What happened to Misa Amane in the last episode? In the last episode of Death Note, the series, we see Misa Amane standing near the edge of a building. She incurred a lot of grief due to Light Yagami's death; after all, she was one of the most devoted to him. She went through continuous torture and suffered for light.

Did Misa commit suicide?

This write-up over at WikiAnswers is pretty good.

  According to 13: How to Read, Misa loses her memories related to using the Death Note and retains her love for Light. Since it is in the nature of a Death Note user to "suffer misfortune", Misa falls into despair after someone "like Matsuda" "probably let it slip" that Light died. When she regains her memories by Rem telling her Rem states that if Light tries to harm Misa in anyway she will kill him. Misa responds "I don't exactly want to be loved by a Shinigami, and if Light died I couldn't live on without him. There's no way Light would kill Misa-Misa. And why would you go so far for me." Most likely foreshadowing events to come because Light does die. Despite fan rumors, the cloaked woman who appears at the end of the manga is not Misa, but an unnamed follower of Kira. Misa's fate is not shown in the manga at all; she was last seen staying at the Teito Hotel. Ohba stated that this was simply because he did not have a situation to fit her in.

It may be that the scene from the anime is in the future, because light dies on April 28, 2010, and Misa died on February 14, 2011 (Valentines Day) according to Chapter 110 "How To Read" profiles of the characters.

There's no clear evidence for the suicide on the roof, but there's really little reason someone would be standing on the edge of a roof, on the other side of the safety railing.


Genos VS Mosquito Girl Soundtrack So I was rewatching One Punch Man, and when Genos started fighting Mosquito Girl, I was really enjoying the music. Is it on the OST, or is anyone able to tell me where it is from?

Yes.
The name of the song is "The Cyborg Fights" or it can be found under the name of   "Genos Fight Theme"

Here are some links where you can listen the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D6g0__M3sk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdhF0XlqJrg

It is present in the official soundtrack of the anime.


Light novel, Chinese or Japanese about a low noble/commoner in a school for kids with magic powers This novel may involve aspects of rebirth. It is also either a Japanese light novel or a Chinese novel with a small possibility of being a fan-fiction.

The part I remember best about the novel is as follows:

A young, human boy, either a commoner, lower class noble, or noble with weak powers is attending a school for training students in magic or magical abilities.
He is looked down upon by the other students in his class. He is the only one in the class who I'd reborn in a different world from his original world.
The boy uses body strengthening magic/powers. During a training exercise, survival training, I believe, where the students are required to follow a route through a forest that surrounds their city, the entire class is in attendance.
His classmates include a royal princess and other high ranking nobles. The students make a big deal out of choosing a leader and eventually choose a high noble boy and his compatriots to lead the class.
The protagonist becomes the baggage handler basically, carrying others' supplies. The high noble boy wants to show off to the princess and other high noble girls, so he and his friends elect to try and take a short cut through the forest. Thereby getting a high score or something and impressing the ladies and teachers.
As the high noble has a bit of influence over the class, they agree to the shortcut. The exercise was predesigned by the teachers with the children's safety in mind, so, when they used the shortcut they were attacked by goblins and other weak magic creatures or demons.
At first the students were able to handle it easily. However, the number of creatures continued to rise and the students were tiring and they became trapped on top of a cliff. Of course, the protagonist is fine, even though he is carrying more weight than everyone else, however, everyone else is showing fatigue.
The students elect to fight the goblins and fended off waves of them, eventually they were pushed to a point of collapse and in the panic one of the high noble boys knocked the princess back and over the cliff.
The protagonist at this point uses his body strengthening skills/magic to rush to her, jump down toward her falling self, and then throw her back up the cliff while falling down himself. The students were occupied and not many saw the noble boy knock the princess off so he is ignorant or hiding the fact that he did it.
The princess brings up the fact that he knocked her off and was then saved by the protagonist. The high noble boys hearing this are nervous and say such things as that the protagonist should be honored to have died for the princess.
The princess is now pissed and takes control of the exercise, citing the reason being the boys are fools. She leads them to finish the exercise while worried of the fate of the protagonist who saved her. He lives, and moves on with his life.

Ah. I found it by chance. It's "Seirei Gensouki ~Konna Sekai de Deaeta Kimi ni~"

A summary can be found here:
https://zmunjali.wordpress.com/seirei-gensouki-konna-sekai-de-deaeta-kimi-ni/

And the piece that is summarized in detail can be found between chapters 10 and 11 of Act 1.


Which chapter of the manga closely follows after Attack on Titan EP 25? I have been searching for this for a while now after I finished watching the series a week ago, but I can't find a rough answer on Google and sites such as answers.yahoo.com about which chapter of the manga picks up roughly around the end of episode 25 of Attack on Titan.

Which manga chapter will be a continuation from where episode 25 left off, and how accurate will it be? Does anyone know?

May I assume you meant in "which chapter"? Because if we said "which manga", well, surely it's in the main manga, Shingeki no Kyojin. True that the series now has many spin offs, but the anime is based on the main series, and as far as I remember, all of those spin offs came out after the hype caused by the anime.

According to Shingeki no Kyojin Mangaupdates Page:
Anime Start/End Chapter
Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1
Ends at Vol 8, Chap 34
So you can start at chapter 35...


Why does Kirei want Rin's heart? In episode 20 of UBW (or episode 8, UBW 2nd season), Kirei announced that he would take Rin's heart. I suppose that he wanted to use it as some sort of vessel for the grail.

But what about Illya's heart that Gilgamesh had taken earlier? Why did he take Rin's if he already had Illya's, which I guess is better?

Perhaps he was not allied with Gilgamesh anymore? Or perhaps, he just wanted to kill Rin for the laughs and giggles?

In episode 20 of UBW (or episode 8, UBW 2nd season), Kirei announced that he would take Rin's heart.

First, that was episode 19. Second, he says complete opposite thing. He says

   "The vessel has no need for a heart." This implies that he wants her body except her heart.

In episode 20, we see what he meant, when

   Gilgamesh pushes Illiya's heart inside Shinji, turning him into vessel and using him as way to "anchor" the grail to this world.

The reason for this is that

   Grail needs two components, first it needs the core. In Fifth grail war that is either Illiya's or Sakura's heart. And it needs a vessel to anchor it to real world. Vessel can be any body with enough magic circuits. Normally, Illiya herself works as both core and vessel, but for some reason Gilgamesh didn't want that, so he only took the core. And at the time, Rin is only actual mage nearby, making her best option for a vessel. But when in episode 20 she regroups with Saber and Shirou, he could no longer get to her, so he went with next best option : Shinji. Even though his magic circuits are pretty bad, he is still a magus.


How strong are the Pleiades maids in overlord? Narberal Gamma uses twin dragon lightning which I believe is approximately 7th tier magic. Yuri Alpha uses weather modification magic which is 6+ tier magic. I know they're weaker than the floor guardians, but did the show/Manga/LN go into just how strong they are? I got the impression that each one could have beaten Evileye on their own, but the only reason Entoma didn't was because of vermin bane.

This is what I found elsewhere:

  The light novels have the stats, but in order of ranking:

  Narbarel Gamma (63) was chosen to accompany Momonga because she was
  the best combatant of the group and the one that can interact best
  with humans without being found out.

  Lupusregina Beta (59) is just below her and is also allowed to fight
  autonomously and like Narbarel, also human-like.

  Solution Epsilon (57) follows that order as well, being one of the
  field pleiades though in her case, she's not very good for missions
  that require excessive contact.

  Yuri Alpha (52) is the leader in terms of order, but is significantly
  weaker than the first half of the Pleiades. However, she is still
  massively overpowered by NW standards though it still takes her and CZ
  Delta to keep Evileye on edge. Like the Pleiades weaker than her, she
  is not a field agent and is generally relegated to the tomb.

  Entoma (51) is also comparable, but unlike Yuri, she is freakish up
  close and is ill-suited for field activity especially since she draws
  attention to herself.

  CZ Delta (46) is the weakest and is actually weaker than some of the
  strongest new worlders (shown in the latest novel where she needed
  prep time in order to actually be effective in comparison to the
  steamroller that is Narbarel). She is generally ill-suited for field
  activity since her low level makes her a poor choice to work
  autonomously. However, she is a sniper, so she generally won't be
  working autonomously on the Nazarick team to begin with.

  Aureole Omega (???) is likely the strongest and is generally a
  function guardian and has yet to appear. However, she is highly likely
  to be a 100th level NPC due to the insinuation of her role.

Evileye is about level 50 and would have lost to Entoma if she didn't have vermin bane, potions, and assistance.


What do the colours of the souls mean in Dororo? So apparently Hyakkimaru and Biwamaru see white to a soul which is pure, and see red the soul of someone who has killed other humans or monsters who are evil. Are there other colour meanings?

There is just gray, that is a normal human, White means a human with a pure soul, red means a ghoul or a demon you see it for the first time in episode 1.  gray with red lines means a human who killed people it's first seen in episode 5. In episode 12 you see a green soul. This from the statue (the god). Green is probarly wood. In episode 16 you see that a tree also has a green soul and the right arm of hyakimaru is also green.

In episode 13, there is 1 new color,

   a soul that was gray with black holes, this was a human that was revived from the death by a demon.

In episode 14, there are 2 new colors,

   the color blue and yellow. If I have to guess those are ghosts that are killed people.


How much English is spoken at Japan Expo (Paris) I'm thinking of going to Japan Expo this year - as it is the largest convention in Europe, but because it is located in France, I'm unsure if I would enjoy it as much as my French - while passable - probably wouldn't get me through more complex conversations than ordering food, asking for directions, etc.

