How could time seem to be slowed down when a Host speaks with his Tailed Beast? Possible Duplicate:
  What happens when Naruto is talking to the Kyuubi?

Remember the scene, Jiraiya pushed Naruto off the cliff! or Naruto in tailed beast form when got stuck in Pain's Chibaku-tensai. They seem to have long time conversation among themselves isn't it?

How much time does it take to fall from a cliff to hit the ground… But Naruto and jinchuriki take their own time to come to an understanding.
Same thing goes while Naruto has conversation with Kyubi, Kushina and Minato for long time! it takes several minutes but in reality it wouldn't be more than few seconds.

How is the time managed?

Flexible time is an Artistic License taken by the creators, and is generally considered acceptable since it serves to narrate the story better, and this is quite common. Quoting TVTropes:

  Creators are allowed to be inaccurate if the inaccuracy serves the
  story better than accuracy would.

This feels unusual for anime adapted from the manga. In the manga, the panels are not proportional to real life time. You can use more panels to describe some events in more detail compared to others, even though they may occupy the same amount of time. In the anime, however, the frame duration is proportional to real life time, but the narration should follow the manga, which leads to this anomaly.

In the examples you mentioned, if the anime creators had to keep the times realistic, they would not be able to convey the same detail that Kishimoto-sensei included in the manga, which would make for a poorer viewing experience.

To elaborate on that point, there is another example near the start of the series, when Naruto and Sasuke team up to rescue Kakashi from Zabuza's Water Prison. Naruto then spends about 5 minutes explaining what his plan was, while Kakashi and Zabuza wait! That is entirely impossible in a real battle, but without it, the viewers would have no way of knowing what happened, and it would not be interesting to watch.


What's the average age of an American convention attendee? Where I live (Ireland), the convention scene is predominantly teenagers around 16/17. As I get older, I feel more out of place. I'm only 22, so I'm not old at all, but everyone else is so much more energetic and there aren't many people my age left. There are still attendees older than myself, but the number is usually in the single digits.

I watched Crunchyroll's livestream of an American convention (A-Kon maybe?), and it seemed to be a bit more diverse.

I've wanted to visit a larger convention on a visit sometime in the future, so I was wondering what the age demographic usually is for American conventions such as Anime Expo or Otakon.

I've been reading several articles and blog posts about this and I tweeted at a couple of the larger American conventions and one got back to me.

Otakon said that their main demographic is 18 to 28 year olds.

Anime Midwest is not as big as Otakon, but several places online mention the average age is about 17/18.
- "Anime-Midwest: Dear God, I'm Old"

Anime Boston seems to be reputed for hosting a young crowd.

A large-scale survey seems to indicate the average age for A-Kon in Dallas  is ~24

There seems to be a problem of fans graduating from anime fandom, so that the average age stays the same and cons sometimes face problems with disappointing turnouts because of the constant promotion drive.

Perhaps the larger cons attract older attendees as they might visit them instead of smaller cons because of more work commitments and etc.


What even is a Harvest Show? One recurring element in Love Kome: We Love Rice is the idea of a "Harvest Show", which is something that Hinohikari (our protagonist) desperately wants to be a part of. I had previously understood this to be some sort of rice-based performance art, judging from what we'd seen of the Hinohikari / Akitakomachi
/ Nikomaru cross-dressing idol unit. (Yes, if you thought you'd seen everything, come watch Love Kome for an idol unit composed of cross-dressing personified rice varieties.)

However, in episode 5, Sasanishiki stops a bullet train from running over a conveniently-placed dog by means of what onlookers (Hinohikari and friends) describe as a "Harvest Show". (It is unclear how creating a few ears of rice helped anything here, but this is anime, so whatever.)

An insert song (titled "Fine Dress") does play in the background as he leaps from the roof of the school (summoning, in the process, a jelly donut rice ball), but he's not actually singing it in-show.

So basically I no longer have any idea what a Harvest Show is in this anime.

The official site (Japanese) describes it as

Harvest Show
It is a live performance for the grains to appeal for their deliciousness to the surroundings.

which is basically the same as what MAL and ANN describes

[...] to perform at the "Harvest Show" to show the delicious appeal of rice grains.

How or what do they do, don't ask me... but in addition to its comedy genre, the show is full of parodies.

Sasashiniki stopping a bullet train from hitting a dog in episode 5 is actually a parody of Kinnikuman about Terryman stopping a bullet train... from hitting a puppy. Wikia stated,

In the 21st Olympics, he (Terryman) made it to the third preliminary round, shoving bullet trains, but was disqualified for stopping his train from hitting a puppy (touching the train twice resulted in a disqualification)

Image source

Reference: ほかこ's Hatena Blog (Japanese)

The cross-dressing idol unit in episode 3 is certainly a parody of many idol units (as seen in the naming proposal): iM@S (maiM@S), PriPara's SoLaMi♡SMILE (KoMeMi☆SMILE), Aikatsu! (MaiKatsu), Love Live! (Love Rice), etc.


How do Soul Gems get corrupted over time in Madoka Magica? After seeing how Madoka instantly transformed into her witch form after killing Walpurgisnacht in one shot in the 4th timeline, it makes me wondering: How do Soul Gems become corrupted?

I assumed that over time the magical girls would lose hope and fall into despair, which then clouded their Soul Gems. However, Madoka instantly turned into a witch, without any real reason to despair.

Soul Gems do indeed gradually darken over time, even if a magical girl doesn't do anything magical. I'd imagine this is because the gem still needs to magically sustain her body, or something like that. But they also darken for other reasons - the emotion of despair causes a Soul Gem to darken, and so does the use of magical powers.

In the 4th timeline, after defeating the Walpurgisnacht, Madoka had no reason to despair... but she did expend an enormous amount of energy to defeat the Walpurgisnacht in one shot. Apparently, that was enough to cause her Soul Gem to blacken completely, thus resulting in her becoming Kriemhild Gretchen.


Aren't Harutora and Natsume related? So in the end, Natsume and Harutora kissed. Isn't that weird? They are supposed to be cousins, right? Or was Natsume adopted? Which wouldn't explain her natural talent.

Yes, they're first cousins on their respective fathers' side.

Whether this is weird or not depends on your cultural background. In certain Hindu communities in north India, a relationship between fourth cousins would be deemed illicit, never mind first cousins. On the other hand, in certain parts of the Middle East, first-cousin marriages are quite prevalent, accounting for upwards of 30% of marriages in some places (e.g. Jordan and Saudi Arabia).

What about Japan?

My understanding is that first-cousin relationships in Japan are rare enough that they would be considered unusual (this 1986 paper suggests 1.6%; table 15 of this whitepaper suggests rates as high as 2.89% in some parts). However, they are not forbidden by law or by religious doctrine, and are generally not stigmatized to the same degree as in, say, the United States or most of Europe. Indeed, Naoto KAN (prime minister of Japan 2010-2011) is married to his first cousin.

Getting back to the topic of anime, it's worth noting that same-generation incest is considerably overrepresented in anime and related "otaku" media relative to its occurrence in real life (for proof, observe that Who is "Imouto"? is a thing that exists). So, not only would a relationship between Harutora and Natsume not be that weird in real Japan, when you look at it from a "meta" point of view, it's even less weird that such a thing would happen in an anime.


Where can I find Pokémon Adventures Volumes 1-3 Chuang Yi Version not Viz Media I can't seem to find them anywhere I really want the uncensored Singapore version of Pokémon Adventures.

Chuang Yi has closed down for some time and has ceased operations for even longer. IMO, if you want to acquire this version, it is through second hand sources like ebay.


Which episode explains the meaning of the symbols on the palm of the hands? From opening 16, what do these symbols mean and which episode exactly is it from?

The symbols can be found on an old man called Bunpuku's both palms. He was the former Jinchūriki of Sunagakure.

Watch Naruto Shippūden episode 392

  In his left palm, the kanji [受]{うける} (U-ke-ru) means accept and receive.
  In his right palm, the kanji [心]{こころ} (Ko-ko-ro) means heart and mind.

Together with two palms, it forms the kanji [愛]{いとしい} (I-to-shi) which means love and affection.


Are there any studios with good working conditions? I've heard a lot of horror stories about how animation studios don't treat their employees very well (or just Japan's corporate culture in general), giving animators poverty wages, overworking them and stressing them out to the point where some commit suicide (there's even a word for that, which I don't remember). Apparantly, animators are treated like dirt over there, even though the bulk of the work comes from them. Is there any truth to that? And if yes, are there any studios with good working conditions? I'm talking mainly about pay, reasonable work schedules and good compensation.

In ANN there is an article, written by Jennifer Sherman, which talks about the financial and working condition
issues present in the Anime industry. More specifically, the article talks about a specific episode from a NHK program called Close-Up Gendai+.

Below are quotes from the ANN article which talk about the financial and working condition issues that were aired on that specific episode,

  NHK's Close-Up Gendai+ program aired an episode about the dark side of the anime industry on Wednesday. The episode discussed the
  financial  problems of the industry and exposed animators' subpar
  working conditions. Anime director Yasuhiro Irie (Fullmetal Alchemist:
  Brotherhood,  Code:Breaker), Toray Corporate Business Research
  representative Naoki Atsumi, and announcers Shinichi Taketa and Izumi
  Tanaka appeared on  the program.

  The episode showed a graph of increasing annual profits in the anime industry. The small yellow bars represent the portion that
  anime
  studios  receive. Because production committees hold IP licenses, as
  well as merchandising and distribution rights, profits from anime
  productions fail  to reach studios.

  A 30-minute work requires more than 3,000 illustrations. In-between animators receive about 200 yen (US$2) per illustration
  and can
  produce  a maximum of 20 pages per day. Therefore, they can only
  expect to earn about 100,000 yen (US$911) per month.

  Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) reported in 2015 that animators averaged 11 working hours per day, and they had just
     four
  days  off per month.

  An animator who left his job due to work-related depression kept an overtime log. He reported having 100 overtime hours in one month.
  The
  below image shows that the animator started work at 11:30 a.m. on May
  22 and finished at 5:10 a.m. on May 23.

