What are the original memes mentioned in Steins;Gate? As I understand it, the memes used in the fansubbed version of Steins;Gate were adapted for English audience. The Japanese audience would not know the "Yo Dawg" meme, for instance, since it is an English based meme. They would have their own set of memes, which they could have used in the original dialogue. Of course, it could be that their lines weren't memes at all.

What are the original Japanese memes that were mentioned throughout the series, if there are any, and what's their context?

Some of the phrases are explained at the Steins;Gate wiki's Real-Life References and Glossary.

Regarding the phrase「エル・プサイ・コングルゥ」(El Psy Congroo), according to Anime News Network, FutureGadgetLab is the anime's official Twitter account. According to a tweet by FutureGadgetLab, Okabe Rintarou (lab member #1) explains it as 「お前の胸の中にあるもの。それが答えだ。俺の中ではKONGROOが正しい。『俺の中では』な。《001》」, which you could translate as "It's something that's in your heart. That's my answer. When it's inside me, KONGROO is right. 'When it's inside myself,' y'know." So either the author is being intentionally obtuse (i.e., writing in character), or there is not a specific meaning for it, or the author of the tweet (whoever at the company was assigned to manage the Twitter feed by posting as the various lab members) didn't know what the meaning is. next_tales's answer given at Yahoo Japan's 知恵袋 (chiebukuro, bag full of wisdom) website also says that there is a notation stating that the phrase has no meaning in the 『ＳＴＥＩＮＳ；ＧＡＴＥ─シュタインズゲート─ 円環連鎖のウロボロス』 (Closed Chain of Ouroboros) novel. It does not seem like Japanese fans know the meaning and it is not a general meme in Japanese society. According to the ネット王子 (Netto Ouji, Net Prince) website, the phrase has no meaning but as a result of its use in this series, it has become an internet meme used by Japanese people in their online communications. So to boil that all down, 「エル・プサイ・コングルゥ」 wasn't a preexisting meme used by Steins;Gate, but it became a real meme as a result of Steins;Gate. (Though it is not a meme, the use of Dr. Pepper in Steins;Gate likewise pushed the soda into popularity in Japan  [I can actually find it in a vending machine here in Hokkaido now, all thanks to Hououin Kyouma, but see these links: 1  2  3]).

I'd love to hear further answers to this thread's question.


What is the song in My hero academia season 4 episode 83 played at 23:48 during the preview What is the song in My hero academia season 4 episode 83 played at 23:48 during the preview

It also appears somewhere during the middle of the episode

The song is called 士傑と雄英 ("Shiji and Yuhide" per Google Translate) by Yuki Hayashi. You can find the song on Spotify here.


What happened to Kushina's soul During the 9 tails attack on the hidden leaf, Minato along with Kushina performed the death reaper sealing jutsu and sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto. Its been known that those who perform this forbidden sealing jutsu sacrifice both their lives and souls to the death reaper. However, Minato said he would also seal part of Kushina inside Naruto (which he actually did).

Does this mean that half of Kushina's soul was sealed in Naruto while the death reaper took the remaining half? Or were both hers and Minato's taken by the death reaper.

Nothing special happened to Kushina's soul, she died from having Kurama extracted from her body and the wounds inflicted during the battle with Kurama.

Minato used the Death Reaper on himself to seal away the half of Kurama that he had stored in himself. The other half got sealed in Naruto and Minato infused the Eight Trigrams Sealing jutsu with his own and Kushina's chakra.

Here you can find the scene where Kushina tells Naruto that Minato had infused her chakra into the seal: https://youtu.be/D3tJoGr6pp4?t=68


Why doesn't Korra bend the metal on Kuvira's uniform? In the latest episode (S04E06, "The Battle of Zaofu") Korra fights Kuvira who wears the following uniform

(from avatar.wikia.com)

In the linked article it is also said that

  While leading her army, Kuvira took to wearing a uniform with metal
  strips on her back, biceps, and calves, for which she developed a
  style of metalbending that involves bending the metal on her uniform
  and shooting them off of like projectiles.

Now I was wondering: Can't Korra bend the metal on Kuvira's uniform and chain her (or subdue in another way)? Is this due to the fact that Kuvira already has control over the metal (as described in the wikia article)?

I don't think there's a canonical explanation of how bending works, but the way Earthbenders fight suggests that they have much more control over soil that's near them, and that they work best with sudden, abrupt movements. For instance, it's common for earthbenders to stop large slabs of rock, but they always wait for it to get close rather than slowing it gradually from a distance. Most attacks originate from the bender, and when they act on distant earth it's usually to throw their opponent off balance rather than injure them directly. There's almost no instances of earthbenders pulling rocks as a form of attack.

It's also shown throughout the series that bending heavy loads is not unlike physically lifting them; it's usually done much more slowly and the weight of the rocks causes resistance against the bender's movements.

It's likely that Korra could bend Kuvira's armor, but it would be impractical to do so from the distance they kept from each other while fighting. This seems to be supported by the fact that in the season finale, after slamming Korra against a wall, Kuvira pulls out three chunks of metal from it and brings them close. She then launches small bits of the chunks at Korra very quickly.

It appears Kuvira felt she couldn't have attacked Korra directly using the metal in the wall, or using larger chunks of metal, without a high chance of Korra dodging or using a quicker attack in response. By that same token, I imagine if Korra tried to throw Kuvira from a distance, Kuvira would easily hit her with a small piece of metal before Korra completed the throw. And considering they can both react to small projectiles traveling at high speeds, I doubt Korra would've been able to bend a large amount of metal and surround Kuvira with it quickly enough to actually trap her either.


Is Yuri!!! on Ice anime shounen ai? Is the Yuri on Ice anime shounen ai? I want to watch the anime but it gives me yaoi vibes. I'm not a big fan of yaoi, so I want to know if it is a yaoi.

This answer was written when the show was first airing, in Fall 2016.  I don't claim to have watched it; I've only gleaned information about this particular show from Wikipedia.

The description for it on Wikipedia gives a pretty good summary of the story.

  Yuri!!! on Ice follows a Japanese figure skater named Yuri Katsuki following a crushing defeat during the final of a Grand Prix competition. As Yuri becomes mixed over his feelings about ice skating, among the other troubles in his life, he goes to an ice rink and perfectly mimics an advanced skating routine performed by the famous Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov. When footage of Yuri's performance is uploaded to the internet, it catches the attention of Victor, who decides to become Yuri's coach and train him alongside another skater, Yuri Plisetsky.

From this, I can surmise:

The main demographic are fans of [male] ice skating
The main character is male
The story appears to be about this person's struggle to get back to prominence in a sport in which he thrived in

Not sure I see any yaoi or shounen ai vibes that are explicit in there, since this is predominately an anime about figure skating with a cast of male characters.  There may be some degree of fanservice to that direction, but you really won't know much about the show until you watch the first couple of episodes.

Then again, if this genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable, share a moment of sympathy for every late-teen/early 20s woman who sees an all-girls anime and plenty of shojo ai overtones...


Subjects of Ymir and pure titans I am following the Attack on Titan anime and after season 3 i have following doubts
Yimr, a human I suppose, got titan powers and was essentially the only titan. After her death, the powers split into 9 entities and were passed on to subjects of Ymir. Now

Who are subjects of Ymir? Is it just her blood line and childern born after she got the titan power or were Ymir and others not human and some different lifeform altogether who can acquire that power through spinal fluid injection?
Will the injection not work on any human?
We know the new pure titans are subjects if Ymir from Marley but how did they come in being before the spinal fluid injection begin during war or before that? Ymir was only titan and after that 9 others, so how did pure titan came to being 1700 yrs ago

Hope i am clear!!! Thanks in advance!!

The Subjects of Ymir are Eldians, that is, those who live in Paradis and the honorary Marleyans living in Marley.
The injection will only work on Subjects of Ymir. Injecting other humans would have no effect on them.
The story presented in the manga and anime by Marleyans was that Ymir acquired it by making a deal with the devil. Another version of the story was also presented.

  According to Eren Kruger, this was done when she came into contact with the "source of all living matter" as a young girl. With this power, Ymir became the progenitor of all Titans

No additional information was ever presented. We'll have to wait for additional chapters from the mangaka.


Does Naruto have Earth as chakra nature? During the fight between Neji and Naruto, Naruto comes out of earth to finish his final blow on Neji. So does he possess earth element as his chakra nature?

No, in that particular fight, he just (dug a hole and) hid underground to surprise Neji.  No part of that used Earth chakra or Earth jutsu.  I don't think he even knew any Earth jutsu.  He eventually got access to all chakra types due to the Six Paths mode, but still, he was never seen doing any specific Earth jutsu.


Why are train scenes so common in anime movies? In the past 2 years or so I've became a big Japanese anime fan, and I've probably watched 50 movies by now (the only series I watched was Neon Genesis Evangelion). In every movie I watched (and NGE for that matter) there was always some scene in a train - which is way more common than in other genres. I've read about how advanced the trains are in Japan, and I can accept that the average Japanese guy uses the train more than non-Japanese people, yet most of the train scenes are more than just "traveling" scenes and they are usually very emotional.

As senshin mentioned, train rides are a huge part of the average Japanese person's daily life. Scanning the average daily ridership column on Wikipedia's list of urban rail systems in Japan, you can see that most of the lines are somewhere in the 500,000 range. Tokyo's busiest system, the Tokyo Metro system, carries around 6,000,000  passengers per day across all of its lines. Comparing that with this list of rapid transit systems in the US, you can see that the busiest is New York's subway system, which carries around 9 million passengers per day, but the numbers rapidly fall off and the San Francisco Bay Area's BART system, in fifth place, is only in the 400,000 range. As for US light rail, it starts in the 200,000 range and falls off from there.

As to your second observation, I don't know if you meant something specific by "very emotional", so if I've missed the mark, please do clarify. The most obvious reason why train scenes are more than just traveling scenes is that traveling scenes are bad writing. I ride the train every day, surrounded by a thousand other half-asleep people staring at their phones. It's quite boring. Reproducing that in anime is not a good call, especially when you're making a film and have limited runtime in which to tell your story. So if there's a scene on a train, it's going to advance the story somehow, and emotional scenes are much easier to do on trains than fight scenes or infodumps on classified government projects. In my experience, anime films (that aren't based on an existing series) tend to be more on the dramatic and emotional side anyway, so it's likely that many of their crucial scenes will be emotional ones.

