Why do people tend to think anime is weird porno? Why do people not directly exposed to anime tend to think of it as weird porn?

It would not be the first time I tell somebody who is not really into anime that I watch it and get questioned as to why I watch animated pornography. Until the point I confront them with the fact that Dragon Ball and Pokémon are also animes.

It also does not seem to be a Western culture thing, as several people I know in India, America, Russia also tend to respond in the same way.

Is there a specific reason as to why this stereotyping came to be?

In the 90s, Anime (formerly called Japanimation in some magazines and sources) became the latest target of alarmist conservative media due to a set of OVAs titled "Urotsukidōji" or "The Overfiend" in many English translations:

It's a 3 part series which contained masses of animated gore, demon tentacle rape, and horror.

Not only was it offensive to much of the public, it had become very popular - not only amongst hard-core anime fans, but by normal television viewers also. 40,000 copies were sold in Britain - at a time when 500 people was the average attendance for an anime con there.

Having been leapt upon by the media, this of course only amplified its success for anime title would rarely leave their niche viewership.

Sensational journalism by its very nature is intended to elicit a response from the reader/viewer and talk spreads fast in local communities. When finding another "Overfiend"-contender, media outlets are able to remind viewers about the previous controversies - or even tangentially related events, such as a normal anime film release, may be tainted by a headstrong reporter.

This anti-anime sentiment started to spring up in casual use, spreading further propoganda - whether intentional or not. For example, this quote from the British Board of Film Classification about anime :

  In Japan it seems, these films provide sex and violence for men, who watch them after work in male clubs where sexual favours are bought and sold.

Which is clearly not true - a lot of the Western world did not think of anime as separate from hentai, and the hentai stories they had been exposed to were selected to be the worst examples. Even now you will see anime being used as an example of something immoral:

source

The fact that anime is produced in the East played a significant factor also, in many people's eyes Eastern people were seen to be different, and weird. Even harmless children's titles such as Pokémon were affected with mass reports of children choking on pokéballs, having epileptic fits and the like. Other popular titles were pounced upon too, like Full Metal Alchemist's use of magic circles or the 'evilness' of the Death Note cast.

Other alarmist conservative media scares include: Dungeons & Dragons, the Harry Potter books and many other niche areas of society - some of which embraced it and took advantage of the attention like death metal bands or ouija board manufacturers.

There of course are hentai titles that are sketchy, which is where it all started from, and there is fanservice that targets pubescent teenagers, BUT what the media has made many people assume that anime is a "genre" of film and all titles are like this. However, anime is a medium that can be about anything - and just like normal filmography - a medium can tell be used to tell the heart-warming story of a boy reunited with his father - or be used for less savoury topics.

(TLDR: Certain controversial titles + echo chamber = reputation)

References:

Schoolgirl Milky Crisis by Jonathan Clements

Further Reading:

SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s


What did Yasaburou mean by calling himself a "Bohemian Tanuki"? What does Yasaburou Shimogamo mean when in episode 7 (00:36) he says: "Even for a Bohemian tanuki like me..."

I thought tanuki were a Japanese thing. Do tanuki exist in Eastern Europe?

I doubt Yasaburou was insinuating that he was from the traditional Czech lands. Instead he meant Bohemianism, which is used to describe people of unconventional lifestyles.

Also see: Urban dictionary, Merriam Webster, Dictionary.com.

a person (as a writer or an artist) living an unconventional life usually in a colony with others
pertaining to or characteristic of the unconventional life of a bohemian.
living a wandering or vagabond life, as a Gypsy.


How Did Naruto Know The Message His Parents Gave Him Before They Died? From Episode 380,
How did Naruto know Minato's messgae or him?
Naruto said to his father that he already knew the message they gave him while sealing the nine tales in baby Naruto while they both are stabbed by nine tails' nail like a BBQ.
I am very curious.
Thank you for any comment or answer. I will be glad to read it.

While fighting the Nine-Tails for his chakra, Naruto met the sealed remnants of his mother Kushina inside his seal.
She told him the story of what happened during the Nine-Tails attack on Konoha and also what her and Minatos last words to Naruto were.
That should be in Episode 249.


Did Hashirama have a son? In Naruto it us shown that Tsunade is Hashirama's granddaughter. Does that mean she is the daughter of Hashirama's son? So who is Hashirama's son ?

Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki did have an offspring. But it wasn't confirmed officially if they were male or female.

Also, the series doesn't give importance to Tsunade's parents, as a result of which, they were never revealed. It mainly focused on the relationship Tsunade and Hashirama had between them and her life later on.

From Hashirama's and Tsunade's Wikia articles respectively:

So yes, Tsunade is Hashirama's granddaughter. But it is not known if it was Tsunade's father or mother who was Hashirama's child. And, nothing is officially declared about them.


is the legendary super saiyan 3 in the Dragon Ball Heroes manga? AFAIK, in the Dragon Ball Heroes videogame appears the legendary super saiyan 3. Is this character in the Dragon Ball Heroes manga?

No. The character only appears in the Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2 Game. In the "Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory mission" manga, Broly appears as an antagonist under the command of Genome, however in his Super Saiyan 4 state.


Is Persona 4 Golden anime different from the original Persona 4 anime? Does Persona 4 Golden follow the same plot as the original Persona 4? I've seen the Persona 4 anime was wandering if Golden covered old ground.

I know in the game there's a new character and/or party member but is this also reflected in the anime?

You have to watch Persona 4 before watching Persona 4 the Golden, the reason is in P4G they skip most of the plot presented in the original series and pretty much only animate the parts with the new character, Mary. So while watching the Golden you just have to fill in the missing parts with the original P4 or it won't make sense. Whatever happens in the original won't change except a small part in the end but even then it's not that much of a change, it's pretty much adding a final final true ending over the true ending of the original adaptation... Either that or play the Golden game for PS Vita since that one has the full story, not chopped up like the adaptation.

TL;DR P4G doesn't touch anything that happens in original P4. If anything, watching P4 priorhand is mandatory


Do ninjas have extended lifespans? Most ninjas probably don't live very long by the nature of their work. They die on missions, in wars, in raids, while being ambushed by other ninjas, during testing, etc.

However, the handful of ninjas we have seen (e.g. The Third Hokage, as well as Tsunade and Jiraiya) who've lived past the usual lifespan seem to be of very advanced age.

Do ninjas have a longer natural lifespan that is simply cut short by the nature of their work?

Not really, no.

The oldest (probably) Shinobi alive was Madara Uchiha, and even that because he awakened the Rinnegan, summoned the Gedo Mazo, and leeched on it for life-force.

Without it, he would probably have died at 80-90, which is a reasonable lifespan.


Are all humans in Naruto universe mandated to admit in the shinobi academy? All humans in Narutoverse have chakra and that anyone can be a shinobi if anyone is able to use and manipulate chakra to a greater effect.

I always thought that everyone born are admitted in the academy and there, they learn how to use their chakra and rise through the ranks and become a ninja similar to schools and education in real life. The Academy students were trained and prepared for life as a shinobi. Is this true? Is it mandatory for all humans in Narutoverse to admit in the academy and be a ninja?
We see quite some non-shinobi professions, for e.g.Teuchi becoming a Ramen chef. Just like my above assumption, did he once admitted in the academy in the childhood but choose to become a ramen chef?
Is it mandatory to for all to take admission in the academy and learn the basic elementary jutsus and experience the initial life of a ninja before becoming something else?

Is it mandatory to for all to take admission in the academy and learn the basic elementary jutsus and experience the initial life of a ninja before becoming something else?

Most probably yes. Everyone must know the basic jutsus. Then, it's upto them to clear the exams to be a full-time shinobi or quit the academy to be something else.

We see quite some non-shinobi professions, for e.g. Teuchi becoming a
Ramen chef. [...] did he once admitted in the academy in the childhood
but choose to become a ramen chef?

YES. He would have known basic jutsus but didn't progressed that far in the Shinobi world. Maybe he was a pre-genin academy student or had acquired genin stature before quitting. Since he is a chef, he might be skilled in Kenjutsu and talented with Kunai and shuriken. He would probably possess an Earth and Water Release affinity, possibly Fire Release but the Chakra Reserves was probably averaged sized and ultimately run out of chakra fairly easily. He doesn't know a whole arsenal of jutsu but knows quite a few of them.
Now, an image circulated quite a bit which spread the fact that Teuchi might have been taught by Jiraiya but it was never confirmed.

Teuchi could've been the team member of Jiraiya team-7 since they would be around the same age group and it would explain why Teuchi wasn't afraid to scold Shinobi for nonpayment, because he was a retired Shinobi himself. It would also explain why he never shared the same resentment as the rest of the village towards Naruto as a kid and genuinely accepted him, giving him free food sometimes and treating Naruto as a valued customer. He does this because he was teammates with Naruto's father and knows that Naruto is Minato’s son. He can see the resemblance in Naruto and knows something great will come of him. This would also explain the respect that he has towards Jiraiya.
Source: https://www.quora.com/If-the-ramen-guy-from-Naruto-was-ever-a-shinobi-in-his-youth-what-kind-of-jutsu-would-he-have-and-why


Did Genos get more powerful than Metal Knight? In Season 2 episode 5 of the One Punch Man anime, Metal Knight fires a barrage of missiles against Elder Centipede and the monster is completely unharmed. However in the manga,

   Genos manages to make some damage to Elder Centipede with his incineration cannon, even though Elder Centipede regenerates.

Does this mean Genos got more powerful than Metal Knight?

Metal Knight calls everything "weapons testing".  He's not actually trying to defeat anything.  As such it's impossible to really tell if any feat we see him display is even remotely close to his "maximum".  This is especially so given that these are always remotely piloted suits, meaning there may be dozens of them, and variations within them, that could in principle be used in concert (think Tony Stark and his fleet of suits in Iron Man 3).


Why does Haibara attend school? After his body shrank, Conan attends school in order to look like a normal child especially in front of Ran and Kogoro, but why does Haibara attend school? Why does not she dedicate her time trying to redevelop the APTX drug and trying to find an antibody to it?

Haibara is still in the form of a child and is not hidden from society, so people know who she is. If she doesn't go to school, people will question what is going on, and she can probably keep better tabs on Conan and make sure he doesn't accidentally reveal his identity.