  Production I.G co-founder, president, and CEO Mitsuhisa Ishikawa remarked that the anime industry lacks people with the business
  skills
  to  successfully monetize the system.

  20-year veteran anime technical director Taiki Nishimura reported in May that his monthly income is 100,000 yen (about US$900) for each
  anime  that he works on. He said that he wants to concentrate on one
  anime at a time, but he has to work on two television anime to have
  enough income.

  JAniCA reported in 2015 that 759 animators it surveyed earned an average of 3.3283 million yen (about US$27,689) per year in Japan in
  2013.

An interesting point to note from the article is following,

  The program presented Polygon Pictures as a studio with better operations. The studio, which focuses on 3D animation, turns off its
  lights at 10:00 p.m. to encourage workers to go home.

There is also another article by Brian Ashcraft, from Kotaku, which details an interview with Thomas Romain, a french animator, and his experience in working in Japan.

Below are quotes from that article that I thought might be useful. Note, I have also highlighted the ones that are relevant to help you answer your question.

  What’s your advice for people who want to work in anime in Japan?

  The first advice I usually give to people is: learn Japanese. Unfortunately finding Japanese production staff who can understand
  English is very rare. You won’t be hired if you cannot communicate
  with them, so if you want to go live in Japan, YOU need to make the
  effort of learning the language.

  Second piece of advice is that the sooner you start, the better. Japanese studios prefer to hire young and inexperienced people. You
  don’t need to have a master’s degree in animation; a couple of years
  of basic artistic training is enough to start as junior animator. But
  the consequence is that the pay is very low. It’s better to consider
  this period as a long internship during which you will be taught by a
  senpai while working on ongoing productions. It’s good to be aware
  that drawing skills are not required to work in this industry. You can
  work as a production assistant, editor, or compositing artist for
  example. None of these jobs require knowing how to draw, even if you
  want to become a director. Lots of anime directors started as
  production assistants and never went to art schools.

  The third piece of advice is to not come with empty pockets. You will not earn enough to make a living out of it until you become good
  enough. This can take a few years.

  What surprised you about making anime in Japan?

  I was surprised by how humble all the anime staff in the studio were, and how terrible their living conditions were, compared to the
  situation in the animation industry in the West. In a nutshell, the
  money don’t flow back to the animators (and other workers)—they are
  poor. Most of them spend most of their lives sat at their desks and
  are single because they have either not enough time or not enough
  money to build a family. Some of them are also extremely shy, like
  they cannot even answer you when you say hello. It can be disturbing
  at first.

  But people are very friendly and intrigued to have foreigners amongst them willing to live a similar life. Most of them don’t
  understand
  why we want to work in anime because they are aware that it is a very
  difficult job with low pay and lot of (unpaid) overtime. For us, anime
  is exciting because it’s exotic, but for them it’s just work as
  usual. I do not think they can truly understand our feeling as
  foreigners working in Japan unless they have experienced the fact of
  living outside of Japan themselves, or even travel abroad from time to
  time, which most of them never did because they cannot afford it.

  I was also surprised to realize that all the Japanese animators weren’t geniuses. You know, because only masterpieces like Ghibli
  movies or series like Cowboy Bebop were released in France before I
  went to Japan, I thought that every Japanese animator could draw like
  a god. I was wrong. There are animation gods like Toshiyuki Inoue, but
  there are also lots of low-level animators who can only survive in
  this industry because too many shows are produced and studios that are
  desperately looking for staff have no other choice but to offer them
  jobs.

  The good thing is that if you are not too bad and have a good work ethic, you will never be unemployed.

  What’s the most difficult thing about working in the anime industry?

  Definitely the large quantity of work to deal with in a short time period. I was surprised by how short the production schedules
  are and
  how scarce the teams are due to the shortage of artists. Studios are
  open 24/7, and people are also working on the holidays most of the
  time. You get emails during the night. It’s totally normal to have
  meetings during the night or the weekends. You really have to be ready
  to work hard, to reach the same level of commitment as your Japanese
  co-worker, otherwise the risk is that they may not accept you as one
  of them.

  I was surprised by the number of production miracles. Japanese have the ability to achieve impossible tasks very quickly, only when
  they
  have no other choices left. Although it would be more reasonable to
  refuse those conditions, everybody complies. This is actually how it
  works all the time. Nothing moves according to the initial planning.
  It’s only when everybody thinks that there is no time left, that the
  project will never be completed in time, that production speeds up.
  People work day and night without wasting a single minute until the
  very last second. When you go see a movie on its release day or watch
  an anime on TV, people were still working on it a few days ago, or
  even a few hours ago. Sometimes it’s not even finished, and the
  drawings are polished for the DVD/Blu-ray release.

  What industry horror stories have you heard?

  It’s not only that I’ve heard horror stories, I’ve seen them. Basically, most of the people are overworked. The problem is that in
  the traditional Japanese way to behave in society, people tend to say
  yes when they are asked to work under impossible conditions. For the
  sake of the studio and the project team, they will do the impossible,
  even stay several days at the studio in a row, and therefore put their
  own health at risk. I’ve seen people going home only once per week, or
  working 35 hours in a row. I’ve even met an animation director who was
  going home only once per year to their parents—she wasn’t renting an
  apartment. She was living at the studio, using the public bath and
  manga cafes to rest a little bit from time to time. A married couple,
  a director and his wife character designer, were camping in a corner
  of the studio, sleeping in sleeping bags until the production was
  finished. Some people also don’t allow themselves to take a break even
  if they are sick, because they don’t want to spend their small wage on
  health care.

  Life expectancy amongst animators isn’t very old. I’ve seen people passing out at work. The worst has been people dying from
  karoshi
  (death by overwork). One of my colleagues died from a stroke 10 years
  ago while he was working in a different studio (staff working for
  several companies at a time is rather common). Another one barely
  recovered from a severe stroke as well. Recently I’ve heard of the
  death of an animator working on a pretty famous show in another
  studio, but everybody kept it secret, probably not to damage the
  company.

  This said, people are very friendly to each other, because basically everybody knows they are more or less experiencing the same
  very hard conditions. People share the same fate, working in this
  terrible industry but doing a work that they deeply love. Work
  meetings are fun. We are laughing a lot and enjoying creating
  anime.

From what I have researched, I can somewhat say that there are probably only some studios which have a bit more better working conditions than other studios. But, overall, I think most studios have subpar working condition and some even lower.


How did all the Gods of Destruction come to see the fight? I thought that the Gods of Destruction sleep and once they awaken they go on a destruction spree.

But how were all the Gods of Destruction able to come to the fight in the Zen-oh exhibition match?

They are the god of destruction, meaning that they have a role to fulfill. Aka destroying planets. But however someone/something far more superior has passed this role on to them. That is the Zen-oh sama. He is powerful enough to wipe-out their entire universe if he wishes to in the blink of an eye. The gods... rather anyone with a role in the universe knows about his might. In order to at least stay alive they will have to abide to anything he says as he simply destroys things he doesn't like on a whim. Remember black Goku? Even Goku knew that they had to leave quickly while everyone else didn't really bother to... but they survived.

The gods that were sleeping were probably wakened by their angels (equivalents of Whis). They can ofcourse refuse, but that gives Zen-oh a chance to eradicate their entire universe, as if they never existed.

The arc from when Zen-oh was introduced up until now simply prove how much power he possesses due to the gods fearing him. And ofcourse due to the fact that any creature, with a role in making things in the universe go smoothly, shows a LOT respect and doesn't disagree with Zen-oh.

Whis for example is at least 1000x stronger than Beerus (http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:541859) and he is nothing compared to Zen-oh. Beerus knows pretty well that if Whis shows respect to anyone that he should as well unless he wants to cause trouble for himself... and perhaps the entire universe.

Even the gods that know about the uhmm punishment for not winning (not trying to spoil) aren't demanding other things from him, rather they are showing kind words in a manipulative way in order to not be punished... which they would've been anyway without the universe tournament. At least now 1 won't be punished... anyway back to your question.

Apart from the unknowning creatures anyone fears Zen-oh, because in the end they all want to survive, hence why they listen instantly to anything from Zen-oh.


Why do Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Arrietty have so much in common? I saw that Spirited Away, Ponyo and Arrietty, all written by Hayao Miyazaki, seem to have some common traits:

The hero is a girl.
Moreover, she is a girl who is special in some way.
She develops a friendship with a boy that is an "insider" and they help each other.
She seems to take a spiritual maturity journey while also building that friendship.

Is there some mystical connection to these themes or it is a mere coincidence? Can someone shed some light on this matter?

Miyazaki is often identified as a feminist. Almost all of his films have strong female protagonists, usually fairly young girls, and challenge traditional gender roles in anime. This presumably explains the first point.

As for the other three, I don't think these are particularly uncommon or difficult to explain. The protagonist in anime is usually somehow special, because a story about someone totally normal isn't usually going to be very interesting. Likewise, for the third point, most anime have some form of (possibly implied) romance, even in short movies. However, there's not a lot of room in movies to introduce extraneous characters, so the love interest has to be at least somewhat related to the plot. As for the final point, that's just another way of saying that it's a coming-of-age story, which is very common, especially with younger protagonists.

So other than the first point, I think these are just common anime tropes that you'd frequently see elsewhere, especially in other movies.


Name of anime where the winner of a competition would inherit the forest I saw it in 2004/5 so must have been released way earlier.
It wasn't in the normal shoujo/shonen style drawing either.

All I remember is that there was a competition and the winner would inherit the forest. And people from evil compainies were buying/bribing the winners to win and give them the forest for industrial purposes.

Our protagonist is a girl and she is not interested but takes part anyway.
There were some rather quirky moments which I remember such as:

During the competition there was a task where they had to take water out of a big bottle. A lot of them used a straw for this one.
The last round was between the protagonist and an intelligent girl with glasses and a laptop. The protagonist wins after deciding not to answer the question as answering the question correctly would have caused the glasses-girl to fall into the water.

Yep! That's it. Please help me! I really am not able to find this!

I know this anime. It's Baby Baachan.

The main girl is Amika, who fights to save the forest which her grandmother has protected. The other girls are other granddaughters of the grandmother. The grandmother possesses her baby brother's body and tries to teach Amika how to win. She hates it till the end. The rounds go exactly as you say. In between, the grandmother/baby offers useful tips like cutting onions without crying, etc.

