Why do shinigami bleed? This is a question really about how the spiritual body is "comprised"
How and why do shinigami bleed, have internal organs etc, it is shown they do not need food, so why a digestive tract at all.

All things in soul society is made of reishi, are we to believe reishi is the equivalent of "atoms" or "particles".
"Spirit particles" is commonly used to describe energy that a quincy uses...
so the main question is...
In cannon, has it been explained why shinigami have a body that is still basically human...

I believe you've answered your own question - it's not really blood that's draining from a shinigami, it's the reishi of that person draining away, thus weakening their soul. Ichigo and co (and the viewers) only perceive it as blood because that's something our minds can actually grasp and understand. In more extreme cases, such as Ulquiorra, when critically injured, the person may simply disintegrate directly into particles before one's eyes, due to a sudden uncontrolled collapse of spiritual energy. Nell's wound results in rapid and ongoing "bloodloss" (reishi-loss) in her adult form, forcing her to 'reduce' her 'mass' back to a smaller size, that of a child.


Is there a (relatively) clear consensus for Hange Zoe's gender? A common conclusion by English speaking followers of SnK is that Hange Zoe is nonbinary, since there is no specific reference to Hange's gender in the language used in the manga. (See here for an example.) On the flip side, the in-text justification that gendered-pronouns aren't used isn't useful in the original Japanese context, and there are a bunch of other key characters to whom this lack of gender-specific reference applies to. (I'm also a cynic, and I have seen enough cases of cultural myopia among English speaking animanga fans that I'm simply a bit suspicious.)

In any case, there seems to be a great deal of drama floating around about this - for instance, some of the posts here.

There's also been the suggestion that the creators don't care what gender Hange is assigned to, but since this indifference apparently (at least according to the OP) extends to all characters (even those who seem relatively well-defined as male or female), I'm sceptical of the value of this fact.

Is there anything clear consensus (or "restriction" that at least rules out some possibilities) with regards to Hange Zoe's gender, from a culturally aware interpretation of the material from SnK? [I'm asking this in part since it probably would be useful to have a "resource", and while I have my own vague conclusions based on webpages and blog posts like the above, I believe it'd be useful to get other perspectives, particularly as someone who has not followed the manga.]

In the Anime, Hange is clearly female. In the manga, it's left for the reader to interpret.

Source and Source


Do we know how Senju Hashirama died? The wiki says that Hashirama died shortly after the creation of Konohagakure.  Do we know how he died?  I mean, he was powerful enough to stand up to Madara, so I feels like it would be no small thing that could kill him.

It's unknown exactly how did he die, but here's what we can find. His wiki page says:

   Hashirama died shortly after the founding of Konoha in one of the many
 wars that were raging during this revolutionary era, but not before
 passing on the title of Hokage to Tobirama.1

However, if we head to the Konohagakure wiki page, we will find a more specific note:

   Hashirama died during the First Shinobi World War, necessitating his
 brother Tobirama Senju replace him as Second Hokage.1 Tobirama would
 also die during the war, appointing his pupil Hiruzen Sarutobi as his
 successor before sacrificing himself to ensure his pupils' escape from
 Kumogakure's ninja.2

Now, here's what we know about the First Shinobi War (emphasis mine):

   The First Shinobi War was the first of the great wars that involved the majority of
 shinobi villages and countries. The war started not long after the system of one shinobi
 village per country was established by the founding of Konohagakure. To try and
 maintain a balance of power, the First Hokage divided the tailed beasts among the
 other five villages3 when he began his peace talks with them.

So it indeed looks like he died in the First Shinobi War, which is not too surprising, considering that

   his brother - the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju - died in the same war2, in which other Kages and Tailed Beasts were involved.

1 Character Databook 1, page 116
2 chapter 481 pages 4-10
3 chapter 404 page 14


What language is on the "God's Message" Cube? In Crystal Triangle, there's an ancient relic in the shape of a cube that's got writing all over it and is referred to as "God's Message".

At first glance, it looks like it's based on Aramaic:

But then when we get a really good look at it, it doesn't look Aramaic at all:

Is this based on any kind of real world language/alphabet (similar to how the writing at the end of the Evangelion opening sequence is based on Angelic Script)? Or is it completely made up?

I have not seen this show, nor have I researched the question, so take this answer with a grain of salt.

At first glance, the inscriptions look like Chinese characters (hanzi) or Japanese characters (kanji) that have been modified a bit to look 'archaic' or chiseled into stone. I've taken the second picture and added in the Chinese characters (in red) that I think some of the etchings are similar to.


Does the Heart of the Cards work for anyone or just Yugi? In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series (English dub), the Heart of the Cards is very important to Yugi. By believing in his cards and having faith that they will provide him with what he needs when he needs them, he can stack the deck draw the right card when he needs it the most.

In a number of episodes, Yugi tells other people that they should trust in the Heart of the Cards. Joey is the only one who seems to take this advice seriously, but I don't recall it ever working for him (unless his ridiculous luck worked for him).

Does the Heart of the Cards work for anybody?

Yes, everyone can come to use it
First off, the definition of Heart of the Cards is a little hazy. The best definition I can come up with is:

Having something worth dueling for besides yourself (e.g. friendship)
Having faith that your cards will come through for you when you need them to

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 1x22 "Face Off, Part 1", Seto Kaiba comes to an understanding of what the Heart of the Cards is, focusing on the first definition.

Kaiba: Yugi, you said you won [last time we dueled] by tapping into the Heart of the Cards. And for a long time, I didn't know what that meant. But now, I think I do. And it took Pegasus to show me. [Kaiba pulls out a necklace with a picture of Mokuba as a kid] He gave me a reason to put my heart in the cards. […] For the first time, Yugi, I can duel with fire and passion in my heart.
Yugi: I can feel it. [Yugi thinks to himself] Kaiba has changed. I can sense it. He's fighting for more than just himself this time. There's a new belief…in the Heart of the Cards.

I'm pretty sure that Kaiba later mocks Yugi for the Heart of the Cards, but in this scene at least, Yugi flat out agrees that Kaiba is believing in the Heart of the Cards.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX two-parter "The King of Copycats" (1x18 and 1x19), Jaden Yuki duels a copycat duelist who steals Yugi's deck and pretends to be him. Naturally, the copycat starts talking about the Heart of the Cards.

[Draws a card] Perfect! The Heart of the Cards has served me again!

Jaden starts lamenting that he can't beat a deck with the Heart of the Cards before he gets insight from Winged Kuriboh.

Yugi's deck is just so powerful. I thought I could win, but now, I don't know. Huh?
[Winged Kuriboh's spirit appears]
Kuriboh. Sorry, but what can I do? He's got the Heart of the Cards on his side.
[Winged Kuriboh starts poking Jaden, then points towards his opponent]
Uhh! Ow! Oh! What do you mean "no"? Come on, that's Yugi's deck! Oh! Wait a sec, that's it! That's Yugi's Deck! There's no way the heart of the cards can be on Dimitri's side! The Heart of the Cards come from believing in your own cards, not someone's you stole!
[Winged Kuriboh nods in approval]
And I believe in my deck. So if the Heart of the Cards is on anyone's side, it's on mine!

He then draws the card he needs to turn the duel in his favor.

My interpretation of these events is that the Heart of the Cards does work for anybody, but not everyone has an equally strong faith in it, or is attuned to them using it. There have been cases where the person dueling for the right reason wins, and there have been times when someone draws the one card they need without necessarily relying on the Heart of the Cards. Heck, I even saw one fan theory saying that Mai's supposed psychic powers was her using the Heart of the Cards and not realizing it.
But given that apparently anyone can use it, even Seto Kaiba, I think that yes, anybody can use it.


Why didn't Minato tell Naruto how to fight against Kamui? When Naruto meet his father Minato's Chakra inside of him during the Pain fight, why didn't Minato tell Naruto how Obito's Kamui works?

Minato's appearance merely a safeguard
When Minato sealed Kurama within Naruto, he sealed some of his chakra within Naruto as well. This was a countermeasure to assist Naruto re-seal Kurama if he were to ever to escape. This happens during the Pain Assault, and Naruto nearly breaks the seal out of anger.
With Minato's chakra being limited, he only had time to do what he needed to do, which was:

Tighten Karuma's seal
Give Naruto a summary of what he has observed up until now

Under Minato's observation, Pain was a simply pawn of Tobi. So why didn't he tell Naruto at this point?
Minato did not know Tobi was Obito
During Obito's assault on Konoha, he and Minato clashed. At this time, Minato did not know he was fighting Obito and assumed it was Madara. Obito was pronounced dead long before this, so Minato wouldn't have thought twice about this masked man's identity.
Minato does not come to the conclusion that Obito was the one who assaulted the village until their second clash during 4th Shinobi War.
Minato may not have know how it worked
Why would he know? Obito and Minato's clash during the Konoha assault was very brief. During the 4th Shinobi War, it took Kakashi some time to figure out how Kamui worked. And this only was because Kakashi noticed that Obito's sharingan prowess worked very similar to his own.
Minato didn't have anything to compare against to understand how Obito's abilities worked.


Why do they call their Sensei by his given name? I read that in Japanese culture a person's given name is used very rarely except for children, so I guess that's why for example Naruto refers to Sakura Haruno as Sakura. But why do they call Kakashi Hatake "Kakashi Sensei" and not "Hatake Sensei"? This also applies for all the other teams and their teachers.

The main reason is Naruto's Universe is different from ours.
In most of the other anime where the story takes place in Japan, Japan's mode of addressing applies. Calling your teacher and your female/male friend by family name. Calling each other by name if you are a lover or male-male or female-female friend. Respecting your seniors by calling them Senpai, etc.
However, since Naruto takes place in a different universe, the mode of addressing is different. In Naruto, you can find people not only calling by their names but also by their nicknames. Naruto has nicknames for most of his friends, sensei, and elders, like Rock Lee-Bushy Brows, Ero Sennin-Jiraya, ... which you mostly don't find in real life.

This is not limited to just Naruto. One Piece, Attack on Titan, and most of the other anime where their universe is different from ours (or Japan), the usual Japanese mode of addressing doesn't apply.


What is the penalty to dying inside Elder Tale? When people die inside Elder Tale they respawn in the Cathedral.
In the first episode a penalty for dying was mentioned. However, no specifics were given.

Does the light novel or the manga shed some light on what the penalty (or penalties) might be?

This is covered later in the LNs (which are being translated and are available here):

Adventurers lose EXP while NPCs die for real.
However, there is an additional penalty that is not obvious: when an adventurer dies they lose some of their memories.

