Where do magical girls get money? Magical Girls work a lot, and we never see them working.

They all have a house and usually money to buy stuff too. Where do they find money to pay rent or buy food? Do they steal it?

Each girl has a different situation. Girls' ages are around 13…16 years old, and they are still in school, so it's natural for them to be living with their parents. We don't know if students from all walks of life are able to attend the kind of school the girls go to, so we'll have to work with other info.

Madoka and Sayaka live with their parents in comfortable enough conditions.

About Sayaka:

  She describes herself as having been born "petit bourgeois," which is French for "petty bourgeois." [Hakase's note: "petit" is French for "small/little" afaik and I'm not sure about possible negative connotation of "petty", perhaps it's a mistranslation?] This would mean that her family is at least from the middle class, but is by no means from the upper class (despite the fact that, if Japan has even less living space in the future than it does now, her family's apartment is far larger than a normal middle-class family could afford). (from Puella Magi wiki)

Homura's family and financial situation we don't know anything about. Except that she might not be having any second thoughts about stealing money from people, as she moves through timelines, collecting weapons from all sorts of armory caches, as wee see in later episodes.

  She appears to live by herself.

Mami has no relatives left, and she's living in an apartment on the money she inherited from her dead parents.

  "There are also no mentions of unrelated legal tutors appointed by law."

Kyouko has to break into hotels and bathhouses and steal food, as we learn from early episodes of anime.

  article indicates that Kyoko gets her monetary income by breaking and busting ATM machines, she uses the stolen money to buy food and pay rent on expensive hotel rooms. (her wiki page)


How long did Killi's journey through "The City" took? From the first chapter until

   Killi restores the network interface gene

how long did it take? Years? Decades? Millenia?

Reading Blame! you can see different scenes where Killy is injured. Sometimes before entering into sleep mode to recover and sometimes after recovering, you can see 'in first person' scenes where numbers depicting offline time are shown. I recall those counts being in hours and around tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. So each time he is almost completely destroyed, several years pass by.

I'll update with page references and citations to everything I'm saying when I'm back home.

Anyway, that's subjective time from the Killy perspective:
He enters a dimensional rift when around the gravitational power generator, so he may have traveled far into the future or past after those chapters. It'd be hard to know, as his friends and enemies are all either dead or machines, and the megastructure has not many relatable temporal references.
Again, I'll check, but if I'm not mistaken, when moving within the megastructure with elevators some of them go at breathtaking speeds, approaching relativistic figures, and he spends several hundred hours in them.

TLDR: From the killy point of view, counting downtime, around millenia. From the world perspective: hard to know, but probably even more.

Disclaimer: I've only read and can only understand the english or the spanish translations. If anyone can read a japanese first edition, it may differ.


How did Naruto land the finishing Rasengan on Pain? I watched Naruto's fight with Pain the other day, and I don't quite understand how Naruto managed to land a Rasengan on the Deva Path in that sequence of attacks which started with 2 Rasenshurikens.

This is what I have understood so far: Pain deflected first shuriken, then he jumped to dodge the second one flying towards his blind spot. As he landed, he was attacked by numerous Naruto clones, who were camouflaging as rocks with Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), and he deflected all of them with Shinra Tensei yet again. After that, I completely lost track of what was going on and how he managed to land that Rasengan eventually.

Can anyone explain what happened with respect to the five-second interval and how Naruto managed to beat Pain?

What happened is as follows:

Naruto throws first shuriken, Shinra Tensei deflects it.
Naruto throws second shuriken, Pain dodged.
Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clone Technique attempts to attack Pain with all the clones, Shinra Tensei deflects them all.
Naruto, taking advantage of the 5 seconds it takes him to recharge, flings himself with the aid of 2 clones, and lands the Rasengan straight at him before he can use Shinra Tensei again.

Still not clear? Tell me in the comments :)


What's the reason Yuuki employs only male spies? Haven't read the manga, but in the anime all the spies in D Agency are male.
Wouldn't it be beneficial for certain missions to have a female spy?

Joker Game is set from 1937 and later. During this time, Japan was in its Imperial Era, where every male was required to serve in the Imperial Army. Many women were forced into gender roles that would not allow them to become soldiers in the war. You can read more about Japanese women's role in WWII here.

However, D-Agency is definitely under different leadership than the rest of the Imperial Army, as evidenced by most of the show. I think that despite their variance from then traditional ways in military leadership, Yuuki still was not at the point where he could employ a woman as a spy due to the conservative and rigid gender roles at the time. I do agree that for certain missions, a female spy would have been beneficial to D-Agency's goals, but I think the concept was too 'ahead of its time' for the late 1930s/early 1940s in Japan.


Who is the person called "professor" that is kept in the basement under Ichigaya? There is someone/something locked in the basement of Ichigaya. He is the one who sent the message to leave the apple seedling in the inn after the raid by the agents.

He is also mentioned in the Sachi ending of the VN, and probably in the sequel VNs as well.

What is his/its identity?

It is revealed in the third part Grisaia no Rakuen that:

   Locked away in the basement was Yuuji's sister Kazuki Kazami, but it was her brain that was left and functioning. Ichigaya was the one who retrieved her body and built a super computer with her brain.

In the anime, the corresponding scene is at the end of episode 5, and further elaborated in episode 6 of Grisaia no Rakuen.


What is the chibi-esque gathering at the end of each episode? At the end of each episode of Ro-Kyu-Bu!, and sometimes during the episode content, the girls are seen talking to each other or to the audience in chibi form. Usually there is 8-bit music in the background, and the characters appear to be sprites (without animations).

Is this a game they're playing? Or, is it something more meta (like a representation of them talking by phone)? If it's a game, does it have a name?

In the first episode of Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, the girls are again shown in their chibi forms. It is then revealed that they are simply typing into their phones and computers as their conversation goes on.

Since they're doing this on flip phones, it seems unlikely that they're playing a game, despite the occasional "Now Loading" screen. The most likely conclusion is that the chibis are just a representation of each character chatting with the others, probably shown because it's more appealing than showing each girl on their personal computers.


Is the World Government aware of the existence of the Sky Island? Sky Island is a myth or a legend to many people including the pirates form Jaya, who laugh at Luffy because he thinks that Sky Island exists.

Does the World Government know about Sky Island or is it just a myth to them?

I believe that the world government does not know of the Sky Islands, because when the Straw Hats land in Navarone, the officials do not believe Zoro, Luffy, or any of them when they say they came from the sky.  Considering Navarone was a huge Marine Base, if the World government knew of the Sky Island, they would have let them know.


Who, specifically, did Yanagida mean by "half the world"? In episode 4, Yanagida tells Itami that the suits back in Nagata want to know whether the Special Region is worth turning half the world against Japan.

Who, specifically, consitutes "half the world" here? As of this point in the anime, we haven't been told much about the political situation surrounding the Gate. Is there a particular bloc of nations that opposes Japan's activity in the Special Region? Or is this more of a figurative "lots of people will be angry with us if we colonize the Special Region" sort of thing?

In the manga, in chapter 7, Yanagida mentions:

  Is there something here that's worth turning America, China, and Russia... half of the world into our enemies?

It's been mentioned that (emphasis mine):

  The major powers, China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Russia, and the United States, contain just over half the world's people and account for 75 percent of global GDP and 80 percent of global defense spending.

So he's likely to mean most of developed countries that are world powers. Most notably America, China, and Russia.


Am I missing an entry in the Higurashi series? Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai both say "Welcome to Hinamizawa..." and "WHEN THEY CRY..." on the cover.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni says "Welcome to Rokkenjima" and "WHEN THEY CRY 3".

I thought Umineko was the follow-up to Higurashi.

Where's "WHEN THEY CRY 2"?

Although it's not said anywhere officially, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is widely considered to be When They Cry 2.

Contrary to Jon Lin's answer, "When They Cry" is not purely an English licensing name. It may be used for the licensing name, but it is actually relevant to the original creation.

The creator of the original sound novels, Ryuukishi07, uses this name and numbers to distinguish/count the works in the "When They Cry" series.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - When They Cry
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - When They Cry 2* (the title in question, see further below)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - When They Cry 3
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - When They Cry 4

These titles can be seen on the official cover art as proof. I've linked pictures of these covers to the related titles above.

However, interestingly enough, "When They Cry 2" is quite odd. It does not appear on the cover of the sound novels, manga, PS2 version, DS version, novels, or drama CDs. The (original/Japanese release) anime DVD cases and boxes don't even mention "When They Cry"

However, despite this lack of "When They Cry 2", even the Japanese somehow know that 2 = Higurashi Kai, as seen in this Yahoo Chiebukuro question where both answerers reply that 2 = Higurashi Kai.

Additionally, a fanmade Japanese Umineko wiki site's FAQ page mentions the following definitions:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei - When They Cry 2+
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa - When They Cry 4+

So it seems that Higurashi Kai was not defined as 2 anywhere officially, but it has been accepted as such by both Japanese and Western fans due to either Umineko being called 3 or the Higurashi Kai anime being dubbed as 2. Who knows where Ryuukishi07 got the idea from. If I stumble upon an official Kai work using When They Cry 2 somewhere, I'll be sure to update this post.


What did the letter really say? In episode 25 of the new fairy tail season spoilers, doh

 UL sends Jellal and Meldy a letter.

What did the message actually say? My eye sight is to bad to properly read it, but I had the feeling the translation was off.

As well as finally trusting that a day
will come when you can be forgiven.
It means never hiding yourself from love.
Your true battle is still aheardsic of you...
If we can not defeat Zeref,
wizardkind will again be awash in grief.
Please live on, for me...
...and battle on, this journey of yoursic...
will bring happiness to all.
That is what I pray.

It is not proper English. "aheard" is not a word, and "your" should be "yours".


How is anime as a whole profitable? (If it is) I'm considering the following facts:

Japanese people have few spare time, with their jobs taking a lot of their time usually, even kids or teenagers have intense schedules.
There are lots of anime series each year, we can easily expect at least 100  series with maybe an average of 20 chapters per each series.
Most anime don't get out of Japan, even if we consider either worldwide legal or illegal services that offer anime, what is seen most are the most well-known series.
Anime is not cheap to produce, we can consider that each anime episode is about 120000 US dollars.
Anime is pretty time consuming to watch in general.

