Where there any other Master who didn't know their Servant's identity from the start? In Fate/Zero it seems to be implied that all the Masters, from the moment they started working with them, knew the identity of their Servants.

i known however that

in Fate/Stay Night

Shirou didn't learn Saber's identity until much later because it was feared that if he was captured he wouldn't be able to defend against mind reading magic
Rin didn't learn Archer's at first because the summoning went wrong and messed up his memories however he continued to withhold it when he did remember who he was

in Fate/Extra

Hakuno didn't know the identity of his/her Saber, Archer or Caster until the final couple of weeks but i am not sure how many of the Masters they faced off knew their Servant's Identities at the start (though i get the feeling Rin, Leo and Rani knew)

so in all the Grail Wars (Fuyuki (Fate/Stay Night), Snowfield (Fate/Strange Fake), Moon Cell (Fate/Extra), Trifas (Fate/Apocrypha), Tokyo (Fate/Prototype), Caubac Alcatraz's Labyrinth (Fate/Labyrinth) etc.) where there any other Master who didn't know their Servant's identity at the beginning? if not at all?

If you just want them to be unknown at the beginning, then in Fate/Zero Uryuu did not know who his Caster ("Bluebeard") was.  Much like Shirou, Uryuu was not even aware that he was summoning a servant until Bluebeard showed up.  Unlike Shirou, he wasn't even aware that magic really existed.  He was just doing the ritual in the occult book he had for the fun of it.

While Bluebeard tells Uryuu his nickname of "Bluebeard" right away, it is unclear if Uryuu knows who this refers to.  I'm not sure if it is ever mentioned if Uryuu ever learned the true identity of his Servant.  They had a weird relationship, with Uryuu largely seeing Bluebeard as a kindred spirit and teacher, and they never really cared about the formalities of the war or what they were "supposed" to be doing in it.  They were definitely on good enough terms for Bluebeard to share the information, but they simply may not have cared about it.


How does Trigun Maximum relate to its predecessors, the Trigun anime and manga? A few years ago, my friend and I watched the Trigun anime, and I've just now picked up Trigun Maximum omnibus #1. I haven't read the original Trigun manga.

We have become totally confused trying to understand how Trigun Maximum relates to the original manga and anime. I've heard mixed explanations: that Maximum is a re-imagining of the story, or that it's a sequel, or that it's a re-imagining of part of the events of the anime. Unfortunately I haven't found a clear explanation on Wikipedia or the Trigun wikis.

So, my question is: What is Trigun Maximum's relation to the original manga and anime?

Is it a sequel, or a re-imagining, or both? To what extent does it overlap or follow on from its predecessors?

From Wikipedia:

  The story jumps forward two years with the start of Maximum, and takes on a slightly more serious tone, perhaps due to the switch from a shōnen to a seinen magazine.

Also:

  The publishers were sympathetic, and the manga resumed in 1998 as Trigun Maximum (トライガンマキシマム Toraigan Makishimamu?).

And:

  [The anime series] was broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 1 to September 30, 1998 . . .

So, Trigun Maximum was a continuation of Trigun.  Trigun was ended before it was intended because the magazine where it was published, Shōnen Captain, was cancelled.  The anime is based on Trigun only, as its air date was the same year that Trigun Maximum started publication.  You'll notice the anime diverges from the manga quite a bit though.

If people say one or the other is a "reimagining," this is most likely due to the choice of the people making the anime to change the story in order to give it an actual ending.  I would not really call this a "reimagining," though: it is more like they came up with an alternate canon because the manga was not finished. In other words, the anime started out based on the manga, but then it came up with its own story independently, and the manga author did what he planned to do from the beginning, without being influenced by the anime.  It's possible that people making the anime may have asked the manga author for input on events that he had planned that he had not yet written, but I do not know this for a fact.


Space anime from 80s/early 90s, with a distinct ship design and female pilots I have seen this anime on a VHS somewhere in the middle 90s. I've only watched a few minutes into it (probably just an opening), and the few details that I remember are:

A spaceship, not too big, probably a single-pilot fighter, with a
streamlined design and a small forward-swept winglet protruding from its
underside (like a hook of a trencher machine); the ship
probably had a greenish tint (though it could be a VHS color
artifact);
The pilot was a long-haired girl; her design was probably typical for that era (at least, I can't remember anything particular about her, except for the serious face expression); she was beautiful, that's for sure;
There also was another ship (no winglet) with a female pilot, but I'm not completely sure about that;
I don't remember anything important happening during those minutes
(no dogfights etc.)
I don't remember anything "European" or "Victorian" in the design of
ships and pilots (as opposed to popular space operas of the 80s); even if there was any, it was subtle;
I don't remember any other characters, ships, or locations from those few
minutes;
Overall, it seems like it was a serious title, not a
comedy.

I am definitely not an expert in the retro-space-opera department, so it could easily be something totally mainstream. Since it was on a bootleg VHS, it could be an OVA, a full-length movie, or a TV episode.

UPD. The winglet was small, compared to the craft dimensions (see the trencher machine proportions). Overall, the craft design was rather streamlined. It didn't look like a "many pieces held together" thing (in terms of the game FTL: more of the Stealth cruiser than Engi or Lanius one).

A bit of stab in the dark, but I think you might be referring to something by Leiji Matsumoto. Beautiful long-haired women are a dime a dozen in his works, and there are at least few ship designs with something like a winglet on the underside.

The Spacewolf fighter from the various Captain Harlock TV shows and movies usually has a winglet on the underside. The version on the left below, from Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX, is noticeably swept forward. The enemy Mazone fighters, always piloted by women with long hair, also can have something like a underside winglet, like the example below on the right.

Apparently the fighters in Space Battleship Yamato sometimes had a bottom mounted winglet:

It's a bit of a stretch, but but if you didn't realize how big it is, The Queen Emeraldas, kinda sorta fits your description. It has a long "streamlined" shape and the gondola can sorta look like a forward swept winglet depending on how it gets drawn. Despite its size I believe it's usually shown a being piloted by one long-haired woman.

(Click on any of the above images will take you to a page with more images of similar craft.)

Unfortunately I'm can't suggest any specific titles or episodes. I'm not that familiar with these works, having only a watched a few Captain Harlock episodes recently and a handful other shows in French as long, long ago as a kid. Hopefully this will at least help narrow it down.


What characters are "fictional characters" in Re:Creators based on In the show Re:Creators, fictional characters start roaming "real world". Those fictional characters where created for the show, but are often reminiscent of characters from other fictional works in reality.

What characters or combination of would be closest to the fictional characters in Re:Creators?

there's my opnion:

Kirameki, Mamika >>based on Kaname, Madoka from Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Kanoya, Rui>>>> based on  Ikari, Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion

Talker, Blitz >>>> based on Half-life main caracter.

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Limitations on "plunder" ability? Charlotte is a very interesting show featuring people with powerful abilities, but all of them have limitations. For example, the "time jump" ability makes the user's vision fade, and the "high speed" ability causes the user to move at an uncontrollable but very fast speed.
The "plunder" ability is introduced late in the game, and it

   allows the user to steal other ability-wielder's abilities.

However, as far as I can remember, there was never a limitation for this ability explicitly declared. Did I miss something? Are there no limitations?

There's two side effects. The first is immediately noticeable: he cannot control his own body when he is controlling someone else's. This results in his body slumping over awkwardly.

The second effect is less obvious.  The more he uses his ability, the more memories he loses. This is likely due to the sheer amount of the brain all of these abilities are taking up.

This second effect can be seen gradually increasing as he forgets his mission, his friends, and eventually everything in the last episode.

It seems reasonable that he gets two negative side-effects like this since his ability lets him control people's bodies and steal abilities.


Why Willy Tybur claimed Eren could attack using the colossus Titans in the walls, if supposedly Eren can't control that ability? In episode 5 of the last season of the Attack on Titan anime, Willy Tybur claims Eren Yaeger could use the colossus Titans in the world to attack, because he isnt tied by the oath of peace as those who have royal blood are. But in the other hand, supposedly for not having royal blood Eren can't control other Titans with the Founding Titan ability. Then, why Willy Tybur claimed Eren could attack using the colossus Titans in the walls, if supposedly Eren can't control that ability?

There are two reasons.
First one is because he inherited the founding titan from Grisha. As long as he has that power, the possibility of him using that power exists.
The second reason is the information they got from Reiner and Bertholht. To their (Reiner and Bertholht) eyes, Eren was using the co-ordinates without having royal blood. The reason he could do this was because he came in contact with Dina Fritz who had turned into a pure titan, but since they didn't know that, they reported back to Marley that Eren used founding titan while not having royal blood.
This led them to believing that Eren could use the powers of founding titan.


Obito's Clothes Affected by Kamui? Obito's MS allows him to be intangible. But when it attacks, his clothes don't get damaged at all (or fall off of him).

If we take the assumption that things really close to him or in contact with him are also affected by Kamui, does that mean that a person holding him or a backpack he's wearing is also intangible?

Clothes has always been a plot hole in Naruto. Like how Madara magically gets new clothes when he becomes SSOP. Or when the head Pain gets wrecked so hard by Naruto, but his clothes only get somewhat torn.

Does that mean that a person holdings with him or a backpack he's wearing is also intangible? Yes, anything touching the individual who uses the Kamui is also affected by the justu
Kamui

Right Eye
Obito's right eye uses a short-range version of Kamui, which can only transport targets in close proximity to the user; physical contact with the target is seemingly required
...
This intangibility can be extended to anything the user is touching at the moment of activation

Anything that is touching the caster becomes intangible, including clothes.
In Naruto Manga Chapter 684, we see Obito instructing Naruto and Sakura to keep their hands on his person so they may teleport alongside Obito


Why does Law want to kill Kaido? Law makes an alliance with Mugiwara to kill one of the Yonko, Kaido of the Beasts. But, why does Law want to kill Kaido?
Is it because Law wants to be one of Yonko?

As per One Piece Wiki:

  Trafalgar Law sought out an alliance with Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates allegedly in order to dethrone Kaido. Luffy agreed to the alliance and even declared that he will defeat all four Yonko. Even though Law suggested that their chances of success are only 30%, Luffy remained undeterred. However, it is later revealed by Law himself that he only formed an alliance with Luffy because he wanted to use the Straw Hats to destroy the factory producing SMILEs to get Kaido angry at Doflamingo and not as a means to dethrone Kaido.

