What did Izaya hire Vorona to do? In episode 24 of Durarara!! ×2 (the last episode of Ten), Izaya identifies himself to Vorona as one of her previous clients.

What did Izaya actually hire Vorona to do?

It was Yodogiri who hired her and Slon to abduct Awakusu Akane, and I don't seem to recall having been told who hired them to attack Anri (and in any case, I don't see what Izaya's motive for having Anri killed would be, though his motives are admittedly a little bit opaque at times). Am I forgetting something?

Unfortunately, it was Izaya that ordered them to hurt Anri, which happened in the Akane arc.

  Varona arrives at their hideout and Sloan tells her of another job given to them by Izaya Orihara to neutralize, but not kill, Anri Sonohara

As for the reason, it was not mentioned, but it was probably to make sure she would not interfere with Haruna Niekawa as she controlled the Saika children.

Another reason is that Haruna Niekawa wants revenge on Anri and also wants to know the location of Takashi Nasujima. Izaya has promised her both. So it would be logical for Izaya to use Varona to fulfill his promise to Haruna.


Senki Zesshou Symphogear season 1: Does anyone know the name of the track that plays at 23:46 during episode 12? Senki Zesshou Symphogear season 1: Does anyone know the name of the track that plays at 23:46 during episode 12?

It plays just after the classmates sing over the PA near the end of S1 ep 12; the track starts playing when Hibiki realizes she can still fight due to Miku's song healing.

It has a very 80's techno vibe and it leads directly into the ending song "Synchrogazer" for the ep 12 credits.

Any insight would be appreciated, I've been going through the OST for all 3 seasons without luck. The amount of character music for the show is impressive, but it also makes it rather difficult to find a non-vocalized track.

Boy oh boy do I have a treat for you, my good fellow! The track you're describing is actually a long-intro remix of "Synchrogazer", titled "Synchrogazer -Aufwachen Form-".

It's no surprise that you had trouble finding it - this remix doesn't actually appear on any of the Symphogear soundtracks! Rather, it's part of Mizuki Nana's album "Rockbound Neighbors". Similarly, her album "Supernal Liberty" comes with another glorious remix titled "Vitalization -Aufwachen Form-". That's the version that plays in episode 13 of G when they all follow the Nephilim into the Treasury.

(Alas, I don't think either "Exterminate" or "Glorious Break" have analogous remixes.)


How much of the Black God (Kurokami) manga was adapted into the anime? How much of the Black God (Kurokami) manga was adapted into the anime, as in up to what chapter/volume?

  Most humans do not know that every person is one of three doppel liners, three people who share the same fate, and that god-like beings called mototsumitama protect the natural balance of power in the world. However, Keita Ibuki, a videogame programmer from Tokyo, is suddenly drawn into the intrigues of the mototsumitama during a chance encounter with Kuro, a young mototsumitama who makes a contract with Keita in order to save his life. Along with Keita's childhood friend Akane Sano, the pair begins to investigate strange disruptions in the natural balance of power that seem to be connected to a powerful clan of mototsumitama.
   - http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10262

The ending of the anime:

   Akane is getting married to Keita, and thanks Kuro for allowing them to reach that point. Several decades later, Kuro receives a telepathic message from a very old Keita. He tells her that he will take the curse with him, thanking her for giving him a happy life. Keita died afterward just before his grandchildren come to get him for dinner. A relieved Kuro then tells her beloved Contractee to rest in peace. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kurokami:_The_Animation_episodes

This is probably not the answer you are looking for. But having seen the first episode of the series, I can say that the divergence begins in Chapter 1/episode 1 as Keita's character is completely changed. In the manga he programs video games while in the anime he is a high-schooler. In the manga he is an arrogant prick; no such attributes to the anime character.

Since the anime was produced when the manga was still being written, the anime had to completely diverge from the manga's plot at one point. This, I'm told, happened in episode 12. I'm not entirely sure which chapter or volume this represents. The ending is completely different from the manga.


In anime, why high school students are not allowed to work? I was confused about why in anime, high school students were not allowed to work. I understand in real life that they have to have permission from the school. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much as a Westerner.

Schools and teachers of Japan in particular tend to be more involved in the lives of their students than in the West. The reasons may vary, as each school sets their own policies.

The main philosophy behind such policies is that students should be more focused on school (and extracurriculars). Their reasoning is that working it distracts from time they should be studying and fitting into society through a club activity. Not all schools have such policies, but there are some that have over zealous policies -- some reasonable, other not. Luckily, or unluckily it's up to the teachers to enforce these policies. Some teachers give leeway to strict policies, while other find it to be their job to enforce it to a T. The series reflects a bit of it for those that understand the context.

What is typically imposed on students is not something that they want or need by rather conformity within the established bounds and norms of modern Japanese society (which ironically can be very archaic).


What is the song in episode 3 of Your lie in April what was the music playing at background at 12:10 in episode 3 of Your lie in April

Confirmed at 12:10 the classical piece is "Saint-Saëns: Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor, Op. 28" by Alexandre Da Costa
The song played earlier in the mentioned photo above is "Bansou Bansou" by Anime de Japan


Where can I buy Majo x Kamikakushi? A while ago, I learned that the author of a manga I loved died but that its artist (Katou Yoshie) was still in business. One of the manga he/she's working on is named Majo x Kamikakushi, but I haven't had luck finding anywhere to buy it.

Could anyone help me figure out where I buy it? Apparently it's serialized in Gangan magazine.

As mentioned in Torisuda's comment, it seems there's not much info about this manga, even in Japanese. (There's no Wikipedia article, etc.)

Also, there doesn't seem any tankobon for this series. Considering this, the best/only way to read it is by buying the Gangan magazines themselves.

According to Japanese Wikipedia's article for Monthly Shonen Gangan, Majo x Kamikakushi was published in 2015/02 - 2015/04. Searching for those back issues, I only found them on Amazon Japan (not new, but used items):

Monthly Shonen Gangan 2015/02
Monthly Shonen Gangan 2015/03
Monthly Shonen Gangan 2015/04


What are the dimensions of the State Alchemist pocket watch? I want to cosplay as Roy Mustang for Halloween but as I was looking at the costumes online I noticed the cosplay pocket watches are tiny! The biggest one is 5cm. But in the anime, they look like a full palm-sized pocket watch. I was wondering if anyone knows the actual dimensions of the State Alchemist pocket watch?

Here are some images of the watch as it appears in the hands of various characters, this should give you an idea of the size of watch you want:


What's up with the gravity on board of Bebop? This is the final scene of the first episode of Cowboy Bebop. Right before this gif starts, Spike was gazing into space from the window.

The following events depicted in this gif are contradicting:

First, Jet rather slowly floats down from the ladder to stand on the floor steadily. It's because they are in space that he was floating, but his approaching footsteps can be heard, which means he's wearing some magnetic boots which let him stick to the floor.
Jet is holding a cigarette, from which the smoke goes off vertically upwards, away from the floor (like it would on Earth).
Jet has a pair of sunglasses hanging downwards from his apron. So there's either artificial gravity on the ship, or the glasses are being held really tight in this position.
Jet then throws the cigarette to Spike, and it floats in the air like it would in space, smoke still going towards the ceiling. Maybe the ventilation is designed so that the air flows from the floor towards ceiling.
Spike then catches the cigarette and its smoke continues going upwards, whilst the smoke cloud that Spike exhales just floats onwards without changing its general direction This means it's not the ventilation that makes smoke go where it goes.

This is really confusing. I get that such stuff can be easily overlooked in anime, but the cigarette was clearly floating just now, flying in a straight line, so I'm not buying all of it. What is known about the gravity on Bebop?

The Bebop uses centrifugal force to generate "gravity". It has a rotating cylinder which is where the crew spend much of their time when in space. It is shown from both inside the ship and outside the ship, and in a few episodes, it is shown that when the cylinder stops spinning, the people inside that portion of the ship suddenly start to float.

Presumably, there would be no apparent gravity in the portions of the ship which do not rotate when the ship is not thrusting. When the ship is thrusting (accelerating), then the entire ship would experience a force similar to gravity along the axis of thrust.


What's the name of this romance/ecchi manga about a girl who becomes the landlord of a boy's house? There's a manga I remember I read and liked, but I can't remember the name! It is about a girl who takes over a house as some kind of landlord and the boy starts to like her right away. There is also a girl who dresses like a prostitute in the house. They all throw a party in this boy's room to celebrate the girl who is the landlord, but he gets angry because he is studying. There is also an ecchi scene where this landlord is repairing the bathroom and he comes in and yeah, so on... does anyone know the name of this manga?

Sounds like Maison Ikkoku:

  The story takes place in Maison Ikkoku, a worn and aging boarding house where Godai Yuusaku, a 20 year old college applicant, lives. Though honest and good-natured, he is weak willed and often taken advantage of by the offbeat and mischievous tenants who live with him. As he is about to move out, he is stopped at the door by the young and beautiful Otonashi Kyouko, who announces she will be taking over as landlord. Godai immediately falls in love with her and decides to stay.

I personally never read the manga, but in the anime the residents always throw parties in Godai's room, especially when he's trying to study.

More info:

Wikipedia
ANN
Wikia


Where did these songs appear in Black Rock Shooter? I imported soundtracks for the Black Rock Shooter anime series (not OVA). As per my normal procedure, after getting them, I then searched for torrents of the same soundtracks so I could get ripped .mp3 versions (or FLAC which I could then convert to .mp3) which had the metadata and cover scans for when I put it on my iPod/iPhone (saves up on time having to edit 7589+ songs).

In the process, I found out that I didn't have one of the soundtracks in the torrent. It consisted of 3 tracks. (Note: these are how the track title meta data had them named)

Re:Make
NO SCARED
Rock,Scissors,Paper

All 3 had the Artist Meta Tag as ONE OK ROCK and the Album Title as AZCS-2013 (I think it's a catalog number). Below is the corresponding cover scan.

Though I didn't buy the soundtrack, I decided to listen to it to see if I had missed a soundtrack. It was good music, but I don't remember any of it. I know it's definitely not the Opening as that's the Hitsune Miku Black Rock Shooter song.