The convention's website does have an English version (Here)  but I have been unable to find any information as to how much of the convention is bilingual (there would be no point in going to some guest talks for example)

Does anyone have experience of Japan Expo who could tell me how much English is spoken throughout the convention?

Been numerous times to this convention (as a pro and as a visitor).

Most of the publisher booths are from French publishers. Panels, activities are in French and speakers are in French. Some panels don't really require to understand French though (cosplay).

Some video projections are in English but it is rare.

Most of the booths will speak English, but it will mostly be approximate English.

Documentations (map and planning) and information booths are available in English.

The professional part (license market) is in English, but I don't think you will attend as a pro.


Why do characters repeatedly say other characters names? I'm watching Blood C, and I'm reminded that in anime, dialog can often consist of characters just saying other character's names.  In this example, most of Tadayoshi Kisaragi's lines towards Saya are just her name.  If I recall, there was a similar situation in Blood+.

This is also epitomized by Mocha and Tskune in this scene.

Is this an anime thing, a Japanese thing, or a more common trope of some kind?  Western live action media doesn't contain this phenomeon, so I think it's an anime or a Japanese thing.

I'd hazard a guess that this is the voice acting equivalent to non-sakuga animation (sakuga explained by Gigguk) mean to fill dialog cheaply.

While the Japanese language does have various words that are second person pronouns, the most natural way that doesn't have any hidden meaning behind it of referring to the other person is using their name, together with a honorific.

Using a second person pronoun in such situations may come off either as too rude or too intimate (e.g. "anata" is used by a wife/husband to refer to husband/wife, just like "darling" or "honey" in English)

Source: https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/anata-omae-kimi-kisama-meaning.html


What are the words and meaning that compose the title of Glasslip? Is it glass + lip?
Is it glass + slip?

The Japanese title is

グラスリップ - it is in katakana, so definitely is a foreign word.

So, the title means lips made of glass, or slipping on glass?

I'm not entirely sure about the meaning behind the name, but I'm pretty sure it is pronounced Glass + lip, mainly due to this image:

Source:
http://animeinspirations.com/threads/is-there-some-hidden-meaning-to-the-title-glasslip.378/


What is the purpose of "second key" animation? Typically in animation we see credits for key frame animation and inbetween animation.

A key animator is the artist responsible for producing the principal key frames of an animation. Basically key animators draw the essential frames that mark a distinct position or expression of a character in a particular scene. In other words, they draw the structure of a animated scene.

In order to complete the animation and make sure it moves fluidly, additional frames are required to go between key frames, this is called in-between animation.

In the credits of a lot of anime nowadays you see something called "second key" animation. What purpose do they serve in an anime production?

According to Anipages, a blog by Ben Ettinger about the world of anime and animation.

第二原画 Daini Genga = Second Key Animation
Traditionally in anime, after key animation, the next step would be for the animation director to check the key animation and apply the necessary corrections to bring the characters to model. A new role was recently invented as a buffer between the key animator and the animation director: second key animation.
Nigen 二原 for short, second key animation is a relatively new concept in anime. This person does what in the west is known as "cleanup" - cleaning up the rough genga before they're passed on to the animation director to be checked. This step permits key animators to pump out more animation than if they had to produce a more polished shot. For example, an animator who might be good at action can draw several complicated shots in rough form in the time it might take them to draw one polished shot. A nigen would then clean it up. Infrequently you will also see a daiichi genga 第一原画 or first key animation credit, which is presumably a way of distinguishing between the people who drew the rough key animation intended to be cleaned up by the daini genga crew and the people who drew regular key animation.


Did Mirai Kuriyama really rebuild her body, or what really happened to it? Mirai's body vanished/consumed/disintegrated during the battle vs Kyoukai no Kanata, then there is this version of her in Akihito's "dream world" that dissolves on-screen, then months(?) later she is alive in flesh and blood (pun intended).

So, what happened?  Was her blood control so high that she willed herself back into a physical body, or is it some Applied Phlebotinum fiat?

I know this is sort of a zombie, sorry, and purely speculation on my part, but I think it went like so:

Mirai initially vanished by absorbing KnK into her body, so she was intermingled with it from the beginning... but she was never really dead.

With KnK exerting all its power to combat her blood, another dimension is created, but their existence in that world is a supernatural manifestation of virtually incorporeal beings.  KnK has to use all focus fighting her blood which is a constant assailant on its very core, and somehow this is created.  Though the exact reason this phenomenon occurs and the function thereof is not crystal clear, it's fairly tertiary to this point, so I'll avoid the digression.

After the battle, KnK's not as strong as it once was, since it took a pretty bad pounding.  Weakened (despite outside interference, to said party's astonishment), Aki is able to subdue KnK entirely having learned to control a mere fraction of KnK's full power, and he absorbs it back into his body (which actually includes Mirai as well).  Since it's Aki's force of will now actively taking control of it, rather than just fighting in the same vessel, Mirai vanishes because as KnK is no longer the one willing the alternate dimension where she'd manifest into existence.  She's really still inside KnK, which Aki absorbed and has at least partial control of.

Later, his extreme desire to see her again, and to relive his memories of the first meeting, are so potent that he actually exercises some of KnK's power subconsciously, extracting her from it and placing her right where he most wanted her to be.  He knew what he was thinking at the time, and rushed to the place he had seen her in his mind, knowing that the ring vanishing meant she had been reunited with it, as was his most profound desire.

Could be wrong though.  Take it or leave it :)


What does it mean that Gluttony is a fake Gate of Truth? Gluttony is said to be a fake Gate of Truth, as shown by when he swallows Ed and Ling. They are transported to a place that is full of blood, which seems to be entirely different from the place where the real Gate of Truth takes someone. What does him being a fake Gate of Truth mean, as opposed to just being some sort of transportation device? What is the difference between his Gate of Truth and the real one?

Gluttony was created for the sole purpose of being a portal of Truth. Father was attempting to create a way to access the so-called "non-reality" (beyond the Gate) without paying a toll; essentially, he wanted to entirely bypass Truth so that he could access all alchemical knowledge within the Gate.

However, Father is not omnipotent; he was unable to create a portal which was able to do what he hoped for. Instead, what you see of Gluttony was the result: A portal, attached to a homunculus, that serves as a gateway to a different world, one that is neither reality nor non-reality (that is, it is somewhere between the universe and the realm of Truth).

It probably goes without saying at this point that the difference between this Gate and the real one is that, well, this one is useless. Basically, it's just its own dimension that serves as nothing but a place for Gluttony's consumptions to go. It contains no alchemical knowledge, no God (which would be in the real Gate), and no way out.


Is there any canonical evidence that the winged being curses were really lifted? About the anime version of Air:

Some sources on the net state that Kanna's curses were broken, and her next reincarnation would be a happy one.

Some say that the pair of children playing on the beach were the reincarnations of Misuzu-Kanna / Yukito-Ryūya.

What is the canonical explanation of this ending? Did the curses really get lifted? Please include sources in your answer.

According to this page, which cited a study of Air's ending:

From: "Colourful Pure Girl" in the March edition.
"The author declared that those two kids were not the reincarnation of any of the characters and he doesn't want people think of air like that."
The author also says that those two kids were more of outsider view point. It's like themselves (KEY) are watching the story.

How to get to the study's page:

(The text is taken from Key Fans Club.)
In more detail: the study said there were three curses that were cast on Kanna:

Restriction on reincarnation. This was the direct result of the sealing a thousand years ago, and the effect was that in a set period of time, Kanna's soul could not be reincarnated. This curse was automatically lifted after about a hundred years when the power of the seal had weakened.

Solitude. This curse was an indirect effect of the sealing of Kanna, caused by Kanna's sadness and guilt over Ryuuya's death such that she became unable to form a close relationship with anyone lest she suffered great pain. This curse was lifted by the development of a close bond between Misuzu and her aunt, Haruko, made possible because of Yukito's sacrifice, which prolonged Misuzu's life by temporarily saving her from dying by the third curse.

Dreams. Dreams were the manifestation of the memories of the winged beings in their reincarnated bodies. Both the vastness and accumulated sadness of the memories of the winged beings could damage a human's body. Yukito offered his mental storage capacity to Misuzu so that she would be able to live long enough to break the second curse, which prompted his own memories to be transferred to Sora. With the second curse gone, Sora flew to the heavens to bring the last happy memories of Misuzu to Kanna so that she could be released from Ryuuya's shadow and returned to Earth, and blend the memories of the winged beings with the Earth's. From then on, no one needed to bear the memories of the winged beings alone anymore, so the third curse was also lifted.

The children playing on the beach at the end should not be seen as the reincarnations of Misuzu-Kanna/Yukito-Ryuuya, but as the all-knowing Key staff and you, the viewers.


Performers of classical music in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso The anime features several classical tracks by composers such as Rachmaninoff or Beethoven.

Who are the performers behind the performance attributed to Kaori and Arima in the anime?

There is a CD release (ESCL-4302) with all the non-original tracks featured in the anime. You can find more info about it on VGMDB.

As you can see there, the violinist is Yuna Shinohara (篠原悠那) and the pianists are Tomoki Sakata (阪田知樹) and Eriko Kawachi (河地恵理子).

VGMDB also provides scans of the booklet, here is the page showing this information (red rectangle):


The song playing in ep. 54 of Boku no Hero Academia when Todoroki fought the guy that can make things big I want to know the OST played at Boku no Hero Academia ep. 54 when Todoroki fought that guy who can make things big. The timing is 20:40 in episode 54.

I tried to find it in YouTube but failed.

What's the song?


Why exactly is Saitama a hero? Saitama, who trained for three years only doing 100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 sit ups, and ran 10 kilometers every day, became a "superhero for fun", but what does he mean by that.