This was revealed in the last page of chapter 724:


Was the Flare-Flare Fruit that Sabo ate real? Or was it a fake made by Caesar? How did Doffy get that Flare-Flare Fruit? Because until now I am still confused how the Devil Fruits spread around the world. Everything about the Devil Fruits is still unclear, like:

Do they grow in the same tree or each of them has their own tree (Flare-Flare Tree maybe)?
After the users died, will the fruit grow in the same tree or just fall to random places like Dragon Balls?

To answer your 1st question

How did Doffy get that Flare-Flare Fruit?

just like Kaz Rodgers said

Doflamingo was a black market dealer so naturally his connections probably ended up finding it.

2nd, three of your questions together:

until now I am still confused how the Devil Fruits spread around the world

Do they grow in the same tree or each of them has their own tree (Flare-Flare Tree maybe)?

After the users died, will the fruit grow in the same tree or just fall to random places like Dragon Balls?

For starters, 2. and 3. we don't know much about Devil Fruits either, besides what we have told so far and seen. For example:

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 another existing Fruit

Spoiler

  As seen when Smiley "died" and the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl transplanted itself into a nearby apple.

BUT Oda has pointed out in SBS Volume 48
"For more detail, you'll just have to wait for a certain professor to make his appearance in the story, and explain exactly what the Devil Fruits REALLY are... eventually."


Does the author or publisher decide a character design? If it comes to light novels there are always some pictures that show a new character or scene. But when it comes to a character, who decides the design? For example, if I were an author and my work gets a publisher, then they would hire an illustrator. So when it comes to the design of a character (let's take character as a simple example) will the publisher decide that her hair is short and red or will the author decide that she has long, black hair? Also feel free to tell me some other example like maybe the illustrator can choose the design. :)

Mainly the illustrator does.
Basically writers are not involved in design. But he or she can tell the hope to the editor.

It is an example of making a light novel.

An author write up the novel.
The author passes it to the editor. (Perhaps they will talk about what the author wishes at this time, like illustrator desired by the author, places of illustation and so on.)
the editor orders illustrations for a illustrator.
Then he tell the illustrator the atmosphere of the work, distinctive features of charactors like age, hair hength, shape of weapon, chest shape, etc...)
The editor reads the novel before ordering of course. So the content of the novel and the illustration rarely differ.
the illustrator sends rough sketches to the editor.
And the editor shows them to the author.
Then the author and editor modify sentences and the illustrator completes the illustrations, the publisher promotes the release date of the novel.

For answers, I referred to the remarks of an actual writer.(Written in Japanese.)
He says that "It is often better for the editor and illustrator not to speak to the design."
Many writers respect the illustrator. And it seems that they trust work of the editor and illustrator.


What is a Slay Vega? In the manga, Chise is referred to as being a "Slay Vega." In Japanese it's 夜の愛し仔（スレイ・ベガ）, "Beloved Child of the Night."

What does this term mean? What is the significance of this?

It would seem the scanlators use the term "Slay Vega," while the official Seven Seas release uses the term "Sleigh Beggy." While the former certain sounds cooler, the latter seems to be more correct. Acording to Manx lore "Sleigh Beggy" (or rather Sleih Beggey in the Manx language, meaning "little people." The equivalent of "fairy" in English.) is a term used to describe a type of fairy that originally inhabited the Isle of Man.

On Seven Seas' Tumblr blog, they mention the significance being:

For Chise, this term is used to describe her being a type of extraordinary individual, and not being an actual fairy. So while the scanlator's intended meaning for "Slay Vega" may have been "dearest child of the night," it's actual meaning to English speakers is "to kill a star."
To this extent, we are of one mind in that the usage of Sleigh Beggy is in line with the manga-ka’s intended vision for this amazing series. Hopefully this clears up any confusion or misconceptions our readers had.


Continuity between Pretty Cure series It's "common knowledge" that each Pretty Cure series takes place in its own continuity.  From my limited experience with the franchise I've already seen two contradictions with that idea.

Kenta Hoshino, a supporting character in Splash Star, made an appearance in the previous series, Max Heart.  He was even slightly younger in it.
In both Splash Star and Heartcatch, Cures have been shown to be a long-standing order of warriors.

What's the official stance on continuity?  Is this "common knowledge" based on official statements?

According to Wikipedia:

  There are currently ten anime television series in the franchise, two of which are direct sequels to their previous series. Each series of Pretty Cure has its own story and motifs. Each of the series also feature manga adaptations, which are illustrated by Futago Kamikita and published in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine.

According to prettycure.wikia.com:

  [Splash Star] is the first spinoff or "sequel" from the original Futari wa Pretty Cure, with a continuity reboot.

It seems that the direct sequels follow continuity but that there is only overlap between the non-direct-sequels, rather than complete continuity.


Why did Mikako send Ikaros from the sky? I have watched the movie of Sora no Otoshimono entitled "Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Master (2014)".

In this movie, when Mikako scans Ikaros' memory, it was revealed that Mikako was an Angeloid who sent Ikaros from the sky. In the anime TV series, it was never shown that Mikako is an Angeloid. She's just a childhood friend of Sugata, whom she calls "Ei-kun", and is the daughter of an influential yakuza boss in Sorami. And there was a possibility that Sugata is also an Angeloid because they were friends since childhood.

So, why did Mikako send Ikaros from the sky? To meet Tomoki?

This is Mikako Satsukitane.

First of all, you are mistaken about Mikako sending Ikaros from the sky. It was Daedalus who freed the sealed Ikaros and sent her down to Tomoki.

Secondly, based on what Ikaros said during the reminiscence, what Mikako did at that time was making Ikaros malfunctioning so that she would accept orders from humans. For reference, Ikaros said, "after I reduced the ground to nothing, suddenly I malfunctioned." Mikako also possibly sealed Ikaros' memory so that she wouldn't remember what caused her to malfunction until Mikako herself removed the seal by touching her forehead as she said, "please grant Ei-kun's wish." As for the reason why Mikako did that, it is purely speculation, but it might be because she dislikes the way Master of Synapse ordered Ikaros to kill people mercilessly or she pitied Ikaros for having to kill even when she doesn't want to.


Why did Kakashi's Sharingan fade after Obito died? In Chapter 691, after Obito died, Kakashi’s Sharingan faded. Why is it that Kakashi's Sharingan faded, while the Sharingan Danzo had stolen from Shisui and the one Shisui had given Itachi, were still okay even after its original owner had died?

Both Kakashi and Danzou had physically obtained their Sharingan via transplantation.

During the finale of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Madara rips Kakashi's Sharingan and transplants as his left eye (Chapter 674).

Naruto, using Hagaromo's power, creates a normal eye for Kakashi (Chapter 675).

From Naruto Wikia article on Kakashi Hatake, merged plot summary of Chapter 686, 687 and 688 (emphasis mine):

  Prepared to give his life to lend what little assistance he can, Kakashi stands in front of Sasuke to take the attack while Obito does the same for Naruto. Although they are unified in their willingness to die, Obito decides it's too soon for Kakashi and uses Kamui on the attack bound for him, leaving Obito unable to save himself. Obito's body dissolves, but his spirit returns shortly afterwards and inhabits Kakashi. Obito feels that Kakashi will become the next Hokage and wishes to reward him: a temporary moment of having two Mangekyō Sharingan.

Obito gave Kakashi the privilege of having both Sharingan (Mangekyou) temporarily. This was the doing of the spirit of Obito and not the physical self. Hence the Sharingan Kakashi used was spiritually influenced.

Later, when Kaguya is defeated, Obito's spirit leaves Kakashi's side to join the other world. Because of the spirit leaving, the Sharingan also disappears along with it.

Had the Sharingan been physically present, it would have stayed, just like Danzou, the Kotoamatsukami crow and pre-war Kakashi.


Did Luffy really kill Arlong? Hody said Luffy and the Straw Hats killed Arlong and his crew. As far as I know, Luffy never killed someone. I'm a bit confused

In anime, we are shown Luffy knocking out Arlong, after that it's assumed all of his crew is taken to Navy prisons but in the Impel Down arc, we don't see Arlong.

Luffy believes and like people who are really passionate about achieving their goal, even if they are his enemies. It is seen clearly, as Luffy always gives them a second chance to get better and achieve their goals.

Even if we think Luffy killed them, why would Jinbei join the Straw Hat pirates? Arlong is like a brother to him though they have their differences. So from all this, we can say Arlong is not killed, at least not by Luffy.

One Piece is all about making people believing in themselves, their own ideas and pursuing them no matter what. These are a few situations which proved that:

Koby
Zoro's fight with Mihawk
Dragon's Revolutionary Army
And many more .....


When did Ussop awaken haki? Apparently haki does not always need training to achieve; since we have seen Doflamingo and Luffy awaken it unconsciously. But I read that Ussop and Ace had the same unexpected, brief "awakening" of conqueror's haki, so when did that happen? Is it also in the manga?

Usopp has awakened his Kenbunshoku Haki which significantly increases the range of his detection radios,during the latter half of the Dressrosa revolt, as he was able to see auras of Luffy, Law, and Sugar, who were in the royal palace, from the old King's Plateau near the Corrida Colosseum. With this, he was able to pinpoint Sugar's location and snipe her down from such a distance. Usopp does not yet have control over it as he just awakened it during his attack to knock out Sugar.

Anime: episode 697

Manga: Chapter 758


What song plays at 7:38 of FMA Brotherhood episode 28? There is a really good song that either begins at or plays through 7:38, but I can't seem to find what the song is actually called. What song is this?

Sounds like Crisis in the North  of the second OST album of FMA brotherhood which is number 19 in the 2nd ost series composed by Masafumi Mima


What is Genga exactly? I've been seeing a lot of "Genga" on eBay and I know it means "Original Art" but is genga actually like the ORIGINAL ORIGINAL art like drawn by hand by the artist then packaged and sold? or is Genga copies and prints of original art.

I know some genga for sure is just prints but is all genga just prints? Like in these images are they actually the one of a kind original art or just a print of the original art.

It's similar to an animation cel used in western animation. They're one of a kind collector's items and are worth a lot of money. They serve as the base for the animation.


