What was Hirohiko Araki's inspiration to create JoJo's Bizarre Adventure? I was wondering what was Araki's inspiration in creating this manga? How did this idea came into reality? Also, how did he came up with the 'Stands'?

I have yet to read the manga or watch the anime but a quick research I did shows that the inspiration of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure can never be attributed to a single person or thing.

This quite long article discusses how JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is inspired by David Bowie and other famous rock bands, songs and movies. To quote from the article:

  The three Bowian themes of pushing genre boundaries, creating unique and flamboyant aesthetic identities for characters and personae, and pursuing a degree of self-reflexivity can be found in JoJo, as themes at least indirectly inspired by Bowie’s artistic endeavors.

In addition, you can see below one of the many comparisons done by the article of poses from one of the characters in the manga to a famous pose done by David Bowie.

Regarding the Stands,

  ...stands are usually named after rock bands, albums and songs...Dirty deeds done cheap (from an AC/DC song)...the stand Soft and Wet (a homage to a Prince song)... a stand called Scary Monsters, an obvious homage to Bowie’s classic work... Killer Queen, bears the name of a Queen’s song

Aside from music, films also influenced the manga. In this article, Hirohiko Araki revealed in an interview how Blade Runner heavily inspired his creation.

  He said that Blade Runner's Roy Batty, as portrayed by Rutger Hauer, influenced the character DIO in his manga. In particular, he mentioned how Batty's short blond hair and muscular build influenced DIO.


What does recontruction of Van's body mean? During the testing phase of Dann of Thursday with Van, Gadved said, "Your body is not compatible, so your body need reconstruction".

After The Claw attacked Van and Helena, she ask Gadved to reconstruct Van's body, so that he can use Dann at full potential.

What do they mean by "reconstruction"?

Below is a screenshot from episode 12, where Van is asking Gadved to reconstruct him after The Claw's attack.

Though there has not been any information about what reconstruction means, but Dann of Thursday has the ability to regenerate.

  It is seen that this reconstruction process is what gives them their regenerative capabilities.

So the main reason to reconstruct is to make Van body feasible to use Dann's regenerative capability.


Why is Luffy's smile so different in his latest wanted poster? I don't remember which chapter this started in, but I've noticed that his smile is not as wide as usual.
It's very different from his wide, rubber-skinned smile. Now it looks more like a girl's smile in One Piece.

I know it doesn't matter much but could there be another artist besides Oda who is working on One Piece? Or could this hint to something related to a change in his stretchiness or something?

I've also noticed that he looks younger than pre-timeskip. Both of these could simply be a change in Oda's art style though.

The last poster was shown in the manga too.

I actually think it's simply the evolution of his art style. Your theory is tight and even though Oda has been very careful with his little hints, I don't believe that it is actually the case. Truth be told, I have not noticed any changes in his smile even in the latest chapters. As cheerful as always


Can doujinshi get anime adaptations? Also can they become "real" Manga if good enough Was wondering if doujinshi can get an anime adaptations and become real manga that are officially sold by companies.

If by "doujinshi" you mean "self-published manga that parody other published works" (probably the most restrictive definition), the answer is yes. Examples:

Nyoron Churuya-san (a Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu doujin)

If you loosen the definition to "self-published manga", there are even more examples:

Sore ga Seiyuu!
Getsuyoubi no Tawawa

If you go further and consider all self-published works (including webcomics and text-only media), there are even more:

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (originally a series of posts on 2ch)
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni (originally posted on "Shousetsuka ni Narou")
Re:Zero (likewise)
One Punch Man (originally a webcomic)

This is by no means a rare phenomenon. Self-published stuff that becomes popular gets commercialized pretty often.


How strong is "Ultra Instinct" Roshi in the manga? So in the last chapter of the manga we see

   Roshi facing Jiren, Roshi dodging Jiren's hits in "Ultra Instinct" style, and Roshi forcing Jiren to protect himself from his punches.

I know it's a different continuity, but in the anime it takes a Super Saiyan Blue to make Jiren protect himself like that. How strong is "Ultra Instinct" Roshi in the manga?

I personally feel this is illogical, inconsistent & terrible writing. Even if one were to lowball Goku completely and consider Roshi to be the strongest human, there is absolutely no justification as to how one can scale Roshi's power to even Base Goku, let alone Super Saiyan Goku. Scaling him to Super Saiyan Blue Goku in terms of power again is just absurd. However, with an obvious degree of difficulty, it is possible to justify the same for the following reasons.Firstly, Roshi is definitely not using Ultra Instinct. If Roshi has any notion of Ultra Instinct which even Beerus can barely use, it would make no sense. I believe, Roshi has watched and studied Jiren's attacks during the course of the tournament and is simply countering his moves similar to what Vegeta did in Episode 122. In terms of power, Jiren is nerfed in the manga. In Manga Chapter 37, where Mastered Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta fights Beerus. After Beerus one shot MSSJB Vegeta, he said that Vegeta was strong enough to be a God of Destruction in another Universe. Also in the God of Destruction tournament, Beerus's suppressed attacks were supposedly strong enough to kill Multiple Gods of Destruction. Hence, that would already bring Goku and Vegeta to God of Destruction Tier and hence, the power difference between Jiren and Goku/Vegeta, might not be as big as it was in the manga. Note: I know this still doesn't justify the fight with Roshi, however, I thought it might be an interesting point to include.Jiren is not as skilled of a fighter as he seemed to be in anime. He only possesses brute strength and raw power. This might be hard to believe based on what we see in the anime, however, it would be a logical explanation as to why someone like Roshi is capable of dodging Jiren's attacks. We see a worn out Goku being able to do the same while fighting Kale and Caulifla. Hence, Roshi might be a superior Martial Artist and has the edge on Jiren.In Manga Chapter 29, where Toppo mentions Jiren, he stated that Jiren surpassed Vermouth in terms of Battle Power Alone. Also, in Manga Chapter 36, when Toppo fights Vegeta, he stated that in terms of sheer power, Vegeta was on par with Goku. Although I'm making an assumption here, I think one could logically use this to argue that Toppo perhaps meant while Jiren had the raw power superior to Vermouth, he possibly isn't superior in terms of skill and the same applied to Vegeta with regard to Goku. This could perhaps be used to defend Roshi's fight with Jiren In the anime, when Vegeta keeps persisting and pushing back Jiren in Episode 122, Vegeta stated that Jiren was using less power and speed than what he used against Goku. Also in the early phase of their fight, Jiren did seem very uninterested in fighting Vegeta and kept considering him to be persistent and annoying. This technically lead to Jiren lowering his guard enough for Vegeta to land 2 solid blows. Jiren might possibly feel the same way about Roshi and substantially lets his guard down. If you watch Episode 122, Jiren initially treats Vegeta like a fly and simply just swats him away twice. He might be possibly trying to do the same against Roshi who obviously is putting a lot more effort and trying to capitalize on the same.Even if you look at the scans, Jiren doesn't really seem hurt or injured or anything as such. He seems more annoyed than anything and is obviously uninterested in fighting Roshi and simply trying to knock him away(While completely underestimating his fighting experience).Finally, I highly doubt this is a reason, however, Jiren might possibly be afraid of killing Roshi and possibly finding it hard to suppress himself to a level capable of knocking out Roshi without killing him. In Conclusion, characters in the Manga are power scaled significantly different from the anime. I think it would be best to not compare the Manga characters with the Anime characters anymore. I believe the 2 best possible reasons to Justify the same, first in favor of Roshi, is that Jiren is nerfed in the manga; probably not in terms of power but in terms of skill at least and Roshi might hence be a better technician.  In favor of Jiren, he simply considers Roshi annoying and has no interest to fight him and simply wants to push him away without hurting him(Hence, severely underestimating his skill) and  Roshi is capitalizing on the same.


Did Staz's have to stop his Kamehameha? In episode 6 Staz almost unleashed a Kamehameha attack.
Is it okay to use this move outside of the Dragon ball series?
If Staz did unleash this Kamehameha, Would it be considerd copyright infringement?

Taking in to consideration that Blood Lad makes use of allot of parody (only in that one episode almost all of his finishing/attack moves are derived from other anime/games)

Following the policy of FUNimation

  Legal

  May I create new content using FUNimation properties?

  Taking an artwork into a new medium such as 3D animation and/or creating fan fiction based on an existing artwork usually does not fall under Fair Use. For more on fair use, please see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

  Such works are generally considered “derivative works” and the right to create such works is one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder. 17 USC § 106(2)

  If someone creates a derivative work without authorization from the copyright holder, they can be liable for copyright infringement. Whether we will seek to go after them or not, is another story...

  Fair use

  Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.

Taking these rules in to consideration it would most likely mean that if he finished the Kamehameha he would indeed have gone beyond the point of fair use, and into the area of copyright infrigment.

EDIT

As for the Japanese copyrights. They indeed seem to be quiet different yet comes down to pretty much the same in rough lines (can read them here)
And a modifyd fair use law seems to be in place aswell, which is more similar the Korean version then to the english version.


What is the significance of the recurring dancing bear? In Hamatora, there's a dancing animal - seems to be a bear - that appears (almost) every episode.

Besides appearing in the background dancing or doing other things that draw attention to him, his figure also appears in certain other circumstances.
For instance, in the first episode we see some stickers of him.

What is the significance of this dancing bear?
And does he have a name?

I think it's not a bear, it's a tiger (Tora). And according to wiki his name is Tanker-kun.

For now it's some kind of mascot (no further details), because Hamatora (ハマトラ) means "Beach Tiger". And Tanker-kun always use sailor suit, so for now we can assume he's mascot of Hamatora.


What happened with Kamisama Dolls? I watched the entire anime, but they leave the ending open. There's no further continuation in the manga of what we watched in the anime. They were going to make a movie, but they never did. What happened to the show and the manga? Is there some continuation in some novel?

The manga has ended and the anime has ended as well. There's nothing left presumably to animate or write about, so that's the finish of that.

Actually, searches for a movie bring up nothing. So, are you sure that wasn't a false memory?


Why does Kirito hide his duel swords? On floor 74, Kirito hides his duel swords from Asuna and Clyde and then uses them at the last second. Why did he hide them?

He hid the skill to avoid the attention and envy of other players.