Is he really only doing it "for fun" or did he have motives but then forgot? Because normally a hero does it for a reason like to protect the ones they love, to defeat all evil, to prove that their strong, to protect something like humankind, etc.. Or is he really just doing it "for fun" because he's bored. Or is there actually a deep meaning for those words?

Saitama's real reason to be hero was intended to be satire over common cliche reasons of most heroes.

If you think about it, it can be literally rephrased as "Does one really needs reason to help another people", which itself is actually nice idea for manga to show, if you are looking for some deep meaning.


Can a Sharingan eye that has used Izanagi or Izanami be replaced by another Sharingan? If one were to use Izanagi or Izanami, the light in that eye would be lost forever. When Tobi used it, he replaced the eye with a Rinnegan. It isn't stated clearly, but they made it sound like he couldn't have used another Sharingan to replace it.

That is my question: could one transplant a new Sharingan eye into that socket and have light in that eye again?

YES, a new Sharingan could be transplanted into the eye socket replacing the eye which used Izanagi. Use of Izanagi or Izanami causes the eye to permanently lose its light, but it does not damage the optic nerve that connects to the eye. If it did, Tobi should not have been able to transplant even a Rinnegan there. For that matter, he could have transplanted a Byakugan or an ordinary eye there.

Tobi wanted the Rinnegan for its own sake, not because he had to somehow replace "permanently closed" Sharingan eye. In fact, he wouldn't have known beforehand that he would be forced to use Izanagi in the fight with Konan. Hypothetically, if Konan had simply handed over Nagato's Rinnegan to him, he would have taken out the left eye anyway and replaced it with the Rinnegan.


An anime with a female main character with a spiral on her forehead I watched this anime way back when I was small, so I don't remember the details. I'm not sure, but I think it was an anime movie. It was aired on Animax India.

I think the name of the anime was a girl's name. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, some guy explains how the spiral is somewhat of a universal symbol, and how the earth is somewhat shaped like a spiral. The girl has a monster helping her, and there's this guy who helps her with her powers at first, but he turns out to be the villain in the end.

The story takes place in a modern city. The only identifiable thing that I remember is the spiral. I think she gets it on her forehead, along with her powers to control a huge robot like creature.

That's all I can remember. It would be great if anyone knows this anime.

Could it be Earth Maiden Arjuna (2001)? I have never seen it, but it seems to deal with Earth, so there could be a "universe" theme. There is a modern setting. There is a female protagonist, and the title is based on the her name, Ariyoshi Juna. She has a magatama on her forehead which I think could be mistaken for a spiral.

She also has a superhero form, if that is familiar.

Synopsis from AnimeNfo:

  When Ariyoshi Juna has a bad accident, her spirit turns to light and rises up out of her body into the night sky where she gets a glimpse of Earth a few months in the future. What she sees is the Earth on the brink of total destruction, ruled by the merciless demon forces called the Raajas. Then Chris Hawken hands Juna a power stone and tells her to use it to save the Earth. The power stone gives her the ability to call up an aura suit, that activates and enhances a person's dormant special powers.


Who are the people that the Beast Titan turned into titans? In season 3 part 2 episode 13, we see the Beast Titan for the second time in the anime. He suddenly appears with an army of titans who transform with him but who are these people? The citizens of Ragako? The rest of the people that traveled with him to Paradise Island?

The new titans inside wall Rose are the villagers of Ragako. The wiki linked makes this explicit, although the information comes from the Unnamed Final Arc.

   According to Zeke, after having infiltrated Wall Rose, himself, Pieck, and a small group of Marleyan soldiers locate Ragako and choose to target it. The soldiers release a gas diffused with Zeke's spinal fluid and the wind quickly blows it as a fog over the village. Once the subjects of Ymir that inhabit the village inhale this gas, they are paralyzed and etched with a coordinate. Zeke screams, making the paths transform the villagers and allowing him to impose his will on their Pure Titans due to their connection with his Beast Titan.1

In the anime, this is more implied than spelled out. There are a number of pieces of evidence, the most significant of which are; the village is empty, but the horses remain. The village is destroyed, but no blood or bodies are found. And that the trapped Titan looks like Connie's mother.


Is Natsu's Etherious form still alive? As we read in the Fairy Tail manga,

  Because of choosing to stay human, the two seeds inside Natsu's body(Dragon seed & Demon seed) was vanished

Does that mean,  END(Etheriois Natsu Dragneel) is dead?

I have another reason of suspicion because of Zeref Dragneel.As we know,

  Zeref is the one who revived Natsu as his strongest demon of book of zeref, END

So now that Zeref is dead, isn't it normal for END to be dead too?

The following excerpts are from the Villain's fandom page on END, under the section titled 'Alvarez Empire arc'

During a fight between Zeref and Natsu the latter revealed his relationship to Natsu and the Dragon Slayer's status as E.N.D. Though Natsu refused to believe it at first he was forced to after Zeref pierced a hole through the Book of E.N.D. and Natsu ended up hurt as a result which proved the elder Dragneel's story. After Zeref revealed what really occurred in the past Natsu lost his patience and attempted to kill his brother as he was told that if Zeref died it would possibly mean his own death as well. Natsu ignored this and declared his intentions of wanting to kill Zeref only for Happy to fly away with him.

So yes, Natsu's life was tied to both Zeref and the book.
After that: (slightly abridged; emphasis mine)

A while later Mavis Vermillion managed to obtain the Book of E.N.D. She then met up with Lucy, Happy and Gray and lent them the Book.
(...)
They soon decided to open the Book and when they did Letter Magic flowed out of it; Lucy was shocked about what it said.
Lucy tried to rewrite the words in the Book but became affected by its Black Magic. Gray then helps her get through the pain and continues to rewrite the book. The book's changes affected Natsu during his fight with his brother; they gave Natsu the edge he needed to defeat Zeref.
Later, Zeref died peacefully with Mavis and due to the Book's link with Zeref it disappeared. When the Book disappeared Lucy claimed that she did all she could to help Natsu and worried that he could disappear along with the Book. However, Natsu showed up where Lucy and the others were saying the fight was over.

This explains how Natsu is able to survive post Zeref's death. We are to assume whatever Lucy edited managed to save him. It would be logical to assume that his END powers are gone since both Zeref and the book are gone, but there is no official confirmation as far as I know, and is thus debatable.
There is also a sequel called Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest that picks off from where the original series ends, though the author is not Hiro Mashima. I haven't read it, but the summaries don't suggest any usage of END powers in the chapters so far. But since the sequel exists, it could end up either way.


Psycho Pass Episode / Special Order I just watched season 1 (episodes 1-22) of Psycho Pass on Netflix and now I want to watch the rest.

On the Funimation site there is:

Episodes 1-22 (Season 1)
Specials 1-11
Episodes 23-33 (Season 2)
Also there is the recently released movie.

I haven't started any of the specials or season 2 yet; I don't want to accidentally watch something out of order and spoil it. My question is: Where do the specials fit into the series? Between the two seasons? Side stories? Prequel? After season 2? When should I watch them?

The episode lists I've found seem to leave out the specials so I'm not sure how they fit in.

If you've watched the first season, you should skip the specials and proceed directly to the second season. After that, watch the movie (when it's available).

The "specials" (usually called "Psycho Pass: New Edit" or "Psycho Pass: Extended Edition", I think) are a re-cut/updated version of season 1, with only minor changes. The reason there are only 11 of them is that they're double-length. If you were starting from nothing, it would have been better to watch the "specials" and then season 2, but since you've already seen season 1, I don't think there's enough new content to warrant watching the re-cut version before moving on to season 2.

That said, if you ever find yourself wanting to rewatch the first season of Psycho Pass, I would recommend watching the "specials" instead of the original version of season 1.


Why didn't Tobi capture Sora for his 9 tails chakra? In the third season of Naruto Shippuden, Sora used Nine Tails chakra mode up to 4 tails, so why didn't Tobi capture him like he did with Kinkaku and Ginkaku?

Like Noted in the comments, Sora was a Filler only character. He does not exist in the manga at all, which the anime is based off of. His entire arc was just added in to lengthen the anime, buy time for the manga to progress, and make money. The Gold and Silver Brothers are in the manga as written by Kishimoto, and were the only source of 9 tails chakra Tobi ever got his hands on, which he

   did use to create an incomplete 10 tails.

The Wiki Notes Sora's appearances are in the anime only, and lacks any time in the manga, supporting this.


Why are animals devil fruits not Paramecia? In One Piece, why are Zoans not considered Paramecia?
And why is the Mochi Mochi no Mi not just a normal Paramecia because it does not fit in Logia?

Because that is simply how they are defined?
Zoan fruits give the specific ability

to transform into an animal, as well as transform into a hybrid form of their own species and the species the fruit allows them to transform into.

Wiki
Paramecia on the other hand are simply defined as all those powers that are not animal transformation or elemental transformation.
Why the Mochi Mochi no Mi is classified as (special) Paramecia and not Logia is currently unclear.
It was actually first stated to be a Logia.

In the Magazine release of the chapter, it was stated to be a Logia, but retconned in the Volume release as a "special Paramecia".

Wiki
Functionally it is basically the same as a Logia. A possible explanation for the different classification could be that Mochi is manmade and not a natural element.


Is the Ace Attorney anime canon? Is the series canon or is the game that counts as canon? I've had a growing interest in the franchise since Wright became an Marvel vs Capcom 3 character and I just started the anime. I was wondering if the anime depicts the actual storyline of Wright's progression as a lawyer or if a story line even exists for the series at all.

Can anyone let me know for sure if the series is canon or not?

The Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban games are the original works, and as such are significantly older, and cover a longer story, so they would be considered the core cannon.