How could Obito transport his body parts in another dimension without bleeding? I have a question that's been bothering me for a while. I know that Naruto is supposed to be a manga written for teens and pre-teens so some stuff doesn't have any explanation or represents a plothole, but still I would really like to know whether this question has a reasonable answer or not. How can Obito transport his body parts in another dimension without the person that passes through him getting blood over his/her entire body? And why doesn't the body just collapse with the head being in another dimension?

Obito uses a technique called Kamui.

  Kamui is a powerful Mangekyō Sharingan dōjutsu that creates a unique and specialised form of space–time ninjutsu. It allows the user to achieve two very distinct, yet closely associated feats — teleportation and intangibility.

Intangibility, here refers to making the body or certain parts of body inaccessible to the physical world. Thus, no one could touch him and passed right thought Obito.


Who is this female character from the 2005 series? In the second half of the 233rd episode of the 2005 Doraemon series, titled "Gravity Paint" (重力ペンキ). There seems to be a new girl (left most one in the picture below) in the group. Who is she? When did she first appear?

This portion of the episode was adapted from Chapter 72 (or the 2nd Chapter in the 5th volume of the short manga series) of the manga chapter by the same name:

In the manga, Yasuo (aka "Boy A," the one with the baseball cap) takes her place.

She's one of Nobita's classmates that appears as a recurring character. The 2005 series seems to have introduced more minor characters, most of whom are unnamed.

From the episode 熱血！のび太の運動会, the general layout of the classroom looks something like this (only recurring characters are indicated):

Students: ~20

[  Girl A  |  Girl D  ]
[    ×     |  Shizuka ]    [    ×     |     ×    ]  [    ×     |     ×    ]
[   Gian   |     ×    ]    [  Nobita  | Dekisugi ]  [  Boy C   |  Boy D   ]
[    ×     |   Boy B  ]    [  Boy A   |   Boy E  ]  [  Suneo   |  Girl C  ]
[    ×     |     ×    ]    [  Girl B  |  Girl E  ]  [  Girl F  |     ×    ]

As for her name, I'm not so sure. She's neither named nor addressed directly in the Japanese subtitled version.

All of Nobita's classmates' names seem to be on here, from ためしにさようなら:

田中○○子
鈴木○夫
大川○○夫
大田○司
佐○由美
近藤○キ
山田○介
山川○男
吉田○夫
佐藤○美

(Either they literally have ○s in their names, or it was intentional.)

It seems that not all of Nobita's classmates signed it.

From watching other episodes, I have deduced the following:

Boy A and B are the ever-popular recurring side characters Yasuo (安雄) and Haruo (はる夫).

The characters seem to refer to the girl as "委員長 (class-rep)," so I guess she's the class rep... and it should make sense for her to sign it.

Boy A： 鈴木安雄 (see above)
Boy B： 大川春夫 (see above)
Boy C： Either 山川○男　or　吉田○夫?
Boy D： 山田○介
Boy E： 佐藤正美 (recurring character)
Girl A： 近藤○キ (It's the class-rep?)
Girl B： ???
Girl C： ???
Girl D： 田中悦子 (recurring character)
Girl E： 大田○司

The episode ツルリン！先生がとまらない mentions 4 more classmate names:

吉満宏之
水上由季
竹腰康広
吉藤彩子

It's possible that the two girls with missing names are named here... or they could be some other classmates/people altogether.


What did the Vasto Lorde do before Aizen showed up? Soul Reapers cleansed souls that turned to hollows, either naturally or ones the invaded from Hueco Mundo. Soul Society organized all of this. Quincy’s did the same thing basically.

So what did the Vasto Lordes do before Aizen showed up and gave them a purpose and plan? Did they just sit in Hueco Mundo being powerful for no reason? Did Barragan and others rule the hollows and if so to what end?

Barragan was probably controlling them, as he was the king of hueco mundo, and he did technically create vasto lordes. To explain that, he was the first person when he was the king of hueco mundo, along with a few other adjuchas, to become a vasto lorde. Either that wasn't too far from Aizen becoming ruler, or they just kinda chilled in Hueco and got more powerful, killing random hollows or whatever.


When was the first time Goku turned into SSJ2? Sometimes people say the first time we see Goku turn SSJ2 in the series was when he fights against Vegeta in the Buu Saga.

However, there is a chapter before that when you wonder if he was SSJ2 or not. In his battle in Other World against Pikkon, when he first turns into SSJ2 we see the electricity sparks we see in SSJ2 transformations and his hair is seen more rigid than usual.

But after the initial transformation and power up, we no longer see electricity sparks on him. Was Goku SSJ2 when he fought against Pikkon or was he a regular super saiyan?

The main way you can differentiate between SSJ and SSJ2 is that SSJ2 has electricity in the aura, or to quote the Dragon Ball Wiki for SSJ2:

  The golden hair brought on by the original transformation becomes longer and rigid and stands up even more. Some users like Gohan, Goku, Vegito and Bardock lose a few strands of hair. Increased energy radiation causes the aura to take on a jagged, fierce flame-like appearance rather than smooth or flowing. Because the energy output and radiation is higher than that of a Super Saiyan, the aura pulses at a higher frequency.

According to Dragon Ball Wiki for Goku the first time you see Goku in his SSJ2 form is when he and Vegeta are battling:

  Although they are evenly matched at Super Saiyan 2, Goku ends the fight when he senses that Majin Buu has been released and pleads with Vegeta to help him defeat Majin Buu

Additionally, it explains earlier that

  while Goku is training in Other World he achieves Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3

So (by canon) you first see him transform against Vegeta but he must have achieved it earlier when he was in Other World.


Does the Infinite Tsukyomi work only on the living? Why does the Infinite Tsukuyomi work only on the living? (As the Edo Tensei Hokages were not affected by it)

The reason why the Infinite Tsukuyomi works only on the living is, chakra. The goal of the Infinite Tsukuyomi is to extract chakra/life-force from the host and feed it to the Shinju. By doing this, the Shinju drains the victims' chakra pool and in the end, the victims become White Zetsu. The White Zetsu are then under the control of Kaguya, making them the ideal mindless slaves.

Since non living things do not have chakra, they obviously are of no use to the Shinju or Kaguya. Since the Edo Tensei shinobi are already dead, the "life force" requirement of the Infinite Tsukuyomi isn't not fulfilled.

Along with non living things, the following are also immune to the Infinite Tsukuyomi:

  Shinobi reincarnated via Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation are not affected by this technique.
  Black Zetsu is unaffected by the technique, as is anyone he is attached to at the time — namely Obito Uchiha.
  Those who lack a brain or sensory organs, like White Zetsu.


Why don't Harlequin and Elaine have wings? When Helbram's history is revealed, I realized that Harlequin as the Fairy King and his sister Elaine should have wings. How come they don't have wings?

Recently picked up NNT and had a similar query immediately when King's old friend was revealed. Searching around I've found that no concrete reason for the "Wingless King" of the Fairies.

However there are a couple theories around with some supporting evidence.

King's Wings have not yet matured
Though King may be quite old, it seems that he can't yet spread his wings. The age old cocoon to butterfly theory.
King's wings growing may also allow him to "level-up" to fight the 10 Commandments on an equal footing.
This is shown in Chapter 134 of the manga, when King and Meliodas square off Meliodas counters King's spell. While it did nothing immediately, we see that King's back gets hurt and he has a dark spot. Maybe the spell weakened something that was holding back the growth of King's wings?
King and Elaine are not full fairies
Since only the siblings are the only fairies shown without the wings, we can assume that it may be due to their ancestry? Maybe he is just half-fairy. Apart from this there is no evidence for what mix they have.

Given that the wingless nature of King has been addressed in the manga (Chapter 134.10), we can assume this is a part of some reveal that the mangaka has planned and will be shown in the future releases.


Did the fight between Orochi and Saitama happened in the webcomic like it just happened in the manga? I readed the webcomic a while ago, and I dont remember the battle between Orochi and Saitama. Did it happen? How did things turn out to be in the webcomic in comparison with the manga?

Orochi does not exist in the webcomic.  Instead Gyoro-Gyoro is the official leader of the Monster Association, rather than its "Military Advisor" and shadow leader.

The wiki's trivia section for Orochi indicates he may have originally been intended by ONE (who came up with the character for the manga) to provide a better challenge to Tatsumaki and the combined S-class, perhaps to create an opening for Gyoro-Gyoro to disable Tatsumaki.


Does someone destroyed by a God of Destruction leave a ghost? If someone gets destroyed by a Hakai, does he/she leave a ghost or is that obliterated alongside him/her?

I think this is already in its wikia page.

  As Gods of Destruction, they possess the power to destroy almost anything with little effort, even intangible beings such as souls. People destroyed by Hakai do not go to Other World and simply cease to exist. However, in the manga, Beerus admits that Hakai does not work against people who are immortal.

Since the Other World is their equivalent to our afterlife where presumably, our ghost or spirit goes after death, then yes, Hakai can destroy someone including his/her ghost/spirit.

The technique however,

  can be controlled by the user in moderation to not fully destroying the victim.

There are also a lot of variations of the said technique.


Was Gol D Roger as strong as people say? Was Gol D Roger as strong as people said he was, or was he just loved by fate like Luffy is?

Well, there are a few pieces of evidence that indicate that Roger was as strong as 'people' say. I'll just list them out.

It was mentioned by Roger, without contradiction, that both him and Garp have nearly killed each other several times. We know that in Garp's younger days, he was at least considered to be a viable candidate to become an Admiral. This was shown during the Battle of Edd War, when the Fleet Admiral Kong offered Garp a promotion and Garp declined that. So, we can at least say that Roger was very capable of going up against an Admiral at this time.

About 38 years ago (or was it 40?), Roger and Garp teamed up to take down the Rocks Pirates. Granted, we don't know what exactly this entails but it's very likely that the both of them (along with the rest of the Roger Pirates probably) had to go up against Big Mom, Kaido, Shiki, Whitebeard, Wang Zhi and Rocks himself. Considering the fact that they ended up winning the battle and Rocks apparently met his end there, it's safe to say that Roger would've surely been considered one of the strongest pirates at that point.

In Oden's flashback, it was shown that both Roger and Whitebeard were at a point where they were able to use Advanced forms of Haki at will and seemingly without any restraints. It seemed to be the case that they could do so without having to exert much effort into it as well. Mastery of such advanced levels of Haki surely counts as a good show of strength.