I will never forget this anime because the tips in this series helped me a lot in life when I was young. Hope this helped :D


Xeno Goku super saiyan 4 and super saiyan god transformations, which transformation is stronger? According to Dragon Ball Heroes Ultimate Mission X, Xeno Goku is able to transform into super saiyan 4 and at some point he was able to transform into super saiyan god. So he has to know which transformation is stronger, and in the Dragon Ball Heroes continuity super saiyan 4 and super saiyan god can indeed be compared since both exists there. Then, which tranformation is stronger? Xeno Goku super saiyan 4 or Xeno Goku super saiyan god transformation?

We don't know for a fact as to whether Xeno Goku was referring to himself using the Super Saiyan God transformation or him referring to a Goku of an alternate timeline using the same hence, there are no feats to make an accurate comparison between the two.Hence, it would simply end up in a SSJ4 vs SSJG debate which is impossible to determine with a definite certainty as to which of the two transformations is stronger as there aren't any official multipliers to conclude with a definite answer. However, based on the following facts and events that happened in the Dragon Ball Z and Super(Which are considered canon), I believe the SSJG transformation might be stronger.Super Buu was about the same level of strength as SSJ3 Gotenks who was substantially stronger than Goku (SSJ3 Goku struggled against Kid Buu).Ultimate Gohan was a lot Superior to SSJ3 Goku and Buuhan, the combination of Super Buu + Ultimate Gohan is on a whole another level.I believe scaling SSJ4 Goku to be as strong as Buuhan is too much of a stretch but even if that were the case, SSJ Vegito easily manhandles Buuhan without any effort.Post Buu Saga trained Goku after getting defeated by Beerus stated that even a fusion between Goku and Vegeta wouldn't stand a chance against Beerus.When the SSJG ritual fails the first time, Gohan stated that Goku's level of power was so intense and something he had never sensed before. Note: This was even after seeing Vegeta fight Beerus(Who surpassed SSJ3 Goku) and also taking into consideration his power as Ultimate Gohan and even all the Buu saga characters.One can easily conclude the Battle of Gods arc Vegito would be substantially stronger in comparison to the Buu saga Vegito who easily manhandles Buuhan and once Goku turned SSJG, he thought he had a chance against Beerus making it  even stronger.One would ask why Xeno Goku doesn't utilize that form over the SSJ4 form. However, it has been established that one would require special training(Goku and Vegeta with Whis, Toppo with Marcarita), to master the usage of this divine ki. So perhaps Xeno Goku cannot tap into this form anymore.As stated earlier, my answer is based on factual evidence from Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super which are considered canon. Since there are no actual multipliers for these transformations, one cannot conclude with a certainty as to which form is stronger.


Can a person who was converted into half Ghoul by replacing parts of his organs be reverted to human by replacing those organs with human ones? In Tokyo Ghoul Kaneki was converted into a half Ghoul when he was transplated organs from a female Ghoul into his body. Can a person like him, who was converted into half Ghoul by replacing parts of his organs, be reverted to human by replacing those organs with human ones?

TL;DR Most likely not.

I will try to answer operating known facts, but description of ghouls biology in Tokyo Ghoul is vague, so I can't avoid some speculation. I might also accidentally drop spoilers of varying severity, so be cautious.

Kaneki has became half-ghoul after having kakuhou implanted. After this, he obtained all abilities available for ghouls, including regenerative powers, physical power, ability to use kagune etc. Which leads me to conclusion, that in regards of organs, the main difference between humans and ghouls is kakuhou (probably as main element to control RC cells, which are ensuring the rest of ghoul abilities).

So, maybe, we can reverse half-ghoul state by removing kakuhou? Doubtfully. In fight between Suzuya and half-ghoul twins Kuro and Shiro, Suzuya heavily damages Shiros kakuhou, and later doctor Kanou mentions, that such damage to kakuhou is lethal, and Shiro will be not able to recover (chapter 107 of Tokyo Ghoul). Which leads me to second conclusion - most probably, kakuhou transplantation is irreversible. This also makes sense in terms of RC cells - after becoming half-ghoul, persons RC cells level in blood raises significantly, and most probably, without kakuhou, excess of RC cells may lead to ROS development.

Also, one note in regards of transplanting human organs to ghoul. If ghoul mother and human father will have a child, it was said that mothers body will mistake child for food and consume it. I don't think that transplantation will work in different way - most likely, human flash will be either consumed by ghoul body, or will be populated by RC cells to ghouls level.

Most likely, to make ghoul a human, it would be better to try to decrease RC cells level in their body, but it is not clear how it will affect ghouls altered physiology. If I remember correctly, RC suppresants not just suppress ghoul abilities, but also negatively affects their health.


Since which chapter has Yamato changed sides? First I have been surprised to see another Tobi (Obito with a mask) fighting with Kages then after he revealed himself we just discover that it was

   Yamato

So my question is: in which chapter was he captured (or used) for Madara's purpose? I am a bit lost.

Not sure of the exact chapter, but Yamato was captured when Yamato, Aoba, and Motoi go outside to investigate during Naruto's training. They come across Kabuto as he is captured by Kurotsuchi. Yamato creates a wooden beam that Aoba can walk on to approach Kabuto and read his mind like he did with Kisame, but Kabuto sheds his body to free himself. He goes after Yamato and, before being captured, Yamato pushes Motoi out of the way.

Kabuto escapes to the Mountains' Graveyard where he and Tobi gather information from Yamato about the Allied Shinobi Forces. Kabuto also studies Hashirama's DNA within Yamato to strengthen the White Zetsu Army. Rather than kill Yamato when he has fulfiled his usefulness, they suspend him opposite Hashirama's clone for future use.

There are no given details of when Yamato changed his side, so I would assume he was forced to serve Kabuto/Madara/Obito/Zetsu while he was captured.


What is "Kamisama ni Natta Hi" episode 12 ending theme? What is Kamisama ni Natta Hi episode 12 ending theme?
I tried finding it but I suck at finding things. What is it?

The ending theme of Kamisama ni Natta Hi episode 12 is Takaramono ni Natta Hi by Jun Maeda x Nagi Yanagi, which is also an insert song in episode 5.

Insert songs listed in episode 12 ending, featuring Natsu Nagi and Takaramono ni Natta Hi


What's the origin of the "accidental boob grab" trope? I was just wondering where the trope of the protagonist tripping and accidentally groping someone first came from.
What's the origin of this trope?

I will try to answer.
I still don't know what is the pioneer of that fan service. But all I know that a shot like "Oops I grabbed your boobs accidentally" is very common in manga, especially shounen manga. Manga creator created this 'fan service' because shounen manga usually read by teenage young boy. Also, they believe, in teenage, young boy will love this kinda jokes because of for example they are going through puberty.
Here are my references
Book : "Understanding Manga and Anime" by Robin E. Brenner
Quora : Why do anime characters show underwear


Is this picture of Oshino Ougi light novel art or fanart? Is this picture of Oshino Ougi art from the light novels or fanart?

If it is light novel art, which light novel of the monogatari series is it from?

If it is a fanart, does it have anything to do with the light novels (meaning does this scene takes place in the light novels)?

This is an edited version of official art that appeared in the first volume of Owarimonogatari. Full cover taken from Amazon Japan below:

The first volume appears to contain "Ougi Formula", "Sodachi Riddle", and "Sodachi Lost". I haven't read the light novels, but the anime adaptation contains no scene that exactly corresponds to this.

Ougi never appears in a strapless black dress among classroom furniture: her interactions with Araragi take place after school, and thus, she wears the Naoetsu Private High School uniform. However, in the present-day portion of "Ougi Formula", she is locked in an empty classroom with Araragi. (She seems to only appear outside of school in the other stories.) This cover art could perhaps have been created with that setting in mind.


Is Chaos;Head a prequel to Chaos;Child? I wanted to watch Chaos;Child, but I heard I needed to watch Chaos;Head, which is a prequel, first. Is this true?

Child is a sequel, I haven't watched all episodes (yet) from the second season of Chaos, but by skipping Head you'd miss out on a lot information that happened during certain events. Those events and the way they happened as well as the thoughts behind them will definitely make Child easier to understand. And yes it is pretty boring the first few episodes but it is a nice complex plot-twist compared to your average anime.


What is up with the World Map? In episode 10, inside General Yan's room there is a world map. The thing I got confused with is that, the story takes place in Tokyo but what the hack is with this map? Why doesn't it have the original world map?

This is not a world map. It's a map of Japan (tilted about 45° clockwise).


Why did not Conan tell Haibara about the liquor that made him restore to his original size as soon as possible? In episode 177, "Reunion with the Black Organization", Conan asked Haibara to drink the liquor which made her restore to her original size, but why did not he tell her that the first time he met her or at least after he trusted her? This is a very important information which cannot be delayed.

Remember that once your body develops an immunity against baiju thus you can't grow twice. Conan was probably thinking that it might be useful in the fell clutch of circumstance.

Plot-wise, if Haibara already drank baiju and so, if Haibara wasn't in adult form, Conan and Haibara will be unprotected and might die. Since they have this plot immunity, then that won't happen.


What's the meaning behind Yuzuru's photographs? A few scenes after the failed suicide attempt of Shouko, we see Yuzuru telling her mother something about the pictures she was taking and how she was trying to prevent Shouko from killing herself. Can someone explain that to me?

From to the wiki,

  Her hobby is taking pictures of dead animals, with the intent of showing her sister how horrible death is. The purpose is to discourage her sister from killing herself.


What would have happened if Esdeath hadn't drunk all the demon extract? In Akame Ga Kill! I'm wondering why Esdeath drank all the demon extract.
If she hadn't drunk the whole thing, could someone else have gained the power?

Can an Imperial Arms have 2 users at the same time?

Esdeath's near-broken ice-making abilities come from the fact that she drank the whole goblet of demon extract. If she hadn't drunk the whole thing, her powers would probably not be so profound.

She would probably have to be near external supplies of water like her snake-ring-wielding partner to make ice and use it.