  Weapon skills that didn’t have clear conditions for appearing are
  called extra skills. They were sometimes even called random
  conditions. An example would be Klein’s «Katana». But «Katana»
  wasn’t all that rare and appeared quite often as long as you kept
  training the Curved Sword skill.
  Most of the ten-plus extra skills that had been found up until now,
  «Katana» included, had at least ten people who used each of them. The
  only exceptions were my «Dual Blades» and one other man’s extra skill.
  These two were most likely limited to only one person, so they
  should be called «Unique Skill». I had hidden the existence of my
  unique skill up until now. But from today, the news that I was the
  second unique skill user would spread throughout the world. There
  was no way I could hide it after using it in front of so many people.
  ...
  Since then, I only trained it when there was nobody around. Even
  after I nearly mastered it, I rarely used it against monsters unless it
  was an emergency. Aside from using it to protect myself in a crisis, I
  simply didn’t like this kind of skill due to the attention it draws.
  I even thought that it would be better if another Dual Blades user
  appeared-
  I scratched the area around my ear and muttered.
  “…if it became known that I had such a rare skill, not only would
  people pester me for information…it might attract other kinds of
  problems too…”
  Klein nodded.
  “Online gamers get jealous easily. I wouldn’t since I’m an
  understanding guy, but there sure are plenty of envious People.

As we can see later his fears were wellfounded:

  Somehow they had found out about where I lived. As a result,
  swordsmen and information dealers had crowded around my house
  since early morning. I ended up having to go through the trouble of
  using a teleport crystal to escape.

Of note is that he wouldn't have hidden the skill if he had known how other players could unlock it.

  “I’m disappointed Kirito. You didn’t even tell me that you had
  such an awesome skill.”
  “I would have told you if I knew the conditions for its appearance.
  But I really couldn’t figure out how it happened.”
  I answered Klein’s complaint with a shrug.
  There wasn’t a shred of lie in what I said. About a year ago, I
  opened my skills window one day and found the name «Dual Blades»
  just sitting there. I really had no clue on what conditions made it
  appear.

The excerpts are from chapter 12 of the first light novel Aincrad (translations by Baka-Tsuki).


Is Ryuk required to write Misa's name in his Death Note at the end of her life? Death Note Rule LXIV states:

  gods of death are obliged to confirm the death of the first owner and
  write down that humans name in his/her Death Note

Misa was the first human owner of the Death Note that was brought into the human world by Rem. Misa then gave up this Death Note, and then picked it up again later, and this time the Shinigami owner was Ryuk (Light made him and Rem switch notebooks). Obviously the responsibility of killing Misa would normally be Rem's, since she was the first to "drop" that DN in the human world. But then Ryuk also "dropped" it after he got ownership of it, and Misa "picked it up" and became the owner for the second time. Rem is dead, so she can't kill Misa. Does this mean that the responsibility transfers to Ryuk?

I know that the anime makes it look like Misa was about to commit suicide. And it looks like it's her idea, too--I seriously doubt Ryuk would have made her go through all that trouble (wearing the "handmaiden of death" outfit and fancy makeup, traveling to the place where Light died,etc). But we don't actually see her die. Would Ryuk be the one to kill her, now that her life is about to end due to her own intentions?

Does anyone know of anything in the manga, creator commentary, etc., that might clear this up?

(Rule is from the wiki here http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note)

That rule is an expansion on the rules which state cases when Gods of Death are allowed to return to their own world (more specifically it's the second part of "How to Use: LXIV")

Point one of those rules start with:

  The following situations are the cases where a god of death that has brought the Death Note into the human world is allowed to return to the world of gods of death

While it is true that at one point Ryuk had ownership over Misa's Death Note he wasn't the one who brought it to the human world, so in Misa's case those rules don't apply to him.


"The World Will Turn To Ash" - How did this differ in the original Japanese? In Pokemon: The Movie 2000, part of the legend that tells of the balance of nature being wrecked goes "The World Will turn to Ash".

This is the sort of pun-legend I'd expect from Japanese writing...yet this is Ash's given name, and the original legend must be in Japanese.

So what, exactly, did the legend say about Ash being the "chosen hero" at that point in the story?

What I found from here is:

  火の神、雷の神、氷の神に触れずべからず。
  されば、天地怒り世界は破滅に向かう。
  海の神、破滅を救わんと現れん。
  されど、世界の破滅を防ぐことならず。
  すぐれたるあやつり人現れ、神々の怒り静めん限り…。

  The god of fire, god of lightning, and god of ice must not be touched.
  Else, heaven and earth will be angered and the world will face destruction.
  The god of the sea will appear to stop the destruction.
  But, it will not prevent the world's destruction.
  Unless an exceptional trainer appears to calm the wrath of the gods....

If this is accurate, then there is no mention of Ash, but instead just that of a trainer in general.


Was Tomoyo in love with Sakura? While I was browsing for different anime in different genre, I came across with Yuri genre and then found a list where anime that contain yuri genre. I was shocked to see Cardcaptor Sakura on the list as anime with yuri as an additional element. I have watched Cardcaptor Sakura a lot of times but I haven't read it's manga. The only thing that comes on mind that could be the yuri element was Sakura and Tomoyo's relationship as best friends (and their mothers'). If I'm not mistaken, since I've watched Cardcaptor Sakura a lot of times when I was still a kid, there were no solid implications that Tomoyo had romantic feelings towards Sakura, meaning you can only sense friendship in their relationship (or it was something I overlooked or I didn't give deep meaning to it). Though, I'm not really sure in the manga since I've never read it. So, is there any truth to this and if it has (in anime or manga), please show reference to justify it (in any episode or chapter).

On the TV Tropes page, Tomoyo is listed as a Token Yuri Girl:

  Tomoyo Daidouji in Card Captor Sakura, though it was toned down a bit in the anime. The manga actually had her telling Sakura that she loves her in that way, though it went right over the heroine's head.

So it seems that it's toned down in the anime (I didn't seem like anything other than best friends and maybe borderline infatuation in the anime), but blatant in the manga. Also noted in the CSS wiki:

  While Tomoyo is in love with Sakura, she notes that she is happy to be able to be with Sakura and does not require Sakura to love her back.

According to this blog post (contains lots of other instances), it happened in Volume 2, Chapter 2:


What happened to people who committed crimes (such as killing) in SAO? There are many people in SAO who committed crimes (such as doing PK), yet managed to survive until the end of the game. What happened to them after that? Did they go to trial and get sentenced to prison?

If that's the case, what about people (like Kirito) who killed others involuntarily in self-defense? Were they exempted from trial?

From the end of the ALO arc in the novel, where Kirito thinks about his school and the policy to avoid using in-game names:

  In this special «school», the students were players who had been in middle or high school before the SAO incident. Those orange players with a serious history of murder were undergoing more than one year of counseling that included treatment and observation. People like me who attacked others for self-defense, were inquired without leaving a criminal record like theft or blackmail.


What is Mugen chewing? What is Mugen chewing always sometimes he chews small sticks, some other times he chews long stems with leaves. Is that Japanese style? and what is that plant name?

Anime characters chewing on a blade of grass/toothpick is considered a trope in anime and is usually attributed to the delinquent types.

  Sometimes a character will suck or chew on something as a form of
  characterization. These range from toothpicks and blades of straw or
  grass to lollipops and cigarettes.

  In anime, having a piece of straw in one's mouth is a common depiction
  of a banchou, or juvenile delinquent gang-leader character.

Some other characters that have been noted to conform to this trope:

Tetsuya Kusakabe from  Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, a delinquent character.

Ikki Takeda from History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, who was formerly a member of a gang called Ragnarök.

Mifune from Soul Eater, who's personality is described like this:

Often stoic in nature and staunch in attitude, Mifune tends be somewhat quiet in situations that do not directly involve him and remains mostly serious as well as being straight-forward..

Ash's Treecko from  Pokémon, described as cool, calm, collected and serious.

Wikia, on Mugen:
Rude, lewd, vulgar, conceited, temperamental, and unhinged - Mugen is something of an antihero.

Thus, it can be inferred that the "blade of grass in mouth" trope is a type of characterization that mostly represents a serious/delinquent sort of character.

The plant isn't usually of significance and isn't the same in every case unless explicitly stated. In a Japanese page that describes Ikki Takeda from the second image above, the following is written with respect to the blade of grass.

  常に葉っぱを口でくわえて...

which translates to "Always with a leaf in his mouth...", indicating that he's not chewing on any special plant.

As for what Mugen is chewing in the particular image posted, I'd guess it's bamboo.


Why doesn't "Mad monk" Urouge's neck accessory fall off? As seen in the latest episode 798, where Urouge falls on the ground while fighting Biscuit Knight - Cracker. And the accessory that he is wearing is still in his neck. Why ?

That is a part of his outfit and in manga and anime a part of a characters outfit only comes of for dramtic purposes i.g. luffys hat, natsus scarf, alucards hat and glasses. It's not a logical or story reason it's just mangaka preference i guess.


How did 'Rollover Jango' and 'Iron Fist Fullbody' become Ms. Hina's subordinates? We all know that Iron Fist Fullbody was demoted after the incident at Baratie Restaurant, and Jango was a famous pirate with a bounty of 9,000,000 Beris.

So how did they manage to get into Grand Line under Ms. Hina?

I tried to find about it and it took me a while but I got it, it's an interesting story presented here. As a summery:

Jango wakes up, chased after by 'Usopp Police Squad'.
Takes a small boat, passed 'Captain Morgan', both asleep.
New island, marines searching for him.
Takes a disguise, enters a dancing contest.
Jango is the winner, Fullbody is first runner-up.
Island attacked by 'Caption Yurikaa' leading 'Tulip Pirates'.
Jango runs, Fullbody fights.
A girl is taken hostage, Fullbody is defeated.
Jango returns to save his 'Brother', both defeat those pirates.
Fullbody captures Jango, degree 'Death by Hanging', Fullbody objects.
Decision overturned, Fullbody got a demotion.
Both agree to be hypnotized, to forget about their friendship.
Hina appears, decision changes, they decide to follow her.
Both enlist into Marine HQ with 'Mop in hand'.


When they form Project D what does the D stands for? On Initial D at around third to fourth stage, they finally form the group Project D (or get the left members into it) and somewhere along it Ryosuke mentions that "D" also stands for something else that he would reveal when the project is completed.

What does the "D" stand for?

I know it's not "Drifting" (or so I think, since they name it a lot of times with different meaning along the episodes, but I haven't watched it all yet) so I was thinking on something along the lines of "Driver" but wouldn't make much sense I guess.