Finally, we know that Rayleigh, as an old man, had the power to go toe-to-toe against an Admiral. We don't know if he would have won that fight against Kizaru (there are way too many variables that are missing, though I'm of the opinion that it would've ended in a stalemate). But it's very clear that Rayleigh, in his prime, would've been easily able to fight against an Admiral without too many issues. If Roger was not significantly stronger than Rayleigh, then he would've at least been strong enough for Rayleigh to still refer to him as his Captain.

Basically, all of this counts as pretty solid evidence that Roger was as strong as people said. It is interesting to note that in the current context of One Piece, people actually use Whitebeard as a measure of power. That is, they typically measure the strength of a given pirate based on how strong Whitebeard used to be in his prime.


Why does Shiroe buy all the land in Yamato and give it to the server? In Log Horizon S2E12,

   Shiroe has won all the Kunie's money, with which he buys all the land in Yamato, and then though a contract reassigns it to the server permanently. He explains that this is so that other players can't buy the land and misuse it, e.g. locking people out of the bank.

I understand that. This means that in terms of land ownership, it will become something similar to when Elder Tale was still a game.

However, doesn't this cause another problem?

   The whole reason why Shiroe bought the zone of the guild house in season 1 was to maintain peace in Akihabara wasn't it? Other members of the Round Table said that there is no way to maintain law and order, and Shiroe revealed that he now owns the bank, which means he can just restrict the access to the bank for whoever breaks the "law" (effectively "kicking them out" of Akiba). And thus peace is maintained.

So what if someone starts to exploit new players again, like some guild once did to Minori and Touya?

This doesn't seem like something Shiroe would do...

Note that I haven't watched past episode 12 yet.

The Round Table cannot afford to hold onto the buildings forever so they are going to lose control eventually. This means another guild could use those buildings against the players of Akihabara. By buying all the land and making it unpurchasable for the future this problem is solved forever even if it is only a middle of the road solution.

Additionally, Shiroe isn't just concerned about players. Before he bought everything and then gave it to the server, the NPCs couldn't buy zones but players could. This means the players could buy a farm under an NPC's nose and force them out of their home. This would definitely lead to war with Eastal. Now property ownership is an agreement between people and not a function of nature.

As for people going wrong and exploiting others, this is no different then the real world. Most of Akihabara has learned to live in this world and is not treating it like a game. Additionally, the Round Table can create licenses to allow open trade in Akihabara, and since most would follow that order then not being able to trade with other people is enforceable. They just have to create new systems to organize and punish rather than relying on server systems.


Where did future Trunks go after the Goku Black Saga? Where did future Trunks go after the Goku Black Saga?
The planet was destroyed by Zeno-sama.
So where did they head to with the time machine?

They didn't head back anywhere in the time machine. They went to an entirely different timeline one that Black and Zamasu couldn't affect because it was made after Trunks and Black had already begun their battle.

However because of the concept of duality they would go to a timeline where essential clones of themselves existed. However they didn't have a problem with it.

Whis gave a pretty accurate description in the post-battle episode so I recommend watching it for a fully fleshed out description, the manga currently just reached Black's first Super Saiyan Rose transformation.


How is 'Kuronue' spelled in kanji? The only place outside of fanfiction I've seen the name "Kuronue" is in Yu Yu Hakisho, so I suspect they made it up. How is it spelled in kanji in the original media? Or is it ever spelled out?

His name is written 黒鵺（くろぬえ）according to the Japanese Wikipedia.

His name means "black chimera." The Japanese chimera is a mythical creature with a monkey's head, tanuki's body, tiger's limbs, and a snake tail.

If you do a Google search for 「黒鵺」, pretty much everything that comes up is about Yuu Yuu Hakusho.


What is a Grail vessel? In Fate/Zero, Irisviel was created to be the Grail vessel. In Fate UBW, I think Illya was one as well. (I think it's also the case in Fate/stay night in general, but I'm not sure).

What is a Grail vessel? Is it required to summon the Holy Grail? Because if that's the case, what if there is no Grail vessel in the war?

The vessel to the Holy Grail, known as the Lesser Grail, is used to summon the Greater Grail, which resides in the cavern underneath Ryuudou Temple. It is the Greater Grail, which allows a magus to access the Root or re-obtain the Third Magic, so it stands to reason that it is also meant to grant the promised wish to Masters and Servants.
Up until the end of the Third Holy Grail War, the Lesser Grail was literately a cup, but during the Third War it was revealed how the ceremony could easily be interrupted, as the Lesser Grail was damaged before the war concluded. Since the Lesser Grail failed to function properly due to damage, it could not call forth the Greater Grail, and thus the ceremony was meaningless.
In preparation for the Fourth War, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the head of the Einzbern Family, used the families expertise in the Thaumaturgical School of Alchemy to create a Homunculus to "cover" the Lesser Grail in a humanoid shape in order for it to be self-managed (i.e. be able to protect itself). This led to Irisviel being created.

Up until the third Grail War, the vessel for the Grail, also called the Lesser Grail (小聖杯, shouseihai), was a literal "cup". However, during the events of the third War, it was damaged in battle and the ceremony was interrupted; for that reason, it had to be made as something that could manage and protect itself.

Source: Holy Grail - Container
Because the Einzbern's seek victory over all else, both Irisviel and Illyasviel will slowly lose aspects of themselves as each servant is defeated.

As each servant dies, its energy would flow into her artificial body. When six servants die, her body would be destroyed and give birth to the Holy Grail. Thus, by having Homunculus participate in the war, the Einzbern master would never be able to make a wish even when they win.
[...]
As a vessel of the Grail, Illya's body can only take up to 4 servants and if she absorbs the fifth servant, she wouldn't function as a human any longer.

Source - Illyasviel von Einzbern - Vessel of the Grail
As seen in Fate/Zero, as Iris began to get weaker, Saber was necessitated to drive and carry her things, and she ultimately showed Saber how weak she had become by trying to squeeze her hand. The same happened to Ilya in Fate/Stay Night, where she was shown to get weaker and become bedridden.
After the Fourth War, Zouken Matou collected the fragments of the broken Lesser Grail (the Cup the appeared from Iris's body) and used them on Sakura through his worms

At the end of the Fourth War, Zouken acquired the fragments of the destroyed Grail. He combined the fragments with his Crest worms, which he put inside Sakura's body. Though she was incomplete, this turned her into a second Lesser Grail.

This would prevent Zouken from having to fight for possession of the vessel while taking care not to damage it. However, Sakura can be seen as the Black Grail1, as it is through her that Angra Mainyu could achieve its desire to be born. Ilya, having knowledge of Angra Mainyu and its corruption of the Greater Grail, was never manipulated by it, and thus remained a pure White Grail1
Because the Greater Grail is hidden, it stands to reason that anyone outside the Einzbern's and Zouken (and possibly the Tohsaka's, though I can't remember if Rin knew about the Greater Grail before Ilya's explanation in Heaven's Feel) wouldn't be able to have their wish "granted" if the vessel was destroyed, as they wouldn't know where the Greater Grail was. It's also hard to determine what would happen should someone try and use the Greater Grail without the Lesser Grail, as the only people to "use" the Greater Grail are Lesser Grails themselves (Sakura used it as a Prana Source during her fight with Rin in Heaven's Feel, and Ilya used the Third Magic to save Shirou in the True End of Heaven's Feel).
Also, depending on when the Vessel is destroyed, the Prana can build up from previous wars. Each war is supposed to take place roughly every 60 years, because this is how long it is needed for the Greater Grail to "recharge" to begin the next war. However, as the Vessel was destroyed in the Fourth War before the Greater Grail was used, there was a build up of Prana, allowing there to be only a 10 year gap between the Fourth and the Fifth wars.

1 This is just my terminology, as Ilya wore white when she was about to use the Greater Grail, while Sakura wore black when she accepted The Shadow.


Has it ever been stated that One Piece is some kind of material treasure? Whitebeard said that when "the one" Gol D. Roger has been waiting shows up, he'll find the One Piece and he will turn the whole world upside down. I can't recall any statement that declares that One Piece is some kind of a treasure like gold or something.

It is just said that it is Gol D. Roger's treasure which he left in that place. So I wonder if it has ever been stated that One Piece is something tangible or something theoretical, something virtual?

Oda himself confirmed in an interview with Momoko Sakura that the One Piece isn't something like "the journey itself was the real treasure" and that it is, in fact, a physical reward.
There is confirmation that the treasure will not be a spiritual gift.

Oda:"Yes, I already decided on how it's going to end. Should I tell you now?"
Sakura:" .... Well, I want to know, but I probably shouldn't. BUT, the One Piece, it's not something like "the growth your heart went through", right?"
Oda:"Hahaha, no no, I won't be pulling off some kind of Wizard of Oz thing like that. After having gone through an adventure like that, it wouldn't be fair to not actually give them a reward."

source: One Piece Wikia
This link contains details that are spoiler in nature. Please click at your own risk: Interview details + Spoilers


Why did the Greater Grail fulfill Shirou's wish while the other Servants were still alive? When Shirou enters the Greater Grail, it accepts his wish and starts executing it. However, at that time there were still Servants of both factions alive and fighting. Why did the Grail comply if the war had not ended yet?

My only guess is that this grail is from the previous, Third war. And since Shirou is pretty much the only survivor, he deserves his wish granted. But in that case, why would the Grail start a new war summoning new Servants?

First thing: A common theme in the Fate franchise is "Rules?  Screw your rules.  I'm a mage/servant/noble phantasm/whatever."  The true competition is not in competing in accordance with the rules (no matter how much Ruler tries to say otherwise), but in breaking the rules better than the others.  In this vein, Shirou forcibly activates the greater grail. It is a system that was designed to be interacted with by outside forces, and he uses that to his advantage.

Second thing: The condition to granting a wish is not "only one servant remains," but rather "sufficient energy has been collected through the expiration of servants, and other servants are not currently getting in your way to stop you from activating the grail". The (greater) grail basically works as follows:

Draw magical energy from a ley line.
Use that energy and the promise of a wish to cause Servants to coalesce.
The servants have their own magical energy which is (much) greater than what you used to bring them there.
When a servant dies, they are "filtered" through the greater grail system.  The grail claims their magical energy for itself.
Grail now has way more magical energy.