That said, there are not a lot of differences between the two - the cases covered in the anime are the same as in the games (so far the anime is up to the second case of the second game, although it skipped the first case of that game since it was more of a tutorial and not particularly important in the scheme of things), and the plots are pretty much the same. The anime does add a few details here and there, and in particular episode 13 gives some background to a big event when the main character was very young that does affect how one side character is portrayed slightly.

That said, if you just watch the anime, you will get the same story, you'll just have to wait longer to run into certain characters and plotlines.


Why are recap episodes so common? Recap episodes are pretty common in anime.  Every so often there will be an episode (or multiple episodes like in One Piece) that brings the audience up to speed on presumably a lot of material.  In the past few years I've noticed that even 1 cour anime will have a recap episode somewhere in the middle (between episodes 4 - 6), and recently there have even been shows that are 1 cour with 2 recap episodes(thought the title escapes me at the moment).

I've never seen a positive fan reaction to a recap episode, so why are they still so common?  Are they a hold over from the days before Video on Demand (VoD) through The Internets?  Or is it just another filler-related solution?

Recap episodes are different than recap OVAs for the purpose of this question.

Recap episodes may or may not have an actual purpose. From this article, which I recommend reading, recap episodes may have a purpose for long running series.

  If the show has taken an extended detour into filler sub-plots, for example, a recap episode reminds everyone of where the main story is at. It can also catch newcomers up on the story.

Most of the time, however, they are just an indication of a problem within the anime staff. To quote,

  A recap episode, generally, means they finally didn't make it. Some insurmountable challenge has come up, someone has dropped the ball, something just couldn't happen on time.

In short, it's just so that they can have something to broadcast, and it was not originally supposed to be aired, had they been on schedule. From that same article, this has a number of consequences. For one, since TV broadcast time is booked on advanced, there can only be a set number of episodes, which cannot be changed. Recap episodes would take up a slot of the set number of episodes, and the remaining episodes would have to be compressed in order to finish the story within the number of episodes they were given.

On the viewers' side, you have to admit, it somewhat annoys you, especially if it happens after an episode with a really good cliffhanger.


Which philosopher was Jonathan named after? In the last episode, it was revealed that the chickens all shared their names with famous philosophers.

Husserl
Confucius
Roger
Makuzu
Jonathan.

I was able to find most of the references fairly easily, but the origin of Jonathan's name eludes me:

Edmun Husserl, who established the school of phenomenology

Confucius, the very famous Chinese philosopher.

Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods.

Tadano Makuzu, a poet and philosopher who wrote important commentaries on Japan's social and political problems.

Which philosopher was Jonathan - presumably the central chicken in the above picture - named after?

I was able to find several philosophers named Jonathan, but most of them are still alive, and much more recent than the other philosophers.

Assuming that all the chickens are related to Touko's friends, it becomes quite obvious who Jonathan is meant to represent.

Kakeru reminds Touko of Michelangelo's "David" and is often referred to by that name. In the Biblical story of David, his best friend is a man named Jonathan.

Jonathan is not a philosopher, but in the same way, Kakeru is not friends with Touko's other friends. It separates him from the others and Touko does pay more attention to that chicken.


Why doesn't Kaisei want to be seen by Yasaburou? Kaisei is Souun's daughter, she is Yasaburou's cousin and ex-fiancée. But why doesn't she want Yasaburou to see her?

The answer was finally revealed in the follow-up "The Eccentric Family 2."

The earlier series had established that some tanuki have stimuli that undo their transformations -- Yasaburo's mother, for example, loses her ability to hold on to her transformation when she sees or hears lightning, and she reverts to tanuki form.

The reason Kaisei hides herself from Yasaburo is that she is the stimulus that makes him lose control of his transformation.  If he sees her, he reverts to tanuki state.

It's never explained (at least, not in the anime) how Kaisei knows this, when Yasaburo doesn't.  However, it's implied that she's known this all along, and secretly regarded their engagement as ultimately impossible because of it.


Are the chances of a child inheriting Sharingan smaller if one of the parents isn't an Uchiha? I know that Sarada possesses Sharingan, but since her mother isn't an Uchiha, was there any chance that she may not have inherited Sharingan?

I believe it is presumed that the Uchiha clan before their destruction bred from within, considering their seclusion and secrecy of affairs, in order to diminish the muddling of bloodlines and ensure generations that are able to possess the power. If you recall the early episodes of Boruto, there was a slight hint to the idea thay Sarada may not be able to unlock Sharingan, since she was so far ahead of her classmates and caught on to everything else at an early age. Two factors added to this fear: the first obvious, and the second relates to a village in peace does not create enough pain or passion to unlock the Sharingan (a harsh stipulation for such a strong power). Sarada felt outcast to her father for not gaining his abilities only to learn it was a lack of hardship that hindered her.  I believe the relationship between Sakura and Saske represents overcoming the fear of losing powers due to diluting them with other bloodlines, and proves that mixing blood(and thus abilities) allows for a stronger offspring, possesing abilities from both families.
So yes, there was an ancient fear she would not posses the Uchiha power stemming from a recluse family heritage but it was disproven.


How long did Light's father have to live? Since Light's father took the shinigami eyes, which reduce your lifespan by 1/2, and died the same day, does this mean he only had 2 days left to live?

How to Use: XLII (from Volume 08):

  The use of the DEATH NOTE in the human world sometimes affects other human’s lives or shortens their original life-span, even though
  their names are not actually written in the DEATH NOTE itself. In
  these cases, no matter the cause, the god of death sees only the
  original life-span and not the shortened life-span.

With this, I would say Soichiro had some time to live still, but the use of the death note made his death unnatural.


What is the source of superpowers in the One-Punch Man universe? Is it ever explained why some humans develop superpowers in the One-Punch Man universe?  I'm not just talking about Saitama, I'm talking about the other heroes and martial artists.  No one seems to think it's unusual that there are people who can lift up huge boulders (Tank Top Master), move faster than the eye can see (Flashy Flash), or smash through thick concrete prison walls (Pri Pri Prisoner).  Such people are just "strong" or have "trained". And then you have the esper sisters and the occasional oddball like Green.

It is implied that the Hero Association physical test looks for enhanced physical characteristics, although it's not explicitly stated as such. The series doesn't seem to want to confirm or deny that C-, B-, and A-Class heroes are actually super-powered, although there is evidence that they all must be, at least in terms of how super-powers are defined in Western comic books, i.e., physical abilities greater than a human could naturally have.

Is it a manga trope that people can naturally develop powers, or is there a hint as to why some people in this universe develop powers?

Like many settings with a multitude of heroes, it's a grab bag of virtually every possible origin.

First, you mention a lot of S-class heroes in the post, but these are considered the exceptions; people at what is otherwise an unreachable level of power.  The following image is from the webcomic, chapter 67, which is technically a spoiler for people only following the anime or manga, but does not cover any real plot lines; it's simply part of detailing the origins of the S-class.  But I'll spoiler tag it anyway:

Known or implied power origins include:

Tank Top Master and Puri Puri Prisoner: Strength training.
Super Alloy Darkshine: Strength training, but claims his was "different" from the previous two.
Bang/Silver Fang: Martial arts training
Zombie Man: Genetic and medical experimentations by Dr. Genus. His only power is immortality/regeneration, however; physically and mentally he's an average person.
Metal Knight, Drive Knight, Genos, Blue Flame, Gatling Gun, etc: technological enhancements.
Fubuki, Tatsumaki, and other espers: power had since birth, presumably genetic or otherwise "naturally occurring".  It is possible to achieve higher levels of skill and power over time, by training.
Flashy Flash and Sonic: Ninja training and techniques.
Boros: The individual pinnacle of a race made intrinsically super strong by evolving in a harsh environment.

Of course we see many of the above (most of who are S-class, as they're the ones we have the most exposure to over time) achieve feats far greater than we would expect possible from things like strength training and martial arts.

There are a few other origins from the webcomic and manga that might suggest additional mechanics within the setting.

   Saitama's power seems to originate from ignoring his limits to the point that he ceased to have any.  Garou seems to almost achieve the same thing by the end of his arc, falling a little short but otherwise ascending to a level of power and skill that seems to surpass everyone but Saitama.  The idea of an intrinsic limiter on power is key to the series by this point.  It is reasonable to believe this is a fundamental mechanic of the setting, as it has been stated by both in-world characters as well as the "narrator". It is indicated that the extremely powerful beings just have a higher limit and have worked to reach it, and/or used experiments and such to increase it. Or in some cases simply being born at a very high level, like with Tatsumaki.  Saitama and almost-Garou break the mold by breaking this fundamental rule of existence, and that's how they surpassed the unsurpassable S-class.

   Gyoro-Gyoro created Lord Orochi (a manga and anime only character) through various unspecified experiments, and is confident they can reproduce the results with a sufficiently durable specimen; Garou is considered a candidate for surviving the process and surpassing Orochi.

   But most tellingly and perhaps relevant for future arcs, Homeless Emperor attributes his power as a gift from "God".  When he's telling this to Zombie Man he then has a vision of this "God", who says he's taking back Homeless Emperor's life and power.  Homeless Emperor then (literally) combusts and dies before Zombie Man's eyes.  Zombie Man is willing to believe there is some entity that gave Homeless Emperor his power, and is concerned about what this entity is up to.  We have neither seen nor heard of any such entity since then, but it may come up in future story arcs.  As such there may be some god-like being who grants at least some people and/or monsters their power.