According to Detective Conan World Wiki,

  Because she occasionally works overnight on the antidote for the APTX 4869, she tends to be tired quite frequently, causing Conan to call her an "evil-eyed yawny girl" on one occasion.

So, it is likely that school can also function as a sort of break for her. Also, it's not like she isn't working on it a lot. The files on the drug were all deleted so it is difficult for her to create a permanent antidote and as such, makes progress slow on it.


How to summarize the whole SAO, Sword Art Online, franchise? So yesterday I way talking to my mom about SAO. I'm really bad at explaining stuff so I think I might have confused her when I was talking about it. I was also jumping around from the story. For example I was talking about the beginning then went to the end, then to the middle, back to the end, then back to the beginning. After struggling to explain it to her I tried to summarizing it, but I'm also bad at that so I had a hard time doing that too.

Can someone please summarize it for me like that I can explain it better to my mom. I told her the main point of the first season, Sword Art Online 1, which was that people got stuck in a game and to get out they had to clear out levels. I also told her that if you die in the game you die in real life. I pretty much told her the main point of the the first season, but didn't get that into the second one.

It's difficult to summarize the entire franchise (through season 2) in a single sentence, so I'll split it up by arcs, ignoring the small arcs. These may have slight spoilers, but I try to keep it limited to the introduction elements of each arc. It's not as short as Dimitri's, but it helped when I was convincing my friends to watch.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Season 1, Arc 1:

   A technology has been developed that allows users to fully insert themselves into a video game to the point where they cannot sense the outside world at all. During the first release and testing of this technology, the developer changes the program so that the players are trapped and the game becomes their life. In order to leave, they must beat the game but with one deadly twist: if they die in the game, they die in real life.

Season 1, Arc 2:

   At the end of season 1, the game is completed and most players are released, but some of the players have still not woken up from their game-induced coma. The main character from the first arc (Kirito) notices that Asuna (another teammate from the game) is one of those who hasn't woken. More games are created using the same immersion technology, and eventually a picture circulates for one of the more popular ones. In this picture, there appears to be a girl trapped in a cage. Kirito believes that girl to be Asuna and joins the game to save her.

Season 2, Arc 1:

   Another immersion game goes wrong. A player appears to have the ability to kill players in the game and to have them die in real life. Kirito, with his vast experience with these games, is asked to join the game to do reconnaissance and to try and stop the killer.

Season 2, Arc 2:

I really need to rewatch this one, and it's my favorite, so I don't want to spoil anything.


Why were Youko's friends added to the anime? I was reading that Sugimoto only had a bit part in the Twelve Kingdoms books, and Asano didn't even exist.  Is there any explanation as to why they were added to the anime?  Sugimoto has a pretty big role in the anime, but Asano felt pretty pointless.  Were they just added to give Youko somebody to talk to?

It's important to know that in something like manga, even though thoughts are able to be shown, there is still a very heavy visual element for the reader. In a novel, like The Twelve Kingdoms, it is conveyed entirely through text and we are at the mercy of the characters' inner thoughts much of the time.

Asano was added largely as a confidant (and a childhood friend) of Youko; he is someone who could externalize the struggles that Youko has internally in the novel. Sugimoto, like Asano and even Yuka, fills a very similar purpose. Her role is described as a foil* for Youko, helping her to externalize issues that the viewer would not see (but would be able to read in the novel).

Asano also adds some serious depth to the story (some serious spoiler material here):

   The gradual loss of his mind and his inevitable death are very powerful, mostly because they follow his desperate want to find a purpose in his life. And where better for him to die than in Shoukei's arms?

* In literature, theatre/theater, etc, a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character.


Why does Yubaba offer a job to Chihiro, rather than just turning her into piglet? From the beginning of the film, it looks that Yubaba is searching for Chihiro with the clear intention to turn her into animal.

What reasons prevent Yubaba to do so when Chihiro suddenly comes to her office? While being rude, Yubaba still talks to Chihiro and at the end offers to sign the job contract. Looks like Yubaba is restricted by some rules she must follow. Why, and what are these rules?

She cannot refuse her as long as chihiro asks. Yubaba also has a rule not to turn down anyone asking for a job and therefore has to give her the job and can't be turned into a piglet as she is under her service.


Does people playing Sword Art Online feel something or not? In the first season of SOA, IIRC, Kirito tells his friend that they can't feel pain in SOA. But later we see a lot of characters reacting like if they feel pain (screaming in pain, etc.) and also they enjoy and taste meals and foods. So, how is this possible?

Does people playing Sword Art Online feel something or not?

The Nerve Gear can theoretically simulate pain as well as all other senses.

  Inside, there were numerous signal transceivers. By using the
  electronic signals sent by those transceivers, the gear accessed the
  user’s brain itself. The user didn’t use their eyes or ears to see and hear,
  the signals went directly to their brain. In addition, the machine could
  access not only sight and sound, but also: touch, taste, and smell as
  well—that is to say, all five senses.

But the players in SAO apparently don't feel pain except for some discomfort.

  Kuradeel wrinkled his brow and curved his lips upwards, then
  stabbed my right arm with the tip of his sword. He then twisted it twice,
  then thrice.
  “Argh…!”
  Although I didn’t feel any pain, an unpleasant feeling of being
  stimulated in the nerves passed through my entire body alongside the
  strong paralysis effect. Every time the blade dug into my arm, my HP
  decreased slowly but steadily.

In ALO Pain Absorption is introduced as a setting that regulates how much pain the player feels from a wound.

  The flames coursing through my nerves were extinguished by the
  sensation of thick metal piercing through my body. The center of my
  chest was pierced through by the sword, which seemed to be deeply
  rooted in the floor. Though there was no pain, I was being assaulted by
  intense discomfort.
  “Ki... Kirito-kun!!”
  Hearing Asuna’s cry, I met her gaze while trying to tell her ‘I’m
  fine’.
  However, faster than my voice could come out, Sugou suddenly
  spoke out to the darkness in the sky above with a booming voice.
  “System command! Pain Absorption, change to level 8.”
  That moment, a sharp cone of pure pain spread through my back,
  as if I was stabbed.
  “G... Guh...”
  When a groan leaked out of my mouth, Sugou howled in laughter.
  “Kukuku, there’s still two more treats for you. The pain will get
  stronger gradually so look forward to enjoying it. When it gets lower
  than level 3, I’m afraid it seems you’ll still feel the symptoms of shock
  even after logging out.”

Considering that ALO is based on the SAO technology we can likely assume that this setting was used to prevent the SAO players from feeling any pain.
As to their screams I think that it just natural response when you are in panic and realize that you could/are going to die.
The first and second excerpts are from the first light novel and the last one is from the fourth (translations by Baka-Tsuki).


Manga about teenagers making a suicide pact online I've never actually read the manga, only the fanfic of another manga it inspired. The author couldn't remember the name of the manga but here's what they had to say about it.

"It had a group of teenagers who planned a suicide pact online, became friends, got distracted by alcohol and general shenanigans, and ended up not going through with the suicide anymore... main female lead was out with one of the guys and she was thinking 'maybe in different circumstances, we would have been out on a date instead of out planning to die'."

I took out some stuff where the ellipsis are, since it was a side comment. They did mention the ending was kind of tragic though. I'd be really grateful if someone knows of it. Thanks in advance!

Sounds like the first story of Kanojo ga Tonda Hi.
This is the description of first story from MAL Page of Kanojo ga Tonda Hi:

  “Recruiting those who want to finish it and die, but feel sad doing it alone…”
  Fed up with everything, Mie posted a notice on an Internet Bulletin Board and found suicide-partners. Four boys and girls were gathered together because of their ties to death. And then…?!

The continuation from that description is just like the description you have:

  ...became friends, got distracted by alcohol and general shenanigans, and ended up not going through with the suicide anymore... main female lead was out with one of the guys...

I'm not really sure about her thoughts, but indeed she thought of something along the line "If only I met him earlier" or like that, and she did fall in love with him.
And about...

  ...They did mention the ending was kind of tragic though

maybe it's about:

   Just like you have said, the suicide plan was nulled. But in the end, one day, the three of them got the news that the other girl (the one who's not the main chara) was dead, from committing suicide.


Does Vegeta new transformation/form has an official name already? In the last episode of Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta got a new transformation/form. He eyes has pupils, he's super saiyan blue aura is darker and it has more sparks. Does this new transformation/form has an official name already?

The name is Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Evolution, official name from Dragon Ball Heroes (which is non canon but official)

Vegeta new form official name


When does the Bleach OVA occur in relation to the anime? I'm currently doing a complete run of Bleach, along with the movies and the OVA, and I'm trying to figure out the complete timeline of it all. I know that there was already a question on here about when the movies were in relation to the anime (and a subsequent answer to that question), but I still don't know when the OVA is in relation to it all. Here's what I DO know (along with my assumptions based on that knowledge), in case it helps at all:
The Bleach OVA is a special flashback episode that has to do with Ichigo's fight against Grande Fisher. However, Ichigo's father killed Grande Fisher in the Arrancar arc. So does that mean that it takes place some time before that?

Based on your description, I am assuming you refer to the first OVA titled Memories in the Rain. This, as noted in Wikipedia, was

  ...shown in Japan at the Jump Festa 2004 Anime Tour, is a pilot episode for the series. It focuses more on Ichigo's feelings regarding his mother's death. Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, voices Kon in this special instead of Mitsuaki Madono, the original voice actor of Kon. The closing theme used for the episode is "Memories in the Rain" by Morita Masakazu, the voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, and Orikasa Fumiko, the voice actress of Rukia Kuchiki. (Alternative version of episodes 8 and 9; watched best after episode 7)

Just to add, for the other OVA, The Sealed Sword Frenzy

  It appears to take place soon after the Soul Society arc.

Which means that it's set after the events of Episode 63.


Where does Sword Art Online Extra Edition fit in? I was browsing Anime News Networking getting names of Anime for searching for OSTs (because sometimes they get labeled by their original japanese name) and there was this add about some Sword Art Online Extra Edition.

The site has a teaser and it says it's going to start streaming on the 31st so it makes me think it's not just a different type of Collections Edition (to which i have all 4 from RightStuf), just looking at the images and the teaser it seems to be set around the second arc but i'm not entirely sure.

So i'm wondering, Where does Sword Art Online Extra Edition fit in.

