Death of a character in the Baratie arc I was watching One Piece when I remembered that there was a guy Sanji saved back in the Baratie arc. Then I looked up his name, and it was Gin.

I remember that when Krieg launched the poison attack, Gin gave his mask to Luffy, essentially sacrificing himself in the process.

They said he took a lethal amount of poison, yet we don't know if he died after the events. We only know that he and his crew (including Pandaman) sailed away on a ship that wasn't the ideal size, and Gin said to Luffy that he's going to meet him again.

Did he die? I'm quite far in the story, and he hasn't returned thus far. Challenging Luffy also wouldn't be a very sane idea if he knew he was going to be dead in couple of hours, and there's virtually no chance they meet again in that time.

Gin hasn't been mentioned or referenced in the story since he left, so his fate his unknown at the moment, and only speculation can be used.

On the one hand, he did breathe in a supposedly lethal amount of poisonous gases, and may not have much longer left to live, as he noted himself. But on the other hand, several characters in the series have been shown to survive supposedly lethal injuries, albeit sometimes thanks to outside help. Pell survived the explosion from Crocodile's bomb in the Alabasta arc, and Luffy survived Magellan's poisons thanks to Ivankov's treatments and his own willpower.

Until Gin reappears in person, is mentioned by another character, or Oda clarifies the situation in an SBS, Gin's fate will remain ambiguous.


In Soul Eater, does Soul ever become a death scythe? If so, which episode? I have heard rumors he only becomes a death scythe in the manga but it is still unclear. Has it just not happened yet in the anime?

No, in the anime of soul eater a death scythe is more of a conceptual goal than a visible state of progression, however, as the anime progresses a character who is an actual death scythe is introduced and it's power is displayed to reinforce that goal.

Keep in mind that the anime also ends at the internal investigation arc (chapters 38-40) as the Kishin arc - Arachnophobia vs DWMA - is anime only. I will leave out details if you haven't seen it to avoid spoilers but I do recommend watching it.

My source is that I watched the anime fairly recently and recall the details.


Where does the "Lyrical" part come from? I've been wondering where the "Lyrical" part of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha comes from. To the best of my knowledge, none of the Magic the characters use seem to be remotely music based, and even when the writers tried to step away from the "Magical Girl" aspect, they still kept the Lyrical part in Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force.

Is there some meaning to the word Lyrical that I've missed?

Like a lot of this stuff, its probably just english that sounds cool - also Nanoha does use it in her activation key (which is barely ever used).

As for where it originally came from, Nanoha itself is a spinoff from Triangle Heart, a VN series about the rest of the Takamachi family, who are badass bodyguards - you can see the original prototype here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_RBghAfiW8


What song is played when Ace is questioning why everyone came to save him in episode 468? In One Piece episode 468 around 6:38, there's a song when Ace is questioning why everyone came to save him. The song sounds like a Gregorian chant.

I tried going through the soundtracks but I couldn't find it.

What is that song?

Medwyn Goodall - Inside the Dragons Lair -
A Wooden Door Opens onto the Balcony That Overlooks the Monks at Service.


What is a Tokyo Raven? I don't recall the title of Tokyo Ravens being explained over the course of the anime (though it's possible I missed something). Other than the Raven Coat, I don't remember any particular references to ravens. Where does the term Tokyo Raven come from and what does it mean? Is there a historical basis for it or is it something the author made up? Is it explained in the light novels?

Where does the term Tokyo Raven come from and what does it mean?

The correct parse is almost surely Tokyo [Ravens] rather than [Tokyo Raven]s. As in "ravens in Tokyo"; not "more than one of a Tokyo Raven".

"But what ravens?" you might ask. "I sure didn't see any in the anime!"

  Is it explained in the light novels?

Yep. It turns out that the light novel adorns a number of phrases with the furigana レイヴンズ "ravens". For example, from the back cover of the first volume (to use the most obvious example, since I don't have this OCR'd and hence can't Ctrl+F through it), there are already two distinct instances of this:

[陰陽師たち]【レイヴンズ】 ("shamans" or something, depending on your translation)
[闇に舞う鴉たち]【レイヴンズ】 ("crows who dart through the darkness").

There's not a one-to-one equivalent of this practice in English, but a reasonable approach is to understand it as "ravens" being used as metonymy for "shamans"/etc. And this is true in-universe, too: shamans are sometimes referred to or described as "ravens" because of their tendency to don black, raven-like cloaks, as Yakou did.

This furigana thing occurs multiple times in the actual body text of the LN (in volume 1, at least), but it'd take me a while to hunt down the actual quotes. There are also direct (non-furigana) uses of "ravens" (鴉) as metonymy for shamans.

Of course, there are many shamans (i.e. ravens) in Tokyo; and many "crows who dart through the darkness" (i.e. ravens), if by "crows" we mean "weird shadowy supernatural things". Hence, Tokyo Ravens - ravens in Tokyo.

But your confusion is reasonable: this would probably be lost on people who have only seen the anime, since the furigana double-meaning thing obviously doesn't work with the spoken word.

  Is there a historical basis for it or is it something the author made up?

I know very little about real-world onmyoudou, but I'm not aware of the raven being a motif or symbol there. (Of course, research is made difficult by the fact that Tokyo Ravens itself pollutes google results for this sort of thing.)


How do hand-seals work when performed with another participant? This is related to: What is the difference when a jutsu is performed by weaving only some of it's seals and when performed by weaving all of them?

According to the answer, head-weaving is a technique used to manipulate chakra to perform the Jutsu. Some users require more hand seals to perform the Jutsu whereas other do not require as many due to their chakra control.

In Naruto Shippuden, Episode 374

   We see Kakashi and Obito having their battle in the realm where their Mangekyou Sharingan takes them. At roughly 8:30, Kakashi and Obito are in close quarters and Obito takes Kakashi's hand to perform the hand-seals for FireBall Justu.

How does the charka manipulation through hand-seals work when performing them with another participant?

As said in the linked post, the hand signs are for the manifesting chakra, while weaving hand signs. More the shinobi's skill and chakra control increases, less the hand signs he needs to use. While techniques may require a number of hand seals to work, a skilled ninja can use less or even one to perform the same technique.

In the whole series, we've seen shinobi using hand signs with two hands, one hand and even no hand signs, which requires a very precise control of chakra. As mentioned in this post, at various instances shinobi of great skill like Itachi, Minato, Sasuke or Naruto used even one hand signs or no hand signs.

But When using hand signs with another participant, they both need their chakra to be in perfect sync with each other and should have a great control over it. That's why Naruto and Sasuke could accomplish some jutsu.

Also, there were instances, like in  Obito Uchiha using Kakashi Hatake's hand for the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique or  Anko Mitarashi using Orochimaru's hand for the Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique. For these instances, a shinobi needs to have a great amount of chakra, which he forces to make it flow into other participant's body and gains control of other's chakra (momentarily) to get his jutsu done.

Hope this answers your doubt. :)


Is Mario Bosh/Bossi Triela's real father? Is Mario Bosh (or Bossi) Triela's real father?

In chapter 3, Triela captures, and later frees, a former mafia leader, Mario Bosh.

He claims to have come to the town to meet his daughter (Triela?), whom he hasn't seen in several years.

He later sends Triela a bear as a Christmas present. (He claims to have sent his daughter a Christmas present every year, and Triela has received a bear for Christmas every year, supposedly from her handler.)

It seems odd that Triela also received exactly what she asked for for Christmas from Mario even though she never had the chance to tell him what she wanted.

Side note: this would actually make it the first year Triela has received a gift from her handler, not the first gift from Mario.

Also, Triela's handler hides around a corner, and doesn't show himself, allowing Triela to release Mario.

Is this an actual thing, or am I overthinking it?

As the background story on the wiki states (I believe this part is handle further on in the manga so do consider this a spoiler)

  Originally from Tunisia, Triela was kidnapped and smuggled to Amsterdam by the Mafia, where she was drugged, tortured, and sexually assaulted during the routine taping of a snuff film. Victor Hartmann and Rachelle Belleut, acting on a lead from guilt-racked Camorra mafioso Mario Bossi, stormed the warehouse where she was being held captive and subsequently rescued her, just as she was succumbing to her injuries and to cardiac arrest.


Why did Lenka's hair turn gold? Why did Lenka's hair turn gold when fighting Pita and afterward it returned normal ?

According to /r/anime:

  Golden hair status is supposed to be the effect that the Aragami Cells have on the human body when pushed to extremes.

So, basically, he was physically maxed out while fighting Pita, and as a result, his hair turned gold.


Which episode in the Alabasta arc has Luffy ate all the food on the boat and Sanji ask him about it? In the Alabasta arc, there is an episode where Luffy eats all the food on the boat. When confronted by Sanji, Luffy responds with the following, all while whipping his hand back and forth:

  I really don't know what you're talking about.

Does anyone know what episode this is from?

It's from episode 92, titled "The Hero of Alabasta and the Ballerina on Deck".


What is this anime which started with a boy and his sister riding on a train to another dimension to search for their scientist parents? I watched this anime 10 years ago or more, and I missed the ending. During my childhood, this is one of my favorites.

The anime started with a little boy and his little sister riding a train at midnight to search for their lost parents. They met a girl in the train who rode the train to unlock the mystery of the train, and she also revealed that the train only appeared at midnight. The siblings told her they were in search of their parents who were scientist and was lost during the blast a year ago.

Their journey began when the train sent them into another dimension or world, where they met a man who possessed a gun with bullets of different type of effect (like fire, ice, water, air, etc.). Eventually, the man joined them in their search for the children's parent and sent them home too.

I guess that's a lot. Hope someone knows. Thank you :)

The anime is Final Fantasy: Unlimited. It was my favorite back then.

Synopsis from MyAnimeList

  Ai and Yu, after reading their parent's research and after their parents' disappearance, they decided to go on search for them. They ride a strange train to the Inner World in search of their parents and meets up with Lisa in the train and together they begin their journey within the Inner World.


Is Drive Knight a cyborg or a robot? In One Punch Man there are cyborgs and robots. For example G4 was a robot and Genos is a cyborg. But how about Drive Knight? He has something that would seem to be hair, though it could be artificial. And in the manga in a chapter,

 He mentions he can't fight anymore because he doesnt have more energy, which makes him look more like a robot than a cyborg, since the human part of cyborg is unlikely to be completely depleted of energy (this doesnt happen to humans either, you might be exhausted but it's difficult you are completely unable to move or through some punches)

So then, Is Drive Knight a cyborg or a robot?

