Question about Danzo's Isanagi So according to Madara, whenever a Sharingan eye uses the Isanagi, it casts an ultimate genjutsu on itself and whenever the caster is hurt / dies, it manipulates the genjutsu. The genjutsu is so powerful that it blurs the line between reality and fantasy and thus the weilder is healed / ressurected. But whenever the weilder is ressurected, the Sharingan eye dies.

Danzo wanted to increase the duration of his Isanagi and wanted to be able to possess more than one Sharingan eye so asked Orochimaru to implant the cells of the 1st hokage in his right arm to get the wood style and then implanted 10 sharingan eyes in his now powerful right arm. So he had "10 lives"

Am I right till now?

Then my question is, what was Karen, during the fight, was talking about one eye closing every 60 seconds? I thought an eye closed after the isanagi ressurected the weilder..then whst was thing about an eye closing every 60 seconds?

As per the Wiki Entry on Izanagi

  This technique would normally be used for only the most dire of situations and for but a brief moment as after the Sharingan with which Izanagi was casted exceeds its limit, the said eye becomes powerless and is rendered blind permanently

And the most useful entry, specifically about Danzo

  Danzō Shimura, in an effort to make practical use of the technique, had ten Sharingan embedded into his right arm. To use Izanagi to its full potential, users must also have the genetic traits of the Senju, who are also descended from the Sage. Partially for this reason 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, allowing him to use the technique for up to ten minutes in total, with breaks in between to conserve time. However, because Danzō is not an Uchiha, his chakra levels drop substantially every time he activates this technique.

So, the eye goes blind when it goes past its limits, not when it rewrites death. In fact, It can rewrite almost anything that happens in its influence while its active, not just death. Doing so does so little strain to the eye, its considered negligible compared to actually maintaining Izanagi.


Why does Minori have a flower on her head? In Toradora SOS - Hurray For Foodies (as listed on the DVD Cover of the NISA English Dub Release), I understand why Taiga and Ami have animal ears (Taiga is supposed to be the Plam Top Tiger and Ami is a dog because Taiga calls her Chihuahua). However, why does Minori has a flower on her head?

Example (subbed)

NOTE: Toradora SOS 1 and 2 are on the first BluRay disc which had Episode 1 - 9 and I don't recall any character trait of Minori which would indicate the reason for the flower in those episodes.

This is a little tenuous, but the kanji in Minori's name seem to have kind of a plant theme to them. In Japanese, her name is written 櫛枝 実乃梨 (Kushieda Minori). The kanji 枝, read eda, has the meanings "bough", "branch", "twig". The kanji 梨, read as ri, means "pear tree". That could be why they chose to symbolize her with a flower.

Denshi Jisho page on the kanji in Minori's name.


What happened to Shishui Uchiha? In Naruto anime, though at first Itachi was accused for murdering his best friend, Shishui Uchiha. But later, it was revealed that Shishui gave one of his eyes to Itachi. But the next day, he was found dead. But what happened to Shishui? Did Danzo kill him?  But he already snatched his other eye before Shishui met Itachi. I did not understand if it was shown in the anime.

You can search on the wiki about the character..

What you have seen in the anime, contains more story than in the manga.
The only thing that we learned from the manga was that, Shisui gave one of his eyes to Itachi because Danzo had the other eye already. In order to hide his other eye from Danzo, he found Itachi and gave him the eye.

The truth about his death is as explained (from the wiki):

  Fearing that Danzō was right in Shisui's inability to stop the
  Uchiha's revolt and that the elder would continue to pursue his left
  eye as well, Shisui entrusted it to Itachi, telling him to protect
  both the village and the Uchiha name. Shisui wrote a suicide note
  telling his clan he cannot follow through with the coup d'etat, but
  his clan's narrow mindedness made them unable to understand this,
  believing he would even sacrifice innocent lives for the sake of the
  Uchiha Clan. The contents of the suicide note also made it appear as
  though he had crushed his eyes when jumping off a cliff into the Naka
  River to kill himself in order to prevent conflict from arising over
  his eyes within the clan. He, at the same time, was able to erase
  his existence, leaving no corpse behind. In the anime, Shisui
  was also hoping to use his death to awaken Itachi's Mangekyō
  Sharingan, succeeding in the goal.


What is the range of Amaterasu? Distance-wise, what is the longest distance in which Amaterasu will ignite its target? Does it have unlimited range? For example, if someone used Amaterasu on the moon from the earth, or on the Hokage Monument looking at it from a mile away, would they catch flame?

I believe the range is as far as the user of Amaterasu can see.


Why does Miki keep pulling out a stopwatch? I'm currently on episode 10 of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and I've noticed that at certain points someone (most likely Miki, if I'm not mistaken) will pull out something that looks like a stopwatch or a counter. (This happens in the beginning of episode 10 when the Student Council is discussing the next duelist, and also happens earlier in some of the points concerning Nanami.) Some sort of clicking sound will accompany this.

But I'm not really sure what this is supposed to signify (if anything). Is Miki counting something, or is this supposed to just set the tone for something? If so, what is this "something"?

Update: In episode 11, Miki pulls out a stopwatch again after asking Touga if he's just treating his sister like a pet (in the translation I was watching) and states a "time" of 6.54 seconds. But I'm still not sure what he's counting. Afterwards, the discussion immediately goes back to Nanami's loss to Utena.

Yes, it is a stopwatch. Ikuhara Kunihiko (Director/Producer, Storyboards, Original Concept) answered this question in an Animage interview with Be-Papas, the animation studio that created Utena:
Translation by a fan:

Animage magazine: The next question came up most often.
Question: What does Miki measure with his stopwatch? (reader from Hokkaido)
Ikuhara: Let’s just say that it’s connected with the structure of the world.
All: (laugh).
Enokido Yoji (Animation Composition, Chief Screenwriter): That’s a really hard-to-understand answer.


After the events of Golden Wind, did Polnareff's soul stay in Coco Jumbo's body? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind (Part 5), did Polnareff's soul stay in Coco Jumbo's body after the events of Golden Wind?

We don't know. He was never mentioned again in any media (at least in the 'main' universe, and not in the SBR universe, as I have not read part 7-8.)


Is the illustrator of Shokugeki no Soma a hentai mangaka? Whenever I saw some good art or illustration I usually try to find the artist, and when I search for "Shun Saeki" (He is Shokugeki no Soma illustrator) I came across this topic on MAL. Shun Saeki, the illustrator of this series is a H mangaka.

Is this true that Shokugeki no Soma artist is a hentai mangaka? Looking how the foodgasm is drawn I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

NSFW Foodgasm

Googled "Shun Saeki" wouldn't get any satisfying result, so I tried "Saeki Shun" and found out that he really is a hentai artist under the name Tosh on circle Hikakuteki Simple na Panty.

This is one of his other manga titled Yuukai Trouble

Almost all of his work have explicit content


How are Sea-Prism Stone items made Zoro couldn't cut them and they are stated to be as hard as diamond. So how are Sea-Prism Stone items made?

In the Alabasta Arc, Smoker revealed that Seastone has "Sea Power" and therefore nullifies abilities just like salt water. In other words, vegapunk discovered its usage, this was revealed by Smoker and confirmed by Coby after Water-Seven Arc.

Vegapunk was able to coat ship bottoms with seastone, enabling them to pass through the calm belt without alerting the Sea monsters to their presence. He discovered a way which is yet unrevealed but confirmed by Coby back then to make tools, handcuffs, and weapons, out of seastone.


Is Dio's The World actually allowing him to move at the speed of light? According to physics, stopping time would comes with a lot of hindrances such as:

When stopping time, everything including molecules are stopped. You are stuck where you because you can't move air molecules out of the way. Also breathing would be literally impossible.
With all molecules stopped, there would be no heat generated. Your environment would become zero degrees Kelvin (the temperature at which molecules stop moving) and you would freeze to death.
Stopping time stops photons of light from moving, so you are unable to see

Also if Dio actually stopped time, how would this work if his stand only has a 10 meter radius? That means he's creating numerous time ripples because his time stop doesn't apply to anything beyond 10 meters.

Would this mean that instead of stopping time, he is actually moving at the speed of light? According to one hypothetical question on the physics stack exchange, moving at the speed of light would make time appear to stop.

There's going to be some amount of magical hand waving in any time manipulation ability and I haven't seen Jojo or "the world" but perhaps it could be similar to a time stop from Artemis Fowl. A time stop is a finite zone in which time is stopped for the consciousness of all conscious beings inside. To those inside the only effect is that all communications and time dependent devices (clocks, TV, Phone signal, etc.) are stopped and living beings cannot fall asleep. Any natural processes happen normally, there's no wind but you can breathe but you cannot physically leave because the outside world doesn't exist in relation to a time stopped zone. When the time stop ends those affected by it instantly have their time set to normal time (e.g. if time is stopped at noon for 4 hours you experience noon for 4 hours and when it ends your time resumes normally from 4 pm). To those outside the field nothing appears wrong with the time stopped area and you can walk into it but any conscious beings who were inside are gone, trapped in past at the moment the time stop started and will only reappear when it ends. The time stop apparently only traps your consciousness in that moment and detains the body of anyone affected until it ends, this is why I guess the whole molecules/photons not moving isn't a problem.


Is Blackbeard afraid of Luffy? Why does Blackbeard send Burgess to assassinate Luffy? Is he afraid of him?
I mean with his 2 Devil Fruit powers, he is overpowered.
Even just with his Yami Yami no Mi, he won quite easily against Ace, and now he also has the Gura Gura no Mi and a strong crew.

So is there a special reason for him to kill Luffy? And why not do it himself? Does he fear the D in Luffy's name?

Blackbeard did not send Burgess to kill Luffy, he did not even know Luffy was at Dressrosa to begin with. Blackbeard originally had send out Burgess to Dressrosa to get the Fire Fruit. Later it was Sabo who ate the Fire Fruit, but it looks like not much people knew about this. The only thing most people really knew, was that Lucy had eaten the Fire Fruit.

Later when Sabo blew up the colosseum, Burgess realized that Lucy was not Luffy any more, because Luffy already ate a Devil Fruit before and could not eat a second. He just did not know who actually ate the fruit and thought that person would have been long gone by now. That's why he went for the next best thing, not having to go home empty handed. Though, when Sabo showed Burgess, that he had eaten the Fire Fruit, Burgess completely forgot about Luffy and turned his attacks towards Sabo instead, still hoping to get the Fire Fruit eventually.