It's a special that plays after the SAO-anime (after the alfheim arc). It has an original story not covered in the light novels.


When did Kakashi and Obito awaken their Mangekyou Sharingan? In chapter 604 of the manga, it is shown that Kakashi kills Rin. This fulfills the requirement to activate the Mangekyou Sharingan. So that should have been the moment when Kakashi was able to use the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Also, the Yellow Flash was still alive when this happens, so this means that Naruto was not yet born. This clearly points to the fact that from the very beginning of the Naruto series, Kakashi had his Mangekyou Sharingan activated.

When Kakashi first fought Itachi (when Itachi and Kisame appear at Konoha) and faced the Tsukuyomi he was devastated in a moment, even though he had his Mangekyou Sharingan active (though not used). But the next time they face (during the rescue mission of Gara), he was able to withstand it.

Now my first question is, was Kakashi unaware of his Mangekyou Sharingan until he faced Itachi, or was he not proficient in using it. Also why in the Naruto series (I mean the series before the start of Shippuden) didn't Kakashi use his Mangekyou Sharingan?

Now for my second question, in the same chapter, a few pages back, just when Kakashi strikes the blow at Rin, Obito's vision starts to fade as he can sense Rin dying. Does this mean Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan was awakened at the same time? We know that Kakashi and Obito shares the same "other dimension" because of the same Sharingan that the both use (not the same eye, but the eye of the same Uchiha). So does the same apply for their activation of Mangekyou Sharingan?

Kakashi and Obito awoke their Mangekyou at the same time: when Kakashi killed Rin.

Obito (left) and Kakashi (right) awakening their Mangekyou. From chapter 605, pages 4 and 5.

Now, as for why Kakashi never used it before his fight with Deidara, I think there's no definitive answer. However, I can think of two different educated guesses: one is in-universe, while the other is out-of-universe.

In-universe explanation: As you said, Kakashi was either unaware of or unable to control his Mangekyou Sharingan. I tend to think the former is the case, since he passed out as soon as he awoke his Mangekyou, and probably had no memory of awakening it (Kakashi's page on Naruto wiki seems to agree with this explanation). If this is the case, after his fight with Itachi he most likely tested to see if he had the Mangekyou, finding out he did, and thus trained in order to perfect its use.

Out-of-universe explanation: Kishimoto hadn't thought the whole story through. Since Tobi had not made an appearance in the first Naruto series, Kishi had not yet thought about who he would be. If this is the case, then Kakashi's back story had not yet been planned, as well as Obito's. This would make it plausible that Kakashi was not initially planned to have a Mangekyou, since his is transplanted. After the Kakashi Gaiden, however, the important characters are all introduced, which means he had most likely planned for Obito to be Tobi, and about the link between his and Kakashi's Sharingan.


Who attacked Gowther when he was brainwashing Dreyfus? season 1 episode 18.
I never did understand who attacked or was in Gowther nightmare teller where he was brainwashing Dreyfus and why did "they" attacked or showed up on Gowther brainwashing skill

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was Fraudrin because he was inside of Dreyfus' mind/body and so he attacked Gowther while he was using nightmare teller. At least that's my theory.


Why is "Meitantei Conan" translated as Case Closed? I really like the "Meitantei Conan" anime, but I've always wanted to know, why is was the name translated to "Case Closed" when it was localized?

Whether or not Detective Conan was catchy enough isn't the cause for the change in name in this particular case...

At one point Funimation's "Case Closed" website had a FAQ page with this question asked. An archival copy of this page can be found here.

  Q: Why did you change the name to Case Closed?
  A: Due to legal considerations.

We see the same vague response in a 2004 news article published by Anime News Network:

  FUNimation sent out an advisory today stating that due to unspecified legal considerations, Detective Conan is to be renamed "Case Closed" . . . Due to legal considerations, this highly anticipated series will be released in the United States as Case Closed. Working closely with our Japanese partners, Case Closed was chosen as the name best suited for the U.S. market.

While it seems to be mostly speculation, there have been forum posts mentioning that this renaming is due to the copyright held by DC Comics on the name Conan. I'm not convinced by that reasoning, but I included it for you to digest as you please.


How long does producing a cour take? I've read through some questions about financing anime and so on, but don't know how long it takes to produce a complete cour of anime. I'm talking writing about 12 to 13 episodes, of a standard-length anime (roughly 20 minutes, nothing like Aiura).

Is there an average time needed to produce a series? Are we talking about months?

We are definitely talking about months here, if not year(s).

Lets first take a look at what has to be done to produce a anime to begin with. The image as found washibi's blog will help with that.

Here we can see that there are 4 mayor factors to the production of a anime.

Pre-production (planning)
Script/Scenario writing
in-production
post-production

Pre-Production (1 Week / 2-3 Months)(1)

Pre-Production is usually quite short. It covers obtaining sponsors, planning the costs and who they want to work with, such as the voice actors/artists

Especially bigger studios, whom already have a basic set of people to work with, and money available it will take shorter then for say an upcoming animation studio.

Script/Scenario writing (1-2 days / 1-2 weeks per episode)

Script/scenario planning covers the planning of an episode, here they roughly produce sketches about what scenes should look and feel like, design characters, pick colors, plan dialogues etc.

Often novels or manga are used as a basis for this, reducing the requirements. But for an original anime, or diverging stories the time needed might even go up as far as 1 month per episode, to plan things out in more detail.

The size of the used team is also important to how long this takes in total, as bigger studios will be able to plan several episodes at the same time, as opposed to smaller studios, which will be able to plan 1 or 2 at the time.

In-production (1-2 weeks / episode)

This is the part where all the fancy stuff starts. The process of animation, cleaning rendering and everything relevant to it.

Post-production(+- 1 week / episode)

This is where voice actors start to come in. They will have to record the required audio, add music and sound effects to the scene, and do a final round of editing to clear out some of the left over mistakes.

So a cour takes +- 6 months?

Yep, in the most positive scenario it will take about 6-7 months to create a 'cour' from scratch. And with a bit of bad luck, it can run up to 1~2 years even. Which all depends on the team size, how efficiently they can work together, and how much of the production can be done side by side.

1 week pre-production
2-3 weeks pre-production
+- 12 weeks in-production
+- 12 weeks post-production
thus 27 weeks or ~7 months total


Do Gogeta and Vegito have the same personality? Gogeta and Vegito are the fusion of Goku and Vegeta through different means. They might have different power levels and fusion time, but do they have the same personality or are they basically the same?

Most People seem to think Gogeta is the serious counterpart of the fusion and takes after Goku while Vegito is the cocky and confident counterpart and takes after Vegeta. This is incorrect. The main reason people seem to think this is because of the Gogeta in Dragon Ball Fusions: Reborn who is completely different from the canon iteration of Gogeta.Firstly, all fusions share 1 common trait. They tend to become very cocky and act in a very arrogant manner while mocking their enemies. This personality seems common between Vegito, Gogeta, Kefla, Gotenks etc.Gogeta seems to have the same playful and cocky personality Vegito does. We know this because, after fusing, despite the brevity of the situation, they spend time thinking of a name. Even when he starts fighting Broly, Gogeta was smirking and smiling throughout the fight and was never really keen on putting an end to the fight right at the start(Even Though he could) and was simply using more power than his opponent and overwhelming him.However, another important thing to note is that Broly is somewhat of an anti-villian and he wasn't really someone you could communicate with while fighting. So Gogeta didn't really have the necessity to insult him or mock him.Not to forget, although SSJ4 Gogeta isn't canon to the series, he was probably the complete definition of a troll when it comes to all fusions. The Bluff Kamehameha & Back Scratch etc.In conclusion, there don't seem to be any unique defining traits that distinguish Gogeta and Vegito apart from their appearance. So no, their personalities seem to be the same.


Find a manga about a boy who uses heavy hammer as weapon It's about a boy who have a hammer as a weapon, which is very heavy. His father died protecting hiim. The manga is about him having an adventure. He also has some companion. One of them has handsome face but small body and he has to wear a mask to hide that.

It is crocket!.
http://myanimelist.net/manga/17005/Croket!

I have found it after scanning 600 titles on myanimelist


Why do the characters of Fire Force always say "Látom"? In Fire Force there are some religious characters like a nun which is part of company 8, and her and other characters when are saying preaching-like sentences many times end the phrase with the word "Látom". What does this mean?

As explained near the start of the series, in the world of Fire Force there is a very close connection between the special firefighting forces and the church, and in some sense dealing with the Infernals is considered a sacred duty (since the Infernals are considered to be in pain, and killing them allows them to be at peace).

The full prayer that is said when they defeat an Infernal is based on one from the real-world Anglican text "The Book of Common Prayer" that is commonly used in funerals:

  Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the
  soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth
  to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Very roughly, "people were made out of earth by God and then they get returned to the ground until the end times".

Of course, in Fire Force much of the Church's doctrine centres around fire, light and the Sun, and so they focus mainly on the "ashes to ashes" part.

So, to bring it all back to the original question, "látom" is being used in the same way that a Christian would say "amen", to mark the end of the prayer. "Amen" roughly translates as "So be it", while "látom" is apparently Hungarian for "I see it". It may have been chosen just because it sounds good (it has a similar cadence to "amen"), but I have also seen some people online suggest that it could be short for saying "I see your light" which would definitely link back to the key doctrines of the Church.


Is there a connection between the Eye of God from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the Rinnegan from Naruto? After watching FMA again, I couldn't help but notice the similarities:

The same ripple-like pattern.
Both related to godly powers.
Both related to balance (Yin-Yang/All-One)
Both related to life and death.

Is there a mythological or conceptual connection between the two? Is one based on the other?

Although I can't find any reliable source, it seems that both are based on Saṃsāra :

  The repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (reincarnation) within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, and Yoga.

Source: Wikipedia

This represents both the Six Paths of Pain (also Rinne is the Japanese Name for Samsāra) and the "one is all, all is one"-thing in FMA (as seen in episode 12 of the 2009-anime).


How is Alphonse Elric able to see? How is Alphonse Elric ( And all the other souls affixed to objects ) able to see ?
Contains Spoilers

Alphonse soul got affixed to a armor but his real body still remains in the void. So how is he able to see through the piece of armor? And does this not collide with his real body's vision. All his other sense's such as feeling, taste are removed. And he also has the inability to sleep. So why does his vision remain?