Sometimes the train also serves as symbolism for something; this page suggests that the train in Eva symbolizes Shinji's way of dealing with the world. (Trains are definitely a place where people have their AT fields up at full strength.) The authors set a scene on a train because the fact that it's in a train makes some subtle comment about what's happening in the scene.


How does Kazuma actually die in the beginning of the anime? In the beginning of episode 1 of the anime, Aqua makes fun of Kazuma for how he died. She then says that she has, "Well... I've vented enough stress for now," before continuing her explanation of the choices that Kazuma has in the afterlife.

Is this a joke or did Kazuma really die from shock of possibly being run over by a truck?

   I hope he died of shock.

Kazuma died because of heart attack.

Actually, the girl will survive even if Kazuma didn't save her. The vehicle that was moving towards the girl was just a slow tractor. After he pushed the girl, Kazuma died because of heart attack, he thought it was a truck and he was scared to death.


What's the music when Frieza powers up from base form to his final form in the dubbed version of "Revival of F"? I have seen Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F many times and I love the music that plays when Frieza powers up from base form to his "Final" form in the dub.

If anyone could point me to the song used it would be greatly appreciated!

It is part of the Revival of F OST. It is called "Merciless Frieza". Do note that this differs to the DBS version of this sequence. You can listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvoeZ9vO9FY


Why did Walter want to kill Alucard in Hellsing Ultimate? I was watching the Hellsing Ultimate and I feel like a lot of backstory on characters is sort of left out. I don't quite get the reason for Walter's treason and why does he want to kill Alucard so bad?

And how did Walter go to his younger form in the last fight?

You have 2 questions here, and so there are 2 answers to provide.

Your first question, Why did Walter want to kill Alucard, has little to no real revealed reasons. The Wiki article for Walter C Dornez Has one quote that offers Alucards belief why.

  Alucard goes on to present what he believes is the reason for Walter's betrayal; his fear of becoming old and useless. To prove his abilities to himself, Walter desired to destroy Alucard, and allowed this obsession to consume him.

This however has one flaw, in that Walter planned to die regardless of success or not in the end. proving oneself to not be obsolete, but then becoming obsolete instantly afterwards is counterproductive. Why he planned to die is unknown, but it was guaranteed for reasons I will mention later. This means that this reasoning was not the truth when Walter attacked, but it may have been the reasoning when he began. It was heavily hinted that Walter began his betrayal when he was about 14 years old, and first witnessed Alucard's power. It could be that he had that kind of reasoning at that time, but later on changed his mind, wanting to surpass or kill Alucard regardless of his death after success. That would satisfy half of the origional goal of beating Alucard, and in his older age allow him to die, at least satisfying his obsession.

It could also be that he saw Alucard as a real monster, a threat, and decided Alucard had to die, one way or another.

A third reason is hinted at by one of his quotes

  "We are the evening's entertainment. And I... just wanted to do something with my time on the stage worthy of applause..."

if this one is the truth, it could be that he did have an obession with killing Alucard, but it was so that he could have the Legacy of being the one who killed Alucard the Neigh immortal and undeniably evil monster, to feel that his life truly had meaning.

We never truly got a straight answer out of him though, So this will probably forever be shrouded in that mystery unless someone else has stuff I missed.

As for your second question, How he got younger, it is a fairly simple one. He had the Millennium Doctor perform a special version of the Vampirification Surgery on him. He became an Artificial Vampire , and what made it special was that it's modified but flawed regeneration regresses his body as it activates. That tidbit is hidden in the wiki in the third paragraph of Walters Millennium Secret weapon part of his history Section. The down side was that it was not a perfected surgery, and was rushed, so permanent damage was done to him. He was literally deteriorating as he fought Alucard. His deterioration would cause his Flawed regeneration to kick in, and he would heal, and regress in age. As such, the surgery doomed him to only have hours or days left alive, no matter what he did.


Is Platy really a Platypus? In Sabagebu! episode 4, Mokarin tries to find out where Platy comes from. Everyone thinks that Platy is a platypus but they aren't able to confirm it since it doesn't do anything a platypus does.

So my question, is it actually a Platypus?

I think so, although it's never revealed - the name Platty (and in Japanese Kamo - short for Kamonohashi [platypus] ) and his appearance is pretty indicative of it.

If we use the Duck Test:

  if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

Platty:

Looks like a platypus
We don't really get to see Platty swim, but he does enjoy a hotspring - where platypuses can reside. article about an investigation of Platypuses in Lake Kinrin hotspring water

He sorta sounds like a platypus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsd7ZfdZcNU , but it's more of a quack noise.

Conclusion: Maybe? (I don't think we're supposed to know)


Where did the concept of fighting Nightmares come from? I know that the Nightmares the Magical Girls fight as a substitute for the Wraiths and/or Witches are born from people's nightmares (as shown when Hitomi returns to normal but is asleep and she was about to go to bed when the her Nightmare first appeared).

However, given the world in which they appear in is a fake one inside Homura's Soul Gem. I am wondering who came up with the idea of fighting Nightmares (Homura or the Incubators) and why a new kind of enemy rather than the Wraiths? (in order to keep the illusion of reality)

There is no canon answer to this question. The Nightmares' form and function appear derivative of the Wraiths (Wraith-lite if you will). Both are manifestations of the negative energies produced by humanity's dark emotions; the Wraiths' original generation from "curses" is now moderated to the much more benign "nightmares".

As to whose mind they came from (Homura's or the Incubators'), there is no way to know based on the information in the movie. The question at heart goes to the underlying basis of the "world" inside Homura's soul gem, which we are never told. While most of it is likely generated directly from her subconscious, there are other elements influencing it, such as the other magical girls who are external persons who became trapped in the barrier, and Kyubei and his comrades who are manipulating the barrier.

Both Homura and Kyubei were familiar with the workings of the real city, and with the real Wraiths, so the idea could have come from either of them.


Why was Fritz put on the throne as a king? In Attack on Titan, why did the royal government put King Fritz on the throne? And how did Erwin and the Survey Corps know that he was a fake king?

Why did the royal government put King Fritz on the throne? It was never stated directly but as seen throughout the revelations in the manga, the former king Karl Fritz always wanted to erase any memory and information about Titans and the outside world. As stated here,

  Fritz held the belief that the world would have been better off if Titans and Eldians never existed and he considered his people to be sinners.

In Chapter 66, Fritz's descendants who inherited his Titan also inherited this belief of a world ruled by Titans as 'true peace' and as stated here,

  this influence is so strong that even people that wanted to stop the Titans changed their minds when they received the power, deciding not to make a move and refusing to reveal the reason, even to their own families.

This, to me, is the reason why this led to the placement of the fake king: aside from preventing Eldians from discovering any information about anything outside the walls, this was also to protect the identity of the Titan shifter within the royal family. If the people within the walls found out about the Coordinate and the hostility of other nations, they would, naturally, want the Founding Titan to defend them. This goes against Karl Fritz's wish, who was ready to accept punishment with arms wide open. This will is inherited by his descendants who hold the Founding Titan and as stated above, they are forced to accept this will whether they like it or not.

How did Erwin and the Survey Corps know that he was a fake king? In Chapter 55, Hannes and Levi were torturing Djel Sannes from Military Police Brigade who they captured. Sannes himself stated that:

  The Reiss Family is the true royal bloodline.

Erwin was then shown receiving the information from a messenger.


What is Meliodas' true power level at his highest peak? I've been wondering what Meliodas's true peak is. I've seen videos where it says he is 990,000 and 1,000,000, but I'm not sure if I believe that, and does he get more powerful if he's a demon king.
What is Meliodas' true power level at his highest peak?

Meliodas' ultimate power level has not been officially released by the author.

The last time Meliodas' power level was estimated, it reached a total of 142 000 (Volume 29). This was Assault Mode Meliodas, which is theoretically his original form and strength (as described by Merlin and other characters).

However, after his possession by the Demon King, Meliodas indeed increased his power by an unknown amount. Most notably, Meliodas' power is considered so huge that he was decided to to leave Britannia, in order to avoid destroying the country through his sheer presence, which warped the climate / weather by itself. Assault Mode Meliodas did not have such a natural effects on his surroundings.


What is the most likely real world location for the Mihama Academy if it really existed? I am sure that the VN and anime used some real-world references to illustrate the location.

The school is located by the seaside in Mishima Cape, probably in Shizuoka prefecture. There is indeed a Mishima City in that prefecture.

The VN puts the academy near the mouth of the Shinozaki river (it is where Sakaki gets attacked by her father's goons in episode 6).

I fumbled about in Maps, but could not find that river in the list, so maybe its a fictional river.

That in mind, my question is if someone can post a Maps link to the most likely location of the school.

Looking around in Google Maps, I have determined two likely locations for Mihama Academy. Starting in Mishima, because of the name of Mishima Cape in the VN and anime, I found a lake on the south end of the city, just north of the Kano river. It is also conveniently right on the border of Ohira, whose border looks kind of like a cape. This would make the "Mishima Cape" a geographical name, not a city or town name, or perhaps a district name. However, being a lake, I don't see why it might have a lighthouse as in the anime (I don't think there is a lighthouse in the VN).

The other place I have found is on the north end of the city, around the Ashinoko Country Club. Google Maps shows the area around the club to be quite barren of infrastructure and "civilisation", though I do not know quite how accurate this is. My reasoning behind this place is because Mihama Academy is mentioned to be quite a ways away from the city itself, on the outskirts, which would make the sparsely populated area up north an ideal place for it. Also, Lake Ashi is just to the north, and while it is not in Mishima City (it is located within Hakone in the Kanegawa Prefecture), there are plenty of protrusions of land for there to be the cliff that we see Michiru visit multiple times, and the lake is a closed cruise destination (the cruises only go around the lake because there is no sea or ocean access), which would provide a need for light houses so the cruise ships don't run aground. It is never mentioned that the cliff Michiru frequents is in the same city as Mihama Academy, and we know Yuuji runs 15(?)km every morning, so this is well within the realm of possibility. The only thing missing from this location is the river Sakaki gets attacked by, but since it appears to be a man-made river (because of how straight and "square" it is), that could possibly be forgiven, especially since it appears to be a fictional river.