According to the Wikia page on Drive Knight:

  It is unknown if he is a remodeling cyborg or a robot.

I don't think that ONE really cares enough to designate him as a cyborg or a robot.


Why is Danbo so popular? Originally, Danbo was a cardboard box robot from the manga Yotsuba&!.

But most people recognize Danbo from a photo-shot (that's how I knew of Danbo before I finally read the manga) and if you try to google image search it, the result will be something like this, not the Yotsuba&! manga.

So how could Danbo become so popular? Is there someone who used it for advertising or something?

After Kaiyodo began selling Danbo models, a photographer named Arielle Nasal began taking photos of them every day for a year

See her account here

These photos were eventually compiled into a book "365 Days of Danboard"

This piece is the source of many danbo scenic photographs, and the inspiration for others

After this, there were many Danbo photographs being taken. Many Facebook, Tumble and Flicker pages set up with Danbo photos as their focus. Most notable of these is the Danbo Love Flickr group who have amassed a staggering 35,000 photos of Danbo

There are 4 different models of Danbo available at time of writing - Original, Amazon.JP branded, 7/11 Branded, Miniature


Is the extra person always someone related to class 3-3? I havent dig too deep, but I think the extra person in all the years when the calamity happens is someone already related to the class 3-3.

Is it true?

Yes, as far as I remember, this is confirmed at the beginning of the manga.

Class 3-3 has been the 'cursed' class since 1972

   Every year since class 3-3 has had an 'Extra' person in the class from the original year, who doesn't realise they are already dead.

The Another Wikia is a good source of information on the series.


A sad violin song in most of flashback scenes like Obito's flashback and the storybook from Jiraiya There's a violin track in Naruto Shippuden that's kind of sad or emotional. It starts with a little guitar or banjo, then continued with a violin.

Up until season 18, most of the time the song comes up in a flashback, like Obito's flashback, and in the storybook from Jiraiya, and even more of them. One example is in episode 440 in the book from Jiraiya, the song starts at 17:17. Another example is from episode 464, around minute 17.

I have checked all the OST, but I couldn't find it.

What is the name of the song?

This was not released in any of the official OSTs. At the very least, it doesn't appear in any of the tracks in this list (as of 2018).

There are some unofficial versions online, such as this one, titled "Minato saves Kushina".

I remember this song as that nostalgic-sounding track that is mostly happy, but has just a touch of bittersweetness, and also that really good violin bit.

Not to be confused with "Let Me Tell You a Story from My Childhood", which sounds similar and also has some very nice violin parts, but unlike the first song, is more lighthearted and cheerful.


Why didn't Light kill Mello? In Episode 29, the NPA tries to capture/kill Mello. Soichiro Yagami gets the Shinigami Eyes and tells Light that Mello's real name is Mihael Keehl. So, Mello escapes because Soichiro Yagami couldn't kill him. But didn't Light know Mello's face?

It's mentioned that no matter how exact the drawings are, you can't see the names of the person with the Shinigami Eyes. But Light knew Mello's name was Mihael Keehl, he also knew how he looked like because of that girl who draws Mello's and Near's faces.

Also, one of the first rules of the death note states:

  This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

Light knew how Mello looked like. He also knew his name was Mihael Keehl.

Why didn't Light kill Mello?

Some rule state that the eye of the shinigami did not work on drawings, no matter how perfect. It could apply a similar rule to the "face in mind".


Can a Devil Fruit user pass on powers to their children? If a Devil Fruit user has a child with a person or another Devil Fruit user, would said child have a similar power, the same power, or no power and just be a regular child? Because from what I've seen in a lot of superhero movies, when they have kids, their kids might have the same or similar power. Would Devil Fruit powers be any different from that?

Short answer: No, this has not been shown, and there is overwhelming evidence to suggest the opposite.

In the world of One Piece, it is well established that any power gained through eating a devil fruit will be unique in the world. If there were a bunch of kids running around who had inherited the same powers as their parents, we would likely have seen someone like that by now or heard mention of it. If anyone is shown with some sort of a power, the first reaction of the other characters is always "He must have eaten some sort of devil fruit" and never any suggestion that the power could have been gained in another way.

It would also complicate the issue that once the devil fruit user dies, the devil fruit spawns again elsewhere in the world with another fruit, so if this were possible, you could potentially have a family where all the members are inheriting a power from some ancestor, and once he died someone else ate the fruit and passed the power to his children, and by the present hundreds of people could have the one power.

As of chapter 824, we have never to my knowledge seen a confirmed devil fruit user who has a child, and there are a couple of possibilities for this. One is just chance, the majority of parents we see in One Piece end up dying in flashbacks, and devil fruits are reasonably rare, and even if we were to believe, for example, that Edward Weevil is Whitebeard's son, there is no sign that he has the powers of the tremor fruit. It is of course possible that he was born after his father ate the fruit, so this is not necessarily a counter argument.

The other interesting possibility is that eating a devil fruit might leave the user sterile, as I said, we have no confirmed cases of an ability user having a child after they gained their powers, and in many characters case such as Luffy, Magellan, and all Logias and Zoans, there must have been huge changes to their bodies as a result of them having eaten the devil fruit.

Two more possiblities are that eating a devil fruit has no effect on your children, or that it significantly lowers your fertility without reducing it to zero. If Superman had a son, you would expect that man to have super powers, as he is genetically an alien, however if someone like Spiderman, who was born a normal human but later gained his powers through an event that potentially didn't alter his DNA had a child, you would expect that child to be biologically a normal human. If it is that eating a devil fruit lowers your fertility massively, then it is also possible that eventually a devil fruit user will successfully have a child who will inherit their power, and potentially lead to a dynasty of ability users.


What is the music on S3E16 when Todoroki was fighting group of ninjas? What is the music on season 3 episode 16 of My Hero Academia around 20:07 when Todoroki was fighting a group of ninjas?

It's Kibasen, the 13th track of Boku no Hero Academia Season 2 Original Soundtrack.

YouTube link


Is Yun male or female? In Only Sense Online, the main character is male, but in game people keep mistaking him for being female.

Did the game actually turn him into a female character, or did he just get his features made more feminine?

This was the explanation from the LN, but it doesn't actually state whether or not the avatar was skewed towards being feminine or it was actually a female body:

   When you don’t modify your body after your figure is captured by camera, an automatic body correction is applied. Mainly it works in the direction of adding femininity.

The game changed him into a female character because he didn't modify his body when setting it up. The game automatically added a body correction. It's near the beginning of Chapter 1 if you want to find it.


Are there several others saiyans alive? In the anime Vegeta insisted the only saiyans alive were him, Nappa, Raditz, Goku and Goku's son Gohan. Later we found out that Vegeta's brother Tarble was alive (in the case this is canon, by the way, Vegeta never mentioned him before) and recently that Broly and his father Paragus too. But in Dragon Ball Minus which seems to be canon

   Freezer asks to one of his soldiers before killing all the saiyans how many saiyans returned to Planet Vegeta, his soldier replies most of them should be back in a month or so but it will take a little longer for every single saiyan to come back, and Freezer says he cannot wait that long, he will execute his plan in a month's time.

Does this mean there are several others saiyans alive?

Answer found on reddit. I take no credit in writing this. I just found out that both the question and the answer in this link answers this question.

Argument

Throughout DBZ there is a running gag of Vegeta saying "I am the Prince of all Saiyans" despite us only seeing a handful in series and movies (Goku, Bardock, Borgos, Broly, Fasha, King Vegeta, Nappa, Paragus, Raditz, Tarble, Tora, Turles, Vegeta, Bulla, Gohan, Goten, Pan, Trunks). Along with the notion that the Saiyan race is pretty much extinct except for the main characters. But this is wrong and not plausible given what the Saiyans' role was under Frieza.

So the Saiyan-Tuffle war ends in the Age of 730. At this point in their history the Saiyans are just brutes with no technology until the Arcosians arrive and trade technology in exchange for them conquering planets. Shortly after seeing how good Saiyans are at fighting/killing they are annexed under Frieza and his Planet Trade Organization in the Age of 731 and become part of his military. And let’s assume it takes about a year for the planet to be fully developed as seen in the flashbacks and in the movie Bardock- The Father of Goku. So the planet is all up and running in the Age of 732.

So Frieza has the Saiyans doing his dirty work conquering planets across the universe for himself or for sale. His need/demand/want is so great that the Saiyans send their babies to planets with weak inhabitants to conquer. This continues until Frieza destroys the planet in the Age of 737. So for 5 years the Saiyans are sending their young to the ends of the universe for Frieza. Now the only question is how many are being sent daily. In the movie Bardock- The Father of Goku you can see a long hallway where the space pods are where the babies are sent out. From the scene you can see ~14 pods from the two sides and we can safely assume the hallway has more. And in the movie Broly- The Legendary Super Saiyan you get a better look at the nursery and you see ~8 beds with babies and again we can assume there are more.

So the Saiyans had no problems sending their babies to these planets because any babies that were decently strong would stay on the planet to be raised as elites. The weak are sent away with no exception e.g. Tarble was sent away for being too weak despite being from Royal blood. In episode 124 "Z Warriors Prepare" King Vegeta says to Vegeta "The weakest of our people are sent to planets far away, where they face no threat from our enemies" while standing in front of a window pointing out the spacepods (carrying babies) leaving the planet. In the scene you can see ~60 spacepods leaving. And let's assume this happens at least once a week and that Planet Vegeta's year is similar to Earth since the whole series refers to time the same way the Earth does.

So considering all this you have:

60 Saiyans sent out weekly every year over 5 years

60x52x5 = 15600 Saiyans in the Universe

And what happens after Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta? He lies about what happened to cover his tracks telling people that a comet destroyed the planet. He doesn't bother hunting down and killing the remaining Saiyans because he killed the strongest of them on the planet with the exception of Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz. The weakest ones are of no threat to him and scattered across the universe (except Goku). And everyone pretty much accepts this, even Raditz is under the impression that is how things happened stating in the second episode "3 years ago, our planet was destroyed by meteorites". And of the Saiyans that were sent some were female, since all Saiyans love to fight and women did help conquer planets as well (Fasha a female Saiyan was on Bardock's team). The Saiyan race is alive and well, just separated by a distance.