I would like to buy it, but first I want to know where in Black Rock Shooter these songs came from? (Quite possibly only 1 was used). If they happen to come from a different Black Rock Shooter media, I would like to know what it is so I can get it and check it out.

No Scared is the opening to Black Rock Shooter: The Game (on PSP).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnATga1UdHg


Can 2 different species do a dance fusion and work? In episode 88th of Dragon Ball Super, in one subtitled version

   Gohan asks Piccoro why dont they try a technique of fusion together. Note: this could be a bad translation because in another subtitled version he doesnt say exactly the same

So my question is , can 2 different species in Dragon Ball do a fusion dance and work? We know a fusion between 2 different people can work with the Potara earrings (for example a supreme kai and a witch) but what about fusion with the fusion dance? will something like that work?

Simple answer is : it depends.

In the manga, it was stated that there are certain requirements to the Fusion Dance as opposed to the Potara Earring fusion, such as the mergers need to have equal power and roughly similar height, but in recent interview, Akira Toriyama said that it is possible to merge no matter the conditions, as long as it all goes well and it is even possible for a larger number of people to merge.

Source : http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Fusion


Are the characters based on real people? The art for Subete Ga F Ni Naru is much more "realistic" that most of the anime that's been coming out lately. It seems to me that each character is unique enough that they could be based on real life "models".
Is there any documentation or word from the creators if this is the case and if it is, who the original models were?

EDIT: in answer to the request to define reality: as you can see below, the art does not rely on different hair colors or hair styles to differentiate the characters. Each character has distinct facial features that reflect reality rather than an moefied idealized anime world.

As far as I know, this is mostly due to the chara-designer's style, Inio Asano. He doesn't take his designs from real people (or at least he doesn't say so), yet his works all have this realistic and very diverse type of people.

As opposed to many anime chara-designers, he's not an animator, but a mangaka, with a very detailed, realistic style, as you can see below:

He drew the original chara-designs and character sheets that were used by the animators at A1-Pictures for The Perfect Insider, and that's probably that style you noticed. If you're curious, his works are critically acclaimed (and not only for the crazy art), with mangas like Solanin or Good Night Punpun.

Even though, you can clearly see how his raw style evolved to a more simple, and "round" style when it wad adapted, but it still keeps this realistic aspect.

Hope it answered your questions, at least partially. Unfortunately, I couldn't find word from Asano on these specific designs.


Songs in episode 286 of Fairy Tail when the guild members saw the young boy before the soldiers hurt him What's the name of the music in the background in episode 286 of Fairy Tail, "Law of Space" that starts around 14:35 when the guild members leap to the aid of the young boy before the soldiers hurt him?

Hope Road is what I've recently figured out through various youtube comments. I searched that title and it came right up!


What relation does Image Synthesis from the third game, have to Grathmelding from the first game? What relation does Image Synthesis from the third game, have to Grathmelding from the first game?

Because the Meld~ songs of the third game all say "Glassmerk", at the beginning, and sound like the first game's song for Grathmelding, and "Glassmerk" is the Japanese version of "Grathmeld".

They have no relationship: Grathmelding was developed in Sol Ciel long after the Grathnode Inferia, so there is no way it could have spread to the other regons. Image Synthesis is just typical synthesis, and the synthesis music for it only has these titles as a callback to AT1, similarly to how the world map themes ("Green Lands" and "Azure Lands") from both games sound quite similar to each other.


Is Strider Hiryu manga considered as canon? After playing Strider on PS3, and using Strider Hiryu across all Marvel vs Capcom games, I have become aware that he, like most game characters, have manga that delve into his past and life in his world outside the game.

Are these manga considered canon? Or are the games the only canon materials?

Yes, the Strider Hiryu manga is canon.

The manga series was created by the artist group, Moto Kikaku, in collaboration with Capcom. Since Capcom is credited with the game's creation, the collaboration result with the creator is considered canon.

The manga was serialized from May to October 1988, while the first Strider Hiryu game, Strider (CPS-1) was released in March 1989.
The manga serves as an origins story of the lead character Hiryu.

Source: Strider Wikia


What did Mikasa say when she was correcting Armin after Eren mastered the ODM gear? After Eren masters the ODM gear (anime ep. 3 - 21:40~, manga vol. 4), Mikasa corrects Armin by saying, (in the English manga)

  He's relieved because now he doesn't have to be separated from me.

Is this the correct dialogue because there are other translations as well, one of them being

  He's thinking about how he won't have to stay close to me

I'm just wondering which one is correct.

This is the conversation in episode 3:

アルミン: 目で「どうだ！」って言っているよ。
ミカサ　: 違う。
アルミン: えっ？
ミカサ　: これで私と離れずにすんだと思って安心してる。

Literally, it translates to

Armin: (His; Eren's) eyes are telling "How's that!".
Mikasa: (You're) wrong.
Armin: Eh?
Mikasa: With this, (He; Eren's) relieved thinking that (he) doesn't have to be separated from me.
The word in (parentheses) is the omitted subject.

Mikasa's words is a response to the conversation in dining scene (which was slightly omitted in the anime)
From post no. 382 on 2chan,

When Mikasa told Eren, "You shouldn't aim to be a soldier anymore",
Eren, who couldn't dispute it, was staring at Mikasa annoyed while thinking "I understand even if you didn't say it!".
Mikasa misunderstood Eren's expression as "Looking from his staring, he hates to be separated from me".


In which episode does Rei Ayanami have a life reflection dialogue? In which episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion does Rei Ayanami have a long dialogue, where she reflects on life saying things like "Who am I? What am I? What am I?". There are pictures of houses and in the background with some quiet eerie music you hear her voice.

I can't seem to find this scene that easily, and I really wanted to write the dialogue down.

It was episode 14 if i recall right

http://wiki.evageeks.org/Episode_14


What's the name of this piano theme in My Hero Academia? What's the name of the piano theme that plays when Sero and Kirishima make fun of Bakugou's hairstyle from Best Jeanist?

The song's called "I'll become a hero", here's the link! It is from the 1st Season's OST


Why did Gohan lose his mystic form? In Battle of Gods Gohan still has his mystic form, yet in Fukkatsu no F and in Dragon Ball Super he lost it. I believe it was in Fukkatsu no F that he says he can barely turn into super saiyan. Was it ever explained why he lost his mystic form?

Yes it was explained during this arc (I don't know the exact episode as I watched it when it was airing) that he lost control over his powers due to him becoming rusty. This resulted in him starting to train again with Picolo to regain the powers he once had, including his mystic form.

Gohan decided in the past to focus more on his studies rather than being a martial artist. This made him become rusty... very rusty, rusty enough to barely transform into a super saiyan. His mystic form is beyond that of a super saiyan. I am not sure how strong it actually is, but it is definitely more powerful than his previous super saiyan forms. It might be as good as ssj3, but that is just my personal speculation.

Since he focused so much on his studies he was able to achieve a lot things as for getting job offers and such (as seen in previous episodes). He completely neglected his trainings due to this and became very rusty as Picolo mentioned a couple of times throughout dbs.

I don't recall him turning into his mystic form though during the Battle of the Gods.

But to get back on your question, according to the timeline of dragonball it had been 5 years between Buu saga and DBS. During Buu saga he wasn't training much anymore and in those 5 years he didn't train at all (mainly due to Chichi not wanting him to turn out like his father). The effect of this probably lowered his powerlevel significantly which made him for him almost impossible to turn into ssj without training again.


Does Marco need to flap his wings to fly? In One Piece, Marco has the rare power to transform into a phoenix, granting him the ability to fly like a bird and heal from his wounds.

In episode 463 of the One Piece anime, Marco is shown guarding against an attack from Admiral Kizaru. This is when his phoenix powers are first revealed. In this moment, his wings are the only parts of his phoenix form that are manifested so far. However, he isn't flapping them, yet he's somehow able to still hover in the air in front of Kizaru and have a conversation with him. He's been shown flapping them in other instances, but there are also scenes where he's able to fly without flapping them.

Is he actually able to fly without flapping his wings, or is it just the animation studio being lazy?

I'm pretty confident that the reason here is indeed limited animation and not the actual way Marco flies. In exactly the same way, you don't see Monet flap much her wings in episodes 612-613 for example.

It might result from or just be confused with laziness, as you mention. Don't forget, though, that anime isn't just a story, it is also the entire team behind it, their short deadlines (often one episode a week!) and limited budget, artistic considerations...

  Originally limited animation was not only a budget-saving choice, but
  a stylistic one as well.

...cultural aspects and a few more relevant parameters, all of which influence the final product.


In what order should I watch Daily Lives of High School Boys series? According to Wikipedia, there are 12 main episodes and 7 specials. In the beginning of the second main episode, there is a note saying: "this story has a proper ending". I guess this is supposed to mean the story continues (or is concluded) in a special episode. So what is the proper order of the series?

"This story has a proper ending"

Sarcasm

It's more or less a running-gag of the show that it has no real ending.

   Actually, the ending repeats the first scene of the anime, where the three friends go to school again (just weirder), although their school-time (and story) should be over.

I think you should watch the 12 normal episodes and then the specials. I can't remember them, however, but the main anime works without them.


What kind of technique is Madara using? In the episode that shows us the battle between Madara and Hashirama in the Valley Of The End, during an "exchange" of techniques, a peculiar one is being used by Madara. Mainly, after fending off a shuriken(?) his tomoe start spinning and the time seems to rewind to the point where the shuriken was being thrown in the first place. This was the only time I noticed this technique being used, and it looks like no other, apart from Izanagi, which it cannot be, for it would void his eye. The exact moment of usage

Madara is foreshadowing where how the shuriken will hit him. This is one of the powers a sharingan gives. So during the fight he foreshadows that the shuriken will hit him so he avoids it when it actually does happen.


Why is it both "Mai" and "My" used for the title? When we look at the title for Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome it's written in 2 ways

Mai-HiME/Otome
My-HiME/Otome

We can see this in Manga Updates, My Anime List, Anime Planet and Wikipedia where either they list the alternate names showing both Mai and My to making a choice between My or Mai.