Why did Myne frame Naofumi? In The Rising of the Shield Hero, Myne chose the Shield Hero as her aid and later betrayed him for some mere 800 gold coins, that were equally divided between heroes.

I did not find any reason why she did that.

Is it because Naofumi is a Shield Hero (a degraded hero)?

Make sure to see the full anime, if you have seen it till the final episode and you still can't discover why you can read my answer

   Because Myne is royalty, she didn't betray him for a mere 800 coins, but she was trying to mock of him from the beginning, it has been showed that she is the second princess to the throne, so it is basically just making fun of the degraded hero, proof : https://shield-hero.fandom.com/wiki/Malty_S_Melromarc you can find here position as queen


Why did they censor the word spam? On OVA episode 2, when all the girls went camping, Yukari showed her collection, rations from different countries, some of Rabbit Team girls started to yell *pam, *pam, *pam, which is I guess come from word spam. But why they censored the word? How could it become something like "eggs, bacon, sausage, and spam"?

Apparently, it's a parody from a popular Monty Python sketch titled "Spam". It's about two customers who order a breakfast from a menu that includes Spam in almost every dish.

As usual, a lot of other shows also have to censored some brand or replace it with similar names to the real-life brand, so that the producers can avoid copyright issues. Some other show also tend to censored part of the show if it's a parody to other show for same reason.

This is a video from Girls und Panzer OVA 2 and Monty Python - Spam

And this is a picture for comparison in case if the video is removed:

Spam is actually used as military food in World War II.

  Spam is a brand of several canned precooked meat products made by the Hormel Foods Corporation. It was first introduced in 1937 and gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II.(1)

Spam was used by U.S. military occupation after World War II into Guam, Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippine Islands, and other islands in the Pacific as one of their military food.

  The term spam in the context of electronic communications is derived from this sketch.(2)

Sources:

(1) - Wikipedia: "Spam (food)"
(2) - Wikipedia: "Spam (Monty Python)"


An obscure movie featuring a mysterious amphibious monster I remember very little detail of this movie that randomly aired on TV about a decade ago. Here is what I do remember:

Dark overtones reminiscent of future noir style. The animation, similarly, is reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell or Ergo Proxy. The story paces slowly as further details about the monster are given. It was possibly produced in the late '90s to early 2000s, a few years before I watched it.
The focus of the movie is a rather generic monster: it walks on all fours, is adept at swimming, has olive skin, and a large tail. Also, at some point, it is discovered that it's pregnant.
One of the main characters is a salty old detective who limps around. I think he has a cane which he hastily abandons in a chase scene (see next bullet).
There is a climactic point in which the detective is limping through a multilevel construction site whilst being pursued by the monster. There are large exosuits visible in the background (possibly used for construction).
In this same scene, the construction site undergoes some sort of emergency shutdown, during which the monster's large tail is cut off by a closing door.
I'm not certain but I believe the monster dies in the end.

I'm sorry I don't remember any more details.

It is an arc in the Patlabor manga storyline. Most likely, you are talking about the Patlabor The Movie 3 (2002). It has also been adapted in the original late '80s OVA.


How does S-Class heroes' power compare to threat levels? In One Punch Man, there are classes for heroes, and threat levels for monsters/villains. How does S-Class heroes' power compare to threat levels?

This can be answered from the information in the bonus chapter, Threat Level, in Volume 15.

The threat level and hero rank comparison shown in the chapter are:

Wolf Level - needs 3 Class-C heroes or 1 Class-B hero
Tiger Level - needs 5 Class-B heroes or 1 Class-A hero
Demon Level - needs 10 Class-A heroes or 1 Class-S hero

Disaster or threat levels above demon (dragon and god) were never compared but based on the events in the manga, this might require multiple Class-S heroes, depending on the ability or capability of both the monster and the hero facing it.

There are different threat levels decided upon by the Hero Association. The decision on the threat level depends on

  factors such as strength, aggressiveness, and the estimated difficulty in defeating [the monster].

It was also noted in the same chapter that

  hero ranks are an imperfect representation of combat ability due to inconsistent factors like battleground conditions and monster compatibility.


Why change an anime series into a recap movie? I'm wondering why would an anime that featured several episodes be compiled into a movie.

For example Attack on titan spanned 26 episodes that were later compiled into 2 movies. Another example is Death Note, also compiled into 2 movies.

I might understand the release of an original movie with new story, or a special episode that recaps the series. However, a full movie recapping the series ?!

Is it really necessary or profitable?

It definitely has the potential to be profitable. Otherwise, why would they do it?

Movie adaptions for a successful series have two benefits.

Avid fans will watch it, even if it is just a giant recap
People who don't want to invest 26 episodes' time into the series will watch it

The latter is especially true as more casual viewers will have heard the name before from the shows' popularity and decide to get up to speed with it through the movie.

Of course, every instance is different and there may be series that flunked dramatically or performed exceedingly well.

In the case of live-action adaptions like Death Note, the audience spreads a lot wider and can be marketed to people who wouldn't go near anime usually.

I can't find any sales figures but I'm pretty sure it's a good investment for popular shows, but every venture is unique.

Whether it's necessary is up to your personal opinion.


Are Walls Maria/Rose/Sina the only Wall community in the world? Okay I was watching Attack on Titan, and I was just wondering if this walled off part of land is the only one in existence? Like, if people were ever to go out past Wall Maria into the rest of the world, would they come across other Humans inside other Walled off communities?

Or is the one in the series the only one on the entire planet?

Updated answer
I have not been following Attack on Titan past the first season of the anime, but since I currently can't delete my answer since it's been accepted, I'll provide something based on what I've gleaned from the Wiki.
From the page about the Walls, it appears that at present, there is no knowledge of any other walled community. However, when Eren finally returns to his father's basement, he discovers that humanity has not actually been wiped out. I'm not sure if this development was entirely predictable. Early on, the story of a quick construction of massive walls while humanity was under attack was already very suspicious, but I was not invested enough to think much about it. (My hunch at the time was also more of something to the effect of, "a conspiracy destroyed most of humanity.")
Old answer, based on the first season of the anime
In some of the episode openings (particularly in the first few episodes of Attack on Titan), it's stated that:

Over a hundred years ago, humanity suddenly found itself faced with a new predator. They were more powerful than humans. Humanity was immediately pushed to the brink of extinction. The survivors built three walls: Maria, Rose, and Sina.

Without any further qualification of the statement, it's pretty much implied here (and elsewhere) that the walls contain all that's left of humanity. This sense of there having been huge losses to such an extent - to the point where entire cultures probably have been obliterated - are confirmed somewhat by things like when Mikasa's kidnappers describe her and her mother as the last of the Asians.
There're probably some more explicit statements of this elsewhere, but it's been a while since I saw Attack on Titan, and this was the first place that came to mind that stated something of this sort.
If it matters to anybody, I'm taking the quote here from the Crunchyroll sub.


Where to watch uncensored Yu-Gi-Oh! in English dub? Where can I watch uncensored Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes from the beginning in English dub? (I will be happy if it has English sub as well since I am not native).

There were only 9 episodes released uncensored in the US done by 4Kids and Funimation back in 2004, due a variety of issues some alleged to be licensing and contract issues, such as one with Yugi’s voice actor, Shunsuke Kazama, which was only recently cleared up with the crunchyroll a few years back. You can find them in the first 3 DVD releases.
If you want more "uncensored" English dub episodes, look for the Singapore dub as they keep things like the original's music and dialogue, but they use the dub names and the voices.
For the most part, depending on your region, you can find the dubbed episodes at http://www.yugioh.com/episodes where you can filter by series.


How did Commander Erwin know that the spy/traitor(s) would be within the 104th training squad? During the female titan arc, how did Erwin specifically know that the traitor would be from the 104th training squad?

From a well established Tumblr blog post:

After the death of Sawney and Bean, Erwin then was able to narrow down the list of suspects, as only a soldier was able to kill the titans with 3DMG. Because of this, he went around asking cryptic questions to try to weed out liars and traitors, making people second guess themselves.
Then comes the night of the ceremony where the cadets join the Survey Corp. That night, Erwin instructed Levi to take Eren out on a ride to recon the area. Why exactly would he do this? It's clear it wasn't just a normal exercise, as Levi was rushing Eren and seemed frustrated and stressed. This was Erwin's way of narrowing down the suspects. By having Eren leave and the ceremony on the same night, he could deduct that if the enemy did not attack Eren or at least show up to the castle to kidnap him when it would have been strategically best to do so, then it must mean that they were otherwise preoccupied somewhere else. Where else? The ceremony. If someone was missing from the ceremony, it would be suspicious and draw attention to them. So this narrowed down the suspects to the 104th Trainee Corp.


Why does Takeshi Yamamoto have a interesting naming sense? In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Haru mentions that Takeshi has a interesting sense of naming.

Now I were wondering, is this only because he added the 'Ko' character to the name? Or is there a deeper, under-laying joke/reference made there?

Jirou is an Akita Inu, while Kojirou is a swallow. They are named similarly because they are two halves of Yamamoto's Vongola Box.

Kojirou is named after the swordsman Sasaki Kojirou, known as the rival of Miyamoto Musashi and for his "Tsubame Gaeshi" (Turning Swallow Cut) technique that is said to mimic the motion of a swallow's tail.

Jirou is probably named after one of the two Sakhalin Husky sled dogs that survived an ill-fated Japanese Polar expedition. While the breed is currently extinct, they are said to be one of the precursors to the modern Akita Inu.

These two animal were not only named after figures of historical origin, but also share similarities to one another as they are both two parts of a whole. The "ko" in Kojirou means "small/little."


What is the song playing in My Hero Academia season 2 episode 25 at 10:00? In My Hero Academia season 2 episode 25, there's a song playing at the 10:00 mark.

What is the name of the song? Starting to think it doesn't exist.