Why did Macao ask Fairy Tail not to touch Twilight Ogre when they came to take the money? In episode 123 of Fairy Tail, the Twilight Ogre guild came to take their money from Fairy Tail. After one of their guys sent Macao flying, he asked Fairy Tail not to touch them.

I found that pretty ridiculous. I mean, for what reason would they prevent them from fighting.

Why did he prevent it? Doesn't this make their guild look even more pathetic?

Fairy Tail needed the money.

For the past seven years, they tried to keep their guild alive as much as possible. They could have picked a fight and might have won this round, but if they had, the guild would have been completely destroyed shortly after by Twilight Ogre.

Master Macao, The Fourth, did not want to risk this as they didn't have much job opportunities as it is, let alone if they had to pay for hospital expenses and repair expenses additionally.

Also, Fairy Tail was indebted to Twilight Ogre and it is not really in the guild's policy to steal money and to repay your debts. That's why the Fourth accepted their faith and punishment, and by doing so, he kept their losses at a minimum while keeping the guild alive as long as possible.


How does Rasengan do so less damage? When Jiraiya used Rasengan on a tree, it shredded part of it and trees are not soft. They are so much harder than human flesh. However, the first time Jiraiya used it on a gangster, he didn't die.

Why is that? He should have been torn to shreds.

When the Rasengan makes impact, there are two effects that take place

The first effect is

  On contact, the Rasengan grinds into its target, propels them along the Rasengan's trajectory - either away from the user or into the ground beneath them

When Jiraiya used the Rasengan against the gangsters, this what we saw.

The second effect is

  and at some point bursts, causing severe damage at the point of contact.

The burst is what truly deals the damage. Jiraiya mastered the technique of the Rasengan and more than likely had control over it for it to not burst.

Anyways, he was trying to make a point and get the gangsters off of his back - there was no need to kill them. Jiraiya even says

  And I was holding back. You guys are hardly worth the trouble


How do Natsu and Happy get into Lucys house? Just wondering but how does Natsu and Happy end up breaking into Lucy's house? I am wondering on this since I heard a recent rumor that...

  Mirajane has a spare key to Lucy's home and often gives the key to Natsu and Happy

I also wanted to ask this question since when Lucy comes home or gets out of the shower, Natsu and Happy seem to be there. Of course though it is only a rumor, but is there anything to go against this or any information to say this is true or not? I trust this site so that is why I am asking it here.

Answers are appreciated. :)

What you have heard is not a rumour, this reason is mentioned in Fairy Tail manga volume 6 Q&A.

  Mirajane has an extra copy of her house key which she gives to the other members so that they can enter Lucy's house.

I don't have a copy of this volume now so I cannot confirm it myself, but it has been posted on the Fairy Tail wiki, and a number of other sites.


Is the Makkachin tissue box based on Yuzuru Hanyu's tissue box? In Yuri!!! on ICE, Viktor has a tissue box in the shape of his dog Makkachin, which he uses when coaching Yuuri. Is there any indication whether this is based on Yuzuru Hanyu's Pooh Bear tissue box? Have any statements been made by the creators about that?

Actually, the Makkachin tissue box was inspired off of Johnny Weir's old Russian cartoon themed tissue box.

Many elements from the show were inspired by him as well from the tissue box, to the flower crowns Viktor wore, Viktor's custom gold blades, and right down to Viktor's feathered costume. All of those things were known and inspired by Johnny. The feathered costume came from his first Olympics as a swan skating to Swan Lake. Every time he won a comp. Johnny got a flower crown, and Johnny's favorite color was gold so he got custom made gold blades.

All of these were inspirations from Johnny Weir.


Was Code Geass first a light novel, manga, or anime? There are manga, light novel, and anime versions of Code Geass. Which came first?

It was original, the anime came first then various adaptations. You could confirm this in MyAnimeList. Under "Background":

  Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch is an original anime series by Sunrise animation studio with original character designs by the all-female Japanese manga artist group Clamp.

(Emphasis added)

Just don't be surprised that some good shows are anime-original like Psycho Pass, Madoka, etc.


What's the purpose of "torture dance" in Golden Wind? I've been following JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime this season, it has 39 episodes total. It's currently on episode 11 (as of December 14, 2018).
I am confused with the dance that Narancia did with Fugo and Mista, while torturing Zucchero's head that got separated from his own body but was still alive, thanks to Bucciarati's Stand: Sticky Fingers.
What's the purpose of that dance and music towards Zucchero? When I listened to the music, it sounds like it's not a Japanese song, I didn't know what language they used. Does the dance have references from some sort of real life dance? Or is it just an original dance? Here is the scene when Zucchero gets tortured.

The purpose of the torture dance was a weird thing revolving around something special.

If you look at the art that comes in the dance, it indicates Narancia's, Mista's, and Fugo's stands tormenting Mario Zucchero.

Narancia Ghirga-Aerosmith
The art in the cut-scene indicates Aerosmith's bullets shooting towards him

Mista Guido-Sex Pistols
The art represents a cross-hair on the eye which indicates Mista's accuracy with his stand

Pannacotta  Fugo-Purple Haze
The art seems to indicate Purple Haze's burning poison ability as he is burning Mario Zucchero


What is Shikizaki Kiki's final completed Deviant Sword? In the series, it was mentioned that Shikizaki Kiki created the 12 Deviant Swords with the purpose of perfecting one final sword.

What is this final sword? How was it completed?

In episode 11, Kiki Shikizaki said that the final purpose of the 12 Deviant Swords was to help Yasuri Shichika perfect the Kyotoryu fighting style in order to forge himself as the ultimate completed Deviant Sword (虚刀「鑢」; Empty Sword "File"). So Shichika himself is the final sword and forged through the Kyotoryu fighting style.

The other purpose of the creation of the swords is to prevent Japan from being destroyed by foreigners. Something that one of his ancestors told him would happen.


How can I quickly understand the basics of Naruto and the story without watching all 300+ episodes? I would like to start watching Naruto as I have never attempted or tried to get into watching Naruto. The main problem I have is that I don't want to watch all 300+ episodes in Naruto or read the dozens of Mangas to understand what Naruto is about and the many plots that are involved.

I know this might be a really silly question for someone who watches anime and this may sound very far fetched but I havent watched Naruto before. I do not want to read through pages and pages of information from Naruto's Wikia and do not want to go watching through episode through episode of about 300+ to understand Naruto.

Are there any episodes in Naruto that will help me understand the story and key terms/terminology without doing this? In other words I am looking for a short cut.

Think of this scenario: Death Note created two special episodes for those who have not watched it before so they wouldn't have to go through all the episodes to understand the plot. Did Naruto do this? If so that would be extremely helpful.

Please note: I have not watched ever Naruto or Naruto Shippuden and as such have no actual knowledge of anything Naruto.

Although I strongly advise against not watching/reading them, there are some shortcuts to take.

You could read episode summaries.
As one of your main options it gives a good insight on the story, though not specifically into the terms used in the story. But those aren't too hard to catch onto when watching the second season.
Watch the Naruto abridged series.
Shortens a ton of episodes to just a mere 5 minutes, but still covering a bunch of key points. But there is a lot of parody involved, causing it not to be 100% accurate. It also does not cover the key terminology in the series.
Watch the anime without the anime-only arcs.
Just go watch the season without watching all the anime-only arcs. Greatly reducing the episode count, as you can skip the following episodes, which reduces the original 220 episodes with roughly 80 episodes. On the provided site they also have a list for the Shippuuden series, also reducing the non-canon content in there.

  Episodes 102—106: Naruto and Team 7 go to the Land of Tea to help Idate Morino win a race.
  Episodes 136—141: Naruto, Sakura, and Jiraiya, while investigating Orochimaru's whereabouts, encounters the Fūma clan.
  Episodes 142—147: Naruto helps Iruka catch the escaped convict, Mizuki.
  Episodes 148—151: Naruto and Team 8 look for the bikōchū beetle in the hopes that it will lead them to Sasuke Uchiha.
  Episodes 152—157: Naruto and Team Guy deal with Raiga Kurosuki and his Kurosuki family.
  Episodes 159—160: Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata help Sazanami clear his name.
  Episodes 162—167: Naruto, Neji, and Tenten go to the Land of Birds to deal with a mysterious ghost.
  Episodes 169—173: Anko Mitarashi takes Naruto, Ino, and Shino to the Land of the Sea to find information on Orochimaru.
  Episodes 175—176: Naruto is again paired up with Kiba and Hinata in order to improve their teamwork.
  Episodes 178—183: Naruto and Team Guy go to Hoshigakure to help the villagers protect their sacred star.
  Episodes 187—191: Naruto, Hinata, and Chōji go to the Land of Vegetables to protect some peddlers from the Criminal Brothers.
  Episodes 195—196: Guy is forced to deal with Yagura's apparent attempts at revenge.
  Episodes 197—201: The Konoha 11 stop Gennō from destroying Konoha.
  Episodes 203—207: Kurenai temporarily leaves Team 8 to take care of some old business with Yakumo Kurama.
  Episodes 209—212: Naruto, Lee, and Sakura help transfer a member of the Shinobazu to prison.
  Episodes 213—215: Naruto helps Menma regain his memory.
  Episodes 216—220: The Konoha 11 go to Sunagakure to help rescue Matsuri from the Four Celestial Symbols Men.

  Source: Naruto Wiki: Naruto Plot

Read full episode summaries as written by fans.
Although this most definitely will take longer then just taking your time and read the manga. you could give Full Naruto Episode Summaries a shot. They describe the episode in details, and also include the key information of the episodes.

I personally think that it would be the best shortcut to just read the manga if you want to have a proper start in the series. The original Naruto is covered in a mere 238 chapters, after all, which for me only took about a week and a half to read, while the episodes took me roughly a year to watch through. Or, you could just go ahead and take the risk and jump in mid-series, just Google or take for granted the terms you do not know yet, and try to get into the story that way. Either way, its all up to you.


What does Victor whisper to Yakov before entering the airplane? On episode 2 of Yuri on Ice, before Victor goes on the plane, he whispers something in Yakov's ear. I tried googling it but I can't spell it.

What does Victor whisper?