I haven't watched the anime, but I read the manga. What 'D' stands for has not been explained explicity, but in the last chapter, Ryosuke Takahashi mentions three words that start with the letter 'D' when he prays to his girl friend. (mouse over to see the spoiler):

   dream, driver, diamond (in the rough).


Does "One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta" have anything related to the Alabasta arc in the anime series? Does One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta have anything to do with the Alabasta arc in the anime series?

Yes, it is a retelling of the Alabasta arc.

From wikipedia it is "adapting a story arc from the original manga" which is of course the same arc adapted for the anime.

There are some One Piece movies or specials like this one that can be useful for rewatching or catching up on the story faster than watching the anime or reading the manga.

The other main movie "Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Sakura" is a retelling of the amazing Drum Island arc with Franky, Nico, and Sunny added in.

Then there are Episode of Sabo, Episode of East Blue, Episode of Alabasta, Episode of Merry, etc. which are television specials showing these arcs in short time frames.


Why do we never hear from Elsa Granhiert again in Re:Zero? In the beginning of Re:Zero Elsa played as a major character and roadblock for Subaru. We also learn that she manages to escape alive and says that its not the end of her. Elsa is one of the people who seems to be against the Royal Election. The anime is already 19 episodes in and we never hear from her again. I find it strange since both Felt and Old Man Rom plays a role in the Royal Election but Elsa doesn't comeback.

Elsa will not play an active role in the current arc. but she will return as one of the major antagonist (like betelgeuse) in the next arc.


Are joke episodes common in anime? Episode 101 of Naruto is a joke episode; it is set in between major plot events and revolves around trying to figure out what is under Kakashi's mask. It's also based off of an omake, which are often meant to be funny.

Is it common to have entire episodes dedicated to just a joke, or to have them based off of omake? While omake are relatively inexpensive to make, episodes are expensive, so it seems like this wouldn't be particularly common. Alternatively, it could be a useful way to fill up space in fillers in long anime, many of which I haven't seen. So, is this a common practice?

It depends on the series.

For series who have a guided plot and who have a specific direction they're going in, like Bleach or Naruto, having a comedic episode appear once in a while serves as filler, and something light-hearted for the audience to enjoy.  For instance, non-plot-related episodes of Bleach involving Don Kanon'ji were often joke episodes at intent, and Bleach even did an Arabian Nights' episode in the middle of the major Hueco Mundo plotline.

(I would argue, though, that Kakashi's true face became an ascended meme within the Naruto franchise due to the pervasive curiosity that Naruto and Sakura have when they go to visit him in the hospital, and come this close to actually seeing it.)

Less guided shows like Hayate the Combat Butler have joke episodes embedded and running alongside actual episodes to the extent that it becomes tough to filter out the noise from the signal.  However, with it being a gag anime, and it not getting ever serious (in animation), this is not only par for the course, but to be expected.

I would say that it's not common, but it largely depends on what demographic the show is trying to hit, and how they're portraying themselves - either as a story, plot and resolution-style show, or as a gag show.


Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends? Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends?

(Related: Why exactly does Kyoko attempt to save Sayaka?)

Why were Sayaka and Kyoko fighting in the beginning, and what caused them to eventually end up as friends?

After Sayaka contracts with Kyuubey, there are two magical girls in Mitakihara: Homura and Sayaka. Add Kyouko to this, and that makes three. Three magical girls in one city is far too many, and so Kyouko starts by trying to get rid of Sayaka (either by disabling her or getting her to leave Mitakihara). Sayaka was presumably an easier target than Homura, given that she had only just become a magical girl.

So why did they end up as friends? If you read The Different Story, you'll see that Kyouko was a lot like Sayaka when she first became a magical girl (more than a year prior) - she was all about justice and saving people and stuff like that. But then a lot of things went wrong (foremost among them, her father going mad and killing her mother, her sister, and himself), resulting in the angry, cynical Kyouko we see in the show.

I guess she sees Sayaka as being a lot like herself, and wants to keep her from suffering the same things she did. (Kyouko says something to this effect in episode 9.)


What is the Kamehameha wave made of? I was wondering what Kamehameha is made of? Is it Chi or Ki or some kind of energy, or power of blue star, or something kind of pure energy?

Like you mentioned, the Kamehameha is made of Ki.

In the Dragon Ball Episode 8, The Kamehameha Wave, Yamcha describes what happens when the Kamehameha is used by Master Roshi:

  "Wait, I've heard of this technique. Right now he's gathering all of the latent energy in his body, then he's going to release it all at once, but I've... I've never seen it in action before."

Here, "the latent energy in his body" is Ki. And "release it all at once" refers to a Ki blast.

Therefore, the Kamehameha release the accumulated Ki from the user body and shapes it into a wave.

From Dragon Ball Wikia:

  By drawing his latent ki into the palms of his hands, Roshi is able to expel an explosive beam of ki energy.


Who came first? Pokemon or Digimon? The idea of not asking and promote one or the other, just a healthy curiosity to know who came before, given the shortage of reliable sources.

Digimon

Creation.

  Digimon, short for "Digital Monsters" literally Digital Monsters) is a
  franchise of digital toys, anime, manga and video games launched in
  1995 and covers the history of creatures called Digimon.

Conception.

  Akiyoshi Hongo is assigned as the creator of the concept of Digimon,
  but in fact it is a group of people.

  There was also a rumor that Digimon started in a game of cards with
  the similar name, but who actually created Digimon Aki Maita was a
  woman of only thirty years. Aki Maita had the idea in the early 90s to
  create virtual monsters. Digimon originated the Tamagotchi which are
  also a creation of Aki Maita, an innovation that Aki gave his monsters
  called Digital Monsters.

Translated from here

Pokémon

Creation.

  Pokémon is a media franchise owned by The Pokémon Company, having been
  created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995. It centers on fictional creatures
  called "Pokémon", that humans capture and train them to fight against
  each other as a sport.

Conception.

  Tajiri had the idea of Pokémon around 1989 or 1990 when the Game
  Boy was released. The concept of the Pokémon universe was inspired by
  the Hobby executive director Satoshi Tajiri collecting insects as a
  child.

Translated from here

Pokemon came before Digimon. The conceptualization of Pokemon predates the conceptualization of Digimon, the game release of Pokemon predates the game release of Digimon, and the anime broadcast date of Pokemon predates the anime film release of Digimon. The Digimon game release happened after the Pokemon anime had started airing.

The details:

Pokemon was conceptualized by 田尻智 (Satoshi Tajiri). He came up with 『ゲームフリーク』(GAME FREAK) as a doujin (self-published) print magazine in 1983 in cooperation with 杉森建 (Sugimori Ken), and the first game produced by GAME FREAK was 『クインティ』 (Quinty, known as Mendel Palace in English) on June 27th, 1989. Using the earnings from this game, GAME FREAK became its own company under the name 株式会社ゲームフリーク (Kabushiki Gaisha Geemu Furiiku) on April 26th, 1989 under Tajiri, Sugimori, and 増田順一 (Masuda Junichi). GAME FREAK intended to begin production of Pokemon as soon as it commenced operation in 1989, but due to a variety of interruptions, the game was not completed and released until 1996 (in the meantime, GAME FREAK released other games).

Pokemon was finally released as an RPG-style video game for Nintendo's Game Boy on February 27th, 1996, by the team of Tajiri, Sugimori, Masuda, 森本茂樹 (Morimoto Shigeki, who appears in some of the games as a non-playable character), 藤原基史 (Fujiwara Motofumi), 太田健程 (Oota Takenori), and 渡辺哲也 (Watanabe Tetsuya). This was 『ポケットモンスター 赤・緑』 (Pocket Monster Red・Green.『ポケットモンスター 青』[Blue] was released October 15th, 1996). The TV anime started to be broadcast on April 1st, 1997.

ウィズ (WiZ Co., Ltd.) toy manufacturer and バンダイ (BANDAI Co., Ltd.) produced たまごっち (Tamagotchi) keychain digital pet game together and released it on November 23rd, 1996. Maita Aki, a BANDAI employee has been credited with coming up with it, saying in an interview that she "hatched the idea for a virtual pet about a year ago while watching a television commercial about a little boy who insisted on taking his turtle to kindergarten" (the date of the interview is not mentioned, but the article records, "Last October, Maita took Tamagotchi prototypes to the streets of Tokyo's Shibuya district for a consumer test. . . . By November, the Tamagotchi was on the market in Japan"). She says,

  . . . it wasn't my accomplishment alone. I only came up with the idea, developed the concept and took charge of the marketing program. It also took a technician and public relations person to make it into a product . . .

Alternately, in an interview asking how he came up with the idea of Tamagotchi, WiZ's Yokoi Akihiro takes credit for its conceptualization, saying

  Aquarium fish simulation was popular software back in ‘93 and ‘94 in Japan. However, (the) personal computer itself was not popular within the Japanese community (at) that time. Personally, I love all sorts of animals, so I was trying to create a toy which gives users a chance to raise their own pet, a toy that owners will enjoy the process (of) and feel empathy with their pet.
  When I was working in Bandai, the leading toy maker, one of my roles was to develop handheld games, and among all those LCD handheld games that I created, I chose to focus on virtual pet handheld(s).

Digimon was conceptualized in 1996 as a simple Tamagotchi-style raising-monsters-as-digital-pets game and released by the same pair of companies as the 『デジタルモンスター』(Digital Monster) cell phone game on June 26th, 1997. The copyright is held by a 擬人名称, a.k.a. ハウスネーム (kijin meishou or "housename" --- that is, a non-human entity given a personified name) called 本郷あきよし (Hongo Akiyoshi) but is owned jointly by WiZ and BANDAI. Most of the character designs for Digimon were by 渡辺けんじ (Watanabe Kenji), ボルケーノ太田 (Oota Volcano), and 北川原真 (Kitagawa [not sure of romanization of his/her first name]). An anime theatrical film titled 『デジモンアドベンチャー』(Digimon Adventure) was released on March 6th, 1999 and then the TV anime of the same name started to be broadcast on March 7th, 1999.


Whose and When did Clare felt the aura of yoma as strong and ominious as of Riful for the first time? In Claymore manga, chapter 45, The Witch's Maw, Part 5(21), Clare says that she has felt aura of yoma as strong and ominious as of Riful only one time before in her life.