Opinion

I think there are definitely more Saiyans around but I imagined after Frieza destroyed the planet, teams were sent to find remnants of the race. Like when they defeated Bardock's group but looking for lost Saiyan children instead. Some were found, some were not (like Goku).

There are definitely more out there but most are probably too distant to come across. It does leave things open ended for more Saiyan encounters.

I would also think that there are a lot of hybrids out there. I have a feeling saiyans weren't taking a moral high ground about rape.


Is Emilia stronger than the Four Generals? According to the Hataraku Maou-sama Wikia,

  Satan tried to conquer the land of Ente Isla with four of his war generals, Adramelech, Lucifer, Alsiel, and Malacoda, but was eventually forced to retreat to Earth due to the interference of Emilia and the resisting human armies.

If this is true, it is possible that she can beat Maou-sama. (Though that was in Ente Isla).
Does this mean that Emilia is stronger than the Four Generals?

Maou has been around for over 3 hundred years and has been taught more magic then even alciel knows. Emi has half human blood in her, so even though she can fly, heal, knock out someone, and use a sacred sword, she could not win in a fight against the demon king. The only reason she was able to corner him was because she had her comrades with her.


How does Vanishing Rasengan work? Vanishing Rasengan is a miniature Rasengan which was originally developed by Boruto as seen in Boruto: Naruto the Movie. In that movie, when Boruto was trying to learn Rasengan in front of Sasuke, it was observed that his Rasengan usually vanishes into the air but the effect of Rasengan is still there.

How was Boruto able to make the Rasengan vanish? How does Vanishing Rasengan work?

As wiki said, Boruto create a miniature of Rasengan then he inject the Rasengan with Wind release nature, so the it can be thrown.

  The user creates a miniature Rasengan, to the size of a big grape,
  which is capable of being thrown due to the Wind Release nature
  transformation that is applied. While gliding in the air, the sphere
  disappears and hits the target.

About your question how Boruto was able to vanish the Rasengan, I think because it's so small, slowly vanishing while thrown but still hits the target because his Wind Release nature. But it's only my opinion of course.


Who is Kouu the tyrant king? I'm reading the manga "Reincarnation no Kaben": there, the main characters get some powers from their previous lives, and hence are named after famous people of history.

I managed to find all of them except who the main antagonist should be: he is named after "Kouu the tyrant king". Does someone knows who the historical character they are referring to is? (Or is it a made up character?)

I think is a mistranslation.
According to this site: http://tyuumokuneta.net/post-1718-1718 the original name in the manga is 項羽 / Xiang Yu, an ancient chinese warlord.


Is Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann actually Kamina? Viewers of the second movie are familiar with the gigantic mecha Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the most powerful mecha that Team Dai-Gurren uses in the whole franchise. It bears a strong resemblance to Kamina, except with Simon's glasses and with no face. A number of sites note the resemblance, including the Gurren Lagann Wiki.

In some places it's claimed that Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is a reincarnation of Kamina, but none of them are very official, so this may just be fan speculation. Is there any evidence that Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is actually a reincarnation of Kamina, or do they just resemble each other?

I don't think there is any official source on this, but I would guess STTGL was made with image of Kamina in mind. Kamina was spiritual leader of Dai Gurren Dan and he was most influential person on all main characters, including Simon, Yoko, Viral and other. As that, they all see him as representation of power, freedom and determination. Fitting image for STTGL.

Also note, that at end of TTGL, it is said resurrection of dead people is (at least) morally wrong. So resurrecting Kamina, albeit temporarily, would go against believes of main characters.


What song plays at 1:21:01 in the movie "Futari no Hero" ("Two Heroes")? In My Hero Academia: Two Heroes movie, at 1:21:01 when the other kids arrive and start attacking the villain, a certain song is played from the time

   Bakugo says "What are you doing getting all beat up by such a damn lame last boss?" until the villain tangles All Might (practically during the time All Might goes Plus Ultra).

As far as I know, the song is not even included in the movie's OST discs.

Does anyone know what the name of that song is?


Why couldn't Eren Yeager transform into a Titan in the last episode of season 2? In the last episode of season 2, named "Scream", Eren Yeager was unable to transform into a Titan to save Hannes from the Smiling Titan.

Why couldn't he transform?

I don't really read the manga, although I do look at it from time to time.

Has there already been an explanation for this in the manga?

According to the Power of the Titans wiki (disclamer, this page contains heavy spoilers from the manga), the ability to transform into a titan may be hindered if an injury occurred after a recent transformation.

  The ability to transform into a Titan can be hindered by injuries inflicted on the human body. A human can transform into a Titan with injuries as severe as a missing limb, but only if a previous transformation has not occurred recently. If a human emerges from their Titan form and receives severe injury, this person cannot transform into a Titan again until said injuries have healed

In the episodes leading up to this event

   We see Eren face off with the Armored Titan, but ends up being captured along with Ymir. They soon awaken with their arms severed off to prevent from the escaping.

and in S2, E9

   Reiner informs the two that neither of them could transform into Titans in the first place while still recovering from their injuries

When Eren attempted to transform in the final episode, his body was still recovering from this injury inflicted on him.


Were any of Houkago Tea Time's songs described or referred to in the manga? The K-On!! anime features a large number of songs performed by Houkago Tea Time. In addition to staples like "Gohan wa Okazu"  and "Fuwa Fuwa Time", there are a number of other ones that I don't believe ever got playtime in the anime, like "Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss", to say nothing of the OP/ED themes and their B-sides, plus a ton of character songs (and not just for the main five, but also for Ui, Jun, and Nodoka).

Now, I haven't read the manga, but it's clearly inconceivable that all these dozens of songs could have been described in any substantial way in a mere four volumes of manga. In fact, I have to wonder if any of these songs were even noted as existing in the manga.

Do any of the songs in the anime originate in any way from the manga (even if only by virtue of a shared title or a lyrical excerpt)? If so, which ones?

(Ignore "Tsubasa wo Kudasai", which is a cover of a very old song.)

This is all based on memory as I don't have the manga volumes to hand at the moment, but several of the songs were mentioned by title in the manga, and a few of them had lyrics shown that were used in the anime versions.

"Fuwa Fuwa Time" was in the manga, and we even see its lyrics in one scene when Mio hands her draft of the song to the others for feedback. If I remember correctly, "Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss" and "Fudepen Ballpen" are mentioned on the set list before one of the concerts. I believe that "Curry Nochi Rice" was also mentioned late in the manga, and I'm fairly sure the storyline where Yui first writes "Gohan wa Okazu", then writes "U&I" for Ui after Ui falls ill happened in the manga the same way it happened in the anime. I believe we did also see the lyrics for "U&I" when Ui finds Yui asleep at her desk after working on the song all night and looks over what Yui wrote.

The opening and ending themes were never mentioned or hinted at in the manga, and several of the other songs--e.g. "Pure Pure Heart", "Tenshi ni Nareta yo!"--were associated with anime-only plots. But a surprising number of the songs in the anime were actually mentioned by title in the manga.

Edit: I bought the digital editions and hunted down photographic evidence of my earlier claims.

In Volume 1, we see Ritsu and Sawako react with horror as they read Mio's draft of "Fuwa Fuwa Time".

In the background of the third and fourth panels on the left, we can see the first few stanzas of the song translated into English.

In Volume 2, Mio hands Ritsu a set list with four songs on it: "Fuwa Fuwa Time", "Curry Nochi Rice", "Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss", and "Fudepen Ballpen":

And in Volume 4, we see Yui write "Gohan wa Okazu":

Then later "U&I":

In Volume 4, we also get a few lines from a song that Mio was working on, which provokes the usual revulsion in Ritsu and Azusa:

At the end of the chapter, Ritsu declares that they'll develop a song around these lyrics in addition to "U&I" to spare Mio's feelings. However, I don't think there was any song in the anime based around these lyrics.


Why can't Roy Mustang bring his eyes back using his gate? Why can't Roy Mustang bring his eyes back using his gate?

In the final chapter of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, Roy Mustang said "I'd readily sacrifice my own gate like Fullmetal did, but then I'd have no way back".

Why he couldn't come back like Ed did?

I'm not completely sure if my answer is any good, but I feel like it was worth putting this out.

We do indeed see that being blind would have prevented Roy from staying in the military (according to the manga), and that in theory he could have regained his sight by giving up his gate. But as pointed out in the question he would "have no way back". This doesn't seem to be related to the fact that his responsibilities as a state alchemist might be affected if he took that route, particularly when we see Grumman, who isn't a state alchemist, become the Fuhrer (although he admittedly is a lot more experienced). Rather, I interpreted it as follows:

Ed's gate has some sort of connection to Al's. We see this when Ed ends up in front of Al's gate (after he is swallowed by Gluttony) and sees Al's body. It's thus possible to conclude that Ed can "exit" via Al's path, instead of his own. This was stated to probably be related to the fact that they both put in blood into the mix of ingredients used in their human transmutation attempt, somewhere probably midway through the seres.
Consequently, Ed can give up his alchemy without being unable to escape the realm of the gate, as he has two possible exits (Al's gate, and his own) prior to giving up alchemy, and giving up alchemy only means giving up one of them.
Comparatively, Mustang hasn't had an experience akin to Ed and Al's - he does not "share" a gate with anyone. He can only enter and exit the realm of Truth through one means, but since it seems that entering (and presumably exiting) rely on there being a Gate, he would be unable to leave that place if he gave up alchemy (and consequently, his gate).


How can the spirits of Zanpakuto manifest in the real world? After the Muramasa incident, Rangiku, Haineko and Orihime go shopping and take pictures.

Considering that normal people cannot see manifested Zanpakuto - as an example, Yuzu Kurosaki was unable to see Zabimaru's snake manifestation - how is it possible for Haineko to do things like that without a gigai?

That was a filler. So it wasn't explained anywhere in the manga and as far the main story line is concerned, Zanpakuto's spirits cannot manifest a form other than the sword forms. They can however present their true form to the yeilder and no one else, unless you consider that weird equipment Urahara created for the sole purpose of training which is seen early on in the series.


What's the deal with Yui? I've watched all the episodes on Crunchy Roll (SAO and ALO) and I think I missed something.