(I'm making up the previous quantities but I don't think I'm that far from the real ones).

With these facts I wonder how it's profitable in general as my guess is that with those conditions most series would not cover their costs, so it looks somehow strange that people are willing to spend much in something that's hardly going to be profitable (although if the anime is successful and moreover, exported worldwide, it can be truly profitable, that's true, maybe it's just that with their big hits they cover all the rest of the unsuccessful series).

I thought that maybe it was subsidized by the government but with an internet search it looks like this doesn't happen often.

What is missing or faulty in my reasoning, or is anime really profitable? Maybe it's what I've said earlier that their successful series cover the costs of the unsuccessful series?

On the other hand, could it be that it's not usually profitable but they still try to do it just because anime is so big in Japan and they love it?

Merchandise, DVD & Blu-ray sales. If the predicted net profit from the sales of Merchandise, DVD & Blu-ray is low then some studios will hire freelancers. For example, Madhouse is known for hiring Freelancers.

Some studios are already powerful and big enough such that they could themselves invest certain amount of money in the anime rather than the production committee giving them a budget. Thus they would get a larger chunk of profit. Example, Kyoto Animation and Sunrise studios.

Some studios are directly owned by big and well known production committee members who have produced not only anime but also video games, soundtracks, merchandise & food companies. All of which can act as a source of money for the production of a anime.
Example, A1 Studios -> Aniplex -> which in turn is owned by the Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

International licensing.

Finally, some anime may perform poorly initially, but, several years later they might do well in the international market or during the re-runs. By which the studio and the production committee can get back their lost money. Remember how Gundam 0079 had very low ratings initially? Or how Serial Experiments Lain was a flop in Japan but not so much in US? Or how Ghost Stories utterly failed in Japan but did comparatively well in US?

Point is, even if some shows don't make profit in the initial run, doesn't mean they will always not make a profit later on.


Why is it that some anime use language exclusive to the Yakuza? I was reading an article on language-learning hacks recently, and #13 of that list states (emphasis mine),

  Some popular anime (popular in America at least, and mostly reserved for little boys in Japan) uses the kind of language which is in the real world almost exclusively reserved for Yakuza.

Is this statement true? What are some examples of this, and why is it done?

The Introduction to Yakuza Japanese has a list of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary (and even lessons!).

There's also this Japanese Stack Exchange has a question: What are the stereotypical characteristics of yakuza speech?

And Japan Subculture's terminology page.

While Yakuza these days are mostly semi-legitimate, they still extort and is the largest criminal organization in the world. Just like how there's a taboo with tattoos in Japan because they're associated with Yakuza, the same connotations come with speaking like the way Yakuza do.


What is Hitsugi's age? Hitsugi and Chitaru are yuri characters. Chitaru's age seems according, but what about Hitsugi? She is really smaller than Chitaru.

Hitsugi and Chitaru are both at the same age, which is 15 years old. It is true that Hitsugi actually looks like a little girl, her height is also not up to her age, not even close, so it seems like Hitsugi is younger than Chitaru, but it's not.

Hitsugi doesn't even seem to have matured yet, which is the actual reason.


Whats the origin of Harem genre Harem is genre in Anime and Manga involving a Male protagonist surrounded by girls who have feelings for him

Harem is a popular genre in the anime/manga industry but what are the origins of how it become one of Anime and Mangas popular genres?

The first anime or manga to have all the elements of the harem genre is Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki (OVA anime: 1992). It has multiple female characters pursuing the same male lead, a constant presence in his life, in this case living with him in the same house. Like most examples of this genre the main character acquired his harem accidentally and doesn't actually want all these women pursuing him. Also like many examples of the genre the female characters are very extraordinary, far from ordinary Japanese girls.

You can see the origins of the genre in other manga and anime series that had many of the same tropes but never put them all together. For example Oh My Goddess! (manga: 1988, OVA anime: 1993) has three goddesses living in the same house with the main character, although only one is interested him romantically. Ranma 1/2 (manga: 1987, TV anime: 1989) has a main character with a number of different suitors over the course of the long series, both female and male, but they don't form a harem as most of these characters only make occasional appearances.

A likely influence of harem genre is the reverse harem genre.  While you'd think from its name the reverse harem genre came later, the trope of a woman with many suitors is probably old as storytelling. The suitors of Penelope in the Odyssey (ca. 700 BC) were 108 men who pursued Penelope, the wife of the presumed dead Odysseus, while all living together in his home. While the Odyssey probably wasn't a direct influence on the genre, shoujo romance series like Fushigi Yuugi (manga: 1992, TV anime: 1995) and Hanasakeru Seishounen (manga: 1987, TV anime 2009) have pretty much all the elements you'd expect in the harem genre except with the male/female roles exchanged.

Another possible influence would be love triangles appearing various male oriented series like Maison Ikkoku (manga: 1980, TV anime: 1986) and Kimagure Orange Road (manga: 1984, TV anime: 1987). Yet another possible influence are dating sim and ren'ai visual novel games were the player can pursue one or more of a number different love interests. While the structure is different, when these games get turned into anime shows they're often become harem anime.

As for why the harem genre is popular it's hard to say. The obvious answer is that it provides the stereotypical shy-with-women male otaku with a sort of escapism and wish fulfillment they can't get from other genres. However I don't think it would be as popular if it was just that. I think subverting the age old trope of a woman with many suitors is a big part. It provides a lot comedic potential in what in real life would seem absurd: a number of always attractive and usually exceptional women all openly pursing the same ordinary looking usually kind of awkward guy.


What does the phrase "he's pulling an Amaterasu-sama on us" mean? Who is that Amaterasu character they're referring to in episode 6?

  "He always goes straight to his room when he comes home. He's pulling an Amaterasu-sama on us."

This is probably a reference to one of the most famous episodes involving Amaterasu, the sun deity of Shinto myth.

In the beginning, the world (or maybe just Japan) was created by Izanagi and Izanami. As a byproduct of this, the three sibling gods Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi came into being (the latter two having domain over the seas and the moon, respectively).

Amaterasu and Susanoo had a long-standing rivalry/conflict. As part of this, one day, Susanoo threw a flayed (i.e. skinless) horse at Amaterasu and performed some other crude acts. Amaterasu, very angered by this, entered the Ama-no-Iwato, a cave. There she remained for a very long time. During this time, it is said that the sun did not rise, and this was widely considered to be a bad thing.

As such, the character being referred to in your quote is displaying Amaterasu-like-behavior - holing himself up in some secluded place, just like Amaterasu did when Susanoo angered her.

Addendum: this is a very well-known tale in Japan, and probably would have been about as obvious to Japanese viewers as a well-known Biblical parable would have been to American audiences (or something like that).


Is there a local folktale regarding underwater palace and tamate box in Japan? I first heard about tamate box, Otohime princess and the underwater palace in One piece but episode 9 of Kaichou wa Maid Sama also contains very similar references such as the contents of the tamate box make you old, Otohime princess etc. So I want to know if there exists a local tale or is it just KMS making a reference to One Piece.

This is the story of Urashima Taro. It's a famous old Japanese folktale from the Nara period about a man who saves the Emperor of the Sea's daughter, Otohime. He is invited to live in the underwater palace with them. He stays for three days but wants to go visit his mother. He is given a box by the princess before he leaves, and when he returns to the surface he finds that it's 300 years later and everyone he knew is dead. Distraught, he absently opens the box and ages all 300 years at once, because the box contained his old age.


Questions regarding Goku's special training as shown in episode 71 of Dragon Ball Super In epsiode 71 of Dragon Ball Super, Goku is shown to have some kind of special training. It seems that Whis knows what Goku is doing but doesn't want to tell Vegeta.

My questions are:

What is the special training that Goku is currently undergoing?
Why doesn't Whis tell Vegeta about this?
Why Beerus says that "Goku is the leading fighter..." even though till the last fight (i.e., with Zamasu) both seemed to be on equal level?
Does it mean that Goku is again going to get stronger than Vegeta?

We don't know whether Goku is undergoing a special training or not. Perhaps he do, but it's just speculation.
There is a rumor about either Whis or Vados hired Hit to assassinate Goku (I can't find the source, but it's around the internet). In the episode, Beerus is furious about the Universal Tournament promised by the Omni King, and Goku doesn't come to train. Whis might see this as an opportunity to "train' Goku in another way. Whis know Hit is the perfect rival for Goku besides Vegeta, since Goku can be brought back to life at the end, or Whis reverse the time when Goku is dead. If Vegeta knew about this, he definitely couldn't focus on training. It's all just my speculation, we may find out in the future episodes.
In the base form and in SSB form, both seems equal in power and speed. But don't forget Goku has Kaioken to multiply his power.
There is no "who is stronger" between Goku and Vegeta. Both are equally strong if you don't wanna trigger anyone. Sometimes Vegeta surpasses Goku and vise versa.


How can All Might still fight using One For All in the latest movie? In the rematch fight with All For One, All Might had used his last embers of One For All and told Midoriya that he couldn't fight anymore, but in the latest movie we saw that All Might was using One For All and I wanna know how? How can All Might still fight and maintain his muscle form for that long?

You are right, All Might has weakened significantly after his fight with All for One. It would be contradictory to show that he can still fight a powerful villain after that. However, the movie happened before his fight with All for One. As quoted from Horikoshi here,

  "Yes, the events of the movie happen before the battle with All For One, so I want everyone to be able to watch and look forward to this since you will never see their duo move in the manga."

The movie is set after the Final Exams, so roughly between Episode 38 and 39, while the fight between All Might and All For One happened in Episodes 47 to 49.


What anime is this female anime figure in blue uniform from? I recently bought a Hideyoshi Kinoshita figure on ebay, when it arrived I noticed that the seller had included a small figure of a loli girl in a blue uniform with yellow ball looking badges on it, white shoes red hair with a long cowlick and sword with a cat charm on the handle. Can anyone tell me where she is from? It's been driving me nuts for days! it would be much appreciated.

