated. The other half are created by him flinging a sword around in the privacy of his room. Others are homages to favorite games, like Samurai Spirits . . .

and

  Watsuki has practiced Kendo and his love of sword comes from that. He's very weak thought, and if he was a good kendo practitioner he wouldn't be drawing manga.

Interview from Kenshin Kaden guidebook in 2 different fan translations:

#1

  The sakabatou is something original that I came up with. The reason for it is very simple: I didn’t want my main character killing anyone. But a bamboo sword or wooden sword isn’t intimidating enough, so I came up with the idea of a sword that has its sharp and blunt edges on reversed sides. That way the main character is able to fight the way he always does, and still be able to refrain from killing anyone. [laughs]

#2

  It's an original idea, a weapon like that didn't exist at that time. Right before the beginning of the series, I told myself that it wasn't a good idea to have a main character who killed his opponent in every fight, but I also didn't want to give him a bokuto (wooden sword), or a takemitsu (sword with a normal hilt but a wooden blade). Then I got the idea to create a sword with a sharp back, so that it could be used effectively against opponent, but it wouldn't be lethal. And that's how the sakabatou was born!

Interview from Kenshin Hiden guidebook:

  I practiced [kendo] in jr. high but only to an elementary level. Then I stopped practicing during high school, since I was devoted to drawing manga by then. I didn’t want my time limited by extracurricular activities. . . . It started when I read the new Moeyo, Ken by Shiba Ryuutarou (another very famous and popular history in Japan).  I loved the book and decided to use the end of the Bakufu era as a historical background. Later, the story spread to the Meiji era, which is due to another book I read in that same period: Shuugata Sanshirou by Tsuneo Tomita. Designing a story set at the end of the Bakufu perid is quite a complicated job, and therefore the short history presented is inadequate. The end of the Bakufu and the beginning of Meiji is filled with chaos and instabilities, so I chose Meiji years 10 to 20, a more stable era for the background of a short story. Due to various limitations, I couldn’t draw real historical figures. So I created my own characters. . . . This is because of the Satsuma Rebellion. Before the end of the Satsuma Rebellion in the tenth year of Meiji, there was always a lot of turmoil and rioting in Japan. Most people are familiar with the end of the Bakufu and the Meiji Restoration, not recognizing that the end of the Bakufu as the exact beginning of the Meiji era. Instead, the Meiji truly began in Meiji year 10, after the Satsuma Rebellion ended. For the same reason, I chose Meiji year 11 for the background story of Rurouni Kenshin. . . . No, I didn’t take [Ookubo Toshimichi’s assassination] into consideration at that time. Initially, Rurouni Kenshin was only intended to be pubished for 30 weeks. Though I hadn’t thought of it beforehand, I thought it'd be very interesting to add this into the plot. . . . No, I wasn’t very confident [laughs], especially when the series was first published, I was really worried. . . . My interest in history began with the start of the Kenshin series. I learned all of this history along with my readers. I had to look for references at the same time as I was drawing the series; I knew very little about the Shinsengumi. I like the Shinsengumi since I created Sengoku no Mikazuki in the year that I finished Rurouni and started Rurouni Kenshin, the only book that I read was about the Shinsengumi [laughs]. . . . My favorites are Hijikata Toshizou, Okita Souji, Saitou Hajime, Harada Sanosuke, Serizawa Kamo, in fact each of the units. I also like Takeda Kanryuu and Nagaruka Shinpachi. I always want to somehow arrange an appearance of Nagakura Shinpachi in the manga. . . . Yes, I also like Ookubo Toshimichi. Things related to Katsura Kogorou have an interesting feel as well. Apart from the Ishinshishi, it's boring to study the life of Enomoto Takeai after the Battle of Hakodate. I like that. There was also a swordsman appointed in the late Bakufu period, Sakakikara Kenkichi. He was a master of the martial arts school established by the Bakufu government. His title required being the strongest swordsman of the Bakufu. He insisted on wearing a cape to his death; he was really a stubborn person. I also considered adding him into the manga. I’m interested in Sakamoto Ryoma recently, but I don’t intend to add him into the manga [laughs]. . . . Although I don’t have time to read these days, I read a lot in the beginning. The writers that I like include Shiba Ryotarou, Ikenami Shoutarou, Shibata Renzaburou, and more. Covering the Shinsengumi, Shimo Zawahiro (a writer of novels chronicling the Shinsengumi) is very famous. His writing is interesting and serves well as references and historical novels.

Interview at Made in Asia 3 convention (I'm translating from the French, since it took place in Brussels):

  It’s true that at the beginning of Kenshin, I wasn’t a specialist in this period, even though I liked a lot of aspects, especially the Bakufu. It’s really as I was drawing the story that I became more knowledgeable. At that time, the internet was not at developed as it is now, so I had to deepen my knowledge by finding out through old books.


How did Diamond Jozu lose his arm? I have read in the wiki that Jozu's right arm was missing after the war. But I have never seen nor notice it in the anime.

And I can't find the part where he lost it.

So when and how did he lose his arm and who was he fighting with??

Here is a video from the MarineFord War which shows that he lost his arm to Aokiji.
While fighting Aokiji, his attention goes towards Marco and Aokiji takes advantage of this and uses his devil fruit power to make him freeze.


Who is the boy at the end of Feng Shen Ji Season 3? Some people say he is Shen Yen, but how? They don't look alike at all, and Shen Yen should have been dead by then. So, who is this boy?

The boy is Wei Shan, Kong Que's son who we have all forgotten about.

He is said to be the next Shen Yen for two reasons:

He is a firm believer of Shen Yen's ideals. Also, he has a crystal clenched in his fist and a pair of eyes burning for revenge in the last pages.
The five white marks above his eyes, likely the source of power for the five different rays of light possessed by Kong Xuan (whom Wei Shan is modeled after), look oddly like Shen Yen's eyes.


What was Tohsaka doing watching the dojo lately? It was mentioned in episode 1 of Ufotable's Fate/Unlimited Blade Works that Tohsaka used to go to the archery dojo to watch someone. Was she secretely watching Shirou because she had a crush on him (but how?) or was she looking out for Sakura? Did Tohsaka know of Sakura's feelings for Shirou?

I would assume it was because of Sakura. She knew full well of the dealing between her father and the Matous, and it's revealed in Heaven's Feel that despite Sakura's changed appearance (due to the brutal abuse Sakura suffered), she still knew Sakura was her sister.

For comparison's sake, this is how different Sakura looks before and after she was adopted.

(Left - Pre-adopted Sakura. Right - Post-adopted Sakura)

Also Rin turned up at the dojo after Shirou left, so we can rule him out. The only other person in the club Rin has a relationship with is Ayako Mitsuduri, so it could be her. Nevertheless, Rin cares very deeply for Sakura despite the deal between their families, and I think I remember her mentioning she could only watch Sakura from afar and would have rather protected her if she had the chance.


Why did Yuuto try to dodge Rokuro's attacks? In episode 42, Yuuto said that he took the spell power of Kuranashi, the 12 Guardians, and Abe no Seimei. Then why would he try to dodge Rokuro's attacks?

In episode 41, Kuranashi didn't need to dodge the attacks of Tatara.
Then how come when Yuuto combined all that power with the Guardians and Abe no Seimei, he needed to dodge Rokuro's single attacks?