In the first war they only summoned three servants, one for each of the families involved in its construction, but they couldn't achieve much with only that much power; especially not their goal of reaching the root.  So they decided that to ensure that the Grail got a large enough supply they would need around 6 "average" servants to expire, so they adjusted it to summon a total of 7.

In the Apocrypha grail war, the Clock Tower is able to activate a safety routine that causes a double-scale war to be initiated.  It was designed to only need to summon 7 average servants, but now there are 14.  This then triggers another safety routine, which summons Ruler.  So in fact only 6 servants of average strength needed to be eliminated for the Greater Grail to have enough power to grant a wish, up to 14 are available (counting Ruler), and fewer will suffice if there are exceptionally powerful servants (Black Assassin would be below average, but Red Rider is well above average, etc.).  Combined with a forced activation you don't need to kill everyone, especially in a double-size war.  You just need to have enough control of the situation to not have your wish-making interfered with.


Has someone ate the gum-gum fruit before Luffy? I know Shanks found it but Devil Fruit do reappear after the person who ate it dies. So is it known if anyone ate the Gum-Gum Fruit before Luffy?

Shanks knew about the fruit from the "Devil fruit encyclopedia" (悪魔の実図鑑).
Oda answered this in the SBS Volume 45:

  D: Hey, Odacchi! I got a question! About Devil Fruits!! If Kaku and
  Kalifa said they wouldn't know what their Devil Fruit were until they
  ate it, how come Shanks knew what Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi was before
  he ate it?? Tell me! Tell me now!! Pleeeease tell me!!! P.N.
  Shirogitsunekko

  O: Well, I think I'll eventually get to explaining more about Devil
  Fruits in the main story, but you see, there's a book of Devil Fruits.
  It has info about all kinds of fruit names and abilities, but few of
  the fruit can actually be identified by their shape. In the case of
  the Gomu Gomu no Mi, there was a picture and everything, but for Kaku
  and Kalifa, they were talking about how they wouldn't know until they
  had finally eaten the fruit. That was in Volume 40.

Since it was in the book, we can conclude that someone must have already eaten the fruit before.


What is the name of the song Alex sings? In the anime Gangsta, while in Bastard, Alex recognizes a song she knows from her childhood. Later in the anime, by the end of episode 8, she sings that song to entertain the guests in Bastard. What is the name of that song?

According to MAL, the track is called With You (featuring Alex Bendetto) by Mamiko Noto.


Why Nami calls him Sanji-kun? Since both officially joined the crew (by this, I mean after Arlong Park), they use special suffix when talking to each other. In case of Sanji, this is not surprising as he does the same with every girl he meets (as far as I noticed).

Nami, on the other hand, rarely uses such suffixes, with Sanji being the only none she calls Sanji -kun.

Is there any canonical reason for this?

Kun (君【くん】?) is used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, by anyone addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. It can be used by males or females when addressing a male who they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long time.

My guess is she's just being playful.


Who is this cat on Hunter X Hunter volume 32's cover? I have watched the anime version of Hunter x Hunter but I couldn't remember where or when I have seen this cat, who is this cat? Does the cat ever appear in the manga/anime ver. ?

Particularly just a nameless cat.
This seems to follow the previous "character & animal" volume cover series on volume 17-19:

Volume 17: Killua (wolf)

Volume 18: Kurapika (owl)

Volume 19: Leorio (goldfish)


How many times did Brock get rejected by women? On Bulbapedia's article for EP068 "Make Room for Gloom", the Trivia section says this:

  Ash mentions that Brock will find plenty of more girls that will reject him. To be exact, Brock found over five hundred more girls that rejected him in his tenure in the anime.

Is this accurate? How many times did Brock get rejected by women over the course of the anime?

By rejected I understand that you want to ask that how many times has it happened that Brock loved a girl but had to leave her. If this is your definition then Suzie and Professor Ivy and more girls will also be considered as even though they loved Brock at one point he had to leave them. Then the total number of girls which rejected Brock are 697. This counting is till the end of season 15.


Are there any OVA of Sword Art Online series? Are there any OVAs of Sword Art Online series which have been released and if they affect the main story or not?

There's only Extra Edition, an Special set after the events of Fairy Dance. The first half is a recap of the first season disguised as an interview. The second half is anime original material, it doesn't affect the main story-line, but it follows ALOs in-game back-story set in Norse Mythology, name-dropping the Aesir. This setting has only been touched upon in the anime and in the LN release during the Caliber arc of the Second Season, but there's a bunch of other short stories that further this setting that have been self-published by Kawahara Reki as his former pen-name Kunori Fumio.


Why did Deku get all the past OFA Quirks but All Might didn't? Deku got the quirks that the past OFA quirk user had (not including OFA).
How come All Might didn't get them also?

My guess is All Might might have stopped after having power to beat any type of enemies and he didn't even get to think of the future that at someday he might lose his power or maybe he understood the power given by his mentor whereas Deku wanted to learn where this power comes from and what can make him more powerful... More like that power generates from emotion and doubt


Why does Madara appear unhurt despite being covered in wounds? I'm not sure if I have missed anything in the past, but Madara seems unphased by every attack.

Sasuke stabs a sword through his arm, but this isn't a problem.

All the tailed beasts stomp on Madara with their tails, and Madara doesn't even evade. Instead, he tanks the attack like it is no big deal.

What's going on here? Hashirama's senjutsu should only do so much, but it seems like Madara is simply invulnerable, aside from a little bleeding. Why isn't Madara getting hurt at all?

Is this what we call a plot shield?

From chapter 659,

Madara mentions that due to the healing powers of Hashirama's he is able to recover must faster and is taking close to no damage.
So it is not just just Hashirama's senjutsu, but also his healing powers that have made Madara virtually invicible.
Also from the same chapter:

It is not that he is not being damaged, but that his healing is so fast that all damage seems to have no effect at all.


Can a Burst Warrior use any Burst Heart? I learned that Pokemon can combine with a person in a process known as "Burst".  Apparently the Pokemon are inside a crystal known as a Burst Heart and "one must go through rigorous training or else their life will be in danger if they attempt it".

My question, then, is if the training is Pokemon specific or works for all cases.  So if a person has trained to Burst with a Pikachu Burst Heart, could they also Burst with a Geodude?  If so, could the person Burst with multiple Pokemon at once?

Fraud managed to use many types of Burst Hearts. Braviary, Reshiram, Bisharp, Golurk, and the list goes on for a while.
So I think it may be like regular pokemon training, where all pokemon are available so long as you can use a Burst Heart. But I haven't read ReBurst yet so I'm not sure if his case can be considered normal.


Why are there omissions and discrepancies in Kaori's Kreutzer performance? In ep. 2, the entrants to the competition are shown playing extracts from the first movement of Beethoven's sonata no. 9 (often referred to as the Kreutzer). This is most likely the only movement played, given the portrayal of Kaori's performance and the length of the Kreutzer.

It would not be appropriate to show a performance of the entire movement. (It could bore viewers, and it could easily take up half the episode.) We can thus justify an abridgement of the piece or the removal of some of sections. The omissions I have found so far, however, do not make sense.

At the beginning, the section after the violin opening and before the statement of the theme (m. 5-18, mvt. 1) is omitted. The continuity of Kaori's movements might with the soundtrack imply that in-universe, she did not play those omitted bars, but it is unclear.
Later after the piano finishes its reiteration of the theme, there is a pause (which exists in the original score). Kaori then jumps to a later section (the adagio shortly after), which is merged with the ending of the first movement. It seems that this jump also occurred in-universe.
The "bland" part that the other violinists were shown playing, which should have fallen after adagio mentioned above, is skipped.

This leaves me with the following question. Is there any suggestion that the movement is actually being played with these omissions and discrepancies in-universe? If so, why would this be the case? Are these instead just badly executed (in that they are misleading) cuts? After all:

For the purposes of a performance used to assess musicians, certain omissions, particularly skipping repeats, could be acceptable. The sections involved do not fall into such a category.
Surely if all the violinists are playing the same set piece in the same competition, there should not be any obvious variation in what is played, even if some parts are removed for length.
The movement seems to be a reasonable length for a short performance, particularly if the one repeat that appears is taken out.

As requested, while this is not a conclusive answer, we might never know unless there is more information released.

The manga only specifies the piece, but never details the performances of the characters musically. The characters might gush over how "lively" or "beautiful" it sounds, but nobody ever talks in technical terms, much less describe sections of music.

Chapter 6 page 30-32 : The extent of description of Kaori's Performance.

Thus, we can conclude that your observations about the discrepancies in the musical pieces stem solely from the anime production. There could have been artistic/directional decisions for the eventual editing of the said pieces, such as time constraints or perhaps wanting to get a feeling across because that section or piece of music only fits that part. We might not know more unless more information is released (AFAIK) from the studio, such as interviews with the director/staff.

However, this stand does not exclude the author collaborating with the studio and affecting the said pieces. It could well be what the author had intended to portray in the first place. Again, we do not know the extent to which he has influence over the production, notwithstanding that the plot of the anime is pretty filial to the manga.

In my opinion, the "cuts" as you describe are not noticed by the general audience, and serve more as a mood setter and a plot driver than an actual portrayal of a performance. Only a more discerning and a informed listener would be able to tell that there was something amiss.


Why are the shounen lead protagonists usually shown to be stupid? One Piece's Luffy,
Naruto's Naruto,
Fairy Tail's Natsu,
Reborn's Tsuna,
Dragon Ball's Goku

All of the above are shown to be simple-minded and foolish.

Why is it so common to depict the lead protagonist to be so stupid?

This is a common archetype in many forms of fiction, not just shounen anime and manga. for instance, many seinen romance series have protagonists who are usually at or below average intelligence, e.g. Clannad, Chobits, though seinen also has some intelligent protagonists like those from Death Note or Ghost in the Shell. Shoujo series also sometimes use this archetype. However, I suspect it is especially common in shounen series and other series targeted at children.

One reason for this is that if the protagonist frequently spends a lot of time deeply considering things, and comes up with complicated logical thinking to justify his actions, it can easily confuse some of the viewers, particularly younger children. In a mystery series, this might be acceptable, because the viewer is expecting to have to think critically to follow what's going on, but in an action series, it detracts from what most people are watching for.

