Who are the other 2 Taijutsu fighters that Kisame acknowledged? I was rewatching the episode when Guy fought Kisame. Kisame said that taijutsu fighter like Guy is rare, but he knows two more.

Who is he talking about?
 Episode 250 at 19:25 to 19:43

Based on a bit of Googling, that line is a mistranslation. The actual intended meaning of Kisame's line is, "Though this is the third time I'm facing you..." (It literally translates to something like "For me, it's the third time," but the intended meaning is clearer in context.)

The three times they fight:

When Itachi and Kisame show up to first try to kidnap Naruto:

   Kisame accompanied Itachi to Konoha to help kidnap Naruto Uzumaki. After the two gained attention due to their unusual clothing, they were stopped by Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yūhi. Asuma and Kurenai found themselves outmatched, but Kakashi arrived to help balance the odds. Asuma was able to distract Kisame while Itachi fought Kakashi. He waited patiently for Itachi's fight to finish, but before Itachi delivered the final blow, Kakashi remembered Jiraiya's warning and recognised the duo as members of Akatsuki from their black cloaks. Itachi changed his mind and ordered Kisame to kidnap Kakashi and kill Asuma and Kurenai. Before he could do so, however, Might Guy showed up and kicked an attacking Kisame in the face. Following Guy's arrival, Itachi ordered Kisame to retreat, not wanting to start a large-scale battle. Kisame seemed quite annoyed with Itachi's idea, as he desperately wanted to fight the Konoha shinobi.

While Akatsuki is extracting Shukaku (the One-Tailed Beast) from Gaara's body:

   While Akatsuki extracted the One-Tailed Shukaku from Gaara's body, they learned that Team Guy was nearing their location. Remembering his last encounter with Guy, Kisame volunteered to keep them occupied while the sealing was completed. Nagato used the Shapeshifting Technique to make a duplicate of Kisame's body that would be remotely controlled by Kisame. The clone located and confronted Team Guy, but was disappointed that Guy didn't remember him. He converts the surrounding desert into a lake to give him a battlefield advantage and attacks Team Guy. After numerous attempts Team Guy made attacking Kisame, Guy managed to separate him from Samehada, leading to the rest of his team launching an assault. Kisame swiftly made water clones to block their attacks and immediately used the Water Prison Technique to imprison them.

 Guy then attempted to attack Kisame with his own sword but Samehada intervened and returned to its owner. Now that it was a one on one fight, Kisame directed all his attention towards Guy leading him to use his nunchaku. After exchanging blows with each other, Kisame overpowered Guy, launching him to the bottom of the newly formed lake. Seeing that he had the geographical advantage, Kisame repeatedly attacked Guy until he was forced to open the sixth gate. Doing so, Guy forced away the surrounding water and immediately attacked Kisame, sending him flying into the air, giving an opportunity for him to use his Morning Peacock technique to end the fight, resulting in Kisame's clone being killed. Afterwards Kisame voiced his regret to Itachi that their clones only had 30% of their chakra and thus were not as powerful as their actual selves. Ultimately, however, the two accomplished their task of delaying the two teams long enough for the rest of the Akatsuki to extract Shukaku from Gaara.

The third time, of course, is the scene you're talking about. Kisame pretends to have been defeated by Killer B, and hides inside his sword Samehada (which Killer B takes as his own) to infiltrate the Hidden Cloud Village (Kumogakure), but he is discovered:

   To protect them from Akatsuki, B and Naruto Uzumaki were sent to the island in the Land of Lightning. After B helped Naruto to tame the Nine-Tails, Naruto was able to sense Kisame's hatred within Samehada, despite his and Samehada's identical chakra. Discovered and outnumbered, Kisame took Samehada and tried to escape, but Naruto used the new speed granted to him by the Nine-Tails to stop him. Naruto was so fast, in fact, that his foot got stuck in a wall, allowing Kisame to continue his bid for freedom. As soon as he exited the Falls of Truth he ran into and was attacked by Might Guy, who believed Kisame was his inner self. Although Guy realised Kisame was not his inner self, he still didn't remember him, instead believing him to be a blowfish. Samehada abandoned Kisame and returned to Killer B. Kisame stole some chakra from the both of them to revitalise him after being within Samehada for so long. Aoba Yamashiro tried to neutralise him with Secret Technique: Stone Needles, but this only enabled Kisame to absorb his chakra as well.

 Kisame then swam away and tried to make it off the island, and when he reached the shoreline, Kisame summoned a shark and gave it a scroll filled with the information he had gathered. Guy tracked him down and, seeing what Kisame was doing, tried to stop the shark. Kisame then used Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks to conceal it and overwhelm Guy. When Guy's Morning Peacock couldn't destroy all of the sharks, he opened the seventh chakra gate, blocking the sharks' route. To get rid of Guy, Kisame used Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique, and Guy countered with his Daytime Tiger. Although the Great Shark Bullet grows stronger when used against chakra-based attacks, Daytime Tiger was composed of "youthful" air pressure. It overpowered and defeated Kisame, as well as destroyed all of the remaining sharks. Though defeated, Kisame was annoyed that Guy still could not remember him and tried to continue fighting, but was knocked unconscious by Guy.

 After returning to the island, Yamato restrained Kisame to allow Aoba to read his mind in order to gather intelligence on Akatsuki. When Aoba came across memories of Tobi's face and his promises of ending the "world of lies", Kisame bit his own tongue to force himself awake and broke free of his restraints. The Kumo and Konoha-nin tried to subdue him, but Kisame trapped himself with the Water Prison Technique. Before he was completely immobilised, he summoned three sharks and allowed them to devour him. Within his final moments he remembered his first meeting with Itachi and realised that he was not as terrible as he once thought, as he was willing to give his life to protect the cause he believed in and died with a smile on his face. This act of conviction caused Guy to gain new respect for his adversary and vowed to always remember him. He and the others then attempted to read the scroll that Kisame tried so hard to send, but found that it was booby-trapped; they were each caught in a Water Prison with a shark. Another shark took the scroll and swam away with it, which eventually found its way to Zetsu.


Does the third season of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun happens after or before Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator? The third season of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun started and Accelerator, one of the main villains of Toaru Majutsu no Index and the main character of Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator appears in the first episode. How is this series placed in the timeline then? Does Toaru Kagaku no Railgun season 3 happens after or before the events of Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator?

The Accelerator anime covers the Necromancer Arc, which (in-universe) starts in early September and ends sometime before September 14.

The Railgun T anime covers the Daihaisei Festival Arc (Railgun version), which (in-universe) starts on September 19 and ends on September 20. It might also cover the Dream Ranker Arc after that, which (in-universe) starts on September 26 and ends sometime in mid-October.

Index, Railgun, and Accelerator pretty much all take place within the same year (not counting flashbacks), but as readers/watchers, we're not sure which year it is (it's never specified directly). See the footnote on the Unified Story Timeline#Trivia page on the Toaru Wikia for more information.


Izaya wants to be a god? In the final episodes of Season 2 of Durarara!!!, if I remember correctly, he said something about wanting to become a God himself? And what did he mean by this again? The series did not explain it very well.

The quote from the Wikia, which this scene takes part at, as far as I can remember

  Anri confronts Izaya about his actions, knowing he was behind not just the incident with the yellow scarves, but also with the slasher attacks as he was the one who gave Haruna Niekawa the information she needed to start her attempted invasion. The two fight briefly but Izaya gains the upperhand and escapes. As he leaves, he angrily declares to Saika that he is the only one who can love humanity and that he refuses to share them with a sword.

Izaya's ambition knows no limit. He's a normal human (unlike several other characters), but he's smart and cunning. He also has tons of information sources and some power over people, so much it makes him think he could become as powerful as a god. Izaya loves manipulating people, and that's kinda what gods do, so this is why he said that.


How closely are the characters in Gintama related to their real life counterparts? There were some gags like Kondou's fake sword etc. that were derived from real life rumors.
I want to know how much data we actually have about the real life counterparts of the characters in Gintama.
Are any of their personality traits known to historians?
How closely do the characters in the anime resemble them?
How about the historical accuracy of the Shinsengumi command structure?
And the Joi and Minawarigumi?

Don't know that much so I'll just contribute a bit.

Gintama really doesn't stay that true; it's more like taking bits from each real life character's known traits and either using that as inspiration or warping them into something vastly different. As far as Shinsengumi hierarchy, it is loyal- Hijikata was also known as the Demon Vice Commander, Kondo was commander & close with Hijikata, Sougo (Souji) was 1st unit captain. Shinpachi's real life counterpart, however, was part of the Shinsengumi and he obviously is not in Gintama (although he does don the uniform in several occasions xP).

A little other tidbit: Sougo died of tuberculosis pretty early and he had a sister who outlived him, but that was inverted:

  with Mitsuba dying instead.

Also, Takasugi definitely had a deep bond with Shoyo-sensei's real life counterpart, Shoin, and grieved a lot after Shoin's beheading.

The Mimawarigumi was also considered to be elite, so that part was kept.

..I may come back to add more if I think of anything else.


How old was Natsu when he was sent forward in time? I know Natsu was 7 (or so speculated) when the dragons left. I know he was sent forward in time when that happened. However why doesn't Natsu remember what the world was like 400 years ago? I mean I think he would notice a difference... even if he was only 7. Was his memory altered or something?

I don't think there was much of a difference between the world where Natsu went to sleep, and where he woke up.

For the most part, he spent his time with Igneel in the woods - as I assume a dragon wouldn't be welcome in towns.

I think Natsu grew up in the wilderness, went to sleep in the wilderness, and awoke in the wilderness 400 years later, not noticing a change because the wilderness couldn't have been different.


How does Nincada evolve into Shedinja? Nincada can evolve into both Ninjask as well as Shedinja.
But under what conditions it evolves to either one of these?

So far I believe we have only seen a sort of evolution happen once and this was in the Pokemon Adventures manga.

  Shedinja first appeared when Aqua Admin Amber, having been deprived of his Pokémon after being abandoned by Archie, borrows a Nincada from his comrade Shelly, which then immediately evolves into a Ninjask, putting Wattson in quite a pinch with the incredible speed it gained by the minute. Although the old Gym Leader eventually managed to defeat it, a Shedinja formed from the shell Ninjask shed and attacked him from behind, sending him sinking into the ocean.

In the highlighted part, it states that the Shedinja formed from the shell of the defeated Ninjask shed. This also does explain why Shedinja is a Ghost Pokemon instead of a Flying Pokemon like Ninjask.