But I don't remember her where she might have felt that aura. Among the awakened she met on her life which were shown in manga, Priscilla is the only one which have aura that powerful. But at that time, Clare was still human so she can't feel the aura.

As there are 3 case where she met the awakened(IIRC). One is the male awakened, second one is when she meets no 4 Ophelia, which was killed by Ophelia by herself and last one is the awakened Ophelia. Among three, I don't think anyone has as powerful aura as Riful.

Another option is, Clare is not talking about awakened but about the Claymore from number 1-5. As number 3 Galatea was with Clare in this fight, so she is out of the list. It can't be Number 1 Alicia and Number 2 Beth because they appear very late in manga. As remaining is number 5 Rafael, she does have enormous aura but they have never met each other. And she did felt something while walking away from Irene but not sure that was aura of Rafael or vanishing aura of Irene.

I tried out to find the time and the person but didn't find anything.

When did Clare felt the aura of yoma as strong and ominious as of Riful for the first time? Whose aura was that?

While it's true that normal human can't sense youki aura, those with sharp sixth sense can, So it's not that human can't feel their aura, but it's just hard to do. From Claymore 86, The Touch's Sin.

And it's true that you said she met 3 Awakened Beings but none of them were on Abyssal One caliber. Now, you mentioned that Clare might not be talking about the awakened being rather one of Claymore warrior, while this is probably true but considering what Galatea said right after that, they must be talking about the enemy rather than their fellow warrior.

Now this left us with only one possible choice, Priscilla. But did Clare really feel her aura? We don't know for sure about that. However, she saw Priscilla killing Teresa, and when she faced her at close distance, she was overcame by fear, trembled by her presence. From Claymore 24, Marked For Death 7

Now that Clare can feel their yoma, she must have remembered that feeling and realize how strong Priscilla's aura actually was.


What does Senjougahara refer in the first novel? In the 'Hitagi Crab' story of Monogatari series, Senjougahara says the following:

  So you say, Araragi-kun. But I'm afraid I only half trust him. I have been tricked too many times. Five people had said the same thing.
  They'd all been liars. And... That did not seem like the end of it. Even the hospital -- I only go out of inertia. Honestly, I've pretty
  much given up. This world may be bizarre, but it has neither Mugen Mamiya or
  Kudan Kumiko. The best it can manage is Touge Miroku.

Unfortunately, I could not find either description of these characters nor at least where they are from (with exception of Mugen Mamiya) while googling. So, who are they, and why exactly does Senjougahara means by saying that this world does not have them?

As I haven't read the Japanese edition, and don't have a copy laying around to reference with. I can't say it with 100% certainty. But it seems to be a play of words.

Mugem Mamiya (無限 間宮) Infinite Momentum
Kudan Kumiko (件 久美子) Matter Forever
Touge Miroku (峠 みろく) pass (to) Maitreya

Which would turn the sentence into

  This world may be bizarre, but it has neither Infinite momentum or matter(s) forever. The best it can manage is pass (to) Maitreya.

Maitreya being "The Buddha of the Future"

  One mention of the prophecy of Maitreya is in the Maitreyavyākaraṇa. It implies that he is a teacher of meditative trance sādhanā and states that gods, men and other beings:Will lose their doubts, and the torrents of their cravings will be cut off: free from all misery they will manage to cross the ocean of becoming; and, as a result of Maitreya's teachings, they will lead a holy life. No longer will they regard anything as their own, they will have no possession, no gold or silver, no home, no relatives! But they will lead the holy life of oneness under Maitreya's guidance. They will have torn the net of the passions, they will manage to enter into trances, and theirs will be an abundance of joy and happiness, for they will lead a holy life under Maitreya's guidance.

Where the (to) pass Maitreya might refer to the Three ages of Budhism, (to) pass the age of Degenerates


How many people knows about Kazehaya Kamito's secret? How many people knows that Kamito was Ren Ashbell?

At the end of the anime only one living person besides Kamito knows that he is Ren Ashbell, and that's the princess Fianna Ray Ordesia.

Ellis's older sister Velsaria Eva Fahrengart found out during the fight in the last episode but dies right afterwards.

Ellis and Clair both suspect that he is Ren but both are put off by various things. The principle being that as Ren he fought with a black blade in his left hand and now he fights with Est (a white blade) in his right hand.

While the relationship between him and Greyworth Ciel Mais (headmistress of the school) isn't stated in the anime, in the light novels she was the one who taught him how to fight with a sword before the first Bladedance he competes in, and so also knows that he is Ren Ashbell.


What is the violin song in My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 20 played at 20:28? What is the song in My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 20 played at 20:28? It seems to be a solo violin piece that is beautiful and passionate. Thank you for the help.

The song is called "Dependable! Cheerful Person" Wind Adlib. It's on the OST for the first two seasons as best as I can tell. You can hear the full song on Soundcloud here.


Which song plays during Bleach episode 45 around 10:00 Bleach "Episode 45" S3 E4 time: 10:00 On Netflix
During Bleach EP45 S3 E4 at 10:00 on Netflix there plays a song. Which is it?

The song played is Requiem For The Lost Ones, from the first OST of Bleach.


What is the significance of fifteen strokes in a name? In chapter 3 (titled Savior) of the manga Shurabara!, I don't understand the meaning of certain lines in there:

  "I absolutely cannot accept someone like you, Yagimoto Kazuhiro, who only has fifteen strokes in his name!"

Is it rare to have fifteen strokes in a person's name or is it a joke? What does she mean?

It is a cultural thing, but parallells can be drawn with other cultures of course. Some consider(ed) characters with more strokes to be more classy and aristocratic. Which goes back in history, peasants had shorter and more simple names—often practical in their nature. While the rich could have several names, with rich symbolism, more abstract meaning and sometimes exotic pronunciation.

Some of the really aristocratic families in olden times actually created their own characters so they could be really unique (often by adding a stroke or two to an existing character or by combining two or more existing characters into one). This is actually referenced in many Japanese/Chinese dramas where a name can be “taken” from someone by removing a stroke or character, as well as adding a stroke to the (real/adopting) father’s given name so that the relation father–son could well be seen, as well as adding rich philosophical ideas to the relationship. For example, consider the anime movie Spirited Away where the protagonist Chihiro has part of her name taken away by a witch, which then becomes Sen (while the pronunciation differ, the character 千 sen is actually the same as chi- in 千尋 Chihiro).

But back to the number of strokes. There is one Japanese belief (not sure how widespread) that it is good fortune to have the same number of strokes in your given name and the family name (not seldom combined with similar meaning and/or pronunciation). That, and that some numbers in themselves are considered either auspicious or inauspicious are additional aspects on the stroke count. (For example the number four is considered ill-lucky as it can be pronounced the same as 死 shi “death”, while the number eight is one of the more lucky, a heirloom from the Chinese culture.)

八木本一大 (YAGIMOTO Kazuhiro)

八 hachi (here ya-), the number eight (2 strokes)
木 ki (here -gi-), a tree (4 strokes)
本 hon (here -moto), a book (5 strokes)
一 ichi (here kazu-), the number one (1 stroke)
大 ōki (here -hiro), something large (3 strokes)

That is 11 strokes in the surname and 4 strokes in the given name (15 strokes total). Ordinary characters, low stroke count, common pronunciation and very concrete, everyday meanings. It’s hard to get more low profile than this, naming-wise!

羊飼桃乃 (HITSUJIKAI Momono)

羊 hitsuji, a sheep (6 strokes)
飼 kau (here -kai), to keep animals (13 strokes)
桃 momo, a peach or peach tree (10 strokes)
乃 no, an older form of the possessive marker の (2 strokes)

That is 19 strokes in the surname and 12 strokes in the given name (31 strokes total). The double of Kazuhiro’s. When it comes to the meaning and pronunciation of Momono’s characters they are somewhat more “refined” than Kazuhiro’s. It adds to the feeling of a name belonging to someone more important. Which I guess is what the mangaka is trying to achieve, name-wise. Of course, a childish game, but yet an important one if you are insecure in your own place.

He he, I was only going to write a sentence or two. And still, there is much more to be said. If you wish to know more, take a look at Japanese folktales and history.


What do these lines mean in manga? They are always seen when in an action sequence. Why do mangakas draw these kinds of lines and what do they mean?

The term you're looking for is (generically) "speed lines". Unsurprisingly, they are typically as a visual indicator that something is speedy.

The terminology is a little silly, though - the horizontal, fixed-width lines in your first image are clearly used for different purposes from the vanishing-point-oriented, variable-width lines in your second image, and bucketing them all as "speed lines" is a bit inaccurate.

As it turns out, Japanese has better terminology for these lines. There is a broader term 効果線 "effect lines" that subsumes both スピード線 "speed lines" (your first image) and 集中線 "focus lines" (your second image), as well as some other rarer styles of line. This is a more appropriate choice of words, in my opinion: the "focus lines", unlike the lines in your first image, are used to draw focus to whatever is "at" the vanishing point of the lines.

(This visual language seems fairly intuitive and universal to me, so I'm a little surprised that you had this question - not that there's anything wrong with that.)


In the first episode of Hataraku Maou-sama, what is the "Underworld" language based on? In the first half of the first episode of Hataraku Maou-sama, we can hear conversation between Satan and Alsiel in "Underworld" language. Is the "Underworld" language based on a real language, or is it just plain gibberish?

According to this article (which cites from a 2ch thread), the language is is pretty simple:

The Entean language is basically letter substituted English, with vowel keeping their original position, while the consonants are reversed, so B=Z, C=Y, D=X, ... and vice versa.
   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
-> AZYXEWVTISRLPNOMQKJHUGFDCB

For example:

人間 human → tupan
世界 world → foklx
魔王（芦屋による呼称） majesty → pasejhc

They say it with such enthusiasm, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSwnNy6MRa8


How did Danzo acquire all those Sharingan in his arm? I was just wondering, how did Danzo get all those Sharingan eyes in his arm? Is it from the people that Itachi and Tobi killed that night?

Danzo acquired his right arm from Shin Uchiha with the help of Orochimaru. This is found in Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage Manga.

  Orochimaru did another implant onto Danzō taking Shin Uchiha's
  Sharingan-embedded arm and placing that, alongside some of Hashirama
  Senju's cells, onto that of Danzō's.