On a side note: Blackbeard never targeted Luffy for personal reasons. He originally wanted to kill Luffy to make a name for himself, but after he became a Warlord, he did not care much for Luffy any more. He could have easily destroyed Luffy at Impel Down, but he had other ambitions by that time, other than the one he had at Mocktown, Jaya.


How and how much do the dolls know about the other dolls? Preface: This is coming entirely from the anime’s perspective and yet without the 2013 one, which I've only started watching.

We are introduced to Shinku, Hina-Ichigo, Suigintou, Suiseiseki and Souseiseki in the first season in order of appearance. Bara-Suishou and Kanaria are introduced in the first and third episodes of Träumend, respectively. During episode 1 of Träumend, Shinku explicitly refers to herself as the fifth Rozen Maiden doll, and Bara-Suishou answers to the seventh.

In episode 1 of the OVA Ouvertüre, we learn that Shinku then only knew about three Rozen Maiden dolls at the time of Ouvertüre. However, for some reason, she knows that there should be seven. Also in that episode, Shinku gets to know Suigintou for the first time.

   She finds out, that Suigintou is broken and initially does not even have a Rosa Mystica thus concluding that she shouldn’t be a Rozen Maiden. However in the second OVA episode, Suigintou has been restored after defeat and granted a Rosa Mystica, obviously making her a true Rozen Maiden.

In episode 12 of Träumend, we learn that

   Bara-Suishou was not an original Rozen Maiden but rather an Enju Maiden being crafted by a different doll maker. It is not clearly revealed as far as I can tell whether she has a Rosa Mystica but she cannot cope with winning the Alice game and thus the other six girls’ Rosa Mysticas, possibly because she is not pure enough. In any case, the situation is restored to a pre-Alice-game situation where only those dolls defeated by Rozen Maidens stay defeated: Hina-Ichigo and Souseiseki (by Shinku and Suigintou).

 I conclude from these facts, that Bara-Suishou is quite a bit younger than the other dolls.

Therefore, the dolls must somehow know that there are seven of them but not who they are until they met each other.

Why did they know that they must be seven?
How and why did they know the how many-th doll they are?

   How was it possible that none of the six met the seventh proper Rozen Maiden in the over 100 years that they had been living and fighting all over the world, so that they all assumed Bara-Suishou to be the proper seventh?

   Shouldn’t there have been any clues for the other dolls that Bara-Suishou is ‘non-canonical’? E.g. the scene at the end of Träumend 10 where they meet Enju and call him father.

The question "How and how much do the dolls know about the other dolls?" is hard to answer by the anime perspective.

The anime storyline started to differ from the original manga storyline, and the differences became great enough that they can be considered different works.

Not many details are included about the dolls' past in the anime, and the plot offered in both Träumend and Ouvertüre was discontinued, as they were animation original plots, not related to the manga storyline, so what we have seen is all we have to try and deduce answers for that specific scenario.

The second manga series advanced the manga story, and gave more information about the Rozen Maiden's past. And it contradicts and negates the information given by Ouvertüre.

It is revealed that, at first, the dolls all lived together in what they called "The Miniature Garden", altought it was more of a big deposit than a real garden. They spent time together, playing around.

Yet, events happened, and while they expected their creator to be making a seventh doll, neither the seventh nor their creator ever appeared, and as they started to question wether they had ben abandoned and forgotten, LaPlace appeared before them and started the Alice Game.

So, by the manga plot, the six know maidens all knew about each other, because they lived together as sisters before the game began. But they never knew if a seventh really existed.

But the manga plot also does not have a Bara-Suishou. She exists only for the anime plot.

As for the actual seventh doll, the reason none of the maidens met her over the years, is because the seventh doll did not have a real body, so she was not able to properly participate in the game.

Sorry, but since I still haven't finished reading the manga, this is all I know at the moment.


What is the meaning behind HOMRA motto? Every time HOMRA are about to battle, they always shouting "No Blood! No Bone! No Ash!" Does it have any meaning? Somehow I can relate "ash" to their burning power. (but it's just my assumption, and I don't know about the other)

HOMRA (吠舞羅, homura). It's not 炎, the spelling is different.

The Arabic word "حمرة" which means "redness" must be the origin, it is the red clan after all, and the spelling is identical. (try the speaker button on Google Translate for the pronunciation)

In season 2 episode 3, Kismet is from an Arabic origin as well.


Why doesn't Usopp create great weapons for himself? Usopp is the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates and also a craftsman who created weapons like his fake 5 ton hammer. He also created a sort of a "magic" weapon, Clima Tact that he made for Nami.

I wonder why Usopp did not create another "magic" weapon for himself? He can make one for himself, right? I know he has Pop Green which he uses frequently, but it's more of an ammunition for him than a weapon. Why doesn't he create some weapons for himself?

He does.

Not only does Usopp have hammers (which are quite modest), but he uses a variety of gadgets to help him though most are ineffective and funny. He uses Caltrops, fingernails on chalkboard, grapling hooks, suction cup shoes, and fireworks. He also uses several dials from Skypeia but these are few and far between.

The more impressive weapons are his slingshots.  He has had three.  The first seems to just be a normal slingshot but he made the latter two and they are amazing. Kabuto uses dials to accelerate the shot fast enough to snipe targets a long distance away. Kuro Kabuto is actually a living more dynamic version of Kabuto.

Finally, Usopp's lies are his main weapon but that is not really relevant to this question.

The impressive thing about Nami's Clima Tact is the part Usopp can't replicate. It originally contained a series of gimmicks and tricks that seem to make sense as the kind of silly thing Usopp would make for himself. Nami was able to use that in very unexpected ways with her weather knowledge and amazing intelligence (third highest in the history of the East Blue which is about 1/5th of the entire world).  Later versions of the Clima Tact have more of her input so are less silly.  They depend on her weather and scientific knowledge which Usopp simply doesn't have.


Why do the racoons in pompoko have such large genitalia? I was surprised when I saw, watching PomPoko with my family, that the characters had really, REALLY large ahem ... well see for yourself:

I mean, that can't be natural can it? I'm pretty sure last time I saw a racoon it didn't have that part so huge.

Is it perhaps some other body part? You can see their tails in the below picture as they use the flesh for parachutes, so I'm sure it's not that. It does seem to be coming from their nether regions though.

What is up with these racoons?

The racoons in this film aren't the usual ones the West would know of. They are in fact Tanuki and are better know as Racoon Dogs in English.

Still, you can see from the picture above that they aren't as heavily endowed as the ones in the Ghibli film. This is because the film takes the concept from Japanese folklore.

In Japanese folklore, the Tanuki are shape-shifters, much like the kitsune fox. They're generally tricksters, but they have positive connotations in Japan despite their fearsome nature in older times. The humongous scrotum only came about in the Edo period in Ukiyo-e drawings - the precursor to several other drawn art forms, and eventually, to manga.

Some drawings of tanuki flyfishing and pulling a ballsack-boat to shore.

I recommend reading Tofugu's article on tanuki if you want to learn more about these creatures.


What was Kakashi's name when he was in the Anbu? I want to know what Kakashi's name was in the Anbu because Yamato's real name is Tenzo which is very different.

I am pretty sure Kakashi's code name was never revealed or touched upon as I've seen pretty much the entire series.

Fanfics do have names such as Hound but nothing shows that I was ever mentioned in the anime or manga or even any light novel.

Kishimoto Sensei might've answered a question in an interview (highly unlikely though) but I haven't seen any evidence for that yet too

Also I read on this Yahoo Answer that names were usually changed after the missions but I couldn't find anything supporting this assertion.


What is the song from Naruto Shippuden episode 48 - Bonds at 3:10? This song is common in many episodes and even appears several times in one episode. It's kind of a sad music with male vocals and instrumentals such as some kind of flute or something similar. It's from episode 48 titled "Bonds" of Naruto Shippuden and starts close to 3:10.

it's this song here

Naruto Shippuden OST 1 - Track 28 - Shippuu Kumikyoku ( Hurricane Suite )

the singing starts at 0:40


Who did the prime minister call? At the end of Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig, the prime minister was placed under arrest. She then calls someone from her phone (after the Americans don't answer her), and gets her power back.

The other characters kept saying, "She couldn't have called...", but we are never told who she called.

Who did she call?

It seems that the prime minister had acquired a modest amount of military backing and/or created task forces that the governing body (and section 9) were unaware of.

Similar to the clone army in Star Wars, Sifo-Dyas believed he had commissioned the secret army "for the Republic" to be held in reserve for the coming conflict. Neither the ruling party nor the Jedi council were aware of "their" army.

Exerpt from wiki:

  "During the refugee crisis, she is arrested under charges of treason
  for requesting United Nations intervention in the crisis, though this
  action on the part of the Ruling Party chairman was not sanctioned
  by either party, or electorate - her escape from custody and the aid
  of Section 9 prevented this secret coup d'état from becoming a
  reality, and also then sent a clear signal to the American Empire that
  Japan prefers a Stand-alone status within the international community.

  This demonstration of capability, and the calling in of favours owed
  at the height of the crisis increased her ability to control Japan in
  the wake thereof. She also demonstrated that she held clout from a
  military stand-point: The JASDF was her tool of choice for reminding
  the contending land and sea force commanders where Japan's true
  military prowess was to be found, from both a domestic and military
  stand-point. Kayabuki displayed great wisdom by selecting Daisuke
  Aramaki and Major Kusanagi as personal advisors that prevented
  potentially cataclysmic events during the beginning of her
  premiership."

The bottom line is that she used the state's military forces (the two jets that buzzed the American sub), to protect the state, from the state, all without the state even knowing. Refusing to contribute to genocide against the refugees (and possible future citizens), the JASDF branch she called was obviously led by a patriot* who backed the State, rather than the Leadership.

Edit: *Actually, it is unclear as to whether or not the JASDF commander knew that Kayabuki had been arrested and was being fired. I like to believe in "true patriots" standing up for what's right, but it's also possible that the JASDF commander was simply not aware of Takakura's actions and would have refused Kayabuki's order, if he'd known. Since Kayabuki was being fired but wasn't fired yet (publicly), he also may have just been "following orders". The JASDF excercise is called a "favor", which leans toward the commander knowing the details of the situation and voluntarily following Kayabuki's order.


Meaning of the term 'plotless' I need an elaborate answer to this question. After one of the answers I got from another question where a particular film jargon ("plotless story") was used, I read a wiki page and found that plot (narrative) means the chain of events which are linked to each other. In every show which is made for entertainment, there must be a link between events otherwise it would make no sense to watch it. Imagine a hypothetical "plotless show" where two characters completed unrelated to each other, die because of completely unrelated reasons, it'd rather be called a set of random events rather than a show.