Major spoiler:

   If the cathedral is destroyed, adventurers cannot respawn and die for real.


Who was Levi's host? Spoiler alert! Do no proceed unless you are up to date with the manga or you don't mind being spoiled.

In Chapter 112 of Shingeki no Kyojin, according to Eren, the Ackerman are able to unleash their power when their host are in danger and they will often have headaches as their inner self fights against the instinct of the Ackerman blood.

He then told Mikasa that her tagging along wherever Eren goes is just from her Ackerman blood as Eren is her host.

Levi is also an Ackerman and as seen multiple times, he is capable of nearly inhumane feats such as slaughtering a horde of Titans all by himself. My questions is, who was Levi's host? Was it Erwin? If so, do we have proofs that it was him?

For Levi, that person is Erwin. He has acknowledged Erwin as an existence who he looks up to. It’s part of the Ackerman bloodline, or an instinctive part of them, you could say.
  source: Hajime Isayama, book of answers


Why didn't Sugu recognize Kirito in ALO When Kirito logs in to ALO with his SAO account, all his SAO skills and points and even Yui's heart are loaded; so we can conclude that the same thing must have happened to his avatar, too. If so, why didn't Sugu recognize him and if not, why is that?

When people were trapped in SAO, their avatars became exactly similar to their real-life bodies, so recognizing someone from real life was possible there.

Kirito at SAO:

Kirito in real life:

But in ALO, it's totally different.

See Sugu and leafa as an example:

Real Life:

ALO:

Kirito's avatar in ALO may resemble his character from SAO, yet it's still different.
A player with that avatar could look totally different in real life. And people that play MMORPG's are not use to talk about their real life at the game.

So, Leafa didn't recognize Kirito because there was no reason for her to do so in a game like ALO.


Why are next episode previews suddenly moved from TV to online? At the end of the 19th episode of Kill la Kill, it is announced that further episode previews will be moved to online.

  Hello, everyone! I have sad news for you today! This will be the final preview for the television broadcast of this show! From now on, please tune in to the web previews!

It appears that the main part's duration isn't increased all that much for the 20th episode, so the only reason I think this has is to attract viewers to the official website of the anime and, possibly, hook them on some other anime from the same TV channel or production studio.

Why did this happen?

To promote the incoming anime.

Apparently, Animeism (a late-night Japanese anime programming block on MBS) -- and to the extent of anime produced by MBS -- has a routine of cutting entirely/shortening next episode's previews by 15 seconds to promote incoming anime when it's nearing the end.

In this case, since Kill la Kill's next episode's previews were 15 seconds long, they were entirely cut and replaced by PVs for Riddle Story of the Devil since episode 19 out of 24 (refer to the Wikipedia's list on block B2). Also, since they had worked on next episode's previews, they would be wasted if they hadn't shown them somewhere (e.g. official site).

Another example is Hozuki's Coolheadedness which had 30-seconds next episode's previews. In that case, they're shortened to 15 seconds then continue with Knights of Sidonia's 15-seconds PV.

Lastly, even for non-Animeism anime, but produced by MBS like Magi, it's also affected. Their 15-seconds next episode's previews got entirely cut to show 15-seconds PV for Haikyu!!

  previews resumed in the later episodes!

This is just a theory since I don't have enough information to make a conclusion, but if it's not simulcasted or otherwise on streaming sites which had more flexibility in time arrangement, then the next preview could be added manually from the official site.

Source:

matome blog (Japanese)
Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Japanese): 1, 2


How did Itachi awaken his Mangekyou Sharingan? If Itachi didn't kill Shisui, how did he really awaken his Mangekyou Sharingan?

The Mangekyou Sharingan is activated once its user experiences great loss, especially of someone close to him.
This means that Itachi did not have to kill Shisui in order for the Mangekyou to activate. What is most important for the activation is that the user feels the loss, which causes their brain to release a special kind of chakra that affects their optic nerves (chapter 619), thus awakening the Sharingan, and the Mangekyou, depending on what 'level' you were before, and on how much loss you have experienced. The more loss you experience, the more powerful the Sharingan gets.

Probably, just witnessing Shisui's death to protect the village was traumatic enough for Itachi to awaken his Mangekyou.
Also, if you remember, Sasuke's Mangekyou activated when Itachi died. He did not kill him either, but witnessing his death, even though he hated him, was traumatic enough to activate it.


Would the Shinigami eye deal have shortened Light's lifespan? We know, that if a human makes the Shinigami eye deal, he will lose half of his remaining lifespan. But, let's say Light made the shinigami deal. He might have killed L earlier, thus prolonging his life again. So here is my questions:

Would Light have lived longer, if he would have had the Shinigami eyes?

Hypothetically speaking(since that is what it means to give Light the shinigami eyes at an early stage), if you give Light the shinigami eyes, the early he could have killed L, was when they were frequenting the same school/university and at that point L was already highly suspicious of Light to the point of tracking him.

If L were to die there regardless of how, it would trigger L's successors to come in with all the already collected information which again would be focused towards Light with the prediction of not to expose yourself to Light.

There is the fact pointed that Light could not kill without knowing one's name based on L's experiment, but would that be suffice for them to cease investigations at such an early stage which not even L ceased him self?


What was Akamatsu Ken's role in creating Negima!? Neo? Mahou Sensei Negima! is a manga by Akamatsu Ken which has had an anime and live action adaptation of the same name.

There is also another manga called Negima!? Neo by Fujima Takuya which was made into an anime titled Negima!?. Wikipedia says that Fujima is the author and Akamatsu merely provided guidance. MAL, however, credits Akamatsu as a story author (along with Fujima).

Is there any official statement on Akamatsu's role in Negima!? Neo?

I mostly want to know if he played a major role in its creation or just basically made sure Fujima didn't completely ruin his series and/or its' reputation.

I'd say that the info on MAL's page would be the accurate one.
You can see in Amazon's page for the first volume of Negima!? Neo, that both the information on the authors (right under the title) and the cover state that the story is by Akamatsu Ken and that Fujima Takuya is the illustrator.

Also, Amazon.co.jp's page on Negima!?Neo too states Akamatsu Ken as the author (赤松 健 appears under the title followed by the kanji 著, which means author).


Soundtrack of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden Where I can find all the soundtracks which are used in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden episodes?

An extensive list of the music used throughout the entire Naruto franchise is available on the Naruto Wiki.  This includes a full list of:

Openings
Endings
Various soundtracks at different points in the series
Movie soundtracks

As a fan of the show, I would strongly encourage you to purchase the media from legal and reputable channels when possible.  As an example, here is an Amazon link which points you at the first soundtrack; from there, you should be able to track down the others.


What does it mean that Gintoki and his friends are "Yorozuya"? In the Gintama series they mention a lot of times about Gintoki and his friends are "Yorozuya". What does this mean?

Yorozuya means Jack of All Trades. Other subs translated Yorozuya into Odd Jobs.

They are called so because they would do any job at all for money. Any jobs ranging from chasing after run away cats to saving the world.


What happened to Lala in To LOVE-Ru Darkness? I'm embarrassed to admit to watching this show. But this question has been bothering me for some time.

Lala is pretty much the main character in the series. She is the typical "primary" female in this genre of harem Anime.

Lala was the main character for the first two seasons: "To LOVE-Ru" and "Motto To LOVE-Ru".

However, in season 3 (To LOVE-Ru Darkness) Lala suddenly disappears from the stage and is no longer the main character. Instead Momo (Lala's sister) becomes the primary female character.

Why is this? What influenced the author to pull Lala from center stage and replace her with Momo?

Note: this answer may contain minor spoilers.

  Instead Momo (Lala's sister) becomes the primary female character.
  What influenced the author to pull Lala from center stage and replace her with Momo?

I don't know how far along the anime is, but that's not entirely correct. Momo becomes a more important character than she was in previous TLR instances, but I think that's mainly for amusement / The Harem Plan™. And Lala isn't entirely dead yet. Why she isn't as prominent anymore? I have no real answer to that, but my guess is that her specific story is over and maybe the author just got tired of her. :)

Also, let's look at the name of the anime (and manga): To LOVE-Ru Darkness.
And whose name contains "Darkness" again? Right, Konjiki no Yami, aka Golden Darkness.

It becomes apparent pretty fast that she's the new main heroine, as the story revolves around her origin, her purpose, and friends / foes she has out in the universe.

A particular example would be Mea,

   who is an artificial "transforming weapon" just like Yami,

and her mysterious master.

We also finally get to know Yami's mother. It's hard to see where exactly TLR:D is going yet, but it's not your average ecchi fanservice manga / anime anymore.


How is a technique categorized as a Kekkei Genkai? During the Land of Waves arc, Kekkei Genkai is defined as techniques which are unique to a clan and passed down through the bloodline. After timeskip, it is touched upon again, and is now defined as a technique which combines two elements. Looking back at the Land of Waves arc, Haku's Ice Release satisfies this definition as well.

However, Sharingan and Byakugan are also called Kekkei Genkai, although they do not combine any elements. Later, Terumi Mei is showed to use Lava release and Boil release, and they are both considered Kekkei genkai, although it appears that this is something unique she achieved, not passed down through bloodline.

Thus, the term kekkei genkai seems to be used in various contexts to mean either:

Bloodline techniques passed down through generations, but not involving combining basic elements (Sharingan, Byakugan users)
Techniques combining basic elements, but not passed down through bloodline. (Terumi Mei, and a few others)
Combining basic elements and passed down through bloodline (Haku)

What exactly does it mean?

Edit It looks like people have not understood the question. Let me try again.

Does kekkei genkai mean:
A. techniques passed down through blood.
B. techniques which combine basic elements.
C. Both A and B.

The answers as well the commenter below seem to have assumed "A". To make it even easier, here's a related follow-up question: "If Naruto learns Lightning Release, and then combines with his Wind Release, would that be kekkei genkai or not?"

Quoting from the Natuto Wiki

  Kekkei genkai (血継限界; Literally meaning "a technique limited to
  inheritance by blood" or "Bloodline Limit") are abilities passed down
  genetically within specific clans.

  Kekkei genkai abilities that work via the user's eye are called
  dōjutsu.
  Other kekkei genkai include mixing one type of elemental chakra with another, creating a new one unique to the users, which is usually impossible for normal ninja, or other bodily manipulations that are usually unachievable by normal standards.

  Kekkei genkai and their related techniques cannot be taught to or copied by others. However, kekkei genkai can be given to others

  Dōjutsu, or other kekkei genkai isolated to a single organ, can be transplanted into the body of another, as was done with transferring Obito's Sharingan to Kakashi.
  Chakra elements can also be passed down to people outside of the clan, such as Yamato being subjected to DNA re-modification by Orochimaru who wanted to acquire the Wood Release kekkei genkai.