The character Yui acts as though she is the child of Asuna and Kirito.  I do not remember Yui in the SAO arc, but perhaps I missed it.

When did Asuna and Kirito have a child?  How did that child get special access to the system?

Yui is certainly a part of the SAO arc - she appears in it quite prominently.

She is found by Kirito and Asuna and they "adopt" her in SAO, though she turns out to not be exactly what she appears to be.

   She is, in fact a program. A mental health assistance program (who has been disallowed from doing its job when SAO was locked down). This explains her special system access and knowledge.


How and why is Emilia connected to Satella (the Witch of Envy) and the Witch Cult? Of course, I know the Witch Cult intends to use Emilia's body as a vessel to resurrect Satella, but I wonder why? Maybe it's the fact she's a half-elf? Does the cult have other plans for her? Does the cult have some ways to contact Satella? And furthermore, did, and does, Satella agree with them?

Not revealed yet. But it could be a time travel/timeline story.
Each time Subaru dies, it’s actually a parallel timeline. Satella is Emilia from one of them... except in the future. Where Subaru did everything "right" but died.
Not knowing the truth, Emilia travelled back in time, so she can "save" Subaru from death by making him come back from death, unknowingly creating the situation leading to his death.


Why can't Inuzuka clan's dogs use human language? Why can't Inuzuka clan's dogs use human language when Kakashi's dogs can? Also, how does Kiba and Akamaru understand each other?

Well the difference is quite simple.

the Inuzuka clan's dogs are simple dogs. They can understand human language very well and are the "sidekicks" of the Inuzuka. Kiba and Akamaru understand each other by "Hand Wave".
This is not explained any further as it is prescriptive.

Kakashi's dogs on the other hand are Summoned. They are not "real" dogs  but spirits, comparable to Gamabunta, Gamakichi and the other Kuchiose No Jutsu summoned animals.


Is the ending of the anime and manga the same (ERASED) I was wondering, is the anime ending and the manga ending the same for Boku dake ga Inai Machi?
Or is there going to be a sequel for the anime version?

It is dramatically changed  as it is mentioned in What are the differences between the manga and the anime adaptation and where does the anime diverge?

⚠ The answer below contains spoilers.

  The end of the anime is dramatically changed. In the manga, the story follows a bit of a longer period of time after Satoru can walk. The ending takes place in a holiday camp for patients who undergo recover such as Satoru and Kumi. There, the death match takes place between Satoru and Yashiro and is more complex as compared to the anime. Sawada and Kenya having a bigger role as well.

  In the last showdown scene, Yashiro intends to kill Satoru and himself on a bridge set on fire. Satoru escapes and Kenya and Sawada save Yashiro's life, an event present only in the manga


What events usually happen at Comiket? I only know Comiket from anime and manga: they usually sell their own doujinshi and do some cosplay.
Is this the only thing that actually happens at Comiket or are there a lot more things that happen? Maybe some kind of contest or something?
Also, does Comiket only exist in Japan? Is it different from Comic-Con?

You are correct: Comiket is the world's largest convention for selling/buying doujinshi, and includes cosplayers. However, it is not an anime/manga convention and as an experience is pretty much nothing like Comic Con or similar conventions to Comic Con such as Anime Expo.

Yes, Comiket only exists in Japan, as over 550,000 Japanese doujinshika (a.k.a. doujin artists) gather to sell their self-published works. It is held at Tokyo Big Site (in Tokyo) twice a year, in summer (called Natsucomi) and winter (Fuyucomi).

What Happens at Comiket

Comiket is almost entirely comprised of Japanese doujinshi circles (a circle is a group of artists) and individual doujinshika selling their doujinshi comics, light novels (in other words, fanfiction), and some "merchandise" of their artwork such as laminated cards and posters. Some of their works are based on real anime/manga series, whereas others are completely original self-published content. About 90% of these are explicit hentai. Only about 10% are non-graphic; of these, a fair percentage are doujinshi created by student clubs at Japanese universities (the quality of the art varies, but is generally well below that of what you may be used to seeing produced by prominent doujinshika).

What the rooms look like:

Aside from shopping for doujin works, there is not much else to see/do.

Although you can see cosplayers walking around doing their own shopping, many Japanese are shy, photo averse, and/or concerned about privacy, so there is a rule that you should not take any cosplayers' photo outside of the designated cosplay arena. Only when cosplayers are within the boundaries of this area are you allowed to photograph them. Even within this area, they mill about and do not necessarily pose for you to have their photos taken. This is a big difference from cosplayers at conventions outside of Japan who are often delighted to be stopped and asked for a photo. There may be a cosplay competition but I don't recall one being heavily promoted.

The line to get to the cosplayers area (in sweltering Tokyo August humidity):

There is only one room of vendors promoting licensed anime/manga/gaming titles, but 1) it is not very big, 2) almost all of the titles represented are niche (not well-known outside of Japan), 3) not much is available to purchase, since most of these booths are run by the production company or publisher to generate interest in an upcoming title (last year, most were bishoujo or bishounen titles. You will not see any Naruto, One Piece, Pretty Cure, Pokemon, or other mainstream stuff here, and definitely nothing of series that have already ended), 4) extremely few freebies are handed out at the vendor booths, and 5) none of the booths are retail stores/online shops. You can't find figures, trading cards, t-shirts, and that sort of stuff for sale here.

Although I had heard Comiket (inaccurately) described as the largest anime/manga convention in the world, in reality, the licensed anime/manga content constitutes less than 5% of the entire convention. You could go to Animefest in the Czech Republic to find more to do and buy of actual anime/manga than you'd find at Comiket.

The vendor room:

Interestingly, there is one hall that features about 20 booths of handicraft sellers who sell all manner of handmade stationery items and decorations. Most of their merchandise has no connect to doujinshi/anime/manga. I bought a squirrel clothespin magnet.

The handicraft booths:

Differences from Comic Con

Comiket differs dramatically from Comic Con in the following ways:

If you're into hardcore hentai, Comiket is your ideal convention, but if not, you will likely be quite disappointed, as there is very little else there.
Comic Con features many celebrity guests of honor, whereas Comiket celebrates doujin works, which are not technically legal according to Japanese law in terms of copyright, so although some professionals in the manga industry attend Comiket to go shopping themselves, they don't attend as advertised attractions and do not participate in events, as they shouldn't publicly condone the doujinshi market. If you spot your favorite mangaka while you're there, you shouldn't necessarily go up to talk to him/her, ask for an autograph, etc. since he/she is there as an individual in his/her own spare time.
Comiket doesn't have much in the way of planned events or competitions. Some of the vendors hold unscheduled mini-events like a talk show where interested consumers can listen to a spiel about the new product and then get a chance to win a promotional item as a sweepstakes prize. In contrast, Comic Con features

  a massive programming schedule (close to 700 separate events in 2014), [...] hands-on workshops and educational and academic programming such as the Comics Arts Conference; anime and film screenings (including a separate film festival); games; the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the “Oscars” of the comics industry; a Masquerade costume competition with prizes and trophies; an Autograph Area; an Art Show; and Portfolio Reviews [...]

Comiket's vendors room differs in nature from, and is very small in comparison to, the exhibit halls (a.k.a. dealer's room) at Comic Con or AnimeExpo.


Does "Evening Get" correspond to a real-life television show? In chapter 2 of Orange, Hagita tells his friends that he has go home to watch Evening Get. The text outside the speech bubbles explains it as:

  Evening Get! It's a Nagano TV show that starts at 4:30. Ryuta Mine's gonna be on today's show.

Ryuta Mine appears to be a real Japanese actor from Nagano prefecture. Similarly, in ch.5*, Naho and Kakeru's friends give excuses for why they cannot walk home together with Naho and Kakeru. Hagita's excuse that he is going to watch Evening Get. Outside the speak bubble is:

  They're doing a story on Mino Monta's son …

Mino Monta also appears to be a real-life personality in Japan.

With these two instances in mind, does Evening Get correspond to a real-life television show? I have tried a bunch of internet searches but have no found anything of use so far. Perhaps someone who can read the original Japanese text might have more luck?

Yes, ゆうがたGet! (Yuugata Get!, Evening Get!) is a real-life TV show.
It's broadcasted by TV. Shinshu  located in Nagano prefecture since April 5, 1999. Based on the broadcast schedule list on the Wikipedia, the show started at 4:30 on the weekdays in:

April 1999 - September 2000 under the name of 「陽司★美恵子 ゆうがたGet!」, and
March 2010 - March 2014 under the name of 「情報ワイド ゆうがたGet!」

As already mentioned on the question, Ryuta Mine is also a real-life person. Based on the list of appearance on the Wikipedia, he appeared once every month on Wednesday in:

「情報ワイド ゆうがたGet!」, and
「ゆうがたGet!」

which means the story took place in between 2010-2014 instead of 1999-2000.

Regarding the episode of Mino Monta's son, I couldn't find the specific date/episode. but it's probably regarding

the arrest on 13 September [2013] of his 31-year-old son, Yuto Minorikawa (御法川 雄斗), who was charged with stealing a man's bag on the street in Tokyo.
Wikipedia - Monta Mino

Considering the publication month of chapter 5, the episode (if it existed) should be broadcasted before August 2012.

P.S. it might be possible that the author took the events that had occurred recently at that time since the manga was serialized in 2012-2015.


In Naruto Shippuden episode 467, how was a normal villager able to use jutsu? There was a scene in Episode 467 of Naruto Shippuden, where Ashura taught ninjutsu to a villager.

But I have been led to understand that only descendants of Kaguya can use jutsu (because originally Kaguya was the origin of chakra).

How can they use jutsu if they're not descendants of Kaguya?

Yes you are right but :

  Hagoromo travelled across the land, giving chakra to everyone in the
  world as well as spreading his ideals and religion

so it is possible that Ashura might have just shared his chakra just as his father Hagoromo did.


Does Deimon win the Christmas bowl? In Eyeshield 21, Deimon wins the game against Oujou that gets them into the Christmas Bowl but they're never shown actually playing in the Christmas Bowl.

Is there a manga that went with this anime that shows the time between beating Oujou and playing professional football or are we just to assume that they won?

There is in fact an Eyeshield 21 manga, which continues the story further than the anime. The anime ends on chapter 239 of the manga, while the manga continues to chapter 333. The manga doesn't go as far as professional football, but the last chapter does end with a similar scenario at the college level.