Another reason is that for the protagonist to be a good hero (or arguably even a good antihero), they need to be identifiable to the average viewer. It's easy to identify with people who aren't as smart as you are, because at some point in your life you were like that. Since some of the viewers will be fairly young, to make this work you need to make the character at or below their intellectual level, which makes them appear really dumb considering their age. It's much harder to identify with someone who is far smarter than you. Extremely intelligent characters are supposed to be impressive rather than identifiable (e.g. Light and L from Death Note, who are identifiable in other ways, but not in terms of their  intelligence). Of course, it's also possible to just make the character average intelligence and not put any emphasis on that direction (and lots of series do this), but shounen protagonists tend to be more like caricatures than real people, i.e. they have exaggerated features and characteristics, and intelligence is often one of them.

It's also worth noting that most shounen action shows were, at least originally, marketed to young boys. Most young boys are far more interested in being strong than in being smart. By making the character below-average intelligence, but unbelievably strong, it makes the character simultaneously identifiable and admirable.

There's also the comedy aspect. Almost all of these series involve comedy. For whatever reason, many people find people doing stupid things to be funny. A lot of these series exploit this by making the protagonist almost useless outside of battle. In the traditional Manzai style of comedy, they play the boke role, which is usually the more interesting role (hence fitting of the protagonist). That isn't to say that intelligent characters can't be comical, but it isn't as easily exploitable with little-to-no effort as it is if the protagonist is unintelligent.

Finally, the protagonists in most of these series are idealists. Intelligence, by and large, correlates with pragmatism, at least in anime. Pragmatic characters make good generals, but typically not interesting ones. To put it a different way, pragmatism wins wars, but idealism leads to epic battles, and in an action series that's what counts. Dragon Ball wouldn't be nearly as interesting if Goku resorted to some form of guerrilla tactics to win each battle, even though it might make things easier. The protagonist usually has some more level-headed allies who will pull out if they really are in a losing battle (e.g. Nami, Piccolo), but these characters aren't the ones you're supposed to identify with. Also, idealism is often portrayed as admirable in these series, which further adds to the character's good qualities.

There's also the aspect of tradition, as kuwaly's answer points out. So I think there are a lot of reasons why it works well to have an idiot hero in shounen action series, so it's understandable why they are common.


Why do only some anime series translate on screen text? Some anime series use captions to translate signs, text messages, speech bubbles, and the like while others do not. I'm left guessing when some characters only communicate through these messages and nothing is translated. Are these extra translations done by specific studios or on a case by case basis?

In some anime the additional text is there just to provide info. If context is provided, the translation usually isn't necessary. However, anime or at least their source videos that are meant to be dubbed and shown outside of Japan, are sometimes supposed to be translated, because most viewers never know nor care about the original language used in production (kids watching TV?).

Otherwise it's just about speed. Some fast-subbing groups only provide the needed dialogue, some groups take their time and translate everything to help the viewer.

Sometimes scribbles and text on walls provide additional humorous inputs (e.g. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) and some people like to thoroughly go through them...

Overall it's all about the target audience :)


What is the relevancy between the common theme of Knight’s & Magic, In Another World With My Smartphone, and KonoSuba? These three anime:

Knight's & Magic
In Another World With My Smartphone
KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World.

and perhaps others anime as well begin with the common theme of a guy dying and get born on another world. That made me wonder what made this theme be present in so many anime.

I am specially focused on the death of the characters since that is, in my opinion, a different element of other isekai anime such as Sword art online. In Sword art Online the characters are truly imprisoned in a different world. In this three anime the characters die and continue their lives (are ressurected into) in a different world.

Is this kind of story present in some Japanese book? Is it just because this kind of narrative was well received? Are they anyhow related?

If possible it would be great if someone could find the first anime where this narrative was present.

Thanks to paulnamida's comment, this is a sub-genre of 異世界 (isekai, "different world") called 異世界転生 (isekai tensei, reincarnation on different world).
Nicopedia (Japanese) has an exclusive entry for this genre.

According to them, the definition is

元の世界の住人が死んで異世界で生まれ変わり、新しく人生をやり直すというもの。
Inhabitants of the original world die, reincarnated in a different world, and start a new life.

It has existed at least since 1988 in Japan with New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine, a 3-episode OVA of Aura Battler Dunbine.

古くから存在するジャンルで、日本のアニメでも80年代後半で既に近い特徴を持った『New Story of Aura Battler DUNBINE』が登場している [...]
In the genre that has existed for a long time, in the second half of the 1980s there was a Japanese anime New Story of Aura Battler Dunbine which has similar characteristics [...].

The cause of death can be anything, but a prominent one is caused by a truck, in which it's called "truck reincarnation".

転生なので異世界に行くには一度死ぬ必要があるが死因は様々で、トラックに轢かれて死ぬ、事件に巻き込まれて死ぬなど様々である。特にトラックに轢かれて転生する場合は「トラック転生」と呼ばれている。
Since it's necessary to die once to have transported into another world because it's a reincarnation, there are many causes of death, like running over by a truck, getting into an accident, etc. Especially, for reincarnation after running over by a truck, it's called "truck reincarnation".

Some prominent works in this genre:

アルバート家の令嬢は没落をご所望です (The Daughter of the Albert House Wishes for Ruin)
異世界はスマートフォンとともに。 (In Another World With My Smartphone)
賢者の孫 (Kenja no Mago)
公爵令嬢の嗜み (Common Sense of a Duke’s Daughter)
この素晴らしい世界に祝福を！ (KonoSuba)
転生したら剣でした (I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated)
転生したらスライムだった件 (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime)
ナイツ&マジック (Knight's & Magic)
本好きの下剋上 〜司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません〜 (Ascendance of a Bookworm)
無職転生 ~異世界行ったら本気だす~ (Mushoku Tensei)
幼女戦記 (Saga of Tanya the Evil)

As for the reason why there are many works with this genre recently, Kevin fu's answer to a similar question would also apply here:

But the reason on why there's an influx of it being used is the fact that it currently sells when used in a light novel, manga, or anime title.


Does Dragonball super have only 1 underworld? Or one per universe? One thing I'm not sure about with the introduction of the different universes is: Does Dragonball super have only 1 underworld/afterlife? Or 1 per universe?

I'm pretty sure that each universe has its own heaven and hell. We know that a universe is divided into four quadrants and each has its own Kai. Then there is the Grand Kai who governs them. After that we have the Supreme Kai who looks over the entire afterlife and the universe.

There is an extensive system of Kais to govern the entire universe, including the afterlife. It can be concluded that because each universe has its own Supreme Kai (and of course, the God of Destruction), it also has its own underworld.


Why can Mitsuki see Shinigami? When Meroko and Takuto first appear to Mitsuki, they're extremely surprised that Mitsuki can see them since humans aren't supposed to be able to see Shinigami.

Is it ever explained why Mitsuki can see them?

It's because:

   The soul of Eichi has been watching over her since he died. When Sheldan tries to take Mitsuki's soul, it's explained why Eichi is the reason why Mitsuki can see Shinigami. This is what saved Mitsuki and Takuto after they get pierced by the Mystere's scythe at the end of the series. At the end of the manga it's revealed that Eichi refused to allow Takuto to take his soul (this was Takuto's first assignment as a Shinigami) because he wanted to meet Mitsuki again (because of the promise they made to meet again when they achieved their dreams) and stays with her for 6 years until the end of the series, when he see that she is now happy and wants to live.


Did Kishou Arima know about the dragon Kagune? Spoiler Alert!.

Arima Kishou made a very "interesting prediction" that if Humans accepted Ghouls then at some point, all Humans would become Ghouls. And later on in Tokyo Ghoul RE season 2, episode 10, we see a bit of his prediction actually happening.

However, I don't undestand how Humans can be "infected" into being Ghouls, the Kakhous are the organs that produce the Rc cells so even if a human is exposed to RC cells that shouldn't expressly make them a Ghoul because they would still lack the organ that physically manifests the Rc Cells?

Also why is Kaneki's Dragon Ghoul form still active? The real Kaneki, who was the source of the Dragons RC cells was taken away so how can the Dragon keep producing Humanoid monsters (the dragon orphans) that explode to release "Rc cells"? Cause the Dragon is Kaneki's Kagune from mutation and Cannibalism right? I'm kinda like super confused.

  Also, did Arima actually foresee Kaneki turning into the Dragon? If not then How could he make such a spot on prediction.

I dont read the manga and I also don't mind spoilers.

Regarding the infection, it could be a different and new type of disease for people exposed to a large amount of RC cells other than RC cell over-secretion, mainly due to the fact that the infected can still move about. However, it does not seem that the humans became Ghouls, since the infected lack some Ghoul traits, so I think they should be considered as a different type altogether. How that is possible is currently unknown.

Regarding Kaneki's Dragon still being active, in Chapter 161,

  Furuta watched as Rize emerged from an egg and called her 'Dragon'. From this, we can say that Rize merged with the Dragon in place of Kaneki since she was one of the final opponents in the manga, which Kaneki also fought.

Regarding Arima, I do not think that was a prediction, because while he seems to be a 'pro-ghoul', I think what he also wants is something like ghouls living and having a place with human society. And again, those humans who were infected cannot really be classified as ghouls, more like a new type altogether so his 'prediction' is still not on point. (I also cannot recall this prediction but I'll try to reread)


How much of the Citrus manga got adapted in the anime? The Citrus anime came out at the start of 2018. However, the manga finished in August 2018.

Since the anime would have been in production for a while, we can't just assume that whatever chapter was released in December 2017 is what got into the anime.

So how much of the manga got adapted in the anime?

Episode 12 of the anime ended in with chapter 16 of the manga. However they changed the ending to make a bit anime original so you might want to check out chapter 16.

If you don't include extra chapters manga ends at chapter 41.

10 volumes in total. Anime covered 4 volumes.


Can Japanese voice actors watch anime for free after an anime episode is finished? Can Japanese voice actors watch an anime episode for free after an anime episode is finished because they did contribute their efforts in it?

Voice actors usually only see the parts of the anime/movie and script, which they record. Their might be special occasions, when they are able to see the complete episode, but that is definitely rare.


Anime about a guy who becomes a girl's spirit familiar About two weeks ago, at a Funimation panel, they were showing off some anime that they had recently dubbed. One of the anime they showed caught my eye, but I completely forgot what it was called.

