In the Brotherhood continuity, do the Elric brothers know that their father has died? After Ed got Al's body back, their father Van Hohenheim is shown at Trisha's grave, where Pinako later finds him dead. Did the boys find out that he had died or did they not even know what happened?

There is never a point either in the manga or the Brotherhood adaptation of it where the brothers are explicitly told of Hohenheim's death. Note, however, that it would be odd for Pinako to never tell the brothers of Hohenheim's death. Unlike with the Maria Ross incident, there is no reason for the brothers to not know, and it seems unlikely that Pinako would lie about the death (in the way Mustang lied about Hughes to Edward) and never tell the truth.

There is additional evidence at the end of the manga, where there is a compilation of post-manga photographs at the end. In one of them, we see Hohenheim's grave next to Trisha's. There is a similar photo at the end of Brotherhood. (Click link for anime screenshot. I am not cropping the images, since it should be easier to get a sense of where they are from this way.)

With this, we can infer that the brothers probably know of Hohenheim's death. That a marked grave was constructed for Hohenheim, who died shortly after Promised Day (and thus, before the brothers leave Resembool two years later), and placed at a meaningful position suggests that there must have been some level of ceremony put into his burial. Being Hohenheim's sons, the brothers then might well have been given the chance to be involved with the burial, and they would probably know of the death that way.

Moreover, even if Pinako quietly buried Hohenheim, it seems unlikely that she have buried him alone, without help from anyone, so word would probably eventually get out that he was dead. Additionally, the brothers probably periodically visit graves in the area — for instance, Edward decides to visit the Rockbells' graves at the end of ch. 41, after hearing about their work in Ishval — so they would be "forced" to know once they visited their mother's grave at some point.


Why does Evangelion manga's plot diverge from the anime? I have read the manga, all of it, and I have watched the first 13 episodes of NGE. And it surprised me, because the plots were different with the manga (well, just some of it). Especially the ending in manga. I wonder why the ending and the plot were different? What's the reason for that?

And how was the manga made in 1994, while the anime aired in 1995? Which one came first? Was Evangelion based on manga?

Because the manga is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto not Hideaki Anno. I think he talks about it somewhere. Sadamoto simply had a more positive view of the story, so you see Shiji talking more. Not even Anno himself sticks that much to the story as the fans do, see Rebuild series. So, relax and enjoy.


Was the Tokyo Ghoul OP made before the Anime or specifically for the anime? Was the song Unravel (OST Tokyo Ghoul) made specifically for the Anime, or was it already made before the Anime, and was just used by the studio for the Anime. If it predates the Anime, was it as famous as it is now, or did it gain popularity after it appeared in the Anime ?

I do not know if it was made specifically for the Anime, but the Anime was the debut of the song. The first episode of the Anime having aired on July 4th, 2014 and the single containing the song being released on july 23rd, 2014.


Are these Hebrew inscriptions actually "correct"? I'm watching episode 15 of Osamu Tezuka's In the Beginning: The Bible Stories out of curiosity. In both this episode and episode 23, we see what appears to be the stone inscriptions of the ten commandments, in something that looks like Hebrew. (Click for bigger image.)

I was wondering if these are actually reasonably "correct" Hebrew inscriptions, given that I've seen placeholder texts in animated books that had nothing to do with the actual in-universe meaning of the books (e.g. RPG-related material in alchemy books in the 2003 FMA).

I would assume that this is correct, but I had extremely little success trying to cross-check with either text in Hebrew here or here, particularly since I don't know Hebrew.

Might anyone know the answer to this?

They are ask real words (in the top picture, it's kind of hard to read the second one).  I don't really know how to prove it though.  The big, bold words mean vertical, no, no, and trapped in that order going down.  The rest is religious about g-d.  Sorry if that doesn't answer the question fully.


Who are these characters in episode 25 of Sword Art Online? In 13:32

Who are the characters in the 3rd and 6th position from the left side? I can't recognize what episodes they were from previously.

From the left to the right (not including Silica, Asuna, and Lisbeth):

Yolko (Ep. 5)
Sasha (Ep. 11), the one with the glasses
Yulier (Ep. 12)


How did Dante know that the Elric brothers were going to bring back their mother Trisha? In the FMA Wikia it says this...

  In the first anime series, the remains of the failed human
  transmutation that was Trisha takes on a larger role. After the
  brothers rush away from the scene looking for help, the deformed,
  living mass that was created manages to crawl away. Patiently waiting
  not far from the house was Dante, who fed it the Red Stones necessary
  to give it a human form.

Which leaves the impression that Dante knew that they would perform human transmutation on their deceased mother. Isn't it a bit strange that Dante is so conveniently close to the house when the incident happens? It seems to me that she knew this would happen.

So how did Dante know that the Elric brothers were going to bring back their mother Trisha? I also can't remember when this happened in the series. Please list the episode in your answer if possible.

Quite possibly one of the Homunculi was keeping an eye on Izumi at the time being an alchemist who could have wanted the Philosopher's Stone and saw the Elricks learning Alchemy from her and reported back to Dante, given how much they look like Hohenheim of Light Dante may have followed them back in hopes that she might see Hohenheim.

Another reason could be the exact same as Mustang having received a letter from the Elricks asking about Hohenheim and came to look for Hohenheim, or suspected that because Ed and Al was Hohenheim's sons they might also be foolish enough to do Human Transmutation as she and Hohenheim did with their Son.

This is really just speculation though, the start of the 2003 anime plays out much like brotherhood yet they deviate because the Manga was on going and Dante is a 2003 only character, as for which episode we see Dante meet Sloth for the first time i don't remember but if i was to guess it might be around when Hohenheim faced Dante after seeing Ed and Al and first encounter Sloth, it would make sense for it to appear here as Dante would be showing off Sloth to Hohenheim.


How much of the manga does the Knights of Sidonia anime cover? I see there are many more chapters/volumes of Knights of Sidonia than there are episodes. If I were to want to get onto the manga after the anime series finishes, where would I start and are they directly correlated?

According to Manga Updates, the first season of Knights of Sidonia starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 and ends at Vol 6, Chap 26.


Is Gintoki's sword one of the strongest swords? In episode 29 an amanto sword collector who is looking for the best sword in the universe tries to steal Gintoki's sword.

After hearing Kagura broke a bridge with this sword (which she stole from Gintoki), the amanto (who is supposed to be harder than steal and inmune to bullets) attacks Kagura and Kagura blocks the attack with Gintoki's sword.
Then the amanto claims Gintoki's sword is the "Youtou Hoshikudaki" a special sword he's been looking for.
Then Shinpachi tells Gintoki the amanto is looking for "the strongest sword in the universe".
Then Shinpachi says to Gintoki that his sword might be the objective of the amanto, since it's stronger than other swords and can break anything.
Then the amanto claims he has seen may swords, but Gintoki's sword is unique.
Then we see a tv commercial showing swords like Gintoki's on sale, they are indeed called "Youtou Hoshikudaki" and are claimed to be able to destroy "rocks, meteorites and muscles" and then...

Kagura breaks the sword. Sure Kagura is very strong because she's a Yato. But later in the series we see the sword being broken several times. Once the sword is broken in the fight against the benizakura, and Gintoki's given a stronger sword by Tetsuko to be able to fight the benizakura's wielder.
And then Gintoki doesnt seem to be using this special " stronger than the Youtou Hoshikudaki" anymore, and in his battle with Jirochou his wooden sword is broken again and he loses, and in the rematch with Jirochou he wins using another apparently ordinary steal sword.

Is Gintoki's wooden sword one of the strongest swords, or is Gintoki's strenght (or Kagura's when she used it) what makes it seems to be strong?

Gintama is primarily a comedy gag manga, so it's wise to not take everything seriously.

The main reason for Gintoki having a wooden sword is so that he can walk around Edo without getting arrested for illegally carrying a sword. It also keeps the series somewhat light-hearted because he does not often cut people up with it. But despite it being just a wooden sword, he uses it to smash everything from heads to giant alien spaceships. Gintoki himself is sometimes depicted as being on even footing with Alien species which are supposed to be far stronger than any human. This apparent strength of Gintoki's wooden sword is a good example that highlights the gag nature of the series.

To answer your question though, it is shown at one point in the series that his sword has broken on multiple occasions, and each time that happens Gintoki just buys another one from teleshopping. So the swords themselves are definitely nothing special.

I don't remember exactly when, but at a later point they showed an episode in which it was revealed that a spirit actually resides in his sword. So if anything, its power can be attributed to that spirit.


What is the true name for Kyubey? Through out the series the Magical Girls call it Kyubey however they respond just as well to Homura when she calls them Incubator and don't go to correct her.

I am wondering which is their real name, Kyubey or Incubator?

The name Kyubey is a short-hand for Incubator (pronounced [in-kyuh-bey-ter](source), which shows similar phonetic pronunciations). This follows a pattern similar to other nicknames or names that are shortened, such as:

"Ed", from "Edward" (e.g. Edward "Ed" Elric from FMA) and
"Al", from "Alphonse" (like Alphonse "Al" Elric, also from FMA).

That said, Kyubey is the name of the creatures, whereas Incubator is its race/species.
From the Madoka Magica wiki:

Kyubey is an Incubator/Messenger of Magic. Because of this, he, like his race, cannot exhibit emotions of any kind.

In episode 8, around 20:10, Homura says

I won't let things go according to your plans, Kyubey.
Or should I say... "Incubator"?

Which would be equivalent, in context, to me saying

I won't let things go according to your plans, Memor-X.
Or should I say... "Human"?


What are Arcueid's origin similarities with Caster? In the Rani route in Fate Extra I recently beat Arcueid Brunestud while playing as Caster.

At the end if you look in Berserker's matrix under details than under True Ancestor, at the very bottom it says "And on a totally unrelated note, the fox-eared Caster gets along very well with her as it is believed that they share the same basic origins."

I have looked at both of their origin stories and I fail to see those similarities. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could reveal the similarities that would have led to them getting along well with each other.

Arcueid is a True Ancestor which are incarnated nature spirits akin to the Elementals where the term “Elemental” usually refers to spirits born from nature.

The playable Caster in Fate/Extra was said to be the human form of Kitsune and is a bit higher than an Earth Spirit because her soul was created by Amaterasu as a unique facet of herself. Because of that she would be classified as an Elemental so in a sense they are both Elementals.