The OST is : Tsune ni Top wo Nerau Mono

Check this link at 0:50  : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ls1DUVjRg


End of Evangelion - Why does Misato dissolve into LCL and why did Asuka re-materialize? These thoughts keep me awake at night:

After Misato is shot in the back while helping Shinji get to Unit 01- the elevator closes, she falls over, talks to herself/the deceased Kaji, Rei/Lilith/Adam appears above Misato and then there is an explosion.
But if the frame is paused at the right moment- you can see her body is in two separate pieces- however later there is a shot with her jacket in a puddle of LCL. Video for reference: https://youtu.be/63UIBoIF3mY?t=6m30s

I'm confused because one of the SEELE guys seemed very determined to remain alive until instrumentality occurred- He grins happily right before dissolving into LCL- and in the puddle of his LCL, his clothes and what looks like to be many medical devices that were keeping him alive into old age remains.
From what I understand- during instrumentality, only living things dissolved into LCL (So SEELE guy had all the medical devices, Kaji didn't dissolve, etc).
So I'm wondering why Misato dissolved into LCL because it looks like the explosion killed her.
I'm guessing it's possible that her jacket is just in a random puddle of LCL and she didn't actually dissolve- and her body could be off-screen.

As far as Asuka goes- at the end, her and Shinji re-materialize from the LCL as they will to. But she was killed by the mass-production eva units. I would assume that she also did not dissolve into LCL but then why did Asuka re-materialize if she was not a part of instrumentality?

I realize the director, Hideaki Anno, says there are no "right answers" to the meaning of the movie but I am wondering if there are any clarifications to these questions.
And please correct me if I'm incorrect on any of the above because I'm sure I have a few misunderstandings :)

EDIT: Defined my questions in bold and video reference added

Here is a stab at my question to try to clean up my own mess:

Hakase's comment is correct as a scene is shown that all the NERV personal killed by Japan's military did dissolve during instrumentality.

So the answers are:

Misato dissolved into LCL because all humans- dead or alive, dissolved into LCL during instrumentality.

Asuka also did dissolve into LCL- so all humans that ever existed could re-materialize after Shinji rejected instrumentality.

To clarify this:

  I'm confused because one of the SEELE guys seemed very determined to remain alive until instrumentality occurred

I do not have as much basis for the following but I think the SEELE guy wanted to stay alive to make sure that the Human Instrumentality Project would happen, and to see it actually occur after all their efforts- as it was the organization's ultimate goal. So it was a misunderstanding to believe that humans must be living to be a part of instrumentality.


Can a manga get an anime even if it already has a live action drama? I'm an avid manga reader and my absolute favorite manga of all time, Takane and Hana, just revealed that it is getting a live action drama. I don't exactly have the best opinion on J-dramas (I find them unbearably goofy), and I know that the premise and story will be extremely hard to make work with real life people. I've always hoped that Takane and Hana would get an anime, but now that it has a drama I don't know if it can. If anyone knows anything that might help I would greatly appreciate it!

Whether Takane & Hana will ever receive an anime adaptation is off-topic for this site, since that concerns unannounced future events. However, I will try to address the broader question of whether manga ever get anime adaptations after receiving live-action adaptations.

Off the top of my head, there is some precedent for live-action adaptations, whether television dramas or films, being created prior to anime adaptations. For example:

The Nana manga ran from 2000 to 2009. The film adaptation first came out in 2005; the anime was released in 2006.
The Perfect Insider originated as a novel in 1996. A manga adaptation came out in 2001 and a game in 2002, and a television series was broadcast in 2014. An anime adaptation was released in 2015. Note, however, that the television series contains material without the original novel that the anime did not adapt.
The Great Teacher Onizuka manga first ran from 1997 to 2002. A television drama came out in 1998, and an anime series in 1999.
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches ran from 2012 to 2017 as a manga. The television adaptation was broadcast in 2013, the anime in 2015.

Superficially, the answer then is yes, manga sometimes get anime adaptations after receiving a live-action adaptation. However, many of the dates in my examples are relatively close, and without doing much more research, it is unclear to me when the announcements and decisions about the adaptations were made. It is possible that a television series and an anime released only six months apart might have begun production or been announced at around the same time.


How did Zeff really lose his leg? The anime and manga versions of One Piece usually tell the same story. (e.g. like when Dragon saved Sabo is almost obvious in anime than in manga). However, there are 2 versions of how Zeff lost his leg in the past:

In manga chapter 58, Zeff ate his own leg to survive.

  What happened.. to your leg...? Did you...  did you eat your own leg!?

  Yes.

In anime episode 26, at around 18:00-20:00, there's a flashback showing Zeff's foot got stuck in an anchor when saving Sanji underwater. And he never said he ate his own leg.

How did Zeff really lose his leg?

It depends on what you mean by "really lose his leg".
As you mentioned, in the Manga:

He actually loses his leg on the tall, rocky island they wash up on. After giving Sanji all his food and lying to the boy that the larger bag that he kept himself were his rations (knowing that the boy would never accept it if he found out that he had no food with him at all, only treasure), he smashed his leg off with a large rock and ate it to stay alive.Source

Whereas, in the Anime:

Zeff's leg caught on debris during the rescue, and he had to cut it off in order to get Sanji and save them both. He does this by wrapping a chain around the trapped leg and letting the force of the ships sever it.Source

Since the Anime is adapted from the Manga and not the other way around, if one of the two versions had to be chosen as the official one, it would have to be the Manga one. Eiichiro Oda meant for Zeff to lose his leg as means of satisfying his hunger, indicating the severity of Sanji and Zeff's predicament while they were stranded on the island.
As mentioned in the article on Zeff:

The change was due to censorship, as it was considered too much of a shock for young children.

It is specifically addressed by Oda in SBS Volume 15:

D: When I watched the One Piece anime, at the same part of Volume 7, Chapter 57, "Dreams Have a Reason" it says the reason Zeff lost his leg got torn off in the shipwreck... did they change that in consideration of the young children watching the show?
O: Yes. Hearing "eat your own leg" in that episode would be too much of a shock for young children. When you consider that a medium such as television has tens of millions of viewers, to neglect such a consideration would be a terrible mistake. It's amazing that all those animators can continue to create such wonderful shows while still thinking about these things all the time!! If you can feel the love when you watch the show, everyone please send fan letters to Toei Animation. It'll cheer everyone up there.


Who's the other Uchiha Danzo mentions while recruiting Torune into the foundation Danzo notices young Shino when strolling along with Shino's father and demands that a member of the Aburame clan be donated to the foundation, and he also mentions that an Uchiha member has been confirmed to join the foundation.

Refer to Ep. 317 "Shino vs. Torune!", is he/she in any way be this one mentioned on Who is this other Uchiha member?? The reasoning is because when Shino is young, Naruto and Sasuke are young too... so I'm sure that Sasuke's the only Uchiha alive at that point and the foundation always wished to kill all the Uchiha.

Or is it simply that the timeline is just before Uchiha massacre? and the Uchiha member being mentioned is just an ordinary member not worth mentioning?

Canon
No clue.  The episode Shino vs. Torune! is a filler episode during the 4th Great Ninja War. As such, there is no canonical information who the Uchiha member is.
Non-Canon; Speculation Only
It's possible the Uchiha member Danzō mention was actually Itachi. In the episode, Danzo says to Shino's father

As you know, The Foundation is where ANBU agents are developed

While The Foundation lead by Danzō, it is a subdivision of ANBU

In Konoha, there exists a special branch of the Anbu known as Root. It was created and led by Danzō Shimura

Itachi joined the ANBU at age eleven, and Torune looked roughly the same age when joining The Foundation. Despite Itachi being apart of ANBU, and not The Foundation, Danzō still had influence over ANBU memebers and their missions.

Itachi reported the mission's success to the Third Hokage. The Third, having been unaware of Itachi's assignment from Danzō, regretted to hear the news


What is the name of song that plays in Naruto Episode 29? What's the music in Episode 29 at 16:10 minutes?

Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuQfSMoCtF0

It's Orochimaru's Battle/Fighting theme (Orochimaru no Sentou theme)
from Naruto Original Soundtrack 2.

Here's a Youtube link for the full clip.


Why is Super Sonico famous? The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Super Sonico is probably her large * ahem * assets.

Super sonico is all over the internet and has many fan-service wallpapers, figures, etc.

What is Super Sonico actually famous for?

I know she's a mascot for a gaming company, but is it purely the appeal of her chest that has gained her the massive fan following?

I did a little more research after writing my initial comment, though it was pretty hard to find good information on this topic in English. What I present below is my own theory, compiled from my own interpretation of the evidence.

Super Sonico isn't the mascot of just any gaming company; she's the mascot of Nitroplus, the visual novel cooperative which gave Gen Urobuchi his break into the visual novel world in 2000 when he wrote the scenario for their first game, Phantom of Inferno.1 Urobuchi later went on to work on the Fate/Zero novels and anime, and to become one of the Magica Quartet group that created Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Nitroplus was also involved in the creation of the Science Adventure visual novels, Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate, and Robotics;Notes, alongside another company called 5pb. These are hugely popular works among otaku, and their rise seems to have triggered the rise of Super Sonico by association.

Various sources, including TV Tropes, give me the impression that Nitroplus's breakthrough work was 2003's Saya no Uta, another Urobuchi project. In 2004, Urobuchi was invited by Kinoko Nasu to coauthor the Fate/Zero light novels, which were released in 2006 and 2007 according to Madoka Wiki. In 2011, Urobuchi worked on the Fate/Zero anime and also became part of Magica Quartet and developed the story for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. By 2012, Urobuchi was likely a household name among otaku due to his involvement in these massive hits. His involvement with Nitroplus probably caused a massive boost in popularity for their work. Also, the Chaos;Head/Steins;Gate/Robotics;Notes series began in 2008 with the initial release of Chaos;Head, and seems to have been fairly popular—it's certainly had enough manga and anime adaptations that it can't have been a total failure, though I'm not familiar with the series myself. All of this means that Nitroplus was just starting to hit the scene in a big way around 2011. This was the year Urobuchi took off,
and also the year that the Steins;Gate anime came out. (There had previously been a Chaos;Head anime.)

Now, 2011 also seems to be the year that Super Sonico really hit the scene in a big way. Super Sonico was created by Nitroplus's Tsuji Santa in 2006 for their annual music festival, Nitro Super Sonico, according to the Super Sonico Wiki and Wikipedia. However, as far as I can tell, the Super Sonico merchandising rocket really took off starting around 2011. According to Wikipedia, 2011 marked the release of the first Super Sonico album, GALAXY ONE. 2011 is also the year the majority of Super Sonico singles were released (there was one single released in 2010, and another song which was introduced at 2010 Summer Comiket but not released as a single until 2011. The rest of her singles and albums are clustered in 2011 and 2012). The first Super Sonico manga, Super Sonico SoniKoma, and the Super Sonico visual novel, SoniComi, also came out in 2011.