Didn't Supreme Kai know Beerus in the early episodes? In the current episodes of Dragon Ball Super Supreme Kai seems to know Beerus well because they are connected and share the same life force so, if one dies, the other does as well. However, in the early episodes of Dragon Ball Super Supreme Kai seems to know little to nothing about Beerus, and the elder Kai has to explain who he is. Is this a plothole or am I misunderstanding the situation in this episode?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRWC1DsdQ8A

In the video, Kibito Kai clearly says that he is aware of who Lord Beerus is, when elder kai begins explaining it to him. But yes, he does seem to be naive about Lord Beerus' actions and nature.

Kibito's surprised emotion wasn't based on Lord Beerus his existence and role/power, but on the response and emotions that the elder Kai showed as he had never seen him "that afraid" before.

But then again, Kibito Kai has always been naive about many things since the time he was introduced in Majin Buu saga.


How did Araragi Koyomi lose his vampire powers in the Monogatari Series? Spoilers on Kizumonogatari below:

In Kizumonogatari, Oshino Meme says there is a way to keep Shinobu alive that would also stop her from eating humans. He says Araragi must almost kill Shinobu to do so, which turns her into a quasi vampire being. From what I understand that is how Shinobu lost most of her powers.

However, how did Araragi lost his vampire powers? He had just sucked Shinobu's blood a little earlier which made him more powerful and I don't see how almost killing Shinobu would make him lose his powers.

Also, why did Araragi stop wanting to eat humans?

Araragi did not lose entirely his vampire powers when he sucked Heartunderblade's blood. Just like Shinobu, Araragi became a half existence.

  “Araragi-kun,  you won’t be able to turn back into a human -- but you
  will  be  able  to  come  very  close  to  it.  You  will  become  a
  vampire-like pseudo-human.  Some of the special characteristics and
  abilities of a vampire will remain -- it won’t be possible to strictly
  call you a human, but you will be extremely far from a vampire and
  extremely close to a human, naturally you will be completely different
  from a half vampire, become this kind of halfway entity. It will suit
  you.” - Oshino Meme

This can be seen multiple times later chronologically in the series, like when he healed almost instantly his wound when Senjougahara stapled his mouth in the first episode of bakemonogatari.

Even though sucking blood should make him more powerful, he was sucking the blood of his master. Since Araragi's power and existence had become dependent of Heartunderblade in the first place, it was basically a suicide move and Araragi would have died if he had sucked all of Heartunderblade's blood.

But by sucking his master's blood to the utmost limit, Araragi was able to bring Shinobu to the verge of death and bring her powers to a minimum while not making both Shinobu and himself die. Since a servant's power is directly correlated to their master's power, this is why Araragi lost most of his vampire's powers in the process, and so he could not exploit the inherent vampire strength of acquiring power when sucking blood.

  “Concretely......  yeah.  Araragi-kun,  come very close to kill
  Heartunderblade.  Almost strip her of her special characteristics and
  abilities  as  a  vampire  --  just  make  sure  she  doesn’t  die.
  Make Heartunderblade more moribund than before.  So much that she
  won’t even be a shadow of her former self,  not even her name will
  remain.  Make her an inferior existence,  a human-like pseudo-vampire
  -- an entity that won’t be able to eat humans no matter how hungry she is.” - Oshino Meme

However, if left alone, Shinobu would end up dead since her existence was already on the verge of dying. That is why Araragi has to let Shinobu feed on his blood from time to time: to let her recover just a small part of her power/existence to make sure that she and Araragi don't die.


Did Gohan ask Piccolo to do fusion? In Dragon Ball Super episode 88, around 20:15 mark, Gohan said something to Piccolo about the idea to become more powerful.

In one subtitle, I've read Gohan asked Piccolo to do some attack or technique together. But in other translation, Gohan asked Piccolo to do a combined technique or a fusion together.

It's also raising speculation among fans too (YouTube video about Gohan's fusion with Piccolo)

Which one is true?

Gohan said

あっ、だったら、合体技とか、コンビネーションとか、作りませんか？

which can be translated to

Oh, then why don't we create a double-team maneuvers or a combination?
(From unknown English fansub)

In general, 合体技 (gattai waza) means "combination technique by two or more people". Fusion is one of them, and is probably the source of confusion since in Japanese, ○○と合体する (○○ to gattai suru) means "to fuse with someone" (example: Gotenks). However, it doesn't mean specifically "fusion". Other examples are Purple Comet Crush and Purple Comet Hurricane by Burter and Jeice.
Combination attack, according to Wikia, means "techniques which combine the different basic-types to continuously attack an opponent to leave no room for counterattacks". Example is Kibito Kai's Crazy Combination.


What is the symbol on Konohamaru's sleeve? In Boruto, Konohamaru has a symbol on a band on his sleeve. It looks a bit like the USB symbol (or a cross between a stick figure and a salamander), though obviously that's not what it is. What is it and what does it represent?

That is the symbol of the Sarutobi Clan of which he is a member.


How did the people of Marley steal 7 of the 9 original titans? The story of Attack on Titan says the Eldian Empire grew unstable due to internal conflicts between the families with the power of the Titans, and collapsed during the Great Titan War a century ago, and that Eldia lost 7 of the 9 Titans to the nation of Marley.
How did the people of Marley steal 7 of the 9 original titans?

Actually, it was 8
not 7.
As simple as I can say
when king fritz decided to go and live on the paradise island. He only took the founding titan with him. And the other 8 titans remained on the mainland.

7 of them in the hand of Marley and the other one (Warhammer titan) in the Tybur family.


A romance anime where the girl eats a lot of food in order not to stand out This anime is my head. It's a romance anime and didn't seem that old. It starts with a girl who is kinda a tomboy and she eats a lot of food in order not to stand out. I remember one scene where a guy says that she looks pretty and then she stuffs her face with food, also her friends said bad stuff about a shy girl in her class. She sees her long lost crush walking on her road and he asks her why she considers those people as 'friends' and she listens to him and stands up for the shy girl and becomes friends with her. She is seen crying and the guy hugs her from the window....

I just can't remember what its called! So frustrating.. Please help.

Looks like Ao Haru Ride aka Blue Spring Ride (MyAnimeList page).

Description from Wikipedia:

  Futaba Yoshioka wants to "reset" her life. In junior high, girls ostracized Futaba because too many junior high boys liked her. The only boy Futaba liked, Kou Tanaka, moved away before she could tell him how she felt. Now in high school, Futaba is determined to be unladylike so her new friends will not become jealous of her. While living her new life contentedly, she meets Kou again, but he now uses the name Kou Mabuchi and has a cold attitude. He tells her that he liked her too in junior high, but feels differently now.


When Kyoko overloaded her soul gem to kill Sayaka's witch form, did Kyoko then also become a witch? When Kyoko overloaded her soul gem to kill Sayaka's witch form, does Kyoko then also become a witch? Or since she overloaded her soul gem, does she just die "normally?" If the latter is true, then why don't all magical girls just overload their gems before they become completely tainted, that way they don't become witches?

When Kyoko overloaded her soul gem to kill Sayaka's witch form, does Kyoko then also become a witch? Or since she overloaded her soul gem, does she just die "normally?"

Kyouko didn't become a witch, since she died in battle, rather than suffering a blackening of her Soul Gem.

  If the latter is true, then why don't all magical girls just overload their gems before they become completely tainted, that way they don't become witches?

Well, if they knew that they would become witches upon having their gems completely tainted, I'm sure many would opt to make sure they die "naturally" rather than risk becoming witches. This is exactly the "solution" Mami opts for in episode 10's timeline 3, where, shortly after seeing Sayaka turn into a witch, she kills Kyouko by destroying her Soul Gem, and is about to do the same to Homura.

But there's the whole problem. Nobody (among the cast) knows this until they see Sayaka turn into a witch in timeline 3, and Homura doesn't tell anybody about this in the main timeline, so everybody else (including Sayaka) lacks this knowledge in the main timeline, too. I'm sure they figure they'll just die when their Soul Gems turn completely black (which is, in fact, what happens once the Law of Cycles is in effect), which means they have no reason to opt to kill themselves beforehand.

And, keep in mind what we know about how magical girls generally operate (from the show, but moreso from The Different Story) - magical girls usually work solo. The large number of magical girls working together that we see in the show is highly unusual. Consider the outcome: this means that nobody ever finds out that magical girls turn into witches when their Soul Gems blacken - if a magical girl, alone by herself, turns into a witch, who notices? Who's going to survive to tell the next generation of magical girls about the dangers of blackening their Soul Gems?


How did maids get popular in anime? Nowadays, maids are basically a moe stereotype. Otaku characters like Sakurasou no Petto na Kanojou's Ryuunosuke Akasaka, Lucky Star's Konata Izumi, and the Genshiken gang all love maids. Even K-On's Sawako Yamanaka, who isn't an otaku, puts the Light Music Club girls in maid outfits.

For a while, every single show that came out had a maid character, and several shows focused wholly or in part on maids, who may or may not also be androids (e.g. Hanaukyou Maid Tai, Hand Maid May, He is My Master, Koharu Biyori, Mahoromatic).

It was shockingly difficult to find a SFW picture from Koharu Biyori.

Even shows that didn't have maids were affected: Digi Carat's Dejiko wore a costume which looked rather like a maid outfit, even though she was not a maid, but rather a clerk in an anime store (and actually an alien princess).

My perception was that this all started sometime around 2001, but I never saw how; it just seemed like one day I was surrounded by maids. (Not that it bothered me to be surrounded by maids.) How did this get started? Was there a single show or a few shows that started the maid craze? Or was it always there, and I just never noticed?

Most of this is a summary of the paper Maid in Japan:
An Ethnographic Account of Alternative Intimacy by Patrick W. Galbraith (author of 'the otaku encyclopaedia')

  The first maid costume in Japanese popular culture came from the erotic anime series Cream Lemon, part 11: Black Cat Mansion in 1986. (Hiroki Azuma, Otaku: Japan's Database Animals, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009, p. 42.)

It's worth reading the full paper as it's quite interesting.

Galbraith mentions that they maid cafés may have evolved from hostess clubs, but with the new 'moe' and cute appeal that was starting to gain momentum in the 1970s

A game that specifically had maid cafés in it was Welcome to Pia Carrot!! and is usually tied to the start of this trend. Furthermore, the first maid café to be set up was in 1998 , as a special event for the game.