Some anomalies in the transfer of kekkei genkai.

  Although kekkei genkai are usually genetically shared within a specific clan, sometimes it is unique to one person alone, and that even family relatives do not share it, such as the Wood Release.
  Yet other kekkei genkai seem to appear in individuals with no known relation, such as the Lava Release, which has appeared in ninja from Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure, while Magnet Release, which has appeared in ninja from both Kumogakure and Sunagakure.
  There is an advanced variant of kekkei genkai known as kekkei tōta, which is a combination of three different nature transformations. (This technique is used by only two shinobis, namely - Ōnoki  and Mū and they too do not share any blood relations.)

Using the above quotes as a base for my explainations:

The general meaning of kekkei genaki is an ability that is unique to a clan.

Kekkei genkai can be classified into two broad categories-

Abilities that originates from some body organ, eg sharingan, byakugan (only eye abilities have been shown so far) are called dōjutsu. As the wiki rightly mentions these abilities can be transferred by transplanting the organ from the original bearer to a host, eg Kakashi's sharingan from Obito and Ao who uses the byakugan.
Abilities that uses originates from chakra manipulation. Eg, Haku's Ice release, Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku. The Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clan's (to name a few) kekkei gengai uses a yin-yan chakra manipulation for their techniqies.

The above two categories are seen to be transferred within the clan.

However, there are a few exceptions to the general thumb rule.

Some kekkei genkai like the first hokage's wood release is unique to a singular person.
Some kekkei genkai like Mu's dust release (technically called as kekkei tōta, as it is an advanced form of kekkei genkai) can be taught as in it was taught to Ōnoki. But these are the only two shinobi's known to be able to use the dust release technique.
Certain kekkei genkai seems to appear within individuals that have no relation to each other or without teaching. Examples are:

  Lava Release, which has appeared in ninjas from Kirigakure, Iwagakure,
  and Kumogakure, while Magnet Release, which has appeared in ninja from
  both Kumogakure and Sunagakure.

There may also be shinobi's that have more than one kekkei genkai, eg Mei Terumī who can use three elements, namely earth, fire and water. However, unlike Mu and Onoki she can not combine the three at once. She can combine two of them at a time and create two different kekkei genkai, namely Boil Release (water + fire) and Lava Release (Earth + fire).

Based on the above categorization we can safely deduce, kekkei genkai means techniques passed down through blood, techniques which combine basic elements. But as discussed above there are a few exceptions.

Now to answer your second question, "If Naruto learns Lightning Release, and then combines with his Wind Release, would that be kekkei genkai or not?" - I'd say yes, as combining lightning release and wind release would put naruto in the exception category where he doesn't gain the ability from his clan, but is unique to him. (However its most unlikely that lightning and wind would make a stable combination.. :P )


What kind of glove is being shown in the following pictures, and why is it nearly always a knife user who wear this style of gloves? I've been searching for information for the past five or six years on what kind of gloves that Ein is wearing in the following pics from the digitalized novel Phantom of Inferno. (She also wears them in the three episode OVA series, Phantom: the Animation).

I've noticed that this particular kind of glove is often used by knife wielders; such as Kuro from the Fate/Stay Illya series, Chloe from Noir; Yuna's sprite in the free SAO:IF app; and the Prince character in the manga Snow White with the Red Hair, just to name a few. I have more pictures that I can upload if that would aid anyone in recognizing what kind of glove she is wearing.

I've already tried google searching several images in my research-glove-comparison folder, but the only thing that comes close would be a middle-loop finger glove, which lacks the single, solid loop seen in the first and second images.

To boil this all down: what specific kind of glove is she wearing in the images below, and why is this particular type of glove -to the point of synonymous association in my eyes- used by close-combat knife wielders?

  First pic is to show what the glove would look like from the view of the palm, and while holding a knife. (in the knifeless hand, you can see the loop part of her other glove)

  Second pic is to give a close up, side view of the glove.

  Bottom picture is to show how the glove fits around the middle finger, as also shown in the top picture.

I just desperately want to know what kind of glove she is wearing, so that I have that small, wonderful tidbit of information to add to what I know about my Favorite, dopamine-fuel-for-my-brain-every-time-I-think-of-her, character.

These gloves are called finger loop sleeved gloves but sometimes also referred to as (long) Fingerless sleeved gloves.

They more often then not come with no holes at all, or with only a thumb hole. However the one in the picture is not unheard of either

The image below comes from an ebay search on sleeved gloves, similar results can be found on amazon as well.


What anime is this white angel costume from? My friend found this costume, which she's seen before but can't find where it's from.

It's an outfit worn by Panty from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt


How can Aoshi Shinimori walk/run/fight when he got shot in both legs? In the fight with Kanryu Takeda, Aoshi Shinimori gets shot in both legs, in what appears to be above the kneecaps. Yet come a few months later, he is able to fight perfectly fine in the Kyoto arc, despite these injuries. Does Nobuhiro Watsuki ever explain this at all? Or is it different in the manga in some way, where he doesn't get as grevious of injuries? I'm looking for either an official explanation by the author or by the source.

TLDR: How can Aoshi Shinimori walk/fight with gunshot wound injuries?

While bullet wounds can be very dangerous, according to this Wired article by a combat medic, they can also be relatively trivial. The author retells the story of a man shot in the chest and neck six times who remained fully alert and responsive, and survived. According to Wikipedia, "depending on the extent of injury, management can range from superficial wound care to limb amputation." A bullet to the leg could shatter your femur, or it could cause so little damage a doctor would just slap a bandage on it (assuming the bullet passed through).

Moreover, a man like Aoshi would likely have trained in martial arts pain management techniques. Aoshi may well feel pain from his injuries during the Kyoto arc but could ignore it.


Why did Darkness pick the name "Darkness"? We understand she's embarrassed about her real name Lalatina and noble status. But was it ever explained how/why she specifically came to choose to go by Darkness of all possible names?

There is nothing confirmed, but there are a lot of possibilities.

Darkness is a status effect in Final Fantasy, which is also known as Blind. It makes the affected miss their attacks. So her nickname could be a reference to this.
It could refer to her masochism, her inner "Darkness"
It could be a slightly modified Dustiness.
Dustiness in Japanese is ダスティネス. Darkness is ダクネス.

Keeping the first and the last two katakana of Dustiness, changing the "su" ス into a similar looking "ku" ク and discarding the other two katakana, and you have Darkness.


Artwork from ending of Monster? In the first ending song of Monster, what is the significance of the artwork and who made it?

Important: I am only halfway through Monster. Please no spoilers!

This is going to be all spoilers.

   Those are pictures are from the book Obluda, Která Nemá Své
 Jméno or "A monster without a
 name" by Franz Bonaparta under the alias Emil Scherbe in the Czech
 language. It was first introduced in the anime at episode 37 and in
 chapter 71 in the manga.

 Though the book itself is created by a fictional character from Monster, I believe you can actually buy a real copy of it.

 See also: The nameless monster article.


How did Madara know that Sasuke is the last surviving Uchiha? SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read Chapter 657 of the manga, read further at your own risk.

In Chapter 657, the reborn Uchiha Madara asks Sasuke to join his side, remarking that they are the last of the Uchiha. However, he died before the Uchiha clan massacre, and was reincarnated with Edo Tensei only during the fourth World War. He fought with the five Kages, and then headed to the battlefield where Obito was fighting Naruto's team. Obito didn't have a chance to tell him the story of what happened after his death.

How come he knows that Sasuke is the last surviving Uchiha?

In pages 11, 12 and 13 of chapter 657, it is clear that Madara and Black Zetsu (Madara's will) are able to communicate with each other:

Black Zetsu adds (in page 11) that both him and Madara were underestimated. And in the two pages that follow, he 'shows us' flashbacks in which him and Madara have been communicating during the war.

Given this, I'd say it's safe to assume that Madara got the information from Black Zetsu:
Either because he told him everything directly; or Madara may have gotten the information 'instantly' as soon as he was revived, since Madara and Black Zetsu share a deeper bond, since the latter is the former's will.


What technology/jutsu do the Akatsuki members use to communicate with each other? In the anime, it is shown that the Akatsuki members communicate with each other from the place they were currently present. What is that technology or jutsu?

This would be the Magic Lantern Body Technique

  ...The Akatsuki members sit down and send out "thought waves" (思念波, shinenha), converted into chakra. These thought waves are then picked up by Pain, acting as a kind of control tower. This technique amplifies the thought waves and broadcasts them to a specific location through illusionary bodies. The illusionary bodies differ from being mere reflections. While Pain is relaying the members' thoughts, they can have conversation and use varying techniques...

From Nagato's wiki page under Ninjutsu

  While acting through the Deva Path, Nagato displayed a wide range of techniques. Nagato was responsible for Akatsuki's meetings by using a technique that allowed him to pick up their thought waves and broadcast them in the form of an astral projection to a specific location.


For the 2nd movie of Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry, at what moment is it placed? With what happened in the second season, Fairy Tail disbanded and Natsu went on an adventure to train. In that time, Gray got his Ice Devil Slayer Magic which we also see in the movie. Then, when Natsu gets back from his training, he gets everyone together and the master as well. Once that happens, preparations for war and war happen in season 3. At the end of season 3, Hisui becomes queen/ruler of Fiore. In Dragon Cry, Hisui is not the queen of the land, meaning that we can presume that it was before season 3.
With all of this, at what moment in the Fairy Tail timeline was all of this place in? Gray has his Ice Devil Slayer Magic which he got from the battle with the 9 gates which Fairy Tail disbanded after the battle. Hisui is not the ruler of Fiore which happens at the end of season 3. During the whole season 3, Fairy Tail is battling Zeref's empire leaving no time to go on a quest.

I think it took place after the actual series end because in Dragon Cry, Natsu has a lot of moments where he seems to know that he’s E.N.D and asks Lucy “what do I look like to you?”.
But I am not 100% sure of that as this is the only point I can think of as for.


Why is Kyoko not present in Madoka Magica's official artwork? Is there a reason that Kyoko is not pictured in some of the series' more prominent artwork? As part of the story's main set of magical girls, and a character important to the plot, I would expect her to be featured with the rest of the quintet. I consider this piece

to be the anime's "official" artwork, so (barring whether or not that is a valid assumption on my part) why is a character as important as Kyoko not featured in it?

The image above was used for Netflix1 in the past and is currently used in Crunchyroll's listing as well. The current (Dec 13 2014) image used by Netflix is apparently a different one but nonetheless still does not feature Kyoko.