He says "do svidaniya" which is Russian for goodbye.


What are all the saiyans transformations branches in Dragon Ball series? Saiyans can turn into Super Saiyan using their proper Ki, but they can also goes to Super Saiyan God using divine ki. Then, Broly & Kale have the Berserker form, etc.

What are all the main branches of transformations in Dragon Ball series?

I'm posting a new answer because I got your question wrong. If I understand correctly, this is what you are asking.

Regular super saiyan transformation (SSJ1, SSJ2, USSJ, SSJ3, etc.)
Super Saiyan god, Saiyan beyond god (saiyan using god ki)
Super Saiyan Blue, Mastered Super Saiyan Blue, Super Saiyan Evolution (saiyan using god ki and turning into super saiyan)
Legendary Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan Berserker, Legendary Super Saiyan 2, etc. (only certain types of special saiyans can achieve it)
Super Saiyan Rage (unknown what it takes to get it)
Super Saiyan Rose (god in the body of a super saiyan)
Ultra Instinct Omen, Mastered Ultra Instinct (assuming that aside of a skill it's a saiyan transformation in the way Goku gets it, with that aura and hair and eyes etc achievable by anyone in theory)
Oozaru, Golden Oozaru (non canon) (saiyan with tale who sees the moon)
Super Saiyan 4 (non canon, it requires the saiyan to have a tale)


What would happen if a pokemon died instead of fainting? I have searched for it and would like to know what would happen if a pokemon were to die. Would the trainer go on and get another pokemon? Or maybe they would stop being a trainer forever?

I suck at finding specific cannon sources, but here's is my general understanding.

You are asking one of two things. What happens if pokemon (in general) die instead of fainting? OR What would happen if a pokemon (just one) died instead of fainting?

If you are asking the first, that's a bit opinion based, but you would likely see defensive gear for pokemon to protect them more, higher regulations on battles to ensure fights don't go passed certain limits, and more medical items to help critically injured pokemon to prevent them from dying.

If you're asking the second, the trainer's response depends on the trainer. Some continue to fight. (I would assume most. If their goal is to become a master, it's a loss they learn to deal with. Not that they become emotionless, but they learn to remember and move on and fight in their honor etc.) Some would possibly stop because they don't want to lose more people.

This can be seen as something similar to when people command a division in any kind of combat. You either continue to fight when you've lost a man, or you discover that kind of stress is too much for you.

There's always theories like this one that go over whether Red kills his rival's Raticate. This implies that pokemon CAN die and have died, with your rival being an example of someone who continues on anyway. And with a city like Lavender Town and the cemetery and the natural effect of aging (since there are baby pokemon), you can reasonably assume most pokemon can die of old age and, therefore, other causes of bodily deterioration/harm.

Hope that helps out some. It's a bit long because I wasn't entirely sure what you were asking. Feel free to comment and I'll try to explain more or find better sources :)


What is Hidan's Source of Power? Hidan is probably the most misunderstood character in Naruto. He has the ability to survive pretty much anything (including decapitation), and is able to remote-injure opponents whose blood he tasted, and while he's inside his cursed circle.

Where did this power come from? What kind of technique is that? Every single technique used in Naruto so far has been explained to some degree, besides this one.

Do anyone has some information to shed light on the technique? From the Data Book perhaps?

According to the official character databook:

  The Way of Jashin uses bodies of believers in forbidden jutsu rituals. Hidan was the first successful test case.

  As a reward for his many massacres, Hidan acquires an immortal body via the Way of Jashin. This only helps to affirm his love for the Way.

It adds:

  Thou shalt kill thy neighbor. This dogma is contradictory since it would allow devotees to kill each other. But to Hidan who is immortal, this is meaningless. That is why he is able to accept the doctrine and follow its teachings. Even if he ends up with just his head...

It also adds, regarding his motivations:

  The Way of Jashin is absolute for Hidan, the only thing worth believing in. He considers his supreme purpose to be to spread the Way of Jashin to nonbelievers throughout the world. It means to create a world that acknowledges mass killing. And Hidan feels that this is possible by being a part of the Akatsuki.

And this is about it, regarding to info on Hidan on the databook.


What region was Ciel Phantomhive the Earl of? Ciel Phantomhive's noble title was Earl. In medieval England, an Earl was the same as a Count in other parts of Europe. Phantomhive is his family name; therefore, him being called Earl Phantomhive was understandable. It was like calling Earl Peter Raeves of Wessex "Earl Raeves", or Earl Ian Hunter of Hwicce "Earl Hunter".

My question is, since Phantomhive is his family name and not the name of a region in England (unless in the Kuroshitsuji universe there is a region named Phantomhive, but I've never heard of that), what region/county in England was Ciel the Earl of?

Earls, Dukes, and Counts can all vaguely be considered the same thing. All of them could either be rulers over a section of the Queen's territory ("Earl Peter Raeves of Wessex") or it was just a title for a part of the hierarchy that was close to the monarch. I think he's called the Earl of Phantomhive, or I suppose you could say Earl Phantomhive, because that puts him in his spot in the hierarchy and as the head of the Phantomhive family. Please correct me if I'm wrong but that's how I always understood it.


Why does the "A in C major" tone play whenever a strange event occurs in The World? Mai Minase first notices this in .hack//Liminality when she and Tomonari Kasumi are attacked by the First Phase, Skeith.

The "A in C major" tone (ハ長調ラ音) seems to recur whenever some strange event happened "The World" and it's subsequent iterations, like in "The World R:2," like when Azure Kite appeared, the appearance of one of the Phases, or activation of an Avatar.

Why does this tone play during these events in both the anime series and the games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN987vxtiuQ

There are a few things that point to why the A in C minor tone was chosen for this purpose.
The Bell
The first is in a subset of the lyrics from In the Land of Twilight Under the Moon. This part of the lyrics seems to reference A in C minor in that this tone, which is unique enough to be commonly used for tuning instruments (via tuning fork), is sometimes known for its similar sound to a bell (as in the video you linked).

High and loud, the sound of your bell of the
Twilight... ringing...
All alone, it rings and echoes in twilight
  — SIGN Original Soundtrack 2, .hack Wiki

Liminality
The second is somewhat more convincing; the sound may be considered a manifestation of Liminality. The game can, of course, make contact with the human mind, and the tone itself is subliminal. This means it was probably programmed in by Harald, being key to this mental contact, much like hypnosis (which uses specific types of lights for maximum effect).
In reality, there is nothing special about the properties of A in C minor (with the exception of its ability to be easily differentiated from other notes); it is heard at approximately 440Hz, though its range extends as low as 435Hz. However, in the .hack//Liminality OVA, it is (incorrectly) stated that the tone is the highest note a human can hear. In the .hack universe, most people are unable to hear this tone, but Mai can.
Overall
It seems that the note itself was chosen for its uniqueness (especially in that it is easy for the human ear to hear), as well as its faux property of being the highest note humans can hear. The A in C minor tone itself is not exceptionally notable outside of the .hack universe.
The note itself is also the first letter in the musical scale and its use is somewhat akin to déjà vu in The Matrix, though these are not as likely to be related.


How did Ei Sei's mother, the Queen Mother, escape/get rescued from Zhao? In the story of the manga,

   it is said that after Ei Sei escaped Zhao (and eventually rescued by Qin troops), the King became aware of his escape minutes right after they exited the last gate, sending Zhao's cavalry to search for him. Everyone but Sei died, and even then had to be rescued almost at the end of the way.
 If they went through all this trouble to just get Ei Sei, it is only strongly implied that Sei's mother, who hadn't been rescued, would be in grave danger, probably geting killed some time soon (since Sei's Zhao pursuers at some point mentioned that it didn't matter if they captured Sei dead or alive), and if not heavily watched and/or tortured and disgraced more harshly that she had been before (since people's logic of those times was so flawed that they would go so far as to blame some innocent person from a nation for the crimes of some other person from the same nation).

Having said that, I am wondering how the hell did she get out from Zhao? (seeing as Sei's initially unnoticed escape was barely possible.)

But having read until chapter 185, yet another question arises in my head.

   If Sei and his mother hated each other so much (she tried to kill him), why on earth was she rescued in the first place to begin with? A thorough explanation on this would be great and would stop me from having to open a new question.

Aside from this, comes a question that might be considered off-topic, but I'll ask it anyway just in case. Is there any similar real life historic records chronicling how Lady Zhao somehow moved from Zhao to Qin?

I've done a quick read of Wikipedia and seem to not find anything, however I will keep on researching and update this if I find the answer on my own.

According to Ryo Fui's ranked biography in Shiji, both the Queen Mother and Ei Sei were returned to Qin by Zhao even before Sei's father became king, though I think conflicting accounts were given in other biographies in Shiji as to when and how they got back to Qin, let alone other historical records. The mangaka didn't follow the canonical history closely (who the hell is this Hou Ken dude?) nor present the stories as logically, so the story of the manga Kingdom shouldn't be taken seriously.

Regardless of proper history,

   Remember that the Queen Mother is a Zhao woman and that after the escape of Ei Sei, an heir to the throne, there really is no point in keeping her as a hostage, and Ruo Fui could have bribed or persuaded the Zhao officials to send his lover the Queen Mother back anyways. In any case, Sei would still have rescued her because it would be against the norm and bad for his reputation to ditch the Queen Mother in poverty in Zhao*. By killing the Queen Mother, Zhao would gain nothing but give Qin a moral high ground in invading Zhao. If the explanation in this paragraph is confusing or misleading, forget about it and just take my words in the first paragraph for it.
 * I think the mangaka screwed up here, because the Queen Mother was a daughter of a prominent family, thus was unlikely to have lived in that condition.


Which kind of Overlord is Momonga? On the Wiki I've found that there exist three types of overlords:

Types of Overlord

Overlord Wiseman: They're skilled in magic.
Overlord Cronos Master: They could use time-related special abilities.
Overlord General: They're adept at controlling armies of the undead.

Which type of overlord is Momonga (Ainz Ooal Gown)? It seems that he has a bit of each one ability...