As far as I can remember, the plot went something like this:

  By some random circumstance, this guy (I assume he's the main character),  a human, becomes this girl's spirit familiar (or something). Then they go to a special school.

Yep, that's what my brain remembers. If anyone has any clue as to what I'm talking about, please help.

I was at ACen 2015 (15-17 May, so two weeks ago) when I heard about this. I honestly don't remember anything about how it looked like, but the series couldn't have been more than 3 years old.

That sounds like Zero no Tsukaima or The Familiar of Zero.

Visit its Wikipedia article to verify whether it matches your description.

It's one of my favorite, and it already has season 2.


Whats the name of this OST track from the Toaru Majutsu/Railgun Series Sorry, not sure if this is the best place to ask this.

The OST track starts out with a long whistle, followed by quick whistles blows, and it was quite fast (not slow/sad) (kinda had a sporty feel?).

The whistle sound effect sounded a lot like the one in the background of this OST track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWlk745yr0

I recalled it was from the Toaru Majutsu/Railgun Series, but i might be recalling wrongly, so if you know of a OST track that sounds similar, please let me know.

Thank you.

I found it, it was code break from the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei series


What happens to King Torture's soldiers once defeated? King Torture's monsters always have some soldiers alongside them.

When the monsters are defeated, they scream "Viva Torture!" and explode. The soldiers, however, have been seen lying defeated on the floor even after a monster's explosion:

Do they also explode and vanish after being defeated?
Or have they been being taken into custody for questioning or something of the sort?
Or are they somehow able to get away?

I think to understand this its important to recognize that the show is all about celebrating Tokusatsu tropes (think Power Rangers). This is why, as in most Tokusatsu shows, all the bosses explode. Now, in most Tokusatsu shows, the minions are just beaten up and then ignored. Frequently they just seem to disappear between shots. There is no particular "canon" explanation of what happens to them for the genre as a whole. Since Samurai Flamenco is emulating these shows, it also ignores the question of what happens to the minions.

So the answer is that they probably do the same thing that minions do in every other show, but nobody knows what that is.


Why does a reanimated shinobi bleed? Why does reanimated Itachi bleed while using Ametarasu (Naruto, killerbee vs reanimated Nagato, Itachi fight), while no other reanimated shinobi bleed when attacked? For example, Minato didn't bleed when his arm got chopped off, and third Raikage didn't bleed when he got struck by Naruto.

They only bleed under special circumstances, a more notable one being when Itachi started bleeding from the use of Amaterasu.
From the wiki:

Reincarnated bodies do not bleed, except in those cases where blood is needed to perform the Summoning Technique. (emphasis mine)

Reanimated shinobi do indeed bleed when under certain circumstances, such as when the second Mizukage summoned a giant clam:

As we all know, with the exception of those who can access the Rinnegan's Animal Path, a blood contract is needed in order to perform the Summoning Jutsu. However, reanimated Hiruzen Sarutobi and the second Mizukage are able to perform this technique while using a blood contract. This is because reanimated are able to attain it (their blood) in certain cases, like the ones mentioned above.


What's this dance that Franky and Chopper are doing? In episode 380 of One Piece, during Brook's rendition of "Bink's Booze," Frankie and Chopper do a rather bizarre dance with what looks like chopsticks up their noses, and holding baskets out in front of them.

Is the dance just totally random, or is it something recognizable to a Japanese viewer?

(Screenshot taken from the Crunchyroll video feed.)

After some google search I stumbled upon this page, about Hyottoko: there it is mentioned

  In some parts of north eastern Japan, Hyottoko is regarded as the god of fire. There is a well known folk story in the form of music, izumoyasugibushi (出雲安来節) where a fisherman dances with a bamboo basket, having the same visual expression as the mask of Hyottoko. During this dance, a person puts five yen coins on their nose.

More info can be found here:

  In imitation of a comical gesture to catch loaches with a bamboo basket, the so-called 'dojo-sukui' loach-scooping dance accompanied by Yasukibushi song was enjoying a boom in Tokyo after Osaka early in the 20th century. This unique dance was performed at many small theaters in Asakusa, Tokyo, which is very helpful to be known throughout the country. Most Japanese know Yasukibushi even though they don't know the place name Yasugi in Shimane Prefecture. The dojo-sukui dancer with a bamboo creel on his side and bamboo basket in his hands, as shown in the picture, is funny enough to be prevailing in the country as a banquet entertainment performed by an amateur.

Here is a youtube video portraying the dance.


Which owl is the source of Arima's quinque? Considering the confusion between the 2 owls (Yoshimura vs Eto) do we know which one Arima took this quinque from? Has he fought both? I'm not sure if a Tokyo Ghoul: re tag is worthwhile.

The Quinque you showed was taken from the body of Yoshimura.

Source : http://tokyoghoul.wikia.com/wiki/Owl_(Quinque)


Is Kaguya Ōtsutsuki an extraterrestrial being? I'm just wondering if Kaguya Ōtsutsuki is an extraterrestrial being came form outher space.

EDIT:
Leaving the old answer as it was mostly accurate at the time of answering, but new canon after the manga ended via the movies, non manga sources, and Boruto series have changed it.

Kaguya was in fact an alien. As revealed in the Boruto movie and series, Kaguya was from another planet/dimension. The reason she came to Naruto's planet is believed to be because it had a Chakra fruit and Shinju tree. What is clear is that she knew of other Ōtsutsuki and feared them, building the White Zetsu army to help defeat them in battle when they came, but its not clear if she ran away or was sent there and effectively betrayed her clan due to corruption caused by all the power she obtained, especially considering Momoshiki's dialog before he departed for earth.

Kaguya Otsutsuki article:

  As time passed, however, Kaguya began to lose trust in humanity as the power she now held ultimately corrupted her, which changed her public image from that of a benevolent goddess into that of a Demon (鬼, Oni). This eventually led her to madness, committing acts such as turning victims of the Infinite Tsukuyomi into an army of White Zetsu, in preparation for Ōtsutsuki descendants from another world coming to Earth to steal her chakra for themselves.

Momoshiki Otsutsuki article:

  Momoshiki was approached by Kinshiki, who had observed substantial tears in Kaguya's world, with its space curvature exceeding 16. After Kinshiki noted that she violated their clan's laws by failing to report the abnormal space curvature, Momoshiki wondered whether she had betrayed the clan, or had somehow been overthrown and destroyed by the "inferior lifeforms" inhabiting her world.

The rest of the old answer (again, apart from the fact that she is in fact an alien) is correct, at least from the perspective of the original manga, or more specifically Hagoromo.

Old Answer:

Kaguya was a Human Who ate the Chakra fruit of the Shinju tree

  "A millennium ago, Kaguya, longing for peace, believed that it was necessary for her to attain god-like powers in order to put an end to all of humanity's conflicts. For that reason, she defied the taboo of consuming the fruit of the Shinju. Using her new-found power, Kaguya single-handedly ended the wars, and for her deed, she was worshiped as the Rabbit Goddess"

No events before this are clearly described beyond wars and violence, but it is implied that Humans before were fairly normal, just like all the normal non ninja citizens of the Villages. Her powers did include Dimensional shifting, as shown in the manga, but the only known case of leaving earth is also attributed to Kaguya, when her Sons defeated her and Sealed her body within a celestial body which became the moon.

  In a fit of envy that her own sons had inherited her chakra, Kaguya combined with the Shinju itself and turned against them in the form of the monstrous Ten-Tails. Their intense battle ended with Hagoromo and Hamura separating and absorbing their mother's powerful chakra while sealing her body to form the core of a celestial body that would become known as the moon.

So if anything, She is just an unwilling Astronaut.

EDIT: NOTE the anime arc involving Kaguya and Hagoromo's past is not in the manga, and mostly filler. We never actually saw Kaguya eat the fruit or know who Hagoromo and Hamura's Father is in the Manga, or if Hagoromo ever had the sharingan in any form. The anime even changed Indra's eyes to look like Sasuke's stars, but in the manga, they were swirls, though the wiki does not have any pictures of Indra in the manga, the Mangekyou Sharingan page does describe this in at the bottom with a picture of his pattern and a Note that the anime changed it.

Mangekyou Sharingan article


Danganronpa - What is supposed to happen if there are 2 or 3 players left? So I just heard of this anime that resembles the Mafia/Wolf game.

  However, when Makoto arrives inside the Academy, he loses consciousness and wakes up locked inside the school, where he meets fourteen other newly picked Ultimate students who are in the same situation as him. It is there that a sadistic, remote-controlled bear named Monokuma appears before them, telling them they will be imprisoned in the academy for the rest of their lives, and that they will be put to death if they violate any of the schools rules. He offers only one way for students to "graduate" from the academy: murder another student and not be identified as the culprit.

So if the culprit is correctly identified (majority vote or something?), culprit gets executed. If not, everyone but culprit gets executed.

What is supposed to happen if there are 2 or 3 players left?

I'm not so naive as to think that what is supposed to happen is what actually happens, but I think there should be a rule for that.

If there is no explanation in the anime or other media, please state such and if applicable why no explanation is needed (I might be overlooking something obvious).

Liar Game had a rule as to what happens in Minority Rule if there are only 2 players left. There was some detail about it. I don't think explaining that rule spoils the manga or series: If there are 2 left, the prize is split. To drop out, half of the prize must be given back, whatever the amount of the prize is (half of the full 2.1 billion or half of 1.05 billion).

PS I'm done with the anime. Go ahead and spoil other media. But please use spoiler tags for others.

The main antagonist of the anime, who also controls

 Monokuma (the robot bear), has a fetish for despair.

It is exactly why

 she imprisoned those 14 students, to make them feel despair, and enjoy it.

In fact that's why she created the rule that

If you murder one of your classmates and not get caught as the culprit, you can escape.

So that the classmates who had an attachment to the victim will mourn his/her death, and the ones who became friends with the culprit, will feel guilty.

 It is never exactly stated what would happen if only 2 or 3, or even only 1 will remain (at the end 7 or 8 students remain), but judging by the main villain's (whom I will be shortening to MV from now on) tendencies and love for despair, she would probably (remember there is no exact proof what she would do, so I used the word probably)

 A) not let any of the remaining 1/2/3 student/s go, unless they either murder each other, or will remain in the school for the rest of their life, feeling eternal despair.