When we look at the list of Associated names on Manga Updates it shows

舞-HiME
Dancing Princess
Mai HiME
My HiME
My Princess
My-HiME
Princess Mai

considering that one of the characters (the main one in Mai-HiME) is Tokiha Mai and the Japanese used for the title is 舞-HiME with google translate showing 舞 is pronounced as "mai" which it translates to "dance", the associated names have different 3 different meanings

Possession of a Princess/Hime
Referring to Mai as a Princess/Hime
matching the google translation of 舞 (mai)

I am wondering why does sites associate "My" and "Mai" for the title? to me it seems both "My" and "Mai" give the title different meanings

There doesn't seem to be any official word on why both romanizations are used. However, Funimation's official name for the show is My-Hime, while the technical romanization of 舞 is mai. As such, it seems as though sites use Mai-Hime because that is the technically correct romanization of "舞 Hime" and use My-Hime because that's the title that companies such as Funimation and Bandai use for the show (just as how Attack on Titan is also listed as Shingeki no Kyojin).

EDIT: to add/expand on what Aki Tanaka mentioned from Japanese Wikipedia, it seems the name is also a pun, where because it's about moe characters, the creator wanted people to "please find (My) princess (HiME) for oneself" (approximate translation, because my Japanese is rusty and direct translations are hard). HiME is also a backronym for Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment, which is the ability that the main characters have.


Does the usage of katakana in manga have any specific meaning? I don't read japanese, but I can distinguish katakana/hiragana./kanji

I've noticed that some mangas use a mixture of both. Does the usage of katakana in a primarily hiragana/kanji manga mean anything?

These two answer covers the topic very well:

  To describe (what feels like) Western origin words
  To describe onomatopoeia (e.g. sounds effects)
  To describe the fact that it is normally written in kanji, but that it is written without it because either the writer wants to write faster, has no access to the kanji form (as in the case where the writer is given the name in a romanized transcription or the writer just heard the name), forgot the kanji form, or does not want to bother to write in kanji for any other reason.
  To give visual and/or very slight semantic emphasis.  Almost like using bold or italics in English.

Most commonly katakana seen to be used for the #4. Much like how we can write in lowercase and UPPERCASE to give emphasis. Because it's sometimes difficult to feel the atmosphere when reading such emphasis is generally used in the words.

What most people don't immediate pick up is that much like reason #1, you can use katakana to emphasize foreign-sounding of a particular character speech. It's hard to transcribe a foreign accent (including some but not all verbal tics) in Japanese, but using katakana can get this idea across to the user. It's like if I were to talk to you normally, I would perhaps use a combination of hiragana and kanji, but if I were to talk to you and sound foreign, perhaps LIKE A ROBOT, I would used katakana. This so-called "technique" is used commonly in visual and written novels in Japan, not just for foreign sounding words, but also to emphasize the foreign-ness of a particular person's dialogue.

Hiragana can also be used in a similar fashion. Hiragana is typically the first reading/writing language a kid learns as they start reading in Japan. This is sometimes used to indicated the simpleness or naivety of a character, in general or at a specific moment. In the Yotsuba& manga, the titular character Yotsuba's dialogue is written in hiragana without any kanji, emphasizing her simpler, childlike manner. She also has a slightly different sized and styled typeface to emphasize her intensity and energy as a kid. In addition much of these quirks like her pun-filled nuances are lost in subsequent localizations

Those are the most basic nuances to look for when reading manga. If you're interested in learning more about the language and manga I recommend checking out the book Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure by Wayne P. Lammers.


What happened at the end of Wasurenagumo? So at the end of Wasurenagumo, we have Mizuki:

   With the spider girl and Shu. Spider girl makes Mizuki fall into the giant spider, Shu doesn't seem to care, then we're back in the city and the spider girl is with Shu and she looks like Mizuki now (or other way around?)

So did,

   Mizuki die (and Shu didn't care)? Was there an ulterior motive for killing Mizuki, who seems to have simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person?

The shopkeeper said it was over if he got caught in the web, which happened. You could see the blue glare under the guy's eyes, which means he wasn't himself anymore. He snapped out of it before because the girl got hurt, but after he got caught in the web again he was being controlled(?) again.So maybe the spider-girl is now manipulating Suzuri and he's thinking she is Mizuki


What is the name of the manga in the bottom right of this picture? I was reading chapter 244 of Magi manga, and a picture on the bottom right of the magazine cover caught my interest. I am trying to figure out what manga/anime it belongs to.

I have reverse googled the bottom right corner of the picture to see if I got any results with the dude there. Closest I'm getting to the answer is the website of Shounen Sunday [archive.org on 2014-12-30]

If you scroll down a bit, you can see him sitting there. Searching for the title 闘獣士 on mangaupdates reveals that it is Toujuushi.

The cover says that it is the serialization of the 3rd episode of the story, which matches the description on mangaupdates.


What are these type of eyes called (see red hair girl on the left in image)? I'm referring to characters whose eyes are constantly like that (Red hair girl in the picture) and don't change for a brief moment as a depiction of disappointment, most of these characters talk really slow and quietly. Examples include Tooru from A-channel, Renge from non non biyori, Chihaya Megumi from servant X service some of the common traits of the aforementioned characters is the monotonous way of talking and that they nearly never smile

"Hanmoku" (半目, half[-closed] eyes) is drawn the same way or similarly to "jitome" (ジト目, staring eyes), but is not identical in intent. "Jitome" is a facial expression where the person expresses negative feelings, which are mainly from among, but not limited to, the following: contempt/scorn, disbelief, distaste, resistance, appalled/scandalized (you can see Google's image search results for "jitome" here). The difference between "hanmoku" and "jitome" is that "hanmoku" is used for characters who always have eyes drawn in this way regardless of whether or not they harbor any negative feelings at the moment. Ichijō from Pani Poni and Hiiragi from Hanamaru Yōchien are examples of "hanmoku" characters. Also, if you do a Google image search for "hanmoku", you find that, outside of anime, the word is used simply to describe having one's eyes half-closed for whatever reason (such as being half-asleep or not ready to be photographed).

"Hosome" (細目) is similar to "hanmoku," but is a squinting that can be applied to anime characters whose eyes always look closed even when the plot clearly portrays that their eyes are open and they are able to see just fine.

Extra Background:

The word "jitome" is derived from the onomatopoeia "jito" (じと), which means to "stare hard at." "Jitto" (じっと) is a similar word meaning to "stare without moving" or more generally "remain motionless" or do something "fixedly." "Jitome" has been used at least since 1978, where it was used in the screenplay for the film 9-gatsu no Sora (『 九月の空 』), in which a parenthetical remark directed the actor to "jitome de mite" （ジト目で見て）. The script was published in 1979. In the 1980s, the word appeared in the shoujo light novel Oka no Ie no Mickey (『 丘の家のミッキー』) by Kumi Saori, published by Shuueisha's Bunko Cobalt Series.


Does Orochimaru need a host? After the Hokage the third took his arms, Orochimaru needed a new body for himself. Later, shortly before Sasuke killed him, this body was rejecting him, so he wanted to take Sasukes body as his new host.
In his fight against Sasuke, he abandons his body and appears as a huge snake. And here's the question: Does Orochimaru need a host at all, and why? Or can he stay as a snake for longer time?

Do you remember when Orochimaru had been discovered by the Third Hokage while he was experimenting on people1? That's what he was researching: a technique for immortality.

It's called 不屍転生 (Fushi Tensei) or literally Living Corpse Reincarnation and allows Orochimaru to transfer his soul into his  prey's body and take possession of it.

He researches this because as he says, he wants to learn all the existing techniques, but since that is impossible for a person with a normal lifespan, he develops this technique in order to have more time.

The problem with this technique is that each host lasts around 3 years, so he needs to find another one after that. If he could find a perfect container he could stay in it for a full lifetime, but he would need to find another one again anyways after that.

1: Chapter 122 in Naruto, Volume 14


How does Near prove that Light is Kira by seeing Kiyomi's name in Teru's death note? Both Teru Mikami and Light Yagami write Kiyomi's name in their death notes the only difference being the time of death they specify. But in what way does this help Near to prove that Light is Kira?

This was a page from Teru Mikami's death note shown by Near to Light.

Does Near identify that Kiyomi died a minute earlier than the time specified by Teru?

Showing Kiyomi's name written in the notebook doesn't help Near proves that Light is Kira. Instead, it helps Near explains how he win by realizing the possibility of a fake notebook, which he previously not realize and would have lead to Light's win.

Here is the conversation on Anime:

  Near: "On the 26th, after the report featuring Takada's kidnapping, Mikami
  headed for the bank."

  Gevanni: "According to my investigation, Mikami only goes to the bank on the 25th of every month.  For someone as punctual as Teru, going to the bank twice in two days is pretty unusual. I followed him as he headed
  for the deposit box. I was able to get into the deposit box, and
  inside, was the real notebook, with Takada's name written in it."

  Near: "Even though you could kill someone with a piece of the note, you
  weren't aware that Mikami had done something on his own. It was then
  that I realized the possibility of a fake notebook."

P.S.: The detailed (i.e., time specified) written by Light and Teru doesn't matter here since both match with how Kiyomi died.


Is there any special reason for the Donyatsu shoutout in Kogane's backpack? In Bubuki Buranki, Kogane has a Donyatsu backpack. Written on it above the face of the pastry cat are the words "Not Donyatsu". Is there any special reason (same author, authors were friends, same publisher) for that shoutout?

The author/illustrator of Donyatsu, Kozaki Yuusuke, is also the lead character designer for Bubuki Buranki.


Why don't English translated light novels retain the "backwards" page ordering? Despite us westerners reading from left-to-right, top-to-bottom from the front to back with the book spine on our left, when manga is translated and localized (officially) it retains the Japanese way of reading, right-to-left from the back forward with the book spine on our right.

From my understanding the Japanese read text from top-down in vertical lines and since this is probably too much for westerners, it's "corrected" in manga. However, while we still read the text left-to-right, the frames/pages of the manga still retain the right-to-left ordering.

With light novels however, this doesn't appear to be the case. With the light novels of Strawberry Panic localized by Seven Seas and Spice and Wolf localized by Yen Press, the books are read from left-to-right with the spine on our left; this includes the order of pages.

Now ignoring the obvious problems of printing the words backwards, why aren't English translated light novels printed with the reverse page ordering? Where we start from the back of the book with the spine on our right?