He is extremely powerful using magic. (Actually, I haven't seen any other lvl 100 mage so I can't say if he is "stronger" than other mages...).
He can stop time. (In the Overlord 3rd season chapter 13 of Anime he frozen time for a few seconds).
He can create undead creatures. (He has made Death Knights from corpses and he is able to give them orders).

Before I answer your question, I'll briefly elaborate on the overlord species. Overlord is the highest race of undead who primarily have the appearance of skeletons.  Just like other undead species, the overlord class  is the final form of both the skeleton mage and Elder Lich class (most undead would have to gain enough levels to evolve through up to that point). However even within the overlord race, there are different levels.

According to the wiki: "Momonga has an Overlord racial level of five." Even though we aren't told exactly how many levels are within the overlord class. It makes sense to say that the higher the level within the overlord race, the more powerful the individual overlord. I'm guessing this makes Ainz Oal Gown pretty special when compared to the typical average overlord (more like the 5 overlords that guard the nazarick grand  library, there is big difference between them and momonga in terms of power level and abilities). This could explain why he has characteristics of the 3 different types of overlords.

So to answer your question, Momonga is not an ordinary Overlord, his superiority in level among the overlord race probably gives him the advantage of being an overlord with abilities similar to all 3 types. ( He also has dark wisdom, allowing him to learn spells that he probably couldn't. This cheat ability makes him nearly invisible because we don't know for sure which specific spells he learnt from the dark wisdom ability) I hope that answers your question.


Why did Annie "Female Titan" stop running? In Attack on Titan season 1 episode 24, Annie "Female Titan" stopped running & was looking at the wall or maybe something else I'm not sure. It seemed that she waited for Eren to punch her & that does not make sense at all.

If she kept running, she could have reached the wall & returned to her "hometown".

So, why did she freeze and stop running?

your talking about the part where she was running from the corps and Eren was trapped right? Do remember that Eren had just transformed right as she had stopped moving.

I don't think she stopped moving cause she sense the titans in the wall(that is a bit strange as that reveal was waaay later down the line). I think she stopped casue she realized Eren transformed and might have figured she could flee and takedown Eren at the same time. Or that if she managed to flee, he would follow and hinder her escape outside the city.


What anime is this video featuring girls wearing Nazi armband from? (NSFW) My friend sends me this video of an anime featuring what seems to be Nazi (?)

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

Neither of us knows what anime it was from. Does anyone know?

Below is a SFW screenshot, as requested:

I did a reverse image search on one of the frames in the video. It's an hentai anime from 1986 called Cream Lemon. I haven't watched it and I am not going to, but if you want to know more about check its Wikipedia article.

This is what the reverse image search turned up.


What is Arisa's status at the end of Guilty Crown? Arisa is shot several times by the GHQ soldiers at the end of the series, when her shield fails due to all voids disappearing, but the wiki pages have confusing information about her whereabouts at the end.

Wikipedia has "She follows Gai to the final battle, holding back the UN forces with her shield, and is alive seen being outside of the falling GHQ."

Is she alive? When the scene of her alive outside the building happens?

Arisa can be seen outside of the collapsing GHQ building at around 20:23 of episode 22.

Screenshot courtesy of Hakase

It is not known how she got out of the collapsing GHQ building with the bullet wound she got from the UN Military Forces at 18:15, though. My guess is that she got rescued by the UN Forces, probably as an act of humanity.


Which Pokémon cry out their name, and which don't? In Pokémon, some Pokémon "cries" are their name and some are not.

Is there a list of Pokémon whose cries are their name and Pokémon whose cries aren't?

I did do research but I didn't find the answer I was looking for.

I asked this on Arcade, but they told me to ask it here instead.

Most Pokémon names are a reflection of their cries. This makes sense as the scientific community of the Pokémon universe would have easily coined a common name to the fascinating creatures.

Classic examples of name-cry match are Pikachu, Emolga, Cyndaquil, Shinx and Oshawatt. Chatot, Mew and Ditto can say a bit more than their own names due to their nature...

Some perfect exceptions to the name-cry rule are Onyx, Gyrados and Rotom. They just seem roar/screech with no clear decipherable word. Many bug types seem to have no clear cries.

Actually, there are some which say a part of their name but not completely!
Consider Pacharisu, which usually utters "chhipa" most of the times!

Also a few Pokémon communicate through telepathy, such as Lucario and Zorua... They've never seen crying out their own names.

Finally there are Pokémon which don't have vocal abilities, such as Staryu (although it literally sounds like "HYA")

I guess a list has to be manually compiled...


What does 'Akame ga Kill' mean and why is it called that? Just what the title says, why is the show called Akame ga Kill! and what does it even mean? Akame was just an ordinary member of Night Raid, yet the show is named after her. She wasn't the main Protagonist, she wasn't even the main Waifu! And as this unanswered question mentions here, the only difference was:

   She fought Esdeath, the primary antagonist, and ultimately survived.

I googled a bit and came across this link, according to which Akame ga Kill! literally means:

  Akame is kill

So what does that even mean? Does it mean that Akame is Death itself, or Akame is Dead (Not physically, but mentally - that she is dead inside). But I doubt that either of these interpretations are correct since she acts all cutesy from time to time.

As another user points out, a general translation would be Akame Kills, but that would be a very stupid name, wouldn't it? So can anyone help clear this up?

Edit: Even Akame knows something's not right (from AkaKILL Theater Episode 24 - END).

To reiterate, アカメが斬る (Akame ga Kiru) means "Akame cuts/slices/kills". Kiru also has another meaning: "to perform surgical incision", though the kanji is 切る in the case of this definition. This aligns well with the settings of the series: the goal of Akame and her group is to perform the necessary surgery on the corrupted empire by eliminating the tumors.

What is missing in the title are the objects, the targets that Akame kills. In episode 1, Tatsumi said 「俺が斬る」 (Ore ga Kiru), which means "let me kill (her)" or "I'll kill (her)". Even though there was no object specified, we could infer whom Tatsumi would kill. As for whom and what Akame kills, アカメが(Xを)斬る, the object X can be any of those in the chapter titles. Granted, it wasn't always Akame who did the killings, but she is actually a personification of Death (see explanation below) because her lethal and efficient one-cut-kill is befitting of Reaper's Scythe.

  Does it mean that Akame is Death itself, or Akame is Dead (Not physically, but mentally - that she is dead inside).

Actually, that is my thought exactly. In episode 24,

   Esdeath remarked that Akame is no longer human. It makes sense because Murasame's one-cut-kill doesn't work on non-human beings, or more precisely, beings without a beating heart, which is why Akame didn't die after cutting herself with it because she became Death. Also at the end, Akame said "I can only kill" because that is her newly acquired job as Death. Najenda and Akame, the only two survivors of Night Raid in the anime, actually symbolize Life and Death, as shown by them wearing capes of opposite colors and carrying out opposite roles of constructing and destroying for the new empire.

  Akame was just an ordinary member of Night Raid, yet the show is named after her. She wasn't the main Protagonist, she wasn't even the main Waifu!

Princess Mononoke is also named after San who is not the main protagonist, even though Hayao Miyazaki had originally preferred the title The Legend of Ashitaka and even went as far as to create a new kanji for legend (sekki). Although Akame is not the main protagonist, like San, she is still indispensable to the plot, especially in a symbolic way.

Why not name the series Ore ga Kiru or Tatsumi ga Kiru? Well, because it wouldn't be as intriguing as Akame ga Kiru. The readers would get hooked on who is Akame and why does she have red eyes, the literal meaning of akame. (In Chinese, it so happens that there is a phrase 殺紅了眼 to describe a person who goes berserk from killing too many people that his eyes turn red.) It's red eyes and not black eyes because the story is full of the so-called "leftist" ideas, hence the oft regarded color of the left. Subjectivity aside, the ordering also matters: a is both the first letter in the English alphabet and the first character in Gojuuon, so Akame ga Kiru will pop up earlier in searches than the alternatives.


Hidan's Chakra Element This question in simple: the only jutsus Hidan performs are related to Jashin. But this does not specify his chakra element.

What is Hidan's chakra nature?

Okay here's the deal! Though his elemental chakra nature is unspecified ....since he uses a spiritual jutsu we can say that his chakra nature or more specifically his jutsu nature is "yin release" ..... (Like that of shadow bind of nara clan)
Update: It is not only yin but also "yang release" cause he share his physical damage too ... so it might be a "Yin-Yang release"


Are the storylines from The Wolverine movie and anime the same? Are The Wolverine movie (now on theaters) and the 2011 Wolverine anime series based on the same plot?
From the trailers I can tell they definitely look similar.

No, they're different. The settings and some of the characters are the same but the overall plot isn't.

The Marvel animated series Wolverine was based on the 1982 Chris Claremont and Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. Both the anime and movie have characters "Mariko", "Shingen", "Yukio". Both also have Mariko in an arranged marriage, but only in the anime is where Mariko is Logan's girlfriend. There's also this giant samurai automaton in both the movie and anime.

The beginning of the anime has Logan and Mariko both in New York City where she's kidnapped. Whereas the movie has him in the woods following the events of "X-Men: Last Stand". It seems there's a lot of mutants in the anime that aren't in the movie, in particular, Kikyo, a mutant who can extend a sword out of his wrists, similar to Logan and Omega Red, a Russian biomedical experiment.

I've never read the original graphic novels, but according to this blog post, the anime is more faithful to the original novels than the movie series.


Did Alicia really wear a wedding scarf at the end of Senjou no Valkyria (Valkyria Chronicles)? I've found this image by coincidence, but it immediately attracted my attention because I never saw such a scene in the anime.

Concerning the drawing style/animation (from the looks of it I doubt it's fan-made, it seems to be more like a screenshot), the sunset, Welkin's clothes (he wears them very rarely and if I remember correctly, he wears them only at the very end of the anime) and progression of the story (they end up together in the last episode (26)), this image has to be from the very end of the anime, but I couldn't find anything like it.

I've also watched it on different websites, but they all end with Alicia and Welkin holding hands in the sunset on a hill in front of their village.

Where is this screenshot from? Does that scene really happen in the anime or is it from the game?

That picture of Alicia and Welkin is from OVA 9, or the epilogue from the story.