So my final conclusion is that in the story for a Shedinja to be created, a Ninjask has to be defeated/die.

Source: Bulbapedia


How can regalia control ayakashi? In Noragami Aragoto episode 02, Bishama's doctor, Kugaha, controls ayakashi. He made it so that the green ayakashi smashes the ground backing him up from Yato's continues attack. Basically, he has ayakashi pets.

There are wolves with masks.

One of them is a green insect-like ayakashi with a mask in the middle of its head.

They appear to be friendly with Kugaha even though ayakashi are kegare (bad) which has to be killed by Gods and Divine Instruments.

How is this possible?

It was explained in later episodes.

   The mask was put on the ayakashi's face so that it can be controlled. There was an occasion where the mask was broken and the controller lost control of the ayakashi.


Melody from an anime I can't remember I don't even remember the whole song.
Just a very, very small part of the beginning which goes like this I think:

But if you think you know what it's from, could you help me out?

Any help is appreciated.

"If one shoots enough arrows at the target, one is sure to hit the bull's eye." So true.

Taken from MuseScore, CC Zero license.


Is there any clarification from the publisher/author of Hunter x Hunter regarding the quality of chapters 335 to 338? Why do Hunter x Hunter's chapters between 334-338 look this bad?

I know that Togashi had several illnesses, but is the illness that he had getting worst at those chapter? (I didn't resize the image so everyone could see the picture very clearly at the first glance).

Has Shueisha ever made a clarification regarding those chapters?

I have the physical books/compendium version of Hunter x Hunter that have relevant chapters on it (chapter 335-338 are included in vol 32 of HxH). But the art is still the same (my physical books of HxH are translated to Indonesian language and it's published through legal sources).

It happened in the 13th Hunter Chairman Election Arc, started on chapter 334. why the art suddenly/constantly changed?

Page 19, chapter 334

The audience looks are not drawn well, it looks like that scene was still a draft.

In chapter 335, it looks worse than chapter 334.

Page 7, chapter 335

And worse in chapter 336 (it looks like a rough sketch, look at Killua's hair and body, Nanika's inked hair, also the bench....)

Page 12, chapter 336

The worst in chapter 337 (What's wrong with you Kaito... and also the background... just what... )

Page 12, chapter 337

Well, chapter 337 is the worst that I have observed so far... They started to change the art frequently starting from chapter 338, but I would say, it's still bad.

Page 12, chapter 338

and finally, in chapter 340, we can have the fine art from Togashi.

Page 17, chapter 340

(expansion to my comment above, which would have been an answer if I could have found the image below)
I said:

  Are your images from the weekly manga or the compendium volumes? When time pressure hits, Togashi's art will tend to suffer, as he does what he can to make delivery of his weekly art. But when the HxH volume is published, he tends to clean it up so that it looks a lot more like his usual artwork.  – RichF 5 hours ago

I can't identify the page, chapter, or volume, but here is an example image I built to answer a completely unrelated question (What defines the art-style of Japanese manga?):

On the left is Togashi's original page as it appeared in its weekly form.  On the right is his final version of the page which appeared in the associated volume.

Based on Gagantous' reply to my comment, apparently Togashi didn't always clean up sloppy weekly pages for the follow-up volume.  Maybe for the volume used in the Question to show us examples, Togashi's health (and/or deadline pressure) didn't allow for the cleanup.


What does "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" mean? In episode 4 of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April), Kaori says a prayer "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" before the performance. What does it mean?

Both of the words "Elohim" and "Essaim" could be meaning a variety of things.   But my speculation goes as follows:
From this Reddit thread:

A similar phrase occurs in the Book of Black Magic and in the
Italian Il Grand Grimoire.   A couple translations and
transcriptions later, we end up with this.
"Eloim" is "God" or
"Powers", "Essaim" might be "Locusts" or "Swarm".
I'm thinking that
she's offering her soul to the devil/the angels/god in exchange for
being able to captivate her audience.
This isn't Faust; it's not a serious treatment of pacts. The Japanese adore Christian mythology, similar to how the West adores Eastern mythology. In effect, she's doing the same thing as someone in a Western work invoking his "chi" or whatever. (It's shōnen; teenage boys love foreign mysticism.)


What did the past winners of the Holy Grail Wars wish for? It is implied that there were five wars in total, and it's likely that their winners would each have wished for something epic, like immortality or godlike powers, but throughout Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night the world doesn't appear to have been affected at all by previous wishes. Am I missing something?

Note the Holy Grail War was originally a means to get to the Root, although only the Tohsaka family has retained this goal. (This appears either in "Heaven's Feel" or "Unlimited Blade Works".) The Holy Grail as a granter of wishes is described as "only an excuse made for outsiders" in UBW. Thus, in some sense, the wish-granting component is very secondary. That said, the Grail can materialise and grant wishes if enough servants have been destroyed.

Somewhat more importantly then, in UBW section of the VN, we learn about the Einzberns' failure to complete the Grail. Supplementing this with the Wiki, we thus have:

The First Holy Grail War seems to have been a failure: the Wiki states that a conflict of interests among participants ended the ritual before it could be completed. This would make sense, as it otherwise would be odd for all three families to continue in the ritual had they succeeded.

   This is particularly true of Zouken Matou, who has been around since the beginning.

This description is ambiguous enough that it's possible that one of the external participants had a wish granted. However, it sounds more likely that the entire ritual failed.
The Second Holy Grail War is said to have developed into a murder spree which nobody survived, so there was no winner. (As a result, the Church got involved as a mediator.)
The Wiki states that in the Third Holy Grail War, "the Lesser Grail was destroyed during the battles before the victor could be decided, so the ritual became meaningless and failed." (Also mentioned here -- the effect was that the Einzberns started using homunculi to contain the Grail.)
What happened in the Fourth Holy Grail War is obvious if you've seen Fate/zero.


Which Bronze Saint bled the most? I remember a repeating joke when Saint Seiya was running that they bled too much. During their fights, which of the original main five Bronze Saints (Shiryu, Seya, Ikki, Shun, and Hyoga) had the highest count of bleeding episodes?
For objectivity, each episode where a saint was depicted bleeding counts as 1 point no matter how much or how many times they bled in a single episode.

Without effectively counting the occurrences, I believe the easiest answer is Seiya himself as he is the real protagonist of the whole main series and the one that always fights more enemies than the others and defeats the final Boss/God of each series.


Is the intersection of people killed by Cell and Majin Buu still dead? According to the rules of the earth Dragon Balls, a person can only be brought back to life once. Do the people that Majin Buu and Cell (or any other two villains) both killed remain dead despite the wishes used to bring them back? Or do these rules only apply to main characters?

It's been a long time since I watched the Majin Buu saga, but I do recall that Buu killed many people and destroyed the planet. I'm asking this question because I don't recall Goku and friends ever expressing any concern that some people wouldn't be able to be revived because they were killed twice (again, haven't seen it in a long time, so I can't be sure).

No.
The people killed by Cell were brought back due to a wish granted by Shenron.
The second wish however to bring back the people who died in the Majin Buu saga was granted by Porunga who has no limitations regarding the number of times a person can be brought back to life.
Source : Dragon Ball


Is there a reason for the discrepancy in the length of the Serpentine Road in the Japanese and English versions of Dragon Ball Z? Put simply, the original Japanese version of the anime states it's (supposedly) one million kilometers long (a little over 621 thousand miles), while the English translations state that it's (again supposedly) ten thousand miles (a little over 16 thousand kilometers).
I'm rather curious if there's any documented reason for this huge discrepancy in the stated length, especially since the Japanese version makes Goku seem absurdly super-human (doing the math and accounting for him having to restart part way through, he still ran at a speed of more than 200 kph (or about 125 mph), which is about 5.5 times the typical sustained top speed for a well trained human distance runner), while the English version makes him sound honestly pathetic (same math there works out to about 3 kph (or about 2 mph), which is a leisurely walk even for most lazy humans).
A quick search online has turned up nothing, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's just another case of the questionable translation quality that was the norm at the time for a majority of anime series. However, there are a couple of other cases in the series where questionable original translations (such as using 'spirit bomb' for both the soukidon and the geki-dama) have documented reasons (usually stupid translators) and this one doesn't seem to fit the usual 'stupid Americans' excuse that most of the other cases both in DBZ and other anime from that time do.

There does not appear to be an officially stated reason for changing 1,000,000 kilometers to 10,000 miles, and it is likely just another case of localization. For some, it may be easier to imagine distance in miles rather than kilometers, and would likely cause less confusion for American children who would be more familiar with miles. This distance is used for the Ocean dub, as well as the FUNimation dub.
Interestingly enough, this also differs for the dub for Dragon Ball Z Kai, which states that Snake Way is 1,000,000 miles long (or about 1.6 million kilometers).


How does the Colossal Titan's shifter escape without being seen? In episode 5, immediately after Eren misses his shot to the Colossal Titan and it reverts to human form, I looked from multiple angles but there were no humans.

However, given what we know later, one would expect to see

   Bertolt Hoover

but they are not visible in the scene. How were they able to escape in the time before Eren attached to the wall and looked down?

As mentioned in @mirroroftruth's comment, an experienced Titan Shifter can easily morph between both their forms quickly, meaning it wouldn't be difficult for Bertolt to swiftly escape the body of his Colossal Titan. Additionally, if he already had 3D Maneuver Gear equipped (like Annie does in episodes 20/21 of the anime, mentioned in this question), escaping the area quickly would not have been an issue. Given the scenario of episode 5, it's highly unlikely that he didn't have this gear on his person.
Also, don't forget that the Colossal Titan is emitting an intense amount of heat and steam:

"It is also constantly releasing jets of steam from the surface of its body...

And this can be amplified as a defensive mechanism, seen in the attack on Wall Rose:

"...he possesses a powerful defense mechanism that involves him releasing large amounts of extremely hot and pressurized steam from his body. The steam has enough force to deflect any cables shot from the 3DMG and burn away or repel close-range fighters."
Both excerpts taken from Bertolt Hoover on the SnK wiki

With the disappearance of such a massive body, the amount of steam produced would create a very effective combination of a repellent and a makeshift smokescreen. This would have been ample for Bertolt to escape from the scene without being seen.

This is confirmed on page 22 of chapter 72 - in the bottom left panel, there is a picture of Bertolt escaping while near a damaged wall. His 3D Maneuver Gear is clearly visible and he's under the cover of steam.