It makes absolutely no sense for a book consisting of just English text to have its pages ordered such that you read the page on the right followed by the page on the left. So of course people don't publish English translations of light novels that way.

However, it makes some sense for a book consisting of English text superimposed on images to be read right-to-left if that's how it was originally drawn. Why? Because to make it read left-to-right, you have to flip the images, and flipping the images can cause problems.

Does character A mention out loud that character B is standing to the left of character C? Well, the opposite will be true if you flip the images.
Is the manga set in Japan? Are there depictions of roads? If so, guess what? Japan drives on the right now!
Does your swordsman use a peculiar left-handed stance to throw off his opponents? Not anymore - we're in some bizarro world where right-handed stances are apparently peculiar.
Japan is now the land of the setting sun. (Or, we're on anti-Earth, and the sun rises in the West. Your choice.)

And so on and so forth. There are legitimate reasons why you would want to publish English-translated manga right-to-left. Contrariwise, there are not any legitimate reasons to publish English-translated text right-to-left that come to mind.

(Light novels do have pictures in them, but since the pictures are typically on separate textless pages, one can freely include those pages unflipped in a left-to-right English text without doing any harm.)


Where do the new super saiyan transformations fit in the power scale? In the last 4 years several new super saiyan transformations were introduced

super saiyan god (assuming it counts as one)
super saiyan god super saiyan or super saiyan blue
super saiyan rage (trunks's new transformation)
super saiyan rose
and the recently canonized in a trailer preview, the legendary super saiyan (assuming the transformation has the same characteristics than Broly's one since it looks the same, bulky, yellowish green aura and blank eyes)

is it known where any of these transformations fit in the known power scale? (letting out all the half way transformations, ie, false super saiyan , ultra super saiyan , etc. for simplicity)

Base < Super Saiyan < Super Saiyan 2 < Super Saiyan 3

Where do the new transformations fit in this power scale showed above?

Manga 22 (plus Manga 20 mentioned by Wouter in a commentary) stated several things. Now we know Super Saiyan Blue and Super Saiyan Rose are equivalent states, and that Super Saiyan God is inferior to Rose (and Blue). So only a couple of transformations are left to know where they fit, Super Saiyan Rage and the legendary-like Super Saiyan. To summarize,

Base < Super Saiyan < Super Saiyan 2 < Super Saiyan 3 < Super Saiyan God < Super Saiyan Blue = Super Saiyan Rose

Updated 03/06/2017. We don't have the multiplier for the Broly-like Super Saiyan green transformation, but we have an approximation. In Dragon Ball Super episode 93 (spoilers behind)

   Caulifla in SSJ2 is able to hold her own against Kale Broly-like Super Saiyan green transformation. Kyabe is surpassed in SSJ1.


Different kinds of hardening abilities Ok, as far as I know, there are 3 types of hardening.

White hardening = Jaw and Warhammer
Blue/Crystal hardening = Female, Attack and Beast
Natural hardening = Armored

My question now is, are those abilities combinable if those are different kinds of hardening?
Like could the armored, jaw, or the Warhammer also be able to have additional crystal hardening?

There is no such thing called "white" hardening, Warhammer hardening is crystal type, like female or attack titan, and Jaw hardening is neither natural nor white(crystal), but it looks like the natural type. so because armored titan is the only titan that can do natural hardening, there won't be any hardening combination.
EDIT :
I was wrong about Warhammer's body, it IS hardening but I don't think it's different from other types of hardening


Island society that hunts huge whale-like creatures I'd appreciate any help identifying this animated film.

The main portrayal is of an island society that hunts huge whale-like creatures, using boats and harpoons. When a member of this society dies, he tumbles down an immensely deep hole, where he undergoes reincarnation into one of the whales.

This film was from Japan and I saw it in the early 1990s, I think, on a VHS collection from some animation festival or other. It was in color and I do not remember there being any language in the film.

I believe Skywhales is what you are looking for. It is a British animated short film in 1983 directed and written by Phil Austin and Derek Hayes, and it is included in the British Animation Collection Volume 1 DVD.

You can view this animated short on Youtube.

A scene during the hunt, where the main character flew towards the skywhale and stabbed it with a harpoon.

The scene where everyone returned from the hunt. You can see a bunch of flying ships anchored on the port.

The main character died and went to throw himself down a hole inside a building.

As he dropped down the hole, he turned into cocoon, then emerged from it as a skywhale.

The characters in this animated film speak some sort of nonsensical language. You probably mistook it for Japanese.


What is the reference in the scene where the husband jokes about naming children? In episode 10, when the couple is discussing children's names, the husband makes a reference by saying "If it's a boy, then Shinji. A girl, then Rei" （男なら「シンジ」、女なら「レイ」）.

What is the reference being made in this scene?

This pose is typical for Gendo Ikari from the Evangelion series. It even has a page on knowyourmeme and is also featured as an example for 'Finger Tenting' on tvtropes.

In the series he has a son named Shinji and daughter (sort of) named Rei.
(The reference right afterwards is also to Evangelion's Kaworu)


What happened to the Yin half of Kurama? Did Naruto get both halves of Kurama after fighting Sasuke, or did the other half of Kurama die when Minato was killed?

After Madara receives his right eye from Zetsu, he stuns all the Tailed Beasts and began the process of sealing them up into the Demonic Statue. Yang Kurama, knowing that he will be pulled out of Naruto for certain, contacted Gaara to have Yin Kurama (within Minato's body) sealed into Naruto.

But just as Minato was transferring Yin Kurama into Naruto, Black Zetsu (in Obito's body) interferes.

Obito regains control of his body and prevents Zetsu from delivering the left Rinnegan eye and Yin Kurama to Madara. Obito then teleports the gang to Kamui dimension. There, Yin Kurama was successfully transferred into Naruto.

After the epic fight with Sasuke, Yang Kurama rejoins Naruto. The Yin and Yang halves merge together and formed the complete state of Kurama.


Do manga artists draw their comics by hand or use computers? In the Bakuman manga, the authors show that the manga artists create a manga without using any technology like computers. Is that how the mangas are drawn?

Every artist has different drawing techniques.

Some fully use the computer (using a drawing tablet and photoshop)
Some fully draw by hand (using pencil, then pen, then erasing the pencil, the making the pen lined bolder)
Some use a combination of the two (Draw by hand, scan to computer, complete with photoshop).

It's really up to the artist.


Why does Asuka caress Shinji in EoE? As for the reason why Shinji choked Asuka, I stick with the translation of "Kimochi warui" card from Eva card game, but I'm willing to accept other theories,

  Shinji renounced the world where all hearts had melted into one and accepted each other unconditionally. His desire... to live with 'others' -- other hearts that would sometimes reject him, even deny him. That is why the first thing he did after coming to his senses was to place his hands around Asuka's neck. To feel the existence of an 'other'. To confirm (make sure of) rejection and denial.

But I have no clear explanation of why did Asuka caress Shinji when he is strangling her.

So, so many possible reasons. I refer to movies like End of Evangelion and Madoka: Rebellion as "make your own ending kits"; due to their constant use of symbolism and ambiguous dialogue, combined with a pathological aversion to explaining themselves, you can basically interpret them to mean whatever you want them to. If I may be allowed a bit of shameless self-promotion, I recently wrote a blog post doing just that. I didn't specifically analyze why Asuka caressed Shinji, but going by the interpretation I adopted in my post, along with the mentioned card game translation, there are a few valid reasons why she did that.

This scene echoes one earlier in the movie, during Instrumentality, when Shinji and Asuka are arguing with each other about whose fault it is that they never managed to get close. I summarized the scene on my blog:

  [Shinji] zeros in on Asuka in particular, isolating her in a dream version of Misato’s kitchen and fighting with her as Pen-Pen looks on, responding to her accusations that he didn’t know her at all that he couldn’t possibly know her, because she never talks about herself, and how unreasonable it is for her to expect him to know her when she won’t tell him anything. Rei appears and asks if he ever tried, and Shinji responds that he did, but couldn’t. Asuka asks how she could like someone who doesn’t even love himself. Shinji responds that maybe he could learn to love himself if she tried being nice to him, gets angry and smashes a chair, then wraps his hands around her neck and strangles her.

Shinji, who has spent a large part of the series being passive and self-loathing, finally gets angry and blames Asuka (and by proxy the other people in his life) for his inability to get close to others. Asuka and Rei respond, with some justification, that Shinji also has to take some blame; he avoids getting close to anyone because he fears being rejected and abandoned by them, as he was by his father.

In the end, Shinji manages to get over his fear of rejection and chooses to reverse Instrumentality and go back to the world where people are separate and can choose to reject or abandon each other. The card translation says that Shinji started to strangle Asuka because he wanted to confirm that rejection and denial exist once more. By going back to a world where rejection and denial exist, Shinji has admitted that he feared them, and faced that fear. He has confessed that Asuka's and Rei's accusations in the earlier scene were true, that he locked people out too tightly because he feared abandonment.

As Shinji strangles Asuka, she reaches up and caresses him, countering that although rejection and denial exist again, acceptance also exists again—people have the choice to accept others into their hearts, just as they have the choice to deny others. And with this, Asuka confesses that Shinji's accusations in the earlier scene were true: Asuka resisted, at every level, accepting Shinji (and by proxy, everyone) into her heart, by yelling at him, demeaning him, and violently rejecting the rudimentary efforts he did make to get closer to her. But now that Shinji's managed to stop fearing rejection from everyone, Asuka's learned to stop rejecting everyone. Shinji knows he can't passively wait for someone to accept him; Asuka knows that she can't keep rejecting everyone.

Realizing that Asuka intends to stop rejecting him, Shinji breaks down in tears. Asuka responds "Kimochi warui"; to accept someone feels weird, foreign, and disgusting to her, because she's always resisted it. At various points in the series, Shinji and Asuka almost manage to get closer—in Episode 15, Asuka compliments Shinji on his cello playing and then forces him to kiss her, but then violently rejects him by feigning disgust and running to the bathroom to wash her mouth out. Shinji doesn't realize that Asuka was sincerely trying to get closer to him, or he realizes it, but won't follow up because he's afraid of being rejected. In Episode 22, after seeing her talk on the phone with her stepmother, Shinji tries to have a real conversation with Asuka about family, but Asuka is all pissed off because Shinij surpassed her sync ratio. In the final scene of End of Evangelion, they both realize their own culpability in the situation and decide to start trying to become people who are able to accept one another.