The female character in the above picture is Kurogane Hayate from Hayate x Blade.

                   Kurogane Hayate's appearance in the Manga

The Manga currently does not have an anime adaptation. You can find the figurine here.


What is the name of the instrumental theme in Episode 3 of My Hero Academia which starts at 4:52? Could any of you please tell me what is the name of the instrumental theme in Episode 3 of My Hero Academia, which starts at 4:52? I'd really appreciate it.

That song is "Plus Ultra", composed by Yuki Hayashi. (Disc 1, Track #18 of "Boku no Hero Academia" Original Soundtrack


What is the difference when a jutsu is performed by weaving only some of it's seals and when performed by weaving all of them? Well, I noticed that plenty of times ,for instance Itachi performed the great fireball jutsu sometimes with one hand seal and some other times with all the ones necessary

Weaving signs is a chakra manipulation technique that enables you to gather it in specific ways to execute specific techniques based off the chakra nature of the individual.

These signs are defined as seals and can be read about in the seals wiki in narutopedia.

As quoted in the wiki :

  While techniques may require a number of hand seals to work, a skilled ninja can use less or even one to perform the same technique.

It is also noted that some shinobi can master a technique so well that they can perform instantaneously without weaving signs but this takes years of training or an abnormally strong level of chakra control.

For instance Sasuke and chidori in the shippuden series is a common example of mastery as he learned to perform the technique seamlessly without needing time to weave.

Minato was also known for this with the flying raijin and rasengan.

As a shinobi masters a technique they are able to use less seals, one hand, and even no seals.


In what year(s) does the Monogatari series take place? Looking from the perspective of the recent movie (which occurs at or near the chronological beginning of the series):

Koyomi has what appears to be a slide-phone with a keyboard, and Hanekawa puts her "phone number and email address" into it.
Koyomi goes to the bookstore for porn instead of just looking it up on the internet. (This show never seems to indicate any signs of the internet even existing?)
All the cars (which are mostly copy-pastes of the same CG model) seem to have a much older style to them.

Most of all, this frame (which appears right as Koyomi is about to bring up his phone) may indicate a year. But what does the "G9" stand for?

I don't recall an exact year, but there's evidence that the series takes place in the modern day, between 2007 and 2018.

The strongest piece of evidence comes from the novels. In Kabukimonogatari Chapter 7, after Koyomi travels back in time 11 years, he notes that the money is different and has Natsume Souseki on it. These would have been the series D bills issued from 1984 to 2007 and suspended April 2007. This puts the series no more than 11 years after 2007, or no later than 2018. The novel version of Otorimonogatari has Nadeko make a reference to K-On, also putting it after May 2007, when the K-On manga started.

Maroon notes in the comments that the dates line up better for 2006. The phasing out of the Souseki notes began in 2004, so 2006 is a plausible year as well. The novels began their run in August 2005, so it's possible that Nisio Isin looked to March 2006 as the starting point for the series.

Smartphones do exist in the world of Monogatari; in the preview on Episode 7 of Nisemonogatari, Kaiki complains that after Hitagi smashed his phone, he went to buy a new one and could only find smartphones, which he dislikes. Here's a hard-to-see picture of my television screen that shows it:

Flip phones are actually still pretty common in Japan; see this Answerman column.

As a side note, the male protagonist hiding porn books in his room is a time-honored tradition of the genres that Monogatari draws on, harem and school action. Suruga also fills her room up with cheap BL books instead of going on the Internet and reading slash fiction. Monogatari is a mixture of real and hyper-real, so sometimes it just plays by the rules of fiction.


How many tails did Naruto get during his fight with Pain? During Pain's destruction of Konoha, he fought Naruto. When fighting Naruto, Pain hurt Hinata which made Naruto get mad. After a couple of seconds of being mad Naruto started to transform into Kyuubi.

How many tails did he transform to? I've heard and seen people say that he only got six tails, but I always thought he got all nine of them. Or almost got nine, until his dad stopped the transformation.

We see Naruto reaching six tails and fighting Pain, that much is certain.
The wiki claims that after that, we see eight tails, here:

And we later on see Yamato's hand with the number nine, to which he says he was too late.
However, due to Minato's interference, we do not see Naruto with nine tails.

So, yes, Naruto has gone onto nine tails (He in fact wanted to remove the seal), but we do not see it, and Minato stops it very quickly.


Why does Kasumigaoka call Tomoya "Mr. Ethical"? In Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend, Kasumigaoka always calls Tomoya "Mr. Ethical" (倫理{りんり}君{くん}).

Where did this come from? Is it explained at some point in the original source material?

Feel free to spoil it for me.

Here is an excerpt from the Saekano wiki-page in the description for Utaha:

  She used to call Tomoya Tomoya-kun (倫也君) but now she calls him Rinri-kun (倫理君). She began to call him by the nickname Rinri-kun when he flatly rejected her suggestion that he read the last volume of Koisuru Metronome before it is published.

"Rinri-kun" being "Mr. Ethical."

In other words, Tomoya is called Mr. Ethical by Utaha due to his ethical behavior, in this case, with how he decided to wait until the release of the last book — just as every other fan/reader has to wait — in order to enjoy the novel. It'd be unfair for him to get first dibs on reading it before everyone else.


Does Izanagi really require both Senju and Uchiha DNA? From the Chapter 510, you can see Tobi talking to Konan

Tobi happens to mention that Izanagi is available only to those with the power of both Senju and Uchiha. Is it really true? Because in the very next line he happens to mention that it is the power of the Sage of Six Paths.

That means either of the below 2 things are not-true.

We know that when Itachi explained Izanami to Sasuke, he happened to mention why the Izanami was created. It was because the Uchiha folks back then, used Izanagi for all wrong reasons. And most of those Uchiha certainly did not have the Senju DNA. So if what Tobi said was true, this has to be false.
If what Itachi explained about Izanagi's misuse is true and that every Uchiha who knows the jutsu Izanagi can use it, then what Tobi mentioned to Konan was wrong.

So which of the following is true? Or probably what Tobi told Konan was a plot-hole by Kishimoto?

Summary

Izanagi is a technique available to all Uchiha members with the Sharingan, but it has various levels of effectiveness:

  The Uchiha, descended from the Sage, are able to perform Izanagi with their Sharingan ... To use Izanagi to its full potential, users must also have the genetic traits of the Senju, who are also descended from the Sage.

So, Itachi didn't lie, Obito didn't lie, and it is not a plothole. You can see how my answer clashes with the accepted answer.

Normal Izanagi

For normal Sharingan users, Izanagi can help you change reality for a brief moment.

Incomplete Izanagi (it's better)

For Sharingan users with Hashirama's DNA, it extends the lifespan of the jutsu. Since Danzo had Senju DNA in his right arm, he was able to extend Izanagi for each eye up to a minute.

  Danzō had some of Hashirama Senju's DNA transplanted into his arm, which extended the time span of each Sharingan's Izanagi to a minute. However, because Danzō is not an Uchiha, his chakra levels drop substantially every time a new Sharingan is used to activate the technique.

The Complete Form of Izanagi (the best)

Finally, we have the Uchiha members who can control Hashirama's DNA — Obito and Madara. Obito's Izanagi can last much longer than Danzo's (surviving Konan's signature move), and he doesn't need to use any hand seals. As for Madara, he never uses Izanagi with Senju's DNA transplanted into him, although it is shown that Senju's DNA heals his right eye in the end.

  Obito also makes use of Hashirama's DNA but, in contrast to Danzō, he claims to have gained control over Hashirama's DNA and as such, boasts the completed form of Izanagi. Showing evidence to this claim, Obito could maintain this technique's power much longer with a single eye than Danzō and could perform it with no hand seals at all.

Madara's Izanagi Trick

Madara had the Izanagi activated after his death, and his blind eye was healed by Hashirama's DNA.

  But Madara had planned ahead: he had scheduled an Izanagi to activate sometime after his death, changing reality to bring him back to life in exchange for his right eye's vision ... went into hiding with ... a mouthful of Hashirama's flesh that he transplanted into his wounds .. in the process restoring his right eye.


How could Hiramekarei defeat Samehada? Refer to episode 31, boruto.

Hiramekarei stores chakra and then release it in shapes.

Why then, Samehada don't just absorb all that chakra? How could it defeat Samehada at all?

There is no "specific power ranking" for the seven legendary swords, and as stated in the comments, a weapon is only as powerful as its wielder. Choujiro proved this when he defeated one of "new generation -seven legendary swordsmen" with a normal sword.

Apart from the fact that it was Shizumas first time attempting to use Samehada, it is important to note that

  Samhehada is the only living weapon among the seven legendary swords, and as such, it has its own consciousness and personality. Therefore its actions can affect the tide of battle. Samehada was already absorbing all their chakra using the "bloody mist absorption technique" but that only made it want more chakra.

Samehada is actually a greedy Glutton, that loves chakra more than anything else, and it takes a large amount of will power and experience to tame it. Unfortunately for Shizuma, he could not control Samehada and so it took over his body and started going on a rampage. At that point, Shizuma was not thinking straight and he was also at a disadvantage going against two "Jonin level" kids.

The loss was not because Hiramekarei is stronger or weaker but merely due to the circumstances in which the battle took place.


How long are people genin before they take the chunin exam? Team 7 (Naruto's team) existed for at least while before they took the chunin exam, and they took on a number of missions before taking the chunin exams. I can't remember, however, how long they exactly existed as a team before the exam. How long were they genin before the exam? Is that the normal length? Is there some sort of mission requirement where they have to complete a number of missions before they can take the exam?

The exams happen twice a year. The genins that participate are chosen by their group leaders. So if the group leader is of the opinion, that they are ready at age 6, he sends the genin to the exams, if he's of the opinion that they are not ready yet, he lets them wait. There is no special requirement to take the exams (at least nothing was mentioned), it's just the group leader who decides. This can be seen in chapter 35, when Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma suggest their team for the exams. Although Iruka protests, he can't do anything against it. That does not mean, that the genin can't decide against it, though. A ninja can't be forced by his group leader to do the exam.