Who did Naruto summon? On the last page of Naruto chapter 633 Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura use summoning techniques.
Who is the big frog that Naruto summoned?

UPDATE! This was confirmed in chapter 634.

Actually, based on the patterns on his body and face, I'd say that it's actually Gamakichi.

It's consistent with what this page on NarutoWiki says, although I don't know how reliable a source that is.


In Girl, why does the main character freak out over the couple? Girl may be a visual masterpiece, but its meaning is completely lost on me.  Or rather, the meaning of these two scenes:

The start of the whole scene happens around 7:35.  The main character is recreating the world in her own, unique way, and a couple walks by.  It does appear as if the main character is initially put off or curious about what they're doing so close to each other, but I can't think of anything that provoked her to freak out in the manner that she did.
The lyrics near that part don't really provide context, either.

足りないものしかない
足りないものしかみえない
あたし以外のすべて
きらめいてみえる理由

There's nothing but things that aren't enough
I can't see anything but things that aren't enough
Everything, except for myself
Has a reason to sparkle

I sort of understand that the main character is alone and has been alone for a while, but...the freak-out just doesn't make any sense based on what we'd seen up to that point.
Could anyone shed some light on this?  I'm...confused.

ME!ME!ME! is the AMV the boy and the girl are from (the couple).The blue haired girl was a character in it, she kept getting the boys attention, in ME!ME!ME! he was addicted to porn and sex and the blue haired one was a porn star he watched. the boy wasn't giving his girlfriend (the pink haired one) any attention and the boy fell asleep watching the porn and in his dream he had a nightmare about his girlfriend turning into some monster wanting his love, it was actually her showing her despair. So when the blue haired one comes back in the new AMV and she see's them back together she loses her mind because she wants (supposedly) all of his attention back.


Why did Bleach anime stop airing? And did Bleach manga also end its serialization? After I watched episode 366 of Bleach, I waited for a couple of months. As I expected, no new episode of Bleach anime has been released since then. And yet, I don't believe that the anime has reached the ending.

Why did Bleach anime stop airing? And did Bleach manga also end its serialization? Though for the case of the manga, I am not sure if it has actually finished.

According to Wikipedia, the original run of Bleach anime in Japan has finished since March 2012. It seems that you follow the English dub, which finished airing on November 1st, 2014, so you don't realize that it stopped airing in Japan long ago.

As for the reason, from the posts I have seen on the Internet, there seems to be no official reason given for the cancellation of the anime series. (Usually, the official reason will be cited before people give their own interpretation or speculation of the situation, but I don't see any).

This page by edas88 gives 2 theory as for why the series was cancelled:

The anime was sub-par and had too many fillers1.

I don't know if this source for TV anime series viewership rating is reliable or not, but viewership for Bleach started out at around 5%, gradually dropped but still managed to get 2-3% up to the point of Aizen's defeat, but it reduced further and sustained at 1-2% till the point it was cancelled.

Compared to the other two series in the Big 3, One Piece sustained at around 10% viewership over the same period, and Naruto at 7-9% at the beginning, but still got 3-5% at the point Bleach anime was cancelled.

1 Wikipedia says that 111 of all 366 episodes are fillers.
The anime stopped to wait for more material from the manga, instead of continuing with filler episodes as what they had been doing.

On this side, at the time of writing, there are some speculations that the anime will restart production in 2015, since the manga is expected to end in 2015.

At the time of writing (May 27th, 2015), the manga has not ended its serialization yet. According to mangaupdates, chapter 627 was released on May 21st, 2015 by scanlation groups. There is no news headline regarding the imminent end of the serialization (except that it is confirmed to end in 2015), so I think it is going to continue for at least a few months.


Why could Kakashi and Obito move while Naruto, Sasuke and even Kaguya couldn't? Spoilers if you didn't see episode 472 of the anime yet:

   In episode 472, when Kaguya changed the environment to the world with high gravity, how come Kakashi and Obito could move while Naruto, Sasuke and even Kaguya couldn't?

I know they all used a lot of chakra fighting each other, but they are on a different level totally, and besides, Obito was half dead, and used almost all of his chakra to find Sasuke and bring him back.

Many have mentioned the plothole part, however this seems to be a case of using a writing device to

   1. Give Obito a heroic death 2. Absolve Obito of his crimes 3. Allow Kakshi to be cool by completing his Sharingan

In Universe Explanation:
This is the explanation written on the Wiki, a typical case of Eleventh Hour Superpower

  Obito returns Sasuke and Sakura to the dimension where Naruto and Kakashi are. He watches as Naruto and Sasuke fight Kaguya, their combined powers the only ones capable of stopping her. Aware of this, Kaguya relocates them to a dimension with powerful gravity and pins Naruto and Sasuke down while she attacks with All-Killing Ash Bones. Obito and Kakashi, empowered by a shared memory of their past friendship, place themselves in front of Naruto and Sasuke as shields. Because his odyssey began by saving Kakashi from death by a boulder, Obito decides he must now end things by saving Kakashi's life again: he uses his left eye to teleport the attack aimed at Kakashi away, allowing the attack directed at him to connect. Obito's body begins to crumble and there is nothing anyone can do to save him. He warns Kakashi that he will not be around to save him a third time and places his faith for a better world in Naruto before dying with a smile.

This can be compared to a final push, the rush of adrenaline. Obito and Kakashi pushed themselves to the limit figuring they would die, while Naruto/Sasuke were still hoping to escape the Gravity pull so that they could continue fighting.


Is Madara's Ten Tails Jinchuriki Mode a complete form? Since Eight Tails is still outside (in dream) rather than in Gedo Statue, is Madara's Ten Tails Jinchuriki Mode complete?

Update:

I am talking about episode when Madara takes all the beasts into the Gedo statue and become the Sage of Six Paths. The Eight Tails was swapped with one of its tails to escape. As Eight Tails is not completely inside the Gedo statue, how can Madara come to Ten Tails Jinchuriki full form?

Yes, Madara's Ten Tails Jinchuriki Mode is complete.

The Gedo Statue drew in all the beasts.

When a Tailed Beast is removed from its host, the host dies. To avoid this from happening, there should be enough chakra of the Tailed Beast left inside the jinchuriki. When Gyuki was being removed, he sectioned one of his tentacles, having chakra, to Bee. This was done so to ensure Bee survives without the majority of Gyuki.

  Struggling against its confines, Gyūki apologised to B as it was extracted and sealed within the statue along with the other tailed beasts, but not before cutting off one of its tentacles, letting B survive through the chakra within it.

Therefore, the majority of Gyuki was absorbed into the statue and only a portion of it was intact with Bee. That portion served as a source of life for Bee and it was negligible compared to the intake of Eight Tails chakra into the statue.

Therefore, since the statue contained most of the Eight Tails chakra, Madara was able to undergo the transformation.


What is the pendant at the end of the Black Clover's 9th opening? At the end of the 9th opening of Black Clover (song: RiGHT NOW), Yuno's blue pendant shows up.

How is this related to Yuno if it is, and what does it mean?

First of all, SPOILER warning.
Now Yuno's pendant happens to be a magic stone. That pendant was the last magic stone the elves needed. So that's the reason it's shown at the opening.
MANGA SPOILER:
Yuno's relation with the pendant is explained in the manga. Yuno is actually the prince of the spade kingdom. His father is the overthrown king of the spade kingdom. A certain group attacked the king and his court so they can rule the kingdom. They wanted Yuno to be safe, so their butler put Yuno at the church, sacrificing his his own life. The magic stone belonged to the king, and that's the reason he gave it to Yuno.


Looking for a horror manga I read some years ago I read it probably one or two years ago, but I'm pretty sure it was older than that. Its art style was extremely detailed, maybe even too much so. It was quite violent as well (e.g. at some point a character throws a sink or something like that through the body of another one).

The story was about a group of students (maybe high school, not too sure about that) who "build" a Frankenstein-ish monster which should serve them in doing... something? I can't really remember.

The monster at the end rebels against the group and slaughters them all.

They kidnap and maybe rape one of their teachers.

The leader of the group had some kind of "black star", and at some point he meets a fortune teller who tells him that the black star is a mark of great evil and that people like Hitler had one, but also that the boy would be even more successful than them.

I am pretty sure it had an anime adaptation, but it was less gory and wasn't well accepted.

EDIT: I'm absolutely not sure about this, but the title may have been the name of the creature.

This is Lychee Light Club. On the cover you can see the black star, the symbol you mentioned , on the leader's glove. He was indeed told by a fortune teller that he would be more evil than Hitler - and he takes pride in it.

The Frankenstein monster you're thinking of is Litchi. He's powered by lychee fruits. He was created so that he could capture beautiful girls for the club. He discovers love from one of his captive females and betrays the club whilst defending her.

The anime is significantly less dark than the manga and the characters are in a chibi art style


Is Mobile Suit Gundam (The Origin?) heavily influenced by Dune? I'm watching Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, and it feels eerily similar to Dune:

The Deikuns are the Atreides, led by Zeon Zum Deikun whose death is the spark that begins the entire series just like Duke Leto Atreides
The Zabi are the Harkonnen, led by an overweight patriarch Degwin Sodo Zabi just like Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Casval Rem Deikun is Paul Atreides, who adopts a new name Muad'Dib in order to lead his resistance against the Harkonnen
Ramba Ral is Duncan Idaho, someone loyal to the Atreides family after being forced to work for the Harkonnens (in this case it would be in reverse order)
I have yet to discern whether Artesia Som Deikun is like Alia Atreides

I'm only 10 episodes into Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin and I've never seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam, so spoiler tags appreciated! I don't know if most of The Origin is completely new material based off the manga, or some of these parallels existed in the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

While it's not impossible (Dune was published in 1965, and Mobile Suit: Gundam was first released in 1979), it really doesn't fit.

MSG(and all the surrounding storylines) is centered around basic human ambition. The Zabis, for instance, range from the naive Garma Zabi, to the ruthless and even sadistic Gihren Zabi. All of this stems from Degwin Zabi, and the mysterious death of Zeon Zum Daikun (which MSG: Origin doesn't resolve).

A better correlation here is actual human history.