Several monsters also profess that they had an intense obsession with something, which then transformed them.  Such as Crablante, the first monster Saitama is known to fight (before he begins his training). Perhaps some heroes, like Watchdog Man, have a similar origin. Possibly the previous spoiler is relevant to such transformations.  Otherwise, the best we can say right now is that the setting permits fairly arbitrary origin stories, in part because out-of-universe it is constructed as a parody and at times deconstruction of the (super)hero genres.


Saitama source of income during the three years Saitama was training and even before, he was unemployed, so from where did he get the money to "survive" ?

From bounties.

Certain villains have a bounty on their heads and Saitama survived by defeating those villains. See OVA episode Road to Hero.

(Contains spoilers if you haven't seen the episode.)
http://onepunchman.wikia.com/wiki/OVA_0


Will a titan shifter stay in their titan form if they die due to the curse? What if the titan shifter is in the last moment of his curse, and then the time comes where they die (according to the Curse of Ymir)? Are they still gonna be in their titan form for eternity?

As far as I know, no person with titan-shifter powers experienced this. But, if I were to speculate what would happen given the facts laid out in the manga, I have a possible answer. The following facts are what I took into account:

  From here, it is said that 'if an individual with the power of the Titans dies before it can be transferred, the power will be passed on to the first Baby among the Subjects of Ymir, who is born directly after the said inheritor's death, regardless of distance or relation to the previous inheritor.'

Also, from here and from what can be observed in the manga, it is known that,

  'after death, Titan corpses rapidly evaporate to skeletal remains, then to nothing at all.' From what I understand, this is also true for people with titan-shifter powers whenever they leave their Titan bodies or, for the Colossus Titan's case, when they want their body to evaporate at their own will.

For titan-shifters, they themselves are the source of their Titan powers and their ability to manifest a unique Titan body. If that source is 'gone', then the Titan body would evaporate, as seen in the manga/anime.

So to answer your question: For how long can a titan shifter be in his/her titan form after his/her death while he/she is still inside the Titan's body? The same time it takes for a Titan body to evaporate after it is killed or when a titan-shifter leaves it. After they die, their titan-shifter powers 'leaves' them and are passed on to the next inheritor who is born after the current inheritor's death. Since the 'source' of their power is gone, the Titan body would simply evaporate just like any bodies of Titans killed.


Does One for All give unlimited power? In the fight with Noumu, since Noumu was as strong as All Might, and it was made to battle All Might at 100%, All Might has to punch him with over 100% of his power. And in the last episode of My Hero Academia (Season 3, Episode 4)

   Midoriya punchs muscular with One for All 1,000,000%

Does this mean One for All give unlimited power? Or how can they punch with over 100% of their power?

One for All gives unlimited power?

No, it doesn't. You can't just get 101% power, where is the extra 1% coming from? Out of nowhere? Nothing comes out of nothing! By 100% power, it means the power of all the successors of One for All (as far as I understood).
Thus again, it is impossible to get unlimited power.

And if you based your question (clearly you did) after watching Midoriya using One for All at 1,000,000%, I would ask you to think of it again. Can Midoriya even use 100% of One for All in his current condition?

   Clearly Midoriya can't even use or control 50% of his power (or let's just agree that he can't use his full power yet without arguing on the percentage)

Now it's time to unravel the mystery. How did Midoriya use 1,000,000% of One for All? Without saying a word, I will just post a picture of the Author explaining how he did that:


Anime with three blue-eyed high school students I'm trying to remember an anime I watched when I was younger.

There were three main characters; two were siblings, a boy and girl. The third was also a girl. All three of the characters had rare blue eyes. One of the girls had short-ish red hair; the other girl had blue hair, and was a bit sweet and shy. The boy is tall-ish, if I remember correctly.

The beginning shows the boy, holding a picture of his sister and him playing in a kiddie pool, naked, outside the house he lives in now. The characters are all high school students, as well, and I think they lost their mom.

Does anyone know what this anime might be?

You're looking for Please Twins!/Onegai Twins!

  Please Twins! is a story about three high-school students: Maiku Kamishiro, Karen Onodera, and Miina Miyafuji. The three were drawn together by a photograph of their childhood home which later makes all of them seek out the house in the picture. However, the picture shows only two children, a boy and a girl. The three conclude from this that only one of the girls, either Karen or Miina, can be related to Maiku. The other must be a nonrelative. The only other identifying feature of the pair in the picture is that the boy and the girl have eyes of the same unusual color, a feature that furthers the ambiguity as all three of them share the same eye color.


Why the popularity of German? Second to English, German seems to be the most popular foreign language in anime. You see it in titles, names, and even quite a few characters are of German descent.

For example, many characters in Shingeki no Kyojin appear to be German/have German names and there are a lot of German references. Elfen Lied is also German (translates to "elf/elvish song").

Is there a reason for this?

Historically speaking, Germany and Japan have been on friendly terms since the 1930s (and even before), due to their shared militaristic ambitions just prior to the second world war (which led to their Axis Alliance).

  After the Second World War, the economies of both nations experienced rapid recoveries; bilateral relations, now focused on economic issues, were soon re-established. Today, Japan and Germany are, respectively, the third and fourth largest economies in the world, and benefit greatly from many kinds of political, cultural, scientific and economic cooperation.

As a result, there is a lot of cross-cultural sharing, which is why you see a lot of German outside of just anime as well (for example, the Japanese word for part-time job (アルバイト) is based off the German word for work (arbeit).


How did everyone end up on Kamine island? When Lelouch ordered Suzaku to live, Schneitzels Avalon started blasting everything.

But how did everyone get to Kamine island?
How did the other Black Knights get out of that mess and not go to Kamine island?
How come Black Knights couldn't know where the other team has ended up, they were just next to each other?
How did Princess Euphemia end up there?

And there is a scene were C.C is possibly talking to Marianne and there is a mention that she sent them there? Whats going on, seems like I missed something?

We see later on when Suzaku is remembering what he did when Lelouch ordered him to live what happened, Suzaku closed the cockpit of the Lancelot with Lelouch with him and went to escape, while i can't remember it entirely, he probably picked up Euphie on the way while Kallen chased after him knowing Zero was inside.

Because the Hadron Cannon was unfocused, C.C must have used the confusion to do something to the ruins remotely, possibly using the Thought Elevator, to send them to the island, it might have been area of effect as she probably was only targeting Lelouch but Suzaku, Euphie and Kallen was within the vicinity. C.C probably had planned that Lelouch would learn more of Geass, of Charles and V.V and of the Thought Elevator so that Lelouch would be prepared to grant her wish in the end.

How the Black Knight got out of the Avalon's attack, well as i said the Hadron Cannon was unfocused, it was still a prototype and Lloyd expresses how annoyed he is later on when Rakshata is able to perfect it by focusing the beams, because of the way the Hadron Cannon attacked and what we see it's assumed that the Black Knights retreated.

As for how they couldn't get in contact with Lelouch or Kallen, i'm quite sure what ever C.C did separated Suzaku and Kallen from their Knightmares and obviously they at the time were relying on their comms within the Knightmares so didn't carry radios, this is proven by the fact that the playback of Suzaku disobeying order was recorded in the Lancelot, the Britannian forces probably weren't aware of Suzaku or Euphie being on the island as they where there by chance on a separate mission investigating the ruins which Bartley suspects was the reason why Japan (and a number of other nations) was invaded in the first place.


What is the "Twin Ciel" theory? Given the highly positive response to my last question: Who stole my candy?, there seems to be a lot of speculation around this "Twin Ciel" theory or the idea of there being 2 Ciels.

So with that in mind, I am posting a follow-up question to that to ask for the full explanation of the theory and what this means for the series.

Can anyone shed some light, links, etc?

So the twin Ciel theory has been floating around the fandom for a few years but has recently gained much more evidence in the last few chapters.

"The Double-Ciel Theory: A Kuroshitsuji Mystery" on Blogspot is the most in-depth explanation I could find, though it doesn't contain any recent evidence. To sum up the theory, some believe that Ciel

   is not the actual Ciel Phantomhive, but the younger more sickly twin of the real Ciel who was sacrificed.

In addition to the evidenced in that blog post, the most recent chapters show

   Agni looking at pictures of Ciel's family and saying "It can't be," then running off to protect Soma. He finds Soma with a gun at his head, and the person fires but misses and shoots Soma's hand. Soma then says "Why?" Now flash forward and "twin" Ciel and Sebastian come home to find the scene before them. Soma sees "twin" Ciel and hits him. Ciel also sees a bit of the picture Agni was looking at and says "it can't be," and then asks Sebastian "you wouldn't lie to me would you?" Which brings up the fact that Sebastian has never called "twin" Ciel, "Ciel"; only "young master".

These are by far the most compelling evidence so far the author has pushed towards supporting the twin theory.


What does the drink that Mio ordered look like in Episode 18 of Nichijou? In episode 18, Yukko and Mio trying to order at a cafe which is probably Starbucks. Mio's order was

  I'd like grande white chocolate, mocha frappuccino, also I want a
  short single-shot, caramel sauce, hazelnut syrup, chocolate chip, and
  extra-whip espresso

Is the order really exist, or she just said random a coffee's name in her order?

Relevant video on YouTube.

It looks like this:

Yes, you can order the exact customized drink that Mio ordered at Starbucks, given if the additives are available. The receipt says (the price is in Yen):

- 1 Grande White Mocca Frappuccino   510
- Shot                                50
- Hazelnut Syrop                      50
- Caramel Sauce                        0
- Chocolate Chips                     50
- Extra Whip                    (custom)
- Total                              660

Source: http://blog.livedoor.jp/laisser/archives/52073325.html


Which was the name of this Rurouni Kenshin song? I remember the song in the begining of this video was from Rurouni Kenshin. But I can't remember its name. Which is the name of that song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsOJJlLd8YY

The song in your video is the third ending in the series named 'Heart of Sword'.