Why is Cross Game named so? What is the significance of the title? I'm curious as to why Cross Game is named so. The "cross" appears in the anime in various forms:

Before the beginning of each episode, when the Tsukishima family advises the viewer to watch the anime in a well-lit room and from a distance, in the form of a cross between clover leaves:

In the opening song's video, again in the form of a cross between clover leaves:

In the advertisement interval of the episodes, much more prominently:

However, does it have special significance in relation to the plot/story of the anime?

I know jack-all about Cross Game, but I can tell you that the Japanese title (クロスゲーム kurosu geemu) is baseball lingo for "a close game" in the sense of "a game in which both teams are closely matched". Obviously, this sense of kurosu geemu is borrowed from English "close game".

When altered to fit Japanese phonotactic constraints, both "close" /kloʊs/ and "cross" /kɹɔs/ end up as クロス kurosu. So, I guess, for whatever reason, Adachi seems to have chosen to make the English/romanized title "Cross Game".


Is there any connection between "Whispers of the heart" and "The cat returns"? Recently I watched "Whisper of the Heart (Mimi o Sumaseba)"1 and "The cat returns (Neko no Ongaeshi)"2 and I notice that:

The main protagonists found a old store (by being "guided" by a big cat) - Muta in the first one and Moon in the latter movie.
The main protagonist find a cat statuette in the old store (both refered as The Baron).
Both protagonists feel attracted to the cat statue by his beautifulness and misterious charming - my own words here.

Is there a connection between "Whisper of the Heart" and "The cat returns"?

1 Also know as Susurros del corazón "spanish title".

2 Also know as Haru en el reino de los gatos - "spanish title".

The story of "The Cat Returns" was inspired by some of the scenes shown in "Whisper of the Heart" namely the ones depicting the fantasy story the main character wrote. This story was later realized as a manga by Aoi Hiiragi who did the manga "Whisper of the Heart" was based on and then turned into a movie.

  In 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film entitled Whisper of the Heart, based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, of a girl writing a fantasy novel. Although the girl's life had no magical elements, the film featured short fantasy scenes depicting what the girl was writing of the Baron, a character of her novel, which were so popular that an indirect sequel was made, featuring the Baron and another girl, a high school student, named Haru. Muta also returned. The Cat Returns began as the "Cat Project" in 1999. Studio Ghibli received a request from a Japanese theme park to create a 20-minute short starring cats. Hayao Miyazaki wanted three key elements to feature in the short — these were the Baron, Muta (Moon) and a mysterious antique shop. Hiiragi was commissioned to create the manga equivalent of the short, which is called Baron: The Cat Returns (バロン 猫の男爵 Baron: Neko no Danshaku, lit. Baron: The Cat Baron) and is published in English by Viz Media. The theme park later canceled the project. Miyazaki then took the existing work done by the "Cat Project" and used it as testing for future Ghibli directors — the short was now to be 45 minutes long. Responsibility was given to Hiroyuki Morita, who had started as an animator in 1999 for the film My Neighbors the Yamadas. Over a nine-month period he translated Hiiragi's Baron story into 525 pages of storyboards for what was to be The Cat Returns. Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki decided to produce a feature-length film based entirely on Morita's storyboard; this was partly because Haru, the main character, had a "believable feel to her". It became the second theatrical (third overall) Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Takahata.

Source


Who is the general depicted in the ending of Oda Nobuna no Yabou? At the very end of episode 12, as if a teaser of season 2 (which apparently is not happening), a general (or daimyo) is shown behind her armies.

The light novels' storyline goes further than the anime, so who is she?

She is

   Shingen Takeda

based on the emblems. That is the emblem of the Takeda Clan.

Also I read the novel and that is how she is depicted.


Who is the seiyuu of Aya in Mushishi? Who is the seiyuu/voice actress of the young Aya in Episode 17 of Mushishi? I want to know because I think she sounds like Naru Kotoishi from Barakamon.

Tsuzurahara Miyu, apparently.

Incidentally, AnimeNewsNetwork tends to have very comprehensive listings of voice actors and staff, so that's always a good place to check if you have a question like this in the future.


Who is the most-connected (in the "six degrees" sense) seiyuu? A lot of you probably know about Kevin Bacon and how he's supposedly the most connected among Hollywood artists.

  Who is the most-connected anime voice actor (seiyuu)?

I've seen in some places that either of Yuji Ueda or Megumi Hayashibara could be the Kevin Bacon of seiyuu, but has anybody ever done the graph of the interconnections between voice actors to support this claim?

(I'm only counting voices in the original Japanese, and not dubs.)

I don't know the specific answer for "most connected" seiyuu, but many companies did some ranking for seiyuu.

Oricon (Japanese) has a user-vote based ranking. Most known seiyuu is Nobuyo Oyama (e.g. Doraemon) and Masako Nozawa (e.g. Goku from Dragon Ball).

AppBank (Japanese) also has a ranking based on votes from other seiyuu. Top 3 is Koichi Yamadera, Masako Nozawa and Keiji Fujiwara. I think Yamadera is selected because there are lots of seiyuu worked with him.

I want to put my 2 cents to Koichi Yamadera because he has long career and variety of anime.


What is a "gal wife"? In Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ceil, when in Tyria's route (well, more being locked into her ends than a separate route), she expresses her desire to be Aoto's gal wife.

Now she's not the first to express wanting to be with Aoto, as Saki numerous times expresses how she would want to marry Aoto in her Cosmosphere. However, in their True endings....

   Saki just has a wedding, wanting a private ceremony, while with Tyria, she's already married Aoto and is wearing something almost like a naked apron (she is wearing panties but I think that's it)

So when Tyria says she wants to be Aoto's gal wife, what does she mean exactly? How is a gal wife different from a normal wife?

The literal translation for that is something along the lines of "young wife", as the original script uses "幼妻" instead of the "gal-wife" expression NISA made up. So she's pretty much boasting that she's going to be Aoto's wife despite being so young-looking.


Why do first episodes of anime sometimes use content from several chapters into the manga or novel? I've noticed with several anime that are adaptations of manga or novels that the first episode is based primarily, if not entirely, on content from several chapters into the story. Such shows will usually jump back to the actual beginning of the story near the end of the first episode or episode 2 will go back to the start and all episodes will then progress normally.
This is unrelated to any major or minor changes in characters, plot, events, etc., I'm just talking about the general use of later content for the first episode before jumping back to the beginning afterwards.
Typically, I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, but Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear this season has done it which is why the confusion and annoyance has prompted me to ask here.
The way they've done it for Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear is especially frustrating as they dropped several short "flashback" scenes throughout the episode without much context and which don't have any relation to the actual content used for the episode, and they imply that the core concept of the show could be very different than the manga or novel. Now we have to wait for episode 2 to hopefully clarify that. I may just be overreacting on this point, though.
Also, I wanted to add the tags adaptation, kuma kuma kuma bear, and first episode but none of them exist and I don't have 300 rep so I can't create them. I wouldn't really say that anime production fits my question, from the description that accompanies it in the tag input thing, but it's the closest I could find seeing as I'm not allowed to post a question with zero tags ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's going to be tough answering this for all possibilities, and if there's any information on why Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear in particular did it then it will be hard to find and in Japanese, but as a broad answer it's because any anime adaptation will have two audiences:

The people who are familiar with the original work; and

The people who aren't.

The people who already know the original work usually already have an emotional investment in the show, and are likely to watch it up until it proves itself a bad adaptation. Of course, as you've already found, this can happen quite quickly if you have certain expectations of the show that aren't immediately met, but fans will tend to stick around for at least a little bit.
The people who don't know the original work need a reason to be interested, and the production group responsible for making it may choose to start the story in media res if they think the pacing of the original work's start is too slow, or awkward, or otherwise isn't going to draw the audience in enough. This can be particularly important for a seasonal show that might only have 13 episodes and no guarantee of a second season, because the people making the anime are going to want to (a) have the audience interested enough in the show to stick it out to the end of the season, and (b) make the season finale exciting enough to generate hype for a potential second season. That second part might mean that they're going to have to jump quite heavily through the source material to get to some kind of epic climax, and so working backwards they may not have the luxury of spending a lot of episodes covering the entire introduction of the setting and characters.
Is it the right decision? It's hard to say. Plenty of shows just play it straight with the source material, and others do their own thing. It just happens that KKKB has gone for this particular choice, for whatever reason.


Why don't the 6 paths of Pein feel pain? When Ibiki tried to torture one of the six paths of pein, why doesn't she(?) feel the pain? Isn't the pein a living being?

When Ibiki tortured the Animal Path, he realized his techniques were not working

  Ibiki attempted to torture and interrogate the Animal Path, but soon realised that it was unable to feel pain, and seemed to be cold like a corpse.

because the real Pain is the only one that is living. The different paths are all corpses and controlled though the black roads that are in them

  Nagato created the Six Paths of Pain out of corpses that he controlled remotely


How does element dominance work in Avatar? Even though I learnt this concept from the Naruto series, it really makes sense:

When you blow (wind), fire will increase... so fire > wind
When you throw water on fire, it diminishes... so water > fire
When you smash water against it, it will have no effect on solid (earth)... so earth > water
And so on...

Following this logic, why can't waterbenders beat firebenders in Avatar (The Last Airbender)?

I also noticed that Aang himself, who is an airbender, could defend against firebending with his airbending skills. (note that I am referring to those earlier episodes when he was just an airbender (season: 1, episode: 1-5))

How does it work in Avatar? Which elements dominate over each other?

Additional Info:
few assumptions work in (Naruto) ninja world, that I didn't consider to include in the question because the question is actually focused on AVATAR not NARUTO

Element user's chakra flow matters in chakra domination. Example: Naruto vs  Third Raikage
Combination of chakra elements. example: Water+Wind > Fire

It works a bit differently in Avatar.

Firebenders draw they power from great sources of fire. The sun is usually the strongest one around (with the exception of Sozin's comet, when it arrives every 100 years). Water benders draw their power from the moon.

Therefore, at night, the water bender will usually win, while at day the fire bender will usually win. Since the fire benders were on the offense, they get to decide when to attack (during daylight).