Zeon is more like Vladimir Lenin. He wants to foment a rebellion, but mysteriously dies early into those efforts
Degwin Zabi doesn't have any real correlation (Degwin laments many of the atrocities his family commits), but he seems to look the other way when things are done that benefit him. That later exacts a toll on humanity because it empowers his son...
Gihren Zabi is Adolf Hitler. Degwin even makes that comparison himself in MSG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlJ5j-hSUmQ

Gihren would later prove the point when he

   murders Degwin while he is trying to negotiate an end to the war with the Federation

Casval is no better than any of them. He's out for revenge against the Zabi family for what he perceives to be their murder of his father, Zeon. He's shown to be almost as ruthless a Gihren, murdering people who stand in his way by manipulating them.


Young boy protagonist with a sword containing a red stone on its hilt? It was in a modern day world with guns and wars, there was some kind of armed conflict going on.

The story was about seven powerful crystals or gems or rounded stones, each carried by a different person wielding it in a way that suits his fighting:

One of them had it embedded in his shield, it was green I believe
One of the characters also carried his stone around and played with cards
The main protagonist had it in the hilt of his sword I think

In one of the scenes the boy was shown to have been born with the stone in his hand.

By the end of the series they were trying to unite the power of the stones to defeat some kind of enemy.

I think it could be Shin Hakkenden (1999, 26 episodes)

  The year is 2588 in the system of Godworld and its eight satellites. Humanity came here in the distant past, after a long journey across the stars from Earth. Now the system is ruled by a loose coalition of powerful families: House Owari, House Meed, and House Iigy. The story begins when Kai, the heir to House Owari, attacks an icy planet. Living in a humble village on the surface is Kou, a young boy who is perpetually arguing with his father. When Kai's navy arrives, Kou takes his father's mighty Murasame sword to fight back, and his adventures begin. A sci-fi remake of Hakkenden. (Plot from Animevice).

This is a picture of the main character Kou who has a red gem in his sword (You can also see a dog with an eyepatch: it hide a yellow gem in one of his teeth).

This is Jinrai who has a green gem in his shield.

Another pic http://gallery.animeinfo.ru/img/Jinrai-125835-57413-1.jpg

This is Tomoka who has a blue gem in a dice: he is a gambler and use cards also for fighting.


Do the albums mentioned below cover all soundtracks of the series Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden? Naruto:

Naruto Original Soundtrack I
Naruto Original Soundtrack II
Naruto Original Soundtrack III

Naruto Shippuuden:

Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack I
Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack II
Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack III

(I didn't mention the soundtracks from the movies or games as well as the main themes from the movies or the openings and endings from the series)

These were all albums I've been able to find. But unfortunately, I couldn't find Tenten's theme (it wasn't covered in an album but only as an individual track) which made me wonder if I did find all the tracks from the franchise.

On amazon.co.uk I've been able to find Tenten's theme as well as other themes which aren't covered in the albums above.
But since that album is titled "The Greatest Instrumental Themes from Naruto" I doubt that I was able to see every track of Naruto.

No. As an avid fan of the OST of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, I can say that the soundtracks you mentioned don't cover all the BGM's in the anime. They only include tracks that are played regularly in stereotyped sequences. Like 'Will of Fire' is only played during flashback/sad sequences and 'Morning' is played all across filler episodes.

Having said that, there are indeed few BGM's which are not a part of the 3 collections you mentioned. Like the BGM from Naruto episodes 210-212 where Naruto and Todoroki are chasing to find Todoroki's brother and the Shinobazu hideout. The soundtrack played during those episodes is rarely repeated. So, it didn't make the cut into those volumes.


What is the meaning of the title "Bad Apple", and which characters appear? The original video for Bad Apple!! is one of the most well-known Touhou videos. Here's the original, together with English subtitles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzEUeWnV73U

Why is the song called Bad Apple? There is an apple in the video but I don't imagine that's why. It matches the lyrics decently, but it still seems like a strange name for a song.

Also, all of the characters in the video are black and white silhouettes. Which characters are represented and in what order?

The song "Bad Apple" was originally the stage 3 theme from Touhou 5 Lotus Land Story. The popular version by Alstroemeria Records is a lyrical remix of that. Because Elly was the boss for stage 3, she makes an appearance towards the end of the video despite being a minor character.

There isn't any real explanation in the game as to why the song would be called "Bad Apple". Many original Touhou music pieces have names that don't really match the plot in any way, and as far as I know ZUN has never specifically explained this title. However, it is true that the popularity of the remix may be in part because it casts the series in a somewhat darker and more serious tone than the ordinary moe artwork, as the name would suggest.

As for the characters, I'll list them in order of appearance. The times correspond to when they first appear, and the names link to the relevant articles on Touhou Wiki.

0:00 Hakurei Reimu (博麗 霊夢)

0:15 Kirisame Marisa (霧雨　魔理沙)

0:28 Patchouli Knowledge (パチュリー・ノーレッジ)

0:36 Remilia Scarlet (レミリア・スカーレット)

0:45 Izayoi Sakuya (十六夜 咲夜)

0:50 Flandre Scarlet (フランドール・スカーレット)

0:58 Konpaku Youmu (魂魄　妖夢)

1:03 Saigyouji Yuyuko (西行寺　幽々子)

1:11 Onozuka Komachi (小野塚　小町)

1:18 Shiki Eiki Yamazanadu (四季映姫・ヤマザナドゥ)

1:25 Fujiwara no Mokou (藤原　妹紅)

1:32 Kamishirasawa Keine (上白沢　慧音)

1:39 Yagokoro Eirin (八意　永琳)

1:45 Houraisan Kaguya (蓬莱山　輝夜)

1:51 Prismriver Sisters (プリズムリバー三姉妹), from left to right, Lyrica, Merlin, and Lunasa

1:59 Chen (橙)

2:00 Yakumo Ran (八雲　藍)

2:01 Inaba Tewi (因幡　てゐ)

2:02 Reisen Udongein Inaba (鈴仙・優曇華院・イナバ)

2:05 Inubashiri Momiji (犬走　椛)

2:07 Kochiya Sanae (東風谷　早苗)

2:11 Kagiyama Hina (鍵山　雛)

2:12 Yasaka Kanako (八坂　神奈子)

2:15 Moriya Suwako (洩矢　諏訪子)

2:22 Yakumo Yukari (八雲　紫)

2:27 Hinanawi Tenshi (比那名居　天子)

2:36 Shameimaru Aya (射命丸　文)

2:41 Ibuki Suika (伊吹 萃香)

2:48 Alice Margatroid (アリス・マーガトロイド)

2:54 Kawashiro Nitori (河城 にとり)

3:02 Kazami Yuuka (風見　幽香)

3:09 Elly (エリー)

3:20 Hakurei Reimu, PC-98 appearance

3:24 Kirisame Marisa, PC-98 appearance


What's the OST from HxH in episode 148 at 0:31? What's the OST from Hunter x Hunter episode 148 at 0:31?

It is Chasing After a Dream which can be listened to here.
In searching for this OST, I found this amazing list of every OST from every episode with timestamps. Pretty amazing list. Here it is.
Happy Hunting!


What is the difference between Sasori's Puppets and Edo Tensei? Apart from immortality, in which the puppets can be destroyed and they does not recover. Does the puppets have the same amount of chakra or they only posses only their past live ability. Lets say if pain body were converted into a puppet. Would it have the Rinnegan? Or It would be a blind puppet? How does this puppet thing work. Does it require the person or thing to be alive before a puppet is made out of it or them? OR just ant body or shell is enough.

A puppet is handmade and has no brain. It needs to be in close/mid range of the controller so that it can be controlled with chakra strings.

On the contrary, people reanimated by Edo Tensei are conscious, unless you bind their mind like what Kabuto did.
They can also move freely and have their own will to do whatever they want.


Why is the written language inconsistent throughout One Piece? I noticed even in the Englished Dubbed version of One Piece many of the props (flags, signs, etc) use Japanese symbols rather than alphabetical words, and now, watching on the Subbed version, I notice some things are actually written in English. For example an island entrance says "Punk Hazard" and "Danger" in English, even though they're speaking Japanese.

I've noticed this kind of inconsistency elsewhere too, for example, even in the Subbed version, you hear many English words and names, such as their shipwright saying "Super!". I've nopticed more things like this throughout the entire series, having watched many episodes in Dubbed and Subbed versions.

So, is there an explanation for why English and Japanese are intermingled so heavily in One Piece? it seems odd for the text to be inconsistent. Maybe they produced a few different versions with different text forms, but that would be odd since it's not even an English dubbed version in some cases.

Was the writer bilingual? Or was it perhaps a strategy to please English and Japanese viewers equally? Or some other reason?

Ashishgup mentioned general aspects of English in Japanese anime and conversely in his comment.

Beside that, note that English is an obvious feature of One Piece. The name of the manga itself is "One Piece" in Japanese, not ワンピース !

Looking at the Japanese version of the manga, you can quickly notice that shop signs, some brands, city signs and even some fight moves are written in English.  All important characters are introduced with their name dubbed in English in the background.

It seems then consistent that the anime keeps this feature (the anime being derived from the manga and not the other way around).

As for why it is so: mixing languages is more than ever a trend in all languages. Some mangaka will do it more than others. Eiichiro Oda does it quite a lot.


Did Ultear know there was a different way to defeat master Hades? In episode 116 after Ultear lost the fight with Gray, she tells him that he cannot beat Hades, but does not tell him anything about Hades' weakness (eg: his heart).

This seems weird since when she had Zeref a couple episodes back, she was about to stab Hades in the back and take Zeref for her own purposes. This would imply that she was no longer on Hades' side.

Later we see that the guards knew that the room Hades' was in was something they could not lose control of.

Since the guards knew about this wouldn't Ultear know this as too, seeing as she was pretty much raised by Hades?

Urtear did know for sure. She had been trying to deceive Gray all along. She told Gray that the Iced Shell was the only way because the spell traps the caster as a shell of ice for all eternity. She wanted him to die because she thought Gray was the one responsible for her mother not loving her which was not true at all.

Urtear knew more about Hades than any of the outsiders. She obviously had a plan to kill Hades herself but having Gray kill him would be killing two birds with a single stone.

But Gray realizes that after he over hears her and sees her trying to kill Juvia.


If Nagato has both of Madara's Rinnegan, how did Madara still have one Sharingan when he met Obito for the first time? I agree with the fact that even after using the Izanagi Madara's other eye got revived after activating the Rinnegan. But when he met Obito for the first time, he had one Sharingan on the left eye. How can this be? He implanted both of his eyes onto Nagato, so where did that Sharingan come from?

Though only one eye of Nagato is always exposed I noticed he actually has Rinnegan on both eyes.