There's a bit of speculation here, since there is no blatant in-universe explanation nor Word of God to fully demonstrate the reason for this.

You may want to take a look at the answer to why a soul bonded to a suit of armor can move, because the explanation here is pretty similar. Essentially, keeping in line with the series' representation of eyes being windows to the soul (a common trope), basically: Sight is not necessarily handled biologically.

Here's basically how this works: If an average person loses his sight (as does happen in the series), he cannot see, because there is no channel of vision connected to his soul (for either eye). However, Alphonse, Barry, and the other soul-bound armors do have this channel of vision, just as there is the ability for them to move their steel fingers (with, of course, the channel being in opposite direction).

The reason what he sees does not collide with what his body sees is because his body is not transmitting its sight to a soul. It has no conscious mind to connect to its sight. As for his sleep, because he has no biological mechanisms, they do not need to rest, but his conscious mind still remains active because it is affixed to his soul (imagine the way we dream).

You're probably thinking, "Oh, hurr hurr, mister clever, there's still no physical organ to transmit the vision data!" And you'd be absolutely right! There is nothing which suggests that there is a physical entity able to transmit visual data from the real world to the armor seal, whereas there is a physical entity able to move his limbs. It's not even known that only armor with helmets can see; in fact, when Barry is reduced to a single plate of armor, he appears to be able to see his body standing over him.

So to put it simply, your answer is: Alphonse and other soul-bound armors see because it's necessary for the story. We can loosely explain it, as I did above, but there still is no legitimate, solid reason why this should be possible.


Why is Maid-chan voice actor listed as '???' in ending credits? In Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo ending credits Maid-chan's voice actor name is "? ? ?". Why is that?

(I'm Japanese, so please excuse my English.)

Maid-chan's voice actor is Horie Yui, the same one as the Ryuunosuke.

This is the last episode's ending credit:

She has a radio program  called 堀江由衣の天使のたまご (Horie Yui's Angel Egg)
where she talks about the "???" and how the anime staff asked her to keep it a secret in the the broadcast that aired on 2013/4/7 in Japan.

From the unofficial text transcript of the broadcast.

I will reprint and translate only conclusion.

Japanese

  結論から言いますと、私にも、わかりません。

English

  As it turns out, I even, do not know.

This is the official conclusion.


Why does Ruriko get angry when she's called as "Rurippe"? Why does Ruriko get angry whenever Shun calls her as "Rurippe" when according to this,

  'Rurippe' holds no real meaning except that Shun relates it to her
  childhood appearance as a sniveler (or one who always has a runny
  nose).

How does Shun relate this nickname to Ruriko as a sniveler? Is it because of how it is written in kanji or how the nickname is pronounced?

According to the Japanese wikipedia article for the series:

  In the anime, Shun called her "the sniffling Rurippe" (鼻たれのルリっぺ) during their
  childhood which has become a sort of trauma for her.

So I don't think it's about the name Rurippe itself (which is written in all kana by the way, no kanji) but how Shun used it in the past. In the past, he called her "the sniffling Rurippe" so now whenever he just calls her "Rurippe" it reminds her of the original full name which included "sniffling".


Where did Nami get her Clima-tact while fighting Absalom? During Thriller Bark Arc., when Absalom is having marriage ceremony with Nami for the second time after being interrupted by Sanji, Lola appears and once again the ceremony is interrupted and Absalom hits Lola. After that Nami brings out her Clima-tact and attacks Absalom with thunder tempo.

Now since Nami was unconscious and her dress was changed by zombies, where did she get her tact to fight Absalom?

There is no official answer but I have an idea:

She always wears a girdle around her leg where she keeps her clima-tact, the zombies probably didn't think it would be something relevant or dangerous and let her keep it on her when they changed her.


Why would Aiz Wallenstein be upset upon being called "Aria"? In DanMachi Sword Oratoria anime, Ep. 5 and 6, a woman with red hair called Aiz "Aria". For some reason this makes Aiz upset. Do we know why Aiz got upset being called Aria?

As I don't have enough reputation just yet to comment however I'd like to point out a few things. These are solely speculations based on the manga and anime as no definitive answer is not yet known

Ais is Aria's daughter however spirits are not capable of having offspring in the series. Hence the method of Ais's Birth is Unexplained and it could be something which hurts her.
People often confuse the two as they are totally identical in appearance so much that even Revis got confused.
There is a theory going around which suggests that Ais maybe Aria's reincarnation however it was countered on this archived subreddit- https://www.reddit.com/r/DanMachi/comments/6wj7ta/theory_aiz_and_bells_true_colors/?utm_source=ui&utm_medium=amp&utm_name=amp_revamp&utm_term=nh&utm_content=post_body


What does the symbol on Edward's coat mean? In FMA, the back of Edward's coat shows this symbol:

I can't figure out what it would be a reference to in-universe, because the symbology seems Judeo-Christian (a cross and what looks like it could be a serpent), and the show doesn't really have any Christian symbology in it. Is this some symbol in real life? What is it supposed to mean?

It's called the Flamel (yes, named after Nicolas Flamel, purported to be an alchemist who sought the Philosopher's Stone).

It is most noticeably similar to the symbol of Hermes, a god of alchemy, and also the Rod of Asclepius, which you may recognize from ambulances as the EMS symbol.

It is not a religious symbol, nor is it ever explained to have a relevance in the FMA universe. However, given its real life links to alchemy and medicine, it's safe to say that the author intended to bring forth real-world alchemical symbols into her universe.

Further reading: FMA Wiki entry on the Flamel


Why does Levi wear Titan Pajamas? Does this have anything to do with the manga? Or is this just something that fans made up? Because I see so much people cosplaying as Levi in Titan Pajamas.

It is fanmade.

The origin of the image is from 阿布 (Abu)'s Pixiv. He also drew some more Levi with Titan Pajamas, and other characters with Pajamas.

Seems it became popular after the image was shared on Baidu, with the real pajamas being sold.

Reference: AnimeAmino - Levi's pajamas


Watching order for "Toaru Majutsu no Index" and related anime I am slowly coming to the end of watching "Toaru Majutsu no Index" anime. There are a few anime series related to that world:

Toaru Majutsu no Index
Toaru Majutsu no Index II
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S

and some movies. But I am not sure in what order I should watch them. Someone told me that "Railgun" came after "Majutsu no Index" - should I watch "Railgun" first then, or the second season of "Index"? Are there some things that I can miss if I watch them in the wrong order, like not knowing characters that were already introduced?

And if it is Railgun I should watch second, should I watch "Toaru Majutsu no Index II" afterwards, or "Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S"?
Or is it that it really doesn't matter and I can watch both of the "Toaru Majutsu no Index" series before the two "Toaru Kagaku no Railgun" series?

Having just watched them out of order (accidentally), I highly recommend watching them by order of release date, including the movie.
The original and spin-off series were produced by the same company. (The same team as well I believe) and never aired at the same time.
This makes the recommended order:

Index season 1
Railgun season 1
Index season 2
Index movie
Railgun season 2 (S)
Index season 3
Accelerator season 1
Railgun season 3

Enjoy!


A manga where the protagonist's power comes from a "mole" on his face It's a fantasy/horror/fighting manga.

The protagonist goes to this school surrounded with a giant wall, which is for people with sort of weird powers.

Overtime, he develops a power, which is basically a 'mole' on his face but is super strong and can help him regenerate limbs and do stuff, etc.

There is also a girl who is with him all the time. From what I remember, she wears glasses, is quite quiet to begin with and fights with a katana/sword.

If any of you can tell me what this manga is, it would be great as I would like to read it again.

Possibly YAKUZA GIRL.

  Senguu Fumihiro is a young boy that made a promise to his dying grandmother to find a good wife for himself. With this intention he enrolls in a prestigious school but on the first day his world turns upside down when all the students begin to kill each other and one of them even turns into a monster. He is saved by a girl named "Akari" sent by one of the factions that rule the school to protect him.

Below is a picture of him getting said mole:


Which was the power level of Broly when he was a kid, 10,000 or 920? So there is an unofficial summary of the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie from apparently someone who watched it in Japan in an exclusive event, and there it claims Broly when he was a kid had a power level of 920 (stated in the movie). But in the Dragon Ball wikia, they state the new Broly (the Broly from the new movie) had a power level of 10,000 when he was born (as stated by the old non canon movie IIRC). Which was the power level of Broly when he was a kid, 10,000 or 920?

I have not watched the new movie, but if in the new movie they have stated that his power is 920 when he was a kid, then that is his "true" power level.

The old DBZ movies were never considered "canon", since we can not fit them anywhere in the storyline. The Broly movie was not even directed by Toriyama as you can see here, so it is kind of a "spin off" series, events that happened here had no impact on the DBZ storyline.

Regarding Super, things are a different. The first two movies "Battle of Gods" and "Resurrection of Freiza" were showed in the anime itself, although there were some differences between the anime and the movie. The Broly movie is direct continuation to the anime story line, since it picks up after the conclusion of The Tournament of Power. Furthermore the movie is written by Toriyama which kind of establishes it as part of the canon now.

So to answer the question, his power level is 920. The Broly in the new movie is a new character (which is based on the popularity of the old one) that is part of the canon storyline.


What are the machines used in Japan for hand-drawn animation? In Japan, there are machines used for hand-drawn animation. Not drawing tablets but, the machines used to scan the drawings, color them, as well as do the effects. Also, the machine that brings everything together in the end. That includes character's, backgrounds, sound and effects. I believe that process is called 3D compositing.

What are the names of any of the machines used in Japan for hand-drawn animation? You don't need to know every machine, just 1 would be fine.

I have studied this kind of course. Tools for animation have many, you asked traditional animation question. There was no machine to work all-in-one. In this kind of animation, you need at least 2 machines to work. At least a computer, and a hand-drawn animation scanner (for paperwork) or a graphic tablet (for digital).

The production steps are:

First, the machine producers need a hand-drawn animation scanner for their cel-work to make it more accurately. For digital artists, they just need a graphics tablet.
After that, into the second machine is a computer having programs such as RETAS' all products, Celsy, western Anime Studio, Pencil 2D, TVPaint, toonboom and others. Don't forget Adobe.

Deep into scanning, cleaning art, or drawing or (you can use a mouse and line/pen tool on your scanned work), coloring, animate, effect, background. All completed by one in this steps.