Another instance of this "phenomenon" can be seen in the first volume of the manga:

though an easy explanation for this one could be that

   Kyoko doesn't appear until the very end of the first volume, and/so her character is not significant to the first part whatsoever.

So my question is this:

Why doesn't Kyoko appear in the anime's more iconic or official artwork, or are my assumption(s) about the artwork incorrect?

EDIT: More cases

Netflix listing, Dec 13 2014
Older Netflix listing screenshot ... (source)

1This is the image I remember being used when I saw it on Netflix a while back, but I'm not sure if it's been updated/changed since, because I don't use the service anymore.

There are many other official artwork for the series. That is the cover of the DVD box set and like you said, the other image where Kyoko is not included is the cover for the first volume of the manga.

This is probably also the reason why Netflix used that artwork as its listing.

I think iconic is subjective in this case. Someone more familiar with the movies will think differently, as you'll see later, but there are a lot of other official artwork where only two magical girls are featured at a time:

I do think that the reason why she's not included in that artwork is because she's not involved in the first three episodes (there's 12 episodes and the set contains 3 discs, assuming the first disc only contains the first three episodes). At least Sayaka is introduced in the first episode, which is presumably the first episode the viewer will watch after purchasing the discs set. Bear in mind that the cover for the discs set differs from region to region.

Finally, the artwork for the disc for the first movie, as well as the movie posters, includes all of the magical girls:

In the first movie all of the five characters are introduced and played significant roles. So this theory is not that far-fetched.


Apart from Togepi and Ho-oH, What out-of-season pokemon have there been? In the first episode of pokemon, Ash sees a Ho-oH flying overhead, yet it wasn't known about (at least by Prof. Oak) until the second generation of pokemon.

When Ash hatches a Pokemon egg and gets Togepi in "who gets to keep Togepi", the pokedex comes up with nothing apart from a name.

Are there any other pokemon we get to see prior to their generation's season of the anime? (Up to generation 5)

User Caciulacdlac on Bulbapedia has compiled a list of Pokemon that appeared before their generation starts airing. I assume the Japan broadcast date is used as the criteria.

The whole answer below is mostly based on the link above, and several other articles on Bulbapedia.

All the dates cited below will be Japan broadcast dates. Episode numbering will follow the numbering used by Bulbapedia.

Generation II

Episode 117, aired on October 14, 1999, marks the start of the The Johto Journeys (season 3), and also the start of generation II. The Pokemon listed below are from generation II, but appeared in the anime before the journey to Johto started.

Ho-Oh: Episode 001: Pokémon - I Choose You! (April 1, 1997)
Togepi: Episode 050: Who Gets to Keep Togepi? (June 25, 1998)
Marill, Snubbull: Pikachu Shorts 01: Pikachu's Vacation (July 18, 1998)
Donphan: Movies 01: Mewtwo Strikes Back (July 18, 1998)
Ledyba, Elekid1, Bellossom, Hoothoot: Pikachu Shorts 04: Pikachu's Rescue Adventure (July 17, 1999)
1 Elekid also appeared earlier in Tracey's sketch in Episode 103 - Misty Meets Her Match (July 1, 1999)
Lugia, Slowking: Movies 2: The Power of One (July 17, 1999)

Generation III

The first episode of Advanced Generation series, aired on November 21, 2002, marks the start of Pokémon: Advanced season (season 6), and also the start of generation III. The Pokemon listed below are from generation III, but appeared in the anime before generation III (to Hoenn) started.

Kecleon: Episode 205: The Kecleon Caper (July 5, 2001)
Azurill, Wailmer: Pikachu Shorts 10: Pikachu's PikaBoo (July 7, 2001)
Wynaut: Episode 252: Fangs for Nothin' (June 13, 2002)
Duskull, Volbeat: Pikachu Shorts 11: Camp Pikachu (July 13, 2002)
Latias, Latios: Movies 05: Pokémon Heroes (July 13, 2002)
Blaziken: Episode 265: Pop Goes The Sneasel (September 12, 2002)
Sharpedo, Seedot, Shroomish, Lotad, Zigzagoon: Episode 272: Johto Photo Finish (October 31, 2002)
Wingull, Pelipper: Episode 274: Hoenn Alone! (November 14, 2002)

Generation IV

The first episode of Diamond and Pearl series, aired on September 28, 2006, marks the start of Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl season (season 10) and also the start of generation IV. The Pokemon listed below are from generation IV, but appeared in the anime before the journey to Sinnoh started.

Munchlax: Movies 07: Destiny Deoxys (July 17, 2004)
Lucario, Bonsly, Weavile, Mime Jr.: Movies 08: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (July 16, 2005)
Manaphy, Mantyke, Buizel, Chatot: Movies 09: Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (July 15, 2006)
Electivire: Advanced Generation Episode 192: Home is Where the Start Is! (September 14, 2006)

Generation V

The first episode of Best Wishes series, aired on September 23, 2010, marks the start of generation V. The Pokemon listed below are from generation V, but appeared in the anime before the journey to Unova started.

Zorua, Zoroark, Woobat2: Movies 13: Zoroark: Master of Illusions (July 10, 2010)
2 Appeared as image only.

Generation VI

The first episode of XY Series, aired on October 17, 2013, marks the start of generation VI. The Pokemon listed below are from generation VI, but appeared in the anime before the journey to Kalos started.

Sylveon: Pikachu Shorts 25: Eevee & Friends (July 13, 2013)
Helioptile, Gogoat: Best Wishes Episode 134: The Journalist from Another Region! (July 18, 2013)
Noivern: Best Wishes Episode 137: Celebrating the Hero's Comet! (August 15, 2013)


Song from Ep 29/ S2 Ep 16 of My Hero Academia starting at 19:21? I know I could just go through the OST on YouTube but I get really tired of skimming through so many songs and sometimes I miss the one I'm looking for. I would really appreciate it if someone could find the song for me! Thanks in advance!

This one is:

  English: Your Power
  Japanese: 君の力 (Kimi no chikara)

Its on on the Second OST.

"My Hero Academia (Anime)" 2nd Original Soundtrack
 - Track 22


What is the meaning of "Argonaut"? In episode 9 of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (DanMachi) Bell learns how to use an Argonaut skill which Hestia refers to as a skill for a hero.

What is the literal meaning of Argonaut when used in this context?

In DanMachi's universe, Argonaut is the name of the story of a boy who wants to be a hero, according to the conversation between the Loki familiar members from 17:16 in episode 8:

Bell: This is my adventure. I want to be... I want to be a hero!
Tiona (Tione?): Like the Argonaut...
Finn: It's the story of a boy who wants to be a hero, yeah.
Tiona/Tione: I liked that story, too.

However, that is not its first mention in the story. Argonaut appeared as early as episode 5 as part of the visual, when Bell was answering the question posed by the grimoire, as to what he sought from magic (the image corresponds to the bold line):

Bell: What do I seek from magic?
Bell: The woman who's faster than anyone, like a lightning bolt... I want to catch up to her.
Bell: Is that all?
Bell: If it were possible... I'd like to be a hero. Like in the fairy tales I read when I was a kid. A hero they'd be satisfied with.
Bell: You're such a child.
Bell: I'm sorry. But that's who I am!
Bell: That's who I am!

While the alphabets are distorted, it still bears a lot of similarities to English alphabet, especially A, R, U, T.
I don't know whether the light novel reveals the name of the fairy tale in this scene, though.
The fact that Bell attained the skill Argonaut, which is named after the story of a boy who wants to be hero, signifies his strong desire to become a hero, which is the meaning of the kanji in the title of episode 8 [英雄願望]{Argonaut}.


Could an Ukaku ghoul beat a Rinkaku ghoul? So, when Kaneki tried to eat Hide, Touka took him on, and, according to Yoshimura, beat the *#@$ out of him. However, I feel like it wasn't a fair fight, seeing as Kaneki didn't know anything about how to use his kagune, what type of kagune Touka had, or even what types he was weak against. so, inexperienced and untrained as he was, Kaneki was obviously no match for someone who was familiar with their kagune and knew how to use it, therefore Touka had a guaranteed victory. However, if a experienced Rinkaku ghoul and an experienced Ukaku ghoul went for each others throats, who would win in the end? Ukaku ghouls have their speed and long-range projectiles, but don't have the stamina to match. Meanwhile Rinkaku ghouls have their sturdiness and extremely fast regeneration, but brittle, fragile kagune due to their RC Cells being more similar to liquids than that of other ghouls. Ukaku ghouls are weak against Koukaku ghouls, and strong against Bikaku ghouls. Rinkaku ghouls are weak against Bikaku ghouls, and strong against Koukaku ghouls. Who would win in a death match between the two?

If an experienced Rinkaku and equally experienced Ukaku went for each other, Rinkaku would have a higher chance of winning. They are only weak against Bikaku. In Chapter 13 of Tokyo Ghoul,

  Shinohara explained this to Suzuya:

Furthermore, on the same chapter,

  Shinohara said that RC cells of ghouls acts as an effective 'poison' to the types that are weak against them.


Manga volume for end of season 1 of Bleach anime I am trying to find the manga volume where the 1st season of the Bleach anime left off.

According to Wikipedia and from what I can surmise from the summaries there, the entirety of Season 1 is covered in the first eight volumes, ending at about chapter 70, just a bit before they arrive to Soul Society.

If you want to pick it up from there, Volume 9 would be where you'd want to start from.


Is there any proof that players really die in real life after dying in SAO? So I watched the anime not too long ago, and it was the single most important rule in the game to not die, otherwise one would die in real life.

However, I never encountered an episode where they showed players die in real life.

I had my share of skepticism, but hey, we all get the story. Die in the game, die in real life. Cool problem which made story interesting.

Then I had conversations with friends about the anime and I was in for a surprise. They all firmly believe nobody actually died. Their basis for this argument was the episode near the end where it was mentioned that all players were logged out. They were convinced that it meant all players that were left, and all players who died in-game.

This, plus the fact that I never saw a person having their brains fried with a nerve gear made me think otherwise for a bit. If they really did die, they could have just died from malnutrition or the extreme stress of thinking it's the real deal. As to why no one woke up ahead, they could have been held in some limbo after in-game death until Kirito defeated the game.

But after doing some research, everyone else does say players died in real life - but have no proof. They all just said they will die because it was said that they would.