(Shin Uchiha's Left Arm)

More on Shin Uchiha:

  Shin was one of Orochimaru's experimental test subjects and followers,
  and possessed a unique genetic make-up that allowed for tissue and
  organ transplantation with absolutely no chance of rejection.
  Together they performed various experiments, cultivating clones from
  Shin's teeth and nerves in order to uncover many secrets of genetics.
  At some point Shin became intrigued by the Uchiha clan, especially
  Itachi Uchiha. As such, he began to imitate the Uchiha: adopting their
  surname and customary clothing, as well as numerous Sharingan which
  have been implanted all over his body. His Sharingan-embedded right
  arm was harvested by Orochimaru and transplanted to Danzō Shimura
  along with some of Hashirama Senju's cells. Some time after this,
  Shin left Orochimaru's side and took most of his clones with him.


Which song is played in Akame ga Kill episode 1 at 1.34? Which song is played in this video at 1:34?
Akame ga Kill episode 1

The song you’re looking for is called “Le Chant de Roma” by Taku Iwasaki.


How old were Minato and Kushina when they died in Naruto? I've been trying to find out their age when they died. I'm not really sure but I think they were in their twenties.

Both Minato and Kushina died at the age of 24.

Minato's birthday is estimated to be around the 1st of January/31st of December. Following this up using the timeline as provided on reddit

Minato enters the academy at the age of 9, Kushina at the age of 8
Minato became a Genin at 10, under Jiraiya's lead
Kushina is abducted at the age of 13-14, and saved by Minato at around the same age
The 3th Shinobi war starts, where Minato is around the age of 20.
The Kannabi Bridge is destroyed by Minato Namikaze at the age of 23, shortly followed by the end of the war, where he also became the Yondaime
Minato defeats Obito, seals Yin Kurama in his body and Yang Kurama in Naruto
Minato dies at roughly at the age of 24, Kushina Uzumaki dies at age 24

These ages are based upon the mentioned dates mentioned through out the series, and the Naruto Wiki timeline.


How does Subaru hold his own against Felt? Considering his confession that he was a good for nothing NEET in a later episode before Rem re-motivates him, how/why does he have the physique and competence to hold his own Jackie Chan style against Felt?

While he is a NEET, he does mention in an early episode that he's not a complete shut-in, and does take some effort to keep in shape. That, combined with a slight increase in physical ability that apparently came to him in the new dimension are apparently enough for him to hold his own against Felt in that instance.


Is the Degenerate skill name used as a noun or a verb? In episode 9 of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (time code 7:44 at Crunchyroll) Rimuru uses a new skill he got from Shizu, called Degenerate.

  I wanted to test out Degenerate

I think this may be an awkward translation.  First, its pronunciation is different between its noun and verb forms, with the verb using a long "a" sound in the final syllable.  Second, most other skill names are nouns (Body Armor, Paralysis Breath, etc. -- an exception being Mimic). But as a noun, the word "degenerate" does not fit at all.  The in game description is that it uses unification and separation to form a new skill from pre-existing ones.  "Degenerate" as a verb can sort of fit, though not well.

Is this just a poor translation, and is it a verb or a noun? A better term for what is being described would be "Recomposition".

Some minor spoilers ahead.

I think it is a noun. Its other name is 'Deviant', which is used as a noun or an adjective. Furthermore, it was noted in the wiki that

  The kanji for Deviant translate to both Shapeshifter and Deviant (Degenerate or Pervert)

which

   is where the pun comes from when Rimuru teases the spirit of Shizue inside him at a comedic panel of the manga at the end of the chapter.

From these two translations, it is also used as a noun.

Degenerate, according to Wikipedia, is someone who has fallen from a previous state whereas deviant is something that departs from the norm. The skill releases properties inherent to the target, which is quiet similar to what happens when one becomes a degenerate or if someone becomes a deviant.


What is on Red Line? At one of the intersections of Grand Line and Red Line are both Mariejois and the Fishmen Island. I believe it is the only way to go to the "New World". Since we don't know much about it, I was wondering what kind of secrets it could hide.

What exactly is Red Line and what is on it?

The Red Line is basically a group of islands connected together.

We know that it has it's own season islands, as explained by Nami

  The Red Line that crosses the Grand Line has its own Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall "islands" chapter 604

It is 10,000 meters deep, bears the world capital Mariejois, as stated by Hachi.

  The Red Line bears the world capital, Mariejois, and is said to be 10,000 meters deep from ocean level to Fishman Island chapter 496

Due to the same height, it is also considered impassable, all though this has been proven to not be the case as

Fisher Tigre Managed to climb the redline to attack Mariejois as told by Boa Hancock in chapter 521
Germa66 passed it with an amphibious ship in chapter 841

Besides the sheer height, it is also considered indestructible, as demonstrated by Laboon in chapter 104, as he had been ramming the red line to no avail for a considerable amount of time.


Is Nadia voluntarily inspired by Castle in the Sky? It is pretty obvious that Nadia and Castle in the Sky shared a lot of their basic premise: both of them feature a girl who owns a mysterious glowing blue pendant, meets a boy who is interested in flying machines, and is chased both by a small pirate band and a sizeable military power. Other similarities are pretty obvious once one has seen both.

Was that level of similarity in Nadia due to a conscious or inconscious influence from Castle in the Sky? Did it come from a common origin?

According to Toshio Okada's (co-founder of GAINAX) 1996 interview with Animerica:

ANIMERICA: Wasn’t NADIA’s story originally by Hayao Miyazaki? Is that the real reason it seems to show so much of his influence?
Okada: Yeah. The original story was going to be called “Around the World in 80 Days by Sea”. That was Mr. Miyazaki’s plan, fifteen years ago. And the Toho people held onto it, and showed it to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and told him, “You make it.” [...] NADIA was a very hard experience. At first, Sadamoto was supposed to be the director. But after two episodes, he said “Okay, that’s enough for me!” and went back to character design and animation direction, and Anno took over.

So Nadia's original story was by Miyazaki, and it seems very likely that that original idea was part of Castle in the Sky. That is claimed at least by nausicaa.net, but that claim is not sourced (and all google results for "Around the World in 80 Days by Sea" is ultimately sourced from one of these two pages). However, the timing certainly makes it plausible - Around the World in 80 Days by Sea would have been first written ca 1981, while Castle in the Sky was originally released in 1986.


why does goku not go super saiyan god when he versus omega at full power with all the balls In Dragon Ball GT Kid Goku goes super saiyan 4. This is after Battle of Gods and Resurrection F so when he needs to fight why wont he go god form he needs more power and there is no time to how long he can be in it.

First off because Dragonball GT was created before Super or the 2 movies which the first 2 seasons are based from was even created. as such Super Saiyan God and the levels after that shown in Super weren't even conceived when Dragonball GT was written. this along with other contradictions in this answer by Torisuda does make Dragonball GT incompatible with Super.

also to quote the Wikia

  In December 2014, FUNimation voice actor and voice director Christopher Sabat said that GT is "not even canon anymore", likely meaning that the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods superseded GT as official content, in Sabat's opinion. Notably, Sabat's statement is the only recorded usage of the word "canon" by anyone involved in the production of any Dragon Ball media.

Source: Dragon Ball GT > Overview > Toriyama's involvement and canon debate (last Paragraph)

Added to that many fans do not consider GT cannon as there is no Manga written by Akira Toriyama and also comparing the Wikipedia Pages of GT and Super Akira Toriyama isn't created to have written GT unlike Super, as such Super Saaiyan Levels in GT weren't created by Akira.

however if you still want to think of GT being in any way canon, considering the multiple universes shown in Super you can suspend belief and think of GT being in Universe GT where the events of Super never occurred and (until otherwise indicated) no one can travel to Universe GT


Does NGE explain why the third child pilots the second Eva? Asuka being the second child would seem to suggest she should be piloting the second Eva, Unit 01, instead of the third Eva, Unit 02.
Does the series or for that matter anything else outside the aeries explain the discrepancy in ordering? It’s logical that the first child, Rei pilot the first Eva, Unit 00, but Shinji being the third child and Asuka the second doesn’t make sense to me when they pilot the second and third units (Shinji 01 and Asuka 02) respectively.

Obviously, these are huge spoilers for the original series:
My understanding is that Unit 01 is actually the first EVA unit created.  It was quite literally pulled from Lilith (the angel they have crucified down in the basement -- that's why they only have the top half of her; you can see this in process in some quick scenes flashing back to the original Contact Experiment).  The initial plans and intentions are unclear, like a lot of things in this series, but after Unit-01 absorbed Yui Ikari, Unit-00 and Unit 02 were created in a different manner, from cloned cells from Adam (the First Angel who blew up in Second Impact).  It's probably better to say that Unit-00 was the first EVA unit that was functional, and it's the testbed for the control and containment technology to keep the monsters biddable, like the plate armor and the giant crucifix they jam into the spinal column (termination plug).  Unit 01 was armored and armed after that testing had taken place, and given the designation then; Unit-02 was then built as the "production" model.
As to why Shinji is then the Third Child, and not the first, well, it's certain that he was not known, to the public or to the Human Instrumentality Committee, to be a pilot before Gendo summoned him to Tokyo-3. It seems possible that Gendo did not intend to have Shinji pilot at all, meaning to run the whole system with Rei until the Dummy Plug was operational -- but when the Third Angel was about to attack with Unit-00 and Rei disabled, he grabbed Shinji to pilot, knowing that Unit-01 would sync with him because of the soul inside it. It makes sense that the "public" pilots would have designations given to them first.
Now, extra-textually, you could also consider some symbolic considerations. Rei is first, but she's rei (zero), without a soul of her own, so she pilots Unit 00.  Asuka is all about duality -- everything the current 'tsundere' trope is -- so she is the Second Child and pilots Unit 02.  Shinji -- well, he's the Third, and he pilots Unit 01 -- and when three are really one but still three, Christianity calls that the Trinity, and so Shinji ascends to the Godhead in Third Impact.
(This is extreme armchair symbolism and very basic, so take it with as many grains of salt as you need.)


Why does Conan call Bourbon a liar? Why does Conan call Bourbon a liar?  I still don't get the context of this at the end of chapter 897

A nice question. I have to get around a few topics to find a logic answer.