Playable Caster was created by Amaterasu who is the goddess of the Sun while True Ancestor were created by Brunestud of the Crimson Moon, the Ultimate One of the Moon. Now if you know Shinto religion, Tsukuyomi, God of the Moon is Amaterasu's brother thus making the Sun and Moon related. So Playable Caster is like a child of the sun while Arcueid is the Princess of the children of the moon. This is a weak connection as we know Amaterasu exists in the Nasuverse but we don't know to what extent Tsukuyomi exists and if he has any connection to Brunestud.


Did Sola-Ui truly love Lancer? Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, despite being Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald's fiancée, is shown not to particular like him, criticizing him about his strategy for not facing the other Masters face to face and hiding in the shadows while Lancer does all the work. However during the series it's shown she has developed feelings for Lancer.

Lancer however possesses a curse known as the Mystic Face which takes the form of a beauty spot on his face and causes any woman who looks at his face to instantly fall in love with him. During their first encounter at the port Saber was shown to be immune because of the High Magic Resistance those of the Saber Class obtain and pointed that out to Lancer (which lead to Lancer's identity).

So I am wondering, did Sola-Ui truly love Lancer? or did she fall in love with him only because of Lancer's curse?

Kayneth himself tells us that even the lowest class of Magi (anyone with magic circuits and some training in using them at the simplest levels) are functionally immune to Lancer's enchanting beauty mark.  All they have to do is cycle their prana and it will wipe out the effects of the curse.  In the anime in particular you actually see Iri start to come under the effect of the curse, only to immediately break it as soon as she suspects something unnatural is afoot. This happens in the novel, as well.

Sola-Ui herself is from a respected magus family, and while not the heir to the crest she was not ignorant of such basic techniques (by Kayneth's remarks).  Her marriage to Kayneth is specifically an attempt to combine two high quality magi in hopes they will have similarly gifted children, which is itself an attempt to counter the degradation in the quality of magecraft and magi in the modern age.

However, the curse breaking only triggers if the affected person actually does the prana cycling, and so anyone unwilling (or unable) to do so will be subjected to the effects of the curse normally.  I don't recall the novel ever giving us any of Sola-Ui's motivations direct from herself, but it is heavily implied that she intentionally allowed herself to be subjected to the curse.  In the anime there is a sequence where she looks upon Lancer, we get a close-up of his beauty mark (the embodiment of the curse), and then a shot of an obviously entranced Sola-Ui, and a reaction shot of Kayneth suggesting he has noticed something happening.  Kayneth also notices this in the novel, specifically telling the reader (through his internal monologue) that any magus should be immune as long as they try to resist, and then wrestling with the implications of whether Sola-Ui just intentionally let herself come under its influence.

So the answer to your question depends heavily on what one interprets that choice to mean.

Given that the novel was written by Urobuchi, who is well-known as a writer of tragic or at best bitter-sweet stories, would suggest that the correct interpretation of Sola-Ui's motivations here are lust and escape from an arranged future she does not desire.  Romantic relationships in Fate/Zero, as with Urobuchi's other works, are inherently all flawed and tragic.  As you said, she was not particularly interested in Kayneth, and certainly not in love with him (and even Kayneth himself acknowledges this, but hopes that with time she will come to love him in earnest).  Lancer, on the other hand, was very attractive, mysterious, and possessing a romantic legend.


What are the differences between the Tokyo Ghoul anime and manga? After seeing the first episode of Tokyo Ghoul √A, I noticed a major difference in the anime. Are there any more differences between manga and anime (both seasons)?

Root A (season 2) is a completely different storyline that diverged from the manga and shows Kaneki if he had joined Aogiri instead of going off on his own. Though it does have some big spoilers, Read a bit about why they made this decision on This question. Almost the entirety of Root A is different, but some scenes (mostly fights) are recreated and are very similar overall. The storylines mostly merge at the last "arc" which occurs in the last 2-3 episodes of the series. This is the 2nd raid by CCG, Considering the first being the one against Aogiri (I will not say more as its Spoilers) and events play out differently but with overall identical results in the end. That is to say that major events that affected the results of the Raid occurred in both, though not necessarily in the same way. This was done presumably to leave the option to return to canon material in Tokyo Ghoul RE for season 3 if they chose to do it, but it could just be that it was supposedly the original story-line before Ishida changed it to what the Manga used, as noted in the first link, and he kept them through both versions.

Season 1 was very similar overall, with only moderate changes such as the chronology as better described by Thellimist in that answer, and a few other bits and pieces about how events occurred, primarily regarding Hinami and her Parents and how those events started up, and they did heavily censor Jasons Torture to Kaneki. He was down there for 10 days ( Read about it Half way down the page in the aogiri arc Summary of Jason on the wiki here

Overall, Season 1 is very similar, while season 2 only has bits and pieces that are similar.


Why does Muzan Kibutsuji Crossdress? At the end of season 1 of Demon Slayer you can see Muzan Kibutsuji the demon who looks like Michael Jackson dressed in a yukata of some sort wearing makeup and lipstick.

Has anyone who read the manga know about anything related to this topic?

It is one of his ability called Shapeshifting

Muzan can control his body's shape and even his presence, making him able to transform into someone completely different, without even those with extrasensory perception noticing, though he cannot fool Tanjiro Kamado's sense of scent. This shapeshifting allows him to become a child, and adult, a woman, or even to become a pillar of flesh, eyes, or mouths to eat others, or a cocoon of flesh to dilate and adapt to poisons.


How do i find an anime or manga only from characters names? The only things i know is that is it a manga that has an anime and i think the main character name is hana but im not sure if she’s the main character and i think she also has a cat named mero. How do i find the anime/ manga?

Just Google "anime" "hana" "mero" "cat", that's the best way to find it. It should come up with something. Anything else you can remember about it will help. Otherwise you won't be able to find it.


Why does Kaneki's perception of taste change? In the anime Tokyo Ghoul, Rize's organs are transplanted into Kaneki causing him to become a half-ghoul half-human. However, the organs transplanted are situated in his abdomen region and his tongue remains the same.

Later, we see the ghoul researcher Ogura Hisashi say that ghouls cannot digest human food due to a particular enzyme in their body and because their tongues have a different structure, food tastes different to them. However, Kaneki's tongue had remained unaltered so he should have been able to eat and taste human food but not be able to digest them.

Inspite of this, we see Kaneki say that food tastes bad to him and he uses adjectives such as ash to describe the taste. My question is, even though his tongue is unchanged, why is he unable to taste human food?

This Reddit thread partially answers the question. However, most of them were guesses and I didn't find them satisfactory. The highest upvoted answer goes against the show (tongue does not change.)

I've only watched the 2 seasons of the anime, so I request you to keep the answer as spoiler-free as possible.

The ghoul DNA "infected" his whole body (look at his eyes) so it´s not too far fetched it changed the tongue as well.

Apart from physical change there is also a mental change. There is a phenomenon where patients who obtained an organ transplant notice effects on what they like or dislike, e.g. if the donor was a pianist the patient might like listening to piano more than before or even want to learn it. Kaneki's tongue could still have the same structure as before but different associations to food based on his digestive system.


What is the reference Iri is making when she says DDD? In Episode 1, Iri and Student 0 have the following conversation:

Student 0: There's no future to it (the War) at all. Why only one team, Instructor? I think everyone should just share it (the Grail).
Iri: There are DDD circumstances behind that, so I'm sorry. I'd like to tell you in greater detail, but it won't happen. It's still too early for you to experience the adult world.

On the chalk board behind her, it shows Dark, Dirty, Dandy.

Since this entire mini-series is cluttered with references to the Fate series, I'm wondering what this DDD means in relation to the Fate series?

I belive it's referring to Decoration Disorder Disconnection, AKA DDD, which is another title written by Kinoko Nasu which was published in Faust magazine

  Arika Ishizue lost his left arm in the A-syndrome related accident and hospitalized. After he left the hospital and went back to Shikura, he met a beautiful boy named Kaie Karyou who has no limbs and is living in a dark basement. The boy asked him to exorcise the "Demons" possessing A-Syndrome patients. Arika was involved in the bizarre cases and the fights with the "Demons".

Source: DDD on Typemoon Wikia

As the Wikia also states there are no connections between DDD and the rest of the Natsuverse, even though Mitsuru Kamekura from Kara no Kyoukai is refernced in it as the wiki states

  it is simply a gimmick included by Nasu to cause readers of both to do a double-take while reading. It is actually a pseudonym taken from a character in a book in the DDD world.

However i do not know how being able to share the Holy Grail or not is related to DDD or how explaining it is "too adult" for Student 0. however given the case with Mitsuru Kamekura this could be the same thing with it being a gimmick by Kinoko Nasu and/or Gen Urobuchi to cause those who have read DDD to do a double take


How many chapters does ''Yona of the Dawn" volume 15 have, and what are they? I recently read chapter 168 of Yona of the Dawn online, which was the latest one at that time.

Since volume 16 of Yona of the Dawn is going to be released January 5th, 2019, I was thinking of buying volume 15 for a Christmas present for myself. I was wondering if volume 15 stops at that chapter or continues. If it continues, then I plan to buy it. If not, then I'll probably wait for volume 16.

How many chapters does volume 15 have and what are their numbers?

From here, Volume 15 only has 6 chapters. (The page also lists chapters for other volumes)

The Sound of Invisible Tears

We Part Here

To Sensui

Meetings Which Create People

Pursuit

Those Eyes are the Same Color as the Sea

I'm not sure if the latest is Chapter 168, but if you say that you've already read it, then it is still not yet released in Japan as a volume because the latest released in Japan is Volume 28, which is only until Chapter 162. As far as I know, English volume releases always follow the Japanese volume releases, so you would have to wait longer. Since it looks like they release 3-4 volumes each year, that is quite a long wait (maybe 3-4 years) before they release the volume containing Chapter 168.


How durable is Natsu Dragneel? I've only seen part of the first season of Fairy Tail (up to the end of the lullaby flute battle with the Erigor and that Dark Guild). More specifically, I'm on the episode right after when Natsu and Happy steal the job for the cursed island off the upstairs board at the guild hall.