Why was Light only targeting Japanese criminals when he was in the US? When Light's sister is kidnapped by Mellow's gang and the Kira Task Force goes to the US to do the trade for her with the Death Note, when things start getting out of control Light yells at Misa to keep writing in the Death Note.

Light: MISA! Just shut up and do like I told you, all right?! Look! I need you to keep killing Japanese criminals so just do that! This guy’s obviously investigating Kira and he won’t give up. If the killings are delayed, we are in trouble. Don’t you understand?

But as shown when L was investigating, Light focusing on an area is what lead to L's conclusion that Kira was Japanese and at this moment Light knew of Near's SPK in the US, not to mention Kira targets criminals around the world and gets a lot of the information from the internet.

Soichiro: But still, it’s impossible for us to sensor everything on the Internet. And we haven’t had any new leads in a while.
Matsuda: But posting names with faces online, I’m sorry, but if you ask me, it’s the people doing that who deserve to die. But I guess, that’s never gonna happen. Kira gets a lot of his information from the Internet so he’s not gonna kill those people.

I get why Light doesn't want the killings to die down but why is Light targeting Japanese criminals while he was in the US?
NOTE: I'm watching the English Dub released by Madman in Australia which I assume is the same Dub released by Viz Media.

Notice the "keep killing Japanese criminals" part; this seems to suggest that (mostly) Japanese criminals were being killed by Kira during the time right before this incident. L had already previously established that Kira was operating from Japan on live TV. Any aberrations in killing behavior during Light's time in the States would appear highly suspicious to Near, who already distrusted the Japanese Kira investigation team at the time. Light could just be getting paranoid and probably wanted to reinforce the idea that Kira is operating from Japan during his visit.


Can Asta create an Anti Magic Black Divider sword using the Demon Destroyer Sword instead of the Demon Slayer Sword? In episode #119 Asta used his Demon Slayer sword to create the Anti-Magic Demon Slayer Sword Black Divider. Can Asta create an Anti Magic Black Divider sword using the Demon Destroyer Sword instead of the Demon Slayer Sword?

I dont think so because if it were possible it would b too op plus it would have been listed in the manga already, but that is still a possibility.


How did Toneri Otsutsuki move the Moon towards the Earth? We know that Toneri tried to use the Moon to destroy the humans. How did he move the Moon? Did he have any control over attraction and repulsion like the Naraka Path?

He used the tenseigan to move the moon. The tenseigan is formed by a combination of the otsutsuki and hyuga chakra. Toneri was from the otsutsuki clan so he got the tenseigan by implanting Hanabi Hyuga's byakugan. In 'Naruto Last: The Movie' they said that the tenseigan is strong enough to move the moon.

He said that Hamura told his descendants to destroy the Earth if the shinobi works fell apart. So my guess is that the tenseigan is a dojustsu made especially to do that. So maybe it's ability is to move the moon.


What are the different colors in anime production drawings for? In a lot of production drawings for anime (and I've also seen them in plots), particularly of characters as opposed to backgrounds, the detailed sketches/drawings have lines in different colors. Is there a purpose for this other than maybe to differentiate between lines? Are they used for color boundaries? Is there a production reason why the specific lines have to be different colors?

Edit:

Just to be a bit more clear, I was wondering specifically with the colors used in these particular style line drawings, where the lines seemed to be color coded. For example, given this animatic, the first sketch has color used in shading and hue, but the middle picture shows the color coded line art, where the tears are red and the eyes are blue.

The use of colored pencils and related mediums vary depending on the artist or production that does them.

The yellow is typically seen being used to highlight shadows or break up object in the background (like clouds), because shading with a regular pencil might drown out the details especially in a elaborate or darkly lit scene. Take this storyboard from Arrietty:

Compare it to this uncolored storyboard from Evangelion 2.0:

And the Steamboy:

Other times the yellow can be used to highlight an active foreground object like a person, take a look at this example from Mushishi:

The color blue is typically used as a secondary color, do add more detail and depth to the storyboards. Here is an example from 5 Centimeters Per Second:

Notice the blue is being used to highlight additional shadows for a better sense of the atmosphere of the shots. Here's an example of how it's used to separate objects in Gundam UC.

None of these guidelines are set an stone and can vary greatly depending the  budget and needs of the production and/or director(s).

The opening storyboards for Ponyo are in watercolor:

The main scenes too:


How long did it take the Mugiwara crew to reach Sabaody Archipelago? After the Mugiwara crew reached the Sabaody Archipelago, they decided to take a "break" for 2 years.

But, before this break, how many month or years did it take for them to reach the Archipelago? How long was it after Luffy was released from the barrel?

According to this World Timeline and this other one, in total we're between the 2 and 3 years. In the first chapter, Luffy was 17, now he's 19.

The break took 2 years, but before that we have some months of Morgan (first antagonist) then Captain Kuro, Don Krieg, Arlong, etc.


Did Best Jeanist die after All for One attack? After this attack,

I thought Best Jeanist have died, and it's hard to imagine how could he have survived that attack and that hole in the stomach, but later Kamui Woods recovers his body along with Mt Lady. It doesnt make much sense to recover a dead body in the middle of a fierce battle, so, what happened after it? Did Best Jeanist die after All for One attack or not?

No, Best Jeanist didn't die after All for one's attack. He is heavily injured, but still alive.
He won't be returning to action anytime soon though.


Why does Gekko Moriah set sailors back out to sea if their zombie version will die? After Moriah takes sailors shadows he puts them on a boat and sends them out to sea. But he says that if the person who the shadow came from dies the zombie they gave the shadow to will die. So why does Moriah send the originals back out to sea? Wouldn't it make more sense to just lock them up so they don't die? Otherwise their zombies would just keep dying.

To understand this situation we need a bit of context into Gecko Moriah. One of the Shichibukai, major antagonist of the Thriller Barque and the user of Kage Kage no Mi. His Devil Fruit power allowed him to manipulate shadows in a physical and tangible form.

Moriah maintains a very relaxed and laid back stance at all times. He rarely fights against his opponents directly, preferring to use his doppelman to outmaneuver them and then steal their shadow. (Luffy and Robin both lost this way). Or he may order his crew to take care of it. In general, he will avoid a conflict all together

His tendency to avoid conflicts shows how he collect shadows for his Zombie Crew. He ambushes pirates in the Florian Triangle, steals their shadows and leaves them adrift at sea. His crew of Abasolom and Perona also have powers of the kind which can defeat an opponent without fighting head on.

However, keeping the pirates whose shadows he has stolen would prove counter productive. One of the reasons Moriah was defeated was because of the pirates whose shadows he stole.

Zombie's Weakness - Brook was able to discover the weakness of Moriah's Zombies because he was left on Thriller Bark
Rebel Alliance - The survivors on Thriller Bark banded together and plotted to bring down Moriah. They understood his powers as well as stole over hundred shadows. They used the shadows to power up Luffy.
Handicap - Due to a weakness to the sun, a Shadowless person would have a great handicap and once set adrift would not be able to search for Thriller Bark properly. However, due to extreme fog in the Florian Triangle, this weakness is negated somewhat.

Tl;Dr. There is a greater chance of Pirates rebelling and stealing their shadows back if they stay on Thriller Bark, rather than if they're sent away because of their instinct of Self preservation. It is also in line with Gecko Moriah's nature to avoid conflict until necessary.


What did Makie talk about with the worker in harbor? I have a question about scene from 5th Episode of Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio Ars Nova anime TV series. (at about 1:20)

It was depicted that Osakabe Makie was talking with a harbor employee with an assistance of military soldier.

Chihaya Gunzou said to Iona when noticied her on monitor:

  That girl... Do you remember her?

My question is: What was she doing there? and What was she talking about?

I assume that

All works on Vibration Warhead were done and they did not need any advises from her.
She didn't yet realize that her guests were of Fog.

Recently, I did broader research (read the manga version). Based on this, I would like to give a try to answer my own question.

  Disclaimer: I do understand that manga and anime of Arpegio of Blue Steel is completely different story but some concepts overlap and there is a possibility that manga-based explanation would work for anime too.

In manga, Osakabe Tojurou gave Makie false memories about her past and her family. According to them, Makie had a grandpa, whom was deeply attached emotionally to. Tojurou used the opportunity that I-401 departed from Yokosuka port (2 years before original plot) and tuned the false memories that her grandpa wend aboard and did never return.

The thing is, Makie heard somehow that I-401 arrived back in the port and planned escape from mansion in order to see her grandpa.

Fact that can help confirm the hypothesis:

She appeared near the same Hangars when found Kirishima's core and Haruna. It was on her way to Yokosuka port.

Fact that can help deny the hypothesis:

In manga, her stuffed bear named Yotarou was gift given by grandpa. In anime we can see photos that she received it from Tojurou himself.


Which special feature does the attack titan have? As far as I understand, there are 9 different types of Titan Power. One can harden his skin, other can become armored, other is a giant, other can gather other titans, etc. Which special power does the Attack Titan have?

As far as we know, immense source of strength and willpower.

Keep in mind that its not only one shifter that can harden their skin. I.e Eren does the same to close the Wall Maria hole.

Origin: When the Progenitor Titan (aka Ymir Fritz) died, her soul was split into 9 parts. But this does not mean that each of those parts had only one special feature. We have seen all 9 titans and some abilities seem hilarious compared to others (for example "The Jaw" Titan vs "The Beast" Titan.

Thus, maybe each of the 9 shifters has multiple abilities which take a lot of training. But this does not mean that the shifters are different from each other based on one ability.


How is a tengu born in "Kamisama Hajimemashita"? In the Kamisama Hajimemashita manga, how does a tengu reproduce if females are forbidden on the tengu mountain? The mountain only consists of male tengus!

Tengu reproduction is not explained in the manga, but Julietta Suzuki hadn't invented them. They are supernatural beings from the Japanese (shinto and buddhist) mythology, having both human and avian features.