Let's start with the explanation of the "Liar" statement against Toru Amuro.
The life Amuro is living and showing to all people around him is just a lie / fake. He claims to be a detective like Kogoro in the first episode he appears. And after the case is solved, he wants to be his apprentice to stay close to him, for "learning from the Great Kogoro".
But after we know he is Bourbon, the whole perspective changed. What does he want? Why is he with the main characters? What exactly is his plan?
Soon it is revealed: he wants to prove that Shuichi Akai is alive and he and Kir faked his death.
This makes him a fearful enemy: he is close to the main characters, he has the possibility to find out the truth, yet, Toru Amuro is not who we think he is - he's a pretty good liar.

Akai explains it in the current chapter: Toru Amuro is actually Rei Furuya, an undercover cop! He is also infiltrating the Organization, like Akai used to / like Kir is at the moment. The theory that Bourbon is our enemy is complete nonsense - he is on our side, even though he hates Akai for some reasons.

He even lies to Vermouth at the end: he claims that he was wrong; that Akai is in fact dead and Kir is loyal to the Organization. This lie shows us the real side of Amuro - he's a friend.

For me, the situation you are confused by is a simple message to each other:
Conan knows about the real Amuro, the real person behind his role. But Amuro in return has his own reasons to question Conan. The Sleeping Kogoro is one point Amuro questions and believes Conan to be behind it -> there is this one scene where he phones with Vermouth and says that he wants to stay with Kogoro because he wants to solve the mystery behind the Sleeping Kogoro.

My conclusion:
Conan and Amuro know the lies of each other. And with that scene ("Liar" - "You're one to talk...") they admit that they know each others secret.

My fingers hurt. I hope this answers your question (a bit).


Are there ever any animals featured that aren't Pokémon? Out of the Pokémon episodes that I have seen, I do not remember ever seeing an animal that wasn't a Pokémon. I have also not heard of animals being present in Pokémon.

Which lead me to wonder: Are there ever any animals that aren't Pokémon present in any episode or Pokémon manga?

In Gastly's Pokédex entry for Fire Red it states

  a being that exists as a thin gas. It can topple an Indian elephant by enveloping the prey in two seconds.

Fish are also seen in the episode Pokémon Shipwreck:


Where can I read the Inazuma Eleven manga online? So far, I have only found chapter 1 of the Inazuma Eleven manga online. Is there any site where I can read all of the chapters online and legally?

Unfortunately, there are no official English-language localizations of the Inazuma Eleven manga in existence, in print or online.

You can easily verify this by:

checking the Wikipedia page for Inazuma Eleven (manga), which does not list any English-language localizations.
looking at the AnimeNewsNetwork encyclopedia page for Inazuma Eleven and seeing that this page also does not list any English-language localizations.
searching Amazon for "inazuma eleven manga" and seeing that you get no hits that are actually manga.


Translation for the ability graph During each advertisment break, they display a graph for a stand-user. Unfortunately, some sub-groups don't translate it, and I can't understand what is written there except for the "speed" that is written with Katakana.

Can you please translate it?

And, what do the big capital letters (D, E, D, A, D and C) stand for?

As my original comment suggested it is indeed a chart of power levels in certain points. The red marking stands for the power division, and it is graded accordingly with a A = Best E= lowest and anything in between.

After a short search I managed to find this image which includes the same stats system on the jojo wiki page, including the translation which is as following (The power levels included are for this card and not for the one you shown in your picture)

Stats are listed clockwise starting from the top

Stats

Destructive Power     A
Speed     E
Range     A
Durability    A
Precision     E
Developmental Potential   E


How could Jolyne hold Goo Goo Dolls? I'm pretty sure that it was specifically stated that stands cannot be touched by people.
Did I get something wrong or is it just a mistake?
Thank you very much!

There are two answers to your question.
1 Goo-Goo dolls is a stand that can be interacted with like strength. (Jotaro has been seen damaging the ship.)
2 This is the most likely answer, Jolyne's stand is two things. It is both a physical stand made out of string and the fact that her own body is made of string/ her body can turn into strings. This in a way makes her, her own stand, letting her grip goo-goo dolls.


What happened to Metal Lee's Mother? Metal lee is Rock lee's son and that is pretty obvious based of the similarities between both of them but what about his Mother?

At first, I thought it was Tenten because she seemed like the "best available option", but then, since she has not really been an active "mother figure", I'm guessing that's not the case.  And if she were his mother then she would have been more involved in his life. Except maybe there's a basis for her absence?

  Also, is there a reason why his Mother's identity is not elaborated on?

As of now, there is no official information who it is or what happened to her, only rumors and theories. One such theory is that it was Tenten. From what I found, a Boruto movie's credits showed the following picture with the new characters together with their parents at the back. One could say that it might be Tenten.

As for official information, this the only thing I found, a tweet with no hints at all.

There is also a cotnradicting 'information' circulating the Internet that Kishimoto said in an interview that he has not yet drawn Metal Lee's mother when asked if Tenten was Metal Lee's mtoher. This was posted in many sites but without linking sources to the interview itself, apart from a Tumblr post that claims Kishimoto said it in an interview. A Reddit post claims that the one who posted the Tumblr post was 'a reliable translator in the Naruto fandom' but since the original Tumblr post was long deleted with no sources at all, I'm finding it real hard to believe this. I'm thinking this is not true as of now due to lack of evidence.

To conclude, we definitely cannot say for sure who Metal Lee's mother is or what happened to her, given the current information and the manga chapters released.


What is written on Minato's cloak? I searched for what is written on Minato's cloak and I found different answers.

What does it really mean?

It's 四代目火影 (Yondaime Hokage, lit. "Fourth Fire Shadow") since Minato was the 4th Hokage of Konohagakure.


Do Brooke and Franky have a dream? In One Piece, all of Luffy's crews have a dream to become something or discover something. Franky already accomplished his dream by building Sunny. Brooke's dream wasn't really that clear from the start either, if it was to become a well known musician, he's already accomplished by becoming soul king. So do these two have a/another dream?

Brooke wants to meet back up with Laboon, the whale at the start of the grand line.

From the wiki:

  Franky's dream is to create and travel with a dream ship which would
  experience countless battles, can overcome extreme hardships and can
  reach the end of the Grand Line. He has created the ship which the
  Straw Hats are riding and it's his task to keep it in good condition.
  Previously, one of his dreams was to beat Spandam to pieces,
  fortunately this was fulfilled toward the end of the Enies Lobby Arc.

I do not agree with that based on the scene where they steal his speedo.  He wanted to build the boat; now he has.  Unlike the others, he isn't pursuing his dream but maintaining and improving what he already acheived.  Yet he still was willing to leave it unprotected (had no way to know about Kuma) for the better part of 2 years.


Which manga chapter correspond to the end of episode 13 of season 2 of the anime? I don't know which chapter season 2 episode 13 ends.

I just started watching it. I tried but could not find it.

Which manga chapter correspond to the end of episode 13 of season 2 of the anime?

The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments episode 13 covers chapters 138, 143, 144, 145 and 146 (source: Wiki), so the end of episode 13 should be chapter 146.

In case you're asking because you want to continue reading the manga where the anime left off start from chapter 146.

By the way you can find a chapter to episode comparison broken down by arcs here.


Could one make a specific person shoot someone dead using the deathnote? Rule X.2 saies "Whether the cause of the individual's death is either a suicide or accident, if the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that other lives are not influenced."

This is generally (including in canon) interpreted as "One can't make a specific person kill". We all agree that based on this rule one can write "Mr. A get shot" but not "B has a heart attack after shooting someone". My question is if it would be possible to write "A get shot. B has a heart attack after shooting A". The name "Mr.A" is in the notebook so it should work but I am pretty sure that Light or Ryuk called it impossible.

Out of canon I understand that Kira is an OP puppet master even without the ability of blaiming specific persons for a homocide he commited (just think about what would have happened if one member of the task force shoot another one and get shot on his own so that light now has a gun and human shilds to kill L withuout deathnote or eye witnesses) but in canon there should be no reason why it should not work.

Since you wrote both Mr.A and Mr.B's name in the notebook
and their deaths (which is caused by the book) correlate with each other, this would be possible. writing their times of death would increase the chances of this working.

for example you know both Mr.A, and Mr.B meet everyday at 7:00
you could just make it so that Mr.B gets "influenced" at 6:30 and Mr.A gets shot at 7:00, making sure you write Mr.A's fate first on the death note.


How was the next leader of the Uchiha clan chosen? From Madara Uchiha's article:

  The Naka Shrine had been in the Uchiha's possession for generations and was brought with them when they settled in Konoha. Through careful study, Madara was able decipher enough of it to learn of the history of shinobi: of the endless cycle of failed peace and the destiny of battle between Uchiha and Senju, but also a means of unity for the world. With this knowledge, Madara decided Konoha was a failed experiment. He tried to convince his own clan and even Hashirama of the same conclusion, but none would hear him. Madara chose to abandon the village, returning with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox under his control to challenge Hashirama. They fought to exhaustion, and from the carnage of their battle the Valley of the End was formed. In the end, Madara, too tired to even keep his Sharingan activated, was killed by Hashirama.

So after he abandoned his clan and his people and then got killed by Hashirama, how was the next clan leader chosen? (I believe Madara wasn't married)

Right before Madara left his own clan, Konoha was founded as a place where Uchiha and Senju could co-exist peacefully.

After Madara's death, there was no true leader for the Uchiha clan. All of them were under one leadership of Hokage along with rest of the citizens of Konoha. Hashirama was elected as the first Hokage and he was later succeeded by Tobirama.


How were the gamers transported to the hospitals in Sword Art Online? Did the light novels (or manga) ever explain how the medical personnel were able to get the trapped gamers from their homes to the hospital without the NerveGear frying the gamers? From the anime's description, it should have been impossible, since the NerveGear would've killed anyone was physically disconnected from the game.

the NerveGear has a Battery

It also has a battery and internal memory to store data from the games. 30% of the NerveGear's weight is from its internal battery.

Source: NerveGear > Appearance
according to the citation this was revealed in Volume 1 Chapter 3 of the Light Novel
Kirito also points this out in the first episode when Kayaba is addressing the players in the Town of Beginnings about the start of the Death Game

When Klein voiced his doubts on the situation, Kirito confirmed that the NerveGear's signals essentially functioned like microwaves, thus it was indeed plausible for them to cause lethal brain damage if the safeties were disabled. Kirito also explained the helmet had an internal battery, which rendered Klein's proposal to disconnect it from its power source meaningless.