When people say "this anime has no plot", what do they actually mean? Are they talking about two episodes not connected to each other?

@torisuda has it correct:

  It means a story that lacks an overarching narrative

For an example of a plotless show, see Lucky Star.

The characters are the same in each scene, but every scene is distinct from each other. In one scene they might be talking about how to eat a chocolate cornet, another they might be talking about video games.

There are jokes that are referred to again - for example how Kagami is a tsundere. But this isn't a narrative or simply put - a story.

Your definition of narrative is correct:

  the chain of events which are linked to each other

but, it fails to contextualize the links. the links are items that further the plot's progression - for example: a hero beats a villain who was blocking the path, the girls perform in a concert that raises their fame, etc.

Links like reusing jokes, same characters - or generally things of no overall consequence do not contribute to the story/plot.

If we have no links like we described, the show can be called plotless.

Feel free to comment if you want me to expand on something.


Where do they get fuel for the tank? The crew of "Those who hunt elves" ride around the countryside on a tank. But the countryside is a medieval setting.

So how do they refuel their tank?

Was it ever explained in the series/manga?

Or I have to just suspend disbelief and chant the MST3K mantra?

I've never read or watched Those Who Hunt Elves, so I'm leaning heavily on Wikipedia and Archen's Anime Page.

According to Archen's Anime Page, there turns out, by a shocking coincidence, to be some kind of nut available in the medieval fantasy world that can be turned into gasoline. (Scroll down to where it says "T-74" under "Characters".)  That seems to be what keeps the tank moving for the first bit of the manga.

In both the anime and manga, the tank is at some point possessed by a cat spirit named Miké, as stated on Wikipedia under "Mihke". According to Archen's Anime Page, this happens earlier in the anime than it does in the manga. It seems that the cat spirit can move the tank without needing any fuel—Archen's Anime Page says under "About the Manga" that "the T-74 was still at the bottom of the river, until Miké's spirit moved into the tank and drove out of the water." This TV Tropes page also implies that the tank actually did run out of gas in the anime and couldn't move until it was possessed by Miké.

It's not very clear from my sources, but it seems the gasoline nut was just a stopgap to keep the tank going until the mangaka came up with the idea to have the tank possessed by a cat spirit, and the anime writers decided to just have the fuel last until the cat spirit came along. (This is supported by the Wikipedia description of Episode 5: "Ritsuko's tank runs out of fuel in a town terrorized by the spirit of a deceased cat which can possess inanimate objects.")


Does Summoning: Impure World Resurrection automatically equip the reincarnated shinobi? For example, when Kinkaku and Ginkaku are reincarnated, they have their ninja tools. It is also the case with the reincarnated Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

If this is so, suppose someone else had acquired one of the ninja tools, would there be two copies of the tool?

There can be only one copy of the tool at a time. The resurrected shinobi get their tools if they have not been acquired by others in the real world.

When the Seven legendary swordsmen were summoned, initially only Zabuza had his Kubikiribōchō. Although Suigetsu had acquired it, it was taken away from him when he was arrested at the five Kage meeting. Thus, it seems the Edo Tensei transferred it to Zabuza.

Later, Mangetsu summons 4 other swords from his scroll. He had presumably sealed them in his scroll before he died, which is probably why they were not acquired by others.

The only swords missing are the Samehada and Hiramekarei, which were in possession of Bee and Chojuro respectively. Similarly, Sasori did not get his puppets, because Kankuro had taken their possession.


What is the technology level in the Naruto universe? I think I will poke a plot inconsistency here.

Since the first chapter, you can see Naruto using what seems to be plastic googles, his clothes are made of seems to be synthetic fiber clothes. You can see that the village have video tapes (which also suggest the knowledge of electricity) and radios. They know the internal combustion engine, going by the mission to protect the bridge designer, in which they prefer not using the engine because it makes noise.

But later, or more like in all the plot, there seems to be instances where this technology could be used, like sending messages between villages/members, or setting up vigilance, but are not used.

Why is that?

Here's an extract of Kishimoto's interview

  Konohagakure no Sato Guns and vehicles shouldn't be drawn.

  A: Well, well, we reach the final keyword. The main stage of "Naruto", "Konohagakure no Sato". To you, what image do you have of this
  place? For example, was it modeled on the scenery around your parents'
  home in Okayama?

  Masashi Kishimoto: That's right. To be honest, I didn't think much about this, and got
  a lot on my inspiration there. Maybe it was subconsciously modeled on
  Okayama's scenery.

  A: What kind of time period did you set it in? If it was in the distant past, then covenience stores wouldn't be there...

  Masashi Kishimoto: It's not really any different to present-time. Though possibly a
  little in the past, maybe?

  A: What kind of place is it? Is it Japan? If so, what prefecture...?

  Masashi Kishimoto: It's a completely original place. I didn't set it anywhere. A place
  inside my own head... If anything, the climate and topography resemble
  that around Kyoto. As I've never been to Kyoto, it's my own image of
  it. (laugh)

  A: What material did you use for it?

  Masashi Kishimoto: I like Japanese culture, and since I studied it, I used a lot of
  material from that. Crests and folding fans... I often look at
  Japanese-style gardens and watch Kabuki.

  A: Do you have any rules about what is definitely not allowed to be drawn in the "Naruto" world?

  Masashi Kishimoto: Firstly, projectile weapons such as guns aren't allowed. (The one
  exception is Inari's bowgun.) Guns aren't suited to ninja. Gunpowder
  is used in the anime, though I don't think it should be there. And,
  vehicles such as aeroplanes are not allowed. I try to restrain
  technology that can be used for war... For example, if missiles were
  in it, it'd be the end. (laughs)

  A: Well, thank you very much for everything today.

  Masashi Kishimoto: Thank you very much!

And from Shonen Jump

  Shonen Jump:Your work seems to have a science fiction influence.
  Approximately speaking what is the technology level in the world of
  Naruto?

  Masashi Kishimoto: Actually, the world of Naruto doesn’t differ very
  much from our present time. TV, refrigerators and air conditioners
  exist in the world. The only exceptions are weapons and explosives,
  which I’ve decided to set in a much earlier era. That’s why you don’t
  see firearms.


What’s the deal with Super Saiyan God in the English anime? I’m currently watching the American Dragonball Super dub on Toonami and I noticed Goku and Vegeta power up to Super Saiyan Blue but don’t use Super Saiyan God. In the Japanese anime and manga, the Super Saiyan God is a useable transformation separate from Blue and Goku used it  to fight Hit and to overpower Trunks and to fight the female Saiyans. Why are they skipping it here in America?

The Super Saiyan Blue Transformation is referred to as SSGSS which is (Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan). This is a transformation attained by combining the powers of a God with the Super Saiyan transformation.This transformation is significantly stronger than the Super Saiyan God transformation. The only difference is, it consumes more stamina and is more physically straining on the body. Since the transformation is stronger, Goku and Vegeta use this transformation over Super Saiyan God.Please note that the manga and the anime have many differences. Goku never uses the Super Saiyan God transformation against Hit in the anime. He does not use Super Saiyan Blue stacked with Kaioken against Hit in the manga. However, the Dragon Ball Super Dub isn't really different from the main series. In the anime, Vegeta never uses this transformation while Goku does (Note: In the manga, Vegeta does use the transformation). Goku does make use of the Super Saiyan God transformation later in the series after using it against Beerus.

Spoilers Anime

  Goku uses the Super Saiyan God transformation initially in the tournament of Power while helping Hit fight Dyspo and Kunshi on account of saving stamina and being stronger than the regular Super Saiyan transformations.He uses it again during his first fight with Jiren.The transformation is used by Goku during his fight with Caulifla and Kale and also against Base Kefla until he transforms.He finally uses this transformation against Anilaza, before transforming to Super Saiyan Blue for his final attack.


What is the release schedule of the Digimon Adventure tri. movies? The first movie of the series, Digimon Adventure tri. Saikai was released on 2015-11-21, with a retail release of 2015-12-18. This movie consisted of 4 episodes, and is the first part of a 6-movie (or 24 episode) series1.

According to an Anime News Network article, the second part of the series of movies will premier on 2016-03-12 in Japanese theaters; they also list the Crunchyroll release as March 2016.

Originally, I had heard that these movies will be released once a year for 6 years. However, that would make the final chapter have a release date of 2021. Is there any information regarding the schedule of release for this series of movies?

Crunchyroll has released some information pertaining to the Digimon Adventure tri. movies.

Information from Crunchyroll post:

  Plans are being lined up for the second part of Digimon Adventure Tri: "Ketsui" (Determination), which opens for a limited theatrical run on March 12, 2016. Mimi Tachikawa's Hitomi Yoshida and Joe Kido's Junya Ikeda will be presenting a preview at Shinjuku Wald 9 on February 11th. Along with the news is a preview, that revealed the big detail that finale, "Kokuhaku" (Confession) is scheduled for summer 2016.

According to this post, the finale will be released in summer of 2016. However, this seems unlikely due to the fact that the second part of this six-part series is just being released on March 12th. I will update this answer if they change the date of the finale.


Couldn't Light have relinquished ownership of the Death Note before dying? Before Ryuk killed Light, was it possible that Light could have relinquished ownership of the Death Note so Ryuk wouldn't write his name?

Light actually relinquished ownership of the one Death Note he had back in Episode 29. Right before that point, Misa was the owner of Gelus' Death Note, Light was the owner of Rem's and Mello's mafia underling was the owner of Sidoh's. After giving up ownership, Light has Misa lend him her DN so that he doesn't lose his memories. She is still the owner since she still has her Shinigami eyes. Light never takes back ownership of any DN for the rest of the anime. I guess we can assume he keeps some sliver of a DN page on his body somewhere to make sure he has all the memories.

The fact that Light is not currently an owner of a DN is not relevant. At the very end of the last episode of the anime, no human is actually in ownership of any of the Death Notes. However, Ryuk still has to write the names of the original owner in his DN. according to Rule LXIV:

  If nobody claims the ownership of the Death Note [...] gods of death
  are [still] obliged to confirm the death of the first owner and write
  down that humans name in his/her Death Note even when he/she is in the
  world of gods of death.

(http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_the_Death_Note)


What is this scene, where Akamatsu tells about his secret hiding place, a reference to? In Jinsei episode 11, Akamatsu tells the girls about his "Secret Place for Hiding his Dirty Stuff" and makes this face, with text written like this.

I'm not sure what is this is a reference to. Can somebody explain? Thanks!

This is Yagami Light's infamous scene from Death Note.