You can find it here


Can an animated show created outside Japan be called Anime? The "Anime" called "Torkaizer" which will be created in Alter Ego Productions animation studio in Abu Dhabi is created outside Japan but is called Anime officially, can a cartoonic show created outside Japan be called anime?

This is the official trailer by the official account of the studio on YouTube,
 in the description it officially states that it is an Anime.

Anime is a Japanese loanword used to refer to any sort of animation. Outside of Japan, in other countries, anime is generally considered to be a type of a cartoon.

You can make a cartoon in a style similar to anime, but it can't truly be considered an anime. Why not, you ask? Animation differs by region. This can be because of the different techniques used, ideologies present, and resources available to each production or studio.

Sure, anime can have various different styles and also emulate styles of other countries, and lines might sometimes be blurred when there are collaborations between studios from different countries. What makes them unique is the efforts of people, the people that come together to make them. Anime is what it is today thanks to the efforts made in Japan for the sake of the genre.

It's just like having your ethnic food in a foreign country. Some times it gets close but most of the time it'll have to acknowledge that it's not the same as if you had it in your home country. This may be due to a variety of reasons, like the availability of ingredients, skill of the chef, or even the recipe. While you can say it's ethnic food, it's just not the same.


Who is this goggles-wearing character from the second My Hero Academia S3 intro? The second opening of My Hero Academia S3 features three rapid-fire shots of a red-haired character wearing goggles and a very smug grin (YouTube reference):

These shots are placed right after the title card, implying he's going to be a significant character in the Provisional License Exam arc, but I don't recall him actually appearing at any point. I waited until the final episode came out to ask this, just in case he showed up towards the end of the season, but as far as I can tell, he still hasn't.

I check through the lists of MHA characters on both MyAnimeList and TV Tropes, and couldn't find him on either of them.

Who is this guy? And if he didn't appear, or appeared so briefly that I forgot about him, what's the significance of his appearance in the intro?

This character is a anime-only character, not appearing in the manga or an anime episode as of yet.

Most likely just for something to look cool in the OP.


Why didn't Annie take Eren out of his Titan when she kicked and beat him in the head during their fight in Stohess? When Annie hardened her leg and kicked Eren in the face, Eren started to bite down on the crystal until Annie started beating him in the head. However, when she was done, she just ran away. That was the perfect time to take him out of his nape and if she'd done so, I believe the female titan would've succeeded.

So, what was going through Annie's mind? Why didn't she take Eren out of his Titan when she kicked and beat him in the head during their fight in Stohess?

There will be a second time skip in the manga, my knowledge is drawn from scenes shown after that.

   As it is shown in Reiners memories, Annie is part of team of Marley's Titan kids and they are on a mission, basically doing espionage. But very early one of them gets killed and Reiner convinces the remaining two that they have to come back with something substantial in exchange. In the course of their infiltration they indeed target Eren for abduction, however Annie is exposed without having much of a plan at the time, eventually realizing that Eren may have become a match for her. She is completely within enemies' territory and Levi's squad has shown her the enemy is quite capable of killing her. Having her cover blown was the worst thing that could have happen to her. Annie's primary goal at the time was to retreat and regroup, she was fully aware that any unnecessary action would be an opportunity for the enemy to incapacitate her. She only fought Eren at this point because she was aware he would (and effectively did) prevent her to escape. Maybe she also panicked a little.

However, I can probably summarize with: Fleeing was the most intelligent thing to do at the time.


Why does Madhouse produce anime with consistently high-quality animation? That may be my personal observation, but I noticed that anime produced by the production company Madhouse have somewhat-consistently high-quality animation.

Even if the anime itself may not be a hit, the quality of drawings seems to be higher than most other production companies.

To list a few of their recent productions:

One Outs - a sports anime were lots of movements and running characters without the usual quirks of inconsistent body part movements.
Death Note - Brilliant drawings of characters with excellent usage of colors to illustrate different personalities.
Akagi & Kaiji - somewhat weird looking characters with bold black outlining, but still manage to fit perfectly into the overall anime atmosphere.
Btooom! - a short (and maybe unknown to many) anime, but still has still with excellent presentation.

The list could really go on and on with HunterXHunter, Trigun, Parasyte, Hajime no Ippo, Ninja Scroll, ...etc.

Is this just a case of a big studio that has lots of money (although I hear that the anime production companies are always running on limited budgets)?

Do they hire only the best illustrators?

There seem to be a few points that have or could have led to high-quality anime coming out of Madhouse.

It is a relatively old company. Having been started in 1972, it has had time to grow and figure out its style, at least compared to many anime studios which are from the 1990s or 2000s.
"Unlike other studios founded at this time such as AIC and J.C.Staff, their strength was and is primarily in TV shows and theatrical features. Expanding from the initial Mushi Pro staff, Madhouse recruited such important directors as Morio Asaka, Masayuki Kojima, and Satoshi Kon during the 1990s. Their staff roster expanded in the 2000s to include Mamoru Hosoda, Takeshi Koike, and Mitsuo Iso, as well as many younger television directors." (x) That shows a relatively strong set of directors.
They have a subsidiary company that focuses on computer graphics and a Korean animation studio that they have invested in and outsource to. Those show effort put into having work being done by those who specialize in it and are good at it.
They've collaborated with a number of big names in manga like CLAMP and Naoki Urasawa.

While the studio itself doesn't seem to be huge (about 70 employees, compared to 130 from Kyoto Animation, 120 from Production I.G., and 2010 from Nippon Animation), it has been a subsidiary since 2011 of Nippon Television, which is a massive television network in Japan. That may give it access to additional funds that would allow them to invest more into animation.


What is this particular song that is played a lot throughout the Chimera Ant arc? An example of the song being played is in episode 107, timecode 4:38. This is played a lot throughout this arc.

I am thinking that it could be an unknown track, as I can't find it in the soundtracks when searching through them.

Does anyone know what this song is called?

Assuming you're referring to the 2011 version of the series, the song you're looking for is called "Mystic Land"

https://youtu.be/YGmACxoYDjE?t=3760

The link I shared should link you to the song in question, as proof of my finding it.


What was Zangetsu's Task for Ichigo to get Bankai? When Ichigo is about to start his training to obtain Bankai, Zangetsu fills the area with different swords and tells Ichigo that only one is his true self and all other would break indicating that Zangetsu wanted Ichigo to find his true form and defeat him with it.

During the training Ichigo is just grabbing swords at random, at one point after being pushed back he just grabs another without looking. Yoruichi also comments on how at the beginning any sword Ichigo took broke after receiving a single attack but now they seem to last longer almost indicating that Ichigo was not meant to be finding Zangetsu's true form but instead get stronger using the fakes, also Yoruichi must have been able to hear Zangetsu's explanation to Ichigo because of how he was summoned (unlike before when Ichigo lost to Kenpachi)

So i am wondering, What was Zangetsu's Task for Ichigo to get Bankai? was it to defeat him with his true form or something else.

It is mentioned that this method only worked once before. Hence, it is a tested but not used method. As for the training, the user was supposed to fight the personification of the Zanpakto, or Zangetsu for Ichigo, since for the Bankai one needs the 'materialization and submission of the Soul Cutter'.

It was mentioned beforehand that the sword around represent the weakness in his heart and with each broken sword he will get stronger. However, he has to survive the complete training first.


What is the seventh clan? In the first season of K, we're introduced to the red, blue, and colorless clans early on, and later on are told about the silver and gold clans. In the movie, we come to know of the green clan.

But there are seven clans, and that only amounts to six. What is the color (or non-color?) of the seventh clan?

From the first to last clans, they are White Rice Party, Tokijikuin, Homra, Scepter 4, Jungle, Cathedral, and Colorless. Cathedral was COMPLETELY destroyed in the kagutsu crater incident, therefore the only one in the series that has any resemblance to the powers of the Gray clan, is the Gray King Seigo Ootori. (Tenkei Iwafune) And any sort of information given on Cathedral is little to null on even the Wikipedia, other than the interesting insignia of their clan.


What is this strange flying fish creature? At the end of the opening sequence of Outbreak Company, the main characters can be seen riding some sort of huge flying fish creature. I've watched 11 episodes so far, and I didn't catch any sights of anything remotely similar, or even a mention of what it could be.

What is it? Does it have a name (either species or individual name)? Does it appear anywhere in the story at all (e.g. in later novels)?

The closest thing I know of to this creature, is the mythological Peng, a fish-bird hybrid from ancient Chinese folklore. Technically, it is either a bird that can transform into a fish, or vice versa.

I am not aware of any explanations in the anime or in the light novels for this creature, but I suggest that it was included to add to the fantastical atmosphere of the anime, add another magical creature to the repetoire, as well as being something fun and exciting for the viewers to watch during the credit sequences!

Nevertheless, the Peng is an appropriate creature to use as a model, since its flight was associated with being uplifted by 'righteousness' and 'virtue', and for a long time stood as a metaphor for 'broadening one's mind' or 'expanding one's horizons'. This is a very apt theme for Outbreak Company, which is all about 'breaking' through to the other side, and expanding into new ground, both physically and mentally. Both Kano and Myucel must grow and broaden their minds and experiences, and so the Peng is an excellent metaphor for them!


What changes were made to Shirobako episode 6? The original version of Shirobako which aired on TV was pulled off streaming sites like CrunchyRoll due to rights issues (see ANN for more info). Since then, an edited version has been added to replace the original. What were the issues,  and what changes were made to the episode?