Source: Sword Art Online Episode 01 > Plot (7th Paragraph)

Klein:  What's that guy talking about he's gotta be nuts. Right Kirito?
Kirito: He's right that the transmitter's signals work just like microwaves.  If the safety were disabled it could fry a brain.
Klein:  Then, if we cut the power…
Kirito:  No, the NerveGear has an internal battery.

Source: Sword Art Online Episode 1 Animebreakdown.com
and as Kayaba mentions there had already been deaths due to people trying to remove the NerveGear despite his warnings. so either medical professional found out about the battery  or Kayaba had told them for the sake of making sure the players didn't just start dying off


The piano piece played near the end of episode 3 of K: Return of Kings Does anyone know the song title in episode 3 of K: Return of Kings, starting at 21:04 when Neko calls out to Shiro for help?

The song is entitled K Return of Kings - Showdown. You can listen to the music on YouTube.


Why does Inuyasha stop using Blades of Blood after the first few episodes I noticed that Inuyasha used Blades of Blood several times in the first few episodes of season 1, but then quits using it. I'm up to the beginning of season 3 now and he has not used the move in any of those episodes nor in Affecions Touching Across Time. Is there any explanation why? Both in-universe and out of universe explanations would be acceptable.

After acquiring Tessaiga, Inuyasha no longer needed to rely on his more basic attacks unless he was without his signature weapon and otherwise out of options.

Additionally, Blades of Blood would require him to be previously injured, since it was an attack based on his own blood.  As time progressed, Inuyasha found himself in fewer situations where that attack would be viable, due to him improving as a swordsman, and having a group of friends to help fight certain yokai (whereas in the past, he did that all on his own).


Are there other ways of reading the Uchiha Tablet? One of the most notable characters in Naruto is Zetsu. I don't know if its just me, but I have developed a very keen interest towards Zetsu and his abilities. I understand that White Zetsus are all the human beings that Kaguya enslaved when she first cast the Tsukiyomi on an entire village. And I also know that Black Zetsu is the manifestation of Kaguyas will right before she was sealed by her two sons.

However, what seems to confuse me is that both Madara and Itachi stated that the only way to read the Stone tablet in the Uchiha hideout was if the person had the Sharingan or any of its deviations. Zetsu on the other hand, was able to read it, and even made changed to the Sacred text left by Hagoromo without having neither the Sharingan nor the Rinnengan.

The Wiki states that white and Black zetsu had both the Mangekyou Sharingan and Rinnengan but that is most definitely super wrong. Through out the manga/anime zetsu's eyes were shown many times and even during his fights with the five Kages and the Mizukage(while protecting the feudal lords in the 4th great Ninja war), he never showed the ability to use any Kekkai Genkai except Wood release.

How did Zetsu acquire both the Mangekyou and Rinnengan (Before the time of the Senju and Uchiha clan). If not then
does this mean there are other methods to reading the tablets which Zetsu may have used?

First, I'll clarify some things. You mentioned that 'The Wiki states that White and Black zetsu had both the Mangekyou Sharingan and Rinnengan but that is most definitely super wrong.' This is mostly accurate information though. If you read more into that page,

  it was mentioned how Black Zetsu was able to steal and take into possession both Sharingan and Rinnegan, the latter of which he returned to Madara and the former he lost access to after 'detaching itself' from Obito's body. Also, the wiki only mentions that Black Zetsu had (take note that this is in past tense) both the Sharingan and Rinnegan while White Zetsu's page do not mention it has these abilities. White Zetsu is able to use Wood Release on the reasons stated here.

How did Zetsu acquire both the Mangekyou and Rinnengan to read the tablet? Black Zetsu didn't have Mangekyou nor Rinnengan when it modified the tablet. So how was Black Zetsu able to read and modify the Uchiha Tablet? No specifics were ever mentioned in the manga. As a matter of fact, he has a number of unnamed abilities that were seen throughout the manga.

Are there other ways of reading the Uchiha Tablet? Based from this information, yes, there is definitely another way of reading and modifying the tablet. Black Zetsu has an 'unnamed ability' that enables him to read and modify the tablet, albeit the specifics are still not mentioned by the mangaka. That he was able to read and modify the tablet without Rinnegan or Sharingan is, in itself, proof of an alternative method. Whether there are more ways other than Black Zetsu's 'unnamed ability', however, is still unknown as of now.


In Sword Art Online, why does Suguha practice only one Kendo move? Suguha only does one kendo move whenever she's shown practicing in the show. Even in Ordinal Scale her video to Kirito was of that one move. Is there any reason for the lack of variation?

I assume you are refering to this move:

Sword Art Online - Episode 15

While I'm not an expert in kendo, the way kendo is usually depicted makes me think that that specific move is one of the basic excercises that kendokas need to practice as much as possible. It's one of the most common moves in kendo-centered series/episodes. Some examples:

Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Opening 1

Bamboo Blade - Episode 1

Katanagatari - Episode 9

A similar move in combat is the head strike (men), which Suguha used when she had a match with Kirito:

Sword Art Online - Episode 15

Bamboo Blade - Episode 6


Why are there songs in OSTs and music albums that don't appear in the anime? There are songs from OSTs, or even full albums by bands or singers in the anime, that I have never heard in the anime. Some music albums for which this is true:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: S² Works — many unused songs and alternate mixes or arrangements of existing songs.
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette Original Soundtrack — the song my love, so sweet is never used in the OVA.
Keep the Beats! by GirlDeMo.
God only knows -Secrets of the Goddess- — the full version that is 11 minutes longer than the one used in the OP of The World God Only Knows: Goddesses!

Why do they do this? For fan service? To make us feel like the bands or singers are real artists? Or to get more profits from CD sales? In which case, couldn't they have just picked the cheaper alternative of selecting some existing songs that are good fits for the anime?

The Opening and Ending tracks are normally shorter for anime, as the songs were usually originals developed before the anime and the artist was paid for a portion of it to be used in the anime, not to mention that the songs also need to fit in broadcast time. On the other hand, there are also Opening and Ending tracks which were purposely made for the anime (or the other way around like the case of Black Rock Shooter).

  Some songs are even from full albums by the bands or singers in the anime, but they also didn’t appear in the anime either.

These are probably the singles where Opening and Ending tracks come from, like with a lot of ALI PROJECT's album, as I said above, sometimes an artist is paid for just a portion. Of course, there's nothing stopping an artist building an album around that song as well.

Certain BGMs are sometimes actually a number of BGMs from an anime which were split, which is why sometimes there seems to be some songs missing.

There are also Character CDs, which have audio dramas of a character who had an identifiable theme in the anime, plus extra songs. These can normally be identified with the album art focusing on the characters alone.

Then there are Audio Episodes, I haven't heard to many (and I only know of the Code Geass ones). They use some tracks from the anime, but they also use music unique to the audio episode.


Who is the strongest fusion, Gogeta super saiyan blue or Vegito super saiyan blue? Dragon Ball Super Broly shows,

   Gogeta defeating Broly

About Broly it is said

   He might be stronger than Beerus

If you consider these facts alone you could think Gogeta is stronger than Vegito but, of course, you can think Goku and Vegeta got stronger since before the tournament of power to the time they fought Broly. How about other clues in the series, movies, manga, official guides about Vegito and Gogeta's strenght? Who is the strongest fusion, Gogeta super saiyan blue or Vegito super saiyan blue?

Based on your question, I believe you are comparing the Vegito from the Future Trunks arc and the Gogeta Blue from the Dragon Ball Super movie? Then yes! Gogeta Blue is definitely stronger. The reasons being, for one, Goku and Vegeta have gotten significantly stronger throughout the T.O.P, in comparison to the Future Trunks arc. Secondly, irrespective of whether Broly is stronger than Beerus, his power has been compared to a God of destruction. I do understand Shin made a comment in the manga about Vegito rivaling Beerus in the Future Trunks arc, however, I honestly am not going  to consider it simply on account of the number of inaccurate statements we have seen from Shin throughout the series(He thought SSJG Goku might defeat Beerus, SSJB Vegeta was winning against Jiren, Vegeta might lose against Pui Pui and the list goes on).Also in the anime, there is an alternate Corrupted version of Merged Zamasu who is significantly stronger. Beerus comments he'd be able to easily defeat Merged Zamasu(Who was going toe to toe with Vegito Blue). Jiren's power was compared to that of a G.O.D and Beerus being one of the strongest G.O.D's should rival Jiren(At least before he releases his dormant power) and Jiren even before he releases his dormant power, is in a way implied to be stronger than Vegito considering the fact that Goku and Vegeta didn't resort to fusion to challenge Jiren and it was heavily implied Goku would have to master UI to win.Now suppose we have an alternate reality where Goku and Vegeta fuse into Vegito instead of Gogeta in the movie, I believe Vegito would be stronger simply because the Potara Fusion has been stated to be more powerful. The Potara earrings are owned by the highest beings of the universe. The Supreme Kais and the traditional fusion dance was created by a bunch of mortals.


Is there any more of "Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature"? Does the franchise of "Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature" consist only of this one movie or is there anything more to it? Any sequels, series, mangas, visual novels, "spiritual sequels" (entirely different movie but taking strong inspiration in it) or any other paraphernalia related to Bagi?

From what I can find, it only is the movie and does not have any other series as sequel/prequel/etc.


Why does Renge cosplay as Kisaragi Quon? In episode 7 of Ouran, Renge cosplays (poorly) as Kisaragi Quon from RahXephon.

But why?

I suppose it could just be a throwaway reference, given that that Ouran and RahXephon are both Bones productions; I'm just wondering if there's any greater depth to it than that.

In the designs created by Akihiro Yamada, that were adapted by Hiroki Kanno for the anime, Quon is depicted wearing clothes with a very French motif (e.g. parasol, beret).

On the Vol.2 DVD release (used in France and Japan, but not in the initial U.S. and UK release), Yamada illustrated Quon wearing a frilly lace-trimmed dress and stockings, carrying a parasol for a goth loli look, which was inspired Old French Victorian style dresses.

The stereotypes mesh well with Renge, being a French "otaku."


Could it withstand it? Could the crystal form from the Female Titan or the Warhammer withstand

 the rumbling? - Like would it get crushed or just pushed into the ground?

The only ways to destroy the crystal hardening that has been shown in the manga are being destroyed by another hardening like jaw titan, or founding titan scream

 just like when Eren undid all the hardening in chapter 122

so I don't think they get destroyed by:

 titan rumbling

they just get pushed into the ground


Who are the two ladies in Major Kusanagi's apartment? In episode 5 when Major Kusanagi is reviewing the original Laughing Man incident footage in her own apartment, two girls can be seen with her. One bringing over a cocktail and then both unknown girls sleeping near Matoko on the bed.