In the past battle over the Daybreak book, Natsu fought a pair of mercenaries who said that wizards spend so much time harnessing their minds that their bodies are weak, which is their weakness, but after fighting Natsu and his dragon-slayer magic they saw how powerful he was physically.

Exactly how durable is Natsu? Does it scale specifically off of how much fire he has absorbed? Or is his body just naturally tough from training directly under a dragon?

Well throughout the series the mercenaries have been proven wrong in just about every fight, no matter the wizard. I'm not sure what makes Natsu so durable, but it seems like every wizard can take a beating magically and physically, most likely based on how much magic power they have (my best guess at least). When you see more fights you will notice that those mercenaries appear to be very misinformed about how most wizards fight.


What would happen to a Menos or an Arrancar killed with a Zanpakuto? It was said that a Hollow killed with a Zanpakuto is cleansed of all of his post-mortem sins, and is sent to soul society (unless he had committed sins in his lifetime, then he goes to Hell).

What would then when a Menos, which easily contains hundreds if not thousands of souls, is killed with a Zanpakuto?

Would all of the souls be released? Or perhaps the souls fused into one? If so, does that mean that Ulqiorra is somewhere in Soul Society right now?

Is such a thing explained anywhere?

I don't think it is mentioned anywhere, but what I think would be logical (but does not happen in the anime/manga) is that the myriad of hollows suppressed within a Menos are released (since the dominant personality has been destroyed) while those that were damaged in the process of the attack (e.g. those that constitute the wounded flesh) would be purified. So a large-scale attack that can obliterate a Menos might purify all of the souls.


What happens to Zoro's scabbards when he's in a fight? Various times, when Zoro is fighting, his scabbards just disappear mid fight. Especially when it is convenient, because he is doing motions that require a lot of flexibility and what not. So, I imagine it is just easier to help with the battle to act like his scabbards do not exist but is there a good reason for this that I am missing?

I have been surprised by the answers to weird questions I have had about anime on the internet so I want to see if someone can give me a rational explanation for this. Thanks!

I would call this a "mistake" or something similar, but I don't think that would do it justice. Not to take away from the time, effort, and skill of One Piece's artists or Oda-sensei himself, but you'll find in many of Oda's SBS columns (a section of the manga in which Oda, OP's creator, answers questions from his fans), that these kinds of questions are typically answered in a somewhat silly way. Although there's a clear effort to minimize such "mistakes," their importance is obviously not the most important thing to Oda. You'll find a favorite example of such an answer on the top answer of this thread. Not so satisfying for everyone, but if you'll excuse the speculation, I'd imagine Oda would give you an answer with the spirit of "Sometimes he doesn't like to wear them. He'll pick them up later."


Can Byakugan/Rinnegan eyes be transplanted on non-Byakugan/Rinnegan users? Title says it all. Byakugan, Sharingan and Rinnegan are considered the three great Dojutsus. We see that Sharingan eyes can be transplanted on non-Sharingan users as in the case of Obito's Sharingan being transplanted on Kakashi and Shishui's eyes on Danzo Shimura (albeit deceitfully), is it possible to transplant other Dojutsu eyes on non-Dojutsu users?
Dojutsu are considered kekkei genkai i.e. the powers are natural and in-born to members of a particular bloodline. Non-bloodline members can also obtain the powers of kekkei genkai but they have difficulty handling the powers(more chakra is consumed).If we consider dojutsu, Sharingan can be transplanted on both bloodline and non-bloodline members, is it possible for Byakugan and Rinnegan?
There was a previous question which discussed if Naruto can awaken Sharingan and Rinnegan since he is a reincarnation of some God where the answers proved he can't. If Naruto's eyes be replaced with Byakugan or Rinnegan eyes (direct transplantation), can he handle the powers? Is such transplantation possible?

Is it possible for Byakugan and Rinnegan?

Yes, it is possible to transplant a Byakugan eye. This has been shown in the series by the shinobi Ao. Unlike Kakashi and his Sharigan, Ao can active and deactived it at will.

unlike other dōjutsu that have been transplanted, Ao can activate and deactivate his Byakugan at will.

The Rinnegan can also be transplanted, as seen with both Nagato and Obito

If Naruto's eyes be replaced with Byakugan or Rinnegan eyes (direct transplantation), can he handle the powers?

The transplant is theorically possible, since transplants has been shown various times throughout the series. However, given how this is also not shown in the series, whether Naruto can handle the powers or not would be speculation and opinon-based until the writers decide to incorperate this.


Is there a name for "4-koma style" anime? Is there a term for animes (that are like Nichijou, Pop Team Epic) that have several parts in only one episode?

Afaik there is none.

The closest genre that can fit would be Slice of Life but that's a really big genre to something specific you are looking for.

Maybe this list might help.


Why are there no online stores that sell manga in PDF format for the English translation? I have bought a copy of One Piece, but I have to use some apps to read that while I have bought it with a full-priced. For example, I bought a manga online on some random online bookstore. The price for the digital version of that manga is about $7, and for the physical version, it costs $10.

It's understandable/acceptable for the price, with $3 different, because probably it was a cut-off from the printed cost which is come from the printed version, the digital version is print-less...

However, why do I have to read manga on some apps that were used for reading manga online? Why can they just give us, customers, the PDF version of the manga?

As a PC guy that uses spare time to research on DRM, I can tell you that PDF (Portable Document Format) sucks at protecting content in redistribution (in any form including printing, copying, uploading, etc.). There are two reasons:

PDF is made for an easy exchange of document without worrying compatibility between different writing software
there are no (as far as I know) universal DRM solution for PDF. Adobe DRM won't work on PDF-XChange Reader and vice versa. Some of them use customized PDF format which only specific application could read, thus limits the portability.

In publisher's perspective, the second point is the thing that they don't want to see: bypassing DRM protection. As PDF properties, it becomes the less ideal media. To protect their revenue and IP, they're more willing to use a custom proprietary format because the benefits it provides outweighs the drawbacks.

Source:

The History of PDF (Paragraph 3, 2017)
Adobe Digital Edition uses ACSM file (a customized XML) with resource IDs inside rather that actual content. Other application couldn't get the content except ADE. (Adobe Digital Edition)
There are tools to remove ADE protection and convert them into plain PDF or EPUB. I won't post a link so please Google yourself.


Does the White Album 2 anime share the same storyline as the visual novel? I want to start watching the White Album 2 anime but I want to play the VN also.

I heard that the story from the anime is different than the game. Is this true? Because I would rather play the game first if it's the same story, but if it's an new anime original story I will watch it first.

Yes, the anime does take some liberties between the two. The visual novel and anime do follow more or less the same path in the end and do converge but there are some differences.
However, note that the plots remain fairly similar despite this. I haven't looked at the next Visual Novel after Introductory Chapter yet but since they both end fairly similar one can imagine that the differences aren't large enough that you couldn't skip Introductory Chapter and go straight to the next chapter after watching the anime.
The differences are large enough that the Baka Tsuki project does not want anyone translating purely off the anime:

Can I use stuff based on what I've seen in the anime?
Not really... the anime takes its liberties with the adaptation, even
though it's done very well. There are some aspects that are shared
between the game and anime, but please don't try a 1:1 copy of
anything in-between.

It's worth noting White Album 2's Introductory Chapter (the arc in which the anime covers is kinetic. This means there will not be choices to make and it will be fairly linear. So, divergence will not be massive.
That said, I'll leave this as it is and keep spoilers out. If so desired, I can add more information under a spoiler tag listing some major differences.


What is the meaning/purpose of the (not) in the titles of Rebuild of Evangelion? The titles of the first 3 movies of Rebuild of Evangelion are:

You Are (Not) Alone
You Can (Not) Advance
You Can (Not) Redo

I am wondering what is the purpose and/or meaning of the inclusion of (Not) in the titles.

Spoilers:

It's because of the duality of the theme in each of the movies.

In the first movie, one of the main themes is Shinji feeling alone or abandoned. Yet, he's made friends at school and in Misato, yet still feels alone and isolated (mostly because of Eva and his responsibilities). He is alone yet he is not alone.

In the second movie, it's about Shinji being able to move on. He's faced with the conflict with his father, Gendo, and with the conflict with Asuka, and later the conflict involving Rei. When it seems he has the chance to advance or move on, by having a dinner planned with his father, reconciling and getting to know Asuka, or preventing one of his last friends from dying in Rei, his hopes are dashed. An activation accident ends the dinner plans, which through his refusal, ends up with (what he thinks at the time) Asuka getting killed, and finally after saving Rei, he's unwittingly started 3rd impact. So he has advanced, yet he has not.

In the third movie, the theme is him fixing what he's done wrong, or a "Redo". The majority of the movie is to set him up by showing how much wrong he has inflicted on the world, and then giving him a chance to "Redo" it, or reset it. The chance ends up not working, and in the end, he's made everything even worse. So given the chance for him to "Redo", it ends up that he can not.

So ultimately, the titles are just some clever way of expressing this duality of themes in each of the first 3 movies.


Why are only some of the references censored in Lucky Star As anyone who has seen Lucky Star will remember, most of the references to other anime and manga are censored. The most obvious examples of this are references to Gundam or Sgt. Frog (both of which are notably Sunrise shows). Presumably this is done to avoid KyoAni getting sued. This also explains why references to Haruhi and Full Metal Panic weren't censored (as far as I remember). Interestingly these instances of censorship probably could have been removed in the English release since it was licensed by Bandai, but I don't know if they actually were, so this question might only apply to the Japanese version.

However, there are still a few cases of references which weren't censored despite no obvious connection between the Lucky Star team and the source. The one that immediately comes to mind is To Heart, which is referenced several times. To Heart is associated with VN studio Leaf as well as animation studios Oriental Light and Magic and AIC, neither of which have anything to do with Lucky Star (KyoAni and Kadokawa). I can't find any connections between them, but of course that could be oversight on my part, and I didn't check all of the individual staff members.

Is there some connection that I missed? Barring that, what sort of policy would a studio typically use for references like this? Would they try to obtain permission for all of the references, or just bleep the ones that seem risky to them?

Not sure if this is just a random connection or actually the reason, but here's the connection between Lucky Star and ToHeart:

Lucky Star's manga and anime are published by different branches of Kadokawa. The ToHeart manga was published by MediaWorks which was owned by, you guessed it, Kadokawa.