Also, there seem to have been a lot more fire benders than there were water benders (also, the water benders were separated into two very faraway clans).

Last but not least, in Avatar, the relationship between the elements doesn't seem to be that of dominance over one another, but rather, Earth and Air are opposites, while Fire and Water are opposites. It's not that one is stronger than the other, but rather two sides of the same coin.


Where does "time patrol Goku" come from? In Dragon Ball Heroes there is a "time patrol" Goku. Where does he come from? He doesnt come from Dragon Ball Super or Dragon Ball GT. Was he created for the Dragon Ball Heroes videogame or manga or does he come from another Dragon Ball videogame? Where does "time patrol Goku" come from?

According to the wikipedia and some info i have stumbled upon, he comes from an alternative timeline but is pretty similar to the Goku we all know from the main series, although he is supposed to be much more mature the the original Goku.

On of the major differences is that he has not experienced the SSJB transformation unlike main line Goku. Well you can find a bit more info about his on the official wiki page:
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Goku:_Xeno


Name of hair style with one strand sticking upwards I always forget what this special hairstyle is called, which is shared by some characters. I'll give some examples, I think it should be clear what I mean.

Edward Elric also has this wisp(?), but I can't find a good image of it.
What is it called? What does it stand for?

The other answer is technically correct, but I don't think the term "idiot hair" is actually common in the English-speaking anime community apart from on TVTropes. The Japanese term for this is ahoge, which literally translates to "idiot hair", but that translated term isn't particularly frequently used. A search 'Ahoge anime' gets around 700k Google hits for me, while '"Idiot Hair" anime' only has around 10k hits. Among the translated anime I've seen, some more liberal translators will keep the term "ahoge", while others translate it to other English phrases such as "cowlick". I can't think of any cases where the term "idiot hair" itself was used.

The hair style and the use of the term were both popularized by the gag anime/manga Pani Poni Dash, specifically by the character Katagiri Himeko. Given her personality, the term "idiot hair" is justified in that case. The anime for this aired in 2005, but characters with similar hairstyles have existed for a lot longer.

However, while the hairstyle can signify a childish or idiotic personality, it does not always do so. There is no single correct meaning for it, and it's quite common nowadays for it to be used only for stylistic reasons, similar to the strange colors often used for hair in anime.


What technique did Lord Mu use to escape Gaara's sealing sand in the Fourth Shinobi War? He used that technique to escape from the sealing . But later on he is unable to use some techniques. What happen during the sealing?

The technique used by Lord Mū was the Fission Technique.

  This technique allows Mū to literally split his own body into two identical yet entirely independent duplicates of himself.

Though it might seem to be as same as the Clone Technique ,

  the ability is instead a physical separation and so does not require hand seals to activate, making it faster in comparison as a result. This also means that even if one is incapacitated, the other remains completely unaffected and as neither can truly be regarded as the original, the duplicates cannot be dispelled like normal clones.

As a result of being split into to two entities ,

  However, while split, Mū's power is halved and as such he is unable to use more complex techniques like his Dust Release kekkei tōta.

Later on :

  Unable to remove the seal so he could reunite with his other half, Mū was made to begin summoning "that" reincarnation. Due to his weakened state, it took longer for Mū to complete the summoning.

"that" here refers to Madara Uchiha.


What is Shanks relationship with the Gorosei In One piece, Chapter 907, the Gorosei(Five Elder allows Shanks to enter into Mary Geoise and even go as far as to have a meeting with him and that seems like some serious double standard, considering the fact that the Five Elders do not like pirates, and use the Marines and Warlords to capture them.

Why would the Gorosei allow a Yonko (Who is one of their biggest enemies) to come into their Holy land? I know that warlords are an exception to this rule since they do the bidding of the Marines in exchange for Amnesty. However, Shanks is an Emperor and considering his influence, capturing him would logically be the best option but instead they'd have a meeting with him.

Could this imply that Shanks is secretly in league with the world Government? Or does he have some form of leverage over them? Its not adding up because in the last war (Battle of Marinefold),  Aces execution was used to draw Whitebeard out (Yonko at that time).  And it was Shanks who ended the war. Then after that, they have a meeting. Is there an alliance or something were missing?

Short answer - We don't know canonically, as there is absolutely no information on the matter. All that follows is interpretation of their exchange when they meet.

Based on the few short panels of their interaction, we see the Gorosei mention:

  "We are in the middle of the Reverie. A man with a position like yours isn't suitable to get involved in the world of politics. We only made time to talk because it was you."

At first thought, it will seem absurd that the position would refer to him being a Yonko, since the Marines are against them. Many theories have indeed surfaced that Shanks may have some other status that allies him with the Gorosei or makes him worthy to be treated in such a manner. In my view, it is very much against Shanks' character to be a double agent, given how it has developed. Below are some other technicalities to consider.

Firstly, the reason the Marines leave the Yonko alone to a large extent is due to their influence and ability to put up a big fight. They'd have to expend a lot to capture someone at the Yonko-level, which is not worth their efforts unless something major happens. Even in the two instances when Shanks was interacting with other Yonko (Whitebeard and Kaido), they merely attempted to stop the meet by blocking him, and did not attempt capture.

Secondly, the World Government and the Marines are separate. The Gorosei are under the WG, which has its own agendas beyond simply capturing pirates to maintain peace. The Marines fall under the WG, but so do multiple secret forces like the CP0.

In the very next chapter (908), we see the Gorosei mentioning that the "balance of the world cannot be maintained forever". All their appearances seem to indicate they choose to maintain the balance of the Three Great Powers (Marines, Warlords and Pirates), even though one would assume they'd be happy if all pirates were eliminated. Thus, there's definitely more than meets the eye.

Enough to guess that the Gorosei might not have any direct motivation to capture pirates (like the Marines), and definitely not those at Shanks' level.


Is Eruru Hakuoro's daughter? In the last episode of Utawarerumono we see that Iceman gives the baby he has with Mikoto this ring before they get attacked by the research facility.

The ring Eruru wears in her hair is the same one that had been given to Mikoto's baby.

Does that mean that Eruru is Hakuro's daughter?

I don't believe so as Mikoto and Hakuro/Iceman only had one child while Eruru has her little sister Aruru. remember that the pact between Eruru and Utawarerumono was to save the life of her little sister Aruru who had just been killed during an earthquake1

However the Ring Eruru has is indeed the same same Hakuro gave to Mikoto as it is shown to have the same id credentials to access the research facility so it is more than likely Eruru and Aruru are decedents of Mikoto's and Hakuro's baby.

Also keep in mind that the Mecha used by Kuuya's Kingdom are the same as the ones the humans from the research facility used to survive outside and Kuuya's Kingdom seems to have been around for a while so i would suspect that a very long time has passed since Hakuro went ballistic in the research facility and turned all the humans in there into blobs. otherwise it's far too short of time for Mikoto's baby to reach Eruru's age while at the same span of time Kuuya's Kingdom are given the ability to use the Mecha and become one of the dominate forces on the continent

1: i think it was an earthquake which killed Aruru however i can't exactly remember. however i do remember from the visual novel it being revealed that Utawarerumono (or at least Hakuro) had appeared before Eruru and in exchnage for Aruru being revived Eruru was to become faithful to Hakuro which led him to question her love for him. she however ensures that she does love him herself and not because of the pact she made


Which race is Merlin? Merlin has human appearence , though she manages magic like almost nobody. Is she human or is she supposed to belong to some wizard race?

Merlin is a human from Belialuin.

Belialuin was described as the "capital of the wizards" 3000 years before the events of Seven Deadly Sins. Although Merlin's true name has been shown to use an inhuman pronunciation and alphabet, the latest chapter (Chapter 337) showed her childhood extensively, detailing her motivations and origins.

Unless these facts were misleading or those facts are retconned later by the author, Merlin is fully human.

   Most importantly, the Lady of the Lake directly describes Merlin as being fully human, contrasting her with Meliodas and Elizabeth. Her humanity makes her a descendant of Chaos, like all other humans, which directly ties in with her motivations (freeing Chaos from its divine seal). All of these informations can be checked in chapter 337.


How well thought out are the economics in Narutoverse (Konoha and other Ninja Villages)? Has Kishimoto ever explained it? Naruto uses a currency called the ryō (両).

  The ryō (両) is the currency used in the Naruto world. It is based on an old Japanese gold coin that was used in Japan before the Meiji period. It was later replaced by the yen. The exchange rate of a ryō is 10 yen

  (from http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Ryō)

This means 1 ryo ~ 0.1 USD.

From what I can see the villagers pay money for all the missions completed.
According to the wikia,

  The reward for a D-rank mission is between five thousand and fifty thousand ryō
  The reward for a C-rank mission is between thirty thousand and 100 thousand ryō.
  The reward for a B-rank mission is between 150 thousand and 200 thousand ryō.
  The reward for an A-rank mission is between one hundred fifty thousand and a million ryō
  The reward for an S-rank mission is more than a million ryō

From what I can observe, if you earn 5k ryō a day for 200 days a year (1 D-Rank mission per day), you have 1 million ryō viz. $100k per annum. Not bad for doing oddball jobs. This doesn't seem like a feasible economy to me.

However, since all this information is available in databooks etc., has Kishimoto ever suggested how this economy would function?

Or is this another case of WritersCannotDoMath?

D-Rank missions were indeed overpaid, Kishimoto probably had no clue what he was doing when he said that 1 ryo equals 10 yen. But first, in each year, only 9 out of 27 graduates will be chosen to become a Genin, while the rest of course will be send back to the academy. This cuts down the quantity to the minimum, only 9 Genin are introduced to the mission per year.

Missions are assigned by either Jounin-sensei (if they still have a mentor) or Hokage himself. Almost all missions are non-repeatable, which means the completed missions will be removed from the mission list. However, it is the client who decides the amount of money to pay the village (you can refer to here), and then the village will pay the person who completed the mission. Not sure whether the village charges the fee or not, but probably yes in common sense.

Despite their high income, they might spend most of their money on ninja tools supplies such as shurikens, kunais, scrolls, bombs, etc. Shinobi use a lot of weapons and traveling goods, and that compensation probably is a supplement, rather than the real income.