Or to answer your "3D composition", it means into 3D Software add-on animation, the technique is for video production or 3D artists. 3D animation major work on Mac/OS.
During the second machine working-in-progress, the production has a third machine, that is a sound-recording machine to input sound in.
After complete the above steps, an animation is come out. It can take more than thousands/ten-thousands hours.


What is the continuation after the last episode of Naruto Shippuden? After the last episode of Naruto Shippuden where Naruto and Hinata are getting ready to get married and ends right there, what's after that?

Is there a movie or does it go into Boruto?

There are 2 movies after the end of the series.

The first one to watch if you are interested in knowing things that happen before the marriage that is is preceds the last few episodes is The Last: Naruto the Movie

The other movie is Boruto: Naruto the Movie which covers the Chunin Arc of Boruto series and has an anime adaptation as well. Personally speaking I like the anime adaptation better especially due to the better art work on the villains.

You can also watch Boruto Anime directly you most probably won't have any problems in understanding it except that a character that appears many a times in Boruto's dream is a character from the movie The Last: Naruto The Movie.

There is an OVA as well about the day Naruto became the Hokage titled The Day Naruto Became Hokage (OVA)
It was included on Limited Edition CDs and Blu-ray releases of the Boruto movie


Seven Deadly Sins Manga to Anime question Which chapter of seven deadly sins is season 2 episode 3?

I don’t think there is an exact way to pinpoint this, because the manga often is not correlated with anime episodes, and the anime is often abbreviated as to not become a 10,000 episode Naruto. I would say, however that it is around chapter 108-120.


Are there any resources about the inspirations of Miyazaki in making Howl's Moving Castle? I am doing an analysis of Miyazaki's films and am starting with Howl's Moving Castle. I have lots of information about the movie, but am having a hard time finding information regarding the inspirations for the film. I am aware that the film is an adaptation of Jones's novel in 1986 and went on to be one of the highest grossing film in Japan. But are there more interesting facts regarding the inspirations/history for the film that anyone can provide me?

Edit: I am looking to see if anyone knows of what the inspirations were for Miyazaki to direct the film. Or going back a step, the inspirations of the author to write the novel.

I don't think this book has anything about Howl's Moving Castle in particular, but Starting Point: 1979 - 1996, written by Hayao Miyazaki himself, and translated by Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt, is a 500 page treasure trove of interviews and other works regarding Miyazaki's thoughts and inspirations on his films. I purchased this book many years ago and only read a portion of it, so I can't really attest to how much this will help, but it's a good starting point for your research on his other films (pun may or may not be intended).

EDIT: Upon further research on Amazon, I discovered that he has another book called Turning Point, 1997 - 2008 along the same series, which does seem to contain information on Howl's Moving Castle. You might want to take a look into this.


Can someone explain to me Dead Soul Jutsu I watched episode 51 of Naruto (kid) and I noticed this jutsu. My question is how it works?

Every part of the explanation I am about to give has been directly taken from the unofficial Naruto wiki : https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Soul_Technique

The Dead Soul Technique is described as a type of chakra-enhanced surgery. You can see it as an advanced puppetry technique which entirely forgoes chakra threads. Let's take it step by step :

Kabuto performs open-heart surgery to induce a pulse. Through unexplained means, Kabuto opens the thoracic cavity on a corpse. Then, he manages to jump-start the heart and create a continuous pulse. Maybe he's using a technological implement similar to a pacemaker ; perhaps does he use advanced chakra surgery techniques to recreate and maintain a pulse. Either way, the heart starts pumping blood again.
Kabuto injects chakra within the corpse to control it from afar. In essence, this is a forbidden, unethical puppetry technique which manipulates bodies from the inside. If I had to guess the exact inner workings of the technique, I would say Kabuto injects chakra within the victim's bloodstream, and manipulates that chakra to use the victim as a puppet. Either way, Kabuto needs to stay close to the puppet to keep manipulating it. He has also been shown to stay still while controlling the corpse ; and he can only control one at a time, meaning this particular puppetry technique demands high concentration.
Kabuto stitches the body back up and performs additionnal surgery as needed. Kabuto often performs cosmetic surgery to disguise the puppet. Likewise, he also suppresses its body odours through unknown means. Various chakra surgery techniques are most likely used during this process.


What happened to the Death Note? I realize that they (Near and the police) probably hid it somewhere, but after Light dies, would yet another Kira appear? Or would Ryuk take it back? I'm assuming the latter, but when Light dies, Near has the book. Light merely has his scrap paper in his watch. If Near still has it, would it just disappear? Or would Near become the owner?

Every Shinigami has their own Death Note. There were 4 Death Notes in the human world. 2 of Ryuuk's, 1 of Rem and 1 of Rem's friend who died after saving Misa.

One of Ryuuk's was given to Light at the start of the story.
One from Rem's friend is in Misa's possession.
The other two are in their respective Shinigami's possession.

Later, Rem saved Misa's life by writing Watari and L's name but burned the book so that it won't be used by Light, making the number of Death Note in human world down to 3.

Edit: as mentioned by Arcane in the comment, the book was not burned down in the manga chapter 58. I made mistake here because in the movie it was burned down. Thus there are 4 books by this moment. Will edit the rest of my answer after I finished re-reading the manga.

By the end of the story, Mikami possessed a fake Death Note made by Near and co.
Near possessed the Death Note that used to be Misa's.
L's team (by now Light is L) owns one that used to be Light's.
Ryuuk possessed his own.

Near then burned the two Death Notes after Ryuuk killed Light. Thus no Death Note are in human's possession. This was told in chapter 107 of the manga.


Who do Kiba and Tenten marry? Who does Kiba marry?

Who does Tenten marry?

I've searched so many times and I'm still confused about this.

It is not clear until now whom Tenten and Kiba get married to.

If you have seen the episode where Kiba and Shino go to collect the honey wine, they meet a girl. That girl is a ninja cat user. They are seen together in the Boruto movie also. It can be said that they are together.

Whether Tenten is married or not, it is still unclear.


How did Demikas know the location of the gold room? In Log Horizon, how did Demikas knew about the location of the room where gold is processed and distributed on the Yamato server?

This happened in Log Horizon II episode 11 during the raid, when Demikas pulled Shiroe away from the raid and threw him into the corridor with the door leading to the gold room.

Demiqas was part of the raid party so he was privy to all of the information that was shared throughout the group. It would make sense that all of the members or the raid know the layout of the dungeon. The Depths of Palm was a raid that was done numerous times before but never to the extent of going all the way to the Gold room guarded by the Kunie Clan.

It is probably safe to say that since Shiroe was able to come to this conclusion by way of research or rumors of the room during the time before the Catastrophe. It is also to note that Shiroe is friends with ReGan, and ReGan has a very extensive library at his disposal. ref(Log Horizon Wikia)


In One Piece, does a Devil Fruit reappear after the user dies? In chapter 702, we see Ace's Devil Fruit 'Mera Mera no Mi' being showcased as the prize of the event held in the Colosseum. The announcer of the event mentions that the "fruit is reborn."

Does it mean every Devil Fruit has that ability to be reborn once the user dies, or is it an artificial Devil Fruit made by Doflamingo's factory?

Taken from the One Piece Wiki on Devil Fruits:

  When a Devil Fruit user dies, their ability is reborn into another fruit of the same kind. Instead of growing from a plant, the ability simply regenerates inside the closest appropriate fruit, as seen when Smiley "died" and the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl transplanted itself into a nearby apple. Another characteristic of a Devil Fruit's growth is that the stem becomes noticably curlier than it was when the fruit was not endowed with the ability.

So, in other words, the Devil Fruit "respawns" when the user that had it dies.


What's the music played during the final battle of Tokyo Ghoul √A episode 4? What's the name of the song or the artist that sings in the final battle of episode 4 of Tokyo Ghoul √A, when Kaneki is battling Shachi?

The song used is track 10: Wanderers (vocal by Luschka) from disc 2 of the Tokyo Ghoul Original Soundtrack.


Does Near want to use the death note for himself? Tsugumi Ohba, writer of Death Note, said that Near "becomes less likeable" as the story advances, citing Near's plan to take the notebook at a later point in the story. Ohba said that a negative reaction originated from "the difference in their attitudes" and that people may have viewed Near as "a cheat." Ohba added that Near's "cheeky behavior," intended to "reinforce his childishness," had been construed as "annoying."

I don't know what this quote from Ohba means. Does this mean Near wants to use the Death Note for himself? Can someone please explain this to me?

There's nothing that I have read or watched in DN that indicates to me that Near is interested in using the power of the book for himself; he is interested in capturing a mass-murderer!

Oba-sensei was discussing the character's childish nature, but being cheeky, ill-mannered, underhanded and generally pugnacious does not mean that he wants to kill people using supernatural agencies!


Anime set in a world where females choose their gender I remember seeing this title on Anime News Network but I can not for the life of me remember the name.

The Plot Summary I remember from the site is that in the world all humans are born as female and remain like that until a certain age in which they have to choose their gender.

The staring group have been tasked with an important mission of some sorts and i think their equipment can only be used by females as i remember the summary saying that the group are at the age where they must choose their gender but it's been decided that they can delay the decision for the duration of their mission.

I know it isn't Infinite Stratos as the plot didn't describe a guy who is able to use female equipment

I am very sure it is Simoun, everything say matches.

  In the world of Daikuuriku, everyone is born female, and chooses which sex they wish to become at age 17. In this world, the peaceful theocracy of Simulacrum is guarded by magical flying machines called "Simoun", which can only be piloted by young girls who haven't chosen a sex yet. The Simoun can activate a magical power known as "Ri Maajon" that can destroy large numbers of enemies at once. When the industrialized nation of Argentum decides that it needs to invade Simulacrum to acquire the secret of the Simoun, war breaks out, drawing the Simoun "Sibyllae" (priestesses who fly the Simoun) into a lopsided battle. Because the war is raging, the Sibyllae are granted an exemption from choosing a permanent sex for as long as they're willing to keep flying. Aaeru, a determined young Sibylla with a mysterious past, and Neviril, the leader of Chor Tempest, Simulacrum's most elite Simoun squadron, must lead their fellow priestesses through conflict both within their ranks and in the sky.