I don't know if every single branch of Kadokawa is allowed to mention a work in every other branch, but there is at least this connection. If someone bought Lucky Star DVDs and saw ToHeart mentioned and then decided to go buy the ToHeart manga, that's a double win for Kadokawa.


Social etiquette in anime/manga/pop culture Japan conventions When attending anime/manga/pop culture conventions, is there any guidance or any good manners I need to observe?  Is there something specific I need to observe, or is it just like the other "normal" conventions? For example, when you meet with a cosplayer or meet and greet with your favorite author, should we get hyped up, or do we have to have a poker face?

The etiquette shouldn't differ much, if at all, between cons. But here's just a short checklist for you.

Be sure to respect the rules. Most conventions have a set of rules on their websites, more often even several. Take for example the dutch animecon which has general house rules and recording/photography rules. Most of these are updated every year, so be sure to re-read them before you visit again.

Some special events, such as concerts might also feature a special subset of rules. These often can  be found on the  events website, or will be told at the beginning of such a show.

Besides those, there are some good practices:

Don't take pictures of cosplayers without asking.

They try hard to look and act like their character, and often have special poses which make their characters look better/more appealing. Taking pictures without asking could annoy and sometimes even anger them. So be sure to ask them if it is OK first!

If handed props, be gentle.

In some occasions, for example if you asked, you might be handed props to feel. Those props may look like sturdy broad swords, but are often not made to be swung around. Be gentle and careful, they put a lot of time in those things

Free hug signs don't equal free grope signs.

Often you will see guys and girls alike walk around with a "free hug sign". When hugging said people, keep your hands level. No butt squeezes, no groping. (Yes, these things actually happen.) Also be sure to show your intention to hug them! Hugging them without them expecting it could end painfully for you.

Don't randomly hug, grab, or touch people.

Although this is often considered normal practice, at cons this somehow seems to be forgotten quite often. Just don't do it; keep it fun for everybody.

Don't be too pushy.

If people tell you to back off, back off. You may be very enthusiastic and happy, but some people might not like such behavior. And if they tell you so, just stop.

Unsure? Ask first!

If for whatever reason you are uncertain about rules or behaviour, you can always ask the convention grounds about it through an email. Or once on-site you can always ask the staff/gofers of said con.

Besides that, you are free to enjoy the conventions as you wish. No need for poker faces, but being too excited can be a bother to people as well. Just try to maintain some common sense throughout all the excitement.


How do fishmen produce water when there is no water around? I was watching the fight between Luffy and Hody, when Hody tries to use the attack where he shoots water bullets (I think it's called Yabusame).

So I was wondering how he can produce so much water when there is no water around him? Is that some quality of the fishmen or am I missing something?

Here's the image from the fight.

As state on wiki, Hody's body under the influence of Energy Steroids can produce water, so he can make a drip of water even when he wasn't soaked

  After overdosing on Energy Steroids, Hody appeared to drip with water even though he wasn't soaked, suggesting that he'd been secreting it.

So I think it's just like sweat, but with greater amount of water


What manga is Ken Akamatsu currently working on? Is Ken Akamatsu currently working starting a new series or planning to release a new one this year?

I understand that Negima ended some time ago. A mangaka's gotta eat, after all.

He is working on a new manga series (name unknown) which is apparently scheduled to begin some time this summer. It was originally set to be released in spring. As noted in the article linked below, he has stated that this will be his last series; he plans to retire after it.

Source: Nikkei
Translation: OK


What's the name of the music track that plays at 14:08 in Episode 764 of One Piece? What's the name of the music track that plays at 14:08 in Episode 764 of One Piece?

Please help me!!:D

Youtube

  "Nami's Message ~Luffy's Anger~", track #22 of the album "Strong World".

Truth be told, I wanted to know too, and I finally found it! It's a soundtrack from Strong World, Nami's Message (or something along the lines of that).


How is Asura using Rasengan? In Naruto anime episode 468, Asura is shown to be using a Rasengan based jutsu against Indra. If I'm not wrong, the Fourth Hokage Minato invented Rasengan several years later. Am I missing something here?

It may not have been rasengan, but just gathering chakra and rotating it for more power. My defense of this would be Indra's using a similar jutsu to chidori in this filler arc. Both jutsus are similar to the modern day jutsus we know, but not quite the same


Who are these characters referenced in chapter 4 of Spotted Flower? What are the characters referenced in the screenshot below, and what game(s) do they come from?

You can ignore the rest below - they are purely for informational purpose.

In chapter 4 of Spotted Flower1, in the scene where the granny suggests a name for the baby, she made references to the names of the girls in anime, and dating-sim games. Listing them in order of mention:

The surnames (Kaname, Miki, Tomoe, Sakura, Akemi) and then the first names (Madoka, Sayaka, Mami, Kyouko, Homura) of the 5 girls in Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Kaname Madoka (鹿目 まどか), Miki Sayaka (美樹 さやか), Tomoe Mami (巴 マミ), Sakura Kyōko (佐倉 杏子), Akemi Homura (暁美 ほむら).
The first names (Manaka, Rinko, Nene) of the 3 heroines in LovePlus: Takane Manaka (高嶺 愛花), Kobayakawa Rinko (小早川 凛子), Anegasaki Nene (姉ヶ崎 寧々).
Then the characters in the screenshot I put up, which I cannot identify.
Then the first name of 4 girls (Yui, Kyouko, Chinatsu, Ayano) from Yuru Yuri: Toshinou Kyouko (歳納 京子), Funami Yui (船見 結衣), Yoshikawa Chinatsu (吉川 ちなつ), Sugiura Ayano (杉浦 綾乃).

The protagonist noticed that the granny made sure to leave out Akaza Akari (赤座 あかり).

1 It is a story of a newlywed working otaku and his pregnant wife.

They're from a Visual Novel called Kizuato. The names are (in order of their pictures):

Kashiwagi Hatsune (柏木 初音)

Kashiwagi Kaede (柏木 楓)

Kashiwagi Azusa (柏木 梓)

Kashiwagi Chizuru (柏木 千鶴)

As for "Kashiwagi Azusa"'s name (柏木 梓), I'm not sure why it was translated as "Azuki", but if you look at the original Japanese:

It says "Azusa".


Why can't the homunculi perform Alchemy? In Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, we saw that the core of a homunculus is a philosopher's stone, but ironically, they still can't perform any alchemy.

Why is it like that?

In Brotherhood (this does not totally hold true for the 2003 anime, so the reason is somewhat different), in order to perform alchemy, one must have a personal Gate of Truth. This is shown to be evident at the end of the series, when:

   Edward Elric gives up his Gate of Truth in exchange for Alphonse, and can no longer perform alchemy as a result of losing it.

However, manufactured homunculi (i.e. not Wrath or the reborn Greed✝✝) are made up of many souls, since:

   The Philosopher's Stone that composes them is powered by thousands of trapped, living souls. This power is what gives the homunculi their life energy as well as permits use of their regenerative (and other) abilities.

These many souls (generally, there are some exceptions) cannot think or act on their own, and thus the homunculus does not have his own Gate of Truth. This being the case, they cannot perform alchemy.

✝✝ It is possible that Wrath and the reborn Greed, having been born human and later becoming homunculi, could perform alchemy if they sought to do so. However, neither of them have any desire to learn it, and there is no official word one way or another.


Where is this picture from? How do I use Reverse Image Search to find the source of an anime/manga image? So I see an image that I believe is from either an anime or a manga. What are some ways that I can go about finding what series it's from?
Try these options:

Google reverse image search (browser built-in support and plugins)
Other reverse image search engines: TinEye, SauceNao, iqdb
Search engine tailored to searching anime by screenshots
Search for an anime or manga character
Technique: Cropping the image
Animated GIF: Picking the right frame

Note: Please note that as of May 9, 2016, ALL identification-request questions are now off-topic. Therefore, you can't ask an identification request question on this site.
However, such questions are still welcome in our main chat for users with at least 20 rep (globally on StackExchange).

Protip: If you are using Google Image Search in a non-English language, change your language to English or just use Google NCR for better, more accurate results.

Google reverse image search

Chrome for desktop

Let's say you saw an interesting image online and you want to identify the anime it's from. To do this, you'll have to:

Right-click on the image.
Click "Search Google for this image".

and here it is:

Using another desktop browser

  Note: If you are using Firefox, you can download the Search By Image (by Google) plugin and search for images like when using Chrome. If you use a Chromium based browser (like Opera), you can download the same extension from Chrome Web Store.

To search for images on browsers other than Chrome, you'll have to:

Go to Google image search.
Press the camera button.
Paste the image URL, or upload a file from your computer.

Using Chrome for mobile

Just press and hold the image and click "Search Google for this image".

Using another mobile browser

Switch your browser to desktop mode, and then follow the steps in Using another desktop browser.


Anyone know what series this image belongs to? Could be anime, manga, or even a visual novel, I'm not sure.

The original uncropped image is from Dorei Kishi 1 「奴隷騎士Ⅰ」, a Fate/stay night hentai manga by the doujinshi circle KUSARI. On a prior page is printed

  陵辱連鎖シリーズ＋オリジナルイラスト集

which translates to:

  Ryoujoku Rensa Series + Original Illustration Collection

Ryoujoku Rensa is another hentai manga by KUSARI, based on the 2005 eroge novel of the same title. It is clear that the image is an original illustration.


Who was the lead animator for all the transformation sequences for Sailor Moon? I know all of the seasons of the original Sailor Moon series had a variety of animators for each episode, but the artistic style and effects used in all of the various character transformation sequences are very similar. Who animated these?

Different episodes of the anime were directed by different Animation Directors, even within one season. The animators themselves and the artists who paint the backgrounds would have been under orders from the Animation Director and the Storyboard Artists rather than having personal freedom to decide the style and effects. It may be that the Animation Director of the episode in which a transformation sequence was introduced was allowed to propose, give input on, or approve the Storyboard Artists' proposition of how it would look. Finally, even amongst the Key Frame Animators drawing the actual cels, it is not clear whether or not one person would have drawn all key frames for the whole sequence.  It is the responsibility of the Animation Director, Storyboard Artists, and Key Frame Animators to ensure that the character design and flow looks uniform despite the number of people drawing/painting various pieces of the final product.