Can anyone point me to an episode (or manga chapter) that depicted someone had their brains fried with the nerve gear? or proof that someone actually died from being fried with a nerve gear (like a cemetery visit scene, certificate of death etc.).

tl;dr: Players did indeed die from having their brains fried. Otherwise, it would be odd for Kirito to never be told and to make statements suggesting that he doesn't know.
A general meta-observation
Firstly, I should note that it would be very odd story-telling if we (and Kirito) were deceived about players having their brains fried and never were told that this was actually a lie, given how the "real death" factor was so intrinsic to the set-up of SAO. It's normal for stories to have plotholes or to leave some things unexplained; this, however, is more an issue of some sort of Occam's Razor for stories.
Observations from SAO
Halfway through the first episode, Akihiko states that there is no logout option, and that removing the NerveGear will result in death. He then pulls up a bunch of news articles and footage about the deaths that have already occurred. However, perhaps Akihiko is just bluffing and making fake news articles.
If Akihiko were lying, then it wouldn't make sense for the players to be trapped so long, as suggested by David Mulder; people outside could just remove players' headsets. Perhaps people outside wanted to play safe after the announcement (despite the reduced credibility, since the 213 who supposedly died would still be alive) or heard a different version (e.g. "After this announcement, everyone who tries to exit the game environment will be killed."). However, this can only be the case if they had cause to believe that NerveGear was capable of killing people.
Moreover, as suggested by Killua, these scenarios would seem inconsistent with Akihiko's conversation with Kirito after SAO is cleared:

Akihiko: Just a moment ago, the remaining 6,147 players were logged out.
Kirito: What about the ones who died? What about the 4,000 who died?
Akihiko: Their minds will never return. In every world, once you die, you're gone.

By this point in time, Akihiko sounds relatively forthright, and it would be really strange for him to omit information at this point if Kirito is going to find out the truth once he logs out anyway. However, it's still possible these people instead all died "from malnutrition or the extreme stress of thinking it's the real deal". (This still leaves the 213 who presumably would not have actually died at the beginning. Again, it would be very odd story-telling if they didn't actually die and we never knew.)
It's thus worthwhile to look at Kirito's interactions after he leaves SAO.
Post-SAO, in-universe evidence
In the first episode of the second season (about 13 minutes in), Kirito questions the government official who approaches him if he was sure that the players of Gun Gale Online have really been dying of heart attacks after being shot in virtual reality-like circumstances. He wonders if the GGO cases are similar to what happened in SAO:

Kirito: You're sure it was heart failure, right?
Kikuoka: What do you mean?
Kirito: [flashback to an image of the NerveGear headset] There wasn't any brain damage?

This suggests that players could indeed die from brain damage after being killed (or having had their headsets removed) in SAO. (Kikuoka even later mentions NerveGear's ability to destroy one's brain via its microwaves.)
Moreover, it probably was the case that players did die from this mechanism. If not, it would be odd for Kirito to not be aware of the fact, or for Kikuoka to not correct him (e.g. "Sure, NerveGear is physically capable of destroying brains, but that's not what happened in SAO."), when this scene takes place more than a year after SAO was cleared. (SAO is cleared in November; the GGO arc starts in December of the next year.)
After all, Kikuoka would presumably be aware of such cases as a government official involved with the SAO case. Similarly, Kirito was involved in the investigation---by the GGO arc he has told Kikuoka everything he knew about the SAO incident---so it would be expected that he would know of such specifics a year after the case.


What happens to Sai? In Hikaru no Go, the main character (Hikaru) has a ghostly companion who tutors and trains him in the game of Go, a sort of Othello/chess hybrid game. However, about halfway through the series....

   Sai ends up disappearing and, from then on, Hikaru must train and succeed on his own.

What happens to Sai? Why is he no longer present for the rest of the series?

According to the plot of the serie, Sai realized his role was not to achieve the Divine move (also called "hand of god") but that he was just there to transmit all his knowledge of the game to Hikaru. Having no more regrets, he can leave the world. So Madara Uchiha's answer is correct.

Also, in a public interview Yumi Hotta (scenarist of the "Hikaru No Go") gave during European Go Congress 2011 (in Bordeaux, France), someone asked her "Why did Sai disappear?". She answered that Sai had a role similar to a father to Hikaru, and that you cannot live your whole life with your parents following you. At some point, you have to grow up and become an adult. So, the fact that Sai disappeared is a symbolic way of saying that Hikaru is (on his way to) becoming an adult.

Hikaru "finds" Sai later when playing go. This has the same meaning as saying that even if you leave your parents, you will always have in you what they told you, what they taught you, and the values they transmitted to you.

And, in fact, by the end of the series Hikaru looks a lot more mature than when he was with Sai.

According to Yumi Hotta, "Sai had to disappear", otherwise he would be blocking Hikaru from becoming an adult, in the same way a mother or a father would if he or she was always protective about his/her child.


What's the story behind the item Celty is looking for? I know Izaya

   has her legitimate head, but how'd she lose it in the first place? She's also a Dullahan, so I don't understand why she even wants her head back?

Shinra's father stole Celty's head when she was asleep, and gave it to Yagiri Pharmaceuticals.  Celty wants her head back because it houses her memories.


How come when Dio stops time Jotaro can move but Dio can't when Jotaro stops time? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Jotaro seems able to move even while Dio stops the time. On the other hand, Dio can't when Jotaro stops the time.

Why?

Jotaro planned to stop time when the limit of DIO's time stop was finishing.
This happened when Jotaro did the finishing blow after he survived the road roller attack.
And when DIO stopped time, Jotaro can't use the ability but can feel the situation in this case of "time stop world", but when he can move, Jotaro can trigger the ability while he is in DIO's stopped time by use his time limit between DIO's stopped time and the end of it triggering.
He basically counters DIO's stopped time.


Lessa The Crimson Knight, weird cover page? So here is the cover page from Lessa the Crimson Knight.

I don't think I've ever seen this character, maybe it in the future,
but not once. Anyone know if he's from the first manga "Lessa", and I just missed him, or if I just forgot.

That is

   Lessa, from the second season.

and (SPOILER ALERT!)

   he put on a red wig to disguise  himself. He explains about it in the second season.


How did Eren transform into a Titan without causing self-injury (Season 4, Ep. 5)? So at the end of Season 4, Episode 5, we see Eren becomes a Titan while talking to Reiner. He didn't cause any self-harm, so how did he transform? Should it be assumed that they just didn't show him causing self-injury?
Any answer is appreciated :)

you see his hand is already bleeding before he shakes reiner's hand and goes boom. he was just waiting to activate his power


How many Tanken Nichijou no Machi episodes are there? I recently finished the Nichijou anime and I noticed there are an OVA and specials (Nichijou: Tanken Nichijou no Machi). According to MyAnimeList, there are 14 episodes under this title as you can see in the link but I only can find 3 episodes. Can someone direct me to where to find all of the specials?

There's some confusion about what "Tanken Nichijou no Machi" is.

It is not the thing you've seen subtitles for. The things you've seen subtitled are a promotional video and some unaired next-episode previews. Typically, these things are not construed as "specials", but in this case, they've been incorrectly conflated with and mistaken for "Tanken Nichijou no Machi", which MAL thinks are specials.

"Tanken Nichijou no Machi" does not consist of a promotional video and some unaired next-episode previews. Rather, it is a series of ~10-minute live-action clips featuring the Nichijou cast and staff (mostly Shiraishi Minoru, really) doing things that have hardly anything to do with the actual show. Here is the first of them on YouTube (could go down at any time).

They're kind of interesting to watch, I guess, but again, they have absolutely nothing to do with Nichijou besides featuring the cast and staff from the show.

I suspect that MAL is the ultimate source of this misinformation. If somebody knows how to get an entry delisted from MAL, they should probably do that with "Tanken Nichijou no Machi".

Anyway, to answer your title question, I think there are 11 episodes of "Tanken Nichijou no Machi". YouTube appears to have episode 11, and the official website for the manga lists episode 11 being planned for inclusion in BD 13 (the last volume).

However, this is a little confusing, since BD 1 and BD 2 appear to include a thing called "Tanken Nichijou no Machi", which might be distinct from "Tanken Hakken Nichijou no Machi 1" on BD 3 (continuing through to BD 13, which lists "Tanken Hakken Nichijou no Machi 11"). So the answer might actually be 12 or 13? It almost certainly isn't 14, though.

There is something of a lack of information on the internet about Nichijou's BD content, because the discs had abysmal sales, owing to the large number of them (13 for 26 episodes; 11 or 12 is more common, I think) and the high cost of each individual volume.


Where is the source that says that Stiyl looking like an adult was due to art direction mistake? Where is the source that says that Stiyl looking like an adult was due to art direction mistake?

I remember something about "old" vs. "new", being interpreted wrong...

I think it was on the Toaru Majutsu no Index Wiki, but I'm not sure...

The Toaru Majutsu no Index Wiki does say it, on both Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori's design evolution sections, but it doesn't actually give citations for its claims. The actual source is from Haimura Kiyotaka, the novels' illustrator, on his blog. A translation of Stiyl and Kanzaki's sections:

  ※ステイルは当初からイメージのズレが余り有りません。衣装は上からマント・ローブ・黒シャツ黒ズボンとなります。

  　ちなみに、魔術側のキャラは１巻当時から、科学側のキャラに比べて年齢と外見の差異が著しいですが、
  　コレには一応理由があったりします。詳しくは神裂のラフで後述。

  There has not been much change in Stiyl's design from the very
  beginning. From top down, he wears a cape, a robe, a black shirt, and
  black pants.
  By the way, ever since their introduction in Volume 1,
  the gap between age and appearance in the magic side characters has
  been much greater than in the science side characters. There is a
  reason for this. See Kanzaki's rough for more.

  ※神裂はパーツが多かったので一番苦労しました。この段階ではジーンズのカットが随分と中途半端です。

  　（ステイルの項から続き）１巻の本文初稿を読んだとき、はいむらが抱いた印象は、
  　「…ああ、これは『オトナの理屈』に子供が反抗する話なんだな」なのでした。
  　つまり、１巻時点の魔術側キャラであるステイルと神裂は、主人公である上条の目線からは、
  　「子供にとって、嬉しくない建前や理屈を並べる大人」に見えたハズなのです。

  　当時はさすがに、『禁書』がココまで長期に続くとは思ってもいなかったので、
  　２名は上記の印象に従い、年齢不相応の造型にしました…そして、７巻辺りから徐々にそれを後悔する羽目に。

  Kanzaki's design had a lot too it, so hers gave me the most trouble.
  At this stage, the cut of her jeans was only partway.  (Continued from
  Stiyl's rough) When I read the first draft of Volume 1, I came away
  with the impression that it was the story of children rebelling
  against the reasoning of adults.  That is why I thought Kamijou would
  have seen Stiyl and Kanzaki as adults that used reasonings and
  principles that a child would refuse to accept.  At the time, I never
  thought Index would continue this long, so I went with my impression
  of the two and gave them designs that did not really match their
  ages...and by about Volume 7 I was starting to regret it.