The tengu described by the mangaka are very much like the ones in folklore. They live on a mountain in which human rules not apply and they maintain their purity, so probably the folklore can be applied here.
There are various explanations in folklore on how tengu are created, the most common are:

Tengu hatch from giant eggs. There are apparently bird tengu (crows) nesting in the mountains where tengu live.
A tengu soul/spirit possessing an unborn child. The spirit is created when a person dies who is not wicked enough to go to Hell, but not fit for Heaven either.

Kurama Shinjirou, one of the supporting characters is referred to as the Soujoubou's son who is the king of the mountain. There is nothing said about his mother, so probably Soujoubou shapeshifted into a crow to find a mate and Kurama was indeed hatched from an egg. He has nice wings too :)


How was Tamahome able to get out of the book The Universe of the Four Gods? In the last episode of Fushigi Yugi, it was shown that

   Tamahome was able to get out of the book of The Universe of the Four Gods and was able to go to Miaka's world.

How was he able to do that?

If you are referring to the last episode of the anime (i.e. episode 52):

   After Miaka uses up her three wishes, Suzaku grants her wish that she and Tamahome are together forever. But, this wish cannot be completely granted because it goes against the rule that characters in The Universe of the Four Gods cannot be together with people from the real world. Suzaku brings Tamahome into the real world as a separate being named Taka.

This is further expanded on and fully resolved in the OVA (and manga):

   Taka doesn't have his memories as Tamahome because Suzaku sealed them in a duplicate figure called 'Tamahome' in The Universe of the Four Gods. At the end of the OVA, Taka and the 'Tamahome' from inside the book merge into the final 'Taka', who now has all of the memories from the original Fushigi Yugi Series.

And that's how Tamahome comes out of The Universe of the Four Gods


Why didn't Ban look for Elaine instead of staying in prison? In "The Seven Deadly Sins", after the Sins were branded as traitors and the holy knights took over, they each went their separate ways and into hiding. Ban was imprisoned eventually. He stayed there for years even though he could escape. He only got out when he got the word the Meliodas was out and looking for them.

Ever since he came out, he's been trying to look for a way to revive Elaine. I was wondering why he stayed in the prison for so long if he still had such an important thing to do. Why waste all that time when he could have looked for finding a way to revive her.

When Ban escapes from prison he explains that he allowed himself to be imprisoned because back then he craved pain.  This gave him, in a twisted way, pleasure but he grew tired of it. When he heard Meliodas was nearby, he escaped because following him would be more fun than being locked in a cell with bars through his limbs barely being fed.

It takes visiting the after life, having his team fight the resurrected Helbram, and fighting with Captain to decide to go out on his own to resurrect her.  He is obviously more than willing to take any opportunity to bring her back (even betraying his team) if he observes an opportunity.  This seems to indicate that he gave up for a while and did not pursue that goal because he did not know how to bring her back. He didn't seem to have a known way to bring her back but since going off on his own, he has started to search desperately.  I would expect he did the same before going to prison.

Keep in mind that, for an immortal man and long-lived fairies, 5 years isn't a very long time (even though it took much less time to fall for each other).  This was almost like taking a (pleasant?) vacation when he had no clear time constraint on his project despite it's obvious importance to him.  I would assume their was some guilty and self-contempt involved too.


What is intended by a spiral on a character's finger and what is the origin of this trope? I am sure many of you have come across this trope in some anime/manga, where a character gives a thumbs up with an imprinted spiral.

The spiral is probably a simplified hanamaru:

which basically has the same meaning as a thumbs up, or "good job".

The focus of this question, however, is on the spiral that appears on the index finger.

In the two examples shown above, the characters were obviously not showing approval, so the idea of the spiral being a simplified hanamaru is out.

Someone has asked the same question here:

  Spirals. Just spirals. Apparently there are "spirals of depression" and "spirals of happiness?" I think I heard the depression spirals are meant to represent "sad spirits/ghosts" or something like that? But if the character has spirals on her cheeks, she's happy. If there's a spiral on her finger when she points at you, she's being triumphant or prideful. Can anyone clear this up? :3

Is there any source to that statement in bold?

My question is: what is the intended effect of the spiral on a character's index finger, and where did this trope or art style originate from?

As mentioned before, it's a fingerprint.

Usually the spiral only appears when the character's finger/thumb is close to the screen. The reason for this is simply to add detail to something which is taking up a lot of the screen. Look at the image without the spiral:

Because the finger takes up a lot of the screen it's harder to focus on when it's all the same colour. The inclusion of the fingerprint helps break up that space - even if it is a basic design.

The reason it's a spiral is for simplicity's sake. Fingerprints are very intricate and are more trouble that it's worth, unless perhaps the entire animation is ridiculously detailed - otherwise you would get a sharp jarring contrast between the foreground and background:

Obviously, this is exaggerated, but I imagine half-hearted attempts would also look out of place.

  If there's a spiral on her finger when she points at you, she's being triumphant or prideful.

I don't think there's any real evidence to suggest this. This design is used in many situations, often when a character is angry.

TL;DR - It's to break up the area on the finger without going into much detail


How did "other world" or "isekai" stories gain so much popularity and where do they have their roots? There are and have been so many stories of that type being released, especially in the light novel or manga section, and I noticed that these stories often follow a similar pattern and have a similar setting:

the "other world" mostly has a medieval setting and is often constructed as an RPG with a leveling system.
That world normally contains different fictional species (humans, elves, demons etc.) who are usually capable of using magic.

If the protagonist isn't born into that fictional world he's either being transported there or reincarnated. And these two ways also mostly follow a similar pattern, aside from the fact that the original world is Japan in the 21st century:

if he's being reincarnated he'd usually died in his original world, normally due to an accident with a truck.
If he's being transported there it's often due to a summoning by a royal family. They want the summoned "heroes" (it's often not only the protagonist who's been summoned) to help them to defeat the demon king who's invading the country or at least is a threat to the people. If the protagonist wasn't summoned by anyone he often becomes an adventurer.

Where did those "clichés" come from and what makes these types of stories so popular?

Isekai: The genre that took over modern anime is a video by Gigguk that, while amusing, also covers a lot of the actual history. Essentially, the idea of being pulled into another world is at least as old as "Alice in Wonderland" (although you could probably find some proto-isekai in works like Dante's Inferno or even folk tales of the land of Faerie). What's more interesting is that there was a lot of isekai anime around the 80s and 90s, but it was mostly aimed at a female audience; it's only more recently that it flipped to being targeted at the male audience.

Isekai is essentially based in wish-fulfilment, or the desire to insert oneself into a story, so it's a combination of that with the popularity of JRPGs (since that's what most modern isekai are based on). The rise of self-published light novels and manga has then resulted in a lot of source works with self inserts and isekai concepts, which then become popular and get made into anime.

After the genre starts to become popular and develops its tropes, you then start getting the usual response of works that deconstruct and otherwise play with those tropes - things like "What would it actually be like to be pulled into a video game world where you actually die and then respawn at the last save point?" (Re:Zero), or "What would a typical video game player actually be like in a video game world?" (KonoSuba).


Is Yuuki bi/homosexual? In Sword Art Offline 2 7 when Yuuki learned that Asuna was married in-game and she and Kirito had Yui as their daughter, she started saying how she would want to marry Asuna and make her happy and have many babies with her (not knowing how babies are made). This also seems to spark a rivalry between her and Kirito in Sword Art Offline 2 7.

I remember reading that Yuuki in real life is also female and there is some fanart of an Asuna x Yuuki pairing here, here and here.

Now I know that like any other pairing, fanbase shoujo ai/yuri fans would jump at Yuuki's comments in Sword Art Offline. However i am wondering if there is any evidence that indicates that Yuuki is bi/homosexual and that her comments in Sword Art Offline are sincere, that she would want to marry Asuna and (with her limited understanding of hwo) have babies with her.

EDIT: by bi/homosexual I am referring to if Yuuki would have deeper feeling for the same sex.

As someone who's only ever watched the anime series, and someone who's actually consulted some outside help to better explain this, I can reasonably answer:
No.
It isn't uncommon for two girls or two women to hold some kind of affection or level of respect for one another in some capacity.  From my sources, to suggest that they would consider "making babies" with each other implies an opinion that this woman is indeed attractive.
However - and this is a point my source thoroughly stressed - this does not, in any way, imply any form of sexual orientation.
Further to this, given the interactions that Yuuki had with Asuna throughout Mother's Rosario, my impression is that Yuuki held admiration, respect, and love - the kind of love that you'd get from a close family member.  The rivalry between her and Kirito can be seen as more friendly than her trying to one-up Kirito in an effort to win Asuna over.
I also sense a level of admiration and respect from Yuuki of Asuna, given that

 Yuuki is terminally ill and can't really explore the world, which prompted Kazuto to develop technical equipment to allow her to see the world in which she previously existed in, with Asuna's help.  This helped her gain more closure with her situation and, in my assessment, feels more like something an older sister would take on.

With that, I can safely and reasonably conclude that there's no implication whatsoever of Yuuki's sexual orientation.  Respect or admiration of someone who seems awesome from their perspective seems more plausible.
Oh, and don't read too deeply into what fanart depicts.  Give 'em an inch and they'll run to Jupiter with one or two fleeting glances.


How did the villagers know about Naruto being the Kyuubi's jinchuriki? I know that the villagers of Konoha were afraid of the Kyuubi because of its rampage on the village, and that the Fourth Hokage saved the village by sealing it inside Naruto. Based on this answer, the Third Hokage hid his identity to protect him.

Did the Third Hokage hide only Naruto's relation with the Fourth, or also him being the Kyuubi jinchuriki? If so, did the villagers find out because Naruto went out of control with the Kyuubi's chakra?

Edit:
To make clear what I am exactly curious about.

Why didn't they also hide Naruto's identity as a jinchuriki so the villagers will not hate him?

The villagers know that Naruto is the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki because Sarutobi Hiruzen told them!

Here's why: In one of the earliest chapters, Hiruzen tells Iruka that the Fourth Hokage had died hoping the villagers would see Naruto as a hero, who sealed the Kyuubi. The only way Hiruzen could make it happen is by telling the villagers that Naruto was the kid that the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into.