There are two hypothesis for that

He was bluffing. He did not take that much spell power. He would need to spend spell power to block the attacks that did land and/or regenerate wounds. He was saving on power. Not likely.
He wanted Rokuro to keep on fighting in order to enrage him into changing modes. If he just overpowered his attacks and shielded himself, maybe rokuro would stop fighting / enraging to think of a different strategy. No. He wants him to keep on swinging and slowly lose his humanity as his kegare side takes over. Once he realizes that this is not going so smoothly, he traps Benio and starts to kill her.

This is the most likely, as we see later that

   He indeed evolves, and is saved by the timely reappearance of Tsuchimikado Arima.


What are the effects of forging a contract with a dragoon? I don't know if it has ever been mentioned in the anime (or maybe I just don't remember), but what exactly happens if you forge a contract with a dragoon? I've tried searching it in google and  had no luck using the title as the parameters. The wikia doesn't say much about it, only that it requires an exchange of flesh to be formed.

Nearing the end of the second season, Toru finally forged the contract with Fredirika, and we can see regenerative abilities but not much else. What advantages and disadvantages are there in forging a contract with a dragoon? Considering how long Toru delayed it, there must be a reason why he chose to do it at the last minute. This may be explained in detail in the LN which I haven't read.

To be honest, I feel as if being a dragoon, Cavalier is much more efficient whereas now he can't die unless the brain is killed and as we see he becomes much more powerful being able to take on Shin as if he was on a whole different level than him. He also gets Fredirika to constantly follow his commands which Fredirika was more powerful than his old self so he really just becomes so much more powerful, but he didn't do it in the first place for his pride and honor and stuff like that.


Why does Moral shoot through a pillow? In the episode 4, Moral is shooting someone through a pillow with his golden gun.

Why did he do this instead of directly shooting on the guy?

Theory 1: As senshin mentioned this is likely meant as a silencer, or suppressor, for the gun.

It seems to be a pretty popular belief that shooting through a pillow would dampen the sound of the gun. I can't find any reliable information on this unfortunately, only some videos that show some effect. However, the decibel values from the first video are roughly in line with what Wikipedia says is a typical dampening achieved by a real suppressor, i.e. around 130dB which is still very loud. In the end the sound levels also depend on many other things such as sub- or supersonic bullets or the firing mechanism as discussed here.

Theory 2: A pillow could be used to contain splatter, in particular keep it off the shooter's clothes.

The latter doesn't really fit the distance between target and pillow in the image and since you say the sound effect is muffled in the anime, Theory 1 seems to be what they were going for.


Trying to remember a possible Sci Fi Anime/Movie I had seen this anime/movie when I was pretty young, so it's probably from the late 80's early 90's. It was also dubbed in English.

I vaguely remember the scene, it was with a man and a dark wolf like creature. I assume the wolf had just finished doing a killing/deed. The man congratulates her(the wolf) saying something like, "You did good work, you can have the rest of the day off." As to which she replies with glee, then turning into a woman. I think she had dark hair, perhaps purple?

The scene then cuts to her blissfully taking a shower. When she finishes, she walks into a hotel room where there's a robot. (For some reason the only comparison I can think of is Wheatley from Portal2.) To which when the robot sees her, "malfunctions" as a response to her being only in a towel.

I can also remember that the hotel overlooks a city scape, though that's all.

I managed to find the answer!

It's Choujin Gakuen Gowcaizer

It seems I mistook the wolf and the dark haired woman for the same person.
They are actually two different people.

Also, the film seems to have been released in the late 90's, not late 80's early 90's as I had previously thought.


What was the first iyashikei series? This essay on Reddit gives a pretty good definition for iyashikei:

  Iyashikei means “healing-type” and the genre’s works reflect this meaning. Iyashikei aims to heal the viewer through delivering a sense of relaxation and catharsis. This is accomplished through a tranquil – though not necessarily happy – in-show experience which allows the viewer to calm their mind and relax by focusing more on the emotional experience than on the intellectual.

The essay gives several examples of iyashikei shows, including Aria, K-On, Mushishi, and Non Non Biyori.

In my meager explorations of Japanese literature, I've noticed a peaceful and sometimes pensive feeling similar to the tone of many iyashikei, especially in the poetry. It seems that iyashikei is a genre with pretty deep roots in Japanese culture, so I'd expect it to take off early on in anime.

I'm curious what the earliest iyashikei anime or manga was. The earliest I knew of was Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, from 1994; the Reddit essay mentions the Studio Ghibli film Only Yesterday, from 1991. Are there any earlier? Given my hypothesis that iyashikei came from a longstanding and uniquely Japanese cultural perspective, it seems like there should have been.

Series this old wouldn't have been identified as iyashikei at the time (even Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Only Yesterday seem to predate the term), but if modern fans would identify it as iyashikei or something similar, it's potentially an answer.

(This was originally going to be a comment, but I'm going to go ahead and make this an answer and explain why I'm not sure it is possible to effectively answer this question. I could well be convinced otherwise, though!)

Unlike obscenity, you don't know (old) iyashikei when you see it

So, here's the problem, as I see it. iyashikei is one of those things that is characterized less by the content of a work and more by the effect of that work upon its audience.

Today, content creators have a well-worn library of narrative approaches that they can use to make their work iyashikei (e.g. "cute girls doing cute things"), and so we can look at a present-day work and see how it uses these approaches to effectively "heal" the audience. Alternatively, we can look at how a work comports itself relative to "canonically" iyashikei works that it discourses with, like Aria and so forth.

But when we look at works that predate the iyashikei "canon" and its associated library of approaches, how do we effectively evaluate whether a work is or is not iyashikei? Based on how it makes you feel, I guess.1
 But that doesn't help us come up with a good answer to "which was the first?". That's the issue - it's simply rather difficult to say what is or is not iyashikei the further into the past you go.

For example:

I strongly disagree with the reddit user's claim that Only Yesterday is iyashikei.

While it is, on the whole, a calm and relaxing movie, and happens to employ some of the narrative trappings common to modern iyashikei works (wistfulness for rural Japan, in particular), it pairs these elements with decidedly un-healing bits, like the various mishaps Taeko experiences during her childhood, and the obstacles she faces in her budding relationship with Toshio. It is a beautiful slice of Japanese life, but is it healing? No, at least not to me.

If we lifted Only Yesterday out of 1991 and released it for the first time in 2016, would we call it iyashikei? I don't think so. It is not, in my view, substantially in discourse with the modern "iyashikei canon".

Why is iyashikei a Thing, anyway?

There's something of an argument that the crystallization of iyashikei in the late 90s as a Thing (throughout Japanese media; not just in the otaku realm) is a direct response to the trouble Japan was experiencing at the time - the bubble had just burst, and Japan was really reeling for the first time since World War II. This explanation is pretty reductive, and it'd be silly to claim that the economy is the only (or even primary) cause, but it seems uncontroversial that Japan's national woes at the time did contribute to the reification of iyashikei.

Taken out of its context as a response to the Japanese zeitgeist of the 90s, does it even make sense to talk about iyashikei? I'm not sure that it does.

A long, rambling footnote

1 This is not to say that it is always impossible to identify a work as having a quality that was only effectively delinated after the work's creation.