What happened to the kidnapped human babies at the end of Shinsekai Yori? Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) has just concluded with the season finale.

Often is the case for thought-provoking shows, there are unanswered questions that bug me...

As part of Yakomaru's (Squealer) grand plan, he has his followers kidnap human babies with the intention of raising them to be Akkis* (fiends/ogres) so they can be used to wipe out the human race.

The show ends 10 years after the war. What happened to all those kidnapped babies?

As far as I can tell, the Anime doesn't appear to offer any explanation.
Are there any clues to this? Does the novel reveal anything?

*As revealed in the final episode, they wouldn't actually become Akkis. Being raised by the rats, they believe they are rats themselves and thus the Attack Inhibition + Death Feedback will apply to rats instead humans - thus allowing them to freely kill humans.

I would think that after the monster rats were defeated, and the ones that helped Squealer were executed, the people could have just gone back for the babies. It didn't take them that long to defeat Squealer and the akki that was Maria and Mamoru's child was from much earlier baby theft. That is what I think happened. A bit anti-climatic though.


Log Horizon: do some Landers know that their world used to be just a game where they were NPCs? Adventurers, for obvious reasons, never tell.

Landers, very conveniently, never ask - or never ask too much.

Not even the ones depicted as knowledge-hungry.

Not even when Adventurers let slip terms such as "NPC", "real life/world", "game", etc.

Yes, Landers can be very curious sometimes, but I don't remember hearing them asking embarassing questions about the Adventurers' world, questions that may lead to the unspokable topic. Not even Regan, Lenessia, or

   Rudy.

Are there, in the Log Horizon franchise, Landers which [discovered | were told | figured out | whatever] about Elder Tale?

Do some of them know the "uncomfortable truth"? I.e. that, in the world where Adventurers come from:

"Adventurers" are not "Adventurers" at all, they don't have special powers, they just played a game in which they killed monsters for fun, sitting on a chair and clicking buttons on a machine
Theldesia is just the fictional setting of that game, where Landers are  fictional, computer-controlled characters.

It would be interesting to see how they reacted to this shocking revelation.

Note 1: I only watched the two seasons of the "Log Horizon" anime.
If the answer would contain spoilers for additional material, please direct me to that additional material (if it is available in English, since I don't speak Japanese).

Note 2: just realize that "Adventures don't treat us like real people" is necessary but not sufficient for what I'm looking for. This because realizing this is not so hard: in fact, before the Catastrophe, Adventurers did not look like real people to the Landers as well (so probably the "Welcome to the village of Arb" joke in season 1 episode 5 could be true also from the Landers' POV). I'm looking for at least a Lander who knows something like "Adventures don't treat us like real people because they used to see us as fictional characters in a game, the so-called heroes were just playing make-believe to escape boredom". This is a completely different animal.

Note 3: The fight between Papus and Elias Hackblade goes near to what I'm looking for, but I still don't think that's what I'm looking for. Papus says to Elias that he (Elias) is fictional, Elias is horrified, but it's not clear if he's horrified by the revelation, by that ugly monster or by the magic the monster he's casting on him. Anyway, Kanami treats Elias as real, but then the scene is cut and we don't know what happens next (at least in the anime).
According to the wiki entry for Papus (beware of spoilers!!!), he has a special power that causes Landers to believe they are fictional. I don't care about what the Genius think about Landers, and I don't care if Landers are fictional or real people. I care if there are Landers who will believe what the Genius say, and if this will bring them to discover that Adventurers were just roleplayers, and how this will change their relationship with Adventurers. (Note that Elias is a perfect example of Lander that did not react or ask questions when Kanami and her friends used words like "NPC", "playing", "game", "real life", etc. No, I don't think he already knows the truth about Elder Tale just because he's on the Elder Tale box).

Can't reply to some of the other comments but we can't forget that the translation system could be shielding the Landers from the abnormal phrasing like Game, NPCs, Real Life, Other World, etc.

Translations could be:
Game = before world fraction.
NPC = Landers.
Real Life = past Life.
Etc


What happened to Berg Katze? Before Berg Katze went to fight OD Hajime asks him if later they can meet up somewhere. after everything has clamed down Berg Katze is trying to stir up trouble by shape shifting and attempting to get people to turn on each other using the Crowds however after that fails be leaves disappointed.

After that Hajime is seen waiting for him where they agreed to meet before calling her mother, during which the scene is focused on her chest.

After the credits when Hajime goes to leave there are shots focusing on her chest with sometimes tapping/pointing to herself. as she walks out she is announcing her plans before we hear Berg Katze reply acting all negative about it by saying it'll suck.

This answer confirms that is it Berg Katze that Hajime is talking to but I am wondering, what happened to him which cased him to now be with Hajime like this?

TL;DR: Berg Katze's note (and himself) was absorbed into Hajime. He is currently trapped and powerless inside her "chest". Your confusion stems from the fact that the scene never made it to the TV series.

Episode 12 has two versions. There is a "director's cut" version that was shipped as an OVA, showing the confrontation between Hajime and Katze, when she gains control of Katze's golden note (I did not watch it).

From wikipedia:

  OVA          "Embrace"           January 22, 2014
  Director's cut of episode 12. Scenes about the civilians and the Crowds are expanded on, while the battle between Katze and OD is cut. An added segment shows Hajime's face-off with Katze, with her fusing herself with them by absorbing their NOTE into her body.

Alas, Katze is not that powerless, since it seems he can take over Hajime's Gatchaman form:

Again wikipedia:

  Her original NOTE and Gatchaman form takes on red accents after fusing with Katze, and her Gatchaman form's face switches from blue eyes to a red smile when Katze is in command.

IMO, it was a bad choice to leave Hajime's showdown to the OVA (even if it was financially good for them), since it is important to the Crowds-Insight plot.


How important is transmutation circle pattern? It is clear, that transmutation circle in FMA plays significant role for transmutation result. I really doubt, that, for example, Isaac McDougal can use Mustang's circle for water transmutations, and vice versa. But during Brotherhood series, there several example of usage of same transmutation circle for different goals.

First example - Alphonse circle. For instance, aside of creating things such as cage for Paninya, in Liore he also manages to fix radio (which is fairly complex device) with same circle.

Another example is Roy Mustang, who was able to use his circle for at least two really different transmutations - his common attack with burning oxygen in air, and dissipating water to hydrogen and oxygen during first encounter with Lust under fifth lab.

So, question is - how important is pattern of circle, and is there any hints, what variety of transmutations are allowed with single circle?

Note that Al's alchemy tends to always revolve around the displacement of material. Comparatively, Mustang's alchemy revolves around chemistry (igniting materials)

Al may be using the same circle which allows him to use a form of "telepathy" (for lack of a better word) to piece things together.

From many instances of alchemy being used, you can see that the intent of the alchemist changes the effect of the transmutation.

Mustang's glove carries the same symbol, but Mustang has many fire transmutations up his sleeve.
Armstrong's glove is the same (for earth and metal related transmutations)

This is a recurring pattern for many alchemists. Their circle limits their alchemy to a specific realm (fire, earth, destruction, displacement, ...) but they use the same circle to perform many different transmutations within that realm.

Alchemy seems to be a combination of the circle (method of transmutation => Al's circle displaces material) and the alchemist's intent (how to apply that method => Al puzzles the thing together again).


Why is there consistent seasonal variability in the quality of anime? Recall that the anime industry produces TV anime according to a 4-season schedule: winter (Jan-Mar), spring (Apr-Jun), summer (Jul-Sep), and fall (Oct-Dec).

Since at least 2010 (and perhaps even before than that), there have been consistent differences in the average quality1 of anime released in each season.2 The details are open to argument, but most commentators will agree that spring is consistently the best season of anime in any given year, while winter is the worst.3 My personal impression is that on average, spring > fall > summer > winter.

It is not surprising that seasonal trends would exist - in Hollywood, for example, all the big "blockbusters" come out in the summer, and it seems that January and February are off-months for the industry (or so this article claims).

The real question, though, is why? What is it about winter that makes it the dumping ground for lousy anime? What is it about spring that gets the anime industry to put out good content?

1 When I talk about "quality" here, I'm basically talking about Rotten Tomatoes ratings - an aggregate of opinions from critical reviewers and ordinary consumers. Quality may not be objectively measurable, but quality-as-perceived-by-the-consumer certainly is. Technical merits of the production (e.g. sakuga, sound direction, etc.) are important in this context only insofar as they factor into the "Rotten Tomatoes ratings" here.

2 For ease, let's restrict ourselves to thinking about anime that run for one year or less (so no Naruto, Bleach, Yugimanz, etc.), and treat anime as belonging exclusively to the season in which they began airing (so e.g. all of Shingeki no Kyojin counts as a spring anime).

3 I can substantiate this claim if need be, both by reference to user ratings on sites like MAL and by reference to more subjective impressions by commentators who know a thing or two about anime. That said, I'm sure those of you who have a finger on the pulse of the anime-osphere probably have more or less the same impression.

I was going to agree with you jogging off recent memory however taking a look at upcoming anime for the rest of the year I can't say I agree one season is stronger than another. Here are a few examples for the rest of the year: Akame ga Kill!, Hanamonogatari, Space Dandy 2, Sword Art Online, Fate Stay/Night remake, Psycho Pass 2, Durarara 2, Evangelion 4.0, Log Horizon 2, new Gundam series. There are plenty of other great looking titles too though I can't say I know them well enough to know whether they will be successful or not.

I feel like this is all just a subject of opinion really, though this does seem to be the season for romance anime however, cant recall there being this much of it before.

Last winter did seem to have an unusual amount of mediocre anime though. I only watched a few things last season (winter) other than ongoing shows that were still running from the previous season.


Where do Kekkei Genkai abilities (genetic abilities) originate from? In Naruto there is a group of abilities called Kekkei Genkai (血継限界). They are told to be "genetic" abilities which are (usually) passed down genetically within specific clans.

Notably, the eye techniques (Dōjutsu, 瞳術), such as sharingan, are also a subset of those.

How did those abilities first appear? Did they appear naturally, or were they made on purpose as a result of experiments?

Sharingan:
I'm guessing this would've appeared naturally, as with other Doujutsu (Byakugan and Rinnegan). Legend has it that these clans descended from the Rikudou's eldest son, who received his father's "eyes": his powerful chakra and spiritual energy.