However, he decided not to reveal Naruto's relation to the Fourth Hokage. Note also that Kushina's pregnancy was a highly classified information, known only to Hiruzen, Biwako, Minato, a few ANBU members and some others. Hiruzen could have made up a story that Naruto was a random kid that Minato picked to seal the Kyuubi (or something like that), and few would have suspected or questioned him.

PS: A little plot hole there is that on growing up, Naruto's close resemblance to Minato, along with the Kyuubi story, should have raised a few eyebrows, but Kishimoto probably decided it was not important enough for the "plot" to require an explanation.


Why is Train Heartnet called Black Cat? The main character of Black Cat, Train Heartnet, is called Black Cat. Where did that name come from? Is it a reference to him being an assassin and, as such, being "bad luck" for people whose paths he crosses?

He called himself Black Cat because he brings misfortune. He also said to his victims I have come to deliver some bad luck before he kills them.

The motive of the bad luck also is shown in his number (13) and his birthday (13.4.; 13 => number of bad luck in western countries, while the four is the number for bad luck in Japan). Also his name has 13 characters.


What is the song when Sinbad is attacked by a woman with a baby in her arms on episode 7? Anyone know the piece from the OST for Magi that played in season 1 episode 7 around 18:03-19:10? It's similar to "Enfin apparu", but with piano and violin.

It first starts when Sinbad is attacked by a woman with a baby in her arms. The OST begins with a violin intro and then going into the violin & piano combination that sounds similar to "Enfin apparu", which starts at 18:38.

I think it is "Sentiment actuel 02".

It's the 17th track from the album "MAGI SOUNDTRACK~Up to the volume on Balbad~"


Why Black Zetsu is attached to Kaguya Ootsutsuki? I am wondering why Black Zetsu is attached to Kaguya Ootsutsuki. If he is a part of her body then why he is taking and hiding himself inside of her arm. Who know if he is controlling her.
It seems like more than one questions so make it clear and answer the following one.

Why Black Zetsu is attached to Kaguya Ootsutsuki

Black Zetsu by himself is not powerful enough to take on either Sasuke or Naruto by himself. So, instead of being in the battle field, he's taking cover in Kaguya Ootsutsuki's arm (His mother).

(As we have seen black Zetsu also has a physical body of his own, so taking that as a premise we can deduct that he is not powerful enough to take on the duo)

I believe it's pretty clear that Kaguya is not being controlled. It's just that the will of black Zetsu matches with that of Kaguya unlike her other sons.

Black Zetsu also said (to Uchiha Madara) that he's not the will of Madara's but Kaguya's.


Does Layla have some sort of connection to the X777 event? We all know that the dragons apparently disappeared in the year X777. At the same time, Lucy's mother, Layla Heartfilia, died at the age of 29. I don't know the cause of her death, it's just that I know she passed away at the same year.

Layla Heartfilia seemed to be a powerful Celestial mage given that she had three Golden keys (Aquarius, Capricorn, and Cancer; these three are pretty powerful too) and she probably had more than that (Silver keys or something).

It hasn't been mentioned whether Layla died the same day the dragons disappeared, just that it's the same year, or has it? So I was wondering, could she have had some sort of connection with the disappearance of the dragons?

Yes, the truth about the disappearance of the dragons has been revealed and all, but I still think that there's still something behind this.

  Too bad the dragons can't reveal anything anymore.

I don't think so, if you take a look at the Fairy Tail timeline you see that for some events there is no exact date known.

According to the timeline, these events happened somewhere in the year X777:

Romeo Conbolt is born.
Lector is born.
Layla dies of an unknown illness.

Therefore we can assume that the aforementioned events did not happen on July 7.

Underneath that you see the events of July 7 X777,

All dragons disappeared on 7 July.
Natsu is found by Makarov and invited to join Fairy Tail.
Mystogan left Edolas through an Anima portal and enters Earth Land.
Natsu Dragneel, Gajeel Redfox, and Wendy Marvell's Dragon parents leave them.

I think there is a bigger chance it had to do something with Mystogan coming to Earthland.


Are real-life products always connected to the show they have on their packaging? When I was in Japan, I remember seeing products such as razors with Neon Genesis Evangelion on the packaging, which I found a bit weird, considering that it isn't something that (I remember) showed up in the show. I was wondering: is all/a vast majority anime/real life product placement done as a mutual thing as described in this question, or are there other agreements that real life companies and anime companies have in terms of representation?

This is simply merchandising, and it has nothing to do with the show itself. It's like being able to buy Tshirts, mugs, hand towels, baseball caps, etc with the name/logo/picture of a character/etc from a certain show. It's to make money from something other than DVD/BD sales or in the case of films, box office take.

In certain cases, there's a marketing collaboration. This is almost always a mutual thing, product gets a bit of marketing by placing the anime into its products (hand cream, champagne, eye drops, shaving razors, etc) and the anime gets a bit of marketing from the people who normally buy this stuff anyways. Depending on the specifics of the contract, there could payment for either the property or advertisement or in some cases, royalties.


What is the Equation M use to devour the Metacreatures? In Shikkoku no Sharnoth -What a Beautiful Tomorrow-, when M goes to "devour" a Metacreature, Mary describes that what is M is using is an equation with some of the patterns being Monumental Kadathian.

In Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- which takes place before Shikkoku no Sharnoth, Gii and Kerkan both use the Phenomenon Equation, Gii uses a healing one while Kerkan uses a destruction one however Gii mentions that there are many other Equations that one could use.

So what is the Equation M is using?

It is called the Kruschtya Equation which unlike the Phenomenon Equation, was developed by himself. It is used to bind his original form so he has the appearance of a human, When he "unties" the Equation, his body begins to shape shift back to it's original form

The above image is the most commonly seen form as his final form only appears for a breif moment, there is a hybrid from where just he's head is shown, this is shown in 2 places

In the Shikkoku no Sharnoth Visual Novel when he encounters Bram Stoker at around the same time Troll has been consumed (this may however be his other side who poses as Baron Münchausen as the CG of M laughing shows he has a human face at this moment)
In the Shikkoku no Sharnoth Web Novel where he removes the water spray the fake Metacreature splash on Mary's neck, he does this by changing his head head to it's original form and merging his shadows into Mary's neck to remove the spray that was infecting her body (Sebas mentions just before that it has "permeated below the skin, and is eroding her bodily functions"), however because of the spray's effect on her body Mary does not notice any Equation use


During Frieza Saga, why weren't the other Saiyans like Goku's father be revived with their wish? During Frieza Saga in Dragon Ball Z, when they wished for everyone killed by Frieza and his men to be revived, why weren't the other Saiyans, like Goku's father and mother, be revived from the dead?

Because the wish was for Namek only.

During the final battle of Gokū and Freeza on Namek, Mr. Popo used the Dragon Balls and wished for the revival of all the people on Namek who were killed by Freeza and his men. (Granted)

Source: List of Wishes > Shenron (7th dot point)
This means of course anyone who was killed, either directly or indirectly by Frieza and his army and were not on Namek was not revived.
Should also note that Shenron's power can't surpass his creator and reviving all of those who have been killed by Frieza universe-wide would no doubt be beyond Kami's (and later Dende's) power since there are probably untold millions killed just from being on a planet Frieza blew up.
Super Shenron on the other hand can grant a wish without limitation, so would be the better choice for such a wish (Beerus has claimed Super Shenron could destroy an entire universe if wished to, quite sure reviving a whole bunch of people like that is dwarfed to the opposite of destroying a universe)


Why did Tyuule feel sad? In the final episode Tyuule said to herself that she did what she did to get revenge for her fallen country. But what was that made her sad? The actions that she took, or that she fell in love with the prince Zolzal?

A bit late, but it's because all revenge does is leave empty. So even through Tyuule got what she wanted, she can't feel happy about any of it. They mention it earlier back with Tuka's mental issues and the fire dragon.
Oh and she doesn't love him. Can never love him for all he's done.


Does Dororo meet Hyakkimaru again in the ending? At the end of the anime, Dororo grows up and becomes a beautiful girl, and she is running to Hyakkimaru, right?

Also, he is standing in a field. Which means, does Dororo and Hyakkimaru meet again?

Well, I'm no expert but from what I see I think they do, however not in that instance. Dororo said she'd bring back the money in a few days, the three men didn't seem to be on the bridge but watching Dororo run acrossed it. Hyakkimaru was found at the end, with a smile. I suppose there will be journey and they meet again at a new age. The bridge could represent the journey, and the field could represent the gold Dororo is going to get. Hyakkimaru meeting her there. Don't forget the mother of Hyakkimaru stated  child who would be by his side forever. So, if not meeting then I'm sure they'll meet in the future. Now if it is to be them meeting then its foreshadowing that Dororo becomes a woman of course, and all the time she does she's right there with Hyakkimaru.


How did Natsu solve his transportation problem? In chapter 425, Natsu is seen riding a boar. How come his motion sickness had not kicked in?

He should've built an immunity to Wendy's anti-motion-sickness spell, so why isn't he getting a motion sickness here?

The same as Happy applies. The boar is not a transportation vehicle, it's a living creature.


What is the reference in the scene where the husband says "I don't mind at all"? In episode 8, there was a scene of the husband saying "I don't mind at all" at the begining of the episode, with a deep voice and muscular face.

What is the reference in this scene?

By searching for the phrase that the husband is saying 私【わたし｝は一向{いっこう】に構｛かま｝わん. This image turns up in the search:

From http://diarynote.jp/data/blogs/l/20081228/75450_200812280302078062_1.jpg

The striking resemblance in the style of jaw muscles is enough to confirm the reference.

These entries on Japanese Wikipedia article and Nico Nico Pedia confirms that he is Retsu Kaioh （烈海王） from Baki the Grappler （グラップラー刃牙）.