The manga and visual novel seem to have been the start of a massive marketing blitz by Nitroplus to get Super Sonico on as many screens as possible. 2014 saw Super Sonico: The Animation, which likely introduced the character to Western audiences when it ran on Crunchyroll. There was also a second Super Sonico game, this time for 3DS, in 2014. Super Sonico made cameo appearances in tons of other games and is slated to appear in even more.

So the chain of events suggests that Super Sonico became famous at the same time that Nitroplus did, and that since then, Nitroplus has intentionally put effort into maintaining her popularity by releasing tie-in merchandise and getting her cameos in other media. It makes sense from Nitroplus's perspective to spend money on this: otaku are known to become enamored of mascot-type characters (the Digi Carat gang, Hatsune Miku, Kantai Collection, Touhou, Miss Monochrome) and spend money on games, albums, toys, phone cards, pencil boards, dakimakura covers, and manga spinoffs featuring the characters, so Super Sonico is a direct revenue source for the company. But as the company's mascot, Super Sonico also increases Nitroplus's profile in a way that even a superstar like Urobuchi can't do. She's like Nitroplus's equivalent to the McDonald's golden arches, or the Disney Mickey Mouse head. Every Super Sonico dakimakura cover, every Super Sonico doujinshi, every piece of Super Sonico fanart, is an advertisement for Nitroplus. Every person who stumbles on a Super Sonico doujinshi without knowing the character, and decides to look into her origin, is another potential buyer for Nitroplus's products—not just the Super Sonico products, but also their other products like Saya no Uta and Chaos;Head. I suspect that her popularity is going to wane soon, now that she's advertising train stations and beer. However, for now, she seems to be an important part of Nitroplus's marketing strategy.

(Now we just need the Super Sonico vs. Miss Monochrome Battle of the Mascots rhythm game/manga/anime/visual novel, continuing the epic battle between big boobs and average boobs which has played out across countless anime.)

Notes

1: The Madoka wiki article on Urobuchi claims Phantom of Inferno came out in 2001, but Wikipedia and TV Tropes agree on 2000 (February 25th, 2000 according to Wikipedia).


What is a "character song"? I have heard of these things called "character songs", but I don't know what they are. Is a "character song" just like a theme song for a character? Can you give me some examples of character songs?

(This question is inspired by this reddit thread, where a good half of the participants seem not to get what a character song is, despite OP providing an explanation.)

Is a "character song" just like a theme song for a character?

No!

A "character song" is emphatically not the same thing as a "theme song". While there is probably no clear definition of what constitutes a "theme song", the term "character song" has a straightforward definition. That is: a "character song" is a song whose vocals are credited to the character or characters singing the song.

Typically, this means that the song is sung "in-character" - by reading the lyrics of the song, we ought to be able to glean something about the character.

  Can you give me some examples of character songs?

Sure thing, person asking this question!

"Inside Identity", the ending for the first season of Chu2Koi, is a character song. Why? Because it is credited to "Black Raison d'Etre", which is a fictional group consisting of four characters from the show (Rikka, Nibutani, Dekomori, and Kumin).

But not all character songs are used as openings/endings. Some are used in-show, as insert songs. For example, "Fuwa Fuwa Time", performed by the characters in K-ON!, is a character song that is used as an insert song in some of the episodes.

Still others will never appear in their corresponding anime at all, instead being released as bonus goodies for sale. See, for instance, "you", credited to Kasumigaoka Utaha from Saekano, which never appeared in the anime.

Character songs need not be original to the anime they are used in. For example, "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" is a character song in K-ON!, since it is credited to the characters. Yet, "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" is not original to K-ON! - rather, it is a popular folk song in Japan. Nonetheless, since it is credited to the characters in K-ON!, it is a character song in that context.

  Okay, so what isn't a character song?

I'm glad you asked!

Consider "Synchrogazer", which is the opening for the first season of Symphogear. It is sung by Mizuki Nana, who voices the character Kazanari Tsubasa in the show. But it is not a character song, since the song is credited to Mizuki Nana (the real human), rather than to Kazanari Tsubasa (the fictional character).

Another common misconception is that vocal theme songs may, in general, be called character songs. For example, a common belief is that "Before my body is dry" (a.k.a. "DON'T LOSE YOUR WAY") from Kill La Kill is a character song for Matoi Ryuuko. Certainly, it plays whenever Ryuuko does something awesome - but is it really a character song? No! The vocals are credited not to Ryuuko, but rather to Kobayashi Mika (who doesn't voice Ryuuko, anyway).

  Well, gosh, that's a lot of information. Is there anything else I should know?

Why, yes, there is.

One potential point of confusion is the notion of an "image song". In some cases, "image song" and "character song" are used interchangeably, as in this K-ON!! album.

However, in other cases, "image song" has a distinct meaning. Like a character song, an "image song" (in this sense) is a song that is meant to evoke a "sense" of a particular character. Unlike a character song, however, an image song is not sung by the character, and hence is not "in-character". Instead, the image song is merely evocative of the character. Image songs in this sense may either be sung by a different vocalist (as with this Steins;Gate album, on which "Yakusoku no Paradigm" is an image song for Makise Kurisu), or be altogether non-vocal (as with this Accel World album, on which "re-Incarnate" is an image song for Arita Haruyuki).

The Tokyo Ravens album "Reincarnation" is another example that's full of image songs in the latter sense, with vocals credited to Kurosaki Maon (who does not play any of the characters in the show).

I find that image songs (in the latter sense) are relatively rare as tie-ins to anime. They do appear rather frequently as tie-ins to visual novels, though. I'm not sure why.


Does Orochi know Haise Sasaki? Orochi reacted when he saw Haise Sasaki (Tokyo Ghoul :Re episode 1) and said

  Hmmm? There's something about him...

leading me to believe that he recognized Haise Sasaki from somewhere before. How did Orochi recognize Haise? Are they anyhow related from the past?

You will get your answer in the anime Tokyo ghoul :re (episode 2)

Dialogs from Orochi

   No matter how far you go, you're always irredeemable, huh... Kaneki?

Haise replies

   Nishio.... Senpai.. ? (Haise loses control here since he starts getting flashbacks from his lost memories)


Legal free/paid anime streaming sites similar to Netflix/Viaplay? I've used a popular streaming site for many years and now the Japanese government put a stop to it by taking down the site and pulling all content due to copyright claims.
Are there any legal free/paid anime streaming sites that would work in a similar way to Netflix/Viaplay?

If you're from SE Asia, try Muse Asia. They upload anime on Youtube and some have subtitles in other languages. It's free and legal.
Here's a direct link to their channel's playlist.
Also, check out this meta post for a list of legal sites to stream/watch anime: How can I tell if a site is Legal?
Update:
I just found out about another Youtube channel. Its called Ani-One. It's also free and legal. Check their playlist here.


How does time travelling work in attack on titan? In the Manga,

Its shown that Eren was the one who asked his father to eat the former founding titan and give the power to Eren. How does it work ?What all can Eren do under time travelling?

No one can time travel forward or backwards in time. At least, not yet.
When Eren and Zeke were watching Grisha’s memories, they noticed that Grisha didn’t want to kill the Reiss family. Eren inherited the Attack titan from Grisha, and so he was able to transfer future memories to Grisha because every titan shifter is connected to Paths, and it’s because Grisha and Eren have the same titan that he is able to send them. He shows Grisha those memories and is able to speak to him, essentially manipulating him to do the dirty work of killing the Reiss family.
However, I do have a theory that time travel is possible. When Eren wakes up from his dream in the first chapter, he tell Mikasa that her hair became longer. He is crying but never tells why he is. I believe that when Eren was able to fully use the founding titan, he either sent his memories to past Eren (which is unlikely because he doesn’t have the Attack titan, unless Eren was able to send them to past Eren because he is an Eldian), or he was reborn into a new timeline where he wakes up from dreaming all of his memories, sort of like Bunny Girl Senpai, and redoes everything because he must have failed at something to make him restart. This explains why Eren says she has longer hair, Mikasa has short hair in the recent manga chapters.


How does the healing jutsu work? In Naruto, when the medical team starts to heal wounds, they use their chakra. Does this only heal and restore chakra, or does it also help regenerate the skin cut by kunais?

Medical ninjutsu can be used to heal wounds, such as those cause by kunai. It is used for a number of purposes, including:

Healing: Healing Chakra Transmission, Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique
Treating internal and external injuries: Mystical Palm Technique
Treating poisons: Delicate Illness Extraction Technique
Performing autopsy or surgery: Chakra Scalpel
Healing oneself: Creation Rebirth, Strength of a Hundred Technique
Offensively in several ways: Body
Pathway
Derangement,
Poison Mist Needle
Shot.


What is up with the pattern on the fence? In the episode 12 of the first Bakemonogatari season, there's a fence with an interesting pattern which seemingly has the word "KAWAK" in it:

In the first episode of the second Monogatari season we see the same place:

And another angle:

Looks like the words "CHICO" and "KAWAKITA"!

With the whole show stuffed with symbolism, subtle references and hidden messages, could this mean something?

Japanese boards read instead IICHIKO KAWAKITA and are not sure either, but the only trail they got that quotes both words is Kawakita Hideya (河北秀也), an art director out of the Tokyo University of Arts known for making beautiful art designs for a design company called "iichiko".

Another source: http://www.logsoku.com/r/2ch.net/anime/1254234423/


How effective was the Geass Canceler? The Geass Canceller of Jeremiah Gotwald cancels the effects of Geass on people who have been affected.

His Geass Canceller is effective on the people that Lelouch, Rolo, and Charles have cast their Geass on.

But how about with the Geass of Marian, the Knight Of One, and Mao?