Where did Kagami Taiga live when he lived in the US? We see a flashback to when Kagami lived in the US in episode 1 of season 2 (26Q).

Judging from all the palm trees, I'd hazard a guess that he was probably in California. California also seems like the most likely option on a demographic basis (i.e. where are Japanese temporary immigrants most likely to end up?).

Is it ever explicitly stated where he lived? And if it is California, is it ever stated whether he's in SoCal or NorCal (or somewhere else)?

The only indication offhand gets kinda spoilery but

Character Spoiler:

   Unrevealed yet in the anime as of episode 1 of Kuroko no Basket S2, Alexandra Garcia, was a college champion in the NCAA from UCLA. In her retirement, she frequented betting courts on the streets (which could technically be anywhere) and eventually runs into Taiga & Himuro.

Event Spoiler:

   Alexandra trains Taiga & Himuro as kids. Later on Taiga decides to receive training once more from his old master by returning to Los Angeles, so it's pretty suggested that everything took place in SoCal. Here's a pic of an announced airline destination: Chapter 111, page 19 from Batoto.net

I tried to minimize unnecessary spoiling information. Overall, a bit circumstantial, but still enough for me to presume that they're in Southern California.


How Betelgeuse captured Subaru's body like in the ending of episode 23? How Betelgeuse captured Subaru's body?

Spoiler alert if you didn't watch episode 25:

  In the ending of episode 23, he captured Subaru's body which some would think was possible because Subaru has touched the book. But he didn't touch it in episode 25 and still Betelgeuse was able to capture him.

How? Why?

In episode 23 at 11:40.

   When Julius was having a conversation with Subaru, he said that Subaru might have an affinity for spirits. Since Petelgeuse was a spirit himself, he could possess the fingers' body which had been cast spell on beforehand and even entities having affinity for spirits. According to Julius, Subaru definitely matches the case.


What is the meaning of Arakawa Under the Bridge's opening theme song? I'm kinda wondering what the opening theme song of Arakawa Under the Bridge, Venus and Jesus lyrics mean.

On the third stanza,

  A neighbor of Venus
  Why? During that interval that we don't know
  Jesus lives across the hall
  I'm hearing something bad

It mentions the name, Jesus. What does that stanza imply? Does it have something to do with the Christian religion?

  A neighbor of Venus

Maybe, Earth?

  Why? During that interval that we don't know

Interval we don't know? Maybe, before the concept of time existed?

There are also other lines that I don't quite understand.

Lyrics taken from Lyrics Translate.

In an English fan dub of the OP here, they use "Jesus" as a curse word, but I haven't found anything on Japanese people doing that, so I would assume they could not decipher the meaning and just went with what sounded good.
Jesus is also mentioned in the title so it seems to refer to a person.

Another thing to think about is the "I'm in hell again" line. Is that meant to tie in?
Well, the Japanese word used "地獄"　can refer to either the Buddhist hell or the Christian one. (Used in Mark 9:43-44.)
It doesn't seem to refer specifically to the Christian hell.
As the full word was "生き地獄", I think a more accurate translation may be "hell on earth".

It may just be another instance of "use Christian themes to sound cool" thing. Random Christian stuff like crosses and such are added in to Japanese media a lot because it is exotic and strange to them. Using "Jesus" in a song is an example of that I have seen before.

As Arakawa Under the Bridge is very random, it's hard to tell. The perspective of the song appears to change between the stanza and the person who translated it is actually French, and from what I can gather, some bits may not be entirely accurate. However, the French version seems to take some liberties that are not in the Japanese for some reason. I also looked at this translation which varies slightly.

Basically: The song is random like the series, and the use of "Jesus" is just to make it sound cool.

Coincidentally, Hikaru Nakamura, the mangaka of Arakawa Under the Bridge also writes another great series called Saint☆Oniisan, which is a slice-of-life about Jesus and the Buddha on holiday living in an apartment in Tokyo. Probably nothing to do with it, but it's pretty interesting.


What does the letter at the end of Patema Inverted mean? Near the end of the movie, we see the letter from Lagos. However it seems to be encoded. What does it mean?

According to this post on MyAnimeList forums, this is the message:

  From: ?AIA Sent: Tue???y,??ly 29,v???x ?:30PM To: Ma????ng list fre?ds
  Cc: ?? com?unity Subject: We are alive. Attachments: I?mage582
  Image6?5 Im??e661

  This E-mail is an appeal to all recipients.

  We are alive We were spared the effects of the anti-gravity
  experiment.

  We have yet to fully grasp the extent of the destruction But we are
  absolutely certain that one particular undamaged area remains; namely,
  the area on the exact opposite side of the Earth's mantle. This is the
  reverse side of the Earth's axis.

  After settling that area, we pushed forward with research into the
  repair of gravity inversion. Now it seems a successful breakthough may
  by just out of reach. We have placed our hopes in the networks still
  online in each area, and are transmitting this E-mail all over the
  Earth.

  To all recipients: please print as many copies of this E-mail as
  possible. Then please distribute those copies to as many people, as
  you can, so that they may know the truth.

  We are resolved to wait in here, for generations if necessary.

  Latitude 33.3526' N, Longitude 130.2401' E

  Please convey this to all peopple on Earth. We are alive.

Here's the location on the map.


Which is the biggest character shown so far in One Piece? From what I can tell the candidates for largest character in One Piece are:

1) Laboon, enormous whale of questionable scale at the entrance to the grand line.

2) Surume, the enormous kraken tamed by Luffy was shown to wear the Thousand Sunny on its head like a small hat.

3) Sanjuan Wolf, from pictures posted in the Manga he has been shown to be the size of Navy Headquarters

4) Seakings, some of the seakings shown in the calm belt seamed enormous, and perhaps they aren't even the largest.

5) Island Eater, the island eating goldfish was shown to be several times larger than the giants on Little Garden. Though I'm not sure it's size matches up.

I think Sanjuan Wolf is the largest, but I'm honestly not sure.

Zou, the living elephant on which the animals of Mink reside is the largest character so far shown. The entire back of the elephant has so much space that there are forests, rivers and even entire towns on it. There's an entire country there.


Old Anime Series/OVA There was this anime I watched when I was younger that has been eluding me for years, I hope somebody can find it.

I can't remember the exact plot or story, but the main character was a female with long brown hair. Her outfit was almost like a sailor scout's, but this wasn't sailor moon. The setting was fantasy like, and there was a big emphasis on traditional playing cards and their suits (Like Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades). There were other female characters who resembled knights/princesses, but again had the whole suits thing going on.

The beginning of this started with the main character sleeping or relaxing by a tree on a hill, I remember that distinctly. Two other scenes come to mind, but that's about it. The next scene I remember from this had two gigantic chess pieces, a black horse and a white horse, speeding out of control towards something. This character was trying to stop one of them from the inside and prevent it from crashing. I remember this pudgy looking villain chasing her, and some fanservice briefly flashes with them accidentally pulling off her pants in an attempt to catch them (can't believe I remember that).

Something happens and towards the end the brown-haired main character was drifting in some purgatory-like place, a void of white, and was presented two different portals to take. One looked menacing, the other didn't. She ended up throwing one of those playing cards I mentioned, a card with the diamonds on it, through one of the portals. Again, there was some symbolism or something with those cards and suits.

This episode or OVA was on a VHS tape, and I got it possibly 10 years ago. I recall it being dubbed in English, too. I hope that narrows down the scope of things, but this is all I remember.
In the credit scene, there were various shots of the other characters, females mostly, and they were ridden with fanservice, with one princess-looking character in shredded cloths, like she's been in a battle.

I hope somebody recognizes this, I'd really love to find it again.

That sounds like Wild Cardz, known in Japan as "Jaja Uma Quartet". It was an old Central Park Media release. The dub stars Apollo Smile as Coco Hearts.

As you remember, it began with a scene of the main character, Jo Diamonds, the brown-haired girl in the center, sleeping on a hill. Most of the OVA involved her chasing two giant chess pieces that were somehow the key to ultimate power. Opposing her was some random sexy woman, and this fellow:

Here's a picture of them together. I couldn't find it without the caption. Just ignore it. Wild Cardz is really awesome.

The other characters on the DVD cover are her allies, Coco Hearts (the blonde with cat ears), Casa Clubs (the girl with purple hair and dark skin), and Sunday Spades (the girl with short teal-hair). None of them really did much.

The scene where Jo is floating in a white void happens towards the end after some kind of big explosion. It happens for basically no reason, like pretty much everything in this show. At some time after that, Sunday Spades finally unleashes her true power, which is to make a big explosion and also blow off all her own clothes and make her hair grow really long. Here's a (NSFW) picture of that:

If you decide that you want to watch this, you can get the DVDs from Right Stuf for $8. Since it's so old, there's no legal streams or digital versions, and since it's so bad, I doubt anyone is going to license rescue it.


Why is the title written differently in kana and romaji? Watching the anime titled Ao Haru Ride (AniDB link), I noticed that the title screen displays the title in kana but it is given as アオハライド or Ao Ha Raido, Ao Ha Ride; entirely missing a kana ル for ru

I noticed that this is already present in what seems to be the Japanese manga cover I found on Google images:

The title in kana reads Ao Ha Raido while the title in romaji reads Ao Haru Ride. Why this discrepancy?

From Tae Kim's guide to learning Japanese,

  There is one major driving factor behind the majority of slang in Japanese. The primary goal of most slang is to make things easier to say. In other words, the goal is to reduce or simplify the movement of your mouth. There are two primary ways in which this is accomplished, 1) By making things shorter or, 2) By slurring the sounds together.

This would imply that the author felt that saying 「アオハルライド」is either harder or more annoying (or both) to say in conversation than 「アオハライド」.

You can try it yourself: saying ao haru raido forces you to pause between haru and raido, whereas one can say ao ha raido in one go.

Update 2019:

There's an explanation given in the first volume of the manga. Here's an excerpt from the official translation:

  Right away people sent letters and tweets, asking about the Japanese title Aoharaido. So I'd like to be able to answer.

    Aoharaido  = youth + ride

  The Japanese kanji for "youth" can also be read as aoharu, and I imagine that the characters are on a ride through their youth, giving it all they can. Compared to aoharuraido, when you say it out loud, aoharaido is easier to say and more impactful, so that became the title of the series.


What's the meaning of the numbers at the end of the episode? At the end of any episode of Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru, some numbers appears coupled with the title and the number of the next episode (circled).

286

266

281

What's the meaning of these numbers?

Angel Beats! also did something similar, except that the numbers, prefixed by the character 'c', appear in the previews for next episode.