Some of the sequences draw loosely upon the original manga illustrations by Takeuchi Naoko.


Which came first, the LRIG or the Selector? In Season One, it is revealed that Selectors become LRIGs if they meet the conditions for their wish to come true.

Because of this we have a chicken and egg situation:

The first LRIG must have originally been a Selector
The first Selector needed an LRIG to grant their wish

Which came first?

The LRIGs came first.

In Season 2 episode 8 "This World is My Property" it is revealed that:

   The first LRIGs, Tama and Iona (then known as Shiro and Kuro) were created by Mayu to begin the LRIG and Selector system. These LRIGs are suggested to have special powers, compared to normal LRIGs. Mayu created more original LRIGs past the first two. Whenever one of these LRIGs loses three battles, they are not simply returned to the system to find another Selector; instead, they disappear. Tama and Iona are the only remaining original LRIGs.

Quoted from the Selector WIXOSS wikia & confirmed from viewing the episode in question.

Also, from another Wikia entry:

   Mayu created two imaginary friends, Shiro and Kuro, in order to play the game with them, then proceeded to conjure up the idea of the Selector Games in her mind strictly for her own amusement, creating yet more imaginary friends which served as the first Selectors and LRIGs. Eventually, Mayu's make-belief games became so realistic that the imaginary friends took a life of their own. Mayu proceeded to send them out to WIXOSS players in the outside world, effectively "infecting" the game with her own, selfish desires.


Why does Neptune give Broccoli the nickname Puchiko? In other anime some characters get nicknames like in Yuru Yuri Akari = Akarin and in WataMote Tomoko = Mokochii.

I can understand how these names get created but in Hyperdimension Neptunia Neptune calls Broccoli Puchiko. where does Puchiko come from?

Like other character's Broccoli's name is from that of the company she represents, in this case Broccoli

her nickname, Puchiko actually comes from another of Broccoli's works called Di Gi Charat, from the Wikipedia Article on Broccoli

  Broccoli is well known for the Di Gi Charat franchise and series.

in Di Gi Charat there is a character called Puchiko

  Petit Charat (Puchiko, プチ・キャラット), is Dejiko's little half-sister and is a catgirl.

there is also character called Gema. looking at Puchiko and Gema from Di Gi Charat and Broccoli from Neptunia they look similar

As you can see both Puchiko and Broccoli look very similar both having the same hairstyle, hat and being catgirls. also Broccoli's weapon Gema (seen under her) looks the exact same as Gema from Di Gi Charat

Also Puchiko and Broccoli both share the same Japanese Seiyuu and English Voice Actress.

  Broccoli (ブロッコリー Burokkorī)
  Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese); Karen Strassman (English)
  A little girl first appearing in Victory. In Re;Birth 1, she can join Neptune's party near the end of the game. She represents Broccoli.

Source: List of Hyperdimension Neptunia characters - Supporting characters

  Petit Charat (プチ・キャラット Puchi Kyaratto) / Puchiko (ぷちこ Puchiko)
  Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (1999–2008; Japanese and English in Leave it to Piyoko!), Nao Minakami (2008), Karen Strassman (English)
  At the beginning of the story it is explained that Puchiko, also known as Capuccino, is Dejiko's five-year-old sidekick and is a catgirl.

Source: Di Gi Charat - Characters

So Neptune's nickname for Broccoli, Puchiko, is actually a throw back to a character in Di Gi Charat which was made by the company Broccoli


Does Kiryuin Satsuki have any infused Life Fibers? I know that Kiryuin Satsuki was experimented on by her parents to infuse Life Fibers into her.  She was too old at the time of the experiment for it to be successful but she was able to wear either Kamui (albeit to a lesser degree than her properly infused sister). I assumed when watching that she was partially infused but I now have no recollection as to whether that was clearly stated.  The wiki seems to clearly state that only her mother and sister have infused Life Fibers.

Does she have infused Life Fibers to any degree or is she 100% human?

She is 100% human, but she carried artificial finger nails made with Life Fiber (it is more likely to be a hidden weapon rather than an infusion with Life Fibers).

Kiryuin Satsuki waited until the last minute (until Ryuko arrived at Honnouji Academy with Senketsu) to wear Junketsu. And her butler was continuously against the idea of her wearing Junketsu. When after a fight, Satsuki always had physical and mental stress on her body and mind, so she always tries to end fights as quickly as possible when she is wearing Junketsu.


Which one is the original One Punch Man, the webcomic or the manga? I have been reading One Punch Man manga for a while now, and noticed that there's apparently a webcomic on the internet too. Some people told me that the webcomic is original and the manga is headcanon, is it true?

Firstly, the Manga isn't headcanon (Note:A lot of fan made manga does exist). It is a detailed redrawing of the Webcomic, with extra chapters occasionally drawn in. The Webcomic is way ahead and is more or less the same, word-for-word if compared to the completed chapters of the manga.I personally recommend reading the manga first and then continuing with the webcomic. However, the webcomic tends to deliver its humor a lot better because of the ridiculous art style.


Why do cosplay competitions require prerecorded dialogue? From local performances to bigger contests like EuroCosplay, many cosplay performances require you to prerecord your music and dialogue.

Usually it is part of the rules for participation. What is the reason for this requirement? Surely a 'live' dialogue would make the act seem more convincing - rather than cosplayers having to lip sync.

I understand mic's aren't great if you have giant lobster claws or something - but microphones can come pretty small now and could fit in a helmet. Even still, why restrict all cosplayers?

Why does this rule exist?

It seems that it is a primarily time-management strategy. From the Oyahocon Cosplay Competition rules (bold text mine):

  The music and/or prerecorded dialogue must be ready to go as soon as it is put the CD player (this means the participant must edit the music and/or prerecorded dialogue before the convention and put it on a CD). Audio file must be exactly three (3) minutes or less. There are NO exceptions to the rule. If the audio file is longer than three (3) minutes, it will be stopped when time is reached (even if it cuts the performance). Please have files recorded exactly as you wish them to be played.

From Anime Midwest competition rules:

  The pre-recorded music/dialogue submitted to the Masquerade staff must be 2 minutes and 30 seconds or less. There will be no exceptions to the "2 Minute" rule, unless you request permission prior to the convention. Any entry over the 2:30 mark will be stopped at that point.

From Anime-Expo Performance competition rules:

  Adhere to the 2 minute time limit.
  MC and video introductions will not count towards the performance time.
  Audio: Any sound necessary to express your performance (i.e. music, pre-recorded dialogue, sound effects).
  Must be comparable to a PG rating– no profanity or offensive language. Bleeps or other forms of censoring are acceptable.
  Should not exceed 2 minutes.
  Must be MP3 format.
  Must have minimum 192 bitrate.
  Try to avoid audio quality defects (audible distortion, overdriven levels, low sample-rate/bitrate).


Why does Mikoto attack Touma? In the first episode of To Aru Majutsu no Index, Misaka attacks Touma with her Railgun, but she deliberately misses him. After that she attacks him with her usual lighting attack but he nullifies it with his power. But why did Mikoto attack him? It's so unlike her to attack somebody that innocent. (Yes, she does always attack some people, but they usually pick a fight with her first.)

The two have met before Index, in Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Misaka encountered Touma and his ability to nullify her attack with his Imagine Breaker in his right hand. When Misaka asked how Touma did it he says he doesn't know yet Misaka doesn't believe him.

This annoyed Misaka because she's one of the strongest Espers in the city (one of only a handful of Level 5's) and she's proud of it, Touma is a "Level 0" so he shouldn't be any match for Misaka however she can't win against thanks to Touma's Imagine Breaker and without knowing how it works Misaka can't accept that she is bested by him.

In Index they already know one another, it's just that after Episode 6 of the Index Anime Touma acts as if he doesn't know her because his memory was wiped out from a feather that remained after the effects of St. George's Sanctuary when Index was in Johann's Pen Mode.


Why did Karin keep the umbilical cord, if she's not Sarada's mother? I'm just very confused about this situation.Why did Karin keep the umbilical cord, if she's not Sarada's mother?Anyone explain it.

A hypothesis is for this question is that sasuke took in too much of Karin's chakra when healing himself. You can obviously hear her say on the episode of capturing the eight-tails"He took in too much chakra". We know that chakra may influence living beings, so it is possible that Karin's chakra may affect Sasuke's child. Or because Karin helped deliver Sakura and Sasuke's baby, so she might've just kept it. (We know how obsessed Karin can be with something.)


Why is "Cowboy Bebop" almost unheard of in Japan? I spent 8 years in Japan, one of the things that always amazed me was that of those people who watched anime, 99% of them had never heard of Cowboy Bebop. In all my time there, there was only 1 person who knew of it and they didn't watch it.

Perhaps I'm biased, but I find it incredible that this great anime has been largely overlooked in Japan.

Why was Cowboy Bebop relatively unpopular in Japan compared to abroad (to the point of almost being unheard of)?

According to Cowboy Bebop's wikipedia page:

  Bebop received universal critical acclaim and won the renowned Seiun Award in 2000, a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction work published during the preceding year, as determined by the Japan Science Fiction Convention. It was named Best Media of the Year by the Science Fiction Convention.
  ...

  In 2006, the Japanese MiniTokyo review claimed, "To say nothing more, it is a masterpiece, a genre defining series that has a right to be held in such high confidence. Not many series can do even one of the elements as well as Cowboy Bebop does, and even fewer can actually get every single solitary aspect of themselves to such a high degree of excellence. Everything in this anime falls into place with such perfection that makes it all organic and real and following to the extent that they do. From the full gamut of emotions to the roughs and roughnecks of the Bebop, to the masterful soundtrack that gives life to many of the episodes themselves, to the art that so perfectly conveys the mood and atmosphere of the entire work. Cowboy Bebop is not an anime to be missed, and not to be forgotten."

So it was well received, but unlike other franchises that continue to have new TV series, manga, novels, merchandise, or even doujin, Bebop is a one shot 26 episode series with a movie shortly after the airing and that's about it. It aired during a time when you didn't have massive blocks of anime on every channel, so most people probably didn't think that much about it. There's still a prevalent conception that anime is most stuff for kids eventhough that's not the case anymore, and being labeled an otaku of any kind is a social stigma.