If a killed Saiyan is revived does he/she receive a zenkai boost? Zenkai boosts are given to Saiyans for near death experiences that they survive. What happens though if they actually die and are revived?

A zenkai boost is given by damage received so not neccesarily a near-death experience. But near death is probably one of the highest possible boosts obtainable. I highly suggest reading this for more info about zenkai. So to come back at your question it depends on how they are revived. For example if they are still damaged and in a near-death state their zenkai boost will be extremely strong. But if they are revived fully recovered with almost no damage then their zenkai boost will be very low. If they are recovered with no damage at all then they wont have a zenkai boost.


Where do fans exchange info about anime/manga merchandise for sale? What are the main websites and forums where fans exchange info about where online to buy anime/manga collectibles from Japan (such as trading offers/requests, current auctions, recommended online shops, wish lists)? In particular, for hunting down/notifying about chances to acquire out-of-print merchandise such as for series which have already ended.

When I used to buy anime/manga collectibles made in Japan about 15 years ago, many fans were on email mailing lists (based on subjects such as shoujo anime, or specific series) where members would, from time to time, post links to trading websites and eBay auctions of interest, or share if they had found a reliable shop or proxy buying/bidding service, but I think this sort of ML is not very popular these days.  Where is the Go To place for most fans to share info about anime/manga merchandise that is currently for sale?  I came across http://myfigurecollection.net/ but I have no idea of whether this is a main site for this kind of interaction or whether there are more popular ones.

While forums are still great places to find such conversations, mailing lists are bit old in today's age. Personally, I think one of the best forums to browse is MyAnimeList (MAL).

In addition, there are largely three categories of places that anime aficionados frequent when discussing new merchandise to buy (as well as buying it). They are as follows:

Local Stores - Granted, most people do not have the luxury of living in Japan to take advantage of these resources. However, if you do, the best place to find anything anime related in Japan is Akihabara. Of the many I've visited, my personal favorite is the Akiba Culture Zone. Their website is not in English, but it can be found here. Also, here's a picture of the inside:

Conventions and Events - The next best place to find merchandise is at events that are specifically for the anime/manga you are trying to find merchandise for. In America, common events like this are things like Comic-Con. You should peruse your local listings to see if anything nearby your location interests you.
Online Stores - This is the most common place for anime merchandise to be bought and sold. Here's a list of the best online anime stores, with descriptions:

Right Stuf - One of the best sites if you would like to buy actual DVD/BluRay copies of anime or print copies of manga. It's not always the cheapest resource, but it often has the widest selection. In addition, if you time your purchase correctly and know what to look for, you can get massive savings (like 50-90% off).
AmiAmi - This is one (if not the best, but that is subjective) resources for basically any merchandise relating to anime, from posters and wall art to keychains and figurines.
Tokyo Otaku Mode - A great place for beginners. Sometimes it's rather daunting to browse other sites, but I recommend Tokyo Otaku Mode for beginners, because it has a relatively wide selection of well-known animes/mangas, and is not too expensive. However, I think that other sites will offer better deals and wider selections, but you might have to dig.
Mandarake - Mandarake is one of the most well-known otaku centers in Akihabara. I don't recommend this for beginners, but you can find great deals here (as well as great rip-offs).
Crunchyroll Store - I'm assuming most users of this site know what Crunchyroll is, but for those who don't, it's a great manga and anime streaming website. Their store sometimes has great deals, but you can almost always find all the merchandise in the Crunchyroll Store on the other online stores listed here. Sometimes it is easier to read for beginners, because the website is entirely in English.
JBox - Another great site that is more well-known for their novelty items for around the house. If you are looking for adult merchandise, try their 18+ counterpart, J-List.
akadot - More for manga in Japanese only, but great if you speak Japanese.
Hobby Link Japan (HLJ) - Great if you're into figurine collecting or if you like models (especially mecha).
Yesasia - Great for more serious collectors, and they also sell Chinese and Korean goods. You can use this site to find harder to obtain merchandise, but it tends to be a little more expensive.
Amazon - A bit generic, but excellent prices if you can find what you want (good luck).
Ebay - When in doubt, there's always a chance that someone is selling your desired item used on Ebay, but similar to Amazon, it's a bit generic and has a lesser selection. Don't be afraid to dig, you may find a few diamonds in the rough!


Is this the correct translation of what Tomoko is saying? In Watamote Episode 10, Tomoko comes back to school to find out that her seat has been changed, she gets a little agitated and says this (well according to the subs, that is):

  I have to sit here for the whole goddamn second term? Fuck me with a chainsaw dildo!

Now, I can't really Read/Write Japanese or even understand it, but I'm not quite sure that she is actually saying that. Is she?

The Japanese is:

  ニ学期ずっとこの席だと？ストレスで胃が蜂の巣になる！

More or less literally,

  I have to sit here for all of second term? The stress will turn my stomach into a beehive [i.e. thing with many holes]!

The subtitles you have there are from [Commie]; their subtitles for Watamote were edited by one of their more, um, liberal editors.


Which of the mangas of Arifureta is the anime based on? As far as I know, there are 3 mangas of Arifureta.

Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai
Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō Zero, and
Arifureta Nichijō de Sekai Saikyō

Which one of them is the anime based on, and where do they fit in the animated series?

As far as I know, both the anime and the manga are adapted from the light novels.

MyAnimeList states that the anime is an adaptation of the light novel and all the manga aside from the spin-off are just an alternative version of the light novel. Arifureta Nichijō de Sekai Saikyō is just a 4-koma spin-off detailing their daily lives so I don't think it would impact the main timeline that much.

As for the order of events:

Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō Zero (as far as I know, this was not adapted by the anime as it is a prequel to the events in Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai)
Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai (the light novels of this are the ones adapted by the anime; the manga is just an alternative version)
Arifureta Nichijō de Sekai Saikyō (daily life during Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai events)


Why did the clocks move one hour backwards when Rin summoned Archer? At the beginning of Ufotable's UBW adaptation, on the day Rin was going to summon Archer, the clocks happened to have moved backwards by one hour. She considered that it may have been her father's doing.

Why did the clocks move one hour backwards?

The explanation is kind of dumb.

The day before Rin summoned Archer, she was rummaging through her father's effects in hopes of finding stuff that would be useful for the summoning. One of the things she found was the box containing the pendant (and, at least per the depiction in UBW 2014, the catalyst for Gilgamesh), protected by a magical MacGuffin that, when activated, makes clocks go wonky and apparently rewind by one hour. She activated the MacGuffin. The clocks rewound in two half-hour increments. She only noticed one of the half-hour increments. The end.

Nasu later stated in an interview (in Complete Material 3) that this was apparently an intentional "test"-of-sorts on Tokiomi's part, the idea being that if she couldn't handle a minor issue like this, she wasn't cut out to be in the war.

This makes no chronological sense, because Tokiomi likely never expected Rin to be in the war in the first place (Tokiomi would have expected the fifth war to take place around 2060 or so, by which time Rin would have had descendants rather more sprightly than she), but there you have it.


Does the pin in Steins;Gate pose any information paradox? In Steins;Gate, Suzuha brings the lab member a pin to the past.

Okabe remembers the pin and makes one in future, does this pose information paradox?

If Steins;Gate was set on a single timeline then you could describe this exchange as an information paradox. However, the series is known to use a multiple timelines model, which can allow for this case:

Timeline A: Someone (Okabe?) designs the pin.
Timeline B,C,D,...: The story unfolds, the pin may or may not have already been created in the different timelines, and may or may not have been shown by Suzuha at all.
Timeline Z (that is not A): The timeline in which Suzuha brings the pin To Okabe AND Okabe ends up recreating it.

Of course, the information paradox could still apply in the multiple timelines model (if timelines Z and A were one and the same), even though it is more likely to have taken place over multiple timelines without looping back, with a clear start and end.


Fairy tail wizard Myatogan's source of magic I was watching Fairytail and couldn't get my head around a query.

Mystogan is originally from Edolas and as mentioned humans in Edolas don't bear any magic within. However, Mystogan seems to be extremely strong and is capable of generating a lot of magical power. Where does he get this magic from? Shouldn't he be just capable of using magical objects rather than actually using magic from within?

Like every other person from Edolas, Mystogan does not have innate magic. If he did, he would have been expelled from Edolas like the Exceed were. Instead, he gets his magic power from magic items, primarily the large number of staves he carries on his back. It is possible that he obtains these items from Earthland magic shops, however three things point to this not being the case:

The magic shop we see in the first episode only carries novelties, such as something to change the color of clothing. There are powerful lacrimas later in the series, so we can't draw a definite conclusion on whether the shops would have the powerful sort of things Mystogan uses.
Edolas's magic items are more advanced than Earthland's. When Natsu's group went to Edolas, they marveled at some of the things they saw and mentioned this. Edolas even has a mechanized dragon.
Mystogan's magic pills. These unusual pills allow Earthlanders to use their magic in Edolas. There wouldn't seem to be a reason for these to even exist in Earthland, so it would be strange if shops were selling them.

These three reasons lend support to the idea that Mystogan at least partially creates his magic items himself using his Edolas knowledge. And if this is the case, it might explain why his magic power is so great even though he has no innate magic.

On the other hand, Jellal was able to imitate Mystogan's magic at the Grand Magic Games, so maybe one can obtain those magic items in Earth Land. Though if so, it begs the question why there aren't more S-class wizards. Jellal's imitation could possibly be explained by Earthland's magic advancing in the seven years, or by Jellal somehow obtaining the staves used by Mystogan.


Are manga artists underpaid? I saw a post of this Japanese schoolteacher who had drawn a scene from Kimi no Na wa on the blackboard. It was pretty awesome. He had some other mind blowing drawings too. But in the comments one person had written: " Why does this guy not write/illustrate a manga?" To this someone had replied saying that: "Manga artists are underpaid in Japan and do not prefer to write mangas as a primary source of income."

Is it true that manga artists are not paid big sums of money in Japan? I thought they get lots of money from the magazines their manga is published in. And also from various other sources such as when we buy merchandise related to that manga or the anime version...

According to this CNN travel article, whose statistics are echoed in an ANN article from 2011, manga is very much a winner-take-all system. In 2009, the top 100-earning mangaka from among all titles that had tankoubon published earned an average of $900,000. The top earner, Eiichiro Oda, made around $15 million.