Kekkei Genkai Ninjutsu:
I think these were developed by ninja who possessed special abilities and chakra nature affiliations. They were, later on, passed down on the next generations. According to this Leaf Ninja's page, they are creations indeed.

Potential Bloodlines and Genetic Advantages:
There are also Potential Bloodlines and Genetic Advantages, which also seem to be passable down onto the next generation, such as Suigetsu's and Mangetsu's body, which is unique to them and gives them a genetic advantage (I think these could've been the basis for the development of some Kekkei Genkai in the early stages of clans, though not in Suigetsu's and Mangetsu's case). I don't think they are considered Kekkei Genkai, but they could've been linked in early stages of development of a clan's special technique. I found out about these in this Leaf Ninja's page.


Which music plays in episode 126 on Android 17 vs Toopo? I was watching episode 126 - "Surpass Even A God! Vegeta's Desperate Blow!!" of Dragon Ball Super on Crunchyroll. I want to know the music that plays when Android 17 is about to fight with Toppo god of destruction after saving Freiza.

Episode time when that music plays: 4:35 to 6:10

Episode link: http://www.crunchyroll.com/dragon-ball-super/episode-126-surpass-even-a-god-vegetas-desperate-blow-760341

After a bit more search I found it. Its the "Theme of Gohan" by Norihito Sumitomo.
Can't find the original OST but there is a recreation which is quite close to it by a guy named "PokeMixr92"on Youtube.
Here is the link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guuVnTQavSc


Is Hanzo a proper hunter? On chapter 350 of Hunter x Hunter, Hanzo is there again.

Is he already became a proper hunter or is he still just a ninja?

Hanzo passed the Hunter Exam. He also learned Nen afterwards (Volume 7, Chapter 60). He was also part of the people that were sent by the Hunter Association to guard the princes of the Kakin Empire (he was personally recruited by Kurapika during the Succession Contest arc). He was already a proper hunter when he got his license and learned Nen. Thus, he is both a ninja and a hunter. You don't have to give up one to be the other because you can do both, like he is.


Is Digimon Tri canon? There is a Digimon Adventure 1 picture in one of the episodes, but the public seem to have forgotten previous Digimon appearances in the real world.

Toei Animation, the original production company that put out Digimon Adventures, is definitely advertising it as a sequel to the original stories.

The release of Digimon Adventure Tri is supposed to be their gift
 to Digimon fans for the fifteen year anniversary of the ending of the original show.

You mention that it seems the public has forgotten past Digimon appearances in the world but I don't think so. After their appearance and destruction of the airport and town the news reporter states that this serves as a reminder of their destructive power.  The fact that this is a reminder proves that they've seen events like this before.


What's the difference between Persona4 and Persona4 the Golden? Is Persona4 the Golden ANIMATION simply a remake of Persona4 the ANIMATION? Or are the stories actually different?

It looks like the Golden is an improved remake of the Persona4 game for the Playstation Vita, but after seeing the first episode of the Golden ANIMATION, it doesn't seem to be much different at all from the original anime.

Based on what I've watched, seen comments on and and search about, P4 Golden Animation is based on the route oriented around Marie in the P4 Golden Animation video game. The anime will retell the original P4 story, however with bonus events with Marie, rather than following the original plot of the P4 anime.

Description from Anime Ultima:

  Adaptation of Persona 4's remake video game, Persona 4 The Golden. The story retells the events of the original while featuring a new character, Marie.


Who can absorb the Genki Dama? In the Dragonball Movie, Super Android 13 Goku absorbs the Genki Dama to become more powerful and defeat his rival. Apparently (not sure), something similar could happen in Dragon Ball Super for a preview from the following episodes which was released.

That leads me to the question, who can absorb the Genki Dama? Is only the creator the Genki Dama who can absorb it? Or can someone else with good ki absorb it too?

We've seen in the first Genki Dama Goku made that someone with good spirit like Gohan could bounce the Genki Dama, may be someone with good ki can absorb it too?

So far there has been no reference to another person who can absorb the Genki Dama other than the creator, which happens accidentally in the latest Dragon Ball Super episode. Hypothetically speaking, I don't think a person with good ki can absorb it, although they aren't harmed, A Genki Dama Bomb is still an attack used to defeat foes who's ki isn't 'good', So it is safe to assume that Goku will only use it against people he knows it'll harm. Having someone with good ki absorb it would most probably make them OP so it is probable that it is introduced later in order to defeat a strong character.


Is Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master the definite ending movie of the series? Is the new movie Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master the definite ending movie of the series?

There are so many loopholes in the story which have yet to be filled in. And the series has been quite the success as well.

『 そらのおとしものFinal 永遠の私の鳥籠 』 (Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master) was released as 劇場版第2作 (second theatrical installment) following the first film 『劇場版 そらのおとしもの 時計じかけの哀女神』 (Gekijouban Sora no Otoshimono Tokei jikake no Angeloid).
When it was announced, the announcement did not specify that this is absolutely the final film, but it did state:

『「第３期シリーズ」として発表しておりましたが、この度シリーズ作品ではなく...2014年に劇場公開することが大決定しました！！』
"Although we had previously said there would be a third series [season], this time instead of a series...in 2014 it's been decided that there will be a theatrical release!"

A third season of the TV anime had previously been promised in the March 2012 issue of 「月刊少年エース」 (Gekkan Shounen Ace) magazine, but the film announcement corrects that to state that there will not be any further TV anime after all, and the second film is a replacement.
Whether there will ever be another film or OAV is not clearly articulated, but the title of the film implies that it is intended to be the final production. They could have used the term 完結編 (kanketsuhen, the last program of a series) in the title or in the announcement to explicitly state that there are no plans to ever produce a following work, but did not do so.


Manga where the female protagonist has amnesia I came across this manga by accident and I can't remember what it was called.

The main character is a teenage girl, who lost her memories from when she was young. I'm not sure but I think her last name was Mochizuki, though it might have been one of her friends who had that name.

I think she has a male friend who carries a sword with him.
She makes friends with a blonde girl in her class who kisses her in class, apparently thinking that it might bring back some of the black haired girl's memories.
The blonde girl has a twin brother who also kissed the black haired girl for the same reason, hoping that she will regain some of her memories.

I know it's not very detailed but anything you can think of that matches this description would be helpful.

I believe it is called Otome x Ranbu

  She is your stereotypical airhead school girl, with one exception, she
  has amnesia. She recently transferred into a new school where things
  work different, mainly magic. She is Mochiduki Tsubomi, and she
  doesn’t remember anything before she transferred. Enter yet another
  transfer student – the beautiful yet arrogant bishojo, Izayoi Yukiji.
  She’s after Tsubomi, but why? What does Yukiji want? What mystery does
  Tsubomi hold?


What does the small text say in the noitaminA intro? At the start of noitaminA animes, there is a loading screen with lots of text appearing onscreen.

Looking closer, I noticed mentions of Eden of the East , Monokoe and Tales of Agriculture - so I reckon there are some Easter Eggs hidden in the rest of the text also.

Unfortunately, all the images I have found are too low resolution to make out what they say.

Can anyone reveal the super-secret messages that lie in noitaminA's loading screen?

With thanks to user @Prix for linking this to me, and reddit user herrekorre for the actual content.

Here is a higher resolution image:

I think this section is fairly easy to read.

  noitaminA jingle movie - TYPE: Augmented Reality (ar) Version 1.10.03.23

  (b) 2010 made by Studio - RIKKA.

  No drive attached to Animation, The BIOS is not installed.

  Checking file system on C:

  The type of file system is Augmented Reality.

  CHKDSK is verifying files ( stage 1 of 1 ).

  File verification completed.

  100 percent completed

  Expanding "noitaminA" timeslot

  Set at Thursday 24:45-25:15, noitaminA has been the highest rated midnight anime slot on TV in Japan.

  Stable and high reputations gained from the advertisers.

  Starting April 2010, the 30-min weekly timeslot

  TALES OF AGRICULTURE

  Tadayasu is a new fresh-faced university student hiding a bizarre secret: He can see germs with the naked eye.

  EDEN OF THE EAST

  Set in Tokyo in the near future, this is a story of just 11 days on a boy who challenged the prevailing "depressing" mood of the country and a girl who supported him.

  MONONOKE

  In the Edo era of Japan, as cultural arts, modern science, and technology flourished, so too did the practice of mystical arts, as humanity faced the perils of the supernatural!

(Mononoke script found at: http://www.fujicreative.co.jp/Portals/0/special/anime/mononoke/mononoke.html)

  NOTICE!

  magnitude8

  The location is Odaiba, the Tokyo Bay Area at the start of the summer vacation
  13-year-old Mirai and her 8-year-old brother, Yuki, are left away from home when the catastrophically large quake has hit Tokyo.

  EDEN OF THE EAST

  Set in Tokyo in the near future, this is a story of just 11 days on a boy who challenged the prevailing "depressing" mood of the country and a girl who supported him. The boy, Takizawa, who lost his memory, helps Saki out when she is trouble in Washington D.C. They return to Japan and try to solve the mysteries of Takizawa's lost memory. He seems to be one of the twelve selected people to lead the country in the right direction.

  STATUS

  Starting April 2010, the 30-min weekly timeslot will be expanded into one hour

  LEVEL1

  Format: 12(?)eps, 30min
  broadCast:from April22
  Timeslot: "noitaminA"

Similar info for Level 2 & 3

  Expanding "noitaminA" timeslot

  Set at Thursday 24:45-25:15, noitaminA has been the highest rated midnight anime slot on TV in Japan.

  Stable and high reputations gained from the advertisers.

  Starting April 2010, the 30-min weekly timeslot will be expanded into one hour consisting of two 30min series, doubling the number of animation titles to be produced and broadcast in the slot throughout the year.

  TITLE

  The Tatami Galaxy

  TALES OF AGRICULTURE

  Saraiya Goyou

  Welcom to Irabu's_office

  EDEN OF THE EAST

  magunitude8

  Antique

  Hakaba_kitano

  MONONOKE

  Genji

  Antique

  One day Keichiro Tachibana opens a cake shop. Then a gifted patissier/pastry chef called Ono appears. Tachibana and Ono were classmates in high school, but Tachibana gave Ono (a man) the cold shoulder back then. Luckily Ono doesn't remember Tachibana. Tachibana feels relaxed and persuades Ono to work for him as a chef/patissier. However, Ono is a guy of "irresistible Charm" now and gives Tachibana nightmares by trying to seduce him.
  At this cake shop called Antique, an incident from Tachibana's childhood is revealed, and a variety of cakes is presented. This is a delightful comedy anime

I'm sure it's missing stuff here and there, but this solves the mystery of the small text. It's mainly synopses and similar small items of text related to noitaminA.