Is the weird transition after the fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow deliberate? I recently got to the episode in the anime where Ichigo fought with Grimmjow in Hueco Mundo after Inoue healed them both.

However, even though the episode ends at the scene where it looked like Ichigo was about to beat Grimmjow, in the next episode, they were back in "the real world" and the events in Hueco Mundo haven't been mentioned for a couple of episodes now.

Is it just me or is this a weird transition in the storyline? Or is there a higher purpose in such transition and it will somehow make sense later?

At that point in the anime they reached the manga storyline so they had to put in several fillers. http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/bleach here is the complete list of fillers so you can skip them and just go back to the storyline.


Which was the first anime to feature instant transmission? Several anime characters have the ability to use instant transmission or teleportation by their own means. Some of them are, Goku in Dragon Ball Z, Merlin in Nanatsu no Taizai, Ryo Shimazaki in Mob Psycho 100, Shirai Kuroko in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and Jibril in No Game No Life. But which was the first anime to feature a character who could do that?

Which was the first anime to feature instant tranmission?

As far as I can see Dragon Ball Z was the first one to do so. Sailor Moon also showed teleportation but Dragon Ball Z was aired before Sailor Moon so it was the first anime to feature teleportation. I was checking the list of MCs in anime which could cast teleportation and found that Dragon Ball franchise was the oldest one in that list.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anime_and_manga_characters_who_can_teleport


How did Kiba learn the shadow clone jutsu? The First Hokage sealed the shadow clone jutsu in the Scroll of Seals. If this is true, how was Kiba able to learn it?

The jutsu sealed in the scroll is the Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu which allows Naruto to create multitudes of clones. The shadow clone jutsu that he is using is the regular version and is commonly known throughout the leaf village.


What is the Vessel of Adam? I've always had problems trying to understand the plot itself of Evangelion, but with the latest movies they really got me confused, I understand that the story is different in many ways but there's something in these movies that got me thinking, eventually I came up with a question I have no answer for:

What is the Vessel of Adam in Rebuild of Evangelion?

This is a little confusing because the notion of what exactly "Adam" is is different from the original TV Series + End of Evangelion (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and the new movie series ("Rebuild" of Evangelion). In the original TV Series, Adam was a source of life (the Angels), and named the "First Angel", and used as a template of sorts for all of the Evangelions (eventhough near the end of the series, Evangelion Unit-01 was said to be a "clone" of Lilith).

In the new movies, "Adam" is a lot more vague. We're not sure what Adam is at this point, and the first thing that we have to go off of was a preview where we saw 4 glowing figures (presumably at the edge of the site of second impact) followed with the label "ADAMS":

Note that this shot was never actually used in the movies, it was probably reworked so that it more closely matched the rest of the Second Impact flashback montage:

Some things to note are that they all have halos and what appears to be "cores".

As far as the "Adam's Vessel", it's hard to decipher exactly what that means, especially if there is supposedly 4 Adams. However, we are told a few things from the movies, and that "Adam's Vessel" is Evangelion Mark.09. Here's a breakdown of possible "Adams" and what the 3rd movie has revealed.

It mentions that Mark.09 was referred to as "Adam's Vessel" and Evangelion 13 was called a "Survivor of the Adams" or something. The thread also goes into a little bit of detail and speculation about the Adams and what they could be. At this point, we don't know for sure what the Adam's Vessel was for, why it's called Adam's Vessel, and why Mark.09 is supposedly it.

More rampant speculation about Adams and the Evangelions here.


What are the differences between the Akame Ga Kill! manga and anime? First of all, why was the anime completed before the manga? As far as I am aware, the anime is ahead of the latest manga chapters by a large margin.

I've heard that the anime actually differs from the manga; does this mean we might get a remake like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood for Fullmetal Alchemist?

Furthermore, will the manga continue on with Akame's story? Will it explain some of the plot holes that were left unanswered in the anime?

Difference between the anime and manga of Akame ga KILL!
I have listed out some of the differences between the anime and manga of Akame ga KILL! in this answer. Let me reproduce it here for posterity.

The story is generally the same up to episode 17/chapter 33. However, the anime begins to have minor deviations from the manga from episode 18/chapter 34. After chapter 38, which corresponds to episode 19, the anime totally skips more than 10 chapters starting from chapter 39, except for this plot point in chapter 43, where

 ... Susanoo died fighting Esdeath to let the rest of the Night Raid escape. Originally, this happened during the mission to assassinate Borick, which spans from chapter 40 to chapter 43. In the anime, Susanoo's death is moved to episode 21 during the rescue for Tatsumi instead, and Borick's assassination is trivialized at the end of episode 19.

Episode 20 restarts from second half of chapter 50, but doesn't follow the manga too closely, since the manga introduces many new characters during the Wild Hunt arc (from chapter 44 to 48), and several of them affect the story beyond Wild Hunt arc.
Most of the differences between manga and anime adaptation come from this 10-chapter gap.

Possibility of a remake ending
It's not unprecedented and even common for the anime to have an original ending, when the anime runs out of source material. Heck, for the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, the 2003 anime branched off from the manga half-way and followed its own original storyline.
For the case of Akame ga KILL!, it is extremely unlikely that it gets a remake. Unlike the case of Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) anime where the plot in the manga was still developing, Akame ga KILL! manga is currently on its way to the ending. The anime's ending also prohibits any logical extension to the story, and an anime continuation would require a completely new arc in the manga, plus great demand from fans.
Since the manga is currently on-going, only time will tell whether the manga has the same ending as the anime or not, or whether there is any extension to the story of the characters who survives.


What's with Rei's appearance at the very beginning? At the very beginning of the Evangelion anime, when Shinji is waiting for Misato, he notices Rei standing across the street. She then disappears after he turns away and looks at the spot again.

What's with her appearance here? Surely this can't be the "real" Rei, given that later, I think we see Rei in bandages when Gendo Ikari goads Shinji into piloting the EVA? I'm assuming that this could be some sort of foreshadowing (?), but even so it doesn't make sense for Rei to literally appear before Shinji, unless this is some sort of illusion.

There is a mind boggling theory for this. If you are an avid reader of EVA Geeks you would enjoy it very much. So here is my small take on it.

Rei appears with the same uniform in the End of Evangelion standing on a sea of LCL. Here is the scene:

Shinji, when he first sees Rei at Nerv, recognizes her and makes a connection to the girl in the school uniform. So he is not hallucinating when he sees the image of Rei.

At this point there are a few theories:

The Rei which is seen could be Eva Unit 01 which is trying to contact his mind.
Another theory is that Shinji has mental visions of Rei in episodes 16 and 20 which could be Rei herself contacting Shinji telepathically.
A nice theory would be that Rei has the DNA of Yui Ikari and Lilith. So essentially, it's two mothers watching over their sons: namely, Yui looking after her son Shinji in the first episode and Lilith, who is the mother of Lilin, or all mankind, looking after her sons / daughters (let's not go on that path) in the End of Evangelion (picture above).

Mind blowing theory:
        I swear this is one of the mind blowing theories I have read about Evangelion. But it gives reason to your question.

In episode 23 Ritsuko shows Rei's room. If you notice the wall it has the words "Top, Bottom, Strangeness". This presumably is put there to show Rei's powers or nature. In quantum physics these three represent a sub atomic particle called the quark. The six types of quarks are: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. As you can see, three of the quarks are listed in Rei's room. The way it is related is that quarks defy classical physics. They can be at two places at once. In End of Evangelion, Rei is seen everywhere. At the sub-atomic level the particles do not follow the laws of physics, so much that they can create effect without cause, or they can reach their destination before starting their journey. So this could give you reason why she could be at two places at once or show up as an image at the beginning and at the end.

P.S.: I did not come up with connecting the quark theory, but I did realise the writing on the wall meant that Rei had a connection to quarks or just that she likes quantum mechanics a lot (like me :D). But EVA Geeks had this connection posted and credits to them for this mind boggling theory.

Source at EVA Geeks: Theory and Analysis: Rei's Ghostly Appearances and Quantum Mechanics.


What is this sheet Toshinou Kyouko is using? While I was looking for a cute image to post in the chat room, I came across this image

I remember in Season 2 Episode 8 - Chinatsu Unrivalled (I think), Toshinō Kyōko gets everyone to help her with her doujin work by doing some shading. From what I remember, they place the darker sheet on top of the outlined doujin pages.

So what exactly is this sheet? What is it used for? Is it something doujin artists use to supplement what a professional would use, or is it used by professional mangakas as well?

That's called screentone. The idea is that it's borderline impossible to get a uniform gray that will be reproduced well by a printer if you shade the gray in by hand. Keep in mind that "gray" on a standard printer is actually just "small black dots with some white space" - which is not what a human with a pencil or an ink brush will produce.

Screentones, in their most basic form, are preprinted sheets of various shades of gray that can be cut and pasted onto a black-and-white drawing to impart some "color". As you can see, they are printer-friendly, since they consist of black dots on a white backdrop. Also, aside from the fact that they print better, it's just easier to cut-and-paste screentones than to draw stuff in by hand.

More elaborate screentones exist for other kinds of non-uniform textures, such as:

plaid (screentones are why the "Unmoving Plaid" thing happens)

gradients

floral patterns

kablooies (this is a technical term)

I would assume that professional manga artists and amateurs both use screentones for any serious work they do, though I imagine pros probably have access to (and make use of) a wider variety of screentones, being professionals and all.


What are Sage Beans in Dragon Ball Super? In episode 6 of DBS, Goku says he got a "Sage Bean" from King Kai. What exactly are Sage Beans? Are they the same as Korin's Senzu Beans?

Sage Beans are simply another name for Senzu Beans, they are not a separate category of power-items.

The kanji for senzu (仙豆) is simply 'wizard' or 'hermit' (仙) and a generic 'bean' (豆). As such, it is only a broad name, and could be variously translated as Wizard/Hermit/Sage Beans. The wizard/sage/etc is possibly a reference to Korin who grows them, since he is both brilliant and reclusive.


Is Eva Mimel from Agarest Generations of War Zero? In Agarest Generation of War Zero, we find out Mimel is actually a different from of life created by the Deeth, the Goddess of Fate one of the Gods of Darkness, as a form of "entertainment" for the Sovereign of Night Chaos in the visage of the High Goddess Varna who Chaos loved but ended up marrying his Brother Lenion, the Highest God.