However, out of 5,300 titles with tankoubon sold in 2009, the earnings for the other 5,200 titles averaged around $35,000. While this isn't nothing, it's hardly an amazing living, especially in Japan where cost of living tends to be higher.

The raw numbers also don't capture the difficulty of a mangaka's lifestyle. To make it at all, you can't just be a good artist. You have to shop your work around relentlessly, trying to catch an editor's interest. Once you actually get your work published, you have to work grueling hours to get finished on time. And no matter how hard you work, you might still get axed; magazines publish tons of series and unceremoniously cancel them after a few chapters, either leaving the stories unfinished or forcing terrible rushed endings. It's not surprising that someone would not pursue such a difficult and unstable career when your best plausible outcome is to earn $35,000 a year.


Is there a Jounin Exams for ninjas? In Naruto series, there are what we called ninja ranks: genin, chuunin, and jounin. To be promoted to a higher ninja rank, you need to passed at least an exam, like in the academy, if you were able to graduate from the academy, you'll be promoted to genin, to be a chuunin ninja, you need to pass the chuunin exam. How about being promoted to Jounin, is there a Jounin exam too? :)

I think this link might help
naruto wiki.
Here it is said that it is yet unclear if there is an exam.
There is a mention of a Jounin Exam in Kurama Clan Arc (episodes 203 to 207),
and that they are apointed.
This info only counts for Naruto anime btw.


Why is Megumin a weird name? When we are introduced to her in the second episode of the anime, Aqua and Kazuma mentioned that her name was weird. She further revealed her parents' names, Yuiyui and Hyoizaburo, which are apparently weird as well.

However, to the Western audience or at least to me, it's no more weird than naming yourself Darkness or Dustiness, the name of another character in Kazuma's party. The latter being even weirder than "Megumin" considering it refers to how dusty something is.

Why are the Crimson Demons considered to have weird names?

I think there are two possibilities:

#1 Different to the world's normal names

As @ton.yeung mentioned in their comment, it's because it's so different to the other names of the fantasy world.

Look at some of the other characters in the world:

Aqua
Darkness (a.k.a. Dustiness Ford Lalatina)
Wiz

Kazuma and Kyōya are from the modern world so their names are probably odd, but normal for their origin.

#2 Odd due to her character
(I think this is more likely)

  Ho-ho-ho...

  That we would meet is a fate chosen by the world itself.

  I have anxiously awaited the arrival of those such as yourself.

  My name is Megumin!

  My calling is that of an arch wizard, one who controls explosion magic, the strongest of all offensive magic!

  Fu-fu.. Do you, too, desire my forbidden strength, which is so almighty, I've been ostracized by the entire world?

  Then show me thine resolve to peer into the ultimate abyss with me!
  When a man stares into the abyss, the abyss stares back.

  I am Megumin, user of the finest magic crimson demons possess! My lethal magic demolishes mountains, smashes boulders...

After Megumin's huge character introduction and ever-chuuni speeches, one would imagine she would have a crazy name too. But it's just Megumin, with an n that sounds cutesy.  Being short and young is usually something she gives out about too.

Some people on MAL compared it to Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WObQK2vunAk


What was the event that resulted in 2 episodes of Fumoffu being changed? In the English dubbed Madman DVD release of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu!, as part of of the extra segment The Mysteries of Fumoffu on the first disk (episodes 1-3), it notes there is something different about the first and second episodes compared to when they aired.

The notes say A Hostage With No Compromises was not aired because of a certain event and so A Fruitless Lunchtime was aired with The Man From the South as the first episode instead. What was this event, and how does it relate to A Hostage With No Compromises?

According to Wikipedia, A Hostage With No Compromises was not aired "because the plot involved child kidnapping and in Japan, real-life child kidnappings were making headlines at that time", and as mentioned in the question, A Fruitless Lunchtime and The Man From the South was aired as episode 1 on August 26th, 2003.

The Japanese article of Full Metal Panic! reports that Fuji TV made the change to the airing due to the kidnapping and murder case in Nagasaki that happens less than 2 months before the airing date.

Below is the summary of the incident, based on the ariticle:

  On July 1st, 2003, in Nagasaki, a 4-year-old boy was kidnapped and murdered by a first year middle schooler (12-year-old). The child was led by the middle schooler to the top floor of a parking building, where the child was stripped naked, then was punched and kicked in stomach and various places. Furthermore, the child has his genitalia mutilated by the middle schooler with scissors. However, when he realized that there was security camera, he decided to throw the crying child over the railing down the road 20 meters below, the impact of which killed the child 30 minutes later.

Looking at the summary of A Hostage With No Compromises (taken from Wikipedia):

  After Sousuke's encounter with a gang leaves its members disrespected, their leader decides to take Kaname hostage. Instead of giving in to their demands, Sousuke holds the gang leader's little brother hostage and proposes an exchange.

The story was quite similar to the outrageous incident, not just the kidnapping part, but also the part about a young man kidnapping a boy.


Was it already revealed in the manga who will be the wives of Naruto and Sasuke? From the first episode of Naruto (season 1) until the last episode of Naruto Shippuuden, Naruto has a crush on Sakura, who in turn Sakura has crush on Sasuke (Ino also has crush on Sasuke).
I've been wondering if who will be the wives of Naruto and Sasuke has already been revealed in the manga? Since both of them are already matured. There are some speculations  that Naruto will be the husband of Sakura (just saw it on FB- an image).

The very last Naruto Shipuuden manga (issue 700) does reveal who gets married to whom.

Don't hover if you don't want to know:

   Naruto marries Hinata and Sasuke marries Sakura


What is this memorial/offering in The Walking Man? In The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi, the main character is walking down a road when he passes what seems like a roadside memorial:

I couldn’t find much information online about roadside memorials in Japan (what I found didn’t look like this) or offerings (closer to the image above).

What is it exactly? And what are the things that form it? (flowers, yes, but what are the other two things)

I don't know the original manga or the context behind the scene. However, as a Japanese, I can tell it is certain that the memorial you mentioned is for a person who died at the site.

In Japan, one sometimes sees this kind of flower offering at the roadside. When we see it, we know someone died there and sometimes put our hands together in prayer. If you put "道 献花" or "道路 献花" in Google search, you may find some examples.

When a fatal accident happens, someone (usually neighbors or acquaintance of the deceased) will bring flowers and other things (incense sticks, toys, snacks, sake, cigarettes, etc.) to mourn him or her.
As far as I know, these memorials are often temporary and people bring bouquets. In the scene of the Walking Man, however, the flower is put in a bottle (I suspect it's made of plastic), so it is possible that someone keeps offering the flower and taking care of it.

As to the other things than the flower, the little pot beside the bottle appears to be one for standing and burning the incense sticks. The two little boxes put on the concrete block are probably the cases for incense sticks (the lower, bigger one) and matches (the smaller one).

The man in the manga seems to be thinking about the death that happened at the site. The memorial looks small and fragile compared to the road traffic, and this scene causes me some mixed feelings. I think it is an impressive depiction.

I hope this post will be of any help.


Who is Uchiha Izumi's father? No sure if I missed anything but there is no information of who her father is. Just said it is an ordinary ninja.

There is information about him, albeit his name was never mentioned.

In Itachi Shinden: Book of Bright Light

  “My dad died in Nine Tails’s attack.” .. “Oh! My dad’s not an Uchiha. My mom’s Uchiha. After my dad died, we came back to the clan, and I became an Uchiha, too,” Izumi told him, as if reading his mind.
                                                                        “Is there a connection between your father’s death and the sharingan?” “Yeah.” Izumi sighed, and met Itachi’s eyes. Her own had returned to normal. “I was there with my dad when he died. He died right in front of me. He was protecting me. So I …” Tears ran down her cheeks. “It was like, if I just had more power, my dad wouldn’t have had to die … During the funeral, and the whole time after that, I blamed myself. ‘If only I had more power,’ I said.”


Did Kaji know that he was going to die in Episode 21? In Episode 21 of the Anime, Kaji is (supposedly) killed by an unknown third party in a drainage tunnel somewhere in Tokyo 3. Just before he died, he proclaimed to the shooter that they were late with a smile on face, and a shot is heard when the screen fades to black.

Now, I know that Kaji was a agent working for multiple firms, as well as serving his own interests, primarily working for SEELE and NERV as double agents for each respective organization, which means that he worked in areas like black ops and espionage, "retrieving" information for the parties concerned in secret.

This meant that he uncovered some information that either or both parties were very cautious about, and would ultimately mean that the respective party would go through excessive means to stop the leak.

My question is this, when Kaji stole the information from all parties concerned, did he know before hand that he was going to die very, very soon?

He knew that he was going to die but it was not directly due to his espionage.
Freeing the kidnapped Fuyutsuki is the most likely cause of his death according to the dialogue in episode 21.

  Misato:         Hello, I am away right now. Please leave your message
                  after the beep.
  Ryouji:        My last job...
  ...
  Fuyutsuki:      It's you.
  Ryouji:         It's been a while.
  Fuyutsuki:      This action will result in your death.
  Ryouji:         All I wish is to get closer to the truth...
                  within me.
  Script


When Edward and Alphonse try to transmute their mother, how come they didn't gain anything? So, to my understanding, the idea of alchemy is equivalent exchange, in which you get in return as much as you gave.

This doesn't make sense to me, as in the beginning when they tried to transmute their mother back, Alphonse lost everything, and Edward lost his leg. They didn't get anything in return, or at least anything worth of a soul and a body. After this Edward transmuted his arm to get Alphonse back.

So, put in a calculation:

Things lost

Random piled ingredients which were supposed to compose the average human
Alphonse's body
Alphonse's soul
Edward's arm
Edward's leg

Things gained

A blob of purple stuff with Alphonse's soul affixed to it ( for a while )
Alphonse's soul

So, where the hell did the rest of the stuff go? And more importantly, why could they not just have transmuted everything back?

Unmarked spoilers for both Brotherhood and the 2003 series follow.

You're missing a key bit of information: they did gain something for their loss[1], just as Izumi did.

The boys gained the knowledge of what was beyond the gate. Unparalleled truths of alchemy reside beyond the gate, and no mortals are ever allowed access to it—unless they commit the taboo.[2]

Both Edward and Alphonse were shoved through the gate and absorbed as much material as they could from it, Edward even wanting to go back to get more. In the 2003 series, Alphonse never recalls this, though in Brotherhood, he recalls it after having blood spilled on his seal. Ed remembers it from the beginning, and this knowledge is what allows him (and later, Alphonse) to transmute without a circle.