The first permanent café Cure Maid Café was set up in 2001 and in the years between then and 2011 a massive 386 cafés were set up (although the majority have closed, there still remains many today)

See also:
How did the lolicon genre begin in anime/manga? (as it is similarly motivated by cuteness)


Where can I find and watch Black Butler Season 3 Episode 1 legally online? I keep hearing people say 'I watched black butler season 3 first episode' and I want to know if there is a legal site online where I can watch Episode 1.

Thanks to @アズーサ, Hulu is streaming Season 3

You can also watch it on Funimation's Site

CrunchyRoll have also got the series for streaming. (Without English subtitles for the moment however)

Season 3 or "Book of Circus" has only started releasing (July 11, 2014) at the time of writing, so there's no physical product to buy. Perhaps someone will pick it up once the season is over.


What are the Four Noble Families of Soul Society? What are the names of the main Four Families that live in Soul Society?

Is there any information on how they came to be? Or how they became such? And do each of these clans commonly exceeds at a particular area (like the Shihōin clan were usually the heads of the Correction Corps, and experts at Kidō and Shunpo)?

Here is a compiled list of the noble families compiled from the Bleach Wiki

They are currently 4 greater noble families, but only 2 have been revealed:

The Shihouin Clan are tasked with taking care of various treasures and weapons. Yoruichi was formerly the head of this family. The head of this family typically served as the head of the Onmitsukidou.
The Kuchiki Clan are charged with protecting the history of the Soul Society. Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of the 6th Division is the head of this family. The Shihouin Shield is used by Juushiro Ukitake (13th Division Captain) and Shunsui Kyouraku (8th Division Captain) to destroy the Soukyoku.

There used to be a fifth, the Shiba Clan, equaling in prestige to the two know greater noble families, but after the death of its most prominent member, the former lieutenant of the 13th Division, Kaien Shiba, the family's prestige seems to have fallen. They seemed to have specialized in fireworks. In Chapter 529, it is revealed that Ichigo's father, Isshin, is from a branch family of the Shiba Clan and former 10th Division Captain.

The Ryoudoji were also once a noble family, but they were exiled over 1000 years ago from the current series timeline.

There are also various lesser noble families that serve the greater noble families, here are the known ones:

Feng Clan, served as assassins and executioners for the Shihouin Clan. Sui Feng, Captain of the 2nd Division & General Administrator Commander of the Onmitsukido Special Forces, is the head of this Clan.
Kyouraku Clan, not much is know about this family but the fact the it is quite old and prestigious. Shunsui Kyouraku, the captain of the 8th Division is the second son from this family.
Ukitake Family, is another lower noble family. Juushirou Ukitake, the captain of the 13th Division is the eldest son of this family.
Oumaeda Family is a family in service of the Shihou Clan and the Onmitsukidou special forces. The current Lieutenant of the 2nd Division and Corps Commander of the Patrol Corps of the Onmitsukidou, Marechiyo Oumaeda is the eldest son of this Family.
Kira Family is another lesser noble family, Izuru Kira, Lieutenant of the 3rd Division, the a member of this family. His status within the family has not been mentioned.
Kasumioji Family, they are famous weapon-smiths in Soul society. The members are predominately female.
Kannogi Family, the appear in to be connected to the Kasumiouji in the anime.


Is intentionally producing a lower quality TV release unique to anime? A lot of shows nowadays are significantly censored or badly drawn for TV release. When the home media versions come out, they are uncensored and in some cases redrawn in certain areas.

Kagerou Project TV - BluRay Comparison

Part of this is of course the rush to release, but when the BluRays / DVDs come out, these are some of the main selling points of the shows in order to engage previous viewers.

Tokyo Ghoul TV - BluRay Comparison

Is this something unique to anime and its market? I haven't seen anything like it in Western media

You are correct that it is about a rush of timing during the initial broadcast of the series.  The Sailor Moon Crystal Failures website is maintaining a log of Toei's initial run screenshots with their Blu-Ray revisions. Toei was running behind from the beginning (it originally announced that Sailor Moon Crystal would start in summer of 2013, but the release date was pushed back twice: to early 2014, and then it finally did start "airing" in July of 2014).

In the past, anime was made with hand-painted cels, so of course the production companies were careful to paint each one the way they wanted it the first time. Nowadays, most anime is made with CG, so the idea of getting something rough out by the deadline and then going back and tweaking it later has only quite recently emerged (another production change is that anime is now largely not animated by Japanese animators within Japan; it is often animated by Koreans in South Korea.  Another is that anime is less profitable within Japan than it used to be, so cutting corners more visibly in order to cut down costs was not previously common).
Sailor Moon Crystal was not considered profitable enough for TV broadcast (indeed its viewer numbers have sharply crashed [a drop of 70%] from the number of viewers of the first episode).  This could be another factor in Toei's decision to decrease the artwork quality for subsequent episodes of the initial run and thereby give themselves more time to touch it up afterward.

I agree with you that this is not a common practice in Western media. American cartoon viewers are very particular about the quality.  My friend who is a key-frames animator for The Simpsons told me that there is one animator whose entire job is just to animate the mouth movements, because if the mouth movement does not perfectly match the voice actor's words, the fans generally feel that they cannot suspend disbelief. In contrast, anime in Japanese does not always bother to record the voice actors' voices first before animating, since Japanese fans do not care much whether the mouth movements exactly match. English dubs of anime can sound strange precisely because the script translator, instead of choosing the most natural-sounding English translation for the original sentence, often chooses what he/she thinks the American voice actor can say that will match the animated mouth movements.  The dub voice actors then try to make their syllables match as closely as possible, even to the point of the sentence sounding unnatural in English. The reason is that American viewers are used to watching mouth movements like in The Simpsons and Disney films which are perfectly aligned. Along these lines, if a Western company released a cartoon that was not high-quality at first, it would be very ill-received and ill-reviewed, the show could be abruptly cancelled, and they wouldn't be able to make as much money.


How does the blade of the 3DMG get changed? In Attack on Titan, the blades of the 3DMG weapon are swapped many times. What button/lever do they use ex; thumb button, trigger 1, trigger 2?

I think I found the way of changing the blades. But I didn't find the use of it while changing the blade. So I can't say that this is true.

The description about 3DMG or it working functions has been disclosed in the anime episode as image in the interval part(mid episode transition part). But the working mechanism of the handle which is used to control almost all the part 3DMG is stated as black box and hasn't been disclosed.

For changing the blade, it is the trigger like thing or Thumb button on the left side of pic above which is similar to the one in the rear side of the revolver pistol which is pulled outside to fire.

As shown in gif below, trigger 1 and trigger 2 are for shooting the arrow or hook. And the lever is used for the similar purpose, like releasing the gas to change direction. Combination of Lever and triggers are used for agility.

One more thing that made me think is, In episode 7, around 15 minute while Mikasa return the broken blade, nothing is shown. She simply moving the handle and detach the blade. If that was the case then fighting with titan would have detached the blade many times.

Here is the YouTube video where she removes the blade.


When characters take off their glasses, why do their eyes turn into a "lip eyes" icon? Often in anime which features a character who wears glasses, when they take off their glasses, their eyes turn into a sort of puckered lip emoticon that looks like the number 3.

The meaning is fairly obvious, that the character looks drastically different or worse without their glasses on. But why is this icon used, specifically?

The "3" is a stylized (and humorous) way of showing the characters squinting their eyes, which then look somewhat like a "3".

Most glasses wearer — especially the young ones — are short-sighted, so whenever they take off their glasses, they start squinting. The "3" is used in a similar fashion to depict pouting characters, like with the following emoji:

(°3°)

A variation of this is the famous へのへのもへじ (henohenomoheji), which uses Hiragana characters that look somewhat like facial features and is used almost exclusively for humorous purposes:

Image taken from RocketNews24


What is with kimono that makes Japanese guys to fall for the girls in many anime? I've been watching lots of anime series and in lots of them the guy realizes that he loves the girl when he sees her in a kimono specially for the festivals. Just this last week it was both in ReLIFE and Twin Star Exorcists. Just what is with that?

It's a similar trope to one you see in Western media, where the normally un-feminine (or dorky, or nerdy, or otherwise not stereotypically attractive) female character dresses up for some kind of fancy party - if the characters are school age, then it's frequently a prom. So they ditch the t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, don a dress and heels, swap the glasses for contacts, maybe put on makeup and get their hair done, and then become the belle of the ball and make the male protagonist swoon.

A kimono (or yukata, since a lot of these scenes take place at festivals in the warmer half of the year) is a very traditional dress, and it's associated with elegance given its fabric (often silk) and intricate patterns. In addition, when wearing one, women will often put their hair up, maybe put on a little makeup, and wear geta which are elevated sandals, which have an effect on the wearer's height and posture similar to wearing high heels.


A manga about a girl who works in a flower shop, lover has private beach house and gives her his earring I know bits of it but I still have no luck in finding it!

It starts off with a girl who works at a flower shop. She sees a boy and he immediately makes her his lover. (I think he was a demon).

In one of the chapters, the boy is going back to his home so he can finish his work. He takes her to his private beach house, where he makes love to the girl and she allows it. The next day, they get dressed and he notices how much he changed her. When they get to the airport, he gives her his earring he always wears and tells her that he will come back for her, then he kisses her and leaves.

Could it be Kiss/Hug?

The girls works in a flower shop that belongs to the family. The scene you're describing resembles one of the last few chapters where he has to go to England for some work he does.

Synopsis

  Ryuu, a super-business-like transfer student from England with black hair and blue eyes just arrived! During the night of the Tanabata festival, Ryuu and Yukino became attracted to each other at first sight. He then declares, "You will be mine!" This brought confusion to Yukino, who has zero experience in love. But could she actually be falling in love?


What is Shounen Bat? Who or what is Shounen Bat?

   Does Shounen Bat exist in the mind?  Or does he exists in reality to relieve the pain of the people who are cornered by reality?

It became unclear to me who or what Shounen Bat was after

   the copycat died.

There's no explicit explanation on who or what he is.

  Does Shounen Bat exist in the mind?

Not so much in the imagination, as other people can obviously see Lil' Slugger. It's possible that he could exist in the minds of everyone. Whether or not he exists in reality is a matter of debate; when he attacks people, is it physical or are his victims simply manifesting the injury?