Most people probably wouldn't know of a show that aired over 10 years ago, that only aired half of the show, and didn't have many more re-airings (except maybe on Friday Road Show, I'm not sure where to find this information). Most people probably would never had heard of "Macross" or "Gundam" if it wasn't for the franchise churning out products, and thus, having advertisements placed all over the place. Most people probably never heard of shows like "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" for similar reasons.


What is that covering part of the Nerv Logo? As you can see, in the logo there is something covering parts of the text. It sort of looks like half of a maple leaf.

What is it and why is it in the Logo?

The glossary contained within The End of Evangelion - Theatrical Program states the leaf to be a fig leaf.

  The expression "fig leaf" is widely used figuratively to convey the covering up of an act or an object that is embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance, a metaphorical reference to the Biblical Book of Genesis, in which Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their nudity after eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And as the highlighted text emphasizes, besides hiding or covering something up. It also references to the original sin of eating the forbidden fruit, the fruit of wisdom.


What's the name of this song that often plays when Madara appears? You can hear it at 2:08 in this video.
It often plays when Madara shows up but I couldn't find it anywhere. What's the name of the song?

I think it is this Madara Uchiha Theme - The God Awakened https://youtu.be/7m0IUJS-LOY


What's the name of the track that plays in One Piece Episode 630 from 13:30 - 14:00? The soundtrack that plays when Fujitora makes his first appearance.
Episode 630 13:30-14:00
I have heard the soundtrack many times before. This soundtrack relates to a swordsman, that's how I feel.

Thanks

The name of the OST is "Greeting Swordsman" and is from One Piece Movie 7: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle

Here is the link to the OST and here is the extended version.


Why was Polnareff able to see stands when he didn't have one? In Golden Wind, there are multiple episodes where Polnareff's stand Silver Chariot is separated from him, which causes all souls in a radius to swap bodies.

Polnareff ends up in the body of a turtle, and even though he no longer has a stand (it is operating on its own) he can still see stands.

His lack of having a stand is also the reason he was able to grab the arrow at the end of episode 35 of Golden Wind.

Why can he still see stands if he no longer has one?

I have two explanations why this is the case:

Although Silver Chariot has gone Berserk, it's still his Stand

First of all, although he can't control Silver Chariot Requiem anymore doesn't mean it's not his Stand anymore. In the flashback where Polnareff first found out about what happens when Silver Chariot has the Stand-Arrow, we can see that after taking the Arrow from Silver Chariot Requiem away again, the Stand transforms back into it's former normal self. So I'd say that even in the case of Polnareff not being able to control his Requiem-Stand anymore, he still is a Stand-User. Also, the reason why he was able to pick the Arrow up was because his Stand was already active and the effect of the Arrow (your Stand attacking you) still happens as we can see with Silver Chariot Requiem running towards him after picking up the Arrow.

Polnareff took over the Turtle's Stand

The second case why he can still see Stands is because the Turtle (aka. Coco Jumbo) was a Stand-User and Polnareff's soul got transferred into the Turtle. At the end we also see that Coco Jumbo's Stand "Mr. President" is still active because we see Trish getting transferred inside the Turtle just like before the Silver Chariot Requiem incident. I'm guessing that Polnareff just took over the Turtle's Stand which is definitely plausible in certain cases.

Part 6 Spoiler:

   Obtaining someone else's Stand in addition to your own is possible in some special cases like we see with Emporio being able to use Weather Report in addition to Burning down the House at the end of Stone Ocean

So although it isn't explicitly stated in the anime/manga, Polnareff still certainly is a Stand-User.


What about Sebastian's footprints? In the Phantomhive Manor Murders Arc, in the Manga, when the murders were happening, the characters who were investigating specifically mentioned that there were no footprints of anyone from outside who might have come from storm or might've been wet because of rains near the crime scenes.

But later

   when Sebastian was explaing that he was behind everything and that he switched corpse places from outside windows. Also he was shown wet a number of times. But no footprints were found? There were no footprints of the wet Sebastian? How?

Was mentioning the "no traces of footprint" thing a mistake or was it ignored while sebastian was explaining what had actually happened?

Well, there are many things Sebastian can do that we can't explain without shining some light on one fact.

He is "Simply, one hell of a butler"

He is merely an interesting creature with many talents.


What class of Devil Fruit does the Gomu Gomu no Mi come under? Considering the three types of Devil Fruits that has been explained are
1. Paramecia Type - where the user can get super human abilities and change their body parts into weapons, etc.
2. Zoan type - where the use can turn into a particular animal and inherit its abilities
3. Logia Type - where the user's body inherits a particular element and the body becomes like air which cannot be touched or damaged by non Haki users.

So what exactly is the type of Gomu Gomu no Mi?
It cannot be Zoan or Logia. It's very close to a Paramecia but still doesn't have a logical explanation to be of Paramecia type!
So is it some special type of Devil Fruit?

From the wiki.

  The Gomu Gomu no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that enables the user's body to stretch like rubber, making the user a Rubber Human.

You further ask..

  It's very close to a Paramecia but still doesn't have a logical explanation to be of Paramecia type!

Again from the wiki.

  Paramecia is one of the three Devil Fruit types. These fruits give the users a power that can affect their body, manipulate the environment, or produce substances. In general, Paramecia Devil Fruits are fruits that give their users powers other than transforming into elements, like Logias, or transforming into animals, like Zoans.


How did EVA Unit 01 interfere with SEELE's plan? In the Anime, after Evangelion Unit 01 eats Zuruel's S2 Engine in it's beserk mode, Gendo is seen in a meeting with the member of SEELE or whoever the pseudo-illuminati style organization is running NERV from the shadows. One of the directors of the organization states Evangelion Unit 01 has become self aware, almost becoming god-like, and that they have no use for a god in their master plan.

Now I fail to see how a sentient EVA Unit can prove to be such a hindering factor in SEELE's ultimate plan. How could one EVA Unit pose such a threat to the plan that the Unit had to be grounded until further notice? and what type of hindrance were the SEELE directors talking about?

So, after reading the manga extensively and going into detail about the meta of the episodes close to the end of anime, I think I finally pieced together the reason why EVA Unit 01 was grounded by SEELE, and how EVA Unit 01 interfered with SEELE's plan.

In the manga, EVA Unit 01 was grounded by SEELE as a form of "insurance" for executing their version of Third Impact, only to be used in case Gendo Ikari executed his version of Third Impact. EVA Unit 01 was grounded based on the fear that Lillith might become compromised should Gendo go ahead with his version of Third Impact.

This also explains why EVA Unit 01 is the only Evangelion Unit to made from Lillith as opposed to being made from cloning Adam.

I think that EVA Unit 01's awakening phase was not accounted for correctly by SEELE in their master plan, and therefore was grounded to readjust and incorporate an awakened Unit 01 into executing Third Impact. I also think that SEELE was afraid that both EVA Unit 01 and Lillith may be compromised, and thus tried to control what they could from the shadows as best they could, whilst still ensuring Third Impact (i.e. grounding EVA Unit 01)


If Itachi used Izanami on Kabuto, then how does his Mangekyou Sharingan work? So reanimated Itachi used Izanami on Kabuto. He then uses Tsukuyomi later. How is this possible?

I'll have to clarify a few things before I answer this question so it is completely answered.

First off, Itachi didn't use Izanagi, he used Izanami.
Second, he used Kotoamatsukami via Shisui's eyes to stop the Edo Tensei influence Kabuto had on him, but Shisui's eyes were placed in a crow.
Third, Izanagi and Izanami can be used once in each eye, as shown with Madara.

The Izanami is an ocular genjutsu of the Sharingan, that is designed to trap an opponent without eyesight. It was developed to save and reprimand an Izanagi user, for they couldn't handle their power and eventually abused it during battles.

Both Izanagi and Izanami result in the loss of vision in one eye, until used by the other. Madara used Izanagi in one eye to come back to life after defeated by Hashirama Senju. This resulted in the loss of one eye, but his vision was then restored when he awakened the Rinnegan after implanting Hashirama's cells into himself with the intent of getting Wood Style.

As shown, only one eye turned white and the other Sharingan remained.
Itachi used Kotoamatsukami to stop Kabuto's influence on him with the Reanimation Jutsu, as it was set to activate once Naruto looked at Itachi's eyes, thinking that Sasuke would implant them. And Itachi had two Sharingan, meaning that Izanami would only blind him in one until he used it in the other eye as well. He then casted Tsukuyomi with the remaining eye, and thus could use it after using Izanami.


Requirements to be an Anbu Black Op I am curious as to how is an Anbu chosen, what are the requirements, and does every one of them have like a certain backstory that makes them special or different from the normal ninjas (like how Yamato is able to do Wood style jutsu's and how Kakashi was one of the youngest Jounin in the village), or are they just trusted by the Kage's?

Anbu are recruited directly by the Hokage (or, in case of Root, by Danzou). There's no mention of a hard requirement, but generally excellent shinobi are chosen.


How does the state know when people transmute something into gold? In FMA, transmuting gold is against the law. However, I don't get this - How does the state know when people transmute something (e.g. bread into gold)?.

There's nothing to stop someone from transmuting bread into a gold coin, walking into a store and then going on their merry way out as if nothing happened, because there's absolutely no way to know that it was bread to start off with. (Please correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't been watching the anime in a while and have only started re-watching again).

So, how will/how does the state know when someone has transmuted something into gold? How do they deal with this? e.g. imprisonment, fines etc.

Short Answer
Becoming rich isn't exactly subtle, and Locard's exchange principle suggests that there's always some way to get to the truth in matters like this.

Long answer
Let's be clear about something: This isn't Harry Potter, the state doesn't know when a transmutation is performed.* Mustang was sent to find Edward because they had heard about his abilities by word of mouth.

There is no surefire way to know whether or not an alchemist has created gold. While it is possible for them to do so, you'd find that any mechanism they had for catching said alchemists would be similar to the real-world practice of insider trading or counterfeiting.

In counterfeiting, there are telltale signs of illegal bills. In alchemy, transmutation marks are often left by alchemists as the science is not really a perfect one. As @looper mentioned, you could melt the gold, but then you'd still need equipment to put it back into bars or some tradable form. Alchemists aren't blacksmiths.