It's a screenshot of this OVA where the summery can be found on the official wikia page from Valkyria Chronicles here

It's marked as episode #35 at the bottem of the page


What is theme music that plays in episode 181 at 07:37 minutes? What is the theme song that plays while Subaru embraces Rock Lee?

The soundtrack name is Nervous.

You can listen it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRyohGCjdVU


Who typically owns the rights to an anime's soundtrack? I watched episode 7 of Space Patrol Luluco today, and, well, that sure was a thing. Saliently, it featured

   a piece from the Kill la Kill soundtrack: "Gekiban Tokka-gata Hitotsu-boshi Gokuseifuku" (OST 2 track 1), which is basically the soundtrack-ified version of "Before my body is dry", a.k.a. "DON'T LOSE YOUR WAY".

(I'm spoilering this because, frankly, this is the best anime-related surprise I've gotten in ages.)

This got me thinking - who typically owns the soundtrack of an anime? Is it the composer, or is it some other party, such as the animation studio or the production committee?

(By soundtrack, I mean the soundtrack; not OPs/EDs, which I strongly suspect tend to have different ownership schemes.)

The situation in Hollywood is interesting as a point of comparison - various ownership schemes seem to be possible (though I don't know which are more common). In some cases, the soundtrack will be treated as a work-for-hire owned by the film's producers; in other cases, the composer will own the soundtrack and will license usage rights to the producers; and surely other possibilities exist. (Keep in mind, of course, that Japan and the US have fairly divergent conventions when it comes to the handling of intellectual property, so the situation in Hollywood is probably not the same as the situation in... Akihabara?)

Here is what I found :

From what I understood, music industry in anime is not really transparent. It's difficult to find trustable sources.

Firstly I had the idea to ask to Thomas Romain and here is his answer (translation below the screen) :

The translation :
"Who usually owns the rights on anime OST in Japan ? (except OP & ED) the studio ? the composer ?"
"Certainly not the studio. I couldn't say. Probably the production committee + the composer."

Thomas Romain is a French animator which works in Japan since several years. He works for the studio Satelight. So even if he's not sure about who owns the rights, I think you can trust him when he says that studios do not own the rights.

I also made some resarch on Wikipedia :

  Japanese copyright laws (著作権法 Chosakukenhō?) consist of two parts:
  "Author's Rights" and "Neighbouring Rights." As such, "copyright" is a
  convenient collective term rather than a single concept in Japan.
  Japan was a party to the original Berne convention in 1899, so its
  copyright law is in sync with most international regulations.

They say the copyright law is in sync with most international regulations. There are 3 actors : the composer, the producers and the broadcasters (wire diffusers). In anime production like pointed before, producers and broadcasters seem to be the same.

About the rights of each of them :

  The composer has all the moral rights on his music. He has also
  economic rights, that is to say :  Reproduction: The author can
  control the reproduction of a work, including photography, recording,
  and downloading. Communication: The author can control how a work is
  to be transmitted, communicated, broadcast, performed, exhibited,
  etc., including how copies of the work are to be distributed.
  Adaptation: The author can control the adaptation of a work through
  translation, dramatization, cinematization, and the creation of
  derivative works in general.

And for the broadcasters (here the producers) :

  Broadcasters and wire diffusers have the transferable economic rights
  of fixation, reproduction, making available, and retransmission.
  Television broadcasters also have a right to control photography of
  their broadcasts.

If you want more details, here is my source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Japan


What do we know about Ichigo's father? In the anime, Ichigo's father, Isshin, is shown to have captain level powers, but I think that it was never mentioned that he was a substitute shinigami. So where does he get his powers?

Also, why did he hide his powers (or why couldn't he use his powers) for 20 years?  And why did he hide the fact that he was a shinigami from his son?

The below answer contains spoilers (because the anime stops before this was explained).

To give you a little back story before explaining:

So after Ichigo is done with the Fullbringers, there is the Final Arc with the Quincies. Ichigo's Zanpaktou in Bankai is broken and he has to fix it with the help of the Zero Division. The man that creates the Zanpaktou tells him that he needs to find his true Zanpaktou, but Ichigo can't because he needs to learn something about his past that is blocking him.

This is how he learns about his father. In 10 chapters, his father finally talks so Ichigo could learn about his past, why he didn't tell him about his Shinigami powers and how his mother died.

Isshin was the former head of a branch of the Shiba Clan, as the Shiba that Rukia knew (Kaien Shiba), and Captain of the 10th Division. He was in the Shinigami world until Aizen, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen were doing these experiments with Hollows and Shinigamis in the human world.

So after a while he decided to go to see what is going on in the human world (because people died), and he found a White (an experimental Hollow) and he couldn't defeat it. So Ichigo's mother came and she is revealed to be a Quincy and tried to defeat it. She did it, but she was injured by it, which infected her and she was becoming a Hollow.

So Kisuke found Ichigo's mother and father and told Isshin that if he wants her
to live he has to sacrifice his power to protect her in a device (as he did with the Vizards, but not 100% the same). He accepted and lost his powers and became a human. So when she died, he got his power back because it stopped protecting her.


What would happen to the infinite tsukoyomi when the moon was not in the sky anymore? Madara cast the infinite tsukoyomi with the help of the moon, when the light from the moon fell on someone, they would be cast into a genjutsu. But wouldn't that mean that the effect would wear off once the sun rose and the moon was not in the sky anymore?

The actual jutsu only lasted for a few minutes; if it did not, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura would have been affected when they left the cover of Sasuke's Susano. The effects of the jutsu do not end when the jutsu ends.


When does Kud Wafter fit into the story? Kud Wafter is a spinoff of the original Little Busters! visual novel in which Kud is the main heroine. When, in the timeline, does it occur? Is it after Kud's route, or an alternative to Kud's route (i.e. after the common route) or in some other place in the story (e.g. after Refrain)? Of course, the name is a pun on "Wafu" (which Kud says frequently) and "After", but that alone doesn't seem to answer the question of how it fits into the main story.

In the paradox world, Kyousuke chooses the "best candidates" not by their cutness (but they  are ^_^) but their life before die.

If you would realize, every non-core member from little busters had a bad life.
In this case, Kud had the feeling to say goodbye to her mother (she didn't it when she was alive).

This spinoff is after the events of Refrain (carcrash + good end = jumper).


A manga about a high school boy who learned boxing from book and later started fighting gangs The manga is about a high school boy who learned boxing from reading a book. Later on in the manga, he started fighting gangs and earned the nickname "Gang Destroyer" or something like that. He lived with his father, mother, and sister, and they had no idea that he was the Gang Destroyer.

Please help me figure out the name of this manga T_T

This is probably Holyland. It's manga about boy who was bullied and learned the one-two combo (a jab then a cross) from boxing book to get revenge. This drew attention of underworld, which got him into new fights and forced him to get better at fighting.

It is shown in earlier chapters that his only move is the one-two combo. Even his stance and his footwork were that of an amateur. However, he managed to defeat thugs with his only move and earned him the nickname Thug Hunter/Gang Hunter among the street gangs and drew their attention.

The background story on how he learned the one-two combo, and even the fact that he learned it from a book, was only revealed in chapter 12 to chapter 14.


Why do mecha anime tend to be original works? So this may seem like a weird question, but bear with me.

Loads and loads of anime are based on manga, and it's a fact that has become well-known in the anime community. However, the mecha genre seems to be a tad different.

I've seen a decent amount of mecha anime in the past. However, one trend that sticks out to me is that a lot of mecha anime are original works, and not based on manga, or light novels.

Here are some examples that I was able to gather by going through the mecha genres on MyAnimeList:

Gundam franchise- is technically a multimedia franchise, but started as a TV anime
Code Geass - another huge mecha franchise
Macross franchise - huge and old mecha franchise
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Darling in the FranXX
Eureka Seven
Aldnoah.Zero
Suisei no Gargantia
Kakumeiki Valvrave
Cross Ange
Hoshi no Koe
Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari
Tenkuu no Escaflowne
Star Driver
Kuromukuro
Aquarion series
Heroic Age - this one's kinda iffy since the giant beings they transform into are organic (kinda like Attack on Titan), but MAL categorizes it as mecha

All of these are original anime, or started as original anime. However, when you look through other genres on MAL, there aren't a lot other genres with this many original works.

So why do mecha anime tend to be original works, more so than other genres? Why aren't there as many mecha manga or light novels?

Well, Gundam in particular is designed to sell the Gundam model kits. Unlike American TV where ratings and selling advertising is the focus, anime generally makes money from selling Blu-rays or toys (or the original manga/light novel). So Gundam anime exists solely so they can push new model kits.


Why English title of Still world is Beautiful? The English title within the for Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii anime is Still world is Beautiful:

Crunchyroll calls it "The World is Still Beautiful".  Finally, it's English Wikipedia article says the literal English translation is "Even So, The World is Beautiful". (Although the article title itself uses Crunchyroll's name.) Is this a particularly hard phrase to translate? Both Crunchyroll's and Wikipedia's titles sound fine in English.

Did the animation studio know Still world is Beautiful would sound and look wrong to English speakers? I can imagine it being just a poor translation, but it seems more likely someone at the studio thought it would fit the series better. If so, why?

Sometimes, authors give their take on how their series' title is to be translated, this seems like a case of a "google translation" of the title on part of the author (It's awfully common). "Soredemo" can be translated as "still" or "even so" depending on which is more grammatically correct, "Sekai wa utsukushii" translates to "(the) world is beautiful." Equivalents for some determinatives like "a", "an" or "the" don't exist in Japanese. Actually parsing the title "それでも世界は美しい" through google translate gives "Still the world is beautiful". So my guess is either the author or his editor wanted an official English title... and ended up with that without proper knowledge of English, as I said earlier, it's awfully common, just take a look at the recent anime "Shuumatsu nani Shitemasuka? Isogashii desuka? Sukutte Moratte ii desuka?", the original novel has this Engrish title underneath the title in Japanese "Do you have what THE END? Are you busy? Shall you save XXX?"

EDIT: Realized I didn't give a take on the translation itself, either "Even so, the World is beautiful" and "The World is still beautiful" are proper translations of the title. But the official one is the weirdly worded one because Word of God


Are there any references to the OK Corral or Wyatt Earp in Trigun? Were there any characters named "Earp" or "Wyatt", or were there any characters from a military background who were town sheriffs?

To answer this quite bluntly, No. There are no references to OK Corral or Wyatt Earp nor any town sheriffs that had their background even briefly revealed. But there are some things that might be indirectly related or referenced to these. I'll explain.

While there are no solid references in the anime to these, there are some what after images or familiar presences to them.

Yasuhiro Nightow, the creator of Trigun series and manga, was in-fact inspired by western films genre. He created the character Vash in a similar way to those he idolized in these films. More specifically a "Gunfighter". Now when someone says Gunfighter to you, there are a few key names that pop into your mind like; Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and of course Wyatt Earp. Whether these people had any direct influence on this anime is something that is unknown. Only way to know would to ask YN himself.

Also during this time there were other anime and manga taking the same approach. Such as Kino's Journey or Cowboy Bebop.

So basically the answer is "No" but watching Trigun may send vibes from some of the characters or locations or pretty much anything that may relates to the old west.

(These answers were based off personal knowledge and having watched and loved the Trigun series, so much that I just watched it again like 3 days ago.)


How long before the events of Dragon Ball were the balls last used? Several lines of dialogue in the first few episodes of Dragon Ball indicate that the balls have not been activated in several years, such as Roshi being unaware of their power, one of the balls being in a family for "generations". So approximately how long before Dragon Ball were the balls last reunited?

Well, there is no concrete information about when and how the dragonballs were used before the story in the manga began. The only info i know we got is from the first chapters, where Bulma explains to Goku what dragonballs are and why is she collecting them.

She also mentions then that the last person who used the dragonballs wished to become a king and after that the dragonballs disappeared for few centuries.

Bulma found a dragonball in her basement and since nobody knew what it was, she started to research it and stumbled  on a story about them. That is basically how the story started( all this is referenced in the first chapter of DragonBall).


Why do Aria and Suzu always play the drum and whistle? When Shino explains the school's rules, Aria and Suzu always play a drum and whistle. Why is that? Is this a reference to anything? Or is it just a Seitokai Yakuindomo thing?

no reason. it's a direction.
The measure is "three-three-seven hand clap"(san-san-nana-byoushi in Japanese).
There is no element that indicates the relevance of this direction in "Seitokai Yakuindomo".


Can Kakashi still use Susanoo after losing his Sharingan? When Kakashi had double Sharingan, he was able to use Susanoo. However, he lost the Sharingan.

Can he still use Susanoo without Sharingan now?

No, he can't now.

During the battle with Kaguya, Obito lent Kakashi the full power of the Mangekyo Sharingan which gave him the ability to use Susanoo. But after the battle, Kakashi lost his Sharingan along with Susanoo. So, I don't think that Kakashi can use Susanoo after all.


Is there a mobile app where you can read manga as well as watch anime from? I guess the question is as detailed as it can get:
I'm looking for a legal mobile app where you can read manga as well as watch anime from.

Looking forward for your answers.

You can read manga and watch anime with Crunchyroll on Android. The anime app can be used by free members ad-supported, or by paid members ad-free. The manga app however is exclusively for paid members

CR Manga App ,
CR Anime/Drama App

Similarly for iOS:

CR Manga App ,
CR Anime/Drama App

Windows Phone:

(No Manga App) , CR Anime/Drama App

Most apps have anime and manga separate, presumably for development purposes (It's arguably easier to have them separate). I don't think there are any apps (for Android at least) that combine the two in one app.

As far as news apps for anime go, Crunchyroll have one. But I came across Daily Anime News, which compiles several different news sites in one place. (Both Android)


Which is the song played in episode #119 when Asta stabs the demon's heart at the end of the episode? In episode #119, at the end of it, Asta stabs the demon's heart, meanwhile a song is played . What's the name of this song?

It's the Opening「Haruka Mirai」by Kankaku Piero.

Here’s a link straight to the song https://youtu.be/7WKCUxKa-k8


Definitive answer as to whether Johan woke up to question Tenma or it was a hallucination? When Dr Tenma visits a comatose Johan in hospital, we see a scene where Johan wakes up from coma to ask an existential question, which contrasts with this philosophy that life is inherently meaningless. Tenma does not answer; we cut to a scene where Tenma is panting in a cold sweat over a comatose Johan.
Which of these interpretations is true:

Tenma has hallucinated it entirely and Johan has never gained a conscious state, much less walked away.
Johan has indeed woken up and questioned Tenma and later escaped.
The screenwriter (or manga artist) has made this a perfect ambiguity.

Background
The scene seems open to interpretation as I later discovered. The contrasting interpretations:

I infer that Tenma hallucinated this entirely as in the next scene Johan appears to not have ever stirred. Tenma feels safe leaving him alone. Tenma hallucinated this, overcome by understanding the reason for Johan's bitter life philosophy.
Popular Wikia author (quoted below) says that there is a possibility that it's for real (Johan woke up, questioned Tenma, went back to sleep while Tenma was in a cold sweat, then later left the building). This is supported by the fact that Johan leaves his bed by escape (or death; as the same article presents this ambiguity), proving that he was physically capable of doing so.

From Wikia:

...end of the series, Tenma paid Johan a visit in the state police
hospital, where he had been unconscious ever since the massacre. After
being informed that he had [a] name, Johan sat up and began talking to
Tenma, retelling the story of his mother's choice and asking which
child wasn't needed. It is unclear whether this was a
hallucination that Tenma experienced or if it was actually real.

and

His mother's true sentiments while making the switch might have been
frightening for Johan, leaving him to question the scene for years to
come.  However, if that segment is to be interpreted as a
hallucination by Tenma, this might not be the case.

Compare these two images:

(Click image to enlarge)

The first image is from the scene at 18:31 (before the flashback of Johan's memories)
The last image is from the scene at 21:12 (after the flashback of Johan's memories)

Once you're done comparing them, in the second image, you would notice that not even a single hair is out of place. Johan's face shows virtually no expressions different from the first image. The wrinkles shown over the pillow are identical.

It is simply impossible for a person to take care of all of these things in a time of split-second, specially when somebody is sitting beside.

Johan certainly had masonic charisma, but that doesn't imply that every action of him was perfect. In the words of Hans Georg Schuwald and Julius Reichwein (Episode 36: The Monster of Chaos):

Schuwald:

  How any person could ever be that, perfect?
  I imagine having one sight just confuses the matter. But I can always sense it. Yes, the presence of something so unerringly precise, like Johan. I feel as though he is not of this world at all. I do.

Reichwein:

  Oh he's very much of this world, I assure you. And he has left a paper trail, just like the rest of us. And here it is.

If you also compare the scene at 20:51 and 20:59 of that episode, then you would notice that at 20:59 Tenma's  chin and eyes were in the position similar to where they were before the scene of Johan being awake was showed. But in the scene at 20:51 (during the conversation) the situation was rather different where Tenma had his chin and eyes oriented very differently.

The images are  sufficient evidence for me to consider that the ending was an imitation of the state of Johan in Episode 2, where Tenma was talking to him or rather himself but once Tenma left the room, Johan was shown to came back to his senses and was listening the entire conversation of Tenma.

In short, Johan listened to what Tenma said, but didn't respond and left the room later, which means the conversation between Tenma and Johan was hallucination of Tenma.

I noticed  a bit of conflicting evidence which challenges my proposition. I'm not certain whether it's a design fault or deliberate information introduced in the story. In any case, take a look at the following images.

The first image is from the scene at 21:02 (Tenma was done talking to Johan or rather himself)
The last image is from the scene at 18:24 (Tenma came and started telling about his meeting with Johan's mother)

Anyhow, I'm done!


Who was Sue cosplaying as in Genshiken Nidaime episode 4? Who was Sue cosplaying as in Genshiken Nidaime episode 4?

This was when she cosplayed when they were trying to get the doujin finished and she wanted Ogiue to cosplay as Azusa.

In this episode Sue is cosplaying as Comic Master J, the titular character in the manga of the same name. Here's a comparison (based on manga, but clearly the same character):

Comic Master J is essentially unheard-of in the west, but it had 13 volumes and was reasonably popular and well-received in Japan. There's no Wikipedia page in English, but the Japanese article has some nice details. Here's a brief summary (written by me, adapted from several sources):

  Comic Master J is a mysterious super assistant-mangaka who can instantly finish the production of any manga for 5 million yen, so long as it is made with "soul". The story follows Comic Master J and the various mangaka he helps, gradually revealing more about him and the various mysteries that surround him


In Unlimited Blade Works, why did Caster try to kill Shirou when she hadn't retrieved his Command Seals yet? I've been watching the UBW series. When Caster abducts Shirou to take his Command Seals so she can use Saber against Berserker, Archer comes in and saves him - then fights Caster.

At some point during the fight, Caster sees Shirou unprotected, so she fires at him (at which point Archer saves him again).

Why did Caster shoot Shirou, if she hadn't retrieved his Command Seals yet?

It's not like Shirou was any sort of threat. Surely dealing with Archer first would be a better idea, then retrieve the Command Seals off Shirou (since he's no match against Caster) to be able to fight Berserker using Saber.

Caster was definitely aiming to kill - other than the fact that her attacks literally blow up the ground, she was also smiling (as in, "gotcha!"), and then was surprised to see Shirou still alive.

This answer is based purely on speculation.

However, I believe that there is one reason for Caster to do that, and one reason why that is probably not a big deal to her.

First, Archer was called there in order to save Shirou from Caster. Targeting Shirou would force Archer to move in order to protect him. That kind of tactic is also shown in Episode 15 when

   Near the end of the fight, Gilgamesh targeted Ilya to force Berserker to backtrack and protect her.

Second, even if Shirou had been hit, she would probably still have been able to extract his Command Seals. (Note that she only makes one magical shot on Shirou's location)

The scene happens a bit differently in the VN. In it, the relative locations of Shirou, Caster and Archer are less clear - the only clear things are that Shirou is in the line of fire, and Archer has to backtrack from the temple's exit to reach Shirou. In particular, it is hard to tell whether Caster specifically targeted Shirou or if she was just shooting at the area.