 B) kill them, because she will either get bored of them or she will be annoyed by how optimistic they are about life, since the whole point of locking them in school was to enjoy people's despair, and when their despair becomes repetitive, or they don't feel any despair, she's forced to kill/get rid of them.

Note:

Danganronpa was originally a video game series. The anime was released in order to commercialize the first video game of the series, which the plot of the anime is based on.

Because the video game is long, whereas the anime is only 12 episodes, it's rushed and left out a lot of details from the video game.

 Also, in the second game it's revealed that the MV did in fact had a back-up plan for when she would get bored or annoyed of the 14 students she's currently watching. In the anime, she made other schools, and she imprisoned other students as well, in order to watch them despair once she would have had enough of the current students.


What was the source of inspiration behind the character Sasuke in Naruto? Like the title says, where did Mr. Kishimoto got the idea of the character personality, backstory, name etc.?

According to Sasuke Uchiha article on Wikipedia, Sasuke's name comes from Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictional ninja featured in Japanese children's stories. Kishimoto also once said that Sasuke's character was influenced by Hiei from YuYu Hakusho.


What happens to Merihim/Shiro after Shana becomes Flame Haze? Merihim (whom Shana calls "Shiro") played a major role in training Shana prior to her contracting with Alastor and becoming a Flame Haze.

After making the contract, he challenges Shana to one final duel in which she wins. Shortly after, Tendōkyū (the floating landmass where Shana grew up and was trained) crumbles.

What is the fate of Merihim? Did Shana actually kill him? Did he die when Tendōkyū crumbles?
I wasn't able to figure this out after re-watching the episode (ep16) a few times.

MAL only lists him as "disappeared". But are there any sources that actually confirm his death?

This is explained in more detail the prequel, Shakugan no Shana X: Eternal_Song.

Before their final battle with one another, Merihim and Mathilde gambled that winner may request of the loser, which Merihim enthusiastically favored (since he was in love with her).

In the end, Merihim defeated by Mathilde's hand.

Before using Tenpa Jousai (which will ultimately result in her death), Mathilde made him promise three things:

He shall not consume humans again
He shall not wreak havoc on Earth again
He shall train the next successor of "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter" title after her death.

Because he could no longer replenish his Power of Existence by consuming humans, he took the form of Shiro to conserve it. During the final battle at the Tendoukyuu, Merihim used up almost all of his existence to regain his appearance as the Rainbow Swordman and defeat Orgon in one stroke.

He used the last of his existence to give one final test to Shana, to see if she could properly become the wielder of the title "Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter," thus fulfilling his promise to Mathilde.


How does Pengin die in the fight with Emonzaemon? At the end of the fight between Souda Emonzaemon and Maniwa Pengin in the episode 11, Emonzaemon starts firing random directions with Entou Juu, and somehow a bullet reaches Pengin's body to kill him. I don't understand how this happened. Even when Emonzaemon fired directly towards Pengin, none of the bullets reached him because of his extremely high luck. Then, how was Emonzaemon able to shoot him by firing random directions?

According to the novel, when Emonzaemon shot his bullets off all over the room, he was aiming for things made of metal, like the nails on the floorboards and columns in the room.

As his bullets ricocheted off metal objects, Penguin's luck was forced to be pitted against the luck of the metal itself, which Penguin lost out to.

This was explained that no matter how lucky Penguin was, his luck would not last forever, because like all humans, he will one day have to die. Metal, on the other hand, has a much longer natural life span, far longer than that of humans. Therefore the metal has accumulated much more luck over the centuries, if not millennia, far surpassing the natural luck of any given human gathered in their lifetime.


How many episodes will Dragon Ball Super have? Is there any official source stating how many episodes Dragon Ball Super will have? With all the open stories it has (Bills, Champa, the multi universe tournament, Zeno-sama, Zamasu, Black Goku, etc) I can't image them all fitting in the once rumored 100 episodes.

Until now, it is officially confirmed to have at least 72 episodes of DBS. Rumors have shown that it will be 100 episodes, or even more if it's getting more popularity, but all of that is not true. Rumors are rumors, it is not yet confirmed, all we can do is to wait for upcoming news.


What is the hand gesture Itachi does when calling Sasuke to him? I've always found this gesture curious, because it looked like the "shooing away" gesture to me, but Sasuke reacts as though he's being summoned. So I'm interested to know if this gesture is part of Japanese culture and would be generally understood.

I'm interested in two things here: Which direction is Itachi flicking his fingers? Technically speaking, he does both, but the way I understand the "shooing away" gesture is that you're flicking away, indicating to the other person to go away, so it could be a matter of how the gesture is understood. And I'd like to know how widely used this is in Japanese culture (or whether it's just an Itachi thing), and whether the Japanese would recognize this gesture as "shooing away" at all. Just an explanation for the gesture, basically.

Itachi is flicking his fingers towards himself, not outwards (which would be shooing away someone), which was why Sasuke came over to him. It's called the Beckoning sign and it varies by country.
It's also not just an Itachi thing - it's a common gesture in Japan to call someone over to you. I believe it's a different gesture compared to Western countries hence the confusion, which is understandable since I also thought it was how the Western countries do it. Here's a video demonstrating the gesture: https://youtu.be/iBcQFBuj2Os
It's interesting to note that the 'come here' gestures of some English-speaking countries are considered rude in some Eastern countries and is even a ground for arrest in one country.
Some resources about hand gestures:

https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/english-in-the-real-world/hand-gestures/
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-body-language/


Difference Between the Anime and Manga for Gunslinger Girl? I started out by watching the anime for Gunslinger Girl, and now I want to finish the story by reading the Manga.  On what chapter does the anime end? And does the anime skip or change any chapters?

I guess what I'm really asking is:

What would I need to read, in order to cover the difference between the Anime and the Manga?

There are no relevant differences between the manga and the first season of the Gunslinger Girl anime, as far as I am aware. However, the manga chapters are ordered different in comparison to the anime. The last anime episode of the first season matches the contents of chapter 8 of the manga, which is about half in the first omnibus-format book release, but following chapters do match contents of earlier anime episodes.

Since I haven't watched the second season of the Gunslinger Girl anime, I just looked up the ending of the anime and compared it with the manga. Since the anime ends in the first confrontation with Pinocchio, it matches chapter 15 of the manga, near the end of the first omnibus-format book release. I cannot say anything in regards to the other second season anime episodes.

My honest recommendation is to read the manga from the first chapter. The order might be a bit different, there might be a bit more background story, and certainly some manga scenes from these first chapters are referenced throughout the progression of the series. All by all, around ~16 chapters will only took you an hour or so, especially since you're familiar with the current setting.


Are the honey-pickled apples from Spice and Wolf historically accurate? If you've seen or read Spice and Wolf, you probably remember that they had apples pickled in honey and spiced with ginger. That sounds delicious. In fact, this tumblr blog claims to recreated the recipe, and the results do look tasty.

Those apples look delicious too, though I have to admit I'm not sure if they're the kind I'm talking about.

Spice and Wolf is also culturally based on Europe, though exactly when or where isn't revealed and the setting doesn't seem to exactly be Europe. It's probably based on some times in the medieval period but we can't really be sure.

Is there any evidence of this sort of technique being used in Europe in the correct time period for the preparation of apples? If not, is it inspired by any other techniques for preparation and preservation of fruits (perhaps from some other location and time period)?

According to The Joy of Pickling (see page 75 "Pickled Apples"), there is a recipe for Pickled Apples, which originates from the area around Russia; this recipe involves the whole apple, unlike most recipes that require the apples to be sliced.

Pickled Apples

  "Another Russian specialty, brined apples retain their
  crispness but acquire a flavor like that of sparkling
  wine."

Ingredients:

3    quarts water
1/4  honey
8    teaspoons pickling salt
2 or 3 handfulls of sour cherry leaves
4 to 6 sprigs of tarragon
3 pounds of small tart apples, such as Graventeins

  In a non reactive pot, bring to a boil water, honey,
  and salt, stirring to dissolve the salt. Let the brine
  cool.

  Spread some cherry leaves and 1 or 2 tarragon sprigs on the bottom of a 1-gallon jar, Add a layer of apples on their sides.

  3 should just fit. Layer more leaves, tarragon, and apples, and then repeat for a
  third layer. Top with the rest of the leaves and tarragon.

  Pour enough brine  over the apples to cover them  well. Push a freezerbag into the mouth of the jar and pour the remaining brine in to the bag.

  Seal the bag. Let stand at room temperature for 5 or 6 days, until fermentation slows.

  Remove the brine bag, cap the lid tightly and set in a dark place where the tempreature dosent rise above 50 degrees (use a fridge produces good results)

  Let the jar stand for 30 to 40 days befre eating the apples.

  After you open the jar, the apples will keep for at least a week in the fridge.

This Ukranian recipe details fermented apples to be a regional specialty of central Ukraine and are typically used as a relish or an accompaniment to roasts, poultry, and game.

  They are somewhat similar to apples cured in sauerkraut but of a more delicate flavor  although they are considered a delicacy by the old country gourmets, one has to be accustomed to them to enjoy their piquant taste. Ukrainian Canadian homemakers seldom, if ever, make the, but the recipe is worth preserving.  When trying this recipe, select undamaged apples of a good quality and tart in flavor.

Ingredients:

5 lb apples (select ripe, undamaged apples with a tart flavor.)
5 qts water
2 cups rye flour
4 tbsp sugar or honey
2 tsp salt

  Wash the apples thoroughly and remove the blossom ends.

  Place the apples in a crock. If cherry or currant leaves are available, arrange the apples and leaves in alternate layers.

  Bring the water to a boil. Pour half of the water over the flour and stir briskly until smooth.  Add the remaining water and strain the mixture.

  Stir in the salt and sugar.  Cool to lukewarm.  Pour over the apples, allowing enough liquid to rise several inches above the apples.

  Cover with a plate and weight down with a suitable weight to keep the apples completely submerged.  Keep at room temperature for 1 week and then store them.

  It will take 5 to 8 weeks for the apples to ferment, depending on the variety used.  During the process of fermentation, a scum will form on the surface.

  It should be removed and the plate washed as often as necessary. Store in a cold place.