Regardless,

   it seems he's been manifested by Tsukiko, the character designer and first "victim". Except she reveals she was never attacked by Lil' Slugger and that Lil' Slugger was her manifestation when she was a child to take the blame of all the bad things that she did, like letting her dog die. She eventually believed the delusion and somehow the delusion manifested into either reality or within the minds of everyone, growing in strength from people believing in his existence.


Where do Saga's pants come from? In episode 71, Saga wears his Gemini Golden Cloth when he was fully naked. But in episode 73, when his cloth shatters, we see that he is wearing a pair of pants. When did he put on those pants? Where did they come from? Were they hidden inside the Golden Cloth?

Just before he wears his cloth. (Episode 71)

When his cloth shatters. (Episode 73)

After rewatching this a couple times, I believe this is just a case of censoring.

When the Cloth is put on to begin with, there is really no way there could be a single, contiguous (cyan) fabric encased within it:

As you can see, the Cloth itself is made up of multiple pieces, so it's more than likely the pants did not come from the Cloth.

If we discount the option of him, somehow, off-camera, removing the armor and placing the pants beneath, the only option is that it was added as a censor; as @user301 noted in a comment above, the lighting when the Cloth shattered did not permit a shadow in Saga's groin area (nor did the subsequent shots allow blocking it); so, in order to not have to do a black box or pixelation, the production staff opted to use a concept similar to Magic Pants, permitting Saga to have a pair of pants remaining after the Cloth itself shattered.


What was Armins goal with Annie in Stohess district? In episode 23 in season 1, I was confused on what Armins goal with asking help from Annie was. Was it to figure out if Annie was the FT? Or was it just to help Eren escape, and figuring if Annie was the FT could possibly be revealed along the way. If it's the first one, why did Armin take Annie underground? Also was there any significance as to why there were no civilians around?

I apologize for sounding blunt, but it seems you may have missed the entire context and purpose for this event.

Was it to figure out if Annie was the FT?

As shown in the previous episodes, it was revealed that Armin already had a suspicion that Annie was the Female Titan, and revealed his theory to the rest of the company. Shortly after this, they had come up with a plan to trap Annie - hence them going to the underground tunnel.

If it's the first one, why did Armin take Annie underground?

This was a ruse to trap her in close quarters. With being in a confined placed, Annie wouldn't have been able to transform into her titan form without risking her own life in the process. As a warrior, her duty was to uphold and complete the mission at hand.

Also was there any significance as to why there were no civilians around?

This was a pre-determined route Armin and company had designed in their efforts to trap Annie. At one point, you see other scouts hiding behind counters, in homes, barrels, etc.... So  no civilians were present because they were likely cleared out ahead of time to prevent casualties in the event something went wrong.


Where was it revealed that Jubstacheit is an A.I? So I read this question, where it says:

  the only exception being Jubstacheit, who is supposed to be an A.I. controlling an array of humanoid golem bodies.

I've never read this before, so I looked it up on Jubstacheit's Wikia page, where it says:

  Jubastacheit is an artificial intelligence made to control the Einzbern Castle, Golem Jubstacheit (ゴーレム・ユーブスタクハイト, Gōremu Yūbusutakuhaito?). It manufactures humanoid golem terminals, and Acht is the eighth generation.

However, this was not the case as on June 11, 2015, the same paragraph said:

  Declared the eighth head of the Einzbern family, Jubstacheit was not around during Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's era, but kept himself alive for nearly two centuries by continuously prolonging his life.

This part started to change on January 13, 2016, and this new information had not been cited, as the only reference on the page is the Fate/Zero Season 1 Boxset - Drama CD 1, which has been there for quite some time.

So I am wondering, what Nasuverse title/material book says that Jubstacheit is an A.I?

According to Japanese fan-wiki, the Fate/Zero Blu-ray Disc Box I's Drama CD 1 only tells a story in which Jubstacheit has a major appearance.

長い間殆ど設定上の人物に近かったが、『Fate/Zero』Blu-ray Disc Boxの特典ドラマCDにて、ようやく出番らしい出番が与えられた。
After a long period in which his character has been described as such, he finally appeared in Fate/Zero Blu-ray Disc Box special Drama CD.

However, according to a summary of 2channel posts (in Japanese), his true-form is explained on Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Blu-ray Disc Box II.

Fate/stay night[UBW]Blu-ray DiscBoxⅡにて明らかになるアハト翁の正体とアインツベルンの成り立ちとは【ネタバレ注意】
Old-man Acht's true-form and Einzbern' rising becomes clear in Fate/stay night[UBW]Blu-ray DiscBoxⅡ (Spoiler alert)
9: ＵＢＷのＢＯＸが密林から届いたで。
アインツベルンとアハト翁の正体とかかなり意外だった
9: The UBW Box from mitsurin (jungle/dense forest, net slang for Amazon) has arrived. Einzbern and Old-man Acht's true-form was quite unexpected.
17: アハト翁はアインツベルンの城の中枢制御用に作られた人工知能ゴーレム・ユーブスタクハイトの8代目人型端末。[...]
17: Old-man Acht is the 8th-generation humanoid-form terminal of Golem Jubstacheit, an artificial intelligence in charge of Einzbern Castle's operation. [...]


What is so dangerous about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber? When Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Trunks prepare to train to face Cell Goku warns them that the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is dangerous enough that they can't train alone in it.

But there's no life in there. just a building and open empty white space. how exacting is it too dangerous to train in there alone?

My answer is only opinion based but i think it has to do with the fact that nothing is there besides white emptiness. The "danger" comes from the psychological nature, as a solo person would eventually go crazy without any object reference. Everywhere around you is just an endless whiteness so that most likely takes a huge effect to your mental state.

Anyway that is the only reason that comes to my mind.


Why are there so many perverted virgins in anime? In non-hentai anime, nudity and ecchi scenes are everywhere—dramatically more than American broadcast TV and even more than non-porn American movies and cable TV. Yet, at the same time, sex is almost nonexistent and nearly all non-adult anime characters (and many unmarried adults) are virgins—dramatically more than in American movies and broadcast TV (and cable all the more so).

How is this discrepancy—that anime is so perverted and yet so prudish—to be explained?

Currently, nearly 50% of Japanese adults are not sexually active. This has been reported in international news such as the Washington Post, the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, and Japan's own English-language news source, the Japan Times. Anime characters are a reflection of the real situation. Not all of the adults who are not currently sexually active are virgins: some are, while others are people who do not plan to become sexually active again.

Japan is a don't-ask,-don't-tell society: what you want to do in the privacy of your own bedroom (watch hentai, use body pillow dolls, any matter of fetishes, etc.) is not considered any big deal, and mentioning that you felt up a stranger's breast in a hostess club can be done in front of your colleagues without anyone raising an eyebrow, so it is not a "prudish" society at all. However, the Japanese overwhelmingly want you to keep your sexuality and sexual activities to yourself: do whatever you like and that will generally be respected, but PDA (public display of affection) or coming out and sharing about it to others is not socially respected (i.e. don't bother other people with it). Many young Japanese believe, likely as an influence from the Western nations, that it makes sense to test-drive a potential spouse before marrying (sleep together and/or live together), but it is simply the case that not as many Japanese are even dating and getting married.

Another cultural factor that may contribute, which you can see in quite a lot of manga and anime, is that a major format of Japanese romance is to like someone who you are not friends with for a long time, and finally "confess" your feelings in a sudden love letter, on St. Valentine's Day, or on graduation day, in which the recipient must abruptly decide whether or not he/she has romantic interest in the other person -- who might not have been on the recipient's radar whatsoever. This can result in either being turned down on the spot ("I don't even know you"), a willingness to try to go on a couple dates ("Maybe I could get interested in you"), or the first-choice being the recipient is overjoyed ("I secretly pined away for you for years too!"). A lot of romantic feelings and sexual desire are never confessed, but some that are get rejected due to the format in which the potential couple does not get to know each other through friendship or casual dating before a major DTR (defining the relationship) event takes place, or reciprocal feelings are confessed right after the graduation ceremony and the respective parties part ways to go to different schools for high school or university, so the mutual interest doesn't lead anywhere.

Ecchi content in anime is responding to a market that may not have an outlet for sexual release in a real-life relationship; on the flip side, characters who are virgins are easy for certain demographics to relate to, so if the virginal character ended up getting laid, the viewer wouldn't feel like a kindred spirit. In terms of storytelling, delaying steps toward the culmination of a relationship keeps viewers coming back for more episodes, such as rationing out the hand-holding, kissing, etc. (although this is perhaps not as often done regarding sex between characters in mainstream Western TV shows for adults, a good example is Sheldon and Amy in The Big Bang Theory). While delayed gratification is a normal plot device, in modern Japan, another type of love triangle has emerged in bishoujo harem and bishounen reverse harem anime: a lot of love interests are available to the protagonist, but he or she ends up not choosing between them and doesn't end up with anyone. This purportedly allows the view to favor any one of the potential suitors and imagine the post-episode happily-ever-after that they prefer without their favorite ship getting rejected in canon.

Legally, what is considered porn or not porn differs by country. I once turned on a Japanese TV during prime time (while kids are awake) and found myself looking at a topless woman in a live-action TV drama series. In manga and anime, non-pornographic depictions of nudity should not include the details of female nipples or any genitalia (and they usually do not include any body hair), so the bodies look Barbie doll-ish or the genital area is censored with a white spot (nothing is drawn there).

Not all nudity in manga and anime is considered sensual or sexual. Just as the Japanese public baths (onsen and sento) do not innately bear any association of nudity with sex among the general population, nudity can be included in illustrations that are not intending to have any sexual connotations. Historically, the Japanese were surprised by the foreigners who arrived on their shores and balked at the public baths, since the Japanese didn't view them as related to sexual interest. In fact, nudity can in some contexts connote purity, as in the final episode of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, in which the protagonist fights her final battle in the nude, her pure heart able to

   reach and connect to the villain's and set her free from being possessed by evil.

Neither the villain, nor any of the onlooking supporting characters, particularly pay attention to her nudity during and after the battle; even when she is subsequently hugged by her boyfriend, there is no sensuality present in the depiction.


Does Saitama still continue his training? Saitama mentioned that he got this strong through daily training, which consisted of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats along with running 10 km every single day. Also, he ate three meals a day, but only a banana as breakfast and also didn't use the AC, to strengthen his mental resistance.