These are the cut numbers found in storyboards, or （絵）コンテ (e konte, from the English word continuity) in Japanese. According to Anime Production – Detailed Guide to How Anime is Made and the Talent Behind it!,

  Cuts refer to a single shot of the camera and an average TV-anime episode will usually contain around 300 cuts.

which basically matches the range of numbers that appear in both Oregairu and Angel Beats!.

To top it off, I was able to find a screenshot (click to enlarge) of a selection of Oregairu's storyboards:

Image source: http://forum.gamer.com.tw/C.php?bsn=44991&snA=514

Corrections to OP's post

The circled numbers actually mark the current, not the next, episode number. See the list of titles for all episodes (scroll down to the middle).
The numbers/titles don't always appear at the end. For example, the title of episode 2

  17 ②きっと、誰しも等し並みに悩みを抱えている。

appears very early, corresponding to the 17th scene (excluding the OP and ED) in that episode.


What plant does Noel use as an umbrella/parasol? There is a scene in the opening (and several others througout the anime) where Noel is using a huge leaf as a sort of umbrella or parasol.

Is that plant a real one? What plant is that?

I have not seen the anime, but I know of a couple big-leaved plants that grow in Japan. Here are three genera with links to Google’s image search:

Farfugium sp. (ツワブキ tsuwabuki), especially F. japonicum
Hosta sp. (ギボウシ gibōshi), several big-leaved species native to Japan
Petasites sp. (フキ fuki), especially P. japonicum

And then—of course—there exist many more species with big leaves similar to the one depicted in the question. It all comes down to whether the designer based the ‘umbrella’ on real-life plants or just relied on our perceived perception of an umbrella-like plant.


A novel where the main character is reborn and killed right after birth 26 times due to his silver hair The main character is not reincarnated in a different world. Rather, he is reborn so far in the future that his legend is but a myth now. Every time he is born, he is born with silver hair (although he fixes it later). Due to the religious influence "kill all silver haired babies, reincarnation of the demon", he was killed right after birth 26 times. On the 27th time, he was saved by his poor parents who refused to let his son be killed.

He attends a magic school. Normally, people don't even know they are magicians until 15, but he, a little kid, starts learning intermediate class summoning in his 1st year of school (although it's still nothing for him).

At first sight, he may be a kid, but when angered, the blood thirst that is released freezes everyone through pure fear. The cool and awesome, yet merciless main character is the best part of this light novel. The writing style brings out the best of the hero's character.

I believe you mean the fiction Forgotten Conqueror, which is published on Royal Road.
Here a piece of the novel from chapter 2.

Twenty-seven.
That was the number of times he had been thrown back into this world, only to be promptly dispatched and returned to the empty void to wallow in his own regret at how powerless he was when it truly mattered, and his sorrow.
Memories that the Entity otherwise known as Rhultal did not want to remember yet could never forget flashes through his mind.
Broken and bleeding parents even before he had yet come of age. His life growing up in the hands of those who would step on him and use him for their own purposes. Watching those he love and cherished in agony and mercilessly slaughtered. His hatred that sought out power. his lack of control allowing the darkness to slowly overpower him, his pain at what he had become when that was all over, and the people who allied with the monsters and brought him to his death.
Yet for some reason he did not die. His body may have lost all functions and the body has rotted with the passage of time, but his spirit can recall everything he’s done, and the knowledge of his past remains solely his without dispersing into the ether. unable to move on, eventually his spirit would merge into a being for the cycle of life, but upon birth, for reasons unbeknownst to him, he would most definitely be culled upon the sweet air of freedom; excruciating pain, followed by death.
Over and over this event has already occurred twenty-six times, and this was the twenty-seventh. He had already understood that this was his own private hell for everything he has done.
Bracing himself for the inevitable fate that follows, the thing that was once known as Rhultal falls silent relinquishing his will and anticipation at the prospect of finally being whole. He silently waits for the hands of death to drive him back. He heard shouting and yelling, and at some point it felt like the hands of death were upon him. For what felt like eons, he waited with abated breath. Yet death did not follow. Instead, what he felt were two wavering hands full of warmth, grasping holding onto him. The entity remained in silence, unwilling to make a sound. After an eternity, the hands holding him start shaking, and he felt the atmosphere change. A soft cry could be heard. Suddenly, the arms were clinging on to him as if clinging onto its dear life, and a loud wailing noise erupts.
Surprised at this turn of event and the possibility of life, the entity opens his mouth and starts crying with all the strength that his tiny body could muster.
As if in accordance to his cry, the wailing stopped and a sound of sobbing delight could be heard.
Confused yet elated, he sought to use this chance to once again walk upon Lovis.


When does episode 9 of one punch man air? It's currently 9:31 am 6/03/19, and the website yourcountdown.to says one punch man season 2 episode 9 is out now. Yet every other website says something around one more day and 18 hours.

I cant seem to find it anywhere on the place i usually watch it. Is the country release date different for the US?

According to

LiveChart.Me and opm_anime

  Today's broadcast of One Punch Man has been cancelled due to the French Open. Episode #21 will air next week on June 11t

  「全仏OPテニス2019」編成により、本日予定していた「ワンパンマン」# 21「最強の悩み」放送配信は休止となりました。次回の放送予定は6/11（火）25:35～です。申し訳ございませんがご了承ください。錦織圭選手×ナダル選手を応援しましょう！ #onepunchman


Why was the kiss not shown? In episode 7 of Yuri!!! On Ice, Victor and Yuuri share what is almost definitely a kiss on the ice. However, this kiss is blocked from view by a conveniently placed arm, as seen below:

Some people have said that the kiss wasn't directly shown because of Japanese censorship laws, while others have said it is just part of the norm of ignoring queer relationships in Japan. Is there any truth to either argument and any precedent or law to back it up?

I'm a little late to the party, but I think it might be more of an artistic choice than anything else.

Victor's arm is probably there to protect their own private moment together instead of it being due to censorship reasons.

There's a post on tumblr here that cites Kubo-sensei's tweet as an 'official' confirmation of the kiss. I'm a complete novice at Japanese, so the reliability of this source completely hinges on the OP's translation. If the source is right, however, and Kubo-sensei's tweet indeed heavily implies that the kiss is in fact, canon, then I don't think censorship is really much of an issue here.

Some have cited the cultural norm being the main reason like you mentioned, but I think it doesn't really hold if you examine what happened in the later episodes. They proposed and literally got engaged with gold bands on their fingers, and if the entire series was meant to be reflective of the queer culture in Japan, I kind of doubt that would happen.

What I have said is just mere speculation though; please take it with a pinch of salt.


What's the song that plays during the basketball scene in episode 2 of Parasyte? The song starts playing from around 3:12 (when Shin'ichi walked to school) to around 4:53 (at the end of the basketball game). I just really like the music during that scene.

The music is written by Ken Arai.

The soundtrack track listing is here (or here on Amazon.co.jp), where you can listen to samples of each track to check which song you're looking for.


How did Sasuke get his hawk summoning technique? When Sasuke fights Danzo, on chapter 477 page 9, he uses summoning technique and a hawk appears.
How and when did he sign a contract with hawks, and thanks to whom did he get it?

To symbolise his ascension from snakes (i.e. Orochimaru's power) he
  changed his team's name from Hebi (snake) to Taka (hawk). It is
  revealed that his animal-oriented techniques have also changed from
  snakes to hawks as shown from him summoning a hawk that he used to fly
  around on during his fight with Danzō, evade his assaults and in the
  anime perform coordinated attacks with Sasuke. It is currently unknown
  when he made a contract with them.

This can be found here under "Summoning Technique"


What of Mei Terumi, the 5th Mizukage's marriage? Mei Terumi, the 5th Mizukage is always angry and tensed at the thought of marriage.

Who does she marry anyway? Does Chojuro get her?

It's because she's not married yet in spite of her age, at least in Naruto Shippuden.
I don't know about her marital status in Boruto.

Edit:
For the downvoters, it's very common in many Asian cultures than an unmarried woman would be angry if somebody mention something related to marriage, especially when she's about 28 and up y.o. It's like if you ask "how much do you weigh?" to a woman.


What is Caramelldansen, and where does it originate from? I've been seeing this thing called Caramelldansen show in in .gifs by 2 characters from all different series. pairs such as Ed and Al from Fullmetal Alchemist, Arcuied and Ciel from Tsukihime, Rin and Saber from Fate/Stay Night and these crappy quality ones on youtube of L and Light and Mello and Near from Death Note

But what is Caramelldansen and where does it originate from?

Take note that the dance and a song are two parts of a whole.

Most familiar with the the meme would know that the title is Swedish for "Caramel Dance" and comes from the first track of the album Supergott released in November 2001, by the Swedish band "Caramell."

What's important about this is not the music but the animated dance that make up this meme. The meme is said to have appeared during the second half of 2006.

While its exact date of inception is uncertain, for a fact, this means started as a fifteen frame Flash animation loop showing Mai and Mii, who are characters of the Japanese (adult) visual novel Popotan, doing some sort of swinging hip dance while holding their hands over their heads imitating some sort of animal ears. The music played in the background was a sped up version of the song aforementioned song sung by singers Malin and Katia from the aforementioned band. There were other remixed versions that showed up almost in parallel, but that's not the most important part about this meme or its dance.

You see this popular dance clip originated from gif loops of the game's OP:

https://youtu.be/--Yr5q6tU9A?t=102

The game itself was released in 2002, with an anime following it in 2003. So why did it take so long for the meme we know today to appear?

It's possible that the anime, being anime, was more available to the public than its adult visual novel counterpart. For obvious reason such as content and availability, since fast broadband and Youtube (it appeared early 2005) were as readily available and prominent as it is today.

There's evidence to suggest that the a similar loop from the anime brought attention to the game. This particular loop was created based off a loop of the character Mii from the OP of the anime:

https://youtu.be/tboQg1xj010?t=62

This particular loop was probably made sometime around when the anime aired in the later half of 2003: http://dagobah.biz/flash/miidance.swf

Clearly the game's dance sequence would be considered cuter by most fans. Before Caramelldansen was even a thing, there were many other remixes being called different things with different songs from different bands playing, from Aerosmith and Run DMC's "Walk the Way" to "Dare" by the Gorillaz, most of them done in Flash. Subsequent spin-offs were created based on original characters and popular characters alike. But where and when did the meme in question start its popularity?