I'm confused, I thought Madara told Obito to implant his Rinnegan (both of them) into Nagato's eyes after his death. I'm not sure if Madara did it himself, but if that's the case, it could be he implanted later a Sharingan eye (it could be two) on him if he possessed them (which is possible that he possessed other Sharingans, like the case of when Obito used Izanagi on his left eye against Konan, it wasn't his). But I insist on my first opinion and let me tell you why.

In the fourth Shinobi War, when Edo Tensei Madara used Rinne Tensei on Obito to revive himself (Rinne Tensei is a Rinnegan technique that allows the user of the Rinnegan to revive another one in exchange for his life, this is the technique that Madara wanted to be revived with in the first place, Madara said it to Obito before he died, said it again when he was revived with the Edo Tensei that he should be revived with the Rinne Tensei, and even Obito said it to Konan while battling her that Nagato's body was ment later to revive him in case he died) so when he did the technique, Madara was revived (came back to life literaly) and his eyes started to somehow vanish until they are gone, which makes sense, he was revived means that he will come back as he was like when he died, and he died with no eyes so he was revived with no eyes and started to get the originals back (because the ones that vanished were fake, an Edo Tensei Rinnegan, when he got his original right Rinnegan, a Bijuu monster said that this is an original Rinnegan and not a fake one like he had before).

Returning to my first point, I think it's obvious that Madara died with no eyes at all, and therefor Obito is the one who implanted the Rinnegan (both of them) in Nagato's body. Your answer isn't here yet, this is just for clarifying things, your real answer is that you are mistaken in the timeline because when Nagato had the Rinnegan, Madara was already dead and Obito already did the job.


Why are some anime OP/ED theme songs sung by Kpop/Korean Artist? I was watching one piece and noticed that there was a TVXQ name on the credits

I am somewhat familiar of SM towns Korean Groups and one of them was named TVXQ

I googled and found out that it was indeed the Kpop Group.

It was also found that not only One Piece but also Inu Yasha's Ending Theme song "Every Heart" was sung by a Kpop Artist which is BoA.

And Naruto's theme song "Buterfly" was sung by KARA.

I've Been watching anime since I was a kid (almost 20 years now), and I just recently got hooked in Kpop music. That's when I noticed this.

I was just wondering why are some anime theme songs sung by Korean artists. There are several artists in Japan, and wouldn't it be expensive to get a singer/band from another country? Are there any reasons for this?

I think this is related to the Korean Wave in Japan.

In the early 2000s, Korean live action dramas and KPop started to come into Japan and quickly became massively popular. From Korea.net's article on the Korean Wave:

  The Korean Wave landed in Japan in 2003 when the KBS TV drama series
  Winter Sonata was aired via NHK. The drama became an instant mega hit,
  making its male hero, Yon Sama, a household name, compelling his
  enthusiastic Japanese fans to visit various film locations, including
  Namiseom Island, in Korea.

Wikipedia states:

  In 2000, the K-Pop singer BoA took off her musical career with SM
  Entertainment and two years later, her album Listen to My Heart became
  the first album by a Korean musician to sell a million copies in Japan

on the basis of a Recording Industry Association of Japan page on million-selling records in 2002.

Korean media has gotten so popular in Japan that it's even prompted a backlash among some, as this article from The Atlantic notes.

The period of time when Inuyasha was on the air was squarely in the middle of the Korean Wave. I don't follow Naruto so I don't know exactly which years that particular song was used, but most of the Naruto anime's run has also been during peak years of the Korean Wave. Since BoA and Kara were already extremely popular in Japan, they were tapped to contribute songs for these anime, just as any other popular band would be. They were already touring and otherwise active in Japan, so I'm sure they had contacts that the anime studios could get in touch with to offer them these gigs.

To address the last point, there wasn't a shortage of Japanese bands; the studios just wanted to use these particular Korean bands because of their popularity. Using a foreign band isn't likely to be more expensive; it might even be cheaper, if the foreign band isn't well known, because they'll be willing to trade some pay for exposure. With these bands, since they were already popular and active in Japan, hiring them probably cost about what hiring an equally popular Japanese band would cost.


Why isn't the Beast Titan at the start of season 3? Season 2 ended showing the characters, some titans and then on top of a far away wall the Beast Titan with the titan shifter outside him looking out, but now on season 3 there was only a brief mention of him.

Is the story continuing right after the previous episode or is there any time gap between them?

Will it go back to him any time soon in the next episodes?

Expect the Beast Titan to appear very soon, this season of Attack On Titan will be very packed with its 24 episodes. The story is continuing after season 2's last episode, but there was a little time skip for both parties to kind of regen and recouperate from last episodes antics. Best way to enjoy this season and Attack On Titan is to stay far away from spoilers and let everything naturally unfold the way it should do.

Hope that helped.


Can Amaterasu's speed increase? In the battle against Raikage, Sasuke cast Amaterasu and Raikage avoided it pretty easily because he's fast.
In the battle against Kaguya, Sasuke cast Amaterasu and it hit her.

Question
Was it because:
- Sasuke Amaterasu speed had increased as he grew stronger so Kaguya couldn't dodge?
- Kaguya could dodge it but she simply took it because she knew it was a chakra that she could absorb?

Are there any information about this?

Note: Kaguya is faster than Raikage, right?

Short Answer: Kaguya Otsutsuki was very powerful but her speed was just slightly above average. During her battle with Sasuke and Naruto, all she mainly did was hop from dimension to dimension, use a bunch of Kekkai Moras   and absorb their attacks with her Rinnengan. Note that she is NOT faster than Raikage Ai when he uses the Lightning release chakra Mode to enhance his speed and reaction time. The only reason why Raikage could dodge it is cause he combined 2 Jutsus simultenously in order to detect and flicker away from the flames. Kaguya on the other hand, was not fast enough to dodge the flames. However, she was skilled enough to quickly absorb them before they did enough damage on her.
So to answer your question, the speed of Amaterasu was never increased, She just was not fast enough to dodge the flames like Raikage did.
Super Long explanation:
The Amaterasu is a very fast jutsu in terms of how long it takes before it is cast. Unlike other jutsu, all it requires is that you see the person you want to hit and then  Black Flames are ignited at the focal point of the target! This means that as long as the user can see you, the Amaterasu is most likely going to hit. In order to dodge an "accurately-aimed" Amaterasu, I believe the persons speed must be pretty close to that of light because the focal point of vision is directly what your eyes see from the refraction of light. (Its a completely different scenario if the user is partially blind and can't aim well.)

In the case of Raikage, he used 2 jutsu's simultaneously in order to dodge sasukes Amaterasu. The first one is the lightning release chakra mode. During his battle with Sasuke, Raikage was wraped in lightning during the entire fight and once sasuke started to use the mangekyou Sharingan, Raikage instinctively started using way more chakra for the  Lightning Release Chakra Mode in order to increase his already heightened speed and reaction time.

With enhanced speed and reaction time, Raikage was able to immediately react to sasuke's amaterasu, he then used the  ShunShin no jutsu ( Lightning release Body Flicker technique ). Since he combined the 2 jutsus perfectly, he was able to instantly react to and swiftly move away from the flames (all within a matter of seconds, simply mindblowing lol). Moreover, Kaguya could not pull such a feat.


Is there a basis for the arm and leg wraps? In Naruto, many characters have what appear to be bandages wrapped around their arms or legs. Is there a basis for this in any martial arts or military fighting styles?

These originate from a similar practice in the real world, where they are used in boxing, combat sports, and martial arts (largely muay thai, one of the more brutal sports). They are mostly seen on the wrists, but can be used on the legs too for the same reasons. (Legs are sometimes wrapped around the hips and thighs, but can be wrapped lower down as well.)

There are different types of wraps: cloth/elastic, gauze, or a type of cast material which is much firmer.

Cloth wraps help protect from superficial cuts and other scrapes; you may have seen (or been in) situations where, after a punch, your knuckles can get worn down or bloodied up as the skin dries/breaks from the impact. Having a cover over them would obviously protect them from doing so.

Gauze and stronger cast materials (and even cloth, to a lesser extent) are for protecting the wrist and hand from damage sustained while punching. They help by holding the hand in its proper shape by wrapping around the fingers and the thumb and keeping the structure intact when an impact is sustained.

(Source: Wikipedia)

It is more than likely that Naruto adopted this to have their characters appear as (semi-)realistic, prepared martial artists.


Is there official terminology for anime series that run less than the standard length? I'm referring to the shorter-in-duration anime, such as Aiura, Recorder and Randsell, and Morita-san is Quiet.  These anime do not run for the "normal" duration of 22 or more minutes.

Is there any official terminology for these types of anime?

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but according to Japanese Wikipedia articles for those series, they can be called tanpen anime (短編アニメ, short anime).

Aiura:

  2013年4月から6月までテレビ東京・ニコニコ動画にて、5分枠の短編アニメで放送された。
  From April to June 2013, a 5 minute tanpen anime was aired on TV Tokyo and Nico Nico Douga.

Recorder and Randsell:

  5分枠の短編アニメで、2012年1月より『リコーダーとランドセル ド♪』のタイトルでテレビ埼玉、KBS京都にて放送された。
  A 5 minute tanpen anime was aired starting in January 2012 on TV Saitama and KBS Kyoto as "Recorder and Randsell Do♪".

Morita-san:

  『森田さんは無口。』のタイトルで、2011年7月から9月までテレビ埼玉、KBS京都、ニコニコチャンネルにて放送された5分枠の短編アニメ。
  From July to September 2011, TV Saitama, KBS Kyoto, and Nico Nico channel aired a 5 minute tanpen anime with the title as "Morita-san wa Mukuchi.".


What is a good way to keep track of the episode you're up to? So I have a list in notepad that I use to keep track of what episode I have watched:

********** Latest episode that I have watched: **********

A Certain Magical Index                         Season 1    Episode 24
A Certain Scientific Railgun                    Season 2    Episode 24
Absolute Duo                                                Episode 7
Accel World                     (anime)                     Episode 23
Accel World                     (light novel)   Volume 2    -all-
Accel World                     (manga)                     11
... etc.

And some other headings like:

*********** Finished (hopefully not) ***********

and

*********** To watch/consider: ***********

Is there a good tool online to do the same thing that I am doing but better, and will update automatically when a new season is automatically added, such as moved from the finished section to the latest section?