I've watched the original (now pulled) and the edited version (currently on CrunchyRoll). The only change I noticed was with regards to the dialogue in the play which Shizuka attends, about 11 minutes into the episode. The original dialogue was clearly taken from Samuel Beckett's famous play Waiting for Godot. This play is still copyrighted. To make things worse, as is described in the Wikipedia article linked, Beckett was strongly opposed to having female actors cast in the play, which the episode has. While the amount of the original it used was quite small (there's only about 15 seconds of dialogue), Japanese copyright law has no fair use policy, and so this could still be an issue.

The modified version only changed the dialogue during the play. Rather than taking lines from the original, the new dialogue is a noticeable reference to Waiting for Godot, but not taken directly from the play. The animation did not seem to have been modified, so the characters' lips didn't exactly match the new dialogue; this will likely be fixed in the final DVD version.

The references to Space Runaway Ideon seem to be unchanged. Both the original and new version called it "Idepon". While many initially suspected that these were the source of trouble, the Godot references seem to have been the bigger problem.


Why does Sato not lose his memory in season 2's last episode? In the beginning, Sato mentioned if The Head of an Ajin was severed from the body and a new one was allowed to grow, a New Person would be born. So why does Sato remember everything he did, also mentioning about phase 2 of the game?

The "New Person" you are referring to is more of an existential idea than a practical issue of memory. Sato threatens that he will cut off the main characters head and show him his body as the body regenerates a new head.  When this happens, the stream of consciousness splits in two.

The original head will be alive and witness the existence of the new head.
The new head will witness the old head die
The new head will remember seeing the old head but not watching the new head form.

The old head will have a stream of consciousness in which it lived, generated new memories after the branching, and then died without that stream of consciousness going somewhere else. Clearly the old head actually permanently died.  The fact that the new head has most of the old head's memories is largely irrelevant.  The old head died which is the head Sato is talking to and a new head/Person took its place.

Practically, the new person would pretty much be the same person but this is an existentially terrifying idea.

  The irony here, of course, is that this happens to Sato at the end giving the viewer a level of satisfaction watching the villain... in some way... dying.


Is there any special episode of Conan and Kindaichi working together? According to Detective Conan World's Wiki, there are a few people who know Conan's real identity. I checked out the list and found Hajime Kindaichi.

I am a fan of Kindaichi series so I would like to know how did Kindaichi get to know Conan's real identity? Obviously Conan wouldn't have told Kindaichi himself. Kindaichi must have figured it out.

So is there any special episode or a manga chapter where Conan and Kindaichi work together?

I know about the game.

As of current writing, there's no special episode/manga chapter featuring the crossover of Detective Conan and Kindaichi Case Files.

The only real crossover is the Nintendo 3DS game (as you already mentioned), called "Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo: Meguriau Futari no Meitantei" (or "Detective Conan and The Young Kindaichi Files: The Chance Meeting of the Two Great Detectives").

Other than the game, there's a collaboration between Weekly Shōnen Sunday (Detective Conan) and Weekly Shōnen Magazine (Kindaichi Case Files) to celebrate 50th anniversary of Sunday Magazine by publishing a twelve biweekly magazines consisting of chapters from both series (full list of the chapters can be read here (in Japanese)). It's only a collection of chapters from both series, not a crossover though.

Other than that, there are canned coffee featuring both characters, and a Game of Life featuring both series.

Reference:

Ho-Ling's Blogspot
Wikipedia article on The Kindaichi Case Files


Who is this character from a Dragon Ball videogame? The one in the right. I can read the first word in japanese says Vegita but I can't understand the rest

べジータたちをたおせ (Be-ji-i-ta-ta-chi-o ta-o-se), which means "Defeat Vegita and his comrades".

By the appearance of SSJ3 Vegeta and Nappa, it's from the game Dragon Ball Heroes, a Japanese arcade game developed by Dimps, which they have developed a lot of popular anime video games.


Why does Akiha have a physical reaction to Shiki's collapse? In chapter 36 of the Tsukihime manga, Akiha doubles over in pain while Shiki is collapsing at the site of the incident eight years ago. The pacing and a remark from Akiha indicating worry for Shiki imply that this is related to Shiki's collapse.

Why would Akiha have a physical reaction to Shiki's collapse? I do not recall seeing any indication of the two being linked physically or mentally in the way Shiki and SHIKI are. (Shiki eventually sees murders from SHIKI's eyes. We don't see Akiha undergo the same experiences as Shiki in this maner.) Alternatively, am I misunderstanding what happens here?

I do not recall seeing any indication of the two being linked

Actually they are. In the visual novel, in Akiha's Route, what really happened when Shiki collpased is revealed. SHIKI inverted and attacked Akiha but Shiki protected her and died; however, Akiha gave up some of her life force to save Shiki.

  She was outside playing with Shiki, her adopted brother, and her real brother, also named SHIKI. But the Tohno blood was much stronger in her real brother and he inverted to his non-human form. In this uncontrollable state, he lost control of himself and attempted to attack Akiha. Shiki jumped in the way to protect her and took the full force of the attack. Shiki died protecting Akiha, but Akiha used powers granted to her by her non-human blood to give him half of her life, allowing him to survive.

Source: Akiha Tohno - Personality (2nd Paragraph)

Akiha's pained expression is most likely from the strain of maintaining Shiki's
life alongside resisting the Inversion Impulse of the Tohno Demon Blood inside her, which she requires Kohaku's help for.

  Akiha often struggles to maintain control over her Tohno blood and resisting her Inversion Impulse, which she has difficulty with due to her also maintaining Shiki's life, to the point she also had to drink Kohaku’s blood.

Source: Akiha Tohno - Personality (3rd Paragraph)

In her route however, it becomes too much as she succumbs to her Inversion Impulse in the end. In the True End of her route:

   [Shiki] decides to kill himself instead (so that she will regain the life energy she gave Shiki when he died eight years ago, and then will be restored to her full strength so she can more easily resist her Tohno blood impulses and restore her mind).

Source: Akiha Tohno - Role - Akiha's Roue (8th Paragraph)

Suffice to say that there is more to the True Ending than what I have quoted, which you can read up on the site in the quoted paragraphs and those that follow.


Why does Todoroki look different between the 1st and 2nd season? In season 1 of My Hero Academia, Todoroki looks like this:

In season 2, he looks like this:

As can be seen from the first image, his left side (and not his right side) is his ice side. His left eye is also round and red. I believe there is only 1 short instance in season 2 when he activates his fire power where his left eye becomes round and red.

Another difference is that in season 1, Todoroki's left side is always encased in ice, but never in season 2. Even when he uses his ice Quirk extensively in season 2, he is only seen with a little ice on himself:

What is the reason for the difference between season 1's and season 2's Todoroki?

In the first picture, it was Todoroki wearing his hero costume. In episode 6 to 8, they had mock battles wearing their costumes. It is also explained that the students can give their own design for their costume.

The second one, it's in the Sports Festival where they cannot wear hero costumes because they will have an advantage to their enemies.

Regarding freezing and shivering, if you're referring in the 1st picture, no, he won't freeze because that is just his hero costume, not his quirk at work.

But if you're talking about his quirk, then the answer is still no, because he uses the other half of his quirk which is

   half hot

to keep himself from the effects of his half cold and vice versa.


Could there be a Devil Fruit that makes you an outstanding swimmer? In One Piece, is there a Devil Fruit that makes you a great swimmer? It seems impossible since eating a Devil Fruit makes you unable to swim. Does the series ever address this?

There is actually a canon answer to this.  The Sui-Sui No Mi (official english name is Swim-Swim fruit) is a Paramecia Fruit eaten by Senior Pink.

As the ocean is inaccessible to Devil Fruit users, the Swim-Swim Fruit makes you an excellent swimmer... through anything else including solid material (except seastone).

Unless Oda decides to create one, no devil fruit will exist which is a loophole to allow the user to swim through water.


What MMOs influence Sword Art Online and Log Horizon? I see that in SAO and LH, players can craft, buy houses, adhere to the holy trinity of MMO, etc. My first thought was that they might have WoW in Japan, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as it is in the U.S. There don't seem to be a lot of Western MMOs that allow you to buy property either. My second guess is that they might have been heavily influenced by Korean MMOs such as Ragnarok, but I have not played them and I wasn't sure.

So what MMOs could have influenced SAO and LH?

His main inspirations would be

Ultima Online
Ragnarok Online

Reki Kawahara was in the Manga Studies Club. He drew manga and illustrations during his time there. Kawahara would often head to the arcade with his fellow members to play fighting games . He also started playing online games in 1998, starting with Ultima Online. Kawahara also played Ragnarok Online, his most played game (although he stated World of Warcraft during Sakura-Con 2013)
He felt it would be more natural to write about net games.

For some more of his inspirations and why he decided to write you can read a brief biography about him


What was Kakuzu's original chakra nature element? Kakuzu, an Akatsuki member who works with Hidan as a pair, has a unique ability. His body is full of black strings that he can use to steal the organs of his opponents.
He uses this ability in order to

steal his enemies' hearts, which gives him two important advantages:
1) Provides a type of "immortality". He can have a maximum of 4 hearts but this means he needs to be killed 4 times without him replacing the lost hearts in the mean time.
2) Allows him to use the chakra nature elements of the stolen hearts. For example, if he steals a heart from someone who possessed the wind chakra nature element, he'd be able to use that.

Is it known what Kakuzu's own original chakra nature element was?

Being originally from the Waterfall village plus using the only element without having an embodiment,

I'll have to take an educated guess and call Water on Kakazu.


In Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage, who is this blue-haired guy sitting next to Boruto? In Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage manga, page 3

Who is the guy with blue hair sitting next to Boruto?

Is it a new character or did I miss something from Naruto?

The character sitting next to Boruto is Mitsuki. He is a Konohagakure shinobi who originated from an unknown village and also the team-mate of Boruto and Sarada.