Apparently a guy from Sweden by the name of Sven, created the flash loop and posted it on his personal website: http://md5.se/h/032/

From there it made itself across the internet in the later half of 2006. Originally many large communities such as Hongfire and 4chan "Popotan Dance" or "Popotan Dansen," but as after 2008 it became more popularly known in its country of origin, Japan, as the "uma uma dance."

However it's believed that it wasn't until early 2008 that the meme truly popularized, with the help of versions and remixes shared via video sharing communities such as Youtube and Nico Nico Douga where its popularity truly peaked.


What does it mean by 大地を見る in Kotomi's essay? At the start of Seitokai Yakuindomo OVA episode 19, there is this scene where it shows Kotomi's essay:

In text:

  「家族」…。その中でも兄妹とは…禁断の一線を超えさせない理性の言葉。私の家は両親は仕事の事情などで留守に成りがちでよく兄とは二人きりになる。特に休日や平日の夜。まるでどこかのパソコンゲームのようだ。しかも未成年が遊んではいけないような。未成年の男女が二人きり、夜中で未成年が遊んでいけない状況にある。そこで食い止める劣情の防波堤が家族であり、そして兄妹と言うキーワードだと思う。しかしこのキーワード、危険が伴う。肉欲に任せて落ちれば燃え尽きてしまう近親相姦。我も危険なら彼も危険。共に大地を見ることができるのか？

I was able to understand almost everything with jisho.org, except the bold bit. That whole sentences, as far as I know, means something like "Can we see the earth together?" Why "see the earth" all of a sudden? It was talking about the fact that if we don't control our lust, it will become incest, so why "see the earth"?

I tried googling "大地を見る" but nothing related seems to come up. Is there something I don't get?

EDIT: Translation

  "Family"... "Brothers and sisters", is a rational word that will not cross the forbidden line. Because of my parents' jobs, my brother and I, just the two of us, always stay at home, especially in holidays and weekdays. It's like in an adult game. Two minors, in the middle of the night, doing adult things. Situations like this often appear. In such situations, the breakwater that holds back the lust is "family" and also the keyword "brothers and sisters". However, this keyword goes hand in hand with danger. If we don't control our lust it can become incest. If I am in danger, he is too. Will we be able to see the earth together?

This seems to be a somewhat obscure reference to the original Gundam anime.
Specifically the preview for Episode 5. It goes:

重力に任せて落ちれば燃え尽きてしまう大気圏突入。
その瞬間にシャアはホワイトベースに奇襲を掛けた。
我も危険なら彼も危険、共に大地を見ることができるのか？
機動戦士ガンダム、次回「大気圏突入」。
君は生きのびることができるか！

The title of Episode 5 is literally "Plunging into (the) atmosphere" (officially, its "Reentry to Earth" ). Implying some sort of double entendre, likely implying illicit intercourse.
I can't comment much on the style of writing in particular, but overall such an abstruse wording is not uncommon in literary Japanese. The Japanese people seem to enjoy euphemizing and beating around the bush in their writings. The specific nuances are very difficult to translate.
For an example:

Natsume Soseki once taught his students that the correct Japanese translation for “I love you” is “Tsuki ga tottemo aoi naa” (The moon is so blue tonight); what he meant was that to express within the Japanese cultural framework the same emotion expressed in English by “I love you,” one must choose words like “The moon is so blue tonight.”
(from Sato Kenji’s “More Animated than Life: A Critical Overview of Japanese Animated Films,” Japan Echo, 12/97)


Who has the highest bounty in One Piece? I'd like to know, who in the One Piece world has the max bounty declared against them till date? Note that the bounty amount has to be mentioned in either anime or manga or in the movies. I am assuming it is Katakuri? But I'm not sure.

The current highest active bounty is that of Charlotte Katakuri, one of the Three Sweet Commanders of Yonko Big Mom with a bounty of 1,057,000,000.

Taken from One Piece Wikia. One Piece Manga — Vol. 86 Chapter 860 (p. 14) is given as reference.


Captains' reiatsu levels after donating to Ichigo When the captains and vice captains gave their powers in Urahara's sword to restore Ichigo's powers, did they permanently lose part of their powers?

Nope. I believe it's the same case as Rukia. Even though she borrowed her powers to Ichigo at the start of the series and couldn't recover her powers while in the Human World, this was mostly because of Urahara's Special Gigai. By the time she returned to Soul Society, she eventually got all of her powers back.


What's the title of the soundtrack in Ranma 1/2 Episode 20? What's the title of the soundtrack played in the scene where Azusa is talking to her toys in Ranma 1/2 Episode 20? It kinda sounds like Tchaikovsky.

I don't know the name of the soundtrack from the anime, but it sounds very much like Tchaikovsky's Allegro non troppo from Piano Concerto No. 1.


Can someone please give me a total recap on One Piece I'm a Naruto fan, not really a One Piece fan. I want to start watching it, but I don't have any time to do a marathon.

Just a little summary would be nice.

Here's an answer to such a question on Yahoo:

  First off One Piece started as a manga in 97 in weekly shonen jump. A new chapter is updated every week and they're currently on chapter 617. The anime started a couple years later owing to the success of the manga and is now on episode 489.

  NOTE: One Piece is not 'a couple of episodes to get into' type of anime. While you can be hooked from the get go most agree that a big alienater is that the show takes a bit to get into. The first saga of One Piece is The East Blue Saga (east blue is 1 of 4 'lesser' seas where the Strawhats start before making their way to The Grand Line (the big league sea). The East Blue Saga is a divided up into a few arc with a few filler. I'd say once you come to The Baratie arc (~ep.18) the show will really start to hit its stride. If not Baratie then definitely by the end of The Arlong Arc (arc after Baratie).
  You see The East Blue Saga is about 61 episodes and pretty much sets the groundwork for the series. The Baroque Works Saga afterwords is the real beginning of the world of One Piece because the crew is in The Grand Line and you can see just how insignificant the world was in the east blue. The East Blue Saga though, while less exciting is still fun and interesting with some cool battles and quick development of the characters and recruitment of the crew.

  What really makes One Piece shine is the idea of dreams that's prevalent through the series and the bonds of friendship and loyalty amongst the crew. You only really see Luffy as a lovable idiot who has a freakish rubber body through the first dozen episodes. It's not until The Captain Kuro Arc (ep.9-17) that you start realizing that the reason he's considered a monster is not because of his rubber powers but, because he's just unbelievably strong. Zoro, the 3 sword style swordsman and unofficial first mate is also ridiculously strong too and is often confused as the captain. Zoro's tough as nails and often serious but like Luffy he's pretty much an idiot. Nami is the brains and while definitely a b!+

  The crew is tight nit and willing to do whatever for each other. That's actually my favorite thing about One Piece. You just seem to care about the characters in One Piece more so than other animes. Maybe it's because you're following the small crew everywhere while other animes just keep introducing more and more characters so because the anime is stretched the characters tend not to get as much attention. That aside, there are plenty of laughs but some tears as well and it only gets darker later on. Many of the crew have some sad pasts as well. However, no matter how dark and serious things get in One Piece, there's always the sense of balance with humor and action. All in all I don't want to say too much more because every time I write a sentence I realize it has too much spoiler and end up erasing it. So just go ahead and watch the show. Even if it moves a bit slow for you in the beginning since your best friend loves the show it'll be easier to get through that but, chances are you'll end up loving it before you know it.

  A few warnings though. 1) If you watch the anime you only have 2 choices and both involve funimation.com. DO NOT WATCH THE 4KIDS DUB NO MATTER WHAT!!! It was so bad I don't want to even talk about it. However, if you prefer dubbed versions you are more than welcome to watch the funimation dub because funimation actually has a pretty good dub of One Piece. That horrible 4kids dub really, really hurt One Piece when it first came over to the U.S. The other option is to watch the subbed version. Either way you'll have to watch the subbed version from (as of this writing) ep.193 onward since they haven't dubbed all the episodes yet. In any case, funimation subs the new episode in japan within a day of it coming out which makes One Piece the most up-to-date of all animes. 2) Be careful looking stuff up on the internet because the manga is further ahead than the anime and you may get spoilers. 3) In general, anime fans do not like filler. Filler are episodes added to the anime which weren't in the manga for the purpose of delaying the anime from catching up with the manga since 1 episode is usually equivalent to 2 chapters. One Piece, according to most fans, tends to have better filler than most other animes and suffers from less filler as well. That being said if you want to skip the boring fillers you can find a yahoo answer question about which ones should be skipped.

It was written 3 years ago but is actually a pretty good summary. For more information you can check out the: One Piece Wiki for any specifics, but it's not going to give you a couple of paragraph summary to get you started on the show.


Why does Kumagawa talk in Japanese quotation marks? 「In the manga, Misogi Kumagawa talks with his words inside quotation marks, just like this.」

「Here's a typical example:」

「Why is this? Is there a specific reason he has this notation while talking?」

The reason why Kumagawa's "speaks" in brackets is a bit of a pun (see 『カギカッコ』). The context here implies literally [括弧]{かっこ}つける (kakko tsukeru), meaning "to add brackets/parenthesis (to something, e.g., a sentence)." The pun involves a well-known expression [格好]{かっこ}つける (kakko tsukeru), meaning "to show off or try to look cool." Kumagawa speaks in the way he does because he is trying to sound cool.

One thing to note about 格好 is it's a kanji with irregular kana usage. おう (ou) like えい (ei) is what's called a "long vowel." The おう (ou)  is essentially a long "oo" sound.  Historically [格好]{かっこう} (kakkou) is the correct spelling, however in certain, more colloquial contexts the う is omitted for purposed such as brevity.

In chapter 88 of the manga, when Kumagawa returns to the dream classroom and ask Ajimu for his original Minus back. Ajimu asks him to express himself sincerely, without brackets if he wants it back.

He replies w/o square brackets.

It should be noted that he speaks using "double square brackets" (二重鉤括弧 『　』) used to mark quotes within quotes. In Japanese fiction this type of square bracket is often used to denote something heard through another device. It's implied in the case of Kumagawa that what we are seeing is essentially subtitles. We're hearing the literal meaning being his cool words.


What is Tsunade's chakra element? In the series, she is celebrated as the world's best medical-nin, and is one of Konohagakure's Legendary Three Ninja. What is her chakra element?

I don't think it was officially announced. It's just like Sakura's case.

From Naruto Wikia, we find that:

  Tsunade's Nature Types consists of Fire,  Lightning, Earth, Water, Yin (anime only) and Yang Release.


Is there a name for the effect that appears from the eyes when someone in anime/manga fights? The following image shows an effect that appears from the eyes when someone fights.

Is there a name for it?

the animation style is called sakuga where the features are distorted to be made to look superhuman.