That said, there's exceptions. Consider Major Armstrong, whose alchemy is one of the most refined around, such that he leaves no transmutation marks on his average transmutation. Say he manufactures a few gold bars and sells them to pay for some under-the-table deals he made. The state would have no way of catching him—there is nothing that sets his gold apart from real gold, and they probably wouldn't even know about the deal to begin with.

However, say he starts doing it regularly. He upgrades his car, his house (even though he already has a mansion, go figure), wears a brand new watch, and so on. This is likely the point when the state would start to question where he acquired such funds (especially knowing his salary). In this case, he could be "audited" (assuming such a practice exists in-universe) and he'd likely be caught.

*Now, there is a point I have not addressed:

   Because, in Brotherhood, Father regulates all alchemical exchanges in Amestris, it's possible he'd have some way to look in on this. However, I highly doubt that, even though he essentially owns the state military and thusly all of Amestris, he'd care whatsoever about gold entering the country's economy illegally.

This answer probably got a bit more "real" than you expected, but I think that's just the truth. It's the same with their "creating humans" rule; they'd have no way to know you did it until you did something to make it clear.


At the end, did Naruto skip Chunnin and Jounin rank before becoming Hokage? In chapter 700 of Naruto manga (last chapter) it was shown that Uzumaki Naruto finally reached his dream of becoming Hokage. It was also shown that he didn't achieve it immediately after the 4th Shinobi War ended as Hatake Kakashi was the 6th Hokage and Naruto was the 7th.

AFAIK, even when fighting Otsutsuki Kaguya, Naruto was a Genin as he never passed the Chuunin nor Jounin exam (as far as the manga is concerned). There is an anime where Naruto took the Chuunin exam, but he failed after disqualified due to using Sage Mode.

It was shown in Naruto the Movie "Road to Ninja", that to become Jounin, one must become a Chuunin first. However it is also to be noted that double promotion is also possible.

4th, 5th, and 6th Hokage were all Jounin prior to being Hokage. I'm not sure about the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Hokage, although strength-wise they are stronger than your average Jounin. The next Hokage was chosen either by the current Hokage, or the Daimyou of the Land of Fire. No other requirements was listed on the Wikia.

So, to the question, has Naruto reached the rank of Jounin when he was selected as the 7th Hokage? Or was he still a Genin, since it didn't actually matter much considering that everyone knows who he is, that he was the hero who saved Konoha from Pain, and more importantly the world from Infinite Tsukuyomi.

In regards to Naruto's rank which remains as the lowest one, Genin, due to Naruto spending most of his Part II's time fighting and training, Kishimoto decided Naruto would skip the following ranks to become the Hokage, which he felt was appealing.

Taken from Wikipedia, which references  Cinema Today: "Boruto: Naruto the Movie" (in Japanese).


Can the scenario for someone's death be written so that there is a possibility of other people dying? So you can't use the Death Note to kill someone else. If you write something like:

  "John Zerto burns himself to death after he killed his boss"

John would simply die of a heart attack so he couldn't kill his boss. But if you would write:

  "John Zerto dies after a heart attack after he tried to shoot his boss"

That could work. After 6 minutes and 40 seconds, John would take out his gun and try to shoot his boss. And because there's a chance his boss could survive, it could possibly work. So what do you think? Could this work?

Rule X (I think) specific says

Whether the cause of the individual's death is either a suicide or
accident, if the death leads to the death of more than the intended,
the person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that
other lives are not influenced.

So if written in the Deah Note "John Zerto burns himself to death after he killed his boss" it won't be possible.
However, the second example you gave "John Zerto dies after a heart attack after he tried to shoot his boss" might be possible since a gunshot don't necessarily kill people so if he has a gun (because if he can't get one he will die of a heart attack) the DN will make John Zerto shot his boss in a way he won't be killed, but if it's not possible to the boss the got shot and not get killed like he have bad health and will be dead the DN will prevent John to shoot his boss and will die of a heart attack.
And this only for the difference since it is not written that he shot his boss to kill him just shot to shoot him, the DN talked about other deaths, not injures.


Have the Ghost In The Shell animated movies made any profit? Ghost in the Shell (1995): budget around $10 million, box office around $2 million (Wikipedia, IMDb)
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004): budget around $20 million, box office around $10 million (Wikipedia, IMDb)

How can a series so good and influential flop financially? Even Rotten Tomatoes gave the original one 95%, and it only gathered 2 million while movies like The Fifth Element at the same time raked in hundreds of millions.

On its weekend, the 2004 one earned less than half a million dollars in the US. The new movie which is not great got 20 million in its first week.

Am I missing something? Something doesn't add up. Do the box office figures include income from Japan? Or DVD sales? Or something else? Surely they wouldn't keep financing something unprofitable.

As mentioned above, there are several movies in the GITS franchise, and being more specific would be helpful.

  Have the Ghost In The Shell animated movies made any profit?

Not according to box office sales for those movies released in theaters.

  "How can a series so good and influential flop financially?"

You are trying to correlate how a movie is received by critics and/or fans with how well it does at the box office. But, unfortunately, there are many factors that affect how well a movie does at the box office; positive reviews don't guarantee financial success. Just to recap, I put the budget and gross for the above mentioned movies based on IMDB, Box Office Mojo, and Wikipedia for regional releases.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Budgeted: approx 5.4 million USD
Domestic Gross: $515,905
Foreign (Japan, UK only): $2.3 million USD

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Budgeted: approx 18 million USD
Domestic Gross:  $1,043,896
Foreign Gross: $8,745,755
Worldwide: $9,789,651

  Do the box office figures include income from Japan?

In some cases, a movie may be released in different countries during different times. You may be strictly looking at a specific regional release. Your absolute best bet to look at Box Office - Worldwide, where both domestic and foreign gross totals are included. This will give you a better idea of how well the movie financially performed.

  Do the box office figures include DVD sales?

No. The box office gross is basically the total of all the ticket sales for that movie.

  Or something else? Surely they wouldn't keep financing something unprofitable.

The GITS franchise does exist outside of box office movies. When you consider other sources of revenue such as the manga, direct-to-dvd or blu-ray sales, merchandise sales, international licensing fees, etc. you'll start to see the bigger financial picture. It is not uncommon for manga publishers to use anime to increase revenue for their source material which is almost always the manga. In fact, if an anime release doesn't perform well, but it boosts manga sales, it's not considered a loss at all. It's the cost of doing business. How the anime industry produces profit is very fascinating because sometimes the goal of anime isn't to produce a profit, it's to maintain viewership, or promote source (or branded) material, and sales of merchandise.


Did anyone find and remove Kiritsugu's explosives? In this answer, I pointed out how Kiritsugu planned to use dynamite and the ley-lines to stop the Holy Grail War from occurring again. However, the plan failed because there was an excess amount of Prana in the Grail which caused the next Holy Grail War to occur earlier.

Given that regardless of the ending, the Greater Grail would be stopped (either by the events of Heaven's Feel, or Lord El-Melloi II and Rin dismantling it 10 years later), what happened to Kiritsugu's explosives?

All Wikia says is

  The premature occurrence of the Fifth Holy Grail War and the subsequent destruction of the ritual means that it no longer has a purpose.

Yet it also said

  The process involved utilizing stocked dynamite and the manipulation of ley-lines to ensure a severe localized earthquake in the targeted area within thirty to forty years of the Fourth War

I'm not sure how big the localized earthquake would be, but since the targeted area would be where the Greater Grail is, and it is under Mount Enzou which according to the Wikia is where Ryuudou Temple is and doesn't look all that far from the school according to a Fate/Hollow Ataraxia map

So did anyone find and remove Kiritsugu's explosives? If not, do we know if they pose a threat to Fuyuki?

According to Fate Complete Material III: World Material - Record of Heavens Feel - Holy Grail War: History of the Holy Grail War, p.007

  2010s - The taking apart of the Holy Grail War.
  Ten years after the Fifth War. Lord Emelloi II (real name, Waver Velvet. One of the Masters of the Fourth War) arrived in Fuyuki and together with the head of the Tohsaka line, set out to completely take apart the Great Grail. The Association was planning on bring back the Greater Grail, so the two sides were completely opposed. After the end of the great turmoil of the same magnitude as the Grail War, the Greater Grail was completely dismantled. The Grail Wars of Fuyuki came to a complete conclusion here.

Since the Greater Grail is connected to the leylines, a thorough analysis of them would take place before dismantling. Remember that Waver was able to locate a Caster servant's lair as a teenager, he should be able to discover whatever Kiritusugu set there, this is just speculation though. At the very least, the meddling with the leylines should be taken care of, but I don't think there's any mention anywhere about the explosives' fate.


Can a Death Note Owner be killed with their own Death Note? Can the owner of Death Note be killed if another random person knows their face and name, writes the owners name in the owner's own Death Note? with a sheet torn out from it?

There is no rule currently known which prevents any person from killing the owner of a death note under normal circumstances.

The only reasons a death note will not work on a person assuming that the victims name and face are known are:

  the victim is very young
  the victim is very old (124 years old or older)
  the victim is already about to die in the next few seconds
  someone already misspelled the victims name too many times
  the victim's name was written in a second death note simultaneously (victim still will die)
  the victim's name was already written in any death note in a valid way (time of death before end of natural life span).

(Please edit if I missed any.)

I almost always have to note on these questions that the rules available to us about the Death Note are not complete. In fact, the rules themselves state that even the shinigami do not know all of the rules about how a death note works.


What does the following quote by Nagato mean? Even innocent foolish children will grow up in the face of pain, until their thoughts and beliefs are same as their doubts

How can one's thoughts and beliefs be same as their doubts? I can't seem to understand this sentence. One of the biggest reasons I watch Naruto is because of its extraordinary philosophical background.

My reasoning on this quote: Children who grew up in war prone areas always doubt if they deserve to live on this planet or some form of source that ends the suffering. So, here their doubts are, is there really a chance for me to live without pain? An intuitive assertion being that, such a form of life will be impossible and cannot exist and the only way to live is to try and survive against all odds and doing whatever it takes. This enters their belief system and intern imparts their thoughts making them accept the fact that life is not fair for them. Is this interpretation correct or is there a different one?

This is just another manifestation of Nagato's bitterness towards the world.  He faced pain, repeatedly and more so than he deserved.  That experience planted the seed of doubt, doubt that pain could be avoided unless power was attained.  And that doubt entrenched itself more firmly in his mind until it stopped being a doubt.  It morphed into a surety.  It became belief.  That innocence where pain was an unfortunate hardship was stripped away.  Pain became an unyielding reality, unavoidable unless enough power could be consolidated to end all war.