As there is no direct evidence to explain how it would affect them I would assume,

With the Knight of One, Bismark, I would dare say he wouldn't see the "before images" thus unable to predict their movement. Considering that he was the Knight of One and had his eye sewn shut, I would assume it wouldn't hinder him all that much not having his Geass as he would have been able to prove himself to others without his Geass (he position of Knight of One may have been just because he's in league with the Order)
With Marian, I dare say it would kill her has it was her Geass which kept her alive in Anya. If she was in her own body she wouldn't be able to transfer her conscientiousness so had the Canceller been in use when V.V attacked her she would have died
With Mao it would be similar to how his Geass Power reacts with those with The Code. Effectiveness depends as Mao became focused on C.C so much because she was the only person he couldn't read the mind of, on the one hand The Order could use it to prevent their secrets being discovered but on the other hand Mao may affiliate himself as a member of the Order because he would be with other people he can't read the minds of, a sense of peace for him

The problem is that the Geass the Canceller dispelled in the series were Geass Powers which didn't benefit the caster directly. with Marian's, Bismark's and Mao's Geass there are sustained effects and they reap all the benefits (ie. Marian can jump bodies, Bismark can just react with foreknowledge and Mao can gain info from other's minds) as such the question needs to be asked how the Canceller would work with them. Would the Area of Effect shown when Jeremiah used it (the blue sphere) apply an "immunity" effect to those in the area or would it only work on who has it equipped.

the one point in the series were we could see wether or not the Canceler applied an immunity effect is when Shirley dies. Lelouch is using his Geass on her but we don't know if it was having any effect on her has his order was to keep her alive when she had been shot and on the verge of death. also if she had immunity to Geass it may have been as a result of her dying, as shown when Euphie was dying and the Geass effects on her was dispelling.

Given that Bismark is in league with The Order there is the chance functionality against his Geass may have been developed as the Canceller worked on the Geass Effects of current members and one person who was their captive (and the children who forced a Knightmare Pilot to shoot his allies during the attack on the Order may have been a by-product of research on Lelouch's Geass given it's similarities).


How did Maria obtain her Gungnir Symphogear? The Gungnir Symphogear that was used by Kanade shattered, and splinters pierced Tachibana's chest right next to her heart (so close that the doctors did not attempt to remove due to the risks). This gave Tachibana Hibiki the power to summon the Gungnir Symphogear. Supposedly Kanade's pendant dissolved with her physical body, or Tsubasa would surely have retrieved it.

In the second season, when Maria summons the black Gungnir, everyone is surprised that there could be two Gungnir Symphogears, pointing out that Kanade's pendant was supposedly destroyed.

How can Maria have an intact Gungnir pendant? Is it explained how she came to obtain such an artifact?

As with so much of Symphogear's worldbuilding, the answer lies in the keywords.

The notion is that each Symphogear (that is, each pendant) is derived from a fragment of a whole relic that once actually existed. So there was once a supernaturally powerful spear named Gungnir, and at some point, it was broken down, perhaps by being shattered or by simply degrading over the years. Kanade (and later Hibiki) had one of those pieces, and apparently, Maria had another.

  In the second season, when Maria summons the black Gungnir, everyone is surprised that there could be two Gungnir Symphogears, pointing out that Kanade's pendant was supposedly destroyed.

This is surprising, for sure. It seems unlikely that their enemy, Maria, would have a Symphogear derived from the same relic that Kanade used. But it is by no means impossible; merely unlikely. As a matter of fact, it was no coincidence that there were two Gungnir Symphogears. Why? Well...

  How can Maria have an intact Gungnir pendant? Is it explained how she came to obtain such an artifact?

Remember Sakurai Ryouko? And how she was in cahoots with the Americans (specifically, the FIS)? Turns out, she smuggled fragments of Gungnir from Japan to the US. She and the FIS then developed another Gungnir-based Symphogear over there. And that's what Nastassja and co. took with them when they defected (along with Igalima, Shul Shagana, the damaged Airgetlamh, and the Shen Shou Jing; and probably also some otherwise-unusable relics to feed to the Nephilim).


How is it possible to run out of Haki? In One Piece, Luffy has a technique called "Gear 4th", which allows him to transform into an enhanced version of himself, further bolstered by Haki. This technique has a time limit, and when time is up, Luffy reverts back to his normal form, and cannot use Haki for 10 minutes. This is mentioned in Chapter 728.

Unlike other shounen series, Haki is an ability that is fueled by the user's willpower. It is not dependent on their physical strength or stamina. This is further proven when Sanji was able to still use his Haki normally, even when trapped in Nami's body during the Punk Hazard arc.

So my question is, how is it possible for a person -especially a person as strong willed as Luffy- to run out of willpower? Is willpower something that can just "run out" like that?

That episode/arc was the first to introduce such a Haki limitation concept. In fact, the wiki page on Haki cites that set of episodes to state that:

Despite their great capabilities, Haki is not limitless as it can be depleted from overuse, rendering the user unable to use it for a set period while it regenerates.

Also taking from that page the general definition:

Broadly speaking, there are two types of Haki available to everyone, given the proper training, but there is a third type that only a certain group of "chosen ones" are said to possess. In simple terms, Haki is an ability to sense and predict spiritual energy (Kenbunshoku), use life force as physical reinforcement (Busoshoku), and, for the rare "chosen ones", overpower enemies' willpower with your own (Haoshoku).

Thus it is only Haoshoku or Conqueror's Haki that is directly tied in to their willpower. An example of this would be:

 In Chapters 923 and 924 of the Wano arc, we see that Luffy's willpower manages to make some weaker soldiers faint even though he was knocked out by Kaido. Kaido himself says that Luffy has been glaring at him.

As you said, none of the Haki forms are specific to a user's body. So Sanji was able to use them despite being swapped with Nami. However, that isn't to say they don't have any limits at all.

 In the WCI arc, Luffy comments that Katakuri will deplete his Kenbunshou haki if he drags the fight long enough.

Now as for Luffy's drawbacks specific to Gear 4th, it is because of overuse of the Busoshoku  Haki. As mentioned on the wiki page:

When utilizing Gear Fourth, Luffy makes extensive usage of his Busoshoku Haki by coating his arms, legs and much of his torso in it to the point that they turn black from hardening.
Combined with Luffy's rubbery composition and his compressed muscle structure, Gear Fourth both adds explosive power to Luffy's attacks and grants him enhanced defensive capabilities far beyond what he can demonstrate with or without Gear Second or Gear Third

The cause for Gear 4th explosive power is not the Haki alone, but how Luffy compresses his rubber body. Similar to how he increases his speed by pumping his blood faster in Gear 2nd. This means his physical body is under a lot of strain, as Rayleigh mentions when Luffy showcases these abilities to him.

Once this limit is reached, Gear Fourth automatically deactivates, leaving Luffy exhausted and barely able to move. He is also left unable to use Haki for ten minutes after using this technique as it quickly depletes his Haki reserves. The technique also greatly taxes Luffy's stamina, as using it just once leaves Luffy so physically drained in the aftermath that he can barely stand and fight, even after he has regained his Haki and mobility.
Akin to Gear Second, using Gear Fourth causes Luffy's metabolism to increase rapidly. In fact, after Luffy stuffed himself to a bloated size in his fight with Charlotte Cracker, using Gear Fourth once made him burn off the massive amount he had eaten in a manner of minutes

The exhaustion and side effects are so great that he can't properly stand and fight even after regaining Haki and mobility. However, it should be noted that Luffy's ability to bear these drawbacks, or maybe reduce their effect, is improving as seen during his fight with Katakuri where he manages to run around and dodge a bit even after his first attempt fails.


What's the meaning of the 'Out' suffix in "Mental Out" and "Skill Out"? What's the meaning of the 'Out' suffix in "Mental Out" and "Skill-Out"?

Looking at the kanji name of the 'mental out' attack,'心理掌握,' a literal translation could be something like 'mind arrangement manipulation grip' (source).

So where did the 'out' come from? Presumably, as Nolonar suggested in the comments, it came from the 'out' in 'knock-out,' which would be in line with a fighting theme.

As for the 'out' in 'Skill-out,' it probably has something to do with the fact that the organisation is made up of those 'without' psychic abilities ('out' is in this case like it is in the phrase 'out of,' which signifies a lack of something).


How does Guy know how to perform the jutsu in the Eight Gates Released Formation? I know that if you open the 8th Gate, you will get enormously powerful but at the end you will die.

In that case, how did Guy know Jutsu that can be performed in that state, given that against Madara was the first time he ever opened it? You can't just invent new Jutsu on the fly.

Okay, it's hard to explain, and i might not even be right, but I'll try my best. Sadly, there's no tldr.
What's different? Guy didn't invent the jutsu in the sense that Kakashi invented the Chidori. Kakashi spent years perfecting it. It's something he initially needed to use hand signs to perform every time.
Why?
The jutsus (more specifically taijutsu techniques) Guy used — Evening Elephant (Sekizo) and Night Guy — are byproducts of attacking with all eight gates opened. It's not something you have to learn; it's something you are just able to do with that much power flooding from your body.
The jutsu are just names he used to describe the phenomenon of having incredibly OP punches and kicks that can also generate a dragon-like aura (for some reason). He didn't actually know what would happen, unless he witnessed his dad do the same thing and he told Rock Lee what it was like.
Evidence From Narutopedia (Sekizo, Night Guy):

The Evening Elephant ... can be performed by those users who have
opened all Eight Gates.
The Night Guy ... can only be performed by
opening all Eight Gates.

^ They imply that it's something that you can naturally do with the eight gates opened.

When Guy initiates the technique, he emits an enormous amount of
chakra ... the blood vapour of the Eighth Gate manifests into a red,
flickering dragon-like aura ... He then dashes forward at such an
extreme speed that the space within the immediate vicinity of the
technique is distorted, making it impossible for the target to defend
against it. Guy then deals an immensely powerful kick which carries
such force that it is capable of obliterating the target's body...

^ Essentially, Guy is gathering power, running really fast, and kicking really hard. That's not really something that you have to practice and invent, like the Rasen-shuriken.
Examples: Kinda like when Obito and Madara became the Ten-tails Jinchuriki. They could do all this fancy truth-seeking ball stuff. Not because they spent time learning it, but because they were just able to, with the help of Ten-tails and huge sage power. Or when Naruto was able to heal people and Sasuke was able to teleport as soon as they got Hagoromo's chakra.
Sigh... Nevertheless, there are too many caveats and exceptions in the Naruto universe. Everything they say isn't necessarily true (e.g. Gaara's absolute defence is not absolute, Hashirama's unique wood release can be used by several other people). I mean, your first sentence is refuted by the fact that Guy actually survived (thanks to Naruto). So it's quite hard to make sense of anything.
More info - If you're not satisfied, look at this guy's explanation, which is good in the sense that it uses common sense: How do you train in a jutsu that kills you if used?