What's the song that plays when Naruto and Sasuke fight with Rasengan and Chidori in episode 216? In Naruto Shippuden episode 216, at around 7 minutes, there's a song when Sasuke and Naruto fight with Rasengan vs Chidori.

What's that song?

It sounds to me like Samidare (Track 28 of Shippuuden OST 2).

Note that parts of this track also sound vaguely similar to Ochibabune (OST 2 track 26), Yamagasumi (OST 2 track 22), and Utsusemi (OST 1 track 7), so it can be easy to confuse them.

Incidentally, Utsusemi was playing in the immediately preceding scene.


What is the Black Box? I was reading on the Wiki about the Vagrant AI's and it said that most were born from The Black Box.

I've seen //SIGN, //Liminality, //Legend of the Twilight //Terminal Disk, //ROOTS, //QUANTUM and played the original 4 games and the 3 //G.U games and i've never heard of the Black Box before, i am wondering what this is.

The black box is the portion of The World's systems that Harold Hoerwick designed before his death. CC Corp is, for unstated reasons, unable to ever modify or remove it without messing everything up (I'm being general on purpose). Every version of The World is built on this black box in some way.


What are the stuffed toys in Suguha's room? Kirigaya Suguha's room is often portrayed in the ALO arc of Sword Art Online.

When Suguya is in her room, some stuffed toys are visible in the background.

Penguins resemble those from Mawaru Penguindrum, even available as stuffed toys:

However, the animation studio is different and the link between the two shows is not clear to me.

What are these stuffed toys? Are these a citation of other anime or universes related to Sword Art Online production?

I'd say the cat-looking things in front are a type of nesting doll (matryoshka doll). Specifically this:

From http://bobobabushka.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/lucky-new-year/

The Penguins themselves might be a generic penguin plush toy. Remember that people keep all sorts of things in their bedrooms, and wouldn't display anything they didn't find visually appealing. Plush toys are considered cute.

In the first image, the dog-like stuffed animals are Capybara-san. This is also a cute thing.

If you want to make a connection. Capybara-san and Mawaru Penguindrum are toys put out by Banpresto, who also puts out SAO figurines.


What did Hisoka do in the Hunter Exam? In the first Hunter Exam of the series (Hisoka's second), he was introduced into the series removing another applicant's arms from his body for bumping into him and not apologizing.

What did he actually do? We know Hisoka's abilities are Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise, but they don't explain how the arms are converting into flower petals as seen above.

I highly guess they made that up to convert this scene into a less violent type for the younger-age audience. In the actual manga, this was what it looked like:

You can see that the arm is chopped off but with no flower petals whatsoever and judging by the angle, the blood is ought to be seen. They probably did not want to reveal that part and instead took it from the side angle by "magically" making the arm disappear.


Did the fake shogun agree to be killed by Hattori Zenzou? In an episode of the 2015 series IIRC, Hattori Zenzou kills a fake double shogun to save shogun Tokugawa Shige Shige. Did this double agree to give his life to save the real shogun or did Hattori Zenzou killed him without his permission?

The double was Kagemaru, and he was fully prepared to die for Shige Shige's sake. In episode 302, he says:

  "I, Kagemaru, wouldn't be here if he(Shige Shige) hadn't saved my life
  back then. Use it for his sake".

So yeah Hattori and Kagemaru were both in on the plan.


Why are wash pans dropped on a character's head? I've been watching anime for a long time and I still don't understand what it means when a wash pan falls from the sky onto a character's head.  I've seen it recently in Rosario+Vampire when the witch summons a wash pan over another character's head.

What does it mean or represent?

I imagine this is somehow related to the common schoolprank of placing basins/buckets of water on top of door frames and waiting for people to come in and get soaked

As is mentioned in @Vogel612's link, it's sortof the Eastern equivilant of an anvil being dropped on someone's head. A bit more realistic perhaps though.


What are the many references Dragon Ball Series makes to other franchises/people? I was watching Dragon Ball and couldn’t help noticing the reference to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan  in the World Tournament Saga.

So my question is, are their more such references in the series or this is as far as it gets?

There are a lot of references made to other works and people in the series…

Inspirations

As a matter of fact, the series was inspired by and has some major references to

Journey to the West

Jackie Chan

Bruce Lee

You can read more about it here.

Names

As one knows, the names in the series are usually puns on something or the other.

For eg.

Saiyan comes from Yasai meaning Vegetable and so the names are related to those
In fact, the Brief Family’s names are a pun on Undergarments
Frieza's henchmen are named after Fruits

You can read about the origins of many more names here.

Tenkaichi Budokai (天下一武道会)

You must have heard of Tenkaichi Budokai’s English translation- "World’s Martial Arts Tournament." I’ll say that that translation maybe right, but has lost it’s essence. A more accurate translation of Tenkaichi Budokai is “The Number One Under Heaven Martial Arts Gathering.”

It was inspired from Lei Tai – The Thunder Hand Platform; a Chinese martial arts tournament. You can read more about it here.

New Testament

I believe that Goku's returning from the dead to save everyone is a reference to the New Testament.

Now to begin with references present only in a certain series..

Dragon Ball

 Bruce Lee

Great Lee (A Character that resembles Bruce Lee)

  Great Lee (グレート・リー, Gurēto Rī; "Great Lee"), also known as the Bruce  Lee Impersonator, is a character who resembles the real life martial artist  Bruce Lee.

￼He is first seen in a vision when Krillin tells Goku about the World  Martial Arts Tournament in the episode "Milk Delivery". Later, the Bruce  Lee Impersonator is seen several times in the Elimination Round at the 21st  World Martial Arts Tournament.

Bruce Lee Impersonator in West City

Another character that resembles Bruce Lee is seen in West City in the  episode 43, where he challenges people to a street fight and anyone who  beats him will get 100,000 zeni.

During the preliminaries for the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, Yamaha  says,"Boards don't hit back". It's a reference to Bruce Lee's movie "Enter  the Dragon."

Muscle Tower itself is a reference to a level of the game Spartan X/Kung  Fu master which was based off of Bruce Lee's Game of Death.
To know more check the inspirations part at the beginning of this answer.
 Chinese Dynasties

         The Tiger Thief                               Bear Thief                        Qing Dynasty Armor

  The armor the Tiger Thief wears resembles that worn by Chinese soldiers during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Bear Thief, the Tiger Thief, the nameless warrior trapped in the Gourd of Mist, the Ox King, Sky Dragon, and Lord Yao also wear similar armors.

 Dracula

Fangs The Vampire from Fortuneteller Baba Saga. A direct reference to Dracula.
 Dragon Quest

              Archdemon                          Cyclops                                           Orc

                                                             Shaman

 Dr. Slump

There are a lot of references to the characters of Dr. Slump. The major ones being the episodes in General Blue Saga taking place in
Penguin Village.

 Chenshi

￼

               Chenshi from fortuneteller baba saga

               His character design is exactly the same as Turbo Norimaki (Dr. Slump).

 Commander Red's Painter

￼

The Painter

  During the General Blue Saga, Commander Red has his portrait painted by an anthropomorphic goat, who is similar in appearance to Dr. Goat, who appears in Akira Toriyama's Today's Highlight Island and Dr. Slump series.

 Soldier 23

￼

        Soldier 23 General Blue Saga

        Soldier 23 was one of the last soldiers of General Blue's sector. He has a slight         resemblance to Senbei Norimaki from the Dr. Slump series.
 Frankenstein's Monster

       Android #8 AKA Eighter (Japanese - Hat-chan) is a direct reference to Frankenstein's        monster.

 Hwang Jang Lee

Mercenary Taopaipai is based on the Korean actor Hwang Jang Lee who played Thunderleg in Jackie Chan's Drunken Master.
 Jackie Chan

      Jackie Chun is a direct reference to Jackie Chan. To know more check the inspirations part at       the beginning of this answer.

 Sitting Bull

  Little Flower's Father from Aru Village in Emperor Pilaf Saga
  Little Flower's Father (or Becky's Father in the Ocean Group dub) is a native American who lives in Aru Village. He bears a slight resemblance to the famous Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull.

 Superman

Superman from Dr. Slump in the Penguin Village episode, makes an appearance and goes to a phone booth to change his clothes, acting as a reference to Superman.
 Tall Man

￼

Tall Man from Tournament Saga

  Tall Man (known as Noppo (ノッポ) in the Japanese version) is one of the cowboys seen in the Brown Country saloon. He seems to be a parody of the type of heroes in old westerns.

 Terminator

Major Metallitron is a direct reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie "Terminator"
 The Invisible Man

See-Through The Invisible Man from Fortuneteller Baba Saga is a direct reference to the book by the same name.
 The Mummy

Bandages The Mummy from Fortuneteller Baba Saga is a direct reference to the movie with the same name
 The Wizard of Oz

There was a cameo of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and Jack Pumpkinhead from the Wizard of Oz in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.

 Ultraseven

Kid Chichi's helmet is a reference to Ultraseven.
 Unnamed Big Fighter

￼

  An unnamed fighter who fought the Bruce Lee Impersonator for 100,000 zen in the Red Ribbon Army Saga. This big fighter only appears in the anime.
  He bears a slight resemblance to retired USMC drill instructor and actor R. Lee Ermey.

 Urashima Taro

The entire turtle storyline that leads into Kame Rennin's first appearance  is a reference to the legend of Urashima Taro.

Dragon Ball Z

 Aliens

Third Form of Frieza is a direct reference to Aliens from fictional novels.
 Baragon

The monster who fought Frankenstein in "Frankenstein Conquers the World" and later joined Godzilla's family - A cameo in Capsule Corps' garden
 Cinderella

The names Bibidi, Babidi, and Buu are a direct reference to Fairy Godmother's song from Cinderella.
 Himitsu no Akko-chan

Yakon is named after the magical phrase "Teku-Maku-Mayakon" from the shoujo manga and anime Himitsu no Akko-chan.
 KFC

A KFC Colonel Sanders appears once during the Buu Saga.

￼

 Michael Jackson

King Kai's Bubbles is a direct reference to Michael Jackson's Bubbles.
 Mothra

Hirudegarn crashing into the TV tower before undergoing metamorphosis is an homage to the first Mothra movie (1961).
Super Sentai

Ginyu Force

  The Ginyu Force has some resemblances and references to Super Sentai teams (and by extension, Power Rangers teams): five color-coded warriors, tendencies to pose during battle, role calls and supernatural powers.