One appears to be dressed a a maid, and for giving Major her drink I assume she's her personal maid bot.

The other girl's outfit I can't identify. She has dark hair. The maid has brighter colored hair.

Once again in episode 20 we see the bright-haired girl talking to Major while she's preparing to switch bodies. Apparently the body switching procedure requires for a witness. We also know that cloned people cannot inherit real estate. I'm not sure if these factors are connected, but something tells me a bot wouldn't be a legible witness for body switching. Possibly the girls are people, not androids.

Who are these two girls? Are they people or are they androids? What are their names? What are their responsibilities?

They're the Major's friends/friends-with-benefits. (She actually does have a life outside work.) The one with darker hair is named Ran; the one with lighter hair is Kurutan. She isn't a maid bot, she's just wearing a frilly dress and getting Motoko drinks, well, 'cause... (By the way, I think it's actually Kurutan's apartment -- the Major was borrowing her virtual reality equipment to review the case.)

Kurutan is actually also featured in episode 8: She works as a nurse, and the organ trafficking case involves two of her patients. She calls in the Major and Section 9 after the police investigation founders.

I haven't read the manga, but I understand that it features more of Motoko's relationships. Apparently she had a boyfriend (who made one cameo in SAC), and she had a virtual threesome with Kurutan and Ran, as opposed to their more implied relationship here.

I don't know more about them. Still, with their names, you should be able to find some more on Google.

(References: TV Tropes, Wikia, and the credits.)


How were the culprits "dragged to their death"? After a student is found guilty, the next scene if of them being tied up or trapped in a new room before dying an "interesting" death.

But who put them there? Does the anime ever give any indication of who is tying up the guilty and dragging them to the "death room"?

See this video for example (Ep3): https://youtu.be/um_HQ6XyzLQ?t=17m
The culprit is found guilty and shortly after Monokuma pushes the red button, he is instantly "teleported" to a room to die. How?

I hope this question makes sense. I couldn't figure out how to word it properly.

The anime series itself shows quite clearly that it is Monokuma.

He is only seen actually dragging the culprit himself in the gameplay-looking animation, but there's no reason to doubt that that's exactly what happens, particulary when it is consistent with the argument.

The following images are taken from the same episode you use as an example.


How did the titan that killed Eren's mom appear inside wall Rose during season 2? During second season (I think is called Clash of the Titans) it's shown that:

   there wasn't a breach in Wall Rose and that those titans that appeared were transformed humans from Connie's town.

How did she get inside Wall Rose then?

If not mistaken the shifter titans tried to go back to Wall Maria and were some where between wall Maria and Rose,  which was titan territory.

In the picture, you can see how Eren's Liberation was between Wall Maria and Wall Rose.  The smiling titan never passed Wall Rose, all that part was in between Rose and Maria.


What do the "Beats" in Angel Beats! mean? I am not sure if "Beats" refer to "heart beats" or "music beats". What does the title mean as a whole?

This will include spoilers from later in the show, for anyone not wanting to spoil, please don't read my answer, just know that it in fact is both of the suggestions @An hoa has.

It's both Heart Beats and Music Beats

   Your assumptions of it being one or both of the two suggested is correct, as the title as a whole is a play on the fact that the whole show revolves around a character Otonashi who's heart was given away, to the girl Kanade, after he had died. (or Tenshi, for those of you who don't like her actual name).

   In the end of the show we see that Kanade thanked Otonashi for giving her the heart she had used to carry on living. She had always wanted to thank him for the beating heart she had been given, as hers was no good.

   We all realized that it was referring to the beat of the song, as well however from the get go, due to the catchy rythm of the OP. So it's natural to think that that was the reasoning. However it IS both.

   The title literally means The beating of Kanade's heart
 As we know Kanade is known as Tenshi which directly translates to Angel.


Why does Suzuha disappear when travelling back to the "present"? In the episode before the last one, why does Suzuha disappear when travelling back to the "present"?

From what I've read, going back in a time machine always changes the world line, and in the world line where Okabe saves Kris the time machine no longer exists therefore time travelling Suzuha doesn't exist.

However I don't see this explanation working without her disappearing as soon as they appear back in the past. It is not their returning to the future that changes the outcome (and subsequently the timeline), it's their actions in the past.

How can this be explained with consistency with the rest of the rules of time travel we've encountered in this show? If any assumption I've made is incorrect I'd love to hear it.

I would love to just write this off as "the writers wanted a good goodbye scene" since quantum teleportation in the temporal dimension(time travel) is really not my forte when it comes to quantum mechanics. However, by the nature of this site, I will try to answer your question. This is going to be long, bear with me. I have included several questions you might have after reading it, if I missed out anything, feel free to clarify.

Before I re-answer, let me tell you a short story. After a few hours of discussion with my colleagues, we could not arrive at any conclusion despite bringing in several plausible theories. Then, out of the blue, our professor (who is like nearly 60 but still an avid anime watcher) just walks over and proceeded to blow our minds with one sentence "It's a cross-time temporal loop." Then we proceeded to face palm ourselves for our stupidity in over-complicating the situation when it was really so simple. Side note: my theories were not wrong, but the factor I inputted into them were wrong.

Firstly, you need to understand how their time machine works, cause we underestimated its capabilities before. Their machine is not a linear time travelling device, it is a trans-spatial time machine. When they travel through time, they possibly travel to another universe as well. Believe it or not, it is actually theoretically easier to make this type than a linear time machine cause  time flows relatively, thus theoretically, in a 'space pocket' between universes, time would pass differently for separate universes.

But I digress, thus, Suzuha did not actually travel from the future, but instead from a potential future of the Steins Gate World Line. Now, Okarin never actually needed to go to the Steins Gate World Line, he left it as he saw Kurisu dead. But in reality, he was there in the beginning, he then proceeded to send himself all over the time lines with his microwave oven when he sent that mail to Daru.

  What is the loop? The time loop created works like this:

  Okabe sees Kurisu dead, send mail to Daru, enters other timelines
  Okabe spends 3 weeks in alternate timelines, gets back to Steins Gate
  Time machine shows up with Suzuha saying they have to stop WW3
  Okabe goes back to past, fakes Kurisu's death, burns thesis, stops WW3
  Past Okabe sees Kurisu dead, goes back to step 1 and repeat

Remember the Attractor Field-World Line theory employed by the show, now imagine 2 lines intertwined but splits like a split hair at a certain point. To both these splits, their past is the same, but some event split this time line. This event was Okarin gaining the knowledge that he saved Kurisu.

Despite the aim of going back to the past was stopping WW3, we can never really say that WW3 was fought over Makise Kurisu's Time Travel thesis completely cause we have too little details. A more likely reason would be Okarin built the time machine based on her thesis using the knowledge he gained from the other World Lines and this information was obtained by world powers and they started the war to obtain this thesis to built their own time machine as Okarin was already dead in 2025.

The motives for WW3 was effectively instigated by Okarin. Okarin built the time machine to save Kurisu and thus as long as he does not know he saved her, the time machine would still be built, WW3 would still occur. That is essentially why Suzuha cannot disappear until the Okarin that knows he has saved Kurisu appears in the present again, or Okarin would go on to create the time machine to save Kurisu and start WW3.

But, to save Kurisu, the time machine is necessary, if Okarin did not have the motive to make it, where did it come from?

This is where the cross-time part comes in. Remember that I said Suzuha came from a possible future of the Steins Gate timeline, a split in the World Lines. This is where quantum causality comes in, as long as there is a chance, WW3 can still occur despite the thesis being burnt as Okarin can still make the time machine. The core reason for this as I mentioned is because he thinks Kurisu is dead. Remember that the first time he went back to the past, he stabbed Kurisu himself, no World Line change occurred, that means that they were still connected to a timeline that leads to WW3. However, when he saved Kurisu and burnt the thesis, still nothing happened.

That is because at this point, the two timelines still share a common past, and Okarin still wants to save Kurisu as the him that saved Kurisu is still in the past, future cannot affect them and they cannot affect the future yet as they are in a state of temporal uncertainty by being in the past. Same as the first answer but this time the factor is not the burning of the thesis but Okarin returning to the present with the knowledge that he saved Kurisu and does not want to create the time machine anymore, thus completely erasing any minuscule possibility for WW3 to occur. This leads to Suzuha disappearing as the two futures no longer have a common present. This returning of Okarin to the present is the diverging point of this two timelines. Thus, Suzuha can no longer stay in Steins gate as this is not part of their shared past.

Then what was the point of faking Kurisu's death?

Simple, it was to keep the loop going, if he broke the loop, the him that is trying to save Kurisu would definitely disappear for he never spent even a single moment with Kurisu. No matter how far quantum causality goes, it most likely does not extend into separate timelines for his knowledge is not from the universe he is in. Thus, the loop has to occur, he has to keep the past somewhat constant until his return to the present with the knowledge he saved Kurisu, only then will the timelines diverge properly.

What would have happened if they stayed in the past?

This depends on which travel they stayed in the past.

In the case scenario where they failed to save Kurisu, Okarin would disappear at the divergence point. Since this Okarin never returned to the divergence point with the knowledge that he saved Kurisu, it would go the WW3 route, the past Okarin thinks Kurisu dies and went on to create the time machine, starting WW3. This allows Suzuha to exist. Since Okarin traveled to the past from the Steins Gate timeline, he disappears since that is no longer his past now.

In the case scenario where they managed to save Kurisu and stayed in the past, Suzuha would disappear at the divergence point. Despite Okarin never returning to the divergence point with the knowledge that he saved Kurisu, they would still arrive at the divergence point where they will witness themselves going back to the past and thus arrive at the same case where even without a time machine returning them to the present except that the moment they witness Okarin going back, Suzuha disappears.


Fitting rules of Death Note There are at least 130 rules of use of the Death Note. Do they all fit on the one last page of the notebook (how?) or do they come from some other source? Was it ever addressed in the manga or the anime?

The Death Notes originally do not have any rules written on them. Ryuk dropped a Death Note in the human world because he was "bored", so he only wrote enough rules to get a human interested in it (and he wrote them in English, the most common language). During the course of the plot, Light infers several rules not written in the book through his experiments. (Even Ryuk admitted once he did not know of one such rule.)