Why did Mikoto Suoh allow himself to be captured? In episode 1 of K-Project, Mikoto Suoh of the red clan allows himself to be captured during a confrontation with the blue clan.

Why?

He willingly put himself in that position to have a private dialogue with the Blue King about the whereabouts of the gray king who killed his clan-mate.

Since they are Kings and of opposite factions they couldn't just sit down and chat without a fight. Suoh was also in major danger of causing a Damocles Down event due the deterioration of his sword.

He felt more at peace in the Blue King's captivity because the two of them share a long history and he knew that if calamity struck the Blue King would not let him cause disaster.


Where to start reading KonoSuba light novel after watching the anime and movie? I finished the KonoSuba anime and movie and would like to know what chapter/volume of the light novel should I start reading at.

The KonoSuba anime covers the first 4 volumes of the light novel, and according to Wikipedia, the Legend of Crimson movie was based on Volume 5 of the light novel, Crimson Magic Clan, Let's & Go!!.
So, you might want to start from Volume 6, but take note that there are always differences between the adaptation.


What happened to Kintoki Sakata? In the beginning of the 3rd season of Gintama,

  Gintoki was suspiciously missing and was replaced by a blonde haired version of himself named Kintoki.

Later in the series it was explained why Kintoki was created and what had transpired after that which arrived to the point of the beginning of the 3rd season, but what happened to Kintoki after that? Does he just disappear or is there more information in the Gintama manga?

The Anime Gintama has a lot of side stories. Kintoki Skata is one of those characters in those side stories. The reason why the main focus was on him was because he looks like Gintoki and he also carries the same name except that his name starts with K not G. There is no more information about him yet in the manga. However, there is a possibility that he might return in the future releases of the mange.

If you are interested in Kintoki, then you can read more about him in this wiki


Why is it that everyone brings melons when they are visiting a character in the hospital? So I was reading in FMA recently and noticed that the Führer President King Bradley brings a melon with him when he comes and sees Edward in the hospital. I have noticed this in several other animes and mangas and was wondering what the origin of the trope is.

The origin of this is actually in real life.

In Japan, melons are considered to be a rather expensive fruit, and after often given as gifts, specifically when visiting someone in a hospital. I'm not really sure how this particular notion was started, just that it is a common thing nowadays.

In fact, here is a 21,000-yen (~$210) melon:

It would seem that the anime and manga that feature this idea are simply drawing from this part of Japanese culture.


Why didn't Sphinx upload a new video to evacuate the people from the airport? I'm watching Terror in Resonance, the airport episode. Sphinx goes through a lot of trouble to find the hidden bomb - even risking their own identities. Their intention is to keep everyone away from harm.

Why don't they just upload a new video literally saying "we're gonna blow up the airport"?

At this point, Sphinx has gained so much media influence that it would instantly go viral (just like with their previous videos). The airport (and anyone else) would most certainly take such video seriously and evacuate.

This way, there would be no casualties, which is what they want. The bomb would still detonate and cause several structural damages, but that would not be anything new or surprising considering Sphinx literally blew up a skyscraper in the first episode anyway.

If they did that, the real bomber (it's been too long, was it Five?) could easily detonate the bomb then and there to maximize casualties. Sphinx wanted to be discrete, since they didn't have control of the situation as they did with the skyscraper.


Who was Aozaki talking about when she said Ryougi? In movie 3, Aozaki is staring out the window and talking to herself after Shiki leaves. Who is she talking about when she says Ryougi, since she already called Shiki by name in the same sentence?

  Touko Aozaki: Shiki might end up being killed instead if she goes alone, Ryougi.

This happens at around 27:55.

One possible reason is that

   Aozaki may know the existence of "the Void", another personality which never surfaced.

However I can't find evidence showing that Aozaki really knows about it.


Why was the nudity not censored in Dragon Ball? In the beginning of Dragon Ball (not DBZ), Goku was shown quite often either partially or completely naked. Some may make the argument that this was necessary to showcase his tail in the beginning of the series. However, according to Toriyama, Dragon Ball started as a gag reel, and then was a show for children. If this is the case, they why did they allow Goku to be vividly naked without censorship? Was this interpretted differently in Japan, because I feel this would have been odd to American viewers at the time.

First, in Japan, it was a non issue. Different culture. Check out all the different animes and mangas that pull off similar or even worse moves.

Once it went to the western world where it is an issue... Networks did not realize (sold as kids show -> didn't bother checking the tapes).

Back here there was an issue where, at a kids show on national tv, the host presented the newest show!, ranma 1/2's first episode. Turn out it was the uncensored version, after the episode was over and the camera returned to the host, she was evidently quite upset and embarrased. Myself and my brothers were watching along with our parents, all of us were quite embarrased as well (and most likely everyone that watched that show). It was only then that more attention was put on these shows :)


Why did this character become a zombie after the King Crimson arc? Spoilers below.
After the fight with the boss, in the Mystery of King Crimson arc,

Buccellati “dies”, and when Giorno arrives, his soul was leaving his body. Giorno healed his body and he resurrected, I think. After that, it is shown that his wounds don't show many, if not any at all, signs of blood or other types of harm.

In the Green Day and Oasis story arc, Green Day don't have any effect on Buccellati because

the mold doesn't spread to dead things, meaning that Buccellati body was dead but he still is alive.

Well, for this question to be answered, I need to know what happened at the San Giorgio Maggiore church and how can Gold Experience resurrect someone.

My Explanation
It was fated by Rolling Stones in the last episode of Golden Wind (, see here,) that Bucciarati dies this way. In JoJo, resolve controls fate. Bucciarati's resolve was so strong that it was fated that even after he died, his soul inhabited his body. His body however is still dead. In the fan JoJo Wiki talking about Bucciarati's undead state, it says:
Undead
During the events at San Giorgio Maggiore island, Bucciarati was given a lethal blow by the boss and was subsequently healed by Giorno's Gold Experience. Bucciarati eventually reveals that his life had ended at that time, however, his body continued to move only through the "life energy" that Giorno had given him. In this undead state, Bucciarati lacks bodily functions such as breathing, a heartbeat, or the ability to feel pain. However, it also allowed him to be immune to the effects of Green Day, and although the decay of his body gradually made him functionally blind and deaf, he could still converse with others through the ability to observe and feel what individual souls thought.
If you want more information about Bucciarrati, look here for info


Is Unohana's compassion for others just an act? Unohana goes from being the most bloodthirsty, sadistic warrior in the Soul Society to being a kind, motherly person who goes out of her way to heal and help others, even enemies, and who tries to avoid and prevent fights.  Is this all an act?

I understand she was waiting around for Zaraki, but she could have done that without becoming the equivalent of Mother Teresa.  Did she really have a change of heart about others, and if so, why?

Unohana was the First Kenpachi several members of the 11th Division fear her, and so do a few of her fellow captains, according to the former captains of the 5th and 7th Divisions.

No captain wants to get on her 'Bad Side' as -

Spoiler -

   Retsu Unohana (卯ノ花 烈, Unohana Retsu), formerly known as Yachiru Unohana (卯ノ花 八千流, Unohana Yachiru), was the captain of the Fourth Division in the Gotei 13. She was one of the oldest and most experienced captains, and was the Soul Society's best healer, as well as the first person to wield the name Kenpachi.[2] Her lieutenant was Isane Kotetsu.

source - http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Retsu_Unohana

And there's no information to be found about wether or not she's faking her compassion, however I was able to find -

Spoiler Alert -

   However, after the revelation of her past as the first Kenpachi and Shunsui Kyōraku calling on her to draw on her experience from then, Unohana's personality reverts to her original violent and bloodthirsty nature; once she meets with Kenpachi Zaraki, she comments how the scar left on her chest was causing her pain just from the sound of his voice.

Emphasis is mine,
source - http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Retsu_Unohana

   Some point in the past, she named herself Yachiru Unohana[13] and was known as the most diabolical criminal to ever exist in Soul Society.[14] Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto sought her out and she joined him, becoming one of the founding members of the Gotei 13. Unohana laid the foundations of what would be known as the 11th Division and became its first captain, as well as the first Kenpachi. At some point in the past, Unohana was taught medical techniques by Tenjirō Kirinji as a way of prolonging fights

source - http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Retsu_Unohana

The quotes above would indicate that, somehow she has had a change of heart after joining the Gotei 13 & founding the 11th Division, but somehow still shows her more menacing side.


When did people start calling "manga" as "mangos"? I've heard a lot of people jokingly spell "anime and manga" as "animus and mangos". I don't really know what an animu is, but I know that a mango* is a pretty delicious fruit:

While those do look delicious, I don't see much connection to manga. It's probably just a silly misspelling that someone thought was amusing, and it caught on the same as any other meme.

When did this "misspelling" originate, and is it actually a misspelling or is there some deeper reason behind why "manga" are sometimes spelled like this?

*Technically, the correct plural for mango should be "mangoes" but I'm willing to chalk that up to bad spelling on the internet.

It has nothing to do with the fruit. They are derogatory versions of their associated words to make fun of the way they are mispronounced in English (with the "a" vs "ah" sound). Unfortunately, I don't have any references. Lurkmoar has a page dedicated to the anime/manga board on 4chan.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I think people started using the "animu" and "mango" terms on /a/


Can normal titans dig the ground? I know normal titans are not intelligent but in one of the episodes of season 1 we see that they can learn to climb the trees in order to reach the scouts.
So why none of them tried digging a tunnel in the ground to pass the walls?

1. Can normal titans dig the ground?

Yes, they can. In Season 2 Episode 10 we see

   Ymir digging herself out of the ground as a pure titan.

2. So why none of them tried digging a tunnel in the ground to pass the walls?

In Season 1 Episode 25 at around 15 minutes the intermission cards state the following (synopsis):

   Once a miner tried to dig under wall Sheena. At some point, however,
 the ground was so hard that his shovel broke. He wondered if the
 people were surrounded by walls not only above the ground, but below
 the ground, too.

 The next day the miner disappeared and was no longer findable. Unsure
 what to do, his friend eventually went to the Garrison, and told them
 the whole Story. The Military Police and the Garrison
 organized a large-scale search party. But they never found a trace of
 the miner, nor even the pit he'd dug. And one day, his friend also
 vanished, never to be seen again.

From this we can conclude that titans cannot get past the walls through digging.


Looking for the name of an anime about a guy who leaves his village with 2 friends I don´t know what genre this anime would fit best, but whatever. The anime I´m searching for is about a guy who leaves his village with 2 friends, another guy and a girl. They get separated and he searches for them. After a while the guy ends up in a town without money and decides to sleep on the street.

A young lady drives by in a carriage and offers him to stay with her family in their mansion. The whole family seems pretty nice at first.
While staying with them the mansion gets attacked by a group of people trying to kill the family.
The guy protects them. during the fight the girl of the family runs to some kind of shack. Inside the shack are the 2 missing friends of the guy.
They´ve been tortured, it turns out the family captures and tortures people they think are worthless and the group attacking them are the good ones.
The guy confronts the girl why she did it and she said they were worthless and it was her right to kill them.
She also said that the female friend of the guy had more beautiful hair than her and that she couldn´t allow her to live, that she had to be punished.
They kill the evil girl and the guy joins the group in their quest to change the situation in the town.

Sounds like Akame ga Kill!

Synopsis from ANN:

  Tatsumi is a self-acknowledge country bumpkin who is nonetheless a well trained fighter. He and two companions leave their remote village to head to the Imperial City to find a way to relieve their friends and family from ruinous taxation imposed by the authorities. Yet the Imperial City is filled with unimaginable amounts of corruption and evil from supernatural sources. Tatsumi is immediately swindled after reaching the City and nearly loses everything soon after, but finds himself allied with an unlikely group of assassins.

Your description matches the plot summary from Wikipedia quite well (emphasis mine):

  Tatsumi is a fighter who, accompanied by his two childhood friends, sets off to the Capital in search of a way to make money to assist his poverty-stricken village. After being separated from his friends, Tatsumi not only fails to enlist in the army, but is swindled out of all his money. He is then taken in by a noble family who offer him help, but intend to torture and kill him, just like they did with his friends and dozens of other people. Tatsumi is rescued by a group of assassins known as Night Raid, and is invited to join their ranks.

I haven't seen the series myself, but this seems to match most of your points, particularly Episode 1 of the anime.

   Tatsumi heads for the capital despite warnings about the area's dark nature as he needs to raise money for his village. Shortly after arriving, Tatsumi is robbed by a woman and has to sleep in the streets. However, he is invited to the manor of a young rich girl named Aria, who takes pity on him. As he waits for his best friends, Sayo and Ieyasu, to arrive in the capital, Tatsumi learns of an assassin group named Night Raid, whose members are wanted for numerous murders. One night, the group appears and starts killing Aria's guards and her parents. Tatsumi faces off against Night Raid member Akame, but their duel is interrupted by Leone, the same woman who robbed him; she reveals to Tatsumi that Aria and her parents has tortured several people from the countryside, including Ieyasu and Sayo, the latter already being dead. Tatsumi kills Aria just before Ieyasu dies and Leone, impressed with Tatsumi's ability to kill mercilessly, invites him to join Night Raid.

Source: Wikipedia - Akame ga Kill! Episode List


Is there any other studio that is known for a quirk like how Shaft has its famous head tilt? I think another example of a quirk could be when an anime sometimes has the same thing or idea appearing in many of its series that the studio has produced.

One example is Studio Gainax, who are famous for their 'Gainax Ending', which original stems from the Ending of the Neon Genesis Evangellion series.

An ending that doesn't make any sense, or does make sense but is hidden under enough Mind Screw to not have an easy explanation. This is usually a deliberate form of Mind Screw or intended as a Sequel Hook to a sequel that was never made. For whatever reason, after watching a Gainax Ending, you won't have any idea what happened.
After rewatching it, rewatching the entire series, discussing it with other fans, looking up the meaning of the symbolism, and subjecting the entire thing to a comprehensive literary analysis, you still might not have any idea what happened. If you're lucky, then there will be some kind of emotional or symbolic resolution even if it doesn't actually explain what happened to the characters, and you'll be left with the sense that the series as a whole was more deeply thought out than it seemed before.
If you're unlucky, then you'll be left with more questions than when you started and the sense that the series as a whole has been voided of the meaning you once read in it.

You can see this in Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, He Is My Master, Monchromatic, and many other series made by Gainax.
More recently however, Kill la Kill (by Studio Trigger - where many of the employees are ex-Gainax ones) has one of the protaganists hoping that "Gainax doesn't screw up the ending"


Laxus' plan. Would he have fought Makarov? In "The Battle of Fairy Tail" arc did Laxus ever actually plan on fighting Makarov?

His magic reveals his true feelings, and he tells his grandfather he really just wanted to make the guild stronger. So we know that he never would have smashed the statues of the girls, and he probably never would have set off the Thunder Palace. These were both just ways of pushing Makarov into handing over the guild.

He knows Erza and Mystogan will be coming for him. He plans for an inevitable battle with them, which he is sure he'll win easily. He even tells Freed he'll take care of them.

But, the statues and Thunder Palace aside as he never would have used them anyway, what if he did manage to beat Erza and Mystogan? What if the Thunder Legion had beaten everyone, and Gramps hadn't fallen ill? Makarov would never have just handed over the guild.

But would Laxus have actually fought Makarov in the end to get the guild? Freed tells Cana and Juvia he's storing up his magical energy to fight the master, but Laxus' true feelings are revealed in the end.

Laxus' plan seems to be a little over all the place at times.

Laxus knows Makarov well. He knows that above all Makarov values the safety of his "kids" and the adoptive city of Magnolia. Much of his irritation and the plan for "Battle for Fairy Tail" comes from the fact that the guild was able to handily destroy one of the strongest guild in Fiore, "Phantom Lord". He might have planned to use that situation to bargain his birthright as the leader of Fairy Tail and building it as the ideal and strongest guild possible in his image.

Let us looks at the facts

He uses Evergreen's magic to hold several mages including Erza as a hostage for the others to fight in his farce.
He uses Fried's runes to boobytrap the city so he could emotionally torment Makarov when he sees the "idiot kids" of his clan taking each other out.
He also uses Fried's runes to NOT ALLOW Makarov to leave the Guild Hall.
Mystogan is rarely present in or around the Guild usually absent for long duration of time.

From this fact we can surmise that Laxus never truly intend to fight the Master. He knew Makarov was old and frail, and had considered that he would step down. He was just trying to force his hand. He removes Erza from the fight early on and knows Mystogan is normally out of the city. Thus he didn't expect them to fight. His plan was for the master to surrender the guild once everyone was out of the battle of the fairy tail. Natsu, Gajeel being trapped in the guild was just a comic relief and foreshadowing of their history. So he didn't intend to fight Makarov, Erza or Mystogan. He tried to up the stakes with the Thunder Palace but he never expected to use it.

TL;DR Laxus knew Makarov well and he would have "just" handed over the guild to Laxus rather than see the members get hurt. Laxus had planned beforehand so Erza, Mystogan and Makarov can't participate in the Battle.

The real question is why would everyone go into this farce? Just threaten to quit. I am sure it will not be ideal to Laxus that his guild contains just him and the Thunder Legion.


When do you classify an AMV as an ASMV? As the name 'Anime Story Music Video' explains, an AMV which contains a story is considered as an ASMV. But when do you declare something as a story?

Is it necessary to have speeches in the video? If yes, to what extent? Do they have to underlay the very majority of the whole AMV or is it ok if they underlay only 1/4th of it?

Do the speeches have to link each other directly or do they only have to contain the same emotions (e.g. desperation)?

Here're a few examples of AMVs which could be considered as an ASMV:

This video is definitely an ASMV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmqVruTH0E4
This one starts its speeches after 53 sec. and these speeches only deliver the same emotions (they're not directly linked to each other if I understood it correctly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZhqrI3OGaM
This one has no speeches at all, but it tells us a story only with the compositing of anime scenes and the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDAZe84OJI

This seems like an awfully fuzzy thing to try to delineate. I'm going to claim that the answer to your question is "you classify an AMV as an ASMV whenever you think that sounds like the right thing to do".

See, the thing is, "ASMV" is strictly a piece of fandom jargon that sees no use outside a small sub-subcommunity of the subcommunity of AMV creators. As such, there is no authoritative prescriptive definition of this term that we can use to answer your question.

Since we cannot hope for a prescriptive answer to your question, we must instead turn to a descriptive approach - the question we now seek to answer is "what do people who use the term 'ASMV' typically mean when they use it?" rather than "what ― in some absolute sense ― does 'ASMV' mean?".

However, this question is also nigh-unanswerable. Despite this phrase seemingly having a transparent and compositional meaning (unlike, say, "floogleglorp"), people who discuss this term do not seem to arrive at a consensus about what it means. As evidence, I present this 2013 thread from AMV.org, where a number of people involved in the creation of AMVs are unable to agree on what the term means (or should mean). I can hardly find any other good discussions of the term (or even of "ASMVs" s a concept); I think that this strongly suggests that there is not a shared understanding of what is meant by the term "ASMV".

Given that we cannot identify a definition for this term, it surely is not possible to answer questions about nuanced things like "Do [speeches] have to underlay the very majority of the whole AMV or is it ok if they underlay only 1/4th of it?". Hence, you may as well use "ASMV" to mean whatever you want it to, provided that it still has some relation to the compositional meaning "an anime music video that in some way involves a story". Perhaps other speakers will coalesce around your conception of what exactly constitutes an "ASMV".

(But ― personal opinion here ― I doubt this term will ever see increased use, since it does not really serve any purpose, at least not that I can see. AMVs that tell a somewhat coherent story have been around since time immemorial, and people have gotten by just fine without a discrete term for them, which suggests to me that this neologism is unlikely to be taken up by people.)

Side note: the earliest attestation I find for "ASMV" is this YouTube video from 2011.


What is the title to this song on Fairy Tail? What is the song that starts playing at 21:05 of Fairy Tail episode 124?

I believe the song is called Kizuna.
Kizuna-Fairy Tail OST


Who was Black Zetsu created by? (Manga Spoilers) Was Black Zetsu made by Kaguya this whole time? Or did Madara (being her reincarnation) accidentally create her will, which once fused with Madara became Kaguya again?

Black Zetsu was created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki shortly before she was sealed as the Ten-Tails by her sons. Black Zetsu was created from the will of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. With the goal of reviving Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Black Zetsu manipulated Indra and his descendants, the Uchiha clan, along with Asura's descendants, the Senju clan, in an attempt to get one of them to awaken the Rinnegan. Madara Uchiha eventually succeeded in doing so, and Black Zetsu began secretly manipulating events to have Kaguya resurrected. He succeded when he had the rennigan and enough chakra to do so.


Who is the magical girl who becomes Walpurgisnacht? Since witches are actually magical girls who, when their soul gems are fully tainted, become witches, that means that Walpurgisnacht was a magical girl. Since Madoka in two realities became a witch that could destroy the world/universe, that would mean there was a magical girl who was, at the time, much stronger than Madoka (before Homura's trips to the past compiling Madoka's fate and power).

Which magical girl became Walpurgisnacht? Were they like Madoka, and had their fate compiled from overlapping timelines?

There is no information about who it was that became Walpurgisnacht. All we really know is that Walpurgisnacht is, in some sense, a fusion of multiple witches (or magical girls, I guess).
Official description from July 2011 Megami interview with Urobuchi:

In the last episode we saw the "Walpurgisnacht", but what kind of witch is it specifically?
It has the destructive power to bring about natural disasters powerful enough to blow away an entire town, but originally it was a single witch. It's a witch that has grown from the combination of countless other witches. Walpurgisnacht combines with other witches in the same way two powerful tornadoes are able to combine and become larger. It's essentially a "conglomeration"-type witch. Because it's so powerful, it rarely shows itself.

See the Madoka wiki for more details.


Is Goku the First Super Saiyan? As stated in the question, is Goku the first Super Saiyan?  If not, who was the first Super Saiyan? Was it:

Goku
Broly
Bardock (according to the Episode of Bardock)
Someone else

Historically, Probably NO.

Original Super Saiyan was originally thought to be a legend, until Goku first transformed during his fight with Frieza. In a filler scene in episode 66 of DBZ, the first appearance of the Original Super Saiyan was shown, it looks like a Great Ape with yellowish colored fur. Apparently Super Saiyan was not in Great Ape form, unless it's a Golden Great Ape, it was made up by Vegeta's imagination.

Talking about Bardock, he was suspected as the first Super Saiyan, there is no official information to prove he is the first ever Saiyan to transform into a Super Saiyan. At the end of Episode of Bardock, it is revealed that Chilled's knowledge about Super Saiyans was passed to his descendants. It is not confirmed yet that Akira Toriyama wants Bardock to be the first Super Saiyan.

But until now, Bardock was the first Super Saiyan in the series with a known name and appearance.


Why does Zero have such a strong reaction to Shizuka Hio's voice? In Episode 12 of the Vampire Knight anime series, Zero encounters Shizuku Hio, the woman who turned him into a vampire. Even before she tries to compel him, he is shown as experiencing a strong physical reaction to her voice. It is clear that he already knew that she was there, so he shouldn't have been surprised to hear her.

Why does he have that reaction? Does her voice have a compulsion before she tries to actively compel him? Is it due to some sort of bond he has with her? Or is there another reason?

I guess it was what you said, a bond that was made due to Shizuka biting and turning Zero into a vampire.

During one episode (I'm not sure what episode), Zero has figured out that she must be Shizuka. Maria taunts Zero to pull the trigger, but he discovers he is unable to due to the bond between them. And it is said that once a human was bitten by a vampire, that vampire becomes his/her master and that human can be controlled by his/her master (like when Shizuka froze him when she was about to drink Yuki's blood).


What was the concert program for Symphogear Live 2012? Symphogear Live 2012 - the concert for the first season - was, sadly, not officially videotaped. This being the case, I would be very interested to know what the program for the concert was. In particular:

What was the set list? (i.e. which songs were performed? Given the relatively limited number of Symphogear songs in existence as of the end of season one - 13, by my reckoning - I would hope the answer is "all of them".)
Did the concert feature any segments of particular interest aside from the vocal performances? (talk segments and so forth, say)

There is an official report of the concert (in Japanese), but post no.706 on 2chan listed the program compactly (added summary from official report):

  Synchrogazer (OP theme, sung by Nana Mizuki)
  1st talk session

  Character introduction:

  Tsubasa Kazanari (Nana Mizuki)
  Hibiki Tachibana (Aoi Yuuki)
  Chris Yukine (Ayahi Takagaki)
  Miku Kohinata (Yuka Iguchi)
  Genjuurou Kazanari (Hideo Ishikawa)

  Opening talk

  Three-song relay sung by each character

  撃槍・ガングニール - Gekisou Gungnir (Hibiki Tachibana)
  絶刀・天羽々斬 - Zettou Amenohabakiri (Tsubasa Kazanari)
  魔弓・イチイバル - Mayumi Ichiibaru (Chris Yukine)

  2nd talk session: live impression by Yuuki, Mizuki, and Takagaki
  戦姫絶妙ジェスチャークイズ - Senki Zetsumyou Gesture Quiz

  2 teams, Nakayoshi team (Hibiki &  Miku) and Elite team (Tsubasa & Chris)
  The topic is four-character idiom
  Nakayoshi team went first. Yuuki was imitating a boar and attacked Iguchi. Iguchi answered correctly with 猪突猛進 (headlong)
  Elite team next. Takagaki flinched as if she was receiving an attack, then kneeled with 1 leg. Mizuki answered with 猪突猛進 (tired and exhausted), but the correct answer was 満身創痍 (full of wounds)
  Nakayoshi team's turn again. This time, Iguchi acted as if there were 2 people enjoying something (kya! kya!). Yuki answered with 共同作業 (work together) confusedly, but the correct answer was 和気藹々 (warm heartedly)
  Elite team again, with Mizuki performed each letter of 風林火山 (wind, forest, fire, mountain) and Takagaki answered correctly with ease
  Because of the tie, the game was continued
  Nakayoshi team with Yuki acted and Iguchi answered correctly with 一攫千金(get rich quick)
  Elite team with Takagaki acted and Mizuki answered correctly with 優柔不断 (indecision)
  Sudden death with Ishikawa as the actor and free-for-all style, Takagaki answered correctly with 右往左往 (going right and left, confused)
  Elite team was given ブドウノイズ印桐箱高級ブドウ (something related to Grape Noise?) for the prize.

  ↑ live's first-half ↑

  ↓ live's second-half ↓

  FLIGHT FEATHERS (Tsubasa Kazanari)
  恋の桶狭間 - Koi no Okehazama (Tsubasa Kazanari sang to a magnolia tree)
  私ト云ウ 音響キ ソノ先ニ - Watashi to Iu Otohibiki sono Saki ni (Hibiki Tachibana)
  陽だまりメモリア - Hidamari Memoria (Miku Kohinata)
  繋いだ手だけが紡ぐもの - Tsunaida Te Dake ga Tsumugu Mono (Chris Yukine)
  Meteor Light (ED theme, sung by Ayahi Takagaki)

  ↑ live's second-half ↑

  ↓ encore ↓

  TV Anime 2nd-season announcement
  FIRST LOVE SONG (Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris)
  3rd talk session: closing message


Is the Vanishing Rasengan more powerful than the regular Rasengan? In the anime, Boruto creates a Lighting Release version of the Rasengan that has the feature of turning invisible. How about his power?
Is the Vanishing Rasengan more powerful than the regular Rasengan?

It depends on who is using the Rasengan.
Someone like Naruto or Minato can make the Rasengan of its normal size would generally have a stronger one, but someone like Boruto who doesn't have the chakra to make it's size correct may make a weaker one. It's safe to assume that someone who has completely mastered Rasengan and can make it of normal size would have a stronger Rasengan than Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan.
In Chapter 55 I believe, Borushiki stated that Vanishing Rasengan is too weak to be a mortal blow, but is very painful when hitting the vitals. A mastered Regular Rasengan is strong enough to be a mortal blow, and even stronger when hitting the vitals. Because of that, Regular Rasengan is probably stronger than Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan.
It's just a problem of Boruto's chakra compared to people who have mastered a normal Rasengan.


Can heroes have any kind of powers in One Punch Man? Something I find strange in One Punch Man is, it seems no all kinds of power seems to exist in the story. I mean, what we usually see is, people with increased strenght, resistance, regeneration, speed, (all augmentations of natural human habilities), ESP, and people who increased their power through artifacts such as cyborgs, people using special guns (like golden ball, spring mustachio, stinger, etc) and that's it. We dont see for example, heroes who can manipulate ice or fire without artifacts , invisibility, people who can naturally fire beams, wind control, water control, animal control, etc. May be I'm wrong and I don't know all the heroes, but isnt it so?

Can heroes have any kind of powers in One Punch Man?

I think that a definite or correct answer to this question can only be provided by the mangaka himself/herself as someone else might entail the need for speculation. I'll provide my views, however.

We dont see for example, heroes who can manipulate ice or fire without artifacts , invisibility, people who can naturally fire beams, wind control, water control, animal control, etc. Almost all of the powers you mentioned here can be done by espers, except for invisibility and naturally fire beams, whatever kind of beams they may be. There's really no such thing as impossible when it comes to an author and his/her story. Anything can be made possible if the mangaka can create a situation to make things not previously included in his/her story to be possible.

However, the problem I see with ONE including, for example, invisibility and fire beams, and why I think we would not see them anytime soon, is that it is unoriginal. In One-Punch Man, most of the heroes apart from espers, acquired their abilities via training or some other means later in life. They were not born with them, which sets the story apart. Including a part where people are now born with different abilities would make it seem like Boku no Hero Academia or X-Men.

Although, again, who knows. The mangaka has control of the story so if he can make it work, then I have no complaints. So, yes, heroes can have any kind of powers in One-Punch Man if the mangaka wills it so.


Why are ghouls' eyes red? Is there a particular reason why ghouls' eyes are red? (called 'kakugan' based on my research).

There might be a reason provided by the writer, which I cannot research as it may only be available in Japanese. (I am thinking that it may be due to the color of blood?)

The kakugan are red due to the activation of RC cells in the ghoul's body. The RC cells are present in their bodies are when they activate them to use their kagune of due to them becoming excited, the kakugan activates as well.

  A kakugan is an influence of activated Rc cells.

The kakugan are red as the RC cells are red in colour.

  Rc cells (Red Child Cells) are certain cells that exist only in the story of Tokyo Ghoul. The origin of the name comes from how each individual cell looks like a curled up foetus.


Why doesn't anyone go over the Calm Belt? The Calm Belt has no oceanic currents so sailing a normal ship through it is impossible.
However, throughout the series we have seen ships that can sail without wind, such as Boa Hancock's ship that is pulled by sea kings. There are also plenty of Devil Fruit users that have an ability to get them across. A lot of people already travel the sea by themselves using their powers, like Kuzan, who can glide across the water, or even Buffalo that can fly over.
Why hasn't anyone thought to go over the Calm Belt instead of traversing the Grand Line? Is there something that presents that from happening?

Nobody goes though the calm belt because there is nothing important there and no reason to go there beside to go through the Grand-line. https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Calm_Belt


Why didn't Boa Hancock's attack affect Luffy? Why didn't Boa Hancocks attack convert Luffy to stone?
It didn't look like he used Haki or something which would nullify the effect!
Is there any possible explanation for it?

From the One Piece wiki page on Mero Mero no Mi (Hancock's Devil's Fruit):

  The Mero Mero no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows a range of attacks which use emotions of lust or perversion to transform opponents into stone.

Luffy did not have any lustful feelings towards Hancock, so her Mero Mero Mellow attack had no effect on him.


What are the differences between the cut and uncut versions of "Naruto" anime (not "Shippuden")? I have watched the cut and uncut versions and haven't really noticed any differences.

What are the big (or even small) differences between each?

Uncut episodes are typically longer, while CN cuts scenes out so they can show commercials. Uncut episodes also have more blood, alcohol, and sexual things in it. For example, the uncut episodes will show Naruto and Sasuke kissing in the beginning of the series, and they take that out on the CN version.
There's a comparison between a US TV version and Japanese TV version. Uncut episodes are most likely same as the Japanese version where it doesn't get censored out. Though, there might be a very slight improvement on the uncut version, probably like the lines touch-up or something, it's very hard to spot with naked eyes.
[US Version]-------------------------------------------------[Japanese/Uncut Version]--------------------------------


How does Mugino Shizuri's Meltdowner beam work? How does Mugino Shizuri's Meltdowner beam work?

I was going to have a discussion on Physics StackExchange about the line between Pseudo-Science and Real Science in the To Aru series, and I would like to start with Mugino's powers.

Basically, I want to make sure I have a good understanding of how her powers work before I discuss the plausibility (or lack thereof) of her powers in real life.

I'd prefer light novel/manga scans or word of God statements for explanations. Please don't link the wiki, since I've already checked and some of it's articles are flawed. So primary sources and calculations based off of those primary sources are preferred.

So to start off, a disclaimer: I don't have any qualifications in physics whatsoever, but I have taken elementary physics courses up to quantum mechanics, so I have an amateur interest in the topic, being an Index/Railgun fan myself.

As the OP noted, the to aru wiki gives a very vague explanation about the Meltdowner ability and they claim it has to do with "stopping" electrons. From a quantum standpoint, this is nonsense, since by the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, a "stopped" electron would simply be a standing wave that spans infinite space. Clearly this does not match up with the anime depiction of Mugino's ability. So I thought I would throw all that out the window and start with the assumption that Mugino has the ability to control electrons (more details on what that actually entails later).

There are several properties of the Meltdowner we need to explain:

heat: clearly it is very hot, given its name, and how it is seemingly able to ignite flammable materials

piercing/blocking: In addition, it seems to have the ability to "phase through" metal with a short delay besides actually melting it. She is also able to form a shield that instantaneously blocks projectiles (as opposed to simply melting them)

stationary: Mugino is able to hold her Meltdowner in a ball-shaped stationary form

beam: She is then able to fire off beams, while maintiaining the stationary form.

So here is my assumption: Mugino is able to control not just how electrons move, but also manipulate their quantum state. To explain her abilities, I will use the concepts of wave-particle duality of nature and quantum superposition.

According to the wave-particle duality, an electron is both a wave and a particle. From a quantum perspective, "wave-ness" and "particle-ness" are just properties of the electron. So if we observe an electron in a certain way, it may collapse to either a wave or a particle state, but without measurement, it just exists in a superposition of the two. In nature, an electron has very little mass (the defining characteristic of a particle) and quite a large wavelength. The Meltdowner is very clearly not a wave-type attack in the slightest; it is either a beam or a ball of electrons.

So what might be happening is that Mugino forces electrons to behave more like particles than waves to the extent that their wavelength is so long that it isn't even noticeable. On the other hand, the electrons become significantly more massive. The massive electrons give the Meltdowner its piercing/blocking properties quite trivially; you can block or break through stuff with more stuff.

The Meltdowner is hot because even though the electrons aren't moving, their kinetic energy remains the same. However, as a very large particle with very high mass and very little wavelength, this means each electron stores excessive energy, which it dissipates by vibrating in place. The green glow of the Meltdowner is not the electrons themselves, but the surrounding air being heated up.

Finally, the transition between stationary/beam forms. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states that there is a trade-off between knowing momentum and knowing position. With control over the states of electrons, Mugino can essentially change the measurement. If she needs the electrons in stationary mode, she measures their position. If she needs them in beam mode, she measures their velocity.


Is Senketsu eye patterns from Kill la Kill based off something? I was watching Blassreiter and I noticed that the back of Hermann's jacket has the same eyes as Senketsu from Kill la Kill.

Are those eye patterns mean something or if they are just a playful nod from one anime to another?

It could just be one coincidence, they do share some similarities and some large differences. This was asked on the Kill La Kill reddit 3 years ago and remains unanswered. I guess you would have to get the character artists and ask them...

My assumption would be that it is just a coincidence, the lines from the tops of the eyes, both showing, multiple layers and the pupil being the main differences.

A large part of Kill La Kill's plot is the Life Fibers, which make up the clothes. Eyes being on the clothes is a design choice, which makes sense as they are living.


Why was Nero able to return to her human form? Supposedly Nero was turned into a bird for using forbidden magic 500 years ago. But in the present she was able to turn human again. Why was Nero able to return to her human form?

I think it is related to magic stones, after using forbidden magic, again and again, she turned into the bird and also the magic stones were lost. elves collected all the magic stones which help in turning back the wizard king into his real form and also the Nero. but I have a question of why she didn't speak to anyone earlier in any chapter. she only spoke once to finral.


What chakra nature does the Nine-Tailed Fox have? I want to know the chakra nature(s) of the Nine-Tailed Fox,
Kurama. Not the chakra nature of Naruto, I already know that. This is all I need to know.

According to Narutopedia, the anime version specifies both fire and wind natures.
The reality is that the Bijuu are just a huge mass of chakra, and specific elemental natures don't really matter when you're dealing with chakra at that magnitude.


Whats that song on episode 489-500 of Naruto Shippuden I just finished Naruto Shippuden and I would like to know what song was playing at the end of 489-500. This song would fit well in my playlist.
I do not want any answers such as ¨Google it¨. This is because I don't want any spoilers for Boruto.


Why is there a 14th Noah? This question could contain spoilers.

In Chapter 187, it was stated that after the Millennium Earl was killed, the remaining twelve Noahs repopulated the world - That means that there were only 13 Noahs. However, Nea Walker is referred to as "The 14th Noah". Where did he came from?

Unanswered in the manga as of now, but it is entirely possible that there are 14 Noah and the Earl only mentions 13 (including himself) because the 14th apparently dislikes the Earl, as he wants to dethrone him and take his place. Chapter 218 hints that a "Mana D. Campbell" may be responsible for the existence of the 14th, although i can´t really call the Earl in his current state of mind a reliable source.


Where to continue from the manga after two seasons of "A Certain Magical Index" and "A Certain Scientific Railgun"? I finished A Certain Magical Index I and A Certain Magical Index II as well as A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Scientific Railgun S.

I'd like to buy the mangas so I can keep up with the franchise, but I don't know where to continue. Where should I start from?

I'm not interested in the light novels or any kind of novel, thank you.

I've read up to volume 11 of the manga of A Certain Scientific Railgun and volume 5 of the manga of A Certain Magical Index. As of volume 5 of Index, the manga has not caught up to the conclusion of the anime. For Railgun, the Sisters Arc concludes in volume 7. A new arc also begins in volume 7, so that's the one you'll want to start with that, chapter 40, called Clique.

Going back to Index, only the first seven volumes have been published in English. Despite not having read two of them, I'm fairly confident that none of them passes the point the anime got to just by looking at the covers and reading summaries. From the Wiki page, I would guess you would start at volume 17 for the Index manga since the second arc involving the Catholic nuns ends in 16.

Edit:
I didn't recognize the Academy City Invasion Arc at first since it's been a while since I watched the anime, but it appears this arc was in the anime. Volume 17 is the latest Index volume and it covers this arc. So, I have to change my conclusion.

As a side note, none of the A Certain Scientific Accelerator manga has been animated, so if you need to know where to start at that one, it would just be the first volume.

Summary:

A Certain Magical Index Manga: volume ? (as of volume 17, it doesn't appear that the manga has passed the anime)
A Certain Scientific Railgun Manga: volume 7
A Certain Scientific Accelerator Manga: volume 1


Why do Androids in Dragon Ball Z sometimes use cars? There are a few Dragon Ball Z scenes in which Androids 16, 17 and 18 ride a truck despite the fact that they are capable of flight. It grants extra time to the heroes to recover (such as in Goku's case) and think about or prepare for what to do next, like exploring Cell's egg, or merging Picollo with Kami. To me, it seems both unreasonable and humorous at the same time.

Nevertheless, I don't understand the reason for why the producers/storywriters decided to do this. Is there any reason given for this strange choice? Could it be some kind of plot hole or plot device?

There was a specific reason why they were using the car:

17 and 18 weren't that emotionally invested in killing Goku, and they were just  killing time.

They knew that taking a car was impractical, but they took one anyway because android 17 felt like it


Where does the big weapon battle trope in chuunibyou come from? When Rika and the others released their chuunibyou power, they have a huge weapon and use it like it was nothing. I can't remember any anime where such a big and weird weapon is used like that, that isn't mecha. Is this a reference to anything? or is it original for Chuunibyou?

Rika fighting against Touka, her sister

In Chuunibyou's case, the extraordinarily large weapons are used to emphasize the fact that this is in Rikku's imagination, and they are actually fighting with a ladle and an umbrella, which is much less extravagant.

Having said that, the 'small girl, big weapon' trope is common enough in anime. Take Mami's Trio Finale in Puella Magi Madoka Magica for example, or Black Rock Shooter's girls which all have gigantic weapons:

There are lots of instances of these types of battles, but I wouldn't restrict this trope to anime, with instances of 'Big F**king Guns' going back to games like Doom

Along with the '100T anvil' trope, These types of tropes are used to emphasize a scene. In this case, making battle scenes more explosive,action-packed and gripping.


How did Netero manage to levitate during his fight with Meruem? I recently rewatched the epic battle between Netero and Meruem in the 2011 anime. I noticed that most of the time, Netero "floated" in front of his summoned Kannon. (I am lazy now to include snapshots, but believe me, he was not just "jumping").

IIRC, in the final battle in The Last Mission movie, Netero stood in front of his Kannon by standing on one of Kannon's palms, which was a very clever and reasonable way to keep a high position.

This leads me to question: How did Netero manage to levitate during his fight with Meruem?

So far (both in the manga and the anime), no Nen user was shown levitating, just flying at best (and using wings in those cases). Of course, the answer to my question can be "By using Nen", but frankly, it would be a very inefficient way to use it (c'mon, just reserve one of Kannon's palms to lift you, and leave the other 99 for "ant swatting").

ADDENDUM: The scene that made me think about all this is in episode 126 at 6:17

The most credible explanation is that Netero wasn't actually levitating.

It is undeniable that there are scenes where he seems to be levitating:

However, it could be that Netero was jumping up, and the entire half a minute scene of him in midair, which also includes a flashbacks, is in incredible slow motion. Because of his superhuman strength, it would not be difficult for him to jump this high (Gon and Killua did this in GI).

Netero is one of the fastest characters in HxH:

  He managed to out-speed Neferpitou and, even more remarkable, Meruem, as he was able to launch numerous attacks on Meruem with his 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva with the King unable to see the coming assault. It took him many minutes of incessant fighting to grow used to Netero's speed.

His punches are faster than the speed of sound, and this attack was so fast Meruem could not see them coming. Note that Meruem is one of the strongest characters of HxH and is also incredibly fast:

  Immense Speed and Reflexes: Meruem can rip off limbs and obliterate entire bodies in less than an instant.

However, the attacks were slow enough to be clearly visible to us. Therefore, it can be deduced that the scenes is in extreme slow motion.

He did land just afterwards. If he had been levitating, it would have been better to keep levitating to carry on his attack:


Are the districts inside the walls 'Elodia'? Spoilers ahead for those who have not read the latest manga chapters (86 - 87).

   The latest chapters take place in the territory under the
 "Marley government". The oppression of Elodians and their origin is the current theme. It is known that King Fritz took the Commander power and the majority of Elodians to safely retreat in an island. He used the Titan serum to transform people and build the walls. Can we derive that this territory, inside the walls (Sheena, Rose, Maria), is Elodia?

yes the walls are built inside paradi island where king fritz of elodia had run away after the Mare won the war against titans. I think this wall is supposed to serve as protection against Mare but the chapter havent explained it yet.


How lucrative is being a psychiatrist or MHP in Japan IN PSYCHO-PASS? In our society, psychiatrists are among the lowest paid physicians.*

The Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs For Doctors

I Don't Know - Med School Parody of "Let It Go"

Unlike our society, mental health is anything but swept under the rug in Japanese society in Psycho-Pass.

**So in JAPANESE SOCIETY in PSYCHO-PASS:

How lucrative is being a psychiatrist relative to other medical professions? How lucrative is being a psychiatrist relative to other professions? A mental health professional?**

Feel free to spoil the figures if any and even the context. I'm expecting some kind of twist to reveal that MHPs are actually paid much higher or much lower than public perception.

Or you could just give the public perception of the figures then put the true figures in spoilers or something.

Elaboration:

I'm not sure I saw a figure in season 1 (haven't seen past that), but
based on the existence of Sybil system and all that, I'm guessing it takes a lot of mental health expertise to maintain.
Even though

   Sybil is made up of brains of people with ASPD or something (well technically those who can't be read by Sybil system or something)

I don't see how mental health expertise isn't as highly valued in other aspects.

People want to keep psycho-pass levels low right?
It's not like there's some

   additional

conspiracy about manipulating psycho-passes.

Even if there was a

   n additional

conspiracy, how would you do that without mental health expertise right?

*of course I'm adjusting for things like country, experience, etc so with sufficiently high probability, a psychiatrist will earn less than a non-psychiatrist doctor assuming they're both in the same state and have the same amount of experience

SEVERAL SPOILERS ALERT

I don't know how to answer this question, honestly, but I think at least I can put forward some ideas. From here, please feel free to elaborate, refute, agree or disagree.
My idea is that there is a wide demand for psychological and psychiatric services in the psycho pass universe. It is observed that in the second season

   they confirmed how much the pharmaceutical industry profits in this universe, with the investment in remedies for the "control of the psycho pass".

However, when we speak of psychological services, we are not referring to the prescription of remedies, but the use of therapies to deal with problems of psychological order / origin (at least this is where I live, but how a psychologist acts tends to vary widely in several countries). This leads me to reflect a few things: in the psycho pass universe, most people, with a few exceptions

   (akane, Makishima, and the enforces possibly),

would tend to live with the fear that their psycho pass may be overcast, so investment in therapy and remedies would tend to be more accepted and even encouraged. From this, it could be concluded that the profession in Japan of psycho pass would be much more valued and, consequently, much better paid than it is today. Now, I do not know how to estimate values, since I have no idea of current values, but it can be assumed that I would be in a top 10 occupations well payed. HOWEVER, there are some other facts that make me think that, although well paid, the profession might not have so many interested parties. My argument is based on the character of

   Saiga Jouji. Formed in psychology, he is supposedly responsible for making people's psycho pass up just by talking

and this probably has a very simple explanation:

   people are not prepared to do what he says.

Fear of stress

   (which is actually the fear of clouding the psycho pass)

causes people to avoid exposing themselves to stressful situations

   (some, as shown in the anime, until they become lethargic / vegetative)

and because of that they would be ill prepared to cope with stressful situations. Now think: how will you be a therapist or psychologist if you do not know how to handle it? Your job is to listen to your patient about your fears and problems, and lead him to clarify these issues, the best possible way.
Well, to summarize everything I think, my answer would be: yes, it would be a very well paid profession (because it is necessary), but I do not think there would be a lot of people wanting to be a psychologist. More than that, even if the system selects people who have the profile to be psychologists, there would be few people who could actually be.
By the way, the second season opens an interesting question. In this world, would people tend to bet more on remedies than on psychological treatment? Therapy presupposes that you would have to face certain things it's hard for you to handle yourself, but doing so, at least temporarily,

   the meter of your psycho pass could rise.

Anyway, that's what I think. Sorry for any mistake in english and if you please indicate that I will try to fix it!


What makes an anime a space opera? Recently, the Anime.SE Basement Anime club has finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199. After watching this, I've picked up on the term Space Opera. What elements of a show classify it as a Space Opera?

Would a more action-dense show like a Gundam series, also be considered a Space Opera?

Space opera isn't an anime specific term, it's an entire sub-genre of science fiction. The easiest way to describe it is in two words: Star Wars.  It's the archetypal example of modern space opera.

To be more specific, Wikipedia provides a good description of the genre that lists the key elements:

  Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction set mainly or entirely in outer
  space, that emphasizes space warfare and melodramatic adventure, and often
  risk-taking as well as chivalric romance; usually involving conflict between
  opponents possessing advanced abilities, futuristic weapons and other
  sophisticated technology.

I'd also add another key element of space opera, an epic scope. They have interstellar scale, taking place on multiple planets, the battles are large and the characters are playing for high stakes.

I've only watched a few episodes of Gundam here and there, and its many series vary a fair bit, but in general I wouldn't call it a good example of space opera. It has many of the elements of space opera, but scope is fairly limited. I don't think any of incarnations of Gundam take place outside of the solar system, and many of them seem to be focused mostly on Earth.  I'd say it over all Gundam is better placed in the military sub-genre of science fiction, given the military roles of its main characters, the relatively realistic depictions of warfare and focus on military technology, the titular Gundams.


Which Queen's Blade episode is when Airi is tickle-tortured my Melona? In Queen's Blade series, there's a scene where Airi is tickle-tortured by Melona (YouTube clip).
Which episode does this scene come from?

I believe that's episode 3 "Dejection! Airi's Duplicity" in the third "season," known as Queen's Blade: Beautiful Warriors/Fighters, which was released as OVAs.
A plot summary from Fandom Wiki,

[...] Airi returns to the swamp and is confronted by Melona who ties her up and decides to torture Airi by tickling her. [...]


When was the Wolkenritter summoned? In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, at the very beginning of the first episode, it showed the Book of Darkness activating. Later in the series, it showed this again, but continuing on showing that the Wolkenritter were summoned at this time, and they lived like a regular family with Hayate.

When they learn that the Book of Darkness was draining Hayate, the Wolkenritter began to attack the Time Space Administration in order to fill all the pages, thinking that by doing so they could save Hayate.

The Book of Darkness Incident, which would be the reference to the clashes between the Wolkenritter and the TSAB (particularity with Nanoha and Fate involved) is documented to have occurred in 0065 of the Mid-Childan Calendar, the same year that the Jewel Seed Incident occurred (first season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha).

I am wondering, when were the Wolkenritter actually summoned to Hayate's side? Was it before, during, or after the Jewel Seed Incident?

Nanoha A's takes place six months after the original series, on December of the same year. The Book of Darkness was activated on midnight 3/4 July, as seen in the first episode of A's.

The conclusion is that the activation of the Book of Darkness and appearance of the Wolkenritter occurred just after the conclusion of the Jewel Seed incident.


How does Vegeta become a Super Saiyan Blue? Vegeta becomes a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (Super Saiyan Blue) in the movie Resurrection F. How did he become a Super Saiyan God?

Was the ritual performed on him before the Resurrection F event or did he use his own power to become a God? (That's what he tells on one of the Dragon Ball Super episodes)

The Wikia page states that:

  Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, also known as Super Saiyan Blue, is the result of a Saiyan transforming into a Super Saiyan after absorbing and retaining the power of Super Saiyan God and training.

That is, that to achieve SSGSS, one must achieve and master SSG first.

However, as it wasn't done before Vegeta went off to train under Whis, the only options left are that either he performed the ritual on that planet, or his training with Whis helped him do so. The SSG form is just another Saiyan transformation, the only thing being different is that instead of normal Ki, there is divine Ki flowing through your body and you can even perceive it now. As a result, you can even absorb energy attacks. As Vegeta said that he mastered the SSG form, I would believe it and would further add that by mastering the form he said that he mastered the perception and usage of the divine Ki, thus making it flow through his body evenly and unlocking the SSGSS form.

There is reference to this in the anime when he senses the return of Whis (watch here), and later the oracle fish comments that he's finally able to sense divine Ki. Goku even states that Vegeta's Ki had changed a lot during the six months he had spent training under Whis (watch here).

It's similar to that incident when Goku and Gohan had unlocked the Full Power Super Saiyan transformation after training in the hyperbolic time chamber in the cell saga. The FPSSJ transformation was the mastering of SSJ1 and making it the base form, thus reducing the strain on the body and making it easier to raise power levels. What they managed to do can be thought of controlling the SSJ1 Ki and making it flow evenly through their bodies, thus mastering the form.

The training both Goku and Vegeta are undergoing, which deals with raising power levels, a manifestation of Ki, without letting it leak, or, in other words, letting the opponent know, making each part of the body capable of independent action and also the perception and mastery of divine Ki, thus mastering SSG, SBG (Saiyan Beyond God) and SSB transformation.


What song is playing in Naruto Shippuden episode 114 at 06:37 on Orochimaru's flashback? There's a song playing in Naruto Shippuden episode 114 at 06:37.

This is the flashback scene focusing on Orochimaru, where he watches Itachi and is impressed by the power of the Uchiha, ponders about the length of time it would take to master all the Jutsu in the world, ponders about the limited lifespan of humans, and gets caught by Sarutobi doing shady things.

What is that song?

It appears an unreleased track (it's not in Shippuden Original Soundtrack 1, 2, or 3). There's an unofficial imperfect spliced version though, titled "Six paths of pain / Given Judgment".

Additional notes:

This also plays in Shippuden episode 79 (starting at 13:56), when Hidan stabs Asuma.
This also plays in Shippuden episode 117 (starting at 11:42), when they're going to the Northen hideout to fetch Juufo and they're fighting against all the Stage 2 curse mark prisoners running amok.
This also plays in Shippuden episode 211 (starting at ~8:01), near the end of the Danzo vs. Sasuke fight, when Danzo finally unwraps the bandages on his face and reveals his hidden eye.
This also plays in Shippuden episode 251 (starting at 1:02), after the third Gai vs. Kisame fight at Island Turtle, when Gai says "Don't move" while standing above Kisame.


Did Kendo practicing helped Kirito in SAO? At the second season of Sword Art Online we can see Kirito and his sister practicing Kendo:

In this scene, he used a similar fighting style that he used in the game. Is it possible to say that practicing Kendo or other fighting sports could help people in Sword Art Online?
I mean, being strong or fast in real life, Did it have some influence in the gameplay at SAO?
If so, people like Kirito could have some advantage?

Haven't seen the anime, but at least according to the Light Novels, it is implied that Suguha was better than most other players in Alfheim due to her expertise in Kendo. So answer to your first question would be a yes. It also goes in the other way around, in that skills learnt virtually can be applied to the real world, though there will be limits based on one's physical attributes naturally.

In Kirito's case though he given up on Kendo a long time ago, as kids. His prowess probably came from his inborn reflexes and his belief that both the gaming and the real world are 'real'.


Are there more volumes of THE BREAKER? I recently read the manga THE BREAKER: NEW WAVES. Is there a continuation of this manga? It ended in a rather uncomfortable state (personal view).

There's no continuation for The Breaker: New Waves for now. The author took a break on this series and started Trinity Wonder, if I remember right.

Hope I answered your question.


What happens when you get hit by an attack? In episode 4 of Dennou Coil Yuko Amasawa is ambushed by the Daichi's Hackers Club and during the inital ambush Yuko is hit by a bullet from one of the Hack Clubs Straiters (the machine guns), much later Yuko ends up defeating the club by having the Mojo steal a bunch of Straiters and ambushing the club in the Science Room.

Following that while Fumie is trying to get information on Yuko she fires a beam at the back of Yuko's head before Yuko starts to push it back.

considering that these bullets and beams seems to be apart of the virtual world visible only though Glasses, what happens to a person when they get hit by these? Yuko seems like she was hurt when her hand got hit by a bullet but all what happened was a distortion of the graphics of her hand which i assume she wouldn't see if she wasn't wearing her glasses

I don't think those visuals are physically painful; it's a psychosomatic reaction. The brain sees a bullet hitting your hand and responds as though a bullet actually hit your hand. Pain is at least partially neurological; you can feel pain even if your nerves don't fire.

Once the brain "checks" with the nerves in the affected area and realizes that the hand is okay, the phantom pain will subside, but in the meantime the lizard brain takes over.

I think that neatly ties into the themes of the show. The virtual world isn't just a fantasy realm with no actual impact on the real world; what you do there has actual consequences.


What is the exact purpose of the infinite Tsukuyomi? What is the purpose of the infinite tsukuyomi, is it to make everyone dream in their ideal world? Then why does it turn people to white zetsu and steal their chakra?

The infinite tsukuyomi was actually a ruse by Kaguya, executed by black Zetsu, who manipulated Madara.

Kaguya, the origin of all chakra after eating the shinju fruit, became power hungry and was subsequently sealed up by her sons, who then went to distribute/teach the usage of chakra to the rest of mankind. However, through black Zetsu, she was able to manipulate mankind (namely Madara) into recreating the infinite tsukiyomi with the Eye of the Moon plan. In doing so she then would be able hypnotize everyone and reabsorb all of the chakra in the world which she deems "rightfully hers."


Are songs different between subbed and dubbed? While watching Sword Art Online, in the third episode when Kirito receives a pre-recorded message from Sachi on Christmas she says that she'll sing but instead hums "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer".

This came from the dubbed version of Sword Art Online, it also made me remember that some other anime i've seen dubbed, when a character says they'll sing, alot of the time they hum instead.

I am wondering, when an anime is dubbed are songs changed to be hummed or even changed entirely due to language difference or is it a translation error when say "sing"?

Note: i am not referring to Insert Songs

Sachi in particular hummed the story in the Japanese version as well. (Though, in the book, she actually sang "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer". For whatever reason, they altered that scene in the Anime)

In general, what you're saying will vary from anime to anime, and it depends on who is dubbing them. How much localization the studio wants, I'm sure is a big thing when it comes to this. "How much of the origin language's references do we want to keep?"
Overall, it'd difficult to directly translate a song from Japanese to English, while keeping the flow and meaning intact.


How many alien races have a name in Dragon Ball? In Dragon Ball many races have a name, for example,

Humans
Saiyans
Namekians
Tsufurus
Yardrats
Frost demons
Metamorans

How many other alien races are mentioned/ have a name in Dragon Ball?

The list of races is rather extremely huge, so please do have a look at the wiki which sums most of them up. Do note that "humans" are referred to as "earthlings".

A few major common ones are:

Android
Angel
Demon
Demon Realm race
Dragon
Earthling
Frieza race
Majin
Namekian
Saiyan
Shinjin
Tuffle


Where does the manga Otoyomegatari take place? I know it's located near the Middle East, but I'd like a more precise idea of the locations involved in Otoyomegatari.

If you are not already aware, the series is set in 19th century Central Asia. The culture is without a doubt Turkic.

The main setting of the story is explicitly mentioned to be a rural village near the Caspian Sea.

It's important to note that the land and territory borders in the 19th century were vastly different from what is is today.

This bit, done by the author for the 2014 Taisho Award, sheds some light on the regions each of the characters are from.

Karluk's town (Pariya included) is located in modern Uzbekistan, and are of Uyghur ethnicity.

The city where Mr. Smith meets Talas, Karaza is likely in Karakalpakstan, part of Uzbekistan.

The town where Mr. Smith and his guide meets the twins (Laila and Leyli, they're Tajik. Not Turkic, but rather Persian) is Muynak/Moynaq, a city in northern Karakalpakstan.

Amir and her family are of Kazakh ethnicity, and hail from modern day Kazakhstan.


What is the relationship between the special chapters and the regular chapters for Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome? My understanding is that there are actually two series.

Did the first series, which was in a monthly mag, get the boot?

If so, did the mangaka decide to start over when the series got picked up by the new mag?

Japanese Wikipedia claims the following:

Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome began serialization in Magazine SPECIAL, and ran in that magazine from the 10th issue of 2011 until the 8th issue of 2012. After that, it was switched to Weekly Shounen Magazine, starting in its 42nd issue of 2012. As of this writing, this manga is still being serialized in Weekly Shounen Magazine.

Magazine SPECIAL is indeed a monthly, and Weekly Shounen Magazine is (unsurprisingly) a weekly. Both magazines are owned by the publisher Kodansha, so it doesn't look like the manga "got the boot", per se. It looks more like Kodansha figured it was worth running in their flagship magazine rather than the relatively low-circulation Magazine SPECIAL. I guess it had gotten popular enough for that by the time the switch happened, or something.


What is the opposite of "seme" according to otakus? I don't understand the joke behind "opposite of seme" scene. Can you please explain it to me?

"seme" is a noun derived from the verb "semeru" which means "to attack".
The expected opposite is probably "uke", derived from "ukeru" meaning "to receive".
what Kaoru said was "mamori", derived from "mamoru", "to protect".
Seme and uke are most commonly used in martial arts to describe the roles in a move: the seme is the person who takes the initiative and attacks, while the uke is the one who is attacked, so it might also be translated as "defender" - but in many (perhaps most) cases also the one who ends up "winning" because martial arts often have turning an attacker's actions against them as a major component.
Yaoi fans have adapted these terms to describe the roles in a male/male relationship: the seme is the one who takes the traditional male role: initiates the relationship, "pursues" the uke and is usually "on top" during sex. This can get ridiculously codified and outright heteronormative, e.g. the seme has to be taller and stronger, not show their emotions, etc. The "uke ends up winning" aspect may or may not be relevant.
An otaku would know this, a normal Japanese person may not, but would understand the usage in context.
Kaoru's answer seems to show that she is aware of neither usage, and I guess semantically choosing "mamori" as opposite of "seme" sounds kinda sweetly naive given the alternatives.
A factor might be that the only common use of "mamori" as a noun which I'm aware of is in the honorific "O-mamori", talismans that one can buy for a few hundred yen in shrines or temples and which promise health, success in business or studying, safe birth, etc.


What is the method used by Oomuro Sakurako in her "lucky color" lottery? In the last scene of episode 4 of Yuru Yuri San Hai (i.e., the third season
of Yuru Yuri anime), Sakurako played with her friends a lottery game for finding out "lucky colors". She did so by drawing a diagram on the ground and following the lines.
I have never seen this particular kind
of game before, and am wondering if this is some traditional children's game or Sakurako just invented it on the spot. Can anyone provide some clues? Thanks!

This is a method of randomly assigning things called "ghost leg" (in Japanese, called "Amidakuji", which means "Amida lottery").

Basically, the way it works is that each player picks one of the lines at the top. Then, you follow the line downwards. Every time you intersect a horizontal segment, you follow it. Here is an example of one possible outcome for a player of this game.

Note that the loop-de-loop and the non-strictly-horizontal cross-segments (like the ones that go left-down-right and right-down-left from the rightmost line) are not used in conventional ghost leg. This is just the show being silly.

This system is well-known in Japan (and maybe the rest of East Asia?), but is certainly not well-known elsewhere, which is likely why you have never heard of it.


What does Yuuma want to do on Earth? I want to know what does Yuuma want to do on Earth. Wherever I see it, it's not full episodes so I couldn't see if he knew he was dying, or there are other reasons he came to Japan?

Yuma is a Neighbour form another world.
He comes to Earth (also named otherwise in the multiverse used in World Trigger) searching for a friend of his father.

  as his father gives up his life to save Yuma, granting him a constant trion body and producing a black trigger at the same time, Yuma remembers his father speaking very fondly of a "friend" on Earth, which he helped to turn away other neighbours...


In what order should the Aquarion series be watched? I heard that Aquarion exists/Aquarion Logos is running. If I were to watch all the related series in full, including Aquarion Genesis, Aquarion Evol, etc., where should I start and what order should I watch them all in?

Considering that Aquarion is an original anime (i.e. not based from other sources), it's safe to say that the original broadcast time is the recommended order:

Genesis of Aquarion (July 2005, 26 episodes): the original story
Genesis of Aquarion OVA (May & November 2007, 2 episodes) / Genesis of Aquarion: Wings of Genesis movie (September 2007): an alternative retelling of Genesis of Aquarion
Aquarion Evol (January 2012, 26 episodes): takes place 12000 years after Genesis of Aquarion
Genesis of Aquarion Evol / Genesis of Aquarion Love OVA (July 2015, 1 episode): featuring a crossover between characters from Genesis of Aquarion and Aquarion Evol
Aquarion Logos (July 2015, 26 episodes): featuring a new storyline unrelated to the previous 2 series.


If the dragon balls in DBGT were those made by Dende, how could a shadow dragon be born in them after Oolong wished for an underwear in DB? In Dragon Ball GT, we are told that the negative energy that popped out of the dragon balls of the earth was created as a result of wishes that were made since the beginning of the Dragon Ball series. For example, a shadow dragon was formed when Oolong wished for underwear.
In Dragon Ball Z however, we know that the earth's dragon balls were gone after Kame fused with Piccolo, later in Cell Saga Goku brought Dende on Earth who became the nest guardian of the earth and made new dragon balls.

Aren't those two events or sets of events contradictory?

In episode 192 of DBZ; as Piccolo points out that since the new dragon was made out of the model of the old one so their powers must be linked. Well that explains it.


How did Reiner escape the ODM inspection? In Attack on Titan, the Survey Corps managed to capture two Pure Titans, named Sonny and Bean by Hange Zoe, after the battle of Trost. These two titans were later killed in the middle of the night by Annie and Reiner to prevent the Survey Corps from gaining further knowledge about the Titans.
After the two Titans were killed, the Survey Corps carried out a full inspection of all the members' ODM in an attempt to catch the culprit (presumably to check whether they had been recently used). Annie managed to escape this inspection by presenting Marco's gear instead of hers, but how did Reiner manage to escape this inspection? Was it ever revealed in the manga or anime as to whether Reiner perhaps used another set of ODM gear?
The image below is taken from Chapter 97 of the Attack of Titan manga and it clearly shows Reiner having his own set of ODM gear, but the manga does not explain any further as to whose gear that was.

Reiner passed the inspection of the ODM gear since he didn't have anything to do with the killing of Sonny and Bean. Annie alone killed both of them.


Where did the concept of multiple endings originate? A lot of games (and even anime like Oreimo) have multiple endings in addition to the Normal Ending -- most commonly the Good End, Bad End, and True End. Which series or what medias first popularized this concept?

What was the intended effect back then? Has it changed/evolved over the years? If, so how?

In terms of games, it normally extends from the player having choices, these choices affect character relationships and events which change the the story to try and give a normally linear plot some openness or when there isn't too much game play involved.

For example, in Fate/Stay Night, in the Heaven's Feel Route, if you don't build up enough of a relationship with Sakura, when the time comes you are unable to go against your ideals of being a "Ally of Justice" and get a bad ending. By building up on the relationship, you abandon your ideal and instead stay by Sakura's side and help her

In the example above, the endings are decided by choices you make. In some cases, it's how you play the game:

For example, in Mugen Souls, by increasing the level of all of Chou Chou's forms and then viewing all the scenes in the Mugen Field where her different forms take over and speak, you see a final scene where all her forms reveal that they feel now that they no longer have a purpose as they were created by Chou Chou to fill the loneliness she felt, and now she had so many friend, they wasn't needed. However, the crew tells them that Chou Chou would still be sad if they disappeared and the decided to remain, and this leads to a scene in the final battle where Chou Chou plans to sacrifice herself to save Belleria from Vorgis, but is stopped by her other forms, since the level of these other forms is dependent on the number of Shampuru you have collected you also hears the voices of the people that have been turned into Shampuru and however even though they were forced into servitude they will fight and serve Chou Chou loyally and launch a separate attack at Vorgis to weaken him ready to the final-final battle

There are also some games tend to only have 1 ending and numerous bad endings as like a game over, these are normally backed up by a mechanic that enables the choice to proceed further into the game.

For example, in Sekien no Inganock ~What a Beautiful People~, if you don't form a solid image of both characters in the Inner Voices section in most chapters you will not have the 3rd option to extends "your right hand" and the options you have will always lead to a bad end (exception is the REBORN edition which you have the option to skip this section).

In terms of origins, while I'm not 100% sure, the earliest I have seen is in visual novels which were practically just text based with CG in the background so the purpose was to make a game that was still interactive.

Nowadays, unless it's a normal text based visual novel like Canvas 2, it's used as a form of replay value with a normal ending leaving the plot open-ended and the true ending bring about a conclusion, a bad ending also exists as a means to tell the player they majorly stuffed up how they played.

I should point out that all this information is first hand experience with English games and English translations of visual novels


What is this song in My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 12? Does anyone know the song in My Hero Academia during Season 4 Episode 12, at approximately 18 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode? whenever Lemillion is trying to escape with Eri, but then tells her to run and keep going because he cant move anymore

The track you were looking for is Hidari wa Zettai Tsukawanee from the 2nd OST.
I'm gonna assume you eventually found it, but I still thought I'd resurrect this to actually post the correct answer for anyone else who may be looking to find it, as it's an amazing, highly underrated track.


What is the difference between Eldians and The Subjects of Ymir? In season 3 of Attack on Titan, what’s the difference between Eldians and The Subjects of Ymir?

Eldians refer to people living in Eldia, a former nation. They comprise of:

The Subjects of Ymir
The Ackerman Clan
The Azumabito Clan

The Subjects of Ymir are people directly descended from Ymir Fritz. They are also Eldians as they were living in Eldia together with the Ackerman and Azumabito clans. As stated in the wiki, they are the

   only race capable of becoming Titans.

All Subjects of Ymir were Eldians but not all Eldians were Subjects of Ymir.


What exactly was the "lie" in April? The title of the series is Your Lie in April (Japanese: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso).

What was the lie? What was the reason for the lie?

I believe the lie was that Kaori lied about being in love with Watari.

   On page 13 of Chapter 44. She says in her letter "This lie was that Miyazono Kaori had feelings for Watari Ryouta". She was secretly in love with Arima but didn't want to break the relationships between Arima and Tsubaki.


Are Eileen and Erza related? In the chapter 482, Neinhart started to realize that he has heard the name Erza before, nonetheless, he knows that she is the Erza Scarlet that he has heard of. He started figuring out that there might be some connection between Lady Eileen and Erza scarlet.

“Hair…and this magic power…”

SO I want to ask are those two really related?

Yeah, there is a hint that they might be related. The guy on the pic sees similarities between the two (both are way too scary not to be related, lol) and then we see that Eileen is red-haired. Naturally we all think, 'Oh wow, Erza's mom is badass' but it should be confirmed soon in the next several chapters.


What happens to a tailed beast if it's Jinkiurichi is killed? What happens to a tailed beast if it's Jinkiurichi is killed while he still has the tailed beast inside of him/her?

If the Jinchuriki is killed then the chakra of the tailed beast disperses and after a while reforms somewhere else.


What does "I used to be an engineer once" mean? :D

I'm currently reading a hilarious manga called "Clockwork Planet". It's amazingly great! Oh...I went too far...Let me come back.

When I'm reading a give page, some guys tsukkomus (comments) on that page with "I used to be an engineer once." Basically, this pic depicts a scene that the main male character expresses his love to the main female character and get accepted. (HALLELUJAH!!!)

This scene is pretty good, but I still don't understand why some guys say "I used to be an engineer." I've googled it but got no appropriate answer. Therefore, I'm very confused. Would you like to give me a explanation to this weird sentence?

And here is the pic on which appear that tsukkomu:

Thanks in advance. And sorry for my poor use of English, since I'm not a native speaker.

Ah, as an engineer myself, I think I know where they're coming from, since my friends have made this joke to me before. If I'm right, this isn't an in-series joke, or even one related to anime & manga at all:

There's a running joke that (male) engineers are hopeless at romance and can't pick up women, likely originating from the fact that engineering is a profession that has a very skewed ratio of male to female participants. While the number of female engineers is increasing over time, the difference in numbers is still comfortably large enough for the joke to be made.

I expect the joke they're making is that since he is no longer an engineer ("I used to be an engineer"), a girl can finally accept his feelings.

Naturally, this has some traction on the internet - here are some examples I've found over my time:


When does the Strawberry Panic novel occur relative to the manga? I got both the manga and the novel of Strawberry Panic. While I was reading the back of the novel, I saw that it mentions that the characters are from the 3 schools in the area. One of the schools is the same one the manga is set in, St. Miator Girls' Academy.

So I am wondering, when does the novel occur relative to the manga?

The novel takes place at the same time as the manga does and covers the same content. However, the novel covers all of the story, whereas the manga stops about 2/3rds way through.

The manga also has characters from the 3 schools, but the primary characters in both mediums are from St. Miator's.

There may be a couple of characters that differ between the mediums, but they will be minor characters and the cast is mostly the same.


Who the hell is Truth? In Full Metal Alchemist, who is the character (or the concept really) of Truth? What does he symbolize? What is his purpose?

From what I guess, he's some sort of your inner God, because he seems to know you better than you do yourself. He knows the best way to punish you, the way that would hurt you the most. He must be tied with alchemy and alchemical knowledge, but what is he?

Truth himself (itself?) states,

Who am I? One name you might have for me is the world, or you might call me the universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am All, and I am One. So, of course, this also means that I am you. I am the truth of your despair, the inescapable price of your boastfulness.

Truth is a being which has no physical form, and a being which regulates all alchemical exchanges that take place. He essentially exists in order to prevent humans from "playing God" with alchemy; when human transmutation is performed, for example, Truth intervenes as it is seen as an unfair (inequivalent) exchange.
In these ways, Truth is somewhat symbolic of God. It has also been compared to gods in other mythos, such as Hera, a Greek goddess who was known to vengefully challenge heroes.

Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against Zeus's lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias.
  — Hera, Wikipedia

However, it is important to realize that Truth is not God. While it is certain that they are linked in some way, God is the entity which lies within the domain of the Gate (the eye and mass of black hands that restrain his "victims").
  (The Gate, Truth sitting in front, and God within it. Source: Wikia)
When an alchemist pays the toll and is forced through the Gate by Truth (and by God), they are shown all knowledge about alchemy. Their minds can only absorb so much, but enough is clear that they are able to perform their alchemy without requiring a transmutation circle.
So, what exactly is Truth? He is a vengeful, godlike being, who is linked to God, and governs all alchemical exchanges performed by alchemists. He has no physical form, and exists only metaphysically within the mind of each alchemist.


Who is the father of Minato Namikaze? Does Namikaze mean a clan or is it just his second name?

I think the only way Naruto could defeat Madara Uchiha is to be in a blood-line relation with the Sage of the Six Paths, and thereby achieving a Rinnegan of his own.

Since Kushina, Mother of Naruto is from Uzumaki clan; which is a blood-relative of the Senju clan, it will make sense if Minato is from any distant clan related to Uchiha clan.

Is there any clue revealing who might be the parents of Minato?

No, there are no clues, at least not yet (in the anime).

But your second part of question/theory is obviously incorrect, since it's not enough to be related to an Uchiha, because it's not the DNA you need (directly, as is the case with the Senju part), but rather it's the eye itself. Since Naruto doesn't have a Sharingan, even if he's related to the Senju (distantly), he wouldn't be able to awaken the Rinnegan - not even if, by some miracle, Minato were to be related to the Uchihas (it seems pretty impossible to me). So, if Naruto were to not get a Sharingan, e.g. from Sasuke, in my opinion, he will never be able to awaken the Rinnegan.

As with the fight, I've no idea about the manga; the only thing I know is that he will team up with Sasuke (from older posts, which made me crazy...), but off-topic, I think there is more in Naruto, even without a Rinnegan, which could equal AND overpower Madara.

Related to your question, we don't know anything about Minato's parents. "Namikaze" could represent his association with a clan (as in most of the cases), or it could simply be his second name.


Where did the Western names in Code Geass come from? I recognize Lancelot and Mordred as knights from Arthur's legends. There is also a cat named Arthur.

What about other names like Schneizel, Cornelia and title characters Lelouch and Nunally Lamperouge? Are there other works they have drawn references from?

This is only a partial answer as I don't actually think the names of characters came from anything else, just chosen names.

However, in the case of Britannian Terminology a lot of it comes from legends.

Arthurian legends

The Elite group Suzaku joins, the Knights of the Round, is based on the Knights of the Round Table. I'm quite sure each of their Knightmares is named after the member Knights.
Lloyd Asplund's Irregular Special Research Division, Camelot, is named after the Castle/Kingdom Arthur would rule.
The Britannian Capital Pendragon is the family name of the monarchy that rules Camelot. ie Uther Pendragon and Arthur Pendragon.

Norse mythology

The Ragnarok System is named after the foretold end/resetting of the world, Ragnarok.
Luciano Bradley's Valkyrie Squadron are named after the Valkyries, who, just like the squadron, are all women.

Greek

The Sky Fortress Damocles is possibly named after Damocles in the Greek Anecdote the Sword of Damocles. Much like the sword, the fortress would be hanging over the planet as an imminent and ever-present peril with its payload of F.L.E.I.J.A. Warheads, had it reached orbit. (Funny enough, the Fortress and the F.L.E.I.J.A. firing switch sort of resemble swords)

Other

On the Wikia under Trivia for the Sword of Akasha it mentions the Nasuverse uses of Akasha. On Wikipedia this matches to the Akashic records; however, this is a theosophy meaning and there are other meanings for Akasha.

As a note, under the trivia of Kyoshiro Tohdoh's first Knightmare in The Black Knights, Zangetsu, it says

  Zangetsu is also the name of main character Ichigo Kurosaki's Zanpakutō in the hit anime series Bleach. Ichigo Kurosaki's English voice actor is Johnny Young Bosch, the same English voice actor as Lelouch Lamperouge. Also, Tohdoh's Zangetsu's color scheme is black and red, the same as Ichigo Kurosaki's.

It should be noted that Bleach first airing predates the start of Code Geass, so it is possible the choice to cast Johnny Young Bosch as Lelouch in the English dub stemmed from his role as Ichigo, wielder of Zangetsu.


How much of the Amagi Brilliant Park light novel was adapted into the anime? Can you tell me how much the Amagi Brilliant Park anime adapted from the light novels, particularly in terms of which volumes?

The anime tells roughly the story of the first volume by expanding the deadline from two weeks to three months and by borrowing events from later novels. All of volume 2 was animated (hiring new staff and exploring Rubrum's cave), and the Kanie-body-suit incident was borrowed from volume 3.

NanoDesu Translations was DCMA'd and thus unfortunately was unable to translate the entirety of volume 3, so I'm afraid I don't have any more detailed novel-to-anime comparisons other than the fact that volume 3 did contain some story that the anime did not.


Questions about the time-travel scene in the Steins;Gate movie So I watched the Steins;Gate movie and got a bit confused in the end.

Who is that Kurisu wearing the clothes of a 13-year-old girl sitting next to 13-year-old Okabe in the past?
When she traveled back and met Okabe at the end, did the world line change to one other than Steins;Gate?
So Okabe remembered Kurisu giving him his first kiss. Did his memories change to engrave that event, or is this just a made-up fact from the writer?

I will answer these out of order sorry.

2- There is no real answer to this but I will tell you how I interpreted it. I believe that both the Alpha and Steins gate world lines are actually conneted before Okabe's fist encounter with Kurisu. Once he interacts with her in the anime it creates the Alpha world line and then when he sets the steins gate I believe that it is bassaly a fork in the road. Let me explain a little. In the anime when Okabe kisses Kurisu he talks about how it will not be stored in his hippocampus because it is not his first kiss. I interpret this as he remembers his first kiss with Kurisu but does not know that it was actually her. So in both the Alpha line and Steins gate he remembered the kiss but in steins gate he remembered that it was her so that is what tied him to the Steins gate line.

3- I dabbled on this in number 2 but I will explain a little farther. In both lines he remembers having a first kiss before going to get Mayuri, but the difference being that in the Steins gate line he remembers the significance of that encounter. In the Alpha line he most likely just remembers a kiss but nothing else. The difference is that in the Steins gate line he remembers who gave it to him and the story that Kurisu gave him about his future self. This is most likely what grounded him to the steins gate line.

Last but not lease 1- This is kind of a blurry spot. I'm not actually sure if in that time if she looked like her 13 year old self of if that was just something they added but I have 2 theory, one more unlikely then the other. Most likely this is just something done by the producer but I hate that so I came up with another theory. This is very unlikely, its actually probably impossible but it could be that when Kurisu went back in time to when she also would have been 13 that everyone saw her as the age she would have been at the time. For example, if she were to go to a time where she was just 5 then everyone would see her as a 5 year old. This is most likely false due to the fact that Suzu was from the future but looked her actual age. Think what you want but when producers do things like that it bugs me so I to would like an explanation.