Most of the extraction of info:  http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/23ac5m/does_anyone_have_a_transcription_of_the_text_from/


How did Future Trunks learn the Spirit Bomb Technique? In episode 66 of Dragon Ball Super, Trunks gathers energy from the life forms and forms a medium-sized Spirit Bomb while fighting Zamazu. I don't recall Future Trunks seen Goku use Spirit Bomb in the anime, I'm not sure though. How did he managed to do it if he didn't taught by anyone or possibly didn't even seen or knew it in the first place? Moreover, he didn't even concerntrate to gather the energy like Goku did everytime.

The answer is quite simple: This is not the spirit bomb technique.

Trunks' new form that is similar to the SSB is solely responsible for pulling in all of that energy and enabling that new sword technique he used against Zamasu.

Considering that we don't have a definition for this form we also don't know it's limitations.

However, I speculate that the new form is a special form of SSB attained when a half human half saiyan can clad themselves in god ki. Doing so enabled him to pull on the ki of other humans to unite into his blade. Which worked because humans are according to Zamasu "made in the image of gods".

That's only a theory but fact of the matter is that what we saw was not Trunks using the spirit bomb.


What are the orange stripes and fire that Eren's Titan body gets when fighting the female Titan for the second time? In the second fight with the female Titan, at the end, Eren's Titan gets some orange lines and fire. What is that? Is it some special power particular to his Titan just like the female Titan can harden part of her body when fighting?

I believe it's heat from the extreme regeneration he's undergoing. Normal Titans emit steam from wounds as they heal; it makes sense that accelerated healing might emit more heat to the point of glowing. (From a chemistry/biology standpoint this could be seen as a waste of chemical energy, but we're talking about a person who can summon a lightning bolt by biting his hand and somehow use it to grow a fifteen-meter body around himself!)


Who is this girl in a blue witch costume and braids cosplaying as? Could someone help me ID this cosplay?

I think its "Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea"

that is her, I think


Have the creators of Tokyo Mew Mew or Sailor Moon commented on the similarities? There are a number of very clear parallels between Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon, beyond the fact that they're both magical girl animes. At 7:35 of this, the scene is incredibly similar to this at 00:53:10. There are other very striking similarities, like the personalities of the characters. Have the creators of either series commented on the similarities?

Unfortunately the second link you provided has been removed from YouTube so I could not look at it, but based on watching the Tokyo Mew Mew link you provided I can guess which scene from Sailor Moon you’re thinking of.  The scenes are indeed similar.

However, the creators of the series would not need to comment on the similarity because Sailor Moon pioneered the genre of team fighting mahou shoujo (magical girl) series.  The key point here is the combination of sentai (team fighting) with mahou shoujo.  To merely say Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew are from the same genre and for the same target audience doesn't nearly explain their large similarities, because neither look much at all like any of the mahou shoujo series that preceded Sailor Moon.

Before Sailor Moon, the long history of mahou shoujo series were usually EITHER one girl who could transform into a magical version of herself OR one magical girl from another world who is temporarily living in our world and uses an Earthling disguise except for when she needs to transform into her true self to use her powers.  In both cases, most of the occasions for which she transformed were for day-to-day events, NOT for trying to save the world.  (Magical girls living solely in magical worlds, such as Kero Kero Chime or Akazukin ChaCha, do not technically fall within the genre of mahou shoujo because everyone in their world is magical; a mahou shoujo is a girl with magic powers in a generally non-magical world.)  At the same time, there was a long history of live-action sentai (team fighting) series like Power Rangers.  Sailor Moon was the first series ever to combine mahou shoujo with sentai: a team of magical girls trying to save the world.

The Sailor Moon manga ran in the shoujo manga magazine Nakayoshi, published by Kodansha.  During its years-long run, Nakayoshi built off of that success by introducing more magical girl series, some of which were the more traditional style (Kaitou St. Tail), some which in the newly-minted team fighting style (Magic Knight Rayearth, which was also a parody of RPG video games), and one was even a parody of the genre itself which masqueraded as a typical mahou shoujo for months before introducing a plot twist (Card Captor Sakura).  Most of these also met with great success.  Once Sailor Moon’s run ended, Nakayoshi continued trying its luck with mahou shoujo, and met with varying success (such as Akihabara Dennougumi Pata-Pi, Cyber Idol Mink, etc.); obviously, Nakayoshi never regained thei height of popularity that Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura had given it.

One of the series Nakayoshi came out with in this period was Tokyo Mew Mew.  It received enough popularity to get animated, and the reasons for its particular similarities to Sailor Moon are explained by the fact that it came so soon on the heels of Sailor Moon; there were very few mahou-shoujo-mixed-with-sentai series yet made for it to draw from: Sailor Moon was the main “inspiration” for it, you could say.  In other words, Tokyo Mew Mew is a direct result of Sailor Moon; without the innovation of Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew would never have come into existence. Being published in the same manga magazine, the publishers couldn’t have cared less if it was just a copy of Sailor Moon churned out to turn a profit.  If it did anything unique, great; if it didn’t, they wouldn’t have cared.  Being from the same publisher, it didn't need to worry about copyright infringement by "stealing" any ideas. Manga magazines are growing more and more unprofitable to publish in print (evidenced by the fact that the furoku [freebies] they give away with each issue have sharply dropped in quality since the era of Sailor Moon’s run), so any hit series they can get is important.  Tokyo Mew Mew did well enough, and did not need to do much original work, it just needed to utilize what made Sailor Moon and the hits of its day work.  In summary, it would not occur to the creators of Tokyo Mew Mew to comment on the similarities, because that is basically atari mae (当り前, a given, obvious).  Creators of ensuing mahou shoujo series from other publishers, such as Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach or Cutey Honey F (or even the newer Pretty Cure franchise), could make comments of comparison, but it would not behoove them to do so since their series are rather obviously Sailor Moon-inspired (if not knock-offs) and Sailor Moon was dreamt up by and owned by their competition, so they wouldn't want to draw attention to that fact.


What do servants expect will happen at the end of the Holy Grail war? I've begun rewatching Fate, and there is something unclear to me about the Servant's behavior during the war:

Does the Holy Grail grant only one wish? Because if that is the case, what goes through a Servant's mind when they participate in the war? If they use a bit of logic:

I kill all other Servants
Me and my Master win
Holy Grail appears
... Who gets their wish granted? Me? My Master?

Of course, we know that in truth, masters will use a command seal to kill their own servant at the end, so they can actually summon the Holy Grail. So Masters already have a plan. But what about Servants? Do they all plan to betray their Masters at the end or what?

To expand on @Septian Primadewa's comment

  The winning pair is supposed to be able to claim the Holy Grail and utilize it to grant a wish for each of them. Its true purpose is to actually utilize the seven Servants returning to the root as a way to form a hole directly to it.

Source - Holy Grail War *emphasis mine

However the catch is in the last sentence of that quote. Most serious Magi are like Tokiomi Tohsaka and don't see the Holy Grail as a Wish Granter but a way to the Root as such they will keep one Command Spell until the end and use it on their Servant and force them to die as was Tokiomi's plan with Gilgamesh and why he plotted so much to regain his lost Command Spell

The Einzbern's would follow suit using all 7 Servants as they don't care for the Wish, they want the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel. much to the same as Zouken Makiri/Matou who sought the same magic because the materialization of the soul would allow him to continue to live but stop the rotting of his Soul.

For some Servants being summoned to the War is their wish, such as Diarmuid Ua Duibhne who wanted to faithfully serve a Lord which he was able to through Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. Likewise with Masters as with Waver Velvet in a way, he didn't necessarily have a wish but winning the Grail War would show his worth as a Magus (seeing the Holy Grail War as the ultimate test of Magi)

Of course there hasn't been an incident where a Wish has been granted as all previous wars did not end with a victor. So there is no actual proof in universe that they are granted Wishes from the grail so the wish could be just to lure other Magi to the War and summon Servants so they can all be sacrificed for those seeking the Root or the Third Magic.


What happens if a dragon lacrima of another element is implanted? In fairy tail, we know that the third generation dragon slayers have been taught dragon slayer magic by dragons and also that they have dragon lacrimas implanted.
If a dragon lacrima of an element of different type is implanted what will happen?  Will they gain two types of dragon slayer magic?
( For example if Sting is implanted with a fire element type dragon lacrima will he gain two types of dragon slayer magic? i.e. holy light type magic taught by Vicelogia and fire type magic gained from the lacrima)

Spoilers to recent Manga chapters, But to be put simply they gain the ability to use and presumably eat that element. This is shown by

   One of the Elite Members of the Alvarez Empire,God Serena, who used to be a wizard saint, rank 1, who had 8 Dragon Lacrima implanted into his body.

This is shown when (Even Bigger Spoiler):

   he uses the Cavern, Purgatory, and Sea King Dragon slayer magics in rapid succession to beat down four wizard saints ranked 2,3,4,and 5. Draculos Hyberion, Wolfheim, Warrod Sequen, and Jura Neekis were all incapacitated by his 3 attacks of those 3 dragon slayer magics. He then prepared to finish them off with Gale Dragon Slayer Magic, but was interrupted before he used that one.


What is the button Heero pushed when he and Relena first met in the beach? In episode 1 of Gundam Wing, after Wing Gundam was sent crashing down with a Leo on the bottom of the ocean, Relena sees Heero unconcious lying on the shore. When Heero woke up his helmet was removed and he immediately covered his face while asking Relena "Did you see my face?" as shown in this picture.

He then punched a button attached to his spacesuit and something on his chest exploded.

See in this video (sorry I just included Gundam Abridge-ning episode 1 dub parody of Gundam Wing)

What actually did Heero do?

According to the wikia the suit had a built in suicide bomb but it was damaged by the salt water. I would guess that this is to prevent the pilots from being captured. This would be similar to fighter pilots during War time using cyanid pills to keep from being interrogated for delicate information.

  Washing up on the beach, Heero's unconscious body was found by Relena and, in an attempt to kill himself, pounded his chest detonator triggering the flight suit's built-in suicide bomb. However, the saltwater damaged the explosive which caused only his detonator to fire, knocking Heero over.


Flower Symbol Meaning? From Seishun Buta Yarou wa Yumemiru Shoujo no Yume wo Minai, what is the meaning of this flower symbol?

This is what is known as a "hanamaru" it's been like a "very good" or a gold star award on exams or projects. Usually done to award younger kids.