According to Narutopedia:

  Born as Orochimaru's son, Mitsuki immigrated to Konohagakure, where he was then enrolled into the Konoha Academy. Most of Mitsuki's background is left as a complete mystery to the point where even his own team-mates don't know who his parents are.

Extract from Boruto: Naruto the movie summary:

  Boruto questions Mitsuki about his parentage, to which the latter says he is the son of Orochimaru. This shocks Sarada and she asks if Orochimaru is his mother or father while Boruto asks who Orochimaru is, and Mitsuki replies it doesn't matter, much to Boruto and Sarada's confusion.


How different are the Index light novels from the manga/anime? The original Toaru Majutsu no Index light novels were adapted as anime and manga. I heard, that the LNs had much more content than the manga or the anime, but I couldn't find any reliable sources. Do the light novels have more content than the manga/anime? And if yes, do the adaptions differ much or are the differences minimal?

I've read the first ten novels from the series and I'd say the content is pretty much the same, i.e. the anime follows the novels pretty well, but of course, the novels are much more detailed, for example more explanations during the fights, small additional scenes or more detailed explanations on certain (pseudo-scientific) concepts regarding the story. Also, in the novel you can often read what the character is thinking at the moment, which gives certain scenes a different feel than in the anime.

Personally, I found some parts of the novel rather streched-out, but on the other side, some other scenes were really fun to read. If you have time and you really like the anime, you should check out the novels, but don't expect a blast.


Leaf Shinobi vest colours I am curious to know why some leaf shinobi's vest colours are green and some are dark green. For example, Shikaku wears a dark green vest and Kakashi wears green. Are dark green vests considered elite shinobi? Wouldn't Kakashi be considered elite? Does it signify something about that particular shinobi?

Thanks

I did a little bit of search about outfits in Naruto series, only 2 ninjas had a dark green outfit.

Shikaku and Asuma. If you check both of their profiles in Naruto wikia, nothing is being said about the color.

This is a peace from Asuma description:

  His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the
  sleeves rolled up half way, flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals and
  forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire"
  (火) marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and
  bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.

Also the flak jacket, for Konohagakure it's only one, there is no other jacket that the Jōnins wear.

So I asume it has to do mostly with Shikaku that he was the Jōnin Commander, so we can understand the difference between him and the other Jōnins.

So to summarize, it's just a speculation about all this. But there are no evidence about these colours. Maybe in a Naruto SBS there is an explanation, about this, which I can't find.


Why do some English Dubs leave untranslated Japanese Text? I started to notice it consistently happening.

For example, in Durarara!!, a character communicates through text messages. In the English dub (or, at least the version I watched), these are left untranslated, which is really not good seeing as these are important messages.

In the sub, they were translated into English just like everything else.

Other dubs I've noticed that do this are Inu X Boku SS and Steins;Gate, just off the top of my head.

Is there some reason for this?

Dubbing is expensive; subbing is much cheaper to do.  Anime translation companies usually want to dub because they have no shot at getting it aired on TV outside of Japan if there is no dub, so they usually sell the subbed DVDs etc. for about the same amount of money as the dubbed ones, in order for the sales of the subs to to offset the larger cost of dubbing.  Neither dubbing nor subbing requires editing/adding to the artwork (dubs are an audio track; subs are a separate text file that can be overlaid over the art).

In contrast, usually text messages and other text shown in the artwork itself often moves as the "camera" pans; it is not usually static and flat on the screen.  Covering it up would require the company to overlay art that moves: essentially, to animate over the Japanese text with text that can move along with the "camera" panning motion, to avoid scrolling the overlay over the character's fingers, to tilt at the same angle as the cell phone screen is being held at, etc.  In other words, it is a different endeavor than either recording audio or typing up subtitles: one that requires more work which is a different type of work.

If the company has managed to land the series airing on TV in the country they're licensed for release in, the amount of money they expect to make off of it would cause them to be willing to re-animate those text messages.  They would not have a large motivation to add that animating work on top of their dubbing expenses if they do not expect to make a lot of money from the series.  If the text message is read aloud in either the voice of the sender or the voice of the recipient, it does not require the re-animating work for the viewer to understand (assuming the dub script is accurate, which is a whole different can of worms).  Using the dub voice actor they've already hired to orally take care of the viewer getting the gist of the message saves money.

An alternative would be to add a subtitle track which subtitles only the on-screen text messages, book covers, signage, etc. which would be inexpensive to do.  However, when you compare the dub script with the subtitle script from the same company, there are often differences because the dub is 1) attempting to match animated mouth movements and 2) attempting to sound more colloquial (i.e., "What would this character say if this character were talking naturally in English/Chinese/whatever language is being dubbed?" rather than repeating awkwardly in said language a translated phrase that a Japanese person would say in this situation but which a native speaker of said language would never think to say in this situation) as compared to the sub which is more concerned with 1) fitting in the physical space of 1~2 lines of text on the screen at once and 2) just translating more simply (what the character said).  So when the dub and sub scripts do not match, it would cause more confusion to add that sub script they already made into the dub copy, because then the dub actor's voice reading the Japanese text message and the sub at the bottom of the screen would not match.  It is likely that the company doesn't want to make a separate subtitle file for the dub copy unless it is necessary, again to save on costs.


Why Is Britannia often depicted as an almighty power? Often in series revolving around wars, you will see a mention of Britannia.
More often so, they are depicted as an almighty power which is to be feared, or even one which has dominated most or all of the world.

Some of the most known examples would be code-geass where "The Holy Empire of Britannia" conquered most of the world, including Japan, which then became known as Area 11. Or a bit more obscure reference in nanatsu-no-taizai:

So why is Britannia often depicted as an almighty power? One who should be feared?

Based on your comments you seem to be drawing too much of a distinction between the words Britannia and Britain, as in fact both mean the same thing. Britannia is just the Latin (and ancient Greek) word for Britain.  While there was no Empire of Britannia (or Holy Empire of Britannia for that matter), strictly speaking there was also no British Empire.  That is just the informal name for what, at its height, was more accurately called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the various dominions, territories, protectorates and so on that it controlled.

So if you take the historical, but informal British Empire, and alter history by turning it into a real empire with a real Emperor/Empress and give it a more fanciful name by merging the name of historical Holy Roman Empire with the Latin name Britannia and you get what see in Code Geass. The name "Holy Britannian Empire" both invokes the might and culture of the British Empire while also clearly being something else entirely. Similarly, I'd expect any other reference to Britannia as a real country in anime and manga as meant to invoke Britain, but not actually be Britain.

Mind you can't find much evidence that Britannia, as distinct from Britain, being a trope in anime and manga. The two series you mentioned, Code Geass and The Seven Deadly Sins, are the only ones I can find that have a "Britannia". In the later series, it also doesn't appear that Britannia exists as a political entity, just a name for the region where the story is set.

Indeed, I'd say Code Geass is actually an example of the America Takes Over the World trope, as, despite the name, the Holy Britannian Empire is centred in America and doesn't actually control Britain.


Where did Scar's other tattoo come from? In the 2009 anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, near the end of the series,

   Scar fights Wrath. During the battle, Scar surprises Wrath by using construction alchemy, revealing that he has a construction-based tattoo on his left arm.

Scar has not had this tattoo forever, though; in earlier scenes in the series, we can clearly see that Scar has only one tattoo on his body.

(Left: Scar, episode 22, no left tattoo. Right: Scar, episode 60, tattoo on his left.)

Is it ever stated when Scar receives this tattoo? Who gave it to him?

Although I can't remember it being stated, it is most likely, that he found the tattoo in his brothers notes and put it on his arm with the help of Dr. Marcoh.

   The tattoo was most likely one part of the preparations for the 'promised day' in episode 46 (2009), before Scar comes back with Marcoh from the negotiation with the Ishvals.


Why does an alchemist need a transmutation circle? As a follow up, but another subject, of my question about equivalent exchange part of the alchemy laws.

Why do (most) alchemists require a transmutation circle? Does any circle suffice or does an alchemist require a specific type for each (type of) job? At least the size seems to matter...

The transmutation circles contain the formulae and/or specific incantation needed to carry out a function.  There is always some part of the human mind that is involved in a transmutation (otherwise, Mustang's gloves would only be able to mess with the air in a very select pattern), but in general more complicated transmutations will require a more robust "hard formula".  The "soft formula" comes from the mind of the alchemist.  This is the part that actually shapes what should happen, while the "hard formula" is used to gather the required energy/ handle the heavy lifting.

On the subject of people who can transmute without circles, there are two different schools of thought.

The first follows the anime/manga rigidly, and interprets Izumi's words literally.  They see it as the 'reward' for losing part of yourself when you looked beyond the gate.  Looking beyond the gate exacts a toll from you, which is then used to "pay" for the privilege of seeing the base code of the universe.  Knowing this base code, alchemists are able to use the "soft" formula to a greater extent, and do not require the assistance of a "hard" formula in order to transmute.

The second possible explaination is more of an unintended side effect.  Remember how Barry the Chopper lost his body?  Well, his soul (in the armor) was able to sense his body's presence (and vice-versa).  If one assumes the figure at the gate (which takes peoples' body parts) is god (or at least, the source of alchemy), then him "wearing" an alchemists parts (pardon the term) is essentially giving that alchemist a very subtle, yet powerful connection on a mental level.  The alchemists are able to use their missing parts to bridge the gap separating them from this god-like being, and thus transmute seemingly at will.

Alphonse, not having a physical body at all with which to form a bridge, is unable to skip the "hard formula" at first, but upon re-visiting the experience in his own mind, he forces himself to build this "bridge" and can transmute naturally from then on.