Regarding his habit of saying "I don't mind at all!" (わたしは一向にかまわんッッ), from the Japanese Wikipedia article:

  劇中の登場人物の中でも、自己鍛錬や強敵との戦いに対する執念の度合いは屈指のレベルを有し、傍目には無謀な挑戦を持ちかけられても「わたしは一向に構わん」と返答するのが口癖と化しているが、これは彼自身の性格や性情のみならず、まだ「海王」の称号を頂く以前に起こった出来事にも起因している節がある。

Rough translation:

  Even among the characters in the story, he possesses an extreme obsession for self-training and fighting against formidable opponent. Although it has become a habit for him to recklessly reply with "I don't mind at all" when approached with a challenge, objectively speaking, this does not only comes from his own personality and nature, but also comes from a principle he started before he got his Kaioh (海王 Sea King) title.


Why did Orochimaru really want to destroy Konoha village in the Naruto series? I started reading naruto manga again. In chapter 620, Sasuke ask Orochimaru, "I know the reason you told me to destroy Leaf Village was a lie. What was the real reason". And then, it strikes me that they never disclosed the real reason in future chapters, so does anyone know why Orochimaru attack Leaf Village?

I used to believe it was due to the fact that Hiruzen didn`t choose him to be hokage. And that was also why he returned to kill his master


Why does Team Rocket always try to catch Pikachu? Very surprised this question has not been asked yet.

In almost every single episode, at least from the first season all the way through to the Unova region, Team Rocket is trying to catch Pikachu to give him to Giovanni. Why do they do this? They often cite reasoning that this Pikachu is special somehow, but is that actually true? Nobody else really talks about how awesome Pikachu is, and he certainly doesn't seem to win very often.

I'm looking for any kind of answer, in-universe, out-of-universe, thematic, humourous, etc.

I have a theory I will post below but wonder if this community could come up with a better answer.

There are multiple reasons (and theories. People won't give up with Pokémon theories & creepy pasta) of why Team Rocket would like to get Ash's Pikachu.

1) In ep65 "The Battle Of The Badge" in Season One, it revealed that the boss asked them to, by team rocket saying to the Jovani "It's even rarer than the Pikachu you want so much". the question remaining is what makes Ash's Pikachu so rare and special?

  In the Season one episode "Ash Catches a Pokémon," when Team Rocket was trying to steal Pikachu, Meowth accidentally says that Ash's Pikachu's power exceeds the power level he would possess as a Raichu (the evolved version of Pikachu).

As said in the wiki, as an example. (I'll try to update the post with a video link).

Which can be interpreted as

  Ash's Pikachu has got more power than a regular Raichu

As you can see in the different seasons of Pokémon, Ash's Pikachu is dunking asses. If you compare it to a regular Pikachu from one of the games, the difference in stats is ridiculous. I mean like... really?

What's more, Pikachu is one of the few Pokémon Ash didn't abandon (I mean.. C'mon, he left Charizard, who in the world would be insane enough to do this? What do you mean, Pokémon have feelings too?), so Ash spent many years training him.

So we can assume that, even if Ash was one of the most incompetent trainers,  Pikachu should be around level 100, giving the Team Rocket another good reason to try to catch him.

2) Another way to see it (not proven at all, just my personal opinion) is that, more than being stupid, Team Rocket is incredibly stubborn, as proven by the hundreds of tries of catching Pikachu. They spent years trying to catch Pikachu, what would be the sense of all this time of their lives if they stopped now? They prefer to keep spending their time trying to catch this Pikachu rather than admitting they lost years of their lives for nothing.

TL;DR : Pikachu OP & Team Rocket stupid


How hot would the Colossal Titan's temperature be? I was writing a story so I was wondering if there is a statement anywhere on the temperature, exact or estimated, of the heat released by the Colossal Titan? Thank you so much if you answer.

Found by googling "attack on titan temperature", from Kūsō Kagaku Dokuhon (空想科学読本, literally “fantasy science reader”) is a series that addresses, queries and explains the science behind popular Japanese anime and manga:

  A 60 metre high Titan would have a body temperature of 602 degrees.

You can buy the source in Japanese on Amazon.


Action/Martial Arts anime with a character fighting with feathers I believe the anime was in the 90's. Artwork looked similar to YuYu Hakusho. Action/Martial Arts anime. One thing that I remembered most about the opening theme was that there was a part where the wind blew past him and he disappered into the with like a ninja.

The main character is a funny guys who plays around too much. He is a great fighter, moves like the wind, and in the beginning of the anime he protects this girls from a group of thugs. He also had a friend who helped him and the girl escape from a bad guy.

His friend uses feathers as weapons. From what I can remember he had red, blue, and black feathers that he used. Some feathers that he threw could turn around like boomerangs. Eventually as the main character escapes with the girl (I think), his friend fights till then end and gets killed.

The killer has this ability where he can copy other people's face by pressing the people he kill face's into the ground, pours some liquid into the ground, puts his face into the mold he created with the dead person's face and he can copy their face.

After killing the main character's friend he goes after the main character with a fake face posing as the main character's friend. That's all that I can remember.

It sounds like Fūma no Kojirō

  Hakuō Academy used to be a prestigious high school, and famous for martial arts. However, because its rival school Seishikan has been cowardly luring its superior students, Hakuō was going to decline. In order to recover from the situation, the acting principal of Hakuō; Himeko Hōjō, sends Ranko Yagyū to the Fūma village in search of the famous Fūma ninja clan for assistance. The leader of the Fūma sent Kojirō to Hakuō, there he faces the notorious Yasha clan who fights for Seishikan led by Musashi Asuka. Kojirō's comrades arrive, resuming an all-out ninja war that began five centuries ago.

There are two twins Kou and Shoryu, who fought with feathers (white, blue, red and black).

In episode 3, Kou fought with two guys, Byakko and Shien. After defeating Byakko, before Kou could deal the final blow to Byakko, he was interrupted and killed by Shien. However, before he died, he managed to kill Shien with a black feather. Byakko, who survived the fight, copied Kou's face by pressing his face to the ground, pouring a liquid in the hole and then immersing his own face into it. This is the scene where Kou fought with the feathers, and this is the moment when Byakko used his "copy ability".

There are 4 kind of feathers:

white feathers are used to attack (they randomly attack the enemy as flying blades) and help to identify the position of the enemy (forming something like a web around the user).
blue feathers are thrown like knives.
red feathers come back as boomerangs stabbing the enemy in the back.
black feathers hide themselves in the shadow of other feathers.

Later in the story, Shoryu would see through Byakko's disguise and fight with him to avenge his brother.

Below are pictures of Byakko and Kou.


Name of song in Episode 8 of No Game No Life at around 6:05 As title says, Looking for name of song at time stamp. It also plays again at 7:20

The song you are looking for is Choisies, produced by SuperSweep. It's the 11th song in the OST list of the anime. Here's the youtube link for the song and the rest of No Game No Life's OST.


Is Deidara a boy or a girl? In the manga his gender is sometimes confused due to the Japanese language's sparse use of third person pronouns, which forces translators to use their own ideas of Deidara's gender to make sentences flow smoothly. This has caused a lot of confusion, since both "he" and "she" are used to refer to Deidara. However, Deidara speaks of "himself" using male pronouns and has been given a very deep, male voice in the anime.

Someone asked me this and it got me pretty confused. In the Naruto Wiki page it says that Deidara was a boy, but I wasn't sure.

http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Deidara

Deidara is a man. He looks like a man, uses pronouns and a way of speaking that is pretty much exclusive to men, and has male voice actors in English and Japanese. While it's not uncommon for women to voice male characters who are young/immature, it is rare for a man to voice a female character.

There is no reason to think Deidara is a girl, and overwhelming evidence to suggest he is a man.


How is Sajin Komamura a wolf? Sajin Komamura is described as being an anthropomorphic wolf in the Wikipedia article, but everyone in the Soul Society is either someone who died or the descendant of someone who died.  There are (as far as I know) no anthropomorphic wolves in the living world, so where did he come from? Was he born that way, created, or is there some other explanation?

Bleach episode 539 has some answers.

Komamura is talking to his great grandfather:

   Who is a huge canine himself. From this it is clear that a canine appearance is a family trait. The conversation also reveals that they do have a special status, though it is not clear what exactly their role in Soul Society is. It is, however, clear that Komamura was born this way.

Bleach 556 has some further information - in a flashback to his previous encounter with his great grandfather, who says:

    So, he is not a wolf, but a werewolf. The clan originated in soul society, were banished, but did come back.


What is the significane of 8 in Anime and Manga? I have recently noticed 8 is a pretty common number in the manga I have been reading. Like Samurai 8 and Kaiju NO.8 have the number in their title. There are also 8 gyms in pokemon. Like the number 8 seems very important. Is it related to how the number 4 in Japanese sounds like death?

It all comes down to superstition.
4 and 9 are considered "unlucky" numbers because of their phonological resemblance to the words 死 (shi – death) and 苦 (ku – suffering).
7 and 8, however, are considered luckier. 7's luckiness is steeped in Buddhist tradition and folklore. 8, which is written as 八 in kanji, is reminiscent of a strong foundational base, like a mighty sugi or ginkgo tree or a firm architectural feat.


Which chapter/version of One Punch Man the battle between Tank Top Master and one of Bofoi's drone is in? A One Punch Man wikia states there is a battle between Tank Top Master and One of Bofoi's drone. Which chapter/version of One Punch Man (webcomic/manga/audiobooks) is this battle in?

The Battle between Tank Top Master and one of Bofoi's drone happened in Vol 7 Bonus Manga 1: Big Construction.

As for their battle:

   The association thought they were under attack because of Bofoi's Drone, at that time Tank top master and other tank top heroes is at the hero association so they are deployed to "defend" their base.


Are manga artists really pressured by the editors not to put dangerous or illegal scenes in their works? In the Monthly Girls' Nozaki Kun (both in the episode 1 of the anime and chapter 1 of the manga), Nozaki tells Sakura that the bicycle scene cannot have tandem riding because it is against the vehicle law and he can't display that in his manga.

But the same tandem riding is shown in several current works (like episode 12 of "Your Lie in April" - Kaworu rides Kousei's bike standing up).

So, does the statement by Nozaki-kun have any real world parallel? Are manga artists really pressured by the editors not to put dangerous or illegal scenes in their works?

Is there any law in place forbidding this display of "illegal" activities?

Keepe in mind that Nozaki's manga is aimed at girls 15+ in his fictional world.