This is what Nagato meant.  That what began as a doubt in an optimistic view of the world reaffirms itself so forcefully and repeatedly stops being a mere doubt and affirms itself as belief, as reality, as truth.  That there is an inevitability in losing an idealistic innocence and facing a harsh reality, changing from an optimistic attitude to one of cruel realism / pessimism.

And herein lies the fascinating contrast between Nagato and Naruto.  Both lead a life filled with pain, disappointment, sadness and grief.  One embraced positivity, optimism and hope while the other succumbed to negativity, pessimism and despair.  One chose to be built up by his trials.  The other was destroyed by them.  The evident lesson here is one of choice, of choosing a positive attitude and seeing the divergent paths to which a choice in ideology can lead.


How does Hollow exorcism work? In Bleach, season 1 episode 3 (around 19:00) Orihime's brother, who is a Hollow, stabs himself with Ichigo's Zanpakuto.

Soul Reapers are supposed to have the power to exorcise the Hollows to send their souls to the Soul Society; however, it is implied here that it isn't necessarily the Soul Reaper who exercises the soul, but rather the Zanpakuto itself.

Is there a clear definition on how this whole process is supposed to work? Or can Hollows just commit suicide with a Zanpakuto and have their soul cleansed as if the Soul Reaper had done it?

In a later episode with that Hollow who has those exploding slugs the Zanpakuto can forgive the sins a soul has committed while it was a Hollow allowing them entry into the Soul Society, it can not forgive the sins committed before hand so murderers and the like even when killed with a Zanpakuto are sent to the Underworld. the Quincy only seek to kill Hollows so their weapons destroy rather than absolve the sins.

What happened with Orihime's brother is apparently an "Exorcism" as Rukia implies there is a difference when Ichigo is about to stop Orihime's brother, i think what she said is on the lines of

  There's is a difference between killing a Hollow and exorcising one

i've haven't see the entire series or read further in the manga but from the looks of it it's the difference between a Soul Reaper forcing a soul to be purified and forcing the soul to understand what they have done as a hollow over the soul regaining themselves and learning of the sins they have committed, coming to terms with it seeking purification with their own hands, ie. taking responsibility for their own actions


Why Is Sesshoumaru a full youkai? Sesshoumaru is Inuyasha's brother, but he is a full youkai, while Inuyasha is half human, half youkai. Why this happened? Don't they have the same mother and father? Wasn't he supposed to be half youkai too?

They don't share the same mother. Sesshoumaru's mother is a dog-type Dai-Youkai, while Inuyasha's mother was a human.


How do the visions happen when Itami hits his head on EP.1? In episode 1(5:15) Itami hits his head and while on the floor he sees the 3 girls he is going to hang out with in the future. But how does he see that?
Is it something the Rory did, or Lelei or Tuka? Or is it something else?

https://youtu.be/_ZMVaU89xLQ

It is not known if he really saw them or if it was a flash shown only to the viewers. Itami never acted on these visions, not did he mention them or even showed any deja vu towards the girls.

My bet is on the something else hypothesis:

1:

   The gate main function is to bring different species into the special region. It is revealed when they visit the wizard's cities, and the grand master delivers her report to Ruri.

2:
There are gods in the world of Gate, and several of them are very powerful. Rori is a (probably old) demigod, you can put the gods' powers a level of magnitude above Rori's.

From 1) and 2), we can speculate that:

   some deity linked the gate to Japan, for some undisclosed purpose. That same deity could have sensed Itami and sent these visions to him, to guide his path.


Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, Robotics;Notes, and Occultic;Nine naming convention with semicolon? The following anime share the use of the semicolon as part of their names:

Steins;Gate
Chaos;Head
Robotics;Notes
Occultic;Nine

What is the reason for using the semicolon within the titles of these anime?

The best answer that I could make out myself for the use of the semi-colon in the names:

The semicolon in the names are used as a form of "pertaining to," however "not in possession of." Meaning--for example--"Steins" is related to "Gate" however, "Steins" is not in possession of "Gate." (This applies to the other two names as well.) We can see this because "Steins" does not make use of an apostrophe, which denotes possession.

We can see this by also rewording the titles of the anime:

Gate of Steins
Head of Chaos
Notes of Robotics

In this case, we see that "Steins," "Chaos," and "Robotics" all are related to the the preceding words in the reworded titles, just the same as if we made use of the semi-colon instead of, "of," in the original titles.


How did Nora return from the Underworld despite being left there by Yato? I'm wondering how Nora got back from the Underworld despite being left there by Yato (Noragami Aragoto Episode 12-13).

That scene was not there in the manga. It is not clear from the manga if she was left in the Underworld. It was shown that she was found outside in the grass and was revived by 'father' (don't want to spoil by telling his name).


Did Chopper mishandle the candy incident? During the Punk Hazard arc, some giant children are found, and it comes to light that they're actually research subjects who're given doses on a dangerous and addictive drug. When Chopper sees their violent withdrawal symptoms, he comes up with a plan that doesn't seem medically sound (to me at least, with my very limited knowledge of medicine). Namely, he uses sedatives. First Usopp's sleep gas, and then an injection of his own making. My understanding is that withdrawal can be fatal under some circumstances, so Chopper's adamant decision that they absolutely cannot give the children any more of the drug when they're suffering violent withdrawal seems very misguided. Staving off the withdrawal symptoms until they find a permanent solution seems like a viable solution to me. And I'm not sure how effective sedation would be. Was there a better way? Or is this all medically sound?
For an answer, I'd like either a compilation of medical mistakes made in the treatment of the children, or some proof that this actually was medically sound.

Checking the One Piece wiki, there seems to be some similarities between NHC10 and stimulant drugs like methanphetamines.
According to the "Clinical Guidelines for Withdrawal Management and Treatment of Drug Dependence in Closed Settings." published by the World Health Organization, the basis for treatment of withdrawal syndrome in stimulants addiction is symptom-based.
The usual symptons are: agitation, irritability, depression, increased apetite and muscle aches, in the more severe cases they can develop psychosis. These seem compatible with the symptoms presented by the children.
In cases of severe agitation, much like the children presented, it may be necessary to sedate the patients when other behavioural management strategies prove unsuccessful.
The rest of the treatment relies on hydration and multivitamin supplements along with psychological therapy.
So, at least going by our current standards IRL, Chopper seems to have acted in good faith through proper medical treatment.
Source: Clinical Guidelines for Withdrawal Management and Treatment of Drug Dependence in Closed Settings


What exactly happened to Yuta Gamon? Note: This entire question is a spoiler, so as it doesn't make sense to put the entire question in a spoiler block, read at your own caution.

At the end of Occultic;Nine, Yuta Gamon fires the unlocked Poya-Gun (revealed to be the Wardenclyffe Gun) at the Odd Eye in order to stop the New World Order from completing their mission.

It's presumed that he never makes it back to the human world (AKA is resurrected like the rest of the main cast), but what exactly happened to him?

I'm especially confused about the significance of the Sky Sensor playing staticky sounds in his father's old recording studio at the very end. Did Yuta return to the wavelength meant for the dead and in turn, get reunited with his father (again) or did he get stuck in the wavelength that the New World Order shifted to in an attempt to prevent Yuta from stopping them?

While it's not clear what "wavelength" Yuta Gamon is on, his spirit is clearly still connected to the normal world. The final scene before the credits reveals that he's still posting on his blog, trying to earn affiliate money. I don't know if the static from the Sky Sensor means much, other than to suggest that it's still capable of connecting to the spirit wavelength, although his latest blog entry apparently has something to do with the device.

In addition, at the end of the credits, the live action shots of the pond being drained and the final brief scene showing a "Coldsleep Room" with the name Gamon Yuta on it suggests that his body has been recovered and has been cryogenically frozen. This would have put on hold the almost expired 9-minute limit on revival after death. I'm guessing they're hoping to make a sequel.


Are Meliodas and Elizabeth still in love after he becomes the demon king? When Meliodas becomes the demon king, he becomes cold and blunt towards Elizabeth and even makes a statement that he doesn’t feel anything when she hugs him anymore.

Is that just a result of Meliodas being in his demonic form without his emotions, or has he really fallen out of love with Elizabeth and just wants to end their curses so he can be free of her? Will he want to be with her in the afterlife?

Does he still love her, or is he just keeping his promise to break their curses?

The reason he is cold towards Elizabeth is because

   the demon king removes his emotions and imprisons them in Purgatory when he is killed by Estarossa and the other Commandments. The Meliodas that returns to life is without feelings, and is just keeping his promise.

However, in the latest arcs (Manga spoilers; not in the anime yet)

   Ban journeys to Purgatory and successfully manages to prison break Meliodas' feelings. Though they get split up on the way out, it is clear that both of them managed to escape. Thus, with his feelings restored, Meliodas should love Elizabeth again as before.


Why does Trish's Stand have a personality of her own? Stands are physical manifestations of a users fighting spirit and apart from their battle cry, they are usually more like puppets that are controlled by their user. However, Trish's stand has a mind of its own, gave her advise on what to do and even  told her that some of her commands were not the best choice. (Episode 25)

Why does her Stand have a mind of her own? even to the point where she was active before Trish noticed her existence.

These are known as Sentient Stands:

  Although most Stands do not show any personality or simple hints of it, there are Stands who display a full-fledged consciousness separate from their Users. These Stands are able to think, analyze their environment, and converse with their Users, offering advice or commenting on their actions. Their personalities are diverse, but most sentient Stands follow the command of their Users regardless and act to protect them.

Some other Sentient stands from Part 5 include Sex Pistols and Baby Face.  All of the individual bullets have unique personalities of their own, likewise with Baby Face.


In Death Note, is it ever revealed what "L" stands for? In Season 2, we meet L's successors, "M" (Mellow) and "N" (Near). Seeing how they are his successors and were all raised in the same institute, L must also stand for something.

In the manga and the anime doesn't reveal what L stands for, but in a especial edition called "Death Note 13: How to Read", reveal that L real name is

   L Lawliet or in japanese, Eru Rõraito.

Reference: http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Note_13:_How_to_Read