Take, for example, the realm of gothic fiction. When Walpole wrote The Castle of Otranto, he wrote the first gothic novel, even though he could not have known that, since the idea of gothic fiction as a distinct thing did not come about until some years later. But we can nonetheless distinctly see that Otranto is a gothic novel (never mind the fact that the whole genre is named for Otranto to begin with), because there are specific narrative trappings that characterize gothic fiction (spooky castles, fantastic romances, etc.), and Otranto exhibits them.

But iyashikei works are not characterized by their narrative in this same way. Where, on the one hand, you have the (admittedly large) cluster of "cute girls doing cute things" anime, you also have "man has mystical encounters with spiritual entities" (Natsume Yuujinchou, Mushishi) and "parenting is great" (Usagi Drop, timeskip notwithstanding) and "shibe does shibe things" (Itoshi no Muco) and "whatever Glasslip is" (Glasslip), and I don't know how to identify a coherent commonality among all these things besides "they make me feel fuzzy inside".


What were the other nine questions in the Chuunin exams? I'm not exactly expecting to find a full list or anything, but I was wondering if the manga/anime gave any clues to what the questions might have been. Checking the manga, I found that the first question was a cryptogram and that the second question was about tactics.

However, I could not find any more information about the questions from the manga. Does the anime provide any more insight into what the first 9 questions might have been?

is cryptography
is figuring out trajectory of a thrown shuriken, as well as predicting the furthest possible range of a shuriken and describing how that conclusion was reached
appears to have a topographical map involving a mountain

As far as I can tell, no other question is explicitly discussed or clearly shown, but none of the rest of them have diagrams or maps, so presumably they are all math or logic questions.

One that Sakura is looking at is shown but (at least at the resolution I'm looking at it on) the kanji just shows up as black blobs, and I'm not sure what it says.

According to Sakura (in the English dub), they are "problems based on uncertainty and requiring complex mechanical energy analysis." They are also stated to get more difficult as they go.


Is Yamoshi a pun on something? All saiyan names are pun on vegetables. Kakaroto (carrot), Vegita (vegetable), Tarble (vegetable), Bardock (Burdock), Totepo (potato), Broly (broccoli), Cabba (cabbage), etc.

Now Akira Toriyama gave recently in an interview the name of the first super saiyan and the first super saiyan god, Yamoshi. Is this a pun on something?

Yamoshi is indeed a pun for Moyashi (もやし).

Moyashi is the Japanese term for Bean Sprouts. Bean sprouts are a common ingredient in many Japanese dishes such as stir fries and soups.


Is namekian fusion stronger than potara fusion? Since Universe 6 lost their potara earrings, and the 2 warriors left are namekians, and it would seem they might eventually fuse considering Champa tells them "you know what you have to do, don't you?" and they say "leave it to us, Champa sama" "We will defeat Universe 7" which would be a very optimistic thought if they rely in their current power level only which is close to Piccoro or Gohan, if they eventually fuse, how much stronger could they become? is namekian fusion stronger than potara fusion?

Correct me if I am wrong, but considering Champa's actions, words and behaviour so far I am pretty sure that he was trying to tell them to not lose. Which could either indicate to destroying the enemies (which seems very unlikely) or waiting it out. I think he meant waiting it out since it was said in earlier episodes that if at the end of the time multiple universes have warriors left then the one with the most warriors would win. Considering their power level + max power level with any given form of boost they wouldn't come close to Kefla. Even if they used Potara earrings. This is because of the fact that they have a fixed power level due to not having saiyan blood. They can power up a little with a ki boost, but nothing close to super saiyan.

Champa is no fool. He sure as hell acts dumb and crazy but his decisions are spot on and based on the current situation. That's why he told Kale and Califa to attack instead of hiding when their power levels were raising in order to destroy Goku. Their initial strategy was to wait it out and hope to be the universe with the most numbers at the end of the tournament after Hit was fallen. But Potara happened which drove Goku to UI. The 2 Namekians will never even reach the power level of SSJ2 Goku when they fuse. With Potara they might be able to force Goku to use SSG, but they can't boost themself more and more like a saiyan, so they will stay at that level while Goku keeps evolving.

Champa knows this as well based on what he had seen. He can be pretty sly as well so he might want them to use nasty strategies in order to reduce the enemy numbers. But it is either this or waiting it out. He definitely didn't mean to tell them to fight as that would mean the loss of his universe due to Jiren and Goku still being alive. Even with depleted stamina Goku requires only a couple of taks in order to recover again to use UI. This is based on the time that passed in the tournament (not episodes) between the first and second UI. Champa knowing this as well would not tell his warriors to fight against such a threat.

Edit:
I just noticed that I had never answered your question and was simply just explaining the situation. The answer is no. Namekian fusion isn't stronger than Potara. Based on Piccolo x Nail fusion with the power levels before and after we can conclude that this formula is fusion power = (A+B)*7(raw estimate). Potara earrings scale far bigger and are known as the strongest type of fusion. When Vegito was introduced in DBZ we could see that it was far stronger than SSJ3 Goku. SSJ3 in general has a rough multiplier of x400 (some sources say x1000) from the base form. Since we have to consider Vegeta as well in the fusion we can conclude that the actual multiplier is at least x100 with Potara earrings. I couldn't find any credible source to explain the multiplier but based on before and after scenes and known multiplier for SSJ states we can give a raw estimate. Anyway Potara is far stronger than a namekian fusion. The most reasonable formula that I found for it was baseform A x baseform B. Some others said that it draws out max potentional achieved by each user and multiplies that by 400. But these aren't official sources.

So all in short, no, Namekian fusion isn't stronger than Potara fusion.


What is the song playing during Midorya and Bakugo's fight? What is the song playing when Midorya and Bakugo are fighting. The instant Midorya punches Bakugo's face really hard near the end of their fight.

It's season 3 episode 61. Where Midorya punches bakugo in the face but bakugo grabs his arm and propels them to the ground.

Its name is United States of Smash, although the one used in Bakugo and Midoriya's fight is just a small part of the complete original track.

Link


What happened to the Sector 6 Plate? In Final Fantasy VII when infiltrating Shinra H.Q there is a puzzle where one has to complete a model of Midgar, when examining Sector 6 it says that it's being rebuilt.

When Cloud's team eavesdrop on the meeting with President Shinra, Scarlet, Heidegger and Reeves they mention that they are stopping reconstruction of Sector 6 to focus on the Neo Midgar Plan (now that Aerith could lead them to the Promised Land).

This has always confused me as I always thought that Midgar was a completed city and that only the Sector 7 plate was destroyed in the early events of the game. So what happened to the Sector 6 Plate?

I don't know what the writers had in mind for this at the time that scene was written in Final Fantasy VII when it came out in 1997, but the 2004 cell phone game Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- explains how Sector 6 was destroyed. This game was never released in English, so I'm relying on the wikia for this information.

In that game, the player controls a member of the Turks during their conflict with AVALANCHE six years before the start of Final Fantasy VII. AVALANCHE takes in a girl called Felicia who was implanted with a materia by Hojo. The materia was supposed to be able to summon a creature called Zirconiade, but summoning Zirconiade required four support materia, which Hojo didn't know, so he pronounced the experiment a failure and threw Felicia out. She was taken in by AVALANCHE. Fuhito, a scientist for AVALANCHE, figures out that Zirconiade needs the four support materia to be summoned, so the group starts tracking them down in order to summon Zirconiade and destroy all life on the planet.