I think what separates Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun and Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) is the intent. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, as senshin commented, was most likely comedic exaggeration. On the other hand, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso used that vehicle law as an opportunity to show the strength of the protagonist and the recurring characters' friendship (that they would even have to break the law to get their friend where he needs to be, and even cut classes).

In relation to this, Japan also has a peculiar (to foreigners) culture of independence. Their family makes them take the public transportation rather than drop them off with the family cars. It's a huge no-no to personally drop them off. This, as believed, helps them grow in independence; yet, while only a culture, anime usually portrays a wealthy kid (usually a young lady) dropped off with(out) butlers. This leads to two diverging meanings in the anime:

the pride of the wealthy kid, or
the embarrassment for not being "independent."

Showing this delivers, as mentioned, differing intents.

(Although the comparison between a law and a culture is different, their value seems similar, so you can take it with value.)


Was Sailor Moon edited in the English version? Was Sailor Moon edited for the English version, to show less in the transformation when they are naked? Was it originally meant for children?

In general, Sailor Moon was heavily edited for the US release as detailed by fans for example here. In particular nudity was avoided as exemplified below.

The source of these images is this comparison between the US and the German version. While the German version is not completely uncensored (see the linked site for details) it is almost equal to the Japanese original and does not have censorship of nudity.

Regarding the transformation scenes in particular: Many sites claim the US censorship manifested itself in removal of the breast outlines, however all examples I find on youtube look the same to me. The two sites mentioned above also say that the only change is a speed-up of the transformation - likely to fit the overall episode runtime due to other edits.

Other changes include the removal of violence in particular against children and gender changes as not to display homosexuality. This all pertains to the original US release, while subsequent ones apparently stayed more true to the Japanese original.

To address the second question, as Skullclutter already mentioned Sailor Moon is considered a shōjo series and therefore aimed at young women.


How much of the normal process of doing alchemy can be circumvented by seeing Truth? I saw someone on the internet wonder if Ed and Al are capable of doing flame alchemy because they have seen Truth. This bothered me, since this would negate the idea that flame alchemy was difficult to learn and that via destroying Hawkeye's tattoo, it would be possible to avert the existence of another flame alchemist (vol. 14).

Someone suggested that it's possible from an omake where Ed finds Roy's lost gloves, puts them on, and creates an explosion. (Click to see images.)

However, this is an omake so I doubt it can be taken completely seriously, and moreover, Ed does not seem to have any of the technique Roy has honed. Yet at least with flame alchemy, where manipulation of gas concentrations is necessary (vol. 1), technique and precision seem to be crucial. Given this, I would normally expect to be what Ed describes as a "rebound".

Does seeing truth indeed allow alchemists to circumvent the normal learning process, provided that they at least have a rough idea of what materials are involved and the arrays needed, if they are lacking in the specific techniques that would normally be indicated by the ability to use an array? (The latter bit is necessary; otherwise, there's no reason why Ed and Al don't learn for three years how the philosopher's stone is created.)

Of the four alchemists who have seen Truth in FMA, all of them seem to only have gained the ability to perform alchemy without an array, and if I'm not mistaken, we only ever see them perform transmutations that they can be presumed to have already known beforehand. We do see Ed use Scar's deconstruction technique once, but unlike with flame alchemy, there's no question of needing the correct combination of materials or precise "technique" here.

I am looking for answers based on the manga.

From my understanding, all that seeing Truth does is allow one to create an Alchemy Array with their own body (as opposed to drawing it). it should be noted that in the 2003 Anime1 that even though Ed could have been doing circle free Alchemy from the moment after he and Al tried to being their mother back he still used circles. his first discovery that he didn't need them was when Gracia was giving birth and his second attempt was during the State Alchemist Exams

Mustang knows all the finer details of his alchemy because he had to learn it all from himself just from the Tattoo Riza has on her back which was placed there by her father, and further simplified it to be a smaller circle

  Flame Alchemy is the brainchild of the master alchemist Berthold Hawkeye, who had spent several years perfecting it before his death from illness in 1905. Believing it to be the greatest and most powerful form of alchemy possible, Hawkeye refused to pass on the knowledge to Roy, who was his apprentice at the time, and instead entrusted the secrets of his search for knowledge to his young daughter Riza - tattooing the perfected array onto her back as the only physical record of its existence. The full array appears to consist of a circle corralling an inverted hexagram made up of a large air triangle and a large earth triangle, both splitting into identical pairs as they intersect, with a fire triangle at the center, pointing upward toward a flame. Below the hexagram is an image of a salamander. Outside the circle is a pair of entwined basilisks and the text of the "Libera Me" responsory repeated multiple times. After Roy gains Riza's trust and takes the Flame Alchemy knowledge for himself, he modifies the symbol somewhat for his gloves (removing the text and the basilisks in favor of a simplified circle).

Source: Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemy (4th Paragraph)

while the Omake being canon can be questioned, logically Ed could just as well do the exact same with Mustang's gloves as they are a simplified form but he wont have the finer control that Mustang has and will most like just cause very big explosions...or blow himself up.

Outside from using the gloves, Ed would still need to know the kind of Array to use to subconsciously alter his internal array and the procedure needed to utilize it. as for understanding the Array Ed has demonstrated in Lab 5 that he is quite knowledgeable (understanding the one to create the philosophers stone and altering it to be more efficient) which one can assume the ability to understand array's he's never seen before comes from the knowledge he gained from The Gate and Truth (as knowledge on Homunculi would have came from books he already read, after learning about Winry's parents Ed says he read about them in a book), as such looking at Berthold Hawkeye's array he may in fact be able to understand it quicker than Mustang. though at it's current state with the important aspects for it having been destroyed by Riza's request Ed would probably need to study in order to figure out what is needed to complete it

1: Brotherhood skips a lot of Ed's early years but i do remember events from the 2003 anime being the same as the manga (ie, Bald, Nina being chimeratized and killed by Scar, Barry the Chopper) so it stand to reason that up until Yuswel it is more or less the same


Song played at Noragami Aragoto episode 12 19:00 What is the name of soundtrack used in Noragami Aragoto episode 12 @ 19:00 when Yato cuts Pacification ring?

It's the 11th song on the Noragami Aragoto soundtrack Footsteps. The portion we hear during that scene starts at minute 1:17 and crescendos around 2:00 when Yato uses Sekki.


Why do anime villains always wait for the whole duration of whatever character is giving the speech before attacking? I mean, yeah I would like to listen to Naruto's speeches and his 5000 flashbacks with that swing in front of the Academy, but does the villain want to listen also? They wait for the characters to stop talking or planning or whatever to attack. I don't really get it from the villain's viewpoint because it's better to just get on with it, right?

Anime comes from manga. And manga (and comics) as a story-telling medium is limited to panels. Each panel can contain a drawing accompanied by texts. The drawing can only show a "slice" of an event in time, since showing the entire sequence isn't feasible. For example, a hero running while talking can be depicted in a single panel with a lengthy dialog.
Since anime, like Naruto, are adaptation of the manga, these scenes are translated into animation with little divergence from the original material. And these types of scenes, where the enemy would wait for you to stop talking, flashbacks, or finished transforming, becomes more obvious and may look ridiculous.


How is the use of the red stones able to bypass equivalent exchange? In the 2003 series, we see on different occasions that the red stones are used as an unstable alternative to the philosopher's stone despite the fact that they do not have any souls entrapped in them. They're just artificially synthesised.

If so, why was prophet Cornello able to apparently bypass equivalent exchange using the red stones? More controversial is the revival of birds by alchemy using a red stone. Why are homunculi fed with red stones as a source of souls? It all just doesn't add up.

In this story line, a Red Stone does indeed have the power to bypass the natural laws of alchemy such as1:

The requirement for transmutation circles
The Law of Equivalent Exchange
The required alchemical knowledge to perform alchemy

The goal of alchemists was to find a way around the known laws of alchemy, which is why they had the goal of creating the Philosopher's Stone in the first place. Red Stones are a result of their efforts at such research and thus have similar capabilities as a true Philosopher's Stone. However, while they do not require human sacrifice, they are not as powerful and can cause adverse effects to the user in the form of rebound. An example of these rebounds is the effect on Cornello's arm when the Red Stone crumbled.

As far as your question about the birds, there has been a similar question already asked here on stack exchange.

It's important to note that the information I've provided is only relevant to the 2003 production. In the original manga, Red Stone is simply another name for a Philosopher's Stone, and the stone Cornello used crumbled because it had run out of souls. Ed believed it to be a fake because he was still under the impression that the Philosopher's Stone was a source of unlimited power1.


What is Pluton and its relation with the Void Century? What exactly is Pluton and regarding that, what is so special about the Void Century?

Pluton is one of the 3 Ancient Weapons capable of mass destruction. The other 2 are Poseidon (currently Shirahoshi) and the ancient ship, Pluton.

Uranus is not shown yet but if speculations are to be considered, it is said that it is a giant machine that can eradicate a single country.

Void Century as its name implies, a century that is hidden by the World Government to the public. It is a century where the 20 kingdoms fought against the "D" and won. After the War, they've joined together and formed the World Government as their acting police and their descendants are the Celestial Dragons. The only exception was the Nefertari family who refused to join them in Mariejois, the holy land of the Celestial Dragons.

Not much is known what happened during the void century because it is clouded in mystery. Only a few people are known to have knowledge about it, including the Ohara people where Robin came from, and Roger himself.

It is heavily implied that the Void Century, D, and Poneglyphs are heavily connected.


Is the Omnimon reference in Season 2 relating to the first Movie? When DNA Digivolve is discovered in Season 2, Izie says that they had seen the evolution happening once before, with Wargraymon and Metalgarurumon DNA Digivolve into Omnimon.

From my understanding, he doesn't make any appearance in the first season and only appears in the first movie.
I'm wondering if Izie is referring to this or if I missed any other Omnimon appearance.

Yes, this is a reference to the first movie. The only other time Omnimon makes an appearance is in Digimon Movie 2 Revenge of Diaboromon where he is defeated and gives his power to Imperialdramon Fighter Mode in order to create Imperialdramon Paladin Mode.