 The Terminator

Complete Android and Cell Saga is a reference to The Terminator
 The Sword in the Stone

The Z-sword is a direct reference to The Sword in the Stone.
 Yatterman

Gohan dressing up as "Great Saiyaman" Videl dressing up as "Great Saiyaman #2" is be a reference to Yatterman, where Yatterman's girlfriend is "Yatterman No.2".

DBZ Fukkatsu No F

Bruce Lee

Goku doing the one-inch punch
Jaco saying "ahhh" after the punch
Whis did a WingChun stance
Vegeta slowly dropping his leg after kicking Frieza


Why are most isekai happening in a medieval world? Why are most isekai happening in a medieval world? I have been reading some of these and I actually can't recall of any in which the story is happening in an other era than in a medieval period. Why is that? Is it common in Japanese videogames too, as some like Dragon Quest and the first Final Fantasy had this background too? Was Japan influenced by the culture of European countries for this theme to be recurrent? Or am I just reading too few novels and I'm only interested in the same genre?

I think you might have landed in a category of Isekai novels where Medieval influence is more prevalent. As a avid reader of Isekai's myself, I can confirm that there are also plenty of Isekai's available that do not draw from the medieval ages, but focus more on other eras or even on far more futuristic worlds.
However, as you validly point out, medieval influence can be found in in a lot of media, including video games, board games, manga, and of course novels. However, more often than not, those are not truly set in the medieval time period. They just tend to build upon the concepts of the medieval age, for example feudalism, and build their society around these concepts, all the while introducing their own mechanics such as fantasy races, magic, geo/demo-graphics etc.
This way of story writing is quite common in the the fantasy genre, and even more often so in the sub genre high-fantasy. Which, quite a lot of the Isekai's would fall under.
One of the reasons this happens is because it eases the burden on the writer but also the reader.

Rather than create an entirely different world that readers will recognize as alien, it's often simpler to revert to more primitive times, and simply add in magic when its existence doesn't require you to create a dozen centuries of magitech. It's a lot of work for the writer, and it may confuse or alienate the reader.
- Jerenda @ Worldbuilding.SE

Additionally, the introduction of factors such as magic might also reduces the need for a society to evolve beyond the Medieval era, or at least, not in the same way as our society did. Why would a magic world be stuck in medieval times?
Most of the Isekai's that I personally encounter also tend to follow the High-Fantasy medieval settings. But occasionally I see a twist of Heroic Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and sometimes even Grimdark Isekai's.
To name a few:

Youjo senki set in a world war 1/2 era (reincarnated as a war prodigy)
Mezametara saikyou sobi set in a sci-fi space setting (reincarnated in a spaceship)
Musou Kouro ~ Tensei Shite, Uchuu Senkan no AI ni Narimashita set in a sci-fi space setting (reincarnated as an spaceship AI)
A returners magic should be special set in a relatively modern magical world (reincarnated/returned in their own world/timeline)
Moshi fanren a modern day world struck by a zombie apocalypse from space (reincarnated/returned in their own world/timeline)


Read a manga half a year ago went to find it was about a martial artist? I read a manga about half a year ago which is about a Royal Prince or something like that, but his Father gets killed when the throne got taken away from him.

So the Prince has to flee and gets trained by 2 old guys in a cave. He also gets two souls in his body. One soul is from a strong but bad martial artist and another soul from a buddha monk which resides in his body so that the evil soul can't take over his body.

Anyone got an ideas which manga I am looking for?

Would really appreciate any help :)

After a long search I finally found the manhwa (Korean comics) I was looking for.

It's name is Sword of the Emperor

  Synopsis

  A young Emperor is cast out of his Empire by his uncle, who seizes the
  throne for himself. The young Emperor sets out to become the strongest
  among the living, and take back what is rightfully his.

So thanks for everyone who looked for it or at least tried to think about it :)


What kind of creature is Chiyo-chichi? Chiyo-chichi (Chiyo-Dad, or "Father Cat" in the dub) is a strange creature that appears in  Osaka and Sakaki's dreams. He says he's not a real cat before he tells Sakaki to "find a real cat."

What kind of creature is he? Where did the author get the idea of creating him?

He's the strange creature in the middle -- he doesn't like tomatoes because they are red :

According to the Azumanga Daioh wiki (revision permalink),

  Chiyo-chichi ("Chiyo-Dad" 「ちよ父」"Chiyo-chichi"), is a strange yellow cat like creature...

According to Wikipedia (revision permalink),

  "Chiyo-Father" (「ちよ父」 "Chiyo-chichi") is a strange-looking and even stranger-acting cat-like creature...

According to TVTropes, Chiyo's father is one example of a Mega Neko or is a Mind Screw element that was added to the anime by the author to keep the audience guessing. About who or what he really is, only Azuma knows.


Is Tanjiro using the fire god's breath dance and Nezuko using his ability a deus ex machine? Does it have foreshadow? In chapter 19 against Rui the dance and the sanguine explosion take place, do they have a past reference? or is he a deus ex author's error? I need your help

It could be considered a Deus ex machina. To quote from its definition:

...a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence.

The 'unsolvable problem' here would be the fight between Rui and Tanjiro since the latter was on the verge of losing to the former's seemingly overwhelming strength. Tanjiro then discovers a new skill using a different breathing technique and while it may not have 'abruptly resolved' the problem, it was 'unexpected and unlikely' since he was only shown to use Water breathing techniques and it was enough to buy time for reinforcements to arrive, as seen in Episode 20.
But was this an error? I don't think so. This event was meant as the beginning to unraveling of Tanjiro's past. Personally, I think it was a good way since it makes you curious about the background of Tanjiro's family, whether they were really just a family who makes charcoal or was there something more since his father seems to know breathing techniques. Was there foreshadowing before this? None. Rather, this is the foreshadowing to something later on in the storyline. All the unanswered questions from this part will eventually be answered later on as the story progresses. You can read the manga or wait for the anime to adapt everything.


Where is it mentioned that Gon didn't get his Nen back after being healed by Something/Nanika? I watched the entire Hunter x Hunter series and I've just noticed that it is not stated whether Gon got his Nen back after being healed by Nanika or not. And I'm curios... once he jumped so high on the Wolrd Tree (we also have to notice the speed) is it possible that his Nen was restored? It would be impossible for a person with the qualities of an avarage human to jump so high/be so fast after all...

I believe that Gon's aura is still there just not nearly as much as before. i think he gets it back or something because after Gon meets his dad and he and Killua split ways, Gon and his father fight together in the Dark Continent Arch. I'm not sure what happens in that arch yet because I haven't read the manga just yet.


Does Kaguya Otsutsuki have universal level power? I was told that Kaguya Otsutsuki is able to create and destroy universes or something and that she has universal level power and also that base level Momoshiki is also universal level.
Although I haven’t gotten to that part, I wanted to know if this is true or if the power scaling is off, because that sounds really off. How will anyone be able to beat someone that strong?

With the consumption of the Shinju (Divine Tree) Kaguya achieved god like powers in the matter of seconds, and was even known to her people as the "Rabbit Goddess." Although it is not stated in the manga or anime that Kaguya can create and destroy universes, it is shown that she has god-like power, and can shift dimensions at will.
According to https://naruto.fandom.com:

Kaguya has the ability to travel between any of her six dimensions as she sees fit. The dimension were noted by Obito to be very far from each other and he had a hard time believing she could join these dimensions in an instant.

Kaguya Otsutsuki has also showcased the ability to take not only herself, but multiple people to the dimension with her in an instant. She has also been able to make Gudodama (Truth-Seeking Orbs) the size of an average Planetary Devastation. She is feared as one of the strongest Otsutsuki in existence, also feared as the strongest shinobi to ever live. Even Naruto and Sasuke, one of the strongest ninja to date, had a hard time sealing her even with the power of the Sage of Six Paths.
Also do not forget she has the powers of Byakugan as well as Rinne-Sharingan. Her power is very great and she can probably destroy the Moon, or another planet. Although I don't think she can destroy a universe.


Where in Brotherhood does this screenshot of Ed and Al as children appear? I was wondering where I could find the episode that goes along with this screenshot. From the art style, it is definitely from Brotherhood. I have searched for a long time and couldn't find any episode that matches it.

tl;dr: This is probably an original illustration, rather than a still from Brotherhood.

This illustration may have originated from an official set of postcards based on the manga and Brotherhood continuity — when I ran a reverse image search for the image and included postcard and episode in the search terms, I found an eBay page where someone is (at the time of writing) selling such a set. (It seems possible to me that the illustration may have first appeared in a magazine or an earlier artbook, and that I was simply unable to locate it.)

One of the photographs in the product description shows the same image as that of the OP, and even the aspect ratio looks identical.

Many illustrations in the postcard set — such as those of Roy and Ed holding bunches of roses, Winry and Ed sitting back-to-back on a bed, and Ed in a state of undress — clearly do not originate from either the manga or the Brotherhood adaptation. Taking this into account along with my inability to recall a scene in Brotherhood that matches the OP's illustration, it makes sense to surmise that this is probably an original illustration, rather than a still taken from Brotherhood.

The eBay seller states that this postcard set was released on December 22, 2009. I am unfamiliar with Fullmetal Alchemist merchandise and so cannot confirm this with another source; I also do not know any details about how this postcard book was released.


Song that plays in the battle between Goku and Zamasu? In episode 53, Goku fights a Kai in training named Zamasu. Does anyone know the name of the music that played about halfway into the battle? I really liked it but I can't seem to find a title anywhere.

Attached below is a link to a YouTube video showing the fight. The music kicks up around 1:25–2:18 in the video.

  Video: Goku vs Zamasu

I found it! The song is called Desperate Assault.

EDIT: Link here Desperate Assault OST


In Death Note, what happens to Light Yagami after he dies? I read the manga and am currently watching the anime.

Ryuk once commented that users of the Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell. (Though one source claimed that this was only a fake rule that Ryuk wrote/spoke.)

This suggests Light becomes a Shinigami. If so, why does Light not continue the work he began on Earth? Does L (who also touched the Death Note) become a Shinigami as well, somehow preventing Light from doing his deeds?

Ryuk once commented that users of the Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell. (Though one source claimed that this was only a fake rule that Ryuk wrote/spoke.)

No, the claim/source is incorrect. Anyone who uses/writes in the Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell. This can be seen as Purgatory or 無 MU/Nothingness

  This suggests Light becomes a Shinigami.

Wrong. :) The rules of the Death Note have been explicitly stated in both the anime and manga as stated by Braiam which was...

  The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell and die an unfilling and unhappy life.

Finally touching the Death Note does not make you a Shinigami, although touching it allows you to see the Shinigami.