Has he stopped his training and accepted his current power level as sufficient? Or does he still train using his methodology? (I've read till Vol 6, Chapter 32 and haven't found anything about his current training status)

As Eumel's answer points out, in the manga nothing says whether he is training or not. However, I think it is safe to say that he is NOT training anymore, as the power he obtained is clearly too great for him to have any "exciting" fight.

The picture below, shows Saitama defeating Vaccine man in the first chapter. He is clearly pissed off that his fight ended up in only one punch, indicating that he would much rather have a more even match against a foe. Once realizing that he was clearly overpowered compared to the monsters he fought, there is no reason why he would still want to train. Even more, he might want to slack off hoping that it would make him weaker, yielding to more exciting fights for him.


What does the term "Kage" in "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" actually refer to? Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (影分身の術) literally translates into Shadow Clone Technique.

Is the word "kage" used to suggest that this technique was developed by a Ho-kage? Or does the jutsu have an actual connection to shadow?

The word "Kage" means "shadow".

That's why they call it the "Shadow Clone Technique" in the English dub (or at least the early ones).

The suffix "kage" in "Hokage" also means "shadow" ("Hokage" = "Fire Shadow", I believe).


What is the "-shi" ending's meaning? This isn't the first time I hear this peculiar ending "-shi" added to words. It usually appears at the end of sentences. From the looks of it, the ending is supposed to make the speaker sound lighthearted, friendly, humorous. As an example, in Selector Infected/Spread WIXOSS Eldora and Chiyori both talk and behave peculiarly, using this ending.

What is the actual purpose of it?

"-desushi" mean "becase" and "and".

Let's take a look at a few quotes from episode 5 for example.

  ふぉぉぉ！燃える展開です!!
  ちよりはバーニングチョリソーですしー!!

Wow! This is a burning development!! Because Chiyori is Burning Chorizo!!

  るぅ子さんがやらないなら私がやります
  ちよりがやりたいですしー！

If Ruuko doesn't play, I'll play.
Because Chiyori want to play!

The word "-desushi" itself is normal Japanese.
But the overusing "-desushi" is part of slang of young people.

In this anime, "-desushi" is used for accent of character like "-nyo".


What's the name of the music in One Piece filler episode 406? In One Piece's episode 406. Whats the name of the music that starts playing on the 2:30 mark after the opening?

This song is called Master Usopp from Baron Omatsuri and The Secret Island OST.

Episode link:Episode 406

Music link:Song


Approximately when is the story of "Boku no Hero Academia" set? As nearly as I can tell, the events of "Boku no Hero Academia" seem to begin some time around 2174.  I base this estimation upon the manga having been begun in 2014 and the current All Might being the 8th such hero (and taking an assumed average of 20 years per generation between passings-on of their power).

Is there a definitive answer for this?  If not, are there canon facts, observed trends, or even fan-based assumptions that might at least weigh to the contrary (whether earlier or later than 2174)?

Unless cannon ever gives us an exact year, it’s impossible to say for sure. Thematically though, the story takes place 20 minutes into the future

Technology and culture is almost identical to today, except that there are people with superpowers and has been for generations. The problems that the character’s face, and society as a whole face, aren’t that different from the problems we face in real life (except dialed up to 11 because of the presence of Quirks, and the fact that this is an action work of fiction).


Is it possible to use Chidori without Sharingan? I was thinking about Chidori and now I'm interested in it. I stumbled upon this question: can a ninja learn how to use Chidori and use it without Sharingan?

Yes it is, but there is a cost, Tunnel-vision. Kakashi invented the attack and used it without the Sharingan, and were it not for Minato, he would have been killed by one of his opponents. He is running so fast, and is focused so much on his attack, that he is unable to really focus on anything except that right in front of him when attacking. The second Paragraph of the overview on the wiki confirms this

  The speed at which the Chidori is performed, despite being one of its greatest assets, also represents one of its biggest drawbacks: users move at their target so fast that its causes a tunnel vision-like effect for them. Because they charge in a straight line it is easy for opponents to attack them, and because of the tunnel vision it is difficult for the user to see these attacks, much less react to them. For this reason, most ninja cannot use the Chidori safely. If the user has a Sharingan, however, these drawbacks are overcome: the Sharingan's heightened visual perception prevents the tunnel vision from occurring and its predictive capabilities make it easy for the user to avoid counterattacks.

Kakashi's page summarizes the event itself

  Kakashi tried to eliminate him with his new jutsu, Chidori, but the attack speed left him vulnerable to counter-attack, forcing Minato to step in, save Kakashi, and kill Mahiru himself. Before leaving them, Minato advised Kakashi to not use the Chidori again.
  ...
  After Rin transplanted Obito's Sharingan into him, Kakashi confronted Kakkō. His White Light Chakra Sabre was destroyed during the ensuing fight, but he succeeded in killing Kakkō with Chidori; due to the Sharingan's heightened vision, Kakashi was finally able to handle its speed.


How far ahead is planning done before a manga is released? The question speaks for itself. I have always wondered how many of these amazing plots just unwind so naturally. Is it done as they go along or do they have separate set sessions for developing ideas, writing etc. Not to answer my question but one would have to assume the latter, I'm just asking how far ahead is said planning usually done.

For example, when Naruto initially started was there ever a plan to have the Akatsuki and Pain or have Jiraiya die?

This answer began as a comment, but quickly grew to large.

I'm purely speculating here, but generally most writers would probably have  chief events planned from the start, and fill in the gaps as they go. By chief I mean turning points that are essential to the story overall. When I say planned I mean they already know what they want to happen, and how to achieve it, or at least have a general idea, and perhaps are leaving the implementation details up for later.

As a case example, from the beginning Eiichiro Oda already had the ending of One Piece planned out. To this day he hasn't changed this plan, but out of enjoyment of writing the series he continues to fill the gap from commencement to terminus. (See: One Piece#Production - Wikipedia)

That said, nothing would stop a mangaka from totally changing his/her plans and writing something altogether new at any moment. If I remember correctly, Akira Toriyama had no plans for Vegeta to have any more appearances in the manga Dragonball Z after his defeat on Earth. But when he saw the great positive reaction from fans he kept him in for the rest of the series. Toriyama's original plan is not exactly known, but in the least it had to be modified greatly to accommodate the new character.

Another factor would probably be the publishing agencies themselves. Obviously they want to capitalize, and so most often, more is more. If a manga series is doing very well, they'll probably want to extend it, and so many writers are pushed to write beyond there original plans. Continuing with the Dragonball Z example, we can see just that. Toriyama planned to end his work at the defeat of Cell, but was urged on by publishers to continue, which lead to the true climax, Buu.

Also, censorship could play a part in some cases. If something written by an author goes against the standards of either society or the publisher, it would have to be modified, and even a small change can have great consequences later on. This of course must take into account creative control, which is an author-by-author process depending on the details of any given contract.

Again, all of this is nothing more than pure speculation that uses nothing but perceivable events as evidence. As I find more resources and evidence I'll add it. Perhaps to try to formalize this as it stands, I'd just agree with kuwaly, and say that it's all up in the air. Writers, publishers, public reaction, political correctness and just about anything else could alter the course of any writer's storyline at any point. I doubt any manga ever turns out exactly like the first draft.


Where can I watch Sailor Moon legally? I want to start watching Sailor Moon but I don't know where to watch it legally. Can anyone tell me where to watch it starting from the very first season?

I found these sites while browsing the net:

Sailor Moon:

Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/sailor-moon-4e1c9108-f973-48fb-8824-a69280ca0438
Viz: https://www.viz.com/watch/streaming/sailor-moon (Country Specific)

Sailor Moon Crystal:

Bandai Channel: https://www.b-ch.com/ttl/index.php?ttl_c=4233
Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/sailor-moon-crystal-f8ab94ad-27b1-416b-a463-
Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/sailor-moon-crystal (does not require membership)

I was unable to personally try the sites that are restricted by region or country, so, if you want to see more options, you can browse through our community curated list of legal online sources.

Sources:

Quora: Is Sailor Moon on Netflix or Hulu?
Tonepoet: (Verified the Viz U.R.L. with a screenshot)
Maroon (Mentioned Crunchyroll)


Can Sea-Stone objects be given Demon Fruit powers? We've seen that inanimate objects can be made to 'eat' a Demon Fruit; can this process be used on a Sea-stone object?

While a clear answer to that question hasn't been given yet, it is most likely impossible. Sea stone nullifies Devil Fruit powers to begin with, so even if it were possible to feed a sea stone object a Devil Fruit in the first place, the stone's effects would nullify the fruit's powers, rendering it useless.


At the end of Tokyo Ghoul: Root A, is Yoshimura still alive? In Tokyo Ghoul: Root A, Yoshimura ―the old leader of the Antiteiku― was defeated. After that, his daughter, after fighting with Arima, "ate" him. Normally, ghouls would eat someone to gain energy, but in this case, she just escaped.

I don't think it was the last time for her to fight because I think we will see her again in the 3rd season.

Is Yoshimura still alive at the end of Tokyo Ghoul: Root A?

First, there is an after credits scene where we see One eyed Owl spit Yoshimura out and then release its kajuka kagune for that big reveal that she was his daughter as pointed out in the question.

After that, we do not see him again in Root A. Season 3 continues the story a few years later and closely follows the mangas overarching story. We do find out some of what happened to him, which simply was that he became a new Kagune farm like Rize was. This is best shown by a new Ghoul introduced in RE:, named Owl as well for having Yoshimura's Kagune. For those who haven't seen season 3, spoilers, but this new Owl's true identity was never hidden and it is

   Seidou Takizawa, the side character eaten by Noro at the end of Season 2, and Akira's friend and classmate.

A few others were also given his Kagune as well, and we do see one of them who escaped but is unnamed and hidden in Season 3. Code-name Floppy by CCG and a cannibal ghoul killer, though most people already know or have a good guess who it is.

Yoshimura is however, never seen in season 3. As for his fate in the now ended manga, and spoilers for season 4 when/if it comes out,

   he is never seen again. There is one picture of him suspended in fluid in one of those human sized vats commonly used for experimentation, but he is at best unconscious, possibly dead around the Rose extermination which Season 3 ended with. Truly never seen or even mentioned again after that and presumed dead.