Zirconiade

At the end of the game, Fuhito manages to summon Zirconiade and the Turks fight it as the final boss. Its destruction creates a massive shockwave which destroys the Sector 6 plate. Six years later, during Final Fantasy VII, much of the Sector 6 slums is still wrecked and full of monsters, but some parts, including the Wall Market, are habitable. It isn't clear from the wikia whether these parts escaped destruction or if they were rebuilt in the intervening years.


Would Sasuke awaken 2nd Rinnegan if he in some case accept arm with Hashirama's cells Im asking this because Madara got both of them when he implanted Hashirama's cells in his body.Would it work for Sasuke too?

what Madara did was combine the chakras of Indra and Ashura, he already had the chakra of Indra since he was a reincarnate and added Ashuras chakra by attaching Hashirams cell(who was a reincarnate of Ashura). Meaning he essentially combined those chakras to become more or less like the six path. But in the case of Sasuke he gained the other half of the chakra from Hagromo directly so he already has the missing part to become the six path. Therefore he cant awaken a second reningan, i.e he has already gotten Hashirams cell when he got his missing arm attached(that was made from Hashirams cell)


What was the first mecha anime/manga to feature combining to form a super robot? Shows like Getter Robo or Zambot feature vehicles that (slightly transform) combine to form a giant super robot. What was the first anime or manga to use the combining tactic and was there an inspiration for this?

In most likelihood it was Getter Robo which first appeared in 1974. The story goes that Go Nagai came up with the novel idea of machines combining together to make a single giant robot. He communicated this idea to his friend and fellow mangaka Ken Ishikawa, who went on to create the Getter Robo series (which is why Nagai is often credited as a co-creator, if not sole creator).

On the other hand, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (the first Super Sentai show) aired in 1975 and didn't have any giant robots, combining or otherwise.


Attack Titan holders If Eren was the one who instigated Grisha to retake the Founding Titan then why was he shocked to learn that his father slaughtered the Reiss family in season 3 ?
Moreover  Eren didn't have the abilities of Attack Titan  when Grisha did this . So does the Attack Titan have the ability to peek into future and past memories of other Attack Titan holders even when it isn't possessed by its destined holder ( here Eren ) ?

I am not completely sure, as I have not read the manga but from watching the anime, people who have the titan power inherit the memories of their predecessors. I think they only have the memories of their immediate predecessor, as they never showed Eren to look back past Grisha's memories. When Grisha had slaughtered the Reiss family, Eren was not born. However, he inherited all of Grisha's memories because Eren got the Attack Titan from Grisha. When Eren was having flashbacks of Grisha's memories, he had no clue about why Grisha was doing this. He had not been to the basement under their house with all the information yet. So to him, he saw his father murdering a whole family with unclear intent.


What are the names of all the keys Lucy has? Well I know there are a lot of keys.
I always get mixed up on how there are silver, gold and other colors.
It's all confusing! I don't get how Loke used his own magic to get in all the time.
It's to confusing, I can't keep track. Help me please?!

Gold KeysGate of the water bearer key: Summoned the water Bearer, Aquarius.Gate of the Golden Bull Key: Summons the Golden Bull,Taurus.Gate of the Giant Crab Key: Summons the Giant Crab, Cancer.Gate of the Maiden Key: Summons the Maiden, Virgo.Gate of the Archer Key: Summons the Archer, Sagittarius.Gate of the Lion Key: Summons the Lion, Loke.Gate of the Twins Key:Summons the Twins, GeminiGate of the Ram Key:Summons the Ram, Aries.Gate of the Scorpion Key: Summons the Scorpion, Scorpio.Gate of the Goat Key: Summons the Goat, Capricorn.Silver KeysGate of the Souther Cross Key: Summons the Southern Cross, Crux.Gate of the Clock Key: Summons the Clock, Horolgium.Gate of the Lyre Key: Summons the Lyre, Lyra.Gate of the Canis Minor Key: Summons the Can is Minor, Nikora(Plue).Gate of the Compass Key:Summons The Compass, Pyxis.Artifical KeysCelestial Spirit Banishment Key(former): Banishes the Maiden, Virgo.


Why was Subaru Konoe transferred into Kureha's class? In episode 12, Takanashi Punyuru appeared as transferred student in Sakamachi Kureha's class. However, when she was Kanade's butler (Subaru Konoe), she was on same class with Sakamachi Kinjirou. Why was she transferred to Kureha's class instead of Kinjirou's?

As I was reading manga of Mayo Chiki, I found the answer. I might have missed it while watching anime.

In Volume 3 Chapter 18 - Bayside Baby, when Kureha and and others met them at the beach, Kanade introduced Konoe as Takanashi Punyuru, a younger cousin of Konoe, and same grade as Kureha. This explains why Konoe as Takanashi Punyuru appeared as transfer student in Kureha's class.

Below is the part of chapter where Kanade says

  She's in the same grade as you, so you don't have to add the "-san"

In this context, "she" refers to Takanashi (Konoe) and "you" refers to Kureha.


Are there any other Guinness world record holders? Recently I stumbled upon a post mentioning that One Piece managed to get a place in the Guinness World Records for most printed comic series by one author ever.

Are there any other manga / anime that managed to place themselves in the Guinness World Records? Or is Eiichiro Oda, with One Piece, the only one so far?

No, One Piece is not the only record holder: as shown in this article, "Kochikame Earns Guinness World Record For Most Volumes Published For Single Manga Series" with 200 volumes.


What does the German say in the opening of ef - a tale of melodies? The OP sequences for ef - a tale of melodies have a lot of German text in the background. The text seems to be the same for all of the different versions. This version is from episode 6, and features the instrumental version of the song (Ebullient Future) and the characters are not present, so it's the easiest to read the text:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRp0Adtwadc&hd=1

I think it's pretty safe to assume this isn't totally random German text. What does it say (in English), and what is it referencing?

It looks like the entire OP has been translated in this article. It says that the lines are from 2 different EF related songs, "Eternal Feather" from the ending theme of the last episode of "ef - a tale of memories" and "Emotional Flutter" from the opening of the game "ef - a latter tale".

The article has all of the text, side-by-side, with the English translation and (in red) the song that the line came from. There's also a note at the end about some names of other EF related songs on-screen.

  Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]The smile left behind on the road home, [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]My breaking heart has been healed [Eternal Feather]I heard a tender voice [Eternal Feather]Pieces of a dream spill and fall into my palms [Eternal Feather]To search for the lost answer, I start running [Eternal Feather]Overcoming the time when we came across each other [Eternal Feather]Our hands join together [Eternal Feather]Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]I search for your back that I have forgotten about [Eternal Feather]Making the loneliness end [Eternal Feather]I believe you, but I feel uneasy [Eternal Feather]And I dreamed of your voice [Eternal Feather]I fear getting hurt [Eternal Feather]and make my face smile, [Eternal Feather]I'll start weaving a breakable courage, if we're together [Eternal Feather]When I change even the pain frozen onto me into warmth [Eternal Feather]The sound of the bell echoes [Eternal Feather]Into the endless future [Eternal Feather]Soar up high into the sky [Eternal Feather]Even if you don't have feathers [Eternal Feather]I believe you, but I feel uneasy [Eternal Feather]And I dreamed of your voice [Eternal Feather]The smile left behind on the road home [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]The white wings swayed [Emotional Flutter]Running with my outstretched hand, [Emotional Flutter]I chased after your shadow [Emotional Flutter]If the falling white snow were to pile up, [Emotional Flutter]It would cover up these sad colors [Emotional Flutter]The love sleeping deep within my heart [Emotional Flutter]Please remember it [Emotional Flutter]Soar high up in the sky [Emotional Flutter]And spread your wings [Emotional Flutter]Inside the gentle rays of the sun [Emotional Flutter]You showed me your dreams [Emotional Flutter]Fluttering down from the high sky, [Emotional Flutter]Wear your white wings [Emotional Flutter]Our joined hands [Emotional Flutter]Won't let go of the future [Emotional Flutter]The love sleeping deep within my heart [Emotional Flutter]Please remember it [Emotional Flutter]The smile left behind on the road home [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]My breaking heart has been healed [Eternal Feather]I heard a tender voice [Eternal Feather]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]The white wings swayed [Emotional Flutter]Pieces of a dream spill and fall into my palms [Eternal Feather]To search for the lost answer, I start running [Eternal Feather]Overcoming the time when we came across each other [Eternal Feather]Our hands join together [Eternal Feather]Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]Running with my outstretched hand, [Emotional Flutter]I chased after your shadow [Emotional Flutter]I search for your back that I have forgotten about [Eternal Feather]Making the loneliness end [Eternal Feather]


Do any characters from the main series of "Attack on Titan" appear in "Before the Fall"? I just started reading Attack on Titan: Before the Fall and just had an urge to know whether there is any known face in the series with our current main series.

Does anyone appear in Before the Fall?

No, there is none.

Before the Fall is set decades before the main Attack on Titan series. Even if some of the older characters in the main series were already born during this time, they were not deemed significant enough to be depicted in the story yet since they made no appearances and the story is mainly focused on Kuklo and his time with the Survey Corps.


How many mangakas use digital or traditional tools to make their manga? Do mangakas in Japan often make their manga using digital tools such as using a computer, wacom tablet, clip paint studio, etc, over using traditional methods such as using pencil, paper, inking pen, rulers, etc?

What is the most used method to create a manga today in Japan?

From what I've seen, it is mainly the age of the mangaka that makes a difference: older mangaka stick to the traditional pencil paper, many of them young ones work quite a bit with digital. The rough copy with a pencil and the final drawings will be digital.


Why does all of Grisaia anime series have a weird video format? Typically when an anime airs, it's resolution is 1280x720 and gets downscaled to 853x480, 640x360, or even upscaled to 1920x1080. However, one of the odd things I noticed about Grisaia no Rakuen is that it has black bars on the top and bottom; removing these black bars shows it's true resolution: 1280x544, which is particularly odd. Is there a reason why they drew/animated/produced Grisaia series at a weird resolution?

According to a Gigazine article that reported on a 2 May 2015 panel at Machi Asobi featuring some of the Grisaia staff, it seems that Tensho (the director) just really wanted to do an anime fully in a cinematic aspect ratio (2.35:1 / 21:9 / Cinemascope) and refused to compromise on this point. Tensho does not appear to have elaborated on his motivations, at least not at this particular panel. So, chalk it up to directorial whim, I guess?

Incidentally, according to a tweet by Tensho, Grisaia no Kajitsu was in fact the first television anime to be produced entirely in Cinemascope. Apparently, they had to place a special order for paper with that aspect ratio since they wanted to draw on paper that was genuinely the right size (rather than just taping over the top and bottom of standard 16:9 paper).

I should add: according to Anibin, Grisaia no Kajitsu was actually produced at a native width of 1920 pixels (equivalent to 1080p video), so its "true" resolution is roughly 1920x822, not 1280x544. This is still something of a rarity (I think with the exception of Kyoto Animation?), though we're seeing more shows pop up in full 1080p nowadays, e.g. Working!!!, airing now (in summer 2015).


The concept of owning someone comes up in anime, usually as part of a bet. Is it based in reality or is it just a tv trope? In "Misfit Demon King Academy", Sasha Necron makes a bet with the demon king regarding one of the competitions. She says that if she wins, "Then I own you."
In "Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average", Mile agrees that if her team loses to all of Arledy's minions, the noble Arledy would own miles.
I've seen this trope in a number of other anime as well, "owning" someone as a result of a bet. Does anything like that every happen in real life? Is there historical precedent that it stems from? In the US, that concept would be an absolute taboo as it would connotate slavery which is still a recent blight in our nation's history.

The words "own" or "slave" may not be used, but the practice is very much alive in high schools, colleges,  fraternity houses, etc. all over the world.
When people make this sort of bet, they are not literally selling themselves into slavery - the "contract" is not legally enforcable anyway. The only thing making them stick to the penalty is potential social stuff (being kicked out of the group, club, frat , etc. for welching or chickening out).
Usually the loser is agreeing to do whatever the winner wants (within reason) for a certain period - usually a semester or academic year, sometimes for the rest of their student life - this would be things like making/bringing them lunches, carrying their bags, putting up with verbal abuse without complaint, taking the crappy jobs during fund raisers (e.g. the kissing booth or dunking chair), doing their grocery shopping, washing their car, help with or outright doing their homework assignments, etc.
Yup. College and high school students really are stupid enough to do this to themselves. No I'm not joking.


Is there a huge difference in the amount of male vs. female protagonists in anime and manga? I'm wondering if there's an imbalance in Japanese society as there is in American society. Or if anyone has come across a survey that found the percent of female vs. male protagonists in anime and manga?

I think the main difference in anime and manga is that the Japanese have created genres to meet the interests of those who consume anime and manga (which if I'm not mistaken, is a far larger amount than Americans who consume comics and cartoons). For boys, they have shounen, and for girls, shoujo. For more matured tastes we have seinen and josei (which could arguably still be divided into men and women). In shounen, the protagonist is predominantly male, and in shoujo, the protagonist is usually female. Should I instead be looking at which genre is produced more for my answer?

I'm wondering if there's an imbalance in Japanese society as there is in American society. Or if anyone has come across a survey that found the percent of female vs. male protagonists in anime and manga?
By "imbalance . . . in American society," I'm going to guess that you mean the number of male protagonists within American comics, rather than sexism in society at large (though sexism is far more rampant in Japanese society than in American society).
I strongly believe that such a survey does not exist, since the sheer number of anime titles that have been produced since the dawn of the medium, and the even more monstrous number of manga titles, would not be able to be researched and distilled into such a graph, even with a team of paid researchers.
Have the Japanese created genres to meet the interests of those who consume anime and manga (which if I'm not mistaken, is a far larger amount than Americans who consume comics and cartoons)?