MyAnimeList is a fantastic option. Of every site I've tried it's by far the best. In addition to allowing you to track your anime according to a number of headings, it also allows you to specify a ton of other information, like times rewatched, rating, start/end dates, and how you have it stored (for example, if you own DVD's or BluRays of a show). Your ratings are actually aggregated with the rest of the community too - which is a very active community, I might add.

Furthermore, the site will help you track manga in the same way. Not to mention favorite characters and staff members.

Plus they have news, and there's even a blog attached to your account should you choose to use it.

If that weren't enough, it has a massive database of just about every anime and manga you could ever imagine, complete with character lists, plot summaries, staff/stuido information, user reviews, and recommendations for other similar anime.

In conclusion, MAL is exactly what you are looking for and more. Switching from a notepad document to that has saved me quite a few headaches.


What do the Hidamari Sketch "taglines" signify? The sequels to Hidamari Sketch all have "taglines" of one sort or the other. They are:

Hidamari Sketch x 365
Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu
Hidamari Sketch x SP
Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb

What do 365, hoshimittsu, SP, and honeycomb signify and/or why were they chosen in particular?

This answer is purely speculation so if somebody else posts an answer that has an official source, please feel free to accept that answer instead.

365 (Season 2): Some of these events take place before, during, and after season 1 if I remember correctly. So basically they're saying something like "we're going back to then and showing you all 365 days of their year!" (except they aren't literally showing you all 365, just more of what you saw in season 1)
Hoshimittsu/☆☆☆ (Season 3): Three stars for season three
Honeycomb (Season 4): There are six sides on a typical honeycomb, and there are six girls living at Hidamarisou. If this is the reasoning, they could've used this title for season 3 as well though.

As Logan M said in the comments, SP just stands for "special" (as opposed to a TV series). I don't think there is any significant meaning beyond that.


Can more than one person have the same devil fruit power? How come in the island Amazon Lily, the snake princess's sisters have the same devil fruit power?

Since only one person can have any given devil fruit power at a time, does it have to do with blood line or something?

They have similar fruits but not the same.
Boa Marigold has the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: King Cobra.
Boa Sandersonia has the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Anaconda.

  A majority of the Zoan Devil Fruits also come in different "models" that result in variations of the animal. For example, the Inu Inu (Dog) Fruit has Jackal, Dachshund, and Wolf models, the Ushi Ushi (Bull or Cow) Fruit has Bison and Giraffe models, and the Hebi Hebi (snake) has Anaconda and King Cobra models.

Source


In episode 2 why is baka captioned with "Dick Suck"? In Episode 2, Zapp Renfro gets an introduction screen which captions 馬鹿 and バカ as "Dick Suck". At first, I thought this was a troll caption, but it appears in official releases such as the Funimation! stream.

Does anyone know why this was captioned this way? Possibly a reason/joke in the anime?

You can read here:

Dick Suck is a meme referring to an annotation shown during the introduction to the character of Zapp Renfro within episode 2 of the anime, with one of the introductory annotations referring to him as a “dick suck”. Due to the humorous nature of the comment, the term grew in popularity among fans, and is often paired with fanart of the character.

However, it's mostly a pun on baka as mentioned on Reddit:

I think it actually says "Baka Baka".

Yep, the kanji is 馬鹿 (baka) and the katakana says "baka" too.

As for the reason of its official translation being that as well, it seems to be for nothing more than humor purposes like senshin points out in the comments.
Something similar to this is:

Chain Sumeragi being labelled as a "shawty"


How exactly were Ryuji and Taiga planning to elope after his 18th birthday, given the Japanese marriage law? In ep. 23, after both protagonists fall into the cold water below the bridge (astonishingly, without breaking any body parts in such shallow waters), Ryuji proposes to Taiga, and tells her that they could stay on the run until he is 18, and then marry.

From the US embassy orientation about Japanese marriage:

  Article 731 to 737 of the Japanese Civil Code stipulates the following requirements:

  The male partner must be 18 years of age or older and the female partner must be 16 years of age or older.
  In addition, for Americans, you must be able to legally marry in your home state; if the legal age of marriage at home is 18, you cannot marry earlier than that in Japan.
  A woman cannot get married within six months of the dissolution of her previous marriage. According to Japanese law, this is to avoid confusion as to the identification of a child's father if a birth occurs close in time to the end of the marriage.
  Most people related by blood, by adoption or through other marriages cannot get married in Japan.
  A person who is under 20 years of age cannot get married in Japan without a parent's approval.

The last line means that they would have to keep on the run for two more years if they were to marry without consent.

Is it supposed to illustrate a blunder caused by a lack of information with the teenage characters, or there was a way for them to get married without parental consent?

So I'll admit it's taken a long time to research this question, but my conclusion is thus:
They were teenagers in love, unaware that they couldn't just elope.
My believe is that they could not have directly eloped, and would have to be on the run for an additional two years to satisfy Japanese law.
Not just that, but the reality of figuring out how to survive while living like that - a subject touched on towards the end of the series, but not really fully fleshed out - would've likely proven too hard for them to survive.  Without any steady source of income, and even with a place to stay, their chances of surviving without a larger support network (yes, besides their friends) would've been very, very small.
However, there are loopholes to this scenario.  That is, there are reasonable scenarios which could have occurred that would've cleared these hurdles.
Please note:  these are conjectural, and based only on the evidence we have at hand.  I wouldn't say at all that this would occur; I wanted to explore the possibility.

Starting with Taiga, we can see that there are cracks in her relationships with her parents.  At this point, we know this because

 Taiga initially stormed off because her mother is pregnant, and will be introducing a new child into her family.  Taiga takes umbrage to this, and would rather not be in her mother's family.  Her father has already left town and would not be in a position to be a "parent" of any kind to her.

Given that, and how their relationship had progressed at that point, it could be seen that Taiga could have received approval from her mother to get married.

 Note that in the last episode, a voice mail left by Taiga's mom which sounded like furious resignation could've cleared the path to her becoming emancipated (as I as an American understand it), and would've been the start of her being able to get married before 20.

From Ryuuji's side, his perspective is a lot less clear due to his familial circumstances, but there is an angle that could have been exploited.

 After he ran off with Taiga, Yasuko had started to see Ryuuji as more of an independent man.  Even though her burning wish was to see her son succeed academically - a part in which she failed and genuinely wanted her son not to fail - after his brief but sharp rebuke, she could be seen as respecting Ryuuji just a bit more.

Even though Yasuko was heartbroken, it could be conjectured that Ryuuji could've asked her for her approval...after she was found.

 Note that Yasuko cut off all communication with the world, essentially, after Ryuuji ran off.  The only way that anyone got in touch with her was by telling her that Ryuuji was with her parents.

That would've opened up the dialogue somewhat, and could have allowed Ryuuji to gain his mother's permission to marry.


Does Zetsu have a word soul? This question contains spoilers! For early manga readers and anime viewers

   I wonder if Zetsu would be affected by the treasured tools of the Sage of the Six Paths. One idea is that White Zetsu and Black Zetsu have different word souls. However, would each White Zetsu clone have a different word soul?

In the light of Chapter 618, each Zetsu has his own soul, and thus, it is reasonable to expect that they have their own soul word.

   In Chapter 618, Orochimaru uses Edo Tensei to summon the previous four Hokage using four Zetsu's as sacrifice. Kabuto had previously explained that resurrecting the soul of a dead person with Edo Tensei requires sacrificing the soul of a living person.


What are Mutation Class Quirks? In one Boku no Hero Academia Wikia Wikia they mention Shota Aizawa can't erase Mutation-Class Quirks. Which are these Quirks?

Mutation type quirks tend to be irregular body quirks.
Think of Toru Hagakure's transparency quirk
.

  Mutant (異形 Igyō?)-type Quirks can have a wide variety of features and abilities depending on the individual, but the common similarity seems to be
  that these Quirks are a part of the user's physicality, causing the user to exhibit irregular bodily features that generally have some sort of purpose to them. As a result, Mutant Quirks are passively active and, at a glance, are the most identifiable. source


Are titan's other weakness the underground? They do seem to become less active at night or if deprived of sunlight, and so it may be possible they draw their primary source of energy from the sun. Annie refused to go underground. There also seems to be types of wall titans.

It seems to me that titans are scared of underground and need of sunlight make them weak to underground. Is this true and if so why doesn't the humans try to colonize underground?

There is no evidence to suggest that being underground/confined spaces can actually be a weakness for Titans. However there isn't any evidence supporting the contrary as well.

A definite strategic disadvantage of underground transformation is obvious (due to the restricted space for movement and the lack of visibility).

However in the corresponding chapter, you would do well to notice that the Titan smashes the tunnel from outside, all too easily. So underground colonization is a definite NO.

There is also no hard evidence on whether sunlight is a primary source of power for Titans. If that were the case, then Annie's transformation in the forest would have degenerated (no/minimal sunlight there).

Also (as suggested by @mirroroftruth), the use of forests is mainly because of the better 3D maneuver environment. However from my perception, undergrounds are just as bad an environment for 3D maneuvers, as they may be for Titans.


How come it seems like all Lucy's Spirits can summon themselves? When Loki is one of Karen's spirits and he switches with Aries, he says he is not an ordinary spirit so he can switch with them and summon himself on his own but other spirits seem to have no problem summoning themselves.

If this was the case just for the Zodiac Keys, I would be "ok" but Horologium will show up without Lucy summoning him too whereas he is a regular spirit.

It is mentioned in the series that since Lucy and her spirits share a strong bond, the spirits can summon themselves without Lucy initiating it. It doesn't matter if it is a zodiac key or a silver key.

Moreover as her magic power increases, the time that they can remain in the real world also increases.


What is the statue Hyakkimaru prays to? Hyakkimaru's mother prays to a statue without a head. What is this statue without a head?

The statue that Hyakkimaru's mother prays to is Goddess of Mercy. The Goddess of Mercy statue had a head before Hyakkimaru was born.

"The Goddess of Mercy statue sacrificed its own head at Hyakkimaru's birth so the child would not lose his head in his father's bargain with the demons.",
(Reference - Notes, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dororo_(2019_TV_series))

For more summarized details about the episodes you can refer to following link : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dororo_(2019_TV_series)


Will Mr. Mado return in Tokyo Ghoul Re? So, I noticed in the opening for Tokyo Ghoul Re that they showed Kureo Mado wearing a hood, so does this mean he will return? Surely even he wasn't so deceitful and cunning that he would fake his death, go behind the CCG's back, and hunt ghouls while undercover. They also showed a hooded figure holding Amon's doujima quinque, and while they didn't show his face, I'm hoping this was him.