Because of Deeth's perverse nature we can assume she meant it in a perverse way however Mimel reveals however that Chaos was kind and fatherly to her, however due to her reminding him so much of Varna Chaos had Deeth take Mimel back, the God of Time and Space Mobius was able to get Deeth then give him Mimel to use in his plans.

In Agarest Generations of War 2, Eva is revealed to very close to Chaos, when her own memories return she starts talking about how she didn't "want to be abandoned" which is how Mimel's alternate personality Mimi felt. In the True End when the party faces Deeth, Deeth comments on Eva's "Current Appearance" and it having been a very long time since the 2 had seen each other, also Chaos is shown to be very caring of Eva when he shows up.

Considering that both Mimel and Eva look human but did not age between Generations and had no traits that would prevent aging (apart from being a unique race created by Deeth), are they actually the same person?

Yes and no.

Basically, both Eva and Mimellia (Mimel's true name) have the same backstory and both resemble Varna a great deal.

So far, Agarest 2 has no tie with Agarest 1 and Zero since I believe Agarest 2 is an alternate version.

But you could say Eva is Agarest 2 Mimelia.


What did Kakashi/Sakura mean in this scenario? Naruto Shippuden Ep 484 https://youtu.be/V0zyVCjld9M

Ep 484 of Naruto Shippuden. "Exploding people"

Kakashi says "good observation", but neither of them verbally say it.
What did Sakura say without wording it?

  Kakashi: Whoever did it, the genjutsu is unknown to us. It has to be
  the work of someone with extraordinary skill. So it will require someone
  with extraordinary Visual Jutsu powers.

  Sakura: looks at Kakashi, startled

  Kakashi : (noticing) Good observation.

  Sakura : I didn't say anything. blush

  Then she punches Naruto offscreen for asking about it.

  Kakashi: We might not see anything, but a person with the Sharingan and
  Rinnegan might.

Ep 484 happens after Naruto the last movie.
Prelude to which Sasuke(Sakura's husband) goes away from the village to gather info on Kaguya and help others on his way.
He's has been distant to his family, so Sakura is excited about him being back.

Because he's diligent about helping the village and he's the one with highest visual jutsu prowess, She knew he'd come to help. She's shy about reveling her excitement.


Timeline misunderstanding in Fairy Tail In Fairy Tail episode 287, Zeref, talking to Makarov, mentions that 10 years ago he stopped the invasion ten years ago (from the time of the episode) was a mistake and Zeref stopped his Empire because it was not yet time.

However, from that time point, one year ago Fairy Tail dissolved, and Zeref left Tenrou Island only eight years ago.

I haven't read the Manga, so it would be good to know: When and how did Zeref enter Tenrou Island, and if he was there at the point the invasion started, how did he stop the invasion?

for how Zeref got to tenrou island
Zeref is immortal and rules over an empire. we can presume that he used one of his ships to get there.
As for when Zeref got there there isn't anything stating the time he got there but I think we can presume that it's like a little get away for his curse of immortality due to there not being too much life around there.
as for how he stopped the invasion he said that he told the shields to stop due to the invasion being something that the shields did on their own. there is also the part of him being a legandary mage so we can presume that he can use some sort of communication with the shields even though nothing shows telepathy or something like that to be his main magic we can presume that he used it just how mavis used a form of communication to tell the other fairy tail members not to go near the guild.
all that I said is with what had happened in the third/final season of fairy tail.


What does Yoshimura mean by "sugar" in chapter 92? On chapter 92, there's a conversation between Yoshimura and Roma inside Anteiku that goes like this:

  Yoshimura: What do you have to be careful about in both "the coffee you served to ghouls" and 'prostitutes on street corner'?
  Roma: ??
  Yoshimura: "Sugar"
  Roma: ...... what? (confused)

This joke went right over my head when I read this chapter. If someone could explain it to me that would be great.

As stated on Wikia, the original joke is about "serving coffee for ghouls" and "man on a (baseball) base". The original script goes like this:

「"喰種"へ淹れるコーヒー」とかけて「鈍足な出塁者」ととく――「トウルイは控えるように」。
Source (Japanese)

Rough translation:

"Serving coffee for ghouls" and "slow-footed man on a (baseball) base"... is "to refrain from tourui".

Here, tourui is either 糖類 (saccharides; sweeteners) or 盗塁 (base stealing; steal; stolen base), which basically means:

Not consuming sugar on coffee for ghouls
Resist stealing a base for slow-footed man

Since this Japanese wordplay is almost impossible to be translated properly (and the joke itself is quite technical), I believe the translator changed it so that joke can be understood easier while trying to preserve the nuance for "sweetener/sugar" and "serving coffee for ghouls".

... as for the meaning of "sugar" in the translated version, it probably means:

Sugar, a prostitute that appears on The Crimson Petal and the White (or alternatively, a general/famous codename used by a prostitute)
Sugar baby (Wikipedia)
Brown sugar, or heroin


What is the difference between an OVA and an OAV? I've heard the terms OVA and OAV used interchangeably with one another, but is there a distinct difference between the two?

Do the definitions differ in Japan versus overseas? Where did the two acronyms originate?

OVA and OAV are synonymous. The reason for having two acronyms is historical; currently, both Japan and English-speaking countries use "OVA" as the official designation.

According to the Japanese Wikipedia (rough translation):

  In the early days, "OAV" (short for "original animation video") was often used as well, but "AV" and "Adult Video" were easily confused, and could be easily mistaken for "Audio/Visual", so it gradually became less common.

The English Wikipedia sums this up slightly more succinctly:

  Original video animation, abbreviated as OVA media (and sometimes as OAV, original animated video, by English-speakers, though it was mistaken for "Original Adult Video"), are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats.

Basically, the media was initially dubbed "OAV" for "original animated video". However, because of the term "adult video" (which implies pornography or mature material), and the ability to be easily confused with the common film/animation term "audio/visual", the last two letters were switched to form OVA (original video animation).


Why does Usui wear glasses at home? Usui wears glasses when he is at home, but at school he doesn't wear them. Hence, either he is wearing contacts at school, or he doesn't really need vision aid but he likes wearing glasses at home for some reason. Why does he choose to wear glasses at home, but not at school?

Usui-kun, wears contacts at school and glasses at home. Most probably, this shows how Usui is different from school and from the comfort of his own home. Revealing the real Usui when he is out of everyone's sight. ^^


Can Ultra Instinct be used on top of other transformations, like Super Saiyan Blue Ultra Instinct? Ultra Instinct is sometimes refered as a transformation and sometimes as a technique/state. Now apparently there are thousands of fans who believes Ultra Instinct can be used on top of another transformation, just like kaioken can be used on top of Super Saiyan Blue and make Super Saiyan Blue kaioken, they believe you can have a Super Saiyan Blue Ultra Instinct or a Super Saiyan God Ultra Instinct.

Personally I dont believe this is possible, but there are thousands who thinks so and this situation already has consequences in the Dragon Ball fandom, for example there is a videogame mod of Dragon Ball Xenoverse which allows you to use "Goku Ultra Instinct Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXHuC2d-0-c&t=9m18s

and there are also fan arts made about it like this one,

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FBGPK6OZsZU/maxresdefault.jpg

Are all these people just wrong or is there any hint/explanation in Dragon Ball Super that states this is possible?

This is an interesting question, however, as of now I think the answer would be a no, with regard to stacking it up on top of SSJBIn the anime, The UI transformation was indicated to be a massive power multiplier, even a lot stronger than SSJB+Kaioken*20, which is a reason why we see Goku being able to block Jiren's hits despite his god of destruction like power and also overpower high tier characters like toppo without any effort. Also, despite the Self movement ability being a skill, we see Goku undergoing a transformation and he doesn't utilise it naturally like Whis or the other angels. However, it is possible to stack kaioken on top of it as kaioken is a special technique and not really a transformation. Hence goku would be able to utilise Kaioken with the UI transformation assuming his body is capable of handling it.Now  there is a possibility Goku might be able to adapt this transformation into his base form where he is capable of utilising his self-movement ability without undergoing the transformation. Maybe something like the SSJ transformation during the cell arc, where Goku mastered it and managed to stay in it for a prolonged period of time as though he was in his natural stage. Also this can also refer to him absorbing the god form into his base form or him utilising god ki in his base form.Although, this doesn't seem practical as the UI transformation multiplier seems to be significantly higher than SSJB based on Goku's fight with Jiren so I don't see why goku would wan't to stack the skill with SSJB. Maybe utilising kaioken with the UI transformation might increase his power humongously.


Does Light Novel-based, slice of life anime in general have a clearly defined setting? Something I noticed while watching a lot of popular anime based on Light Novels that focuses on slice of life for the most (Oregairu, Haruhi Suzumiya, Oreimo, etc.) is that they never stated where in Japan is the story actually taking place. In a lot of cases I noted that these settings tend to be a non-decrepit small to medium sized town with a school, and yet at other times, despite this ambiguity, the characters visit an identifiable real life locale, such as Oreimo with the Akihabara district, which seems to imply that the series happen around Tokyo. I can understand if the anime adaptation would not bother mentioning the setting, but is this ever touched upon in the original Light Novel source or has it always been sort of a case of the "Springfield" trope in play? Is it possible that there is some kind of general assumption by the Japanese populace that all series happen in Tokyo or something?

The Haruhi Suzumiya series is mainly set in Nishinomiya, Japan.

The Oreimo series is mainly set in Chiba, Japan.

It's quite obvious by the mentions in the Oregairu series novel and various episodes that the main setting of the series is based in Chiba, Japan as well.

Each author has their own reason for explicitly stating, excluding, or obscuring the main setting (just like the writers of the The Simpsons). There is no set rule in literature about whether or not the main setting needs to be explicitly stated, especially if it's fiction. A lot of fiction writers like to base their story on familiar settings, so that it's more easily related to readers (the Japanese audience being the primary readers) or give the author a easier time when they are world building. There is no trope in play, how much an author is willing to reveals about the setting of their story is up to them. Sometimes it's not the modern-day Japan as most would know it as, but such embellishment are implied and accepted by most readers of fiction.