Can the Nine-Tails now leave Naruto's body at will? After Naruto and the Nine-Tails became friends, Naruto unlocked the seal.  Does that mean that the Nine-Tails can escape out of Naruto at his will whenever he wants?  If so, why doesn't he do so?  After helping him, couldn't they both go their separate ways?  If he were to leave, would Naruto die?

And while fighting Tobi in tailed beast mode, Naruto's seal was unlocked. Couldn't Tobi have used his Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails and force him out of Naruto, just like he did with Kushina when the seal was weakened during childbirth?

The short answer:
No, the Nine-Tails could not leave Naruto's body at will.
The longer answer:
Bijuu remain sealed inside of a jinchuuriki until either:

the host loses control of the bijuu inside,
the seal weakens, or
it is forcefully extracted.

In the event that the bijuu is extracted, the original host typically dies.  The Uzumaki clan has had a few temporal survivors of a forceful Bijuu extraction.
The specific example you reference for the Nine-Tails to be taken out of Naruto only really applies to female jinchuuriki; the seal is weakest during childbirth, and given that Tobi had attacked Kushina and Minato while Naruto was being born, extracting the Nine-Tails wasn't a difficult task.
Bear in mind that the seal between Naruto and the Nine-Tails really represented an ideological and metaphysical seal.  The seal prevented the Nine-Tails from fully taking control of Naruto's body and will, and also prevented Naruto from fully influencing the Nine-Tails.  However, after he had befriended Kurama and established mutual respect between them, the seal was no longer necessary.


Was there any difference between "Star Blazers" and "Space Battleship Yamato"? Were there any differences between the original Space Battleship Yamato and the U.S. Syndicated Star Blazers other than the westernized names of the characters? Specifically, were there plot elements that were altered, or re-arranged? Were there any scenes that were removed?

I know that Syndicated had modified some of their other properties (like Gatchaman) but I can't remember if this was the case with Star Blazers.

Yes, there were changes.
The changes made were not as drastic as in some expurgated shows (even back in the 1970s, things were being removed for censorship purposes). Wikipedia mentions that another 1970s anime, Battle of the Planets, was made with far more revisions to its original series. It also notes that, unlike some series, Star Blazers retained "practically all of its uniquely Japanese characteristics in terms of content, plot, character development, and philosophy."
Wikipedia's section on Star Blazers production covers this pretty well (boldface and []-comments are mine):

Principal changes in the change-over to Star Blazers included westernization of character names, reduction of personal violence, toning down of offensive language and alcohol use (references to sake were changed to "spring water," and the Doctor's perpetually drunken state was portrayed as merely good humor), removal of sexual fan service, and reduction of references to World War II, although the sunken battleship ruins were still identified as the Battleship Yamato in dialogue. The most significant reference removed—and the longest single edit in the series—was a section from episode two depicting the Battleship Yamato's final battle during World War II, including imagery of the captain tied to the helm as he went down with his ship. (This section WAS NOT in the bonus content on the Voyager Entertainment Series 1, Part II English-language DVD release.)
...
The most significant change made by Griffin-Bacal [the company responsible for dubbing/editing] was purely narrative: In the original series the Yamato and its crew were regarded as a single entity, the narrator each week urging "Yamato, hurry to Iscandar!" In English, the significance of the name Yamato as a word the viewers can identify with, signifying the land, people, and spirit of Japan is lost, so in Star Blazers the crew were named the Star Force and became the focus of the show.
    — Star Blazers, Wikipedia, March 30, 2013

It seems two of the three references ([1], [2]) for this section were lost by dead links (though they may be put back up in the future). However, this reference is still available.


What are this headwing that appear after Sailor Moon/Sailor Chibi Moon transforming? At first, neither Sailor Moon nor Sailor Chibi Moon have headwing.

When Sailor Moon first uses the Holy Grail to do the Super transformation, both of them receive headwings, or whatever these thingies are called:

When the Super transformation ends, Sailor Moon loses her headwing. She gets them back each time she uses the Holy Grail or Pegasus' power to Super transform. But for some reason Sailor Chibi Moon can keep them indefinitely, even in her normal transformation.

What are these headwings, do they have any power? Why can Sailor Chibi Moon keep them in her non-Super transform? Does this mean that her normal transform becomes a partial Super transform, and thus is enhanced with some powers?

Maybe the animators just screwed up and were too lazy to add another accessory to the head of chibi moon ... although you also could say it is a way to show the difference within their existence (between both moons that is)


Was Soichiro Yagami that much close to his natural lifespan? Shoichiro dies from wounds inflicted by Mello soon after making the Shinigami Eyes deal. Since he didn't even use the Death Note (nor was any DN used on the people involved in the incident) prior to his death, it can be assumed that the DN did not change the lifespans of anyone indirectly involved in some killing.

So because his lifespan was halved with the eyes deal and he dies a few hours/days later (lets assume he underwent surgery and a few days seems reasonable) was his natural lifespan that much short?

The answer is yes and no. He himself said that he was thinking about suicide and that he probably would have done it within a few days. At this point, his lifespan was that short. But his "natural livespan" is unknown (and was probably longer) since his son's use of the DN led him into this situation.


How do you read a manga when a big section is adjacent to several small ones? Like this

Also, if this big section had small sections at both sides instead of one, how would you read it then? Or what if the big section was on the right side?

Manga are usually published in the same style as historical texts/long novels for Japanese and Chinese readers (I am a Chinese but ya, most of our readings nowadays are from left to right). For that reason, the flow of the structure is always from top to bottom, right to left. In the case where the page is split into 2 sections by an invisible (horizontal) line in the middle, It is always read from top to bottom of the upper section, then followed by top to bottom of the lower section.

Of course, some manga use slanted lines to guide the reader on which boxes to read next  :)


Is Non Non Biyori's location based on a real one? I have seen the photos at the end of the Non Non Biyori episodes and they seem to resemble places from within the anime. I wonder if all those photographed places belong to roughly the same location.

In other words: Is the Asahigaoka village in Non Non Biyori based on a real one?

And if yes: Where is this located?

The town of Asahigaoka is not explicitly based on any single real location. Of course, some location scouting in the countryside was performed for the sake of realism.1 Most anime these days engage in this activity (called "location hunting" / ロケハン) when appropriate - e.g. when they are set in modern Japan or something that looks like it.2

That said, the school the students in Non Non Biyori attend is apparently based on a real school: Ogawa Elementary's Shimosato Branch School3 in Ogawa, Saitama.4

1 See this blog post (JP), and in particular this image (JP), taken from an interview with people on the production staff.

2 Of course, some shows do use full-on model cities, e.g. Ano Hana and Ano Natsu de Matteru.

3 I believe I translated that well enough, but school nomenclature confuses me at times - the name in Japanese is 小川町立小川小学校 下里分校, lit. "Ogawa-machi Municipal Ogawa Elementary School, Shimosato Branch School".

4 For details and comparison shots, see e.g. this blog post.


Which episodes of the Naruto anime are core plot and which are filler? For both the original Naruto series and Shippuuden, which episodes should I watch if I want to avoid the filler? I'm only interested in core plot and character developments.

To make this question a bit more concrete: Which episodes are directly based off the manga, and which were produced with unique content for only the anime? At what points did the anime "catch up" to the manga and require non-manga-related content to continue airing episodes while the manga produced new content?

The Naruto anime is broken up into two "Series". The first is Naruto, which covers events up until the 3 year time jump in the manga. The second is Naruto: Shippūden, which starts after that jump and continues onwards. Both series have a fair share of anime exclusive plots, so here's the breakdown of Anime exclusive plots:

Naruto

Ep 26: "Special Report: Live From the Forest of Death" - Summary Episode
Ep 102 - 106: "Land of Tea" Arc
Ep 136 - 219-ish (This is where they let the Manga truck along a lot)

Ep 136 - 141: "Land of Rice Fields" Arc
Ep 142 - 147: "Mizuki Strikes Back" Arc
Ep 148 - 151: "Search for the Bikōchū" Arc
Ep 152 - 157: "Curry of Life" Arc
Ep 158: "Follow My Lead! The Great Survival Challenge"
Ep 159 & 160: "Bounty Hunter" Arc
Ep 161: "The Appearance of Strange Visitors"
Ep 162 - 167: "Land of Birds" Arc
Ep 168: "Remembrance: The Lost Page"
Ep 169 - 173: "Land of Sea" Arc
Ep 174: "Impossible! Celebrity Ninja Art: Money Style Jutsu!"
Ep 175 & 176: "Imposter" Arc
Ep 177: "Please, Mr. Postman!"
Ep 178 - 183: "Hoshigakure" Arc
Ep 184: "Kiba's Long Day"
Ep 185: "A Legend from the Hidden Leaf: The Onbaa!"
Ep 186: "Laughing Shino"
Ep 187 - 191: "Land of Vegetables" Arc
Ep 192: "Ino Screams! Chubby Paradise!"
Ep 193: "Viva Dojo Challenge! Youth is All About Passion!"
Ep 194: "The Mysterious Curse of the Haunted Castle"
Ep 195 & 196: "Third Giant Beast" Arc
Ep 197 - 201: "Trap Master" Arc
Ep 202: "The Top 5 Ninja Battles!" Recap Episode
Ep 203 - 207: "Kurama Clan" Arc
Ep 208: "The Supposed Sealed Ability"
Ep 209 - 212: "Shinobazu" Arc
Ep 213 - 215: "Menma" Arc
Ep 216 - 219/20: "Ultimate Weapon" Arc - Note that 220 is part of this arc, but also includes some canon when

   Naruto and Jiraiya leave the village for training, and others begin training as well

Naruto: Shippūden

Ep 54 - 71: "Twelve Guardians Ninja" Arc
Ep 90 - 112: "Three Tails" Arc
Ep 144 - 151: "Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu" Arc
Ep 176 - 196: "Konoha History" Arc
Ep 222 - 242: "Adventures at Sea" Arc
Ep 290 - 295: "Chikara" Arc 500 Episodes (total) celebration
Ep 303 - 320: From the "Shinobi World War" Arc
Ep 327: "Nine-Tails"
Ep 347-361: "Shadow of the ANBU" arc
Ep 376 - 377: "Mecha Naruto" arc
Ep 386: "I'm Always Watching"
Ep 388: "My First Friend"
Ep 389-390: "Hanabi Flashback"
Ep 394-423: "Chunin Exam" arc
Ep 416: "The Formation of Team Minato"
Ep 417: "You’ll Be My Backup"
Ep 419: "Papa's Youth"
Ep 422-423: "Konohamaru's training" arc

Also of note is the Kakashi backstory "Kakashi Gaiden" is shown in the Shippūden (Ep 119 - 120), which is out of order as to how it appeared in the Manga (Chp 239 - 244). In the manga, it was between what became the first and second series (the time jump).