In the opening for Tokyo Ghoul Re that they showed Kureo Mado wearing a hood

You are mistaken, the guy wearing black hoodie in the OP theme is

   Seidou Takizawa. At the end of the Owl Suppression Operation, he faced Tatara together with Koutarou Amon and was subsequently reported dead by the CCG.

As per the story in the anime, Mado was declared dead by the CCG (season 1 episode 8). Not sure if he would make an appearance in Tokyo Ghoul :Re.

According to manga

   Kureo Mado is dead. He didn't make any appearance after that event, so there's no doubt that he's dead. You can also confirm from the wiki


Why does Kiki flood the floor of her flat to clean it? In this GIF from the cleaning montage in Kiki's Delivery Service, she's seen cleaning her flat by flooding the floor and scrubbing it down:

Is this a real way to clean wood flooring? Isn't that damaging to the wood? Wouldn't the water seep through the cracks? Isn't she above the bakery?
These are silly questions to ask but I am curious if this is a real technique or artistic choice of exaggerated animation.

She is scrubbing the floor.  It is a very common way to clean floors -- a search engine turned up many images showing people doing just this for "scrub the floor." Given that the water is on it only in the short term, the damage is not extensive even over many years.
It can leak, like any other water spill, if the floor is not watertight.


Was Akame ga Kill Zero stopped? I am not able to find any manga chapter of Akame ga Kill Zero after chapter 16. Even in the wikia page, all chapters after chapter 17 don't have any description. Did they stop the series?

Did they stop the series?

No. The latest volume (#4) contains chapters 21-25, and publication is ongoing in Monthly Big Gangan.

If the wikia stops at chapter 17, I'm guessing that's because the scanlators, whoever they are, stalled or dropped the series. It is, in general, unwise to count on wikias being up-to-date. They are, after all, written by random schmoes on the internet.


Can a Demon Weapon also be a Weapon Meister? So I just started watching Soul Eater and have the basics pretty much and u was wandering. Could a Demon Weapon also be a weapon meister? This got me thinking when watching the Thompson Sisters defend themselves against an army of mummies can someone shed some light on this? I know the sisters are just weapons belonging to Death the Kid.

The Weapon ability in Soul Eater is basically determined at birth. You either can transform into a weapon or you can't. There's no confusion about that. But the Meisters are a bit different.

To be a Meister basically means to be able to perform well in pair with a Weapon. Not everybody can do that, but even among the Meisters, not all of them can perform well enough to be considered a serious threat or a great combo. You could say that a successful combo can do the Soul Resonance thing and unleash their full battle potential. And it doesn't really matter if there's more than one Weapon in a combo or no Meisters (non-Weapon) at all. Thompson sisters show that they can do just fine both in the role of a Meister and a Weapon.

So all members of a combo can be Weapons, but the Soul Resonance best occurs when there is a specialist non-Weapon Meister in it. At least that's what can be concluded from the series.


Why couldn't they make a vessel for Adam sooner? In Evangelion, why couldn't they have made a vessel for Adam sooner or brought an angel close to have started the Human Instrumentality Project.

What was the point of Rei also then? Making a vessel for Lilith's soul hardly serves the purpose of the project, and will go to waste anyways when it occurs. How was she significant to the project and what is her significance?

Gendo's own scenario for the Third Impact was "the forbidden fusion of Adam and Lilith", his goal was to be reunited with his dead wife Yui who died during the Contact experiment which lead to the Second Impact, for this he required 2 things, Adam and Lilith.

In the aftermath of the Second Impact, Adam's Soul was separated from it's body which had been reduced to an embryonic state, Adam's Soul was recovered and stored in the 17th Angel Tabris (Kaworu Nagisa) which SEELE sort to use in instigate their Third Impact by having him make contact with Lilith, if it had worked the result would be an Adam Dominated Third Impact under the control of SEELE.

One reason why SEELE couldn't send Tabris quite possible because he wasn't ready to be used yet but the other main reason was the Lance of Longinus, so long as it was in Lilith the Third Impact couldn't start (it was placed there to stop it but in a way that they could remove it one all the components for their plan were prepared), it wasn't removed until it was used as the last ditch effort to kill an Angel which no EVA could reach, it's not known how SEELE would have acted had Gendo not ordered the lance to be used.

Rei's purpose was all Gendo's Third Impact Scenario, not SEELE's. Gendo made SEELE think he was on their side however he was working on his own plans to be reunited with Yui, who Rei is a clone of. much like with SEELE's plan, Gendo couldn't act while the lnace was in Lilith however when it was removed and he could confrim that SEELE couldn't interfere with another Adam he executed his plan (which we don't see until End of Evangelion). Gendo's plan was to control Rei in a Lilith Dominated Third Impact but Rei rejected Gendo and took the embryo of Adam from him and fused with Lilith.


Do Sea Kings know about happenings in the world and how? I was wondering whether or not Sea Kings know about the world: what is going on (when there was the Marineford war for example), who the world rulers are, how the power is balanced in the world, etc. And if they do, then how, when they can't speak to anyone from the surface? Or do they understand humans even though humans can't understand them (honor the exceptions)?

The short answer is: as for now (chapter 967), there is no concrete answer to your question in the manga.

If we look a bit more deeply into the chapters and try to interpret the information given, then it gets obvious that some form of communication occurs between Sea Kings and "human beings" (including life forms not necessarily called humans in the manga such as fish-men).

It is being said that the antic weapon Poseidon gets reborn every (few) 100 years in the form of a mermaid princess and will lead the Sea Kings (chapters 648, 650, 967). This stands on the poneglyphs that are at least 800 years old so around 8 people were able to directly communicate with the Sea Kings (but not necessarily doing so) like princess Shirahoshi did.

It was shown that Gol D. Roger and possibly Luffy can hear their voice too (chapter 648 and 967). Though this did not lead to a conversation, they may be able to converse.  Roger was also able to hear other "voices" such as the one of the golden bell in Skypiea/Shandora and Zunesha's in Zou.  Oden and later Luffy and Momonosuke were able to feel respectively hear Zunesha's voice too.  Mononosuke is so far the only one that was shown to talk directly to Zunesha (chapter 821) so he might be able to talk to Sea Kings too.  That's an indirect way the Sea Kings could get informed about the whereabouts of the world.

The Sea Kings know about the history of Poseidon so either a person told them or - if this story actually originates from ancient Sea Kings and not from humans - they must have told someone for this story to be transmitted in the form of poneglyphs among humans.

Finally, Sea Kings go to the surface from time to time, even close to islands (chapters 101 and 319 for example), so they might get information about what happens on land on their own, looking around and bringing these information back to other Sea Kings.  From the level of communication they show in chapter 648, one can safely assume that they are smart enough to understand whatever human activity they can observe.


Is Misa's suicide being caused by Light's death a flaw in the story? In Episode 37, Light dies. Soon after that, Misa commits suicide. But I'm a little confused now, because of this rule:

  the death of the person whose name is written in the book can not lead to anyone else's death

Now, everyone knows that Misa will commit suicide if Light dies. But the death of a person whose name is written in the book can't lead to anyone else's death. So basically, Ryuk shouldn't have been able to kill Light, because if Light is dead, that will indirectly lead to Misa's death. So, have I missed something in Death Note, or am I right?

The title of this question is misleading, because "another flaw" assumes there was a first flaw. Death Note avoids plot holes more rigorously than perhaps any other series in existence. Whenever someone misunderstands or forgets some element of the storyline, they tend to think their misunderstanding must be a flaw in the story.

The rule you're thinking of is Rule XXVI.

  Even though only one name is written in the Death Note, if it influences and causes other humans that are not written in it to die, the victim's cause of death will be a heart attack.

Things to note:

1) It doesn't say that the Death Note is incapable of killing people who aren't written in it. It only says that, in these cases, the victim's cause of death must be a heart attack.

2) This rule only specifically refers to directly causing the immediate death of other people. This is made clear in the story, and it's also clarified in the rules, with Rule XLII.

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

It spells it out here that killing a human with the Death Note can shorten the lifespan of other humans, "even though their names are not actually written in the Death Note".


Why did Madara use wood clones to manifest Susanoo while fighting the 5 Kage instead of shadow clones? Was it because:

shadow clones can't perform Susanoo, but wood clones can?
wood clones are stronger/better than shadow clones?
Madara couldn't perform Shadow Clone Technique?
of any other reason not mentioned above?

In the wiki, it is mentioned that

  Wood Clone Technique, unlike other clone techniques, do not disappear when hit and it is able to take damage to a certain degree. 'This, according to Madara Uchiha, makes it the perfect clone technique that only he with his dōjutsu was able to see through.' This happened in Chapter 577.

This was most likely the reason why he preferred using wood clones. The two other possibilities you mentioned above are not possible and here are the reasons:

The first possibility is wrong since both Shadow Clones and Wood Clones can perform jutsu.
The third possibility is wrong since Madara Uchiha is listed as one of the Shadow Clone users. He even used it to fake his death.


Why does Mir appear inside Cloche's Cosmosphere According to This answer there is a special reason why Shurelia is able to appear in Misha's and Aurica's Cosmospheres.

How in in the 4th Level of Cloche's Cosmosphere Mir appeared despite the 2 never having met. even if the reason for Shurelia appearing in other's Cosmospheres rings true for Mir according to this answer

  Cocona is also an IPD, meaning she does not connect to the "correct" server, but to the Infel Phira server.

this means IPDs have a totally different server that they connect to plus Infel Pira was man made after the Reyvateils appeared (as Infel, a Reyvateil herself, made it to prepare to sing Metafalica)

So i am wondering how is Mir turning up in Cloche's Cosmosphere?

The servers can connect to each other to make the singing of Dual Songs and such possible, and there are some songs that depend on these connection to even be executed, so it's not unlikely that part of Mir's feelings ended up getting into Infel Phira during the time she and Loude were doing research on it.


What should I know if I am to watch Fafner Exodus without watching the prequel series and movie? I watched the two first episodes of Fafner Exodus, but it was very confusing, as the story is ongoing. Not much intro.

There were a prequel series, and a movie. What should I know from this prequel material in order to understand Fafner Exodus?

There was a prequel series, an OVA and a movie, and they do all need to be watched (and in that order) to understand Exodus.

Fafner's plot is pretty complicated. You may even need to watch the original series twice to understand it (the first half was done by a different writer and isn't as good, but makes more sense on a second watch).

It's a good series (and Exodus is brilliant so far), but it does require a fair bit of time investment, and the plot isn't for everyone.


Why did the skinned chickens fear the camera? It might be too much to ask for logic from this series, but maybe there is an answer somewhere.

In Episode 2 of Humanity has Declined, the narrator discovers that the board of directors of the factory producing weird items is a bunch of chickens that were butchered, plucked, and prepared for eating in Episode 1. They somehow came to life and gained intelligence and the ability to speak by making weird honking sounds. (The narrator can get overly literal subtitles of their language using a pair of universal translator glasses provided by her fairy companion.)

The butchered chickens manage to trap the narrator in a cage and declare their intent to erase her memory with drugs and leave her somewhere far away to watch as they complete their insidious plan to destroy the ailing human society. However, the narrator's silent assistant enters and starts taking pictures of the chickens with his camera. For some reason, this terrifies them, and they run away. Several of them fall into the factory equipment and become food during the ensuing chase; the remaining group clusters against a seaside cliff and leaps into the sea rather than face the camera, while "Ave Maria" plays.

Pretty much everything about this episode is worthy of a big question mark, but I found it most puzzling that the chickens feared the camera so much that they leapt to their deaths rather than face it. (Yes, really, that was the part I found most puzzling.) Why were they so afraid of the camera?

I was correct in my earlier comment - The skinned chickens don't want to be revealed to humankind so they avoid being photographed.

This is revealed in the first dialogue with the chickens:

If they knew of their existance, humanity could easily overpower them because of the chickens' feeble bodies. Hence they try to avoid the assistant.

Don't worry, the main character missed it too:


Why do most teams have two males and one female? Almost all teams in Naruto have 1 female and 2 male members. For example, Kakashi's team (Kakashi, Obito, Rin) and Jiraya's students (Nagato, Konan, Yahiko). Is there any rule behind this?

I don't think there is any rule behind this because the main motive behind this is to test the dynamics of teamwork but there is one rule that is to how to team-up Genin:

  Genin are put in four-man cells, or squad, consisting of three genin
  and a jōnin-sensei, in order to learn teamwork and experience true
  ninja life under the supervision and protection of an elite shinobi.
   The make-up of these teams is based on the individual skills of the
   genin, so that there will be a balance between the teams. For
  instance, Naruto Uzumaki, who passed with the lowest grades, was put
  in a team with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, who passed with the
  highest grades and highest written exam scores, respectively.

So there is nothing states that there has to be one girl in every team. But to create a perfect balance between all teams they might have assign one girl in every team.


What is EXEC_PAJA/.#Misya extracting? So i got all the Ar Tonelico Soundtracks in the mail and going though them i can ID the Songs that are downloaded into Aurica, Misha and Shurelia as they all have the prefix EXEC_ (ie. EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY is the song Misha sings to seal Mir, EXEC_SUSPEND is what Shurelia uses to shut down Ar Tonelico and EXEC_RE_NATION is the song sang to restart it)

I got the soundtracks so i could listen to the boss music for when one fights ELMA_DS at the SPU and i found the track in the Soundtrack Singing the Stars ~Hoshiyomi~ Ar Tonelico Hymmnos concert Side Ao and it has EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY and EXEC_HARMONIUS but the song i was looking for is titled EXEC_PAJA/.#Misya extracting

From the looks of the track name it seems like it's supposed to be Song Magic but if it is Song Magic who's it is and what does it do? because i don't remember there being a mention of a Song/Hymn Crystal called Paja.

EXEC_PAJA is in fact the Hymn Crystal Purger, which was the overall plot to Phase 1. In  Chanting the Moon ~Tsukikanade~ Ar Tonelico Hymmnos concert Side Kurenai there is a track called EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting.

Orica sounds very much like how Aurica's name is pronounced so one can assume that Misya is supposed to be Misha (they sound much the same as well). Also listening to EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting sounds much like the music that plays when one battles ELMA_DS the first time and the music in the background is supposed to be the Reyvateil Purger was downloaded into sing to prevent ELMA_DS escaping into the Binary Field.

So EXEC_PAJA is the song from the Hymn Crystal Purger and .#Misya extracting indicates it's Misha's version of it. The reason she sings it is so that ELMA_DS won't flee. Just how Misha is singing that and the healing song at the same time is unknown as to my knowledge they can only sing one song at a time.

This is also backed up in EXEC_PURGER's Wikia page where the fourth paragraph says

  Also known by the name EXEC_PAJA/.

The page also lists the unaltered names for both songs matching that of the tracks on the soundtracks, more than likely bring the untranslated romaji from the Japanese Version.


Who is this character being cosplayed in Japan Expo 2014? This is a snapshot from JAPAN EXPO 2014. I don't know the character, so does anyone know who this character is? Here is the source video.

This is Aion cosplay, those wings she wearing are Hyperion Wings.

She's (Of') part of a French cosplay group called "Les Cosplayeuses Emplumées."


Why didn't Lelouch go to his father as soon as he got his Geass? Is there any reason why Lelouch didn't go to his father to find out the truth about his mother's death as soon as he got Geass?

You can't just walk into the throne room of the Britannian emperor. Bear in mind that Lelouch was no prince anymore in title, he was banished (or something like that, I can't recall the exact term). It's like walking in the room of Queen Elizabeth or the POTUS; it's not something you can physically do. Even with Geass, he'd just be shot down by a sniper or Knightmare.


Why do some anime characters use Sanskrit spells instead of Japanese? Recently while watching Twin Star Exorcists I noticed the main character using a Sanskrit spell. Why is that the case? Why don't they use native Japanese spells instead?

per Wikipedia on Sanskrit

  Sanskrit (/ˈsænskrɪt/; Sanskrit: saṃskṛtam [səmskr̩t̪əm] or saṃskṛta, originally saṃskṛtā vāk, "refined speech") is the primary sacred language of Hinduism, a philosophical language in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, and a literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in Greater India.

While Japan's native region is way back when was Shintoism during the Nara period Buddhism was making it's way into Japan and was structurally established within Japan by Emperor Shōmu sometime during his reign between 724–749 being a devout Buddhist himself.

  During this time, Buddhism becomes structurally established within Japan by Emperor Shōmu (reign 724–749), and several large building projects are undertaken. The Emperor lays out plans for the Buddha Dainichi (Great Sun Buddha), at Tōdai-ji assisted by the Priest Gyogi (or Gyoki) Bosatsu. The priest Gyogi went to Ise Daijingu Shrine for blessings to build the Buddha Dainichi. They identified the statue of Viarocana with Amatarasu (the sun goddess) as the manifestation of the supreme expression of universality.

Soruce: Shinto - History - Nara Period

  Shōmu, a devout Buddhist, is best remembered for commissioning, in 743, the sixteen-meter high statue of the Vairocana Buddha (the Daibutsu) in Tōdai-ji of Nara.

Source: Emperor Shōmu - Legacy

obviously one can find Buddist references in some anime such as Dragonball and Brave 10, particualy from the answer in that link

  Buddhist texts in Japanese are strange things. As the informed reader is aware, Buddhism originated in India, and as such, many of the foundational texts of Buddhism were originally written in Sanskrit. When Buddhism moved into China, those Sanskrit texts were translated into whatever the contemporary form of Classical Chinese was. Eventually, those texts made their way from China into Japan.

the exact reason as to why they would use that? if i was to make an assumption it would be because it's an old yet mystical language from a age long gone and normally (from what i have seen) old languages are generally used for magic such as with the Merlin series the Spells used in it were literal commands (like Open, Copy, Burn) translated to Old English or Lancer in Fate/Stay Night using Northern European Runes

  Lancer obtained 18 Original Runes, Norse Runes, after studying magecraft under Scáthach in the Land of Shadows

Source: Lancer (Fate/Stay Night) - Abilities - Runes

^ you can see 3 of the 4 Runes Lancer uses in Ath nGabla. the 4 runes being Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Ingwaz


What is this song from Naruto song sung in Korean? I watched this show and they're singing the Korean version of an OST, and although it's familiar, I can't recognize it. Seems like it's from Naruto though.

Can anyone remember the title of this song?


When did the event related to Rurichiyo Kasumioji really happen? In Bleach, while Ichigo and the gang invading Hueco Mundo, they keep cutting away to Rurichiyo Kasumioji and her story:

   they save her, kill the guys with the Hollow Swords, and save the head captain.

When did that really happen? Did they help her before or after going there?

It's a filler arc, that does not contain canon material. The anime creators were forced to insert this new arc randomly in the middle of the Hueco Mundo arc as the anime was catching up too fast with the manga.

However, I think it's safe to say that it occurs in the tiny window between Ichigo's training and Orihime's kidnapping, as Ichigo uses his hollow abilites, and Orihime hasn't been kidnapped yet.


Is there any humor or meaning to the conversation about Yuri's dream and how many Hinatas there were? In episode 5, Otonashi and Angel had a conversation about Yuri's dream and how many Hinatas there were, which seemed totally random and out of nowhere. When I first watched that episode, I didn't get the humor and meaning that I expected were there in the conversation. Is there a joke or meaning to those remarks, or are they just some disposable lines?

The curious conversation between Otonashi and Angel

音無：「すまん！ゆりの調子が不安定だ。 原因は、昨夜夢に日向が出てきて……」
日向：『今日の俺と明日の俺が同じ俺だと思うな。気を付けな。』
音無：「……と忠告してきたことによる。そして今、その忠告が事実であることをゆりが証明しちまったところなんだ。」
天使：「日向君は二人いるの？」
音無：「あ、ああ、そういうことになる。」
天使：「三人以上いるかもしれない？」
音無：「え？ああ、ありえる。」
天使：「お気の毒に。」

Otonashi: Sorry! Yuri's a little emotionally unstable. Because last night, Hinata showed up in her dream and—
Hinata: Don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same. Watch out.
Otonashi: That's what he said, and Yuri just proved it.
Angel: Are there two Hinata-kun's?
Otonashi: Y-Yeah... that's right.
Angel: Is there a chance that there's more than three of him?
Otonashi: Huh? Oh, uh... it's possible.
Angel: I'm sorry to hear that.

The joke here, I think, is that before this conversation, Hinata showed up in front of Yuri and behaved very differently from yesterday (before Yuri dreamed about him), so Otonashi said that the warning came true: Hinata really changed. Since Hinata said, "don't think that the me from today and tomorrow will be the same", tomorrow, he might change again, making Kanade say that there could be more than three of him.