American cartoons come in many varieties, which have differing demographics, such as Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks theatrical films; Saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons for kids; The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park satirical cartoons for adults, etc.
The demographics of readers of American comics has drastically changed within the past decade. In previous generations, adults and children read comic strips in the newspaper, children read comics like Archie or Barbie, young men read fanboy superhero titles like Marvel and Star Wars. Nowadays, though a large bulk of American comics are still super hero serials that appeal to fanboys, 1) the advent of American comics that have expanded into other genres such as Maus, Bone, and American Born Chinese, and importing/translating serious comics from other languages (such as Persepolis, A Jew in Communist Prague, and Kozure Ookami) has gained comics a recent recognition of contributing to quality literature by American libraries and teachers (for example, see the Eisner Award and Harvey Award winners, Good Comics for Kids from School Library Journal, and No Flying No Tights), 2) fangirls and niche reader demographics have increased, and 3) being a nerd/geek/otaku has become more respected in society at large, as evidenced in the popularity of The Big Bang Theory sitcom.
Aside from Studio Ghibli films, of which nearly everyone in Japan has seen some, the demographics who consume anime and manga in Japan are 1) children who buy the toys, 2) casual viewers, such as families who tune into anime when it airs on TV but are not particular fans, 3) families/teens/adults who only purchase tankouban (graphic novels) of the specific series they care for, and 4) otaku, who are a minority of the population. There are also Japanese who casually read manga such as Jump when the magazine issues come out, but most read it tachi-mi (stand and read) in the convenience store or bookstore without purchasing anything, so they cannot be counted as consumers.
Unlike in many parts of the world where manga and anime are considered esteemed art forms, in Japan most parents consider manga to be junk and discourage their kids 1) from reading manga, since they should be reading literary novels instead, and 2) from becoming a mangaka when they grow up. So most Japanese do not read manga as adults, and most who had a dream of being a mangaka gave up on it. Teens and adults who are involved in subculture are generally viewed negatively by the general populace, and many are socially-awkward or hikikomori (a consumer demographic which is uncommon in the U.S.). Even though many Japanese have read manga and/or watched anime at some point in their life, it is not considered a mainstream thing to have as your interest or hobby.
The population of the United States is estimated at 316.5 million, whereas the population of Japan is 127.3 million, as of 2014 (the U.S. has a constant influx of immigration, which is not common in Japan, and Japan has a falling birthrate, so the difference in number is probably more pronounced by 2015). It is very possible that more Americans are cartoon and/or comics consumers than how many Japanese people are anime and manga consumers (many Americans have bought a ticket to watch an animated film at a movie theater, bought the VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray release, bought Dora the Explorer-themed school supplies or  Christmas presents, etc.).
It is true that manga and anime boast a wider range of genres and subject matter than comics in other countries, as pretty much any literary genre you can think of has been explored in manga.

Manga scholar at Kyoto Seika University, Matt Thorn, explains,

Another trend in the way shôjo manga were published was also intimately linked to the nature of the genre. Because readers looked for works that clicked with them personally, they were not happy to simply read what everyone else was reading. As a result, shôjo manga became increasingly niche oriented. The number of magazines increased, but the circulation of each slipped as the pool of readers became dispersed. For example, the top-selling teen magazine, Bessatsu Maagaretto ("Special Edition Margaret") stuck rigidly to the school-based hetersexual romance. Juné and other magazines, on the other hand, focused exclusively on the theme of boys' love. Wings was created for fans of science fiction and fantasy. By contrast, the bulk of young male readers gravitated to just three weekly magazines: Jump, Magazine, and Sunday. Boys were concentrated in a vertical column, all reading virtually the same manga, whereas girls were spread out horizontally, each seeking a manga world suited to her own identity.

For boys, they have shounen, and for girls, shoujo. For more matured tastes, seinen and josei could arguably still be divided into men and women?
Thorn reports  that the origin of the segregation of shounen and shoujo happened in 1902:

The roots of both shôjo and boys'manga can be traced to early magazines for children—boys and girls alike—which began to appear in the late 19th century, reflecting the Meiji era effort to encourage literacy. In 1902, Shôjo kai ("Girls' World") was first published, and children's magazines began to be segregated, as was the education system itself, along gender lines.

but that

To be honest, though, things are complicated by differences in target age groups. Although male manga are easily classified as shônen ("boys'") or seinen ("men's"), female-oriented manga are not so neatly divided. This is probably because the first successful manga targeting adult women were labeled as "ladies' comics," and these comics quickly acquired a stigma that fans of shôjo manga did not want to be associated with. . . . josei-muke ("woman-oriented") or josei ("women's") manga, but such terms never really caught on with mainstream readers. To those readers, such works are still shôjo manga, or else just plain manga. But readers have no doubt, in most cases, about whom the target audience is. To make things even more complicated, there are many manga today that are created by female artists, and deal with themes of interest to women, but which are published in "gender-neutral" magazines, and have many male readers as well as female readers. Think of these as "indy" or "underground" manga, even though many are published by huge publishing houses.

Seinen is the Japanese word for "young man" and josei is the Japanese word for "young woman" or "women" in general (such as joseikan, which means "view of women"), so yes, they are explicitly marketed toward men or to women just as shounen is marketed toward boys and shoujo is marketed toward girls. Likewise, the words seinen and josei contain no indication of what sort of content is included (they are not genres such as sci-fi or history which are grouped based on the content). The sections in a Japanese bookstore are clearly delineated as to what the target market is.
In shounen, the protagonist is predominantly male, and in shoujo, the protagonist is usually female?
Correct. Of course there are exceptions, such as the massive corpus of BL (boy's love) titles within shoujo, which have been produced ever since the 70s.
Thorn points out,

while it may be difficult to imagine now, heterosexual romance was rare--indeed, almost taboo--until the 1960s. In the prewar period, readers of manga were small children who had not yet learned the pleasure of reading text-only fiction and non-fiction. Even after the war, when Tezuka had launched a boom in thematically sophisticated “story manga,” it was assumed throughout the 1950s that children would “graduate” from manga by the time they were thirteen or fourteen. And since the heroines of shōjo manga were almost always girls between the ages of ten and twelve, romance occurred only between older supporting characters, such as elder siblings. Whereas manga for boys have always been about action and humor. . . . Prewar shōjo manga were short humor strips, usually set in the home, neighborhood, or school.

Female protagonists are not as uncommon in seinen as male protagonists are in josei, because seinen includes many bishoujo titles, not all of which are harems in which there is an ordinary male who all the females center around.
Should I instead be looking at which genre is produced more for my answer?
Yes.
But that is also hard to pinpoint. Since shounen is far more financially-viable than shoujo, we might conclude that most manga published are shounen. Under that conclusion, if most shounen series have male protagonists, we would say that most manga and anime protagonists have statistically been male.
However, Thorn's claim that "the bulk of young male readers gravitated to just three weekly magazines: Jump, Magazine, and Sunday. Boys were concentrated in a vertical column, all reading virtually the same manga, whereas girls were spread out horizontally" throws a wrench into that hypothesis. Going by this fact, one would conclude that perhaps more shoujo series have been published in recent decades than shounen series, since Jump + Magazine + Sunday only run about 20 series per magazine at a time (about 60 series published in a given week), whereas a larger number of shoujo magazines each putting out 20 series an issue would outnumber 60 contemporaneous shounen series.
But that also fails to take into account that shounen magazines are usually published weekly whereas shoujo magazines come out monthly, and the fact that both types of manga magazines are ruthless in canceling any series which drops in the monthly reader survey. So we would need to consider which tend to get cut after a shorter number of chapters: shounen or shoujo titles? If, for example, shounen series die more frequently than shoujo ones since all the shounen series are duking it out in cutthroat competition within only 3 main magazines, it could be that the number of short-lived shounen series outweighs the number of shoujo series.
For more details on the financial situation, see Thorn as well:

Since 1995, sales of manga magazines, along with sales of all magazines, have steadily declined. Sales of manga paperbacks have fluctuated, but have so far managed to escape the fate of magazines. Why have sales of magazines declined? We can identify several factors, such as: the growth of the Internet in Japan; the increasing sophistication of video games; a lengthy recession that forced consumers to be more frugal; the rise of massive used bookstore chains, not to mention twenty-four hour manga cafes, that do not pay royalties to publishers. But the biggest single factor in the decline of magazines in Japan is this: the cell phone. Fifteen years ago, you would board a train in Japan and see dozens of people reading magazines, including manga magazines. Today you board a train and see everyone hunched over their cellphones, reading or writing e-mail, surfing the Internet, buying concert tickets--almost anything you can do on a personal computer. For more than thirty years, . . . manga is then serialized in cheap magazines with few advertisements that are essentially sold at cost. Serials that prove unpopular are cut short. Those that prove even marginally popular are republished in paperbacks. Ten percent of the cover price of each copy sold is paid to the artist as royalties, and the rest of the profit goes to the publisher. The magazines, in other words, are extravagant advertisements for the paperbacks, which are the primary source of profit. The quandary for publishers is that, in this digital age, Japanese consumers are no longer inclined to buy a large paper object that they will eventually discard anyway. . . . The extinction of the printed magazine is inevitable: not a matter of “if” but “when.” . . . Even those who work in the giant manga publishing houses--Shueisha, Shogakukan, Kodansha--acknowledge that those corporations are dinosaurs, massive and slow, unable to turn quickly or adapt to sudden changes in environment. That is why the glass ceiling against which female employees bump their heads remains firmly in place, and that is why these publishers will follow the printed magazine to extinction.


What are those lines under some anime characters eyes supposed to be / mean? Some anime characters have lines under their eyes. I was wondering what it represents? Is it supposed to be like having dark circles under the eyes like some people in real life or?

Below is a perfect example, both the male and female characters have it so it couldn't be a beauty thing.

What does it mean?

I was wondering what it represents? I've been researching and I could not find any information or reason regarding what they are exactly or why they are placed underneath the eyes. This, however, seems to be an anime-only thing and, possibly, an artistic style or preference, unique to the one who drew them. Below is the cover for the first light volume, which do not have those lines.

Is it supposed to be like having dark circles under the eyes like some people in real life or something else? No, they are not dark circles under the eyes. Dark circles under the eyes are different, and can be seen clearly. An example is from Watamote.

They are also not underlashes as both characters also have them and they are drawn separately. So far, I think the only way we'll know is if the one who drew them reveals the reason and purpose for placing those lines.


Which episode of Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z characteres started to have auras? I was trying to make a list of all auras the Z fighters had in Dragon Ball, and knowing which episode characteres started to have auras will save me a lot of time. Which episode of Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z characteres started to have auras?

It really depends on how strict of a definition for aura you're going for. What I mean is it would be one of two events:

First, it could be when Master Roshi first performs the kamehameha in the original Dragon Ball series. He has a slight white aura around him. This is the first example of ki in the series so it may be what you mean. See: YouTube video example

Second, a more conventional aura would be when Gohan headbutts Raditz in the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. When he breaks out of the attack ball he gains a read aura and then proceeds to headbutt Raditz. See: YouTube video example


Why is K9999 almost identical to Tetsuo Shima? I was watching this video which shows the similarities between both characters. I suppose it must be a kind of tribute, or maybe is just a vile copy (I don't think so). Anyone knows the reason?

Wikipedia says

  and K9999 (pronounced K Four-Nine), a clone from Kyo entirely based on Tetsuo Shima from Akira, able to transform his arm into a long tentacle like Tetsuo's. Due to copyright issues, for the King of Fighters 2002 remake he was replaced with a similar character.

but gives no sources.


Why does Yhwach/Juhach call Ichigo that? In Bleach, why does Yhwach/Juhach call Ichigo his son?

Yhwach is Ichigo's father in spiritual meaning. He was the first Quincy and he has the ability to give a part of his power to others. By giving that power, the other person would turn into a Quincy as well. Long story short, those Quincies married, and had offsprings. Since Yhwach was the one who made them Quincy, it can be said that Yhwach is the one who created them.

It was said that the name Yhwach is taken from the name of Israelites God, Yahweh. In Abrahamic religions, God is said to have created man from dust and made them according to his image. In Christian and Catholic belief, man are said to be children of God.

The same thing is applied to Yhwach's case. Since he was the one who created the Quincy, all Quincies can be said to be his children, that is in spiritual sense. Since Ichigo's mother was a Quincy, Ichigo too is Yhwach's son.


Why does Jojo's Bizarre Adventure have so many English references? In the sub-titled version of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, there are many points in the story where one of the character's repeatedly uses an English phrase.

Examples include Mr. JoeStar saying "Holy Shit" or the Genie stand saying "Hail 2 U". Many of these phrases are not even normal English saying like "Hail 2 U". Why is it that these English phrases are included, and why are they often strange to a native English speaker?

I reckon this is primarily because JoJo starts based in 1880s Britain and they wanted to keep referencing this aspect of JoJo's heritage. Even down the generation line when they are based in America, Jojo still has a very english-based family tree.

As for why some of them are not common in actual English conversation, It's more than likely problems with translating from English to Japanese and back again.


Was Broly able to transform into Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball Z? Broly is shown to have a tail as a baby.

But the tail is not there when he is an adult or kid, which means that he has the potential to become Super Saiyan 4. The only time he has a tail is when he was cloned, as shown in Bio-Broly.
The time span in which Broly does not have a tail is: Broly — The Legendary Super Saiyan and Broly — Second Coming.

Do we know if Broly was able to transform into Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball Z?

The only time he turned to Super Saiyan 4 is in Dragon Ball Heroes, which is a game and not canon.

Broly wasn't a canon character and Super Saiyan 4 isn't a canon transformation, so the idea of Broly being a canon Super Saiyan 4 is kind of madness.

Broly is a character from the movies, in which there is no hint that he or anyone else can become a Super Saiyan 4, and SS4 is from GT and there was no mention of Broly in GT. If he went SS4 in some game, then in the canon of that game he is able to, but otherwise I would say no, there is no reason to think Broly could be a SS4, as even his normal Super Saiyan form is in fact pretty weird and not particularly similar to the main characters' Super Saiyan transformations.


What are the objects that eat Devil Fruits? In the Alabasta arc, Mr.4 has a dog that shoots out an exploding ball, but Miss Merry Christmas said that it was actually a gun that "ate" a devil fruit.

Are there other inanimate objects that "eat" Devil Fruits?

If there is, then what object is it and what Devil Fruit did they "eat"?

From what we know, there are only 4 objects that ate a devil fruit :
(Note that these are only Zoan Devil Fruits)

Lassou : A bazooka that ate Inu Inu no Mi (Dog Model)

FunkFreed : A sword that ate Zo Zo no Mi (Elephant)

Rakuyo : a "scourge" that ate an unknown devil fruit

Smiley : a mass of gaz that ate the Sara Sara no Mi (Axolotl Model)


How did sorbet's laser gun pierce Goku? In Ressurection of F, Goku, while SSJ Blue, is shot with Sorbet's ray gun and the blast pierces Goku. How is it that, even though Goku normally can withstand powerful Ki attacks, he was badly wounded by a single shot from a ray gun?