Additionally, none of the movies are based on Manga plots.

Source for most of this information was the Naruto Wiki. "Shadow of ANBU" info from Naruto HQ


Does Metal Bat need his bat for being more powerful? So Metal Bat is capable of doing a swing which destroys a building. For doing such a swing he would need an incredible strenght and for having that strenght he would need a very hard body (arms and fits included). What does the bat add here? Does Metal Bat need his bat for being more powerful? Has he ever been shown fighting without the bat and being very powerful too?

He indeed has an incredible amount of strength. From the One-Punch Man Encyclopedia,

  When the intensity of Metal Bat's anger reaches its maximum, his power approaches infinity.

Aside from that, he also has extreme durability, enabling him to take many hits from higher-level monsters.

From one of the omake, it was said that he only acquired his unbreakable bat upon his promotion to S-rank. This means that he does not need the unbreakable bat that was made for him in order to defeat monsters, as any other bat would do, albeit it would break easily, as shown in the same omake.


What is the source of the Dragon Ball Saiyan bond folklore? I have been reading a lot of fanfiction and noticed they all nearly use the Saiyan bond, bite marks, and telepathic connection for mates. However I cannot seem to find the source of the information for this.

Is there any reliable info about this?

According to a writing about Bulma/Vegeta fandom by adimra, all of this concepts were born from fandoms and applied to their fanfictions.
Regarding the Saiyan bond and telepathic connection,

Is there really a bond? Where did it come from?
The bond has become a staple in B/V (ed: Bulma/Vegeta) fanfiction and many believe that it was in fact, invented in fanfiction - but that is only part true. In 1995, a writer going by the pen name 'Katchan,' started her ambitious 50 chapter 'Saiyajin,' it was her "Dragonball withdrawal whim." I believe she was the first to give the bond its name, and it further inspired Nora Jemison's 'The Third Bond.'
Now, were Bulma and Vegeta ever truly bonded in the Anime? Though it was never clearly stated as a bond, Bulma and Vegeta had a deep connection that was the basis for this. When Vegeta sacrificed himself to Buu, Bulma immediately sensed something was wrong, even though she wasn't near him. Fanfiction has further romanticized this by including telepathy or the sharing of memories etc. as part of the bonding process. While that is just an interpretation of what may have happened, it's more based on fact than fanfiction (hurray ^_^).
(Emphasis mine)

Regarding bite mark,

Ok, so what about this biting thing that usually comes with a bond?
Along with the bonding, a bite on the neck is usually involved with Bulma and Vegeta romances. Unlike bonding, the bitemark has no concrete basis on the anime. I believe biting was first used in either 'Saiyajin' or 'The Third Bond' or perhaps both. I believe one rumour was that the reason Bulma wore those scarves in the Buu Saga was to cover up her Saiyan hickey ;p! Over the years though, the bite mark has come to symbolize a number of things like ownership, marriage etc. and I'm sure that B-Chan's 'Lemon Chapters' had a hand in that.
(Emphasis mine)

In conclusion, I believe this is just fans' speculation based from shown evidences on the series.


Is there any correlation between the CPU and CPU candidates' oppai sizes like there is with KanColle? Hyperdimension Neptunia is an anime that is based on the console war. Its characters are based on the game consoles, namely, Sony Playstation, Microsoft XBox, Nintendo Wii, and the scrapped Sega Neptune.

Now, moving on to Kantai Collection for a while. Like Hyperdimension Neptunia, KanColle is based on real thing. Whereas Hyperdimension Neptunia is based on consoles, KanColle is based on warships. In Kantai Collection, there is a correlation between the size of the girl's oppai and the ship's displacement as shown in the following chart taken from its Wikia page.

Now, as we know, the CPU and CPU candidates in Hyperdimension Neptunia, all has varying oppai dimension. Question is, is there any correlationship between the oppai's dimension and the based console's attribute like KanColle has?

I don't think there's a correlation, based on the fact that bust sizes change when in HDD form. Sometimes dramatically. Neptunia herself upgrades from a modest A to an E cup when she transforms into Purple Heart.

Before :

After:

That being said, I don't know much about the series as I'm only playing the first game.

Maybe someone else has more knowledge than me and can also answer. Here's a spreadsheetable list of some of the character's bust sizes for any other answer's research.


How come we never saw Dragons leaving the body of the Dragon Slayers in Fairy Tail (2014)? We don't see the Dragons leaving the body of the Dragon Slayers except in Natsu's case, even though Igneel mentioned it in Episode 89. Why is that? Did they forget to animate it?

[Edit- Note :If they have not mentioned it in manga then wouldn't that will be a plot hole because everybody will be aware of the dragons leaving the dragon slayers body and no one would have been surprised to see the face getting destroyed at that time. Also fighting Achnologia would have been much easier.]

As far as I know, all Dragons of 1st and 3rd generations Dragon Slayers had shown themselves in the anime. Igneel againts Acnologia, while the other 4 (Metallicana, Grandine, Weisslogia, Skiadrum) helped in destroying Face.


Was the original super saiyan a golden great ape in canon Dragon Ball? "When the Dragon Ball Z anime was released, a filler scene in the episode "Goku's New Power" was added showing the Super Saiyan as what looks like a Great Ape with yellowish colored fur instead of the standard brown"

Later in the non canon Dragon Ball GT we saw a more detailed version of a golden great ape, plus "The GT Perfect Files note that the Golden Great Ape form appears to be the Super Saiyan form from the legends, further implying that the original Super Saiyan utilized the Golden Great Ape form."

Was the original super saiyan a golden great ape in canon Dragon Ball?

Yamoshi was the first Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball. If you recall, way back in the Saiyan Saga, it was stated by Vegeta that it was very common for Saiyans to utilise their great ape transformation to gain an extraordinary amount of power and control the form for combat. Yamoshi obviously utilised the same transformation in Combat and when he attained the Super Saiyan transformation, he was in this state which is why his Super Saiyan transformation seems to be the golden great ape. Goku on the other hand, had his tail cut off and he managed to tap into the transformation without transforming to the great ape. So in other words, Goku managed to attain the amount of battle power necessary in his base form without the great ape transformation which is why his SSJ transformation was possibly different. Yamoshi on the other hand, probably needed the great ape transformation to attain the amount of battle power necessary to turn Super Saiyan.


Is Komamura the only shinigami who has an animal-like appearance? Is Komamura the only shinigami who has an animal-like appearance?

From the List of Shinigami, Komamura Sajin with his wolf/dog-like appearance is the only one, although:

   Yoroichi comes close, with her cat-form, that she "prefers" to be in.


Why does Shiina always say "how shallow-minded"? She usually says the phrase "how shallow-minded" (あさはかなり,asahaka nari). Is the fact that she came from the past (a.e Feudal Japan) and was born in Ancient Japan has something to do with it?

As stated in the wiki page you linked to, it's most likely because she's from an earlier era.

Also, being a trained assassin, she most likely views the actions of other characters as childish and foolish, so she just gives her honest opinion on the matter.


What's the deal with exchanging names in Bleach and other anime? Okay so I've been watching a lot of Bleach recently and I've noticed a serious trend with the battles. Before they start, both characters introduce themselves to the other. I've tried to do some research about this (mostly through Google) but I haven't found anything. Is it just something for plot convenience or is it some kind of tradition?

As mentioned above:

  Its customary to announce your name before a duel because afterwards one person will be dead, preventing the victor from knowing the name of a "worthy opponent". Source - lots of manga and anime. Conversely, its highly insulting to not announce your name beforehand and shows great respect to ask the name of "worthy opponent"

This is the case in several anime dating back to before dragon ball. The reason why is because of the strong influence of honor and dignity in battle portrayed by several historical warriors like samurai (Miyamoto Musashi) and ninja (Hattori Hanzo) and even in the Japanese underground (Yakuza).

Stating one's name before entering a fight or even in the midst of a fight is greatest show of respect because whomever dies will carry the name of the one who killed them into "life-beyond-death" and the name of died was actually prevalent enough for the killer to take the time to recognize.

In some respects it even honors someone as a potential equal in terms of combat potential.


Video Identification - Boy, Girl Two Pianos I'm trying to identify a video that I only saw a small part of (in the AMV room at A-Kon).  The part of the video I saw featured a boy and a girl and two pianos.  I think this might be enough to identify the video, but if it helps the AMV was to the Lady Antebellum song, Just a Kiss.  I can find the credits on Youtube but I don't see where it mentions the name of the video.

The video title is "A Kiss Goodnight" by Dragon/Roy (youtube) and the anime is Nodame Cantabile. The two characters you see playing the piano are Shinichi Chiaki (male) and Megumi Noda (female).


What is this Windows Vista/7 window doing on the wall in episode 3 of Re-Kan? Around 17 seconds into episode 3 of Re-Kan!, there is this weird window (as in GUI element) from Windows Vista or Windows 7 on the wall of the classroom.

Another screenshot at around 07:22 in episode 1, showing the window in the lower right corner.

Looking through all 3 episodes which are aired so far, the charts and the weird window are consistently animated. While the animation is consistent, the choice of article to place on the wall is still weird. The window element looks completely out of place.

Is this an animation mistake?

It's a screenshot from LMTOOLS by Flexera Software. As it's a tool for working with a software licencing management server, I think you're right and it's out place on the wall of an average Japanese highschool.  It hard to see such a specialized tool being the subject of instruction, and the screenshot alone stuck to a wall wouldn't serve any purpose.

I'm guessing the screenshot was grabbed from the Internet somewhere. Like this one I found on as part of a FAQ entry on using the tool: