How do vanships stay aloft? In Last Exile, the aircraft known as vanships do not rely on wings to generate lift. So, has the technology that the vanships use to fly been described in any detail?

The floating ships in Last Exile use something called the Claudia Unit (see picture).

These units use a mixture of Claudia, the glowing blue ore, and water/alcohol as fuel. The Claudia Units themselves are fairly complicated devices and are provided solely by The Guild on loan to engineers of the different factions/countries. When warships become damaged, their Claudia Units detach and can fly its way back to the Guild, which usually leads to the demise of the ship. Additionally, the Guild can remotely recall Claudia Units. The exception being the Silvius which has a stolen unit that the Guild cannot recall.

The smaller Vanships also use Claudia fueled engines (called "Claudia Engines" to differentiate between ones that are used by the larger ships) that are much smaller and simpler than the units that the Guild controls. Some of these engines are so stripped down, they require external electricity to "start" the engine.

In this picture of the Silvana and Claus and Lavie's Vanship, you can see details of the Claudia Unit and Engine.

Anthony Kostabi mentions that the burning of Claudia inside the engines/units create a some kind of field (I think he uses the term "magnetic field") directed downwards to produce lift. In Episode 13, we learn that Vanship engines work by circulating near-vaporized Claudia at very high pressures through pipes at the rear of Vanships. You can see the pair of pipes in the rear of Tatiana's Vanship:

The Vespas from Last Exile - Fam, The Silver Wing are smaller than Vanships but still use Claudia engines:


How did Kourin copy Aichi's deck? In Season 1 Episode 6 - "The Mysterious Card Shop!", when Aichi fights Kourin, Kourin appears to have duplicated Aichi's Royal Paladin Deck.

In Episode 23 - "Fateful Encounter" it was the same in the match between Kourin and Ren however Ren was invited to PSY and Kourin had Ren play using a pre-built deck which was the same she used. as Ren noticed it was because Kourin was seeing a person's true skill as a fighter rather than the strength of their deck.

But i don't recall Aichi, Morikawa or Izaki being invited to PSY rather they found it by accident and even if they were invited, unlike Ren, Aichi had never been in any tournaments so there was really no way for Kourin to know what was in his deck via any broadcasts.

So how did Kourin copy Aichi's deck?

Aichi and Kourin had very similar decks but they were not identical. For example, Kourin is seen to have a Stardrive Dragon, which Izaki and Morikawa remark earlier in the episode is 'legendary' and not available or easy to find anymore. Aichi is never seen to play this card. She also uses Crimson Butterfly, Brigette, which again is a card that Aichi never plays. Despite Kourin having cards like Wingal that appear to exclusively support Aichi's Blaster Blade, she is never seen to use one herself.

I believe the main purpose of Kourin and Aichi's first cardfight was to establish that even with similar decks, their skill and play styles are very different. Kourin does not appear to have deliberately copied Aichi's deck.

In episode 23, I believe you are correct. Kourin and Ren use pre-built identical decks to judge Ren's skills without access to his usual cards.


What is the name of the song playing in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in episode 6 at 9:40? What is the name of the song playing in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in episode 6 at 9:40 ?

I believe the song playing in that scene is Entr'acte.


Is Edermask based on some legend? My question: Is Edermask from the manwha Magician by Kim Sarae based on some old legend/myth?

An immortal man searching for the source of his immortality to become a mortal again. If seen this concept before in quiet some anime/manga. Usually these people are also accompanied by some legendary swordsman. Is this based on some old myth/legend or on something else?

It seems that several of the other characters and key story points are based upon Greek mythology.  All though this has not been confirmed by the author himself yet.

There is no actual figure in Greek mythology called Edermask/Ethermask/Nenomius, the antagonist Janus does seem to have a Greek counter part. janus, the god of beginnings and passages. Is said to be a 2 faced god. One facing the future, and one facing the past.

This god would fit the image of both the characters as their looks are identical, and behaviour matching that of this particular god. One can not let go of the past, and one only wishes to move forward (very, very roughly transcribed).


Can you physically stop someone from commiting suicide? Once you write suicide as the cause of death, the Death Note possesses victim and they commit suicide e.g. Naiomi Misora.

What would happen if you were to physically prevent that person from killing themselves?

For example, if Light were to physically restrain Naiomi before she hung herself, would the Death Note default to heart attack since the victim is incapable of fulfilling it?

Second paragraph from "How to Use: LV"

  In the occasion where the cause of death is possible but the situation is not, only the cause of death will take effect for that victim. If both the cause and the situation are impossible, that victim will die of heart attack.

So yes, the victim should have a heart attack if they are unable to kill themselves at the specified time.


Why Nanatsu no Taizai members didnt recognize each other at first in season #1? I'm rewatching Nanatsu no Taizai, and many of the members (Meliodas, Ban, King, Gowther, Diane, Escanor) didn’t recognize each other at first, or they weren’t sure about the others really being who they were. Some examples,

Ban after re-meeting King: And you, who you are?

Diane after meeting Meliodas: Are you a holy knight?

Escanor after meeting Ban: haven’t I seen you before?

Gowther after meeting Meliodas and Ban: yes, I really am Gowther.
Those traits, that posture, that scar, as I thought, you are undead
Ban. That means the young guy whose appearance is similar to Meliodas
is..
Meliodas: that's right, I'm Meliodas.
Gowther: what a surprise.
Ban: and what do you think of him. I bet you'll be surprised more he's
King.
Gowther: No, he is another person

Why did this happen? Supposedly people like Meliodas and Ban didn’t change their appearances and they only separated 10 years ago.

For Meliodas and Ban, I am pretty sure they did recognize each other. It's just the surprise they get after 10 years.
For King and Ban, King did recognize Ban, and Ban to King. King's hate of Ban for Elaine's death was the reason why he acted like that. Ban just doesn't care.
For Gowther, the others have not really seen him in the flesh before that moment, he has only seen King in his old fart form, and he did recognize Ban and Meliodas.
Do point out any episodes that prove otherwise. It can help move the discussion going.


Why have they been delaying Kizumonogatari for so long? Kizumonogatari is a movie based on a story of the same name in Monogatari Series light novel, which is part of First Season before Nisemonogatari. I don't even remember when it was supposed to air, probably two or three years ago. After the delay, they kept producing other stories in Monogatari Series like Monogatari Series: Second Season, Hanamonogatari and Tsukimonogatari.

Why did they put it off for so long? If it was because of production issue, like Hanamonogatari, why did they keep producing another Monogatari Series but not Kizumonogatari?

There's no doubt to the popularity of the Monogatari series that fans are clamoring for Kizu, but since it was delayed by production AND the immense popularity of Madoka Magika, what's probably happening now is that Kizumonogatari is likely being planned to be released towards the end of the franchises finale, as a reflective issue.

No source for info, just an observation and estimation. Tsukimonogatari marks the beginning of the end of the series, the final arc so it should be within this year that we hear news about it.


What was the controversy with Kokoro Connect? There were several news articles during the airing of Kokoro Connect regarding some sort of a controversy during the production of the anime. This lead to a pretty substantial boycott effort. I didn't watch the show and didn't follow the news pieces, so I don't really know the specifics, and it's hard to tell what actually happened and in what order now since the articles I could find don't describe the whole event.

Can anyone provide a relatively complete chronological account of the major events that happened in the controversy, with appropriate sources?

All dates listed are in 2012. I have merely summarized the events and more detailed information can be found via the source links.

June 24: Advanced Screening Event

Some time before this date, Mitsuhiro Ichiki auditioned for an original character for the TV series. He was invited to the screening event as "a surprise voice cast member". However, at the event, he was informed that he was actually appointed "Head of Public Relations" for the series. The original character does not actually exist.

Source: ANN

September 2: Twitter

The opening theme's composer, Hajime Kikuchi, sent rude tweets to well known voice actor and singer Momoi Halko. He decided to step away from the music group (eufonius), but it's unclear whether this was truly his own action or something "forced" upon him by the label.

Source: ANN and MAL

As a result (well, according to the animation studio, due to "production issues"), the opening theme was changed on the BD/DVD release of the series and for some of the episodes during the TV airing. This was probably the cause of the BD/DVD release getting delayed by a month.

Source: Two ANN articles: One and two

The linked ANN article for the screening event also mentions that Hajime Kikuchi may have made some tweets about that incident, but it does not mention whether they were apologetic or negative.


What is the proper order to watch Hakuouki in? Pretty much just as the title states: What is the proper order to watch Hakuouki in?

Recently I watched Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan, and it really felt as if I jumped in half-way through a series. Then, I found out there are about 10 different Hakuouki and I'm wondering, in which order I should watch them to properly follow the story?

Hakuouki was released in this order:

Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan (or just Hakuouki), Hakuouki Hakketsuroku, Hakuouki Sekkaroku OVA, and Hakuouki Reimeiroku.

Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan is the original series. Hakuouki Hakkesturoku is the sequel to the original series. The "episode zero" of Hakuouki Hakkesturoku (Memories in Kyoto) is a recap of the first series. The OVA series was released between the second series and Reimeiroku. Reimeiroku was the third full series released and acts as a prequel to the original series.

To conclude, if you want to watch in chronological order of the show (as opposed to release order), the correct viewing order would be:

Hakuouki Reimeiroku
Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
Hakuouki Sekkaroku OVA
Hakuouki Hakkesturoku

Edit: First, I actually made a mistake originally. The OVA is actually set in between  episodes 8 and 9 of the first season of Hakuōki Shinsengumi Kitan, so chronologically it would really be before Hakkesturoku.

In regards to the movies, their roles are a bit more confusing. According to Wikipedia:

  Two new films are scheduled for 2013–2014. Film 1 was released in August 2013 and is released on DVDs February 2014. The film is supposed to be a retelling of both seasons in greater detail and with a slightly different ending.

However, ANN states:

  Production on a two-part Hakuōki film project that will open [2013] has been green-lit. The film will tell an all-new story.

Having not seen either of the films, I cannot say for certain where they fall in the timeline.

Sources:
Wikipedia

Anime News Network


Why does Mayoi get embarrassed about this tongue twister? In Bakemonogatari, Mayoi says a tongue-twister that goes

「生ムミ、生モメ、生ママモ」

("namamumi, namamome, namamamamo") then gets embarrassed because they sound like another word. What's the reference they're making?

Caution: the answer might be NSFW since it contains vulgar words.
Here is the full dialogue by Araragi and Mayoi:

「では、生むみ生もめ生ままもと三回言ってください」
「お前が言えてないじゃん」
「生もめだなんて、いやらしいですっ！」
「言ったのはお前だからな」
「生ままもだなんて、いやらしいですっ！」
「そのいやらしさは、僕にはわからないが……」
Mayoi: So, say "namamumi namamome namamamamo" three times
Araragi: You can't even say it properly1
Mayoi: Namamome is lewd!
Araragi: It's because you who says it
Mayoi: Namamamamo is lewd!
Araragi: I don't understand what's lewd with that, though...
(translated by myself, if there's an official translation of this dialogue, feel free to correct it)

Namamumi doesn't exist in Japanese. The best Kanji representation is 生【なま】無味【むみ】, which means "raw tasteless".
Namamome can be represented by 生【なま】揉め【もめ】, which means "bare (breast) grope".
Namamamamo is... well, that word also doesn't exist in Japanese, and also meaningless. Even Araragi doesn't understand why Mayoi says that it's lewd.

1The original tongue twister is 生【なま】麦【むぎ】生【なま】米【ごめ】生【なま】卵【たまご】 (Namamugi namagome namatamago), which means "raw wheat, raw rice, raw egg". The one that Mayoi says is when all the consonants are changed to "m" (except the "n" in "nama"). This is to simulate the pronunciation by very young child (e.g. toddler) when their ability to speak is not well-developed yet.


Unknown song from Gakkou Gurashi There is background music in several Gakkou Gurashi episodes that I can't find no matter how hard I look for them.

It's a very peaceful song, no vocals, that's played with a synthesizer at first and plays into a guitar. It's present usually when the group or character is discussing something peacefully, or in the quiet before the storm in the later episodes.

The most notable placement I can think of is Episode 3 when Megu-Nee is getting ready for the day. It starts around when she opens her message box on her phone, and ends right before the scene ends when she checks her watch.

If anyone can help me with this, I'd be extremely grateful.

I was looking for the same track as you when I heard it on air! The music was composed by MOSAIC.WAV and the OST was finally released a few weeks ago.
The track you're looking for is no. 15: 優しいめぐねえありがとう (Yasashii Megu-nee Arigatou)

There are a few other tracks I wish made it on, but they're going to release a 2nd volume on November 26.


Does the phone attached on the microwave need network to send D-mails in the past in Steins Gate? During the whole series and visual novel I don't think it is ever mentionned if you need network on this phone to send a message or not. In the story the phone attached to the microwave is used as a relay to send a D-Mail, so it needs network to receive messages. However what would happen if the d-mail was sent directly from the original phone without network? We know that SERN is able to intercept D-mails thanks to their network monitoring but it doesn't mean that D-mails originally come from the mobile phone network. It's just there when it arrives in the past.

I think the D-mail actually alters the timeline into the one that has received the message. It doesn't send at that present time but it is sent in the past.

The sending of the message actually becomes the change between the timelines.

But this makes me wonder how the pager thing worked? Different timelines, different technologies. I mean what was the sender number in that message received by the pager? Is that really possible?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT : (after OP comment)
The answer is NO,the D-mail does not require network to be sent.


Is Migatte no Gokui the same ability of moving without thinking, as Whis explained to Goku and Vegeta when training them? When Whis was training Goku and Vegeta, he told them they should try to acquire the ability of having each part of your body moving independently without thinking.

Was Whis talking about Migatte no Gokui, ability Goku got in the last episode?

Yes, it is the same thing as explained here.

For Whis it is not a transformation, so there is no change in his appearance. Goku obtained this 'Ultra Instinct' for a short while in the episode.


Has anyone ever gotten hurt in Girls Und Panzer? In the world of Girls Und Panzer, tankery (Sensha-do) is a school activity, and during practice and competitions, they appear to be using live ammunition. Has anyone ever gotten hurt (or killed) doing Sensha-do in the manga? It seems really dangerous:

   There's even a flashback scene where a tank driven over mud next to a river falls into the river, and the girls inside almost drowned.

Or is it just that in this world, tanks and large shells simply aren't that dangerous?

I don't believe there has ever been a death of a character due to a tank-related incident. However, this is largely due to safety precautions taken by the officials in charge of the tank activities. (And also, a bit of anime physics.)
From the (fan-)translated Rules of Panzerkraft:

3-02 Supplemental Equipment    Furthermore, for the safety of the participants, the crew compartments are required to be fitted with League-approved armored mantles as an added safety measure.
3-03 Usable Cannons    All rounds are to be League-sanctioned live ammunition; production of your own warheads or charges is not allowed.
5 Prohibited Actions    a) Using unregulated equipment or parts    c) Firing directly on humans

Note the usage of controlled armor, rounds, and a rule that you may not fire at a human. So, it does appear that the tank warfare is dangerous to people, but the safety measures in place are enough that the direct warfare does not cause any fatalities or serious injuries. (I think there's an incident where one girl has her glasses broken, but that's it.)


Old anime in the style of Conan Doyle' Lost World I'm looking for an old anime (from at least 10-15 years ago) similar to Conan Doyle' Lost World.

The crew of a ship end up in a prehistoric world (don't remember how). This world is ruled by priests that are against technology. They use dinosaurs for labor. There is also something like "the resistance" that is against the current regime imposed by the priests. The crew of this ship get caught in this conflict.

This world is not without technology though, very advanced technology (don't remember the context, maybe an alien race) like infinite power supplies, but it's illegal to use it and who does, does so in secret.

I only saw the first few episodes of this anime, I don't know how the story goes or how it ends. Any ideas?

Could it be Kyōryū Bōkenki Jura Tripper?

From the Anime News network synopsis

  On a school yachting trip, fifteen children of various ages are mysteriously transported to another world where dinosaurs still roam. While attempting to return home, they encounter talking dinosaurs, revolutionaries, pirates, a princess and primitive scientists. These unlikely allies help them escape from soldiers, bandits, vicious dinosaurs, and fanatical priests. Aggression between the two oldest boys leads to a split in ranks, and a sneaky double cross plot. Unlikely romances bloom in this tense atmosphere, and the group learns that each has strengths that can help them get home, if they work together. Losely based on the book Deux ans De Vacances, by Jules Verne in 1888.

And from a plot synopsis from Wikipedia

  While trying to find a way back home, the children learn more about the new world they're in, discovering the people and dinosaurs suffer from oppression by the king as well as the church's prohibition of science. They get into conflict with General Mosar who is interested in their advanced technology and consequently have to flee from the king's army as well as the priests who try to capture Zans, who incidentally is the son of White Wing, the famous but passed leader of the rebellion.

The show aired back in 1995 and consists of 39 episodes.


Who are these Tsukihime characters? In the third volume of the Tsukihime manga, an illustration (possibly NSFW) of a number of female characters at a hot spring appears.

I can recognize most of the characters here. (Akiha stands outside of the bath with the twins Hisui and Kohaku; Arcueid is sitting on a stone surface, with Len at her feet; the girl left of Arcueid is Yumizuka; and Ciel is wearing her glasses.) However, I don't recognize the blonde character with green eyes or the brunette with a bathing cap.

Who are these two characters?

The blonde is Nanako or Seven because her name is short for the Seventh Holy Scripture.

  The Seventh Holy Scripture was created from combining the horn of a dead Unicorn that, had turned into a nature spirit and the soul of a young woman, who gave her life willingly in order to achieve this.

Nanako is the spirit of that gun Ciel had in Tsukihime. However, she doesn't make an appearance in human form until Kagetsu Tohya in one of the side stories, Nanako-chan S.O.S. She is also mentioned by Akihiko himself on occasion

The girl with the bathing cap is Miyako Arima.

She is Tohno Shiki's cousin as well as step-sister when Shiki was adopted into the Arima family after the incident between him and SHIKI. She's mentioned in Tsukihime and Kagetsu Tohya but she doesn't make an appearance until Melty Blood, generally in the routes involving the Tohno family (as opposed to the routes dealing with Night of Wallachia).

She is also the main character in Hana no Miyako.


What happens to humans inside titans when they die? In attack on titan, if someone were swallowed by a titan (it doesn't matter if the person if dead or alive) what happens to the body if a titan dies before it pukes them up?

In theory, nothing happens. they would starve to death in the titan's stomach or commit suicide. Titans can't digest anything and therefore, don't need an acidic substance in their stomach.


Where can I buy Kotori Habane figurines? I have no idea where to find Kotori Habane figurines.

Where can I buy them?

A simple search for 羽々音 小鳥 フィギュア on Google shows that there is no official figurine for this character (or any of the other characters from this game). There are trading cards (used good) and dakimakura (which are all sold out), though.


Can this anime be identified by a small number of disconnected scenes? Please forgive me my somewhat lengthy preface here.

At best I have to estimate that this anime was aired at least 14 years ago.  I don't recall it being part of a series, so I'm fairly certain it was a one shot movie.  Never can be sure though.

All I can really provide for identification purposes is a small handful of scenes.  I am unsure if these are all even from a single anime.  It may well be 2 different ones that my memories have somehow merged to form a full concept.  Hopefully someone will recognize at least one of these scenes, otherwise, I'll need to find some way to wipe these things from my memory and forget they ever existed:

Scene 1

Takes place on a star ship
A tall alien with a disc like head.  At some point the monsters head detaches from its body and begins to fly around independently.
That is all I can recall from it.

Scene 2

Takes place on a planet near some teleporters?

A woman is fighting the alien, hears a voice (her brothers?) telling her to use or run to the teleporter.  It later turns out to be a recording.  There was some emotional connection between the woman and whoever's voice it was.

During the fight the monster gets caught in an explosion and blown into a building, one of the teleporters I think.  It walks out of rubble with something impaling its head.  It doesn't appear particularly phased, but woman seems to make special note of the injury, as though it was somehow unexpected.

Scene 3

The woman, older male and youger male (possibly a child) are driving, in a tunnel or under a bridge, or just some dense cityscape.  I just recall the environment being very crowded.

At some point they run into quadripedal monsters of some sort and wind up running a test one one, determining that it is somehow related to the main antagonist.

Scene 4

The main antagonist alien/monster appears to have placed a beacon (for some reason it strikes me that the beacon was organic in nature) on the roof of a building to start calling in more of its kind from off world.

Scene 5

Takes place in a desert setting.  The woman confronts the monster.  The woman has a staff of some sort, it was shown earlier in the movie, I believe by the younger boy.  When the tip of the staff is pressed into the ground it generates a forcefield that surrounds the staff and
its user.  the tip is pressed into the monster, causing the force field to cut the creature in half horizontally.

The top half falls towards the woman and the "face" of the monster extends from the head to attack her.  It turns out the things neck was its only weakness.  As it is falling, someone, I believe at this point backup had arrived, takes a blade and cuts into the things neck, and then slices it down length wise, cutting the face in half too.

If any part of these scenes can be used to identify an anime, I would be beyond greatful to know my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.

That sounds almost exactly like IRIA: Zeiram the Animation to me. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107228)

I really loved Iria when it first came out, the action and character designs are excellent. Interestingly, this OVA is based on a live-action movie series called Zeiram (which I've never seen). I wish they had made sequels to this anime because I found Iria a pretty engaging character at the time (haven't seen it in forever). Her grappling hook thing was pretty slick and she kicked serious butt ;)

The alien (Zeiram) is pretty much unstoppable and has a creepy, extensible face (kind of like a Xenomorph). It can clone itself and absorb people. Here's the description of the monster (from http://myanimelist.net/character/21662/Zeiram#aJugBUYj0dqWceUH.99):

  "Zeiram is the ultimate being and virtually indestructible. In addition to being
  extremely powerful, Zeiram can generate imperfect clones of itself to assist in battle.
  Zeiram also needs to assimilate other life forms in order to sustain itself, but in
  doing so it is thought that Zeiram can learn whatever is known by the organism being
  assimilated. Zeiram is not a unique creature and other versions of itself are known to
  exist throughout the universe. Later in the show Zeiram attempts to contact other
  Zeirams in order to bring them to Myce."

Hope that helps!


Why are there so many instance of young girls falling for older men? Why are there so many instances of younger female characters falling in love with older male adult characters? Is it a cultural thing?

It is something that occurs everywhere and in all media.
Just look at Lolita, which was published in 1955 and features a relationship as you describe it.

I think need to be a bit clearer in your definition of "younger female" and "older male" though. A 16 year old girl falling in love with a 18 year old boy would fit your criteria too.

I take it you mean something more along the line of CardCaptor Sakura's Yoshiyuki Terada and Rika Sasaki, where she is a primary school student and he her teacher?

Things like this actually happen in real life too. Though most people in that kind of situation wouldn't want their relationship to be know for legal and social reasons.

The difference between Japanese and American (as an example) media coverage of topics like this is that in Japan, as long as no real child is harmed it's a-okay (at least as far as I know), and if there were problems they could just as well say it's a 800 year old god just looking like a child.
But in America a lot of people see it as catering to pedophiles and forbid it. Just look at all the interesting discussions about the freshly licensed and heavily censored "Monster Monpiece".

So even if it is an innocent relationship with no intimate contact it would be highly frowned upon in the US, while in Japan they'd just shrug their shoulders because no harm was done to anyone.

More generally speaking though: some people just like a more mature partner. Just look at Hugh Hefner and his girls (let's just all innocently assume they're not all after his money).


Did L win against Light? Did L win against Light? Let me elaborate:

After L's death in episode 25, we assume that Light won. But in episode 26, L leaves a message in his computer (which Light deletes in the same episode).

Also, at the end of the episode, we see that some data is being sent from L's personal computer.

So, my question is: did he know/confirm that Light was Kira and sent the case data to Near?

Note:By "winning", I mean that L defeated Light in their mind game/battle. L had confirmed that Light is Kira( but could not prove it in front of the whole world). He was able to see that Light would come to kill him in the future and confirmed that Light is Kira (when Light smiles at L's dying body). This is purely a theory based on the possibility that the transmitted data can indeed be the case data stating Light as Kira.

It really depends on what you call winning.

L had been suspicious, strongly suspicious and just a tad less strongly suspicious of Light being Kira throughout the entire anime (or, well: those potions wherein he was alive).
L, however, wanted to prove that Light was Kira with evidence that would suffice to try him guilty. Collecting enough evidence to win a court case was also the police task force’s goal. They never achieved that or they would have arrested (and subsequently tried) Light.

In games like the board game Cluedo (or Clue, if you’re on the other side of the pond), you can essentially win by guessing correctly. In crime fiction or real-world criminal investigations, you don’t win by guessing correctly, you only win by proving you’re correct. Thus, applying the rules of Cluedo, L won; but he himself wouldn’t have considered him winning due to thinking in criminal investigation terms.

Since you now clarified what you mean by winning:

L did not win the mind game. We was on a good track, but he was short of the goal. If Rem hadn’t taken action, it probably wouldn’t have been too long before L had proven to himself that Light is Kira, at which point he would have also told the world about it. However, he was stopped just short of proof.


When does season 9 of Bleach take place chronologically? At first, I thought it was taking place before they went to Las Noches, but Chad used his right arm as the shield Brazo Derecha de Gigante which he only developed in Las Noches.

When does season 9 take place chronologically?

Season 9 of bleach is filler and doesn't take place in canon.


Why didn’t Levi inject both Armin and Erwin? Levi decided to inject Armin with the Titan serum to have transform the almost dead Armin into a Titan so he can consume Bertholdt to gain his Colossal Titan Abilties

Why doesn’t Levi just inject both Armin and Erwin with half of the serum each so both survive?

I cant remember if anyone, Levi included, actualy saw when he tasted the serum, did they? And either way, there was one guarantee to get one of them into action, or a chance to get both, but if it didnt work for any reason, everyone would get ripped apart or eaten alive. I watched the show, so could have missed some info from the manga, but sounds like good reasoning to me.


Are the other Puella Magi mangas separate stories? I discovered some other titles in the Puella Magi series today, Kazumi Magica and Oriko Magica:

Are these completely separate stories, or is there some overlap with Puella Magi Madoka Magica?

Madoka Magica (art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) is an almost shot-for-shot manga adaptation of the anime. There are a couple minor differences (e.g. it's made more explicit that Sayaka kills the two guys on the train just before she turns into a witch; Kyuubey does these freaky open-mouthed smiles), but other than those, it's pretty much the same as the anime.
Madoka Magica was published as three volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3).

Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice (art by TENSUGI Takashi; story by HIRAMATSU Masaki) is set in the same universe as the anime and shares mechanics with it (such as Grief Seeds, Soul Gems, and so forth), but has very little in common with the anime in terms of plot. The city of Mitakihara is mentioned and Kyuubey shows up from time to time, but there's nothing to suggest that the characters of Kazumi Magica ever interact with the characters of Madoka Magica. (Kyuubey excluded, because he seems to be sort of a hive-mind thing without real individual identity.)
Kazumi Magica is compatible with the plot as depicted in the anime, given that there are basically no points of overlap between the casts. Kazumi Magica is generally considered to be low on the canonicity scale.
Kazumi Magica was originally serialized in Kirara Magica, and was later collected into five volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Oriko Magica (art by MURA Kuroe; story by Magica Quartet1) depicts a possible timeline that occurs prior to the main anime timeline. All the major characters of the anime appear, with a particular focus on Kyouko and Mami, as well as some original characters such as Yuma and Oriko. Judging from the way Homura is depicted in Oriko Magica, it is suspected that it takes place in one of the timelines between timelines 3 and 4 of episode 10 of the anime.
Oriko Magica is generally compatible with the plot as depicted in the anime, though it leaves behind nagging questions like "Where was Oriko in the anime timeline?" and so forth. Oriko Magica is generally considered to be slightly higher than Kazumi Magica on the canonicity scale.
In addition to the two original volumes of the story (covers: 1, 2), there was "Another Story" (別編, cover), consisting of the stories Noisy Citrine and Symmetry Diamond, originally serialized in Kirara Magica. A longer continuation, titled "New Contract: Oriko Magica ~sadness prayer~" ([新約] 魔法少女おりこ☆マギカ ～sadness prayer～, covers not yet available), begins serialization in November 2013.

The Different Story (art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) depicts a possible timeline that occurs prior to the main anime timeline (presumably between timelines 4 and 5 of episode 10). All of the major characters of the anime appear, again with a heavy focus on Kyouko and Mami. There are no (significant) original characters in The Different Story.
Noteworthily, The Different Story begins chronologically prior to Episode 1 of the anime. In fact, Volume 1 of The Different Story begins shortly after Mami contracts with Kyuubey, and then follows her life through her meeting and subsequent partnership with Kyouko. Volumes 2 and 3 bring us forward to the timeframe in which all the timelines depicted in the anime occur.
The Different Story is generally considered to be very high on the canonicity scale, because

It began as an adaptation of Drama CD #3 "Farewell Story", generally considered to be highly canonical.
Its creation involved more input from Magica Quartet than did the creation of either Oriko Magica or Kazumi Magica
The artist for The Different Story was hanokage, who was also the artist for Madoka Magica and Madoka Magica –Rebellion–, the two "most-official" adaptations
There are no known incompatibilities between the plot of The Different Story and the plot of the anime.

In light of these facts, it is generally agreed that The Different Story can reasonably be viewed as essentially canonical in the context of the anime, and so may fairly be interpreted as a direct extension to the anime. This is important because, if The Different Story is canonical, it gives us lots of knowledge about Mami and Kyouko prior to the events of the anime. All of this knowledge is necessarily valid in all timelines, because it occurs prior to Homura waking up in the hospital. As such, it would do much to inform Mami and Kyouko's motivations throughout the anime.
The Different Story was published as three volumes (covers: 1, 2, 3).

Madoka Magica –Rebellion– (劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ [新編]叛逆の物語; art by hanokage; story by Magica Quartet1) is a closely-hewing adaptation of the third movie, just like Madoka Magica was a closely-hewing adaptation of the series (corresponding to the first two movies, I suppose). All signs point to the story being plotwise identical to the third movie, but with some stylistic differences, both minor and substantial. With the third volume yet to come, though, anything could happen.
Madoka Magica –Rebellion– will be published as three volumes (covers: 1; 2, 3 not yet available).

Suzune Magica (art and story by GAN, I think) is another spinoff that has just begun. At a glance, it looks like it has nothing to do with the main storyline (though Kyuubey shows up, unsurprisingly), but as with all things Madoka, looks can be deceiving. More details as they come.

Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc" (art and story by the group Golden Pe Done) is yet another spinoff, and began serialization in volume 10 of Kirara Magica (the Nov 2013 issue). As the title suggests, the main character is Joan of Arc, who is a magical girl. In keeping with the prevalence of suffering in the Madoka Magica world, it appears that the story starts with a shot of her burning at the stake, and then flashes back to how, exactly, she came unto such suffering.
Note: "Tart" is, supposedly, an alternate spelling of Joan of Arc's last name.

Notes
1 "Magica Quartet" is the collective name for SHINBO Akiyuki, IWAKAMI Atsuhiro, AOKI Ume, and UROBUCHI Gen, who are the director, producer, character designer, and writer for Madoka Magica, respectively.


What percentage of hentai manga artists are female? I've been wondering about that for a long time, and it turns out (after cursory googling) that a lot of the hentai mangas that get translated into English are drawn by female mangakas, according to their fans and sometimes the artists' personal pages (which not all of them have).

One thing to remember is that usually only higher quality works make the cut and get translated into English and posted on English-speaking hentai manga sharing sites, where the total ratio of male/female mangakas is not representative of the total number of hentai artists.

As I don't expect there to be enough info out there on the artists who don't make the cut, I'm more interested in the ones that do. But if there are surveys/statistics on the total number, that would be interesting to learn too.

As for what I've tried before asking: I found a couple of big torrents which list files starting with the mangaka's name (or pseudonym), but without ability to read Japanese, I'm unable to research any of them to find out their gender. That, and there being several thousand of unique artist names, is a massive undertaking. So unless there are already some statistics out there, I guess it's gonna take a while to get an answer.

The answer is "we do not know".

Now, as others have pointed out, there is the issue of Mangaka using (multiple) pen names for their erotic stuff, but the other half of the story is that Mangaka like to stay anonymous even in a more general sense. Most of them don't like attention, which is why we don't even know who wrote, for example, Death Note. Could be a guy, could be a gal.

For erotic Manga things just get more secretive.

If I had to guess, I would look at the number of erotic Manga aimed at guys (~22.500) and the number of erotic Manga aimed at gals (~2.300) to get a rough estimate of at least 1:10.


What does the piece of paper in chapter 222 say? On the fourth page of Nisekoi chapter 222, there is a page that shows a stick figure drawing of a girl and boy together in the middle with other girls on top and it's in Japanese.

What does it say and is it important to the Nisekoi story line?

Yes, the piece of paper is very important to the story line. In chapter 220, you'll be able to see what is written on the piece of paper, but here is what it says.

SPOILER

   The prince puts the ring on their fingers, then two angels
 appeared.

 Angel: "Poor prince, let's reunite him with the princess."

 Original: And then, the prince and the princess were brought to heaven.
 The prince and the princess lived in heaven happily ever after.

 Raku (MC) made some changes and it is now like this: Then, the princess
 was revived by the angels. The prince and the princess lived happily
 ever after.

The translation might be a bit different because I translated it myself, but that is what it says and it's the last page of the drawing book. It made Chitoge and Kosaki remember their past. This is shown in the rest of chapters 220 and 221.

Hope this helps.


What exactly is the Code Geass? I have watched the series once and I believe there are quite a few things left unexplained. The powers for instance can be transferred to others by only the people who have the "Code" like C.C. or V.V.

So what exactly is this code? And was Charles after immortality when he tried to acquire C.C.'s code? He even acquired V.V's code didn't he? So he was immortal. Why was he after C.C.?

So what exactly is this code?

If Geass is considered "Absolute"1 then the Code is "Absolute over Life" thus making someone immortal. This question has some answers on how it is different. the form the Code takes it unknown but we can assume that because Geass doesn't appear to have a physical and tangible form then niether does The Code

  was Charles after immortality when he tried to acquire C.C.'s code? He even acquired V.V's code didn't he? So he was immortal. Why was he after C.C.?

Charles was already Immortal when stole V.V's Code so he didn't need C.C to obtain Immortality. as i explain in This Answer i suspect that the Sword of Akasha needs 2 Codes to activate

  My own theory is that the Code made Charles untouchable as to activate Ragnarok originally required 2 Codes. (However after Lelouch saves C.C before Ragnarok is activated Charles is still able to activate it).

One thing to note is that in the debate of "Is Lelouch Alive", on the side of yes one theory is that Lelouch has Charles's Code (as C.C retains her Code). assuming this side one can speculate 2 things when Lelouch ordered Charles to kill himself when they were at the Sword

Charles pretended to be controlled and die knowing he was immortal
The Code wasn't activated until Charles died which is why when Lelouch tried to order him again we see it repelled rather than it just do nothing (eg. when Lelouch tried to use it on Kallen and the Teacher a second time early in Season 1)

1: if you look here and look at Lelouch's, Mao's, Rolo's and Marrybell's Geass their Geass powers all have "Absolute" in their names and if a Code Barer is Absolute to a Contractor's Geass (thus immune) then they could also be Absolute to Life given the power Geass has over others


Has Dragon Ball Super Broly changed the original Dragon Ball story? In the new upcoming movie Dragon Ball Super movie it doesnt seem Goku is the same age than it was when Grandpa Gohan found him in the anime series. Plus he wasnt using an armor in the anime. Some people around say this was anime filler and that those events of the anime werent told in the Dragon Ball manga (something I ignore). Has Dragon Ball Super Broly changed the story of the original Dragon Ball story, or simply what we see now in the Dragon Ball movie Broly trailer is different than in the anime because those scenes from the original anime were filler?

The scenes in original anime were filler added by Toei Animation. So the new story does not contradict the original manga written by Akira Toriyama. Also Toriyama had released a manga called Dragon Ball Minus which is the story upto Goku being sent to Earth. In this manga, Goku is shown wearing a saiyan armor and is 3 years old. As the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie is written by Toriyama, the same details are included in the movie as the manga.

As the anime was dependent on the manga, Toei Animation had to add many fillers to make sure the manga was ahead of the anime. Hence the discrepancy.


In the visual novel of Clannad, how many after stories are there? I've just finished reading Clannad.
While I was browsing for another visual novel to read, I saw the Tomoyo After (after story of Tomoyo's route) visual novel.

Now I'm wondering whether maybe the other heroines also have an after story but they have different titles.

Tomoyo is the only one who has a separate visual novel.

In general, whenever you have questions about how visual novels are interrelated, a good first stop is the VN's relationship diagram on VNDB - here's the one for Clannad.

You'll notice in this case that there appear to be other related VNs like "Kyou After" and "Clannad: Lost Winter", but note that those are indicated by dotted arrows on the diagram. This indicates that the relationship is "unofficial", which typically means that one of the two things linked by the arrow is a fan-produced work.


Is there any clan/individual with extraordinary hearing ability to sense people in Naruto? I know that there are sensory type ninja who could sense others using eye (Byakugan users), nose (Kakashi, Kiba's clan members) and chakra based sensing (Karin and others). Is there anyone/clan who can sense based on sound? Like sensing blasts in a certain range or eavesdropping others etc.

None that I know of, no. I don't think there was ever one in the fillers either.

The only thing close I can think of is Dosu Kinuta of the sound village, he used to attack using sound.


When did the practice of having multiple series for a world begin? I have seen at least two manga where there are multiple series told from the points of view of different characters, but all set in the same world and at or around the same time.

First is chrome-shelled-regios, which includes:
 - Chrome Shelled Regios
 - Chrome Shelled Regios: Missing Mail
 - a couple of others

The other is code-geass which includes:
 - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
 - Code Geass: Suzaku of the Counterattack
 - Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally
 - a couple of others

Where did this originate and what was the first manga/set of manga to showcase this?

It started at least 2000 years ago with works like Homer's Illiad and Odyessy, and lost works, Hesiod's Theogony, and later, Virgil's Aeneid, among other things.

Most notably, the Illiad showcased the seige of Troy, focusing mostly on Achilles's role and his dispute with Agamemnon.

The Aeneid focused on Aineas, who fought in the Trojan War, and escaped Troy to found Alba Longa, where the founders of Rome were from (they presumably descended from Aeneas).

It is also known that there are lost works about the Trojan War, which describe other parts of the war such as the sack of Troy.


Why did Asuna apologize at the end of the Aincrad arc? At the end of the Aincrad arc of SAO on episode 14, on the big glass plane, Asuna was apologizing to Kirito and I don't know why. Was it because she jumped in front of the sword, or was it somthing else?

As you know Asuna and Kirito are madly in love with each other and that the game is deadly (quite literally). As any lover would do, they promised each other to survive the game and meet up in the real world, fall in love again and get married and so on. You know who he was fighting with but she thought that he was about to die from a lethal blow and decided to jump and save her man and eventually breaking the promise.


Who controls the mind after fusion in DBZ? In Dragon Ball Z, after fusion, who controls the mind and the body? Is it both or a single person?

There are several types of fusion. For the majority of these, the more dominant/stronger individual controls the mind and body.

For Piccolo and Nail, they did the Namekian Fusion, Piccolo was the more dominant. There was also Cell and the Androids. Cell fused with them by a type of fusion called Absorption. There was also the permanent fusion of Supreme Kai and his servant Kibito by using The Potara Earrings. Supreme Kai's personality was the one that stood out after that. For Dragon Ball Super we also see Kale and Caulifla fuse into Kefla who actually only seems to inherit Caulifla's personality.

In the normal fusion, the one you are more than likely asking about, the one that comes after initiating the Fusion Dance. A new being is created from both individuals. This being will..

  combine both their attributes, from strength and speed to reflexes, intelligence and wisdom. When properly fused, the single being created has an astounding level of power, far beyond what either fusees would have had individually.

So, none of the fusees control the mind after the normal fusion. The being created after is a combination of both of their individual attributes and as such can think for itself.


What time travel category applies on Steins;Gate? I'm kind of a fan of time travel stories, so I got a little disappointed with Steins;Gate.

According to Wikipedia,

  Time travel themes in science fiction and the media can generally be grouped into three categories: immutable timeline; mutable timeline; and alternate histories, as in the interacting-many-worlds interpretation.

When they explained timelines in the show, I got the idea of the timelines being alternate, but then we got all of this "Alpha/Beta timeline", and that goes more with the immutable timelines, with some alternate-difficult-to-reach timelines.

And at the end, Okabe couldn't change the beta timeline, except if he cheated himself (which would make the timeline mutable)...

So, did the scriptwriters just cherry-picked things as they felt it could add more drama? (For example, I was telling myself all the time: if Kurisu dies in timeline beta, and Mayuri dies in timeline alpha... wouldn't the solution be going to timeline Gamma?!)

Am I missing something?

Steins;Gate mainly works with mutable timelines with an infinite amount of world lines and borrows many time travel concepts, primarily the black hole theory, to mix into the story.

In Steins;Gate, the time travel theory consists of mutable timelines and alternate timelines. However, Okarin is the only one that is aware of the changes in the mutable timeline. For everyone else, their memories are only from the timeline that they're in. Also, there are some events that cannot be changed in the mutable timeline and are limited to the current timeline,

   such as Mayuri's death.

However, there are alternate timelines, revealed as attractor fields. The main timeline changes to another alternate timeline when there is a major event, and yet Okarin is the only one that is aware when this happens.

So there are limits to changing the past in the current timeline and can only be changed with a major shift to one of the other alternate timelines.

To clear things up, the current timeline follows the rules of a mutable timeline. The past can be changed to some degree and people's memories change accordingly. If there are enough of major changes in the current timeline, it converges into an alternate timeline which has different limits to changing the past.


What chapter of the Seven Deadly Sins manga is Episode 20? Alright so I am caught up with the anime but cannot wait for the next episode (currently on episode 20). What chapter would match the anime?

Since you said you are currently on episode 20 and cannot wait for the next episode, I'm assuming that you are on season 2, so:

The 20th episode of Season 2 corresponds to the chapters 176, 177, 178, 179 of the manga.

Source:Wiki


What is the music at season 3 episode 10 at 16:40 when bakugou flies towards kirishima? What is the music that started playing at 16:40 when Bakugou starts flying toward Kirishima at season 3 episode 10

That song is called Trinity and it is from My Hero Academia 2 Original Soundtrack Disk 2

You can hear it here.


Why there are many scenes in anime that take place on the roof? Why there are many scenes in anime that take place on roofs, particularly the roof of schools?

School roof seem to be a popular place for students who want to be alone with no one else there. Sometimes they come in for lunch, or just relax there.

Angel Beats!, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Kampfer, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

This is also on the roof, but it's hopital roof

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

They even use it for fighting scene

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

Sometimes there's even a garden on the roof of the school.

The World God Only Knows

Any reason why does this common occurrence?

There are many reasons for people to go to rooftops.
One of those reasons would be Combat.

if the characters spend all their time in a crowded school or office
building, the roof might be the only place that they feel like they have any room to maneuver for a fight. Bonus points if the building has some other reason to be up there, such as a rooftop garden, heliport, or basketball court. source

Usually the protagonist doesn't want to fight in a crowded place where people might get hurt ( there are some exceptions ). They usually move to a place where the least damage can be done to the surroundings Aka the rooftops.
Another reason would be alone time

With the usual size of homes in Japan, sometimes the only option available to a character who desperately needs to be alone is to climb up and sit on the roof of their house. There they can look up at the night sky and contemplate their place in the universe in peace and quiet. source

In allot of story's the main protagonist lives in a crowded city and as described the only place to go would be The roof top
As for schools in japan there are many different layouts. Smaller schools with less place for club activity's might actually place clubs as the gardening club on the roof. Allowing the club to exist without taking to much space away for other clubs making the roof a more pleasant place to stay for students there for preferring them to eat lunch and hangout on the roof more often.
In other scenarios the school might not use the roof for anything and there will be no attention on the roof. There for making it the perfect place for socially awkward and or weird protagonists to eat there lunch without getting disturbed.
I left my answer to these 2 specific as your pictures hint the most to these 2 scenarios. if you where to list all potential roof top scenarios this answer would become to broad/big


In One Piece, why doesn't Robin tell Luffy what had happened during her training? Why didn't Robin tell Luffy what had happened during her training since she met Dragon, Luffy's dad.

Also meeting,

    Sabo

In the Dressrosa arc.

It seems odd that no one else in the crew shared their stories with each other.

Since the strawhat Pirates reunited, they have been on a rollercoaster ride of events. In the One Piece universe, not much more than a few days or maybe a week has passed and they just did not have time to "catch up". They always have had bigger things to worry about. The thing is, suppose they would have had the time, it actually makes a lot of sense for Robin to keep quiet about her whereabouts and it quite fits her character as well. The following list are reasons why Robin should clearly not have told Luffy about Sabo.

Robin did not know about the relationship Sabo, Ace and Luffy shared. She only knew Ace and Luffy were brothers.
Even if Sabo did tell Robin, she did not know Luffy considered Sabo to be death.
Even if Robin did know about all of this (which seems very unlikely), Sabo was to be considered death for the rest of the world too. So if anything, he probably wanted to keep it that way for the time being.
Sabo might even have asked Robin to keep it a secret, to not spoil the surprise. He probably wanted to tell Luffy himself, similar to how Shanks did not want to meet Luffy during the Marineford War.
Robin has been hiding her activities since she was just a child, so it was just natural for her, not to talk about it anyway.
Even if Robin wanted to share her whereabouts, she was probably told not to do so by Dragon himself, because being associated with the Revolutionary Army has major consequences. The World Government might want to interrogate her about the Revolutionary Army as lots is still unknown about them as of chapter 787. They want to keep a low profile as long as possible.

Edit as per Masked Man's comment:

  Robin doesn't really "socialize" much, she is serious most of the time and doesn't get into "personal discussions" too much, so it would be totally out of character for her to talk for hours about what she did during the timeskip.


What is the violin soundtrack that plays in episode 47 when Gon receives Ging's tape? What is the soundtrack (probably violin) that plays in episode 47 of Hunter x Hunter 1999 when Gon receives Ging's tape?

If you are talking about the music that is playing in the background while the tape recording of his father is being played then it's not a violin but a harmonica.

It is the harmonica version of the song "Ohayou" (Composed by Keno) which is part of the soundtrack in the first anime adaptation of Hunter x Hunter.

You can listen to it on youtube


Origin of the king punch In the beginning of the Dressrosa arc Luffy enters a championship to win his late brother's devil fruit, the Mera Mera no Mi. During the even in the Block B battle, Elizabello II uses his king punch to pretty much take down everybody (except Bartolomeo).

What is the origin of Elizabello's power? Does he use a devil fruit or is he born as an ancient weapon (like Pluton or Poseidon aka. Shirahoshi? Or is that simply physical strength?

It is simply physical strength... combined with flair put in by Oda.

There are a lot of odd abilities in one piece that are not devil fruits or have any real explanation.  Sanji legs catch fire and don't burn him.  Zoro makes tornadoes. Fishmen summon water from thin air.  The king's punch is odd in our world but, there, it is just a very strong punch that takes a lot of focus, warming up, and talent to use.

There doesn't appear to be any haki, devil fruit, or weapons.


What are the badges that Ryou wears? In Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, the character Ryou wears five colored badges on his outfit.

His article on the Code Geass Wiki says nothing about this. What do these badges signify?

Here are images of the badges that I believe are clearer (taken from blogsuki.com):

So, what do we see?

A rising Sun, a traditional motif for Japan;
An 'R';
A mask with two colored halves, smiling;
A geometric pattern;
A yellow-green thing that I do not even know what that is;

Apart from the rising Sun, and maybe the 'R' could stand for Ryou, I do not really have an idea of what these symbols would mean.


Hyuuga and Uchiha clan family roots? The Uchiha clan is descended from the Hyuuga, right? So then why is the Hyuuga clan not seen during the founding of the Konoha Village? How did the Uchiha awaken Sharingan, when originally they had Byakugan? How did they come into changing their name? Would an Uchiha be able to awaken Byakugan? On that note, what would happen if a person were to obtain byakugan, eternal mangekyou sharingan, and rinnegan?

EDIT (4/2/14):
So now Kaguya is shown to have Byakugan. It is evidence that Uchiha, Senju, and Hyuuga are indeed related. But how does the Hyuuga then come about?

The Uchiha are not a descendant clan of the Hyuuga. That was speculated by Kakashi in the very early stages of the series.

Much more information was revealed afterwards (SPOILER! Hover to view):

   Both the Uchiha and the Senju (The clan of the First Hokage) are descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, who created ninjutsu and had the powers of a god.

Also

   A Rinnegan is the next stage of evolution after the Mangekyo Sharingan, so you can't really use them both at once on the same eye. The Byakugan has nothing to do with it and is a completely separate technique.


Is it possible to make such a clean cut? I started reading Rurouni Kenshin, and came across this scene:

Is it possible to perform such a clean cut, or is this just some made up anime fiction? If so, what is the name of this style/trope? (I don't particularly dislike seeing it. It has its charm.)

Edit:

As it seems materials seem to play a large role in the possibility, the tools used in this particular setup are:

A daikon radish
A kitchen knife in the 11th year of Meiji (1878) made by a legendary swordsmith's son.

I'm not sure if the Sceptics site would be a better fit for the "is this possible" portion of the question, but I'll give my attempt at an answer.

As stated by my comment, TV Tropes calls this Clean Cut (which it argues is sometimes related to Absurdly Sharp Blade). Given that their naming for this is very "straightforward" (i.e. this trope describes making very clean cuts with blades) compared to others (e.g. "idiot hair" or "ahoge") it seems reasonable to conclude that this trope is generally referred to as "Clean Cut".

It's not very clear whether or not this is possible in real life - this would most certainly depend on the sharpness of the blade, the thickness of the material in question, and the exact material being cut, among other things. For example, in my experience, it's much easier to cleanly chop reasonably sized vegetable segments (at least with carrots, onions, turnips, etc - vegetables that aren't of the leafy type) than to cut meat that way.

As per the now edited question: the vegetable here is a daikon, which is used in a lot of East Asian cooking. I'll need to look further to check the possibility of cutting daikon very neatly in that form. With this specific vegetable, a relatively clean cut (assuming good technique) seems possible, as per videos such as this one and this, but I'm not really sure.


How can one achieve incredible chakra such as that of the Third Raikage or Kisame? Kisame was known as tailed beast without tails. This is because he had an incredible amount of chakra, so much that Samehada had an affection toward him.

A's father, the Third Raikage, could even combat the Hachibi all alone!
What is the source of such an amount of chakra? Is it hereditary? Or won by practice? Or just by birth?

Might Guy, the Green Beast of Konoha, opened the 8 Gates to surpass Kisame, but doing this takes a risk on his life. So it is certainly not the manipulation of chakra points, since neither the Third Raikage nor Kisame seem to be risking their lives to get such an amount of chakra.

There are times where a genius is born. It doesn't have to be in raw chakra, but in skill, brains, willpower, etc.

Itachi for example is considered a genius, a fast learner, combat analyst and very powerful.
Madara is a genius. Awakening the Mangekyo, having power many shinobi feared.
A's father can also be considered a genius. Steel skin and iron blood, along with the incredible chakra and durability to match that of the Eight Tails.

Kisame is a slightly different case. He's definitely fearsome strong, but his gigantic chakra reservoirs actually came from his sword, Samehade, which has the ability to consume the chakra of the victims it hits.


How Naruto can be a jinchuuriki if his mother is still alive? Inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi world, Naruto's parents are still alive, but Naruto is still a jinchuuriki. How is that even possible?

Even for an Uzumaki, extraction means death, so why would Minato transfer the Nine Tails to their son?
Can someone explain what's going on here?

What you need to remember is that the Infinite Tsukuyomi and Limited Tsukuyomi are very advanced illusions trapping people in a dream world where everything is possible and it is designed to make them happy. One of Naruto's dreams is to have his parent's with him so while in this illusion it does not matter that in reality his mother would be killed by the removal of the tailed beast because the illusion would prevent that from happening.

Remember it is just an illusion designed to trap the victim with their own happiness.


How did Madara fake his death during his battle with Hashirama? Did Madara use Izanagi or Izanami and if yes then how did he have two Rinnegans? If someone uses Izanagi their sharingan gets destroyed right? If he used Izanagi then he should have only one sharingan left and then that evolved into Rinnengan. How does he have two Rinnengans?

Spoiler alert for if you haven't finished the manga or anime

  Madara used the Izanagi to cheat death (just like I said in the comment section). The second part that I said was wrong. When he was fighting Hashirama he bit off a part of his (Hashirama's) arm, then after his "death" he vomited up the piece of flesh and implanted it into his wounds, which let him activate the Rinnegan (in both eyes).

You should remember that Hashirama is Ashura's reincarnation and Madara is Indra's (Ashura and Indra are The Sage of Six Paths' children), which is the reason why he was able to awaken it (Rinnegan) in the first place.

  The Rinnegan can typically be awakened by gaining Hagoromo's chakra either by reproducing it from combining the chakra of Hagoromo's sons, Indra and Asura, or by directly receiving chakra from Hagoromo himself.

Also,

  Madara's Sharingan did not become Rinnegan until decades later, at the end of his natural lifespan; this also seemingly restored the eyesight lost from his use of Izanagi.

So he didn't awaken the it right away. (The other part of your question is also answered above).

Sources:

Naruto volume 71: I Love You Guys
Rinnegan


What is the reading order for Yoshiki Tonogai's different manga series? I can't figure out which I am supposed to read first of Yoshiki Tonogai's manga: Doubt, Judge, and Secret. I know they are all related, but in what order are they supposed to be read?

The order in which they were written is how they are supposed to be read: Doubt, then Judge, and finally Secret.

From Yoshiki Tonogai's Wiki:

  Doubt, which was completed in February, 2009, and released in the U.S via Yen Press in April 2013 and July 2013. He is also the artist and writer of Judge, the sequel to Doubt, and Secret, the third in the Doubt series, all connected by the recurring appearance of the iconic Rabbit mask from Doubt.


How did Deidara get mouths in the palms of his hands? Deidara uses the mouths in his palms to prepare clay for his explosion release. How did he get these mouths? Was he born with them or did he acquire them some other way?

Somewhat contrary to the other two answers, it is actually unknown how Deidara got the mouths in his hands, as it is not revealed in canon.

The Wikia does mention the hands in their Iwagakure Kinjutsu article, however it's important to note that the part talking about the hands is merely speculative.

Quote from Wikia (emphasis my own):

  It is likely that the mouths on the user's palms and chest are the result of using this technique

The technique he stole from Iwagakure is talked about in the third databook:

In this Data Book article, it mentions the technique that he steals from Iwagakure is the ability to fold his chakra into clay. It can be guessed at that this is where the hands come from, but it's possible that he got the hands elsewhere and can merely use that ability through those mouths.


Sibling relationship in Big Mom family We see a lot of the girls trying to impress Katakuri and they get embarrassed when he looks at them and their hearts will race if they think he is going to praise them.

I don't think this is normal if they look at him only as a brother. Maybe I'm wrong to think that way (I'm an only child, not much experience with siblings) but was there ever any indication that a romantic relationship is possible between siblings in the Big Mom family?

Was there ever any indication of siblings getting married in the Big Mom family?

At this moment, there are none sibling relationship between Big Mom Pirates' crew. However, we know that marriage for big mom only mean the expansion of their crew, for example, Pudding have to get married with Sanji because Big Mom want Germa66 technology, and Chiffon got married with Bege so they would join them. Considering this, even if they like each other, it's quite unlikely for her children to have some serious relationship among them unless it increase crew strength in some way.

In Wiki there's a list of Charlotte family member, and there's only two known in-laws so far: Capone Bege and Aladine. Both are not Big Mom's children


Can 18 absorb energy? In Dragon Ball Z, androids 19 and 20 can absorb energy. In the other hand, 17 and 18 had an infinite supply of energy. But according to ScrewAttack which uses to make very detailed analysis of superheroes from cartoons, animes, sci-fis, comics and videogames (they made a Goku vs Superman video with almost 40 million views) , 18 can absorb energy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcNvMW4s9a8. Did I miss something? I dont remember anywhere in DBZ, DBS , the manga or DBGT stated that 18 can absorb energy. Is this idea present in any videogame or something?

So let me preface this by stating that I do subscribe to screw attack and I f******* LOVE their death battle series and 1 minute melee. (Shang Tsung vs Akuma was my first one).

With that being said, they are wrong on more than a couple occasions about certain capabilities because they don't seperate canon/non-canon when they do these battles.

Canonically, android 17 and 18 do not have this capability. It is a bit of confusion regarding it because it never appeared in any of the anime (I cannot vouch for the manga). This is because they are a fundamentally different series of machines designed differently from the others on a core level. I won't spoil what those are but lets just say they are more human than you think.

Aside from that in Xenoverse and Xenoverse 2 they did add that skill to their movesets for continuity of the android type characters. Personally, I hate that decision. It was a bad design choice and only adds more to the fact that you can't trust games as cannnon to anime and manga.

Fact of the matter is, their analysis is ok given that they did (probably, I haven't watched the newest one yet) cite the games as a resource that they used. But just because it's cited doesn't make it canon.

Lastly, I'd like to give a shoutout to Dbzfan's answer for bringing this question into more visibility for me. And include some links

1)https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/6h9hgy/android_18_can_absorb_energy_even_though_she_is_a/

2)http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Energy_Absorption


What is this anime or manga about "Leben Nicht"? I'm not sure what it is or what it's called. The title seems to be in Russian but that got me nowhere... All it says is "Leben Nicht" at the top followed by "168cm" and "47kg".

It shows a girl with white hair next to a girl who I guess is her except the white-haired version almost looks like she went through a Frankenstein surgery with her skin having scars and such. It looked interesting to me but I can't find it anywhere. It had Japanese writing but I don't read Japanese.

Does anyone know what this anime or manga is?

This seems to be an original character by artist 浦助 (Urasuke), sometimes known by other names such as "ursk420" or "tetsu420". It was posted to his pixiv account roughly a year ago (standard disclaimer: Pixiv links are not guaranteed to be work-safe since the content is dynamically generated). The character's name is Leben Nicht (German meaning roughly "not alive"). The caption for the picture and the tag "オリジナル" ("original", used when a character is not part of any series) both indicate that there isn't any anime or manga about the character, so unfortunately it seems you're out of luck on that end. However, the picture was released such a way as to allow essentially unlimited derivative works, so you may be able to find more images of this character.

I don't think this artist has been involved in any other professional manga or anime to date, though it's hard to tell. At the very least I couldn't find references to any such works after skimming his pixiv page, blog, interview page and twitter. He does have a sizable following online, but according to his pixiv profile he mostly draws original characters.


What part of manga is this on Dragonball? (NSFW) What part of manga is this on Dragonball? I've just seen this and the image seems legit to me.

It's from Dragon Ball H (link may be little NSFW, it's mostly censored). It's a doujin drawn by a circle called "Garland".


In Fullmetal Alchemist, what does a State Alchemist's pocket watch do? In Fullmetal Alchemist, it is stated a number of times that a state alchemist's pocket watch increases their power, but there doesn't seem to be a clear mechanism for that. How does that work, and what does increasing the power of an alchemist mean?

As stated in this wiki,

  ...each State Alchemist is given a silver pocketwatch to
  hold as identification. This watch is engraved with the symbol of the
  State Alchemist program - the Amestrian Dragon circumscribed in a
  hexagram (though both anime series alter the hexagram to a nondescript
  polygram, presumably so as not to invoke Judaism). Although the manga
  does not describe the pocketwatch as anything more than official proof
  that the carrier is a State Alchemist, the 2003 anime suggests that
  each pocketwatch is an alchemical amplifier. The 2003 anime also
  depicts the watch's silver chain as extendable, as in the instance
  when the Strong Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong uses it to
  tie up a target.

So, according to the 2003 anime, the watch amplifies the alchemist's powers. However, both manga and FMA:Brotherhood shows that the watch is simply a form of identification, much like a police badge.

Also note that in the anime the watch is the indicator which people use to recognize Edward as a State Alchemist. I believe that unless the State Alchemist himself tells you who he is, the presence of the watch is the only other way to know it (they also get a certificate, but I doubt they carry it around).


The Tree of Life in Fullmetal Alchemist I've noticed references to the Kabbalah in a couple of anime I've watched.  One of them is Fullmetal Alchemist.

Fullmetal Alchemist has the Tree of Life on the Gate:

So, my question is, Is there any deeper meaning to the use of the Kabbalistic tree of life, or is it just used because it looks cool?

The Tree of Life is one of the most important symbolism in western alchemy.

The spiritual nature was especially highlighted among early practitioners of alchemy, but I would say that it was more Hermetic occultism than religious Judaism/Christianity. (Therefore, some people might spell it Qabalah rather than Kabbalah.)

The 10 emanations/attributes and the paths in the Tree were associated with the alchemical metals, elements, and planets that govern the alchemical process. The image below shows the tree with astrological planetary symbols associated. In alchemy, these planets were associated with various metals and elements. Therefore, an emanation might correspond to the sun and hence gold, and so on.

Therefore, it is only natural that it would make an appearance in an anime about alchemists.

For reference, you can find a giant essay here, although I haven't gone through all of it: "Secret Fire: The Relationship Between Kundalini, Kabbalah, and Alchemy"


Why didn't Shouko confess her feelings to Shoya afterwards? At the scene where Shouko tries to give a plant pot decoration thingy, she tried to confess her feeling to Shoya, but it was rather interpreted as 'tsuki (moon)'.

I'm wondering now why Shouko didn't confess her feelings later?

After her initial failure, Shoko lost heart. Additionally, another opportunity never showed up.

First, let's examine what happened. Shoko finally felt comfortable enough around Shoya to try speaking aloud, and she changed her hair so that she could confess her feelings, but Shoya rejected her not once, but twice. The first time was by telling her to use sign language, even going so far to admit she sounded weird when Shoko asked. The second rejection came when he misunderstood her confession as meaning "moon". It really doesn't matter if Shoya genuinely was having a difficult time understanding what Shoko was saying; this outcome definitely hurt Shoko and shattered her confidence. This is evident when she runs home and throws herself on her bed, only communicates by sending two despairing texts to Yuzuru. She also went back to mainly using sign language to speak to Shoya. Supposing her romantic feelings even remained intact afterwards, she wouldn't be trying again for a long while. In her despair, she probably felt stupid for trying in the first place.

And then what happened? Soon afterwards, even more of their former classmates started showing up at the Tuesday meetings (invited or otherwise). Shoko was alone with Shoya a lot less often, so there were few opportunities to confess with him. And with what happened later in the story, Shoko became more preoccupied with her feelings of guilt, pushing any ideas of confessing far from mind.


How many DBZ episodes were actually made? I've seen 276 episodes of DBZ but in many places it is written that there are 291 episodes.

Is this true or just a rumor? If it's true then is there anything I've missed out?

According to the Dragon Ball Wiki

Season 1 has 39 Episodes
Season 2 has 35 episodes
Season 3 has 33 episodes
Season 4 has 32 episodes
Season 5 has 26 episodes
Season 6 has 29 episodes
Season 7 has 25 episodes
Season 8 has 34 episodes
Season 9 has 38 episodes

Total number of episodes are 291

However, the above count of episodes is based on the original episode numbering. The dubbed episode numbering difers from the original numbering.

So, based on the original episode numbering there are 291 episodes and based on dubbed episode numbering there are 276 episodes in Dragon Ball Z.

Quoting from the wiki

  ... lasting 291 episodes in Japan, and 276 episodes in the United States originally, although all 291 episodes were later broadcast when content from the first 67 episodes was restored.

From another source

  In Japan it ran from 1989-1996, and was an extremely popular show, spanning a total of 291 episodes.

Few lines later,

  When Dragon Ball Z was first produced in the US, FUNimation Entertainment collaborated with Saban Entertainment to finance and distribute the series to television, sub-licensed home video distribution to Pioneer Entertainment (later known as Geneon Universal Entertainment), contracted Ocean Productions to dub the anime into English, and hired Shuki Levy to compose an alternate musical score. This dub of Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 67 episodes into 53, and is often referred to as the Ocean Dub. It aired in 1996 for two seasons on the WB, but was canceled in 1998.

Another few paragraphs later,

  After acquiring the license for the first two seasons of the show, FUNimation began redubbing it with their cast in order to keep the series's dubbing consistent, and redubbed the original uncut 67 episodes of the series. FUNimation then announced that they would release these 67 uncut episodes in the Ultimate Uncut Special Edition DVD line, releasing the first DVD on April 12th, 2005. However this DVD set was canceled before every episode was released, in favor of the soon-to-come FUNimation Remastered Box Sets.

  But all 67 uncut episodes of Dragon Ball Z were later aired on
  Cartoon Network, beginning on June 14th, 2005 and continuing
  throughout the Summer.

So basically in the initial dubbing (Ocean Dub), few episodes were "trimmed" and combined together, thereby reducing the total number of episodes in the series from 291 to 276. The episodes were not deleted, but parts of a few episodes were edited, removed and combined with other episodes.

However, later in the FUNimation uncut dub all 291 episodes were aired.


How is it possible to take 7 days to rescue the trapped survivors in the train crash? I'm asking about episode 9, in which Otonashi remembered that in his past life, he was involved in a train crash accident. The illogical thing is: what on earth takes the rescue team so long to notice there are people trapped in there and to actually rescue them? It took them 7 days! That is, a full week!

It might appear absurd to some people (maybe it really is), but I think there is an in-universe (in-Keyverse) reason: they were forgotten. I have thought about it when answering this question that since Jun Maeda doesn't have many tricks up his sleeves, it must be explainable with the logic from his other works. And I think I've found it in One (and in Little Busters!):

  Someone about to leave to the Eternal World starts to be forgotten approximately one week before going.

Note that the mechanisms in the Eternal World are really the same as those in the Afterlife World. In One, Kouhei was banished to the Eternal World because he broke the pledge with his deceased younger sister, that he would always remember her, by going out with other girls and therefore forgetting about his younger sister. That is exactly what happened to Otonashi: his purpose in life used to be his younger sister, Hatsune, but she died of illness. After observing a fully recovered child ready to leave the hospital, he made up his mind that he would live for someone else, to save that someone from dying from illnesses. Thus, he broke the pledge with Hatsune, as his center of life was no longer his younger sister, so he would receive his punishment by being sent to the Afterlife World.

  However, he or she is remembered the moment that person returns. If a strong emotional bond is established in the real world before leaving, a person in the Eternal World can be returned after approximately one year.

He established a strong emotional bond with Kanade when he signed the organs donor card (it could be that she received her heart from Otonashi or someone else, but she didn't know whom for sure), so it ensured his return to the real world after approximately one year (so he didn't pass on with the rest because it hadn't been one year since his arrival in the Afterlife World, but this may need a separate question and answer to explain).

I surmise that his experience in the Afterlife World could be training Otonashi to cope with loss and thinking for himself for once (like being able to love a girl). Then when he comes back stronger (waking up in the real world again), then it could follow the story of Little Busters!:

   Rejecting this turn of events, Rin travels back into the artificial world again (this time created by Riki and Rin) and helps Riki overcome his weakness. Afterwards, the two of them go back to waking up at the crash site. This time, Riki and Rin work together to save everyone at the crash scene. Kyousuke, who sneaked onto the bus (as a third year he was not allowed to go), managed to block the leak hole on the gas tank to delay the explosion, despite his injuries being far greater than anyone else. Everyone in the bus recovers from their injuries, although Kyousuke's recovery takes longer due to extensive injuries. Finally, after Kyousuke returns, he rents a minibus, and the members of the Little Busters set out for a trip to the ocean.

So somehow his abdominal injuries didn't take his life and he met Kanade again.


Where is Orochimaru? Why isn't Orochimaru releasing the Edo Tensei seal of Hashirama?

Wouldn't that be helpful, as Madara would no longer be able to use his Senjutsu chakra?

Madara has obtained the cells of Hashirama and has them infused into his body, irrespective of what happens to Edo tensei hashirama it will not affect anything with respect to Madara because he has been revived using the rinne tensei technique of six paths.

In short madara has both powers of Senju and Uciha and on top of that he is completely by himself (unlike being under Kabuto's control briefly when he was revived).


What's this anime with talking monsters? This anime is like Pokemon or Digimon. It has various talking monsters, who are friends with some humans and travel around. One of the monsters is kind of a big wolf. There is also big rabbit which stands with two feet and is about the size of a human. Both of them can talk, and the wolf always says something like "I'm gonna eat you!" to the rabbit. I watched it in early 2000s or something around that time. Does anyone know this anime?

The show you are looking for is called "Monster Rancher".

The name of the wolf you are probably referring to is "Tiger" and the rabbit's name is "Hare".


Strongest beings in High School DxD Who are the strongest beings in High School DxD?

If they can be ranked, it's even better. If not, at least I'd like to know why they are strong.

According to the author:

In no particular order Ophis, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Śakra, Thor, Typhon (Or Fenrir), Hades, Aten, and Lugh.
That's how it is. Great Red isn't included because it is a creature who basically doesn't fight (I get many claim that this isn't true!), and it is the ranking before Ophis and Fenrir lost their powers. What you will have to pay attention to are the Hindu mythology which hasn't appeared in the series yet. Well, those who know about their mythology know it, but the Hindu Gods all have cheat-like abilities. If I make them appear in DxD, it will turn out like the battle in Dragon Ball, so I controlled myself. The Hindu mythology will be placed in the higher ranks of the Top-10 strongest that Vali spoke about. It truly is terrifying. If DxD continues to go on for much longer, I'm thinking of doing "The Destruction God Shiva arc" as a last resort. So I have no plan to make them appear until then. By the way the true Sirzechs and the serious Ajuka will be placed among the ranks.

the above comes from a fan translation of the Afterword found in High School DxD: Volume 13
In an interview, he also mentions Azazel is likely to be in the top 10 once he powers up enough (he's a genius that creates gears and stuff so it doesn't come as a surprise).
I can tell you the top 3 are: Ophis (before what happened in volume 11. Poor girl...), Trixeha and Great Red. The Hindu Gods would come afterward After that the rest of the list
So basically there are 3 tiers between the strongest beings.
All of them are over the top though. Remember how tough it was to defeat Loki? (Vali + his team + Issei + Rias team + Azazel + Akeno's father, leader of Fallen angels) and still, they needed Thor's hammer. Well, Loki isn't even among the strongest beings.


What is the Gundam anime and movies and OVA order? There are a lot of Gundam anime series, movies and OVAs, so I don't know where to start.

Can anyone tell me its order to watch it?

There are 6 different accepted universes within the Gundam Multiverse.
Each has its own characters unique to its timeline, and does not intersect with any other timelines (ex: In Gundam Wing, the events from Mobile Suit Gundam never happened).
They are listed as follows:
Universal Century Time line (Best place to start to get into it, every single Gundam series out there is rooted in characters/gundam from this time line).
In order they are:

Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
Char's Counterattack
MS Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket MS
Gundam F91 MS Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
MS Victory Gundam
MS Gundam Unicorn.
Turn A Gundam (This series is really good and is a huge shift in focus from prior gundams. Its set roughly 1000 years in the future, and Turn A is quite possibly the most powerful Gundam in the entire Gundam franchise).

After Colony Timeline This is probably where most people are introduced into the Gundam world. A group of space colony scientists build Gundams piloted by young boys in hopes of weakening Earths oppressive Government.

Gundam Wing
Endless Waltz

Cosmic Era Timeline If the Universal Century seems to "old" for your tastes, this is a great place to jump into Gundam.

Gundam SEED
Gundam SEED Destiny
Gundam SEED MSV Astray
Gundam SEED Stargazer

After War Timeline Welcome to your post apocalyptic Gundam universe. Basically the series take place after a giant colony is dropped on Earth, wiping out almos the entire population.

Gundam X

Future Century Timeline Instead of giant wars and colonies fighting one another, rulers are decided by a Gundam tournament that occurs every 4 years.

G Gundam

Anno Domini Timeline Several factions are constantly vying for power when a mysterious group known as Celestial Beings creates Gundams that are years beyond an current MS technology.

Gundam 00

That concludes our journey through the very bumpy Gundam multiverse lane. I left out a few movies and tv specials, but I think I captured the bigger picture here. Now go forth, and become Gundam maesters!
The above was found here.


Why didn't Tobi bring Sasuke to fight in the Shinobi war? Tobi, Zetsu clones, shinobi's reincarnated by Kabuto and Madara are taking part in the battle. But Tobi had Sasuke in a hideout under the control of Zetsu to get recovered from eye transplant surgery . Why didn't he bring to the war after he gets cured, while Sasuke had a revenge against Konoha?

It is like you said, he had Sasuke under the supervision of Zetsu, recover from the eye transplant.

Read if you are uptodate with the manga

   Right after Sasuke was fit to join the fight he set out for the battlefield. On his way he met Itachi and things changed there.
 Sasuke along with Itachi took down Kabuto, and then Orochimaru appears from within Kabuto. Along with Orochimaru, Sauske goes in search of the shinigami mask using which Orochimaru tears open the stomach of the Death Reaper, thereby releasing all those that were sealed inside the death reaper seal.
 After this the 4 Hokages are resurrected and then the plot goes into the back drop, and finally Sasuke makes the decision that he will fight for Konoha and thus joins the battle.

This is the flow of the time line. So I see no part where Sasuke was lazing around or Tobi kept him under lock and key.


How did paradox work in Kurugaya's route? In Little Buster Anime Season 2 (Refrain) and Kurugaya route, there is a certain paradox which is stuck in 20th all the time. I played Little Buster but I forgot most of it. In anime, It seems like that paradox is created by Rin. Is there any difference between Anime and Visual Novel? What is the cause of paradox?

As far as I remembered, When Little Buster found out Riki interested to Kurugaya, Rin didn't show her jealous in Visual Novel as it is described in anime season 2.

The reason behind the paradox was only implied in Kurugaya's Route, but was made much more obvious in the anime.  Kurugaya wanted to keep the world intact forever, and to keep Rin and Riki from waking up, keeping the Little Busters! together.  However, this went against Kyousuke's plan of doing what he could to save them.  The time paradox and the snow were caused by the conflict between Kyousuke's willpower and Kurugaya's wish.  In the anime, it is shown that Kengo and Masato are much more exhausted as the days repeated, as well as Kyousuke altogether disappearing.  This implied that Kyousuke's will alone was not enough to beat Kurugaya's wish, and that the others had to help.


How are Anime distributed in Japan? I'm curious about how Anime are distributed in Japan. Are they held by various networks? Or do they all go to the NHK? etc.

Well in general anime is usually distributed through, including Japan,

Videogram (DVD, Blu-ray)
TV (Technically it's Broadcasting)
Screening on Theaters for Movies
Internet i.e Streaming

Now if you are asking whether NHK is the only corporation that broadcasts anime, then the answer is No. In many cases, the said anime series is broadcast only in the area of the station producing the anime, which is usually Tokyo. In other cases it can be Osaka and Nagoya. And UHF anime tends to be broadcast in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kantō region, but not in Tokyo.

There are seven nationwide television networks (Terrestrial television) in Japan. Two owned by the national public broadcaster NHK and the remaining five belonging to the commercial sector. The Seven networks are the following,

NHK General TV
NHK Educational TV
Nippon News Network (NNN)
All-Nippon News Network (ANN)
Japan News Network (JNN)
TX Network (TXN)
Fuji News Network (FNN)

As you can see from the links below all the networks (Terrestrial television) broadcast or broadcasted anime,

NHK Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List
NNN or Nippon TV Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List
ANN or TV Asahi Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List
JNN or TBS TV Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List
TXN or TV Tokyo Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List
FNN or Fuji TV Broadcasted/Distributed Anime List

In addition to Terrestrial there are also Satellite, Cable, and UHF broadcasting.

Some Satellite television examples,

ANIMAX
Wowow (and Anime Complex)
SKY PerfecTV!

Some Independent UHF Stations (aka "UHF anime"),

TV Kanagawa
TOKYO MX
TV Saitama
Chiba TV


Next episode preview song in Darker Than Black For the life of me, I cannot find the song that plays at the end of each episode of Darker Than Black (both seasons, subbed+dubbed) during the next episode preview.

Could someone either provide the name or some way to find it?

Here's a clip of what I'm looking for - https://clyp.it/pxwptiqg.

This is "Water Forest", track #18 from the season 1 OST. Here is a 30-second extract from the beginning of the track: https://clyp.it/i5pumfdi


Is Monster available in 5.1 surround sound? According to the Amazon page, the Japanese is stereo. Is this right? Is the English version have 5.1 available, like One Piece does?

No, the English version doesn't have a 5.1 Surround track. This is probably because the original Japanese was released as only Dolby Stereo and the wasn't a way to create a 5.1 mix from the source (I have no source to back up that claim), and the show is pretty long so it's unlikely there will be a rework of the audio unless there's significant interest.

I've also looked at the HK release of Monster and that is also Dolby Stereo.


Why is Wrath so human? As we know, the homunculi can heal themselves and don't age because of the philosopher's stone.

However, Wrath doesn't seem able to heal and he gets older, despite being a homunculus. I always thought that's because he is a human who was turned into a homunculus, but Greed can also regenerate, even though he still has Lings soul and isn't 100% homunculus.

Why isn't Wrath like a normal homunculus?

When Wrath discloses his nature to Mustang, he describes what happened after the incident. First, keep this quote of his in mind:

  The Philosopher's Stone is created from the life force of countless human beings; it contains their souls.

Now, consider that Father was attempting to put all of his wrath within one being; this would require that he removed not only any wrath from within himself, but also every single wrathful soul that composed him. That means we now have a Philosopher's Stone made from dozens of wrathful souls. What does wrath do? It gets revenge.

Wrath states,

  Countless souls have battled for dominance within me. And only the most wrathful one survived.

This means that he had no healing powers because he basically had no souls to regenerate from; only one soul remains within his body (his own or someone else's), and it is not enough to both regenerate and sustain him. He is basically a human with homunculus-level skills.

I also agree with Madara's conclusion that Father would want the public figure to age and appear human, so he may have been perfectly okay with Wrath being composed of only one soul. Pride's disguise was already conspicuous enough; you can imagine the uprisings if the military leader was also accused of such things.

With regard to why he is different from Greeling, his soul was pushed aside from the infusion, whereas Ling's was strong enough to coexist with Greed's.


Why do people tend to say the Kara no Kyoukai anime "does not exist"? It's clear from the anime that it exists. Some of the characters from the main series are there. As close as I can tell, it's just a side series.

So why do hardcore Type-Moon fans say with resolve that Kara no Kyoukai is not a Type-Moon anime or that it does not exist to them?

Kara no Kyoukai, like other Type-Moon series exist in as part of the same multi-verse. While not in  the same universe as Fate or Tsukihime, they exist as an alternate universe, like Fate/Extra and Fate/kaleid liner. The characters could in theory meet one another... if the circumstances are deemed right.

Canaan, however is not part of the this multiverse.


Does the kid's inherited bubuki changed shapes to fit their owner's tastes? It seems that the inherited Bubuki (Oubu's limbs) change shape to fit the tastes of the user. It is evident in Kogane's bubuki, it has a flower pattern matching her hairpins.

Is there any reference that this is indeed so?

The answer really depends on how the Bubuki works. As far as I have seen, they seem to be a kind of creature that has a core in the form of an eyeball that has additional armour attached to them. Thus, as long as the core is not broken, they can regenerate. Thus, it would seem that with a core, the additional armour becomes the weapon they desire.

As for whether the shape is altered by the user, this is relatively easy to answer for other people, but not for Kogane's Bubuki. As seen in the below picture, the Four Heavenly Kings used other Bubuki cores to make new Bubuki exactly in the form of their old Bubuki. From the Four Heavenly Kings' example, they clearly had to be in contact with the cores to manufacture the Bubuki or Matobai could have just made it for them instead of bringing the cores to them for them to do it themselves. Thus, we can infer that in order for a Bubuki to be altered, contact need to to made.

As for whether Kogane's Bubuki changed shape, it is most likely a no. In the following picture, we see Kogane's first interaction with her Bubuki, it already has the flower pins attached. She had not contacted the Bubuki prior to that incident. Thus, it is unlikely that the Bubuki had been altered prior to her inheriting it.

More proof would be Hiiragi's Iwatooshi, where we see it sealed here in the box where he finds it. It already had the shape of a spear he used in the future, thus he had inherited it as it is without much alteration.