Even as a kid, when Goku had yet to learn any ways to channel his Ki, his bare skin reflected Bulma's bullets.

At this time, Goku had let down all of his defenses as he was not expecting an attack. Lowering his defense when he felt he had the upperhand is one of Goku's downfalls that Whis kept pointing out throughout the movie, indicating it could be his downfall. This blatant foreshadowing hits its mark when Goku feels that he has won and is hit by Sorbet's surprise attack.

Goku's skin as a Saiyan is tougher than a normal human's skin as we saw in the Dragon Ball scene where the bullets miraculously bounce off him like he was Superman. However, for Ki attacks, the person defending must be prepared to defend the attack.

An example of this is when Krillin was able to pierce Vegeta with a Ki blast during the Frieza saga of Dragon Ball Z. Normally, Vegeta would be able to withstand this type of attack, especially by someone as weak as Krillin. However, he had lowered his defenses, albeit purposefully, making the attack effective.

Also, these aren't bullets, it's a high-powered ray gun blast; moreover, it's likely the most powerful ray gun in the universe, seeing as it is being wielded by the fill-in leader of Frieza's army with the purpose of killing Goku. Goku was completely unprepared, with no Ki defenses raised and thus, the high-powered laser was able to pierce him.


Doesn't letting the non-existent students do exams acknowledge their existence? This contains spoilers for Another, which is somewhat new (the anime is from 2012).

Another is an anime series about a cursed classroom. The students (and teachers) have designed a countermeasure to avoid the curse from triggering each year, which consists on completely ignoring a student (treating them as non-existent). By doing this, the number of students in the classroom is technically decreased by one, which makes up for the extra dead student that got mixed in the class.

Misaki is the chosen student to be ignored by the classroom this year. After a mess up, Sakakibara is also ignored.

However, if I'm not mistaken, during exam periods, both students (Misaki and Sakakibara) have exam papers. Why? Doesn't giving them exam papers pretty much acknowledge that they exist? Doesn't that break the entire countermeasure? (from the point of view of the classroom)

Edit

For clarification: the countermeasure involves people directly related to the class. This means, students that belong to this classroom and teachers that teach this class. External students and teachers from other classrooms are not involved with the curse, so they may interact with the non-existent students just fine.

The librarian, and students from the art club etc, have no problem interacting with the non-existent students.

The external students/teachers are not very well aware of the curse though. The cursed classroom tries not to talk about it with others.

This is just a guess, but just because they have exam papers doesn't mean that the related people gave it to them, nor does it mean that it will get picked up by people in the class.

What I'm getting at is some other teacher probably handles the curriculum for the ignored student.


Why do character colors sometimes suddenly change? I've seen this used in almost all of the episodes, where during a fight or a scene the colors of the characters will change almost immediately, almost to an inverted color scheme, or sometimes a more muted color scheme.

In this scene, you'll notice that Josuke's Stand, Crazy Diamond, is normally colored blue/pink, yet during the fight switches to blue/green, while Killer Queen, who is normally Pink/Black/Gold, is switched to Gold/Black/Blue (body, gloves, skullpiece).

In another fight, seen here, not only does Josuke and Yoshikage change colors, but their stands change color to yet another different color, with Crazy Diamond turning blue/brown, and Kira Queen turning Blue/Green/Yellow.

Another example of Yoshikage and Josuke:

Is there a specific reason for doing this technique?  Why has David Co "switched" the colors sometimes during a fight?

From what I know, Araki enjoys playing with various colour schemes, which is evident in multiple different colour versions of the characters in manga covers and coloured artwork, which the anime series has followed as it is a big 'part' of the look and feel of Jojo-series as a whole. For specific instances of colour, I guess it's mainly to enhance and add visual flavour to dramatic scenes.


Which Doraemon episode was about a tree-seed thingy which became a girl? There is a tree-seed kind of a thing which Doraemon gets even though he did not buy it from the 22nd century. He tells Nobita not to use it, but he does and makes a girl. Now the girl is getting attached to Nobita and they don't know what to do. Finally, an old man sees her and realizes that she looks just like his dead daughter and so he adopts her.

Which episode was this?

These are the two I can find. The 1973 version did not adapt this story. Both are without subtitles though.

As for the summary you want, I was only able to find a Chinese version.

Chinese Summary

1979 Version in Chinese

2005 Version in Cantonese


What exactly is Touhou Kinema-kan? I see a lot of unofficial anime-style Touhou opening and ending videos with something like "Touhou Anime Kinema-kan" mentioned in the title or description. For example:

Touhou Anime Motion Picture ~Second Curtain~ 2nd PV 【東方】
Touhou Hana Kagura【Anime Motion Picture 2nd Curtain #2】【東方】【HQ】
Touhou Anime Kinema-kan - "東方白昼夢" ToHo Daydream(FULL)

But I can't find a good description or explanation of what exactly Touhou Anime Kinema-kan is. What does Kinema-kan mean? What does it refer to? And what does 2nd Curtain refer to? Is there a 1st Curtain, 3rd Curtain, and so on?

All I can gleam from the video descriptions is that it seems to be something that was released at Comiket or Reitaisai, but I don't know much beyond that.

Touhou Kinema Kan (東方活動写真館) is both the name of a defunct doujin circle and the series of animated music videos they produced in the years 2009-2011.

Below is the list of their works in chronological order:

東方活動写真館
東方活動写真館～第二幕～
橙の幻想郷音頭
東方恋隣童-Toho kourindo-
東方白昼夢
東方活動写真館～終幕～

Kinema (キネマ) is cinema, and kan (館) is hall, so Kinema Kan (活動写真館) is cinema hall. The kanji 活動写真 (katsudou shashin) is a retro word for cinema, used mainly in the Meiji and Taishō period.

Curtain is a mistranslation of 幕 (maku), which in this context means an act, a unit of a theater work. The first act is 東方活動写真館, followed by the second act 東方活動写真館～第二幕～ and the final act 東方活動写真館～終幕～, which is a compilation of all the previous works of the doujin circle in one disc.

References

Official Touhou Kinema Kan website [archived]
List of Touhou Kinema Kan's works [archived]


Why was the old man sent to the void? In Death Billiards, the old man is sent to the void and the younger one is sent to be reincarnated. But why? What was the basis for this decision? It even contradicts other decisions in Death Parade. For example, the one shown darkness was the young man.

In the main series Death Parade, Decim had spoken on more than one occasion (episodes 7 and 10) of his respect for people who had lived their lives to the fullest (生を全うした人間を尊敬する). It was obvious that Decim considered the young man to be one such person, but what about the old man? The old man cited the reason he must win and leave that place as being

  I've already decided that I'll eat one [pickle] right before I die

and that was exactly what he was last seen doing right before his death. Compare that to the young man's motivation:

  I want to get out of here and apologize to her.

In other words, the young man wanted to do something differently with his life. What good would there be by sending the old man to be reincarnated, if a large chunk of his life could be summarized in 4 seconds in a boring GIF?

Reaching for the sky becomes blocking a ray of sunshine.

Then there was the thrill of being able to beat people up again, the "been a vegetable for the past few years" fraud, the fishy conversation between the old man and Decim, the hiss at 22 minutes and 26 seconds, and the evil grin as mentioned by Quill. Too many dark things about the old man that were only known to Decim.