The reason they couldn't just transmute everything back is because they had already committed the sin. If you steal something, and are caught, but then give it back, do the police let you go? No; and this is also the way of The Truth. Performing the sin is the punishable act; transmuting it back would be futile.

1   Keep in mind that by the end of the series (at least in Brotherhood's case, original FMA was not as forgiving), much of what was lost is regained through further equivalent exchanges.
2   It's a bit more complicated than this, but it will suffice for this explanation.


What does Elfen Lied mean? Wikipedia says the title of Elfen Lied was taken from a German poem.

But that poem seems to be a simple (not to mention a bit confusing) children's poem . Reading the poem, I'm not sure why it would inspire anyone to write a story about killer children.

What does the poem have to do with the anime / manga?

Well, in the same Elfenlied (Elf Song) article it says:

  A sung version of "Elfenlied" appears in the manga. Also, the term "Silpelit" is used in the series to describe a category of Diclonius, which refers to an evolved subspecies of humans to which the main character belongs.

The "Silpelit" is part of the poem:

  And he thinks that the nightingale
      must have called him by name from the valley,
      or Silpelit might have sent for him.

Additionally, this song is taught to Nyu by the manga-only protagonist Nozomi.


What is the scene where Reiner and Bertholdt climb the stairs endlessly refer to? In the Junior High spinoff episode 8, there are scenes where Reiner and Bertholdt climb the school stairs endlessly. Bertholdt keeps trying to suggest to Reiner that something is wrong but Reiner dismisses it each time with the same phrase: "you're imagining things".

There was nothing similar in the anime as far as I could tell. What is this a reference to?

There's only one scene in the anime that matches your description. In Season 2 Episode 5

   Reiner and Bertolt stand on a stair, trying to fight off a Titan.

  Also, take a look at this:

  It's the same cannon with the spider web on it!


Saiyan Power Levels? I was wondering how was Gohan so much stronger as a normal Saiyan than Goku was as SS3 when he fought Buu. Is there not like a power level to reach the next SSJ form?

Power level example:

10,000 to reach SS1
100,000 to reach SS2
etc.

Why couldn't Gohan reach SS3 already?
Or he could fight as SS2 at least?

Maybe I have to rewrite my question again:

If you read the list below,

SS1 is always at about 25,000,000
SS2 is always at about 49,000,000

If Gohan with the Mystic Sword is as strong as Goku was as SS3, there wouldn't be any difference in their strength when he would transform into SS3?

Saiyan Power Levels - check this link out.

It states the power level every character have during a specific battle.

Majin Buu Saga

  Fat Buu: 45,000,000
  Majin Buu: 80,000,000
  Good Buu: 55,000,000
  Bad Buu: 65,000,000
  Super Buu: 70,000,000
  Ultimate Buu: 50,000,000
  Majin Gotenks Buu: 90,000,000
  Majin Vegito Buu: 100,000,000
  Goku: 5,000,000
  Goku (Super Saiyan): 27,000,000
  Goku (Super Saiyan 2): 49,500,000
  Goku (Super Saiyan 3): 79,999,999
  Goku (Genki-dama): 100,000,000
  Piccolo: 26,000,000
  Gohan: 3,000,000
  Gohan (Super Saiyan): 25,000,000
  Gohan (with the Z sword): 53,000,000
  Goten: 1,500,000
  Goten (Super Saiyan): 10,000,000
  Trunks: 1,500,000
  Trunks (Super Saiyan): 10,000,000
  Gotenks: 3,000,000
  Gotenks (Super Saiyan): 20,000,000
  Gotenks (Super saiyan 3): 75,000,000
  Vegeta: 5,000,000
  Vegeta (Super Saiyan): 26,500,000
  Vegeta (Super Saiyan 2): 49,000,000
  Vegito: 10,000,000
  Vegito (Super Saiyan): 53,000,000
  Vegito (Super Saiyan 2): 99,500,000


What is the significance of anime characters' catch phrases? Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto) has a catch phrase "dattebayo". Ika Musume (Squid Girl) has a catch phrase "de geso". Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) has a catch phrase "gozaru". And a lot more examples here.

What is the significance of anime characters' catch phrases?

Usually they're puns or just included for character. I think the aim behind it is to make characters more memorable.
Some of these pay off quite nicely for the series - Squid Girl's de-geso~ is instantly recognizable for fans even outside the show. The usage of it online or in popular media makes for good promotion for the series.
'de-geso', is a pun on Geso(tentacles) and De-gesu:

In end of Edo era and beggining of Meiji era, “De-gesu” is used by males of the lower class as transformational word of “Desu”.
“Geso” means tentacles of squid. Its article is mainly based on viewpoint of cooking. If your intention is to refer to Scientific aspects of squid, you would have to choose “Shokusyu” means just tentacle(s).
De-geso is the word combined De-gesu with geso. In the beginning of movie, Ika-chan spoke formally (but rudely) as the invader. So it is natural that she says manlike and old-fashioned terms like De-gesu. Of course, present Japanese don’t use such a word.
Traditionally, characterizing by making original suffix like De-geso was common technique in Anime. This is regarded as too facile nowadays.

De-geso~
Datebayo
Catchphrases could be used in order to emphasize a particular aspect of the character - Naruto's "Believe it!" (the frequent English translation) builds on his lively boisterous character, or in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei "I'm in despair", puts focus on the lead's suicidal & depressional tendancies.
I'm in Despair!


What is the song in My Hero Academia season 3 episode 1 at 20:00? In season 3 episode 1 of My Hero Academia, (episode 39 "Game start") a song plays at 20:00.

What is that song?

Hey anyone wondering what it was, it is called 'my hero Acedamia'
Link: https://youtu.be/vYsfWTPwT6s


What is Eren's and Mikasa's relationship? Technically, it's probably like siblings, but it seems more like Mikasa has feelings for Eren that are unrequited.  Or maybe Mikasa feels like she is Eren's servant?

Yes, Mikasa has romantic feelings for Eren.
In Chapter 13,

  Someone mistook Mikasa as Eren's girlfriend, to which she replies while blushing that 'they're family.'

In Chapter 50,

  As Mikasa was thanking Eren, she was blushing and putting her face close to his face. They were in a hopeless situation, about to die. She might have seen this as an opportunity to express her feelings to Eren. When she put her face close to his, it looks like she was about to kiss him.

According to this, blushing can be caused by strong emotions. Seeing as how Eren saved her before and been there for her, it's no surprise that she would develop feelings for him.

Also, in Chapter 70,

  look at Mikasa's face when Eren complimented Historia, who blushes and looks embarrassed. If that's not a look of jealousy, then I don't know what else it is.


Why have anime studios changed for Attack on Titan's season 4? Why has Wit stopped animating for Attack on Titan and MAPPA has taken over for season 4?

Sooo here's some official statement, but it doesnt say much:
"While Season 3 was in production, we consulted with WIT Studio, and it was decided that The Final Season would be created by a different production studio," Tateishi explains. "One of the reasons is because the end of Season 3 has the protagonist gazing at the ocean, marking a turning point for the story. Also, as creators, we wanted the anime to escalate even further. Through many talks with WIT Studio, we understood that the continuation would be difficult, so we looked for a new studio."
Source: https://www.cbr.com/attack-on-titan-season-4-producers-explain-studio-change/
I was searching for more info, but it seems that for now we only have this short ambigious statement. We don't really know the reason other than WIT Studio probably dont having enough resources to meet producer's expectations.
Personally I think it's because the shift in after certain reveal is pretty big, also there's some massive scenes with titans in upcoming episodes. And WIT is great, but many times they had to use the CGI (like Rodd Titan, Colossal Titan). And this CGI looked pretty bad at times.
MAPPA is great at implementing CGI. Its still noticeable at some scenes with titans, but its still probably better than WIT could afford.
But keep in mind that's just my personal speculation.


What is the significance of the title "Usagi drop"? I was wondering what was the meaning of the tile Usagi drop: literally it means "Bunny drop", but how is it related to the story? Is there some reference to somethings or is there some pun involved?

As senshin has mentioned in his comment, the author has never commented on the origin of the name. Thus, there are only fans' interpretation...

According to Japanese fans (on Japanese Yahoo! Answers: 1, 2), the one that seems to make sense is:

  Usagi Drop → Usagi's drop → rabbit's (falling) teardrop

The first link explains more in detail that in the last volume of the manga,

   Daikichi confessed to Rin why he took her over.

 Rin: Daikichi... you haven't met me before, but why you...
 Daikichi: Your face... your crying face when you parted with grandpa... somehow...

 The next panel shows Rin's crying face. Thus, Usagi = Rin.
 The conclusion is, the title is about Daikichi's determination to take Rin over when he saw her crying face.

Also, the anime's OP show a teardrop just before the title appears.

The second link explains it in short, that the title is a wordplay.

   "Usagi" means lonely, and "Drop" means teardrop.
 Combining the words, the title means Rin, a lonely crybaby.
 ---
 Further reading: in Japan, there's a popular term "lonely rabbit" because it's believed that "a rabbit can die if it's left alone". Extending that, there's also "rabbit-type girl" which is described as "a girl who often feels lonely".


Which reasons does Endeavor have to think having a freezing/fire quirk would make you stronger than having a fire only quirk? Endeavor is convinced that having a freezing/fire quirk would make you stronger than having a fire only, to the point he had several children to get one who displays such quirk. But at first impression it doesnt seem to be obvious than having both options would make you stronger than having only one. Does he ever mentioned any reasons to think so? Which reasons does Endeavor have to think having a freezing/fire quirk would make you stronger than having a fire only quirk?

Just having one of freezing/fire quirk has a major weakness. Your own body is not immune to the effects of your quirk. We see this in the sports festival when Todoroki's body starts to freeze because he wasn't using his fire quirk.

We also see the same thing much later in the manga when Endeavor's body gets too hot while fighting the new and stronger Noumu.

Endeavor has always been aware of his weakness and knows what the solution is. If someone had both fire and freezing powers, then he could reverse the adverse affects on himself. This is what Todoroki did at the end of his fight with Deku.