Is there a difference in drawing style between different anime for different demographics? I know that every anime (and manga) has a different drawing style depending on who drew it.

Clearly these aren't drawn by the same person. However, are there any set or common differences in drawing or animation styles between those targeting different demographics (shoujo, shonen, seinen, josei)?

As @nhahtdh said, this is very broad, but I'll try give an overview.

Shoujo contains a lot of flowery imagery and tends to emphasise the figures of genders - broad, manly shoulders for guys; short,slim, long-legged girls.
Many of the female characters have huge eyes with eyelashes that stand out. Usually, colors used in shoujo are lighter. Many times, colors like pink, light brown, yellow and light blue are used.

Shounen art is usually sharper and more defined than shoujo art. Obviously, there will be more action sequences with many dynamic angles and poses. Shounen tends to use more darker colors such as black and dark blue.

Josei characters are more realistically proportioned than the exaggerated shoujo artwork.

Seinen manga is a similar contrast from shounen, being more realistically proportioned. As seinen caters for the older males, a lot of seinen targeted material is ecchi or H, so this can vary quite a bit.

Within genres, styles can change also. 4koma manga consists of 4 panels and is usually comedy-oriented. Because of the lack of space, usually the artists prefer to use simpler-designed characters. This is similar to many comedy-based shows that concentrate on the jokes rather than detailed, deep characters.

Obviously, the manga is very much artist-dependent, but I hope this gives a rough outline.

I think it's worth noting that sometimes shows can parody the art styles of other genres - like this scene from Kore wa zombie desu ka? with a stereotypical shoujo scene.

Reference - Shounen Vs Shoujo Art Styles


Question about the war strategy in the 4th great ninja war So when Shikaku was explaining the war strategy, he said Mifune's company will go to assist Darui's company.

But then Mifune went to fight Hanzo and help the commando unit..how did that happen? I thought Mifune was supposed to help Darui...

In the 4th Great Ninja War, Mifune was apart of the 5th Division. This division was designed to support any other company that was in need of assistance. So he sent units to both Darui's and Kitsuchi's divisions.

  Mifune is placed in charge of the Fifth Division. Because the Fifth Division is intended to reinforce the other divisions as the need arises, Mifune sends portions of his division to support the Second Division and First Division

However, Mifune fought Hanzo in the past and lost the battle

  During their battle Hanzō's kusarigama broke through Mifune's sword and struck his head, poisoning him. With the battle finished, Hanzō expressed his beliefs to him, and, acknowledging his faith and strength, gave Mifune the antidote for the poison and left

Mifune wanted to battle Hanzō in the efforts to bring down the enemy that originally defeated him

  Wishing to fight Hanzō by himself, Mifune instructs his samurai not to interfere.


What is the current serialization status of D.Gray-Man? I realize this question has been asked before, but it was 9 months ago and more information has come out since. Here's the information I've compiled so far.

I've been searching on DGM Hiatus Thread (Manga Helpers)
I've also looked at the Jump SQ Site, but my Japanese is rather poor and I find it hard to navigate.
I've also been looking on Katsura Hosino's Instagram, not sure if it is verified that it's her's on not.
Finally I've also seen things on /r/manga that say that it's coming back.

The problem I have is that I can't find anything definite. I also wouldn't care if it started back up in either Japanese or English, I would learn Japanese if it meant I was able to start reading D.Gray again! Just wondered if you guys knew about anything more about it. Anything would be appreciated! Thanks!

According to this article dated July 4th, 2015 on Anime News Network (which I believe is a reliable source):

  Jump Square Crown will launch on July 17. The new magazine will publish Katsura Hoshino's D.Gray-man and Yasuhiro Nightow's Blood Blockade Battlefront Back 2 Back.

So D. Gray-Man is going to be serialized again, but it is going to be serialized as a quarterly manga, so it will be something like 4 chapters a year of about 100 pages each

Edit:- D Gray Man Chapter 219 has been released, 53 pages of content excluding the announcement, Color page etc.


Why does connecting an automail hurt? We could see plenty of times in both Fullmetal Alchemist anime series (at least twice in the 2003 series and at least once in the 2009 series, according to my memories) that connecting the automails seriously hurts for Ed. What's the reason?

My theory is that during connecting, it "turns on" and sends an electric wave to the brain to provide right functionality.

Essentially, after the completion of the loss of an arm or other limb, there is a raw set of nerves poking out (not literally, but you know what I mean). These are what connect to the automail's circuits. As stated by Vic, all of these nerves are stimulated simultaneously, causing a severe, severe shock to the person.

This pain is shown to be more obvious in the 2003 anime, lasting for quite some time after the connection. In the 2009 anime (Brotherhood), the repercussions of the event are significantly tamer.

Unfortunately, it's hard to pin this down exactly to something you might feel in real life. One common example would be hitting your "funny bone" which is actually a group of nerves in the elbow. However, this still does not do justice, as the nerves are not exposed and there are not that many of them.

The only thing biologically similar in our world is that of an exposed nerve under a tooth. If you've ever lost a tooth, and touched or injured the exposed nerve, you'll know that this pain pretty much brings you to your knees. And that's a tooth-area worth of nerves; expand that to your entire shoulder and you've got a HUGE amount of pain.

Given that the pain is akin to something few humans can ever even experience, it is no surprise that even the characters in the show (like Armstrong, shown above) cannot comprehend the pain behind the process.


Why does Shichika allow Princess Hitei to travel with him? The closing credits of Katanagatari show Shichika travelling with the Princess, and being pretty friendly to her. But isn't she at least indirectly responsible for Togame's death, or did I misunderstand the part where Emonzaemon mentions that only he decided himself to kill her?

So why does Shichika let her travel with him when he would have a reason to hate her?

Princess Hitei released Togame from her burdens and sent Shichika to thank Hitei for that. Hitei also confessed that she didn't dislike Togame. Hitei also was going along with the motives of her ancestor, not her own volition. So in a way, she killed Togame for two reasons, to alter the future and to release her from burdens/responsibilities. She semi-respects Togame in the end by cutting her long hair as short as Togame's. Even Shichika has a shred of humanity to realize that any needless killing is well, needless.


In which episode does Kakashi think Naruto is his sensei? In what episode does Kakashi thinks Naruto is his sensei Minato? Not the one in shuriken training, but the one on battlefield. The song My Name started playing and I remember the scene being so badass.

The episode is #329 of Naruto Shippūden, titled "Two-Man Team". It's manga equivalent is Chapter 571, "Tailed Beast Mode!!". The scene you're referring to is at 08:05.

Kakashi mistakes Naruto to be his former sensei right after Naruto deflects the five Tailed Beast Balls with astonishing speed.

Here's the scene from the manga:


How is Mystogun able to eat apples through his scarf? In Episode 28 of Fairy Tail, Mystogun is eating two apples. That's normally nothing special (obviously) but he is eating them through his "scarf".

How does he do it? I Googled for it, but the best answer is "It's magic". I can't believe that it is that easy.

Do you know how he is doing this?

Mystogan is pretty wary about revealing his face to anyone in any situation. His first appearance was at the beginning of the the arc, where he put all of the guild members to sleep, before he took a mission and left, leaving the guild quite mysteriously. If he goes as far as to do this, its safe to assume that:

Either he freezes time so that he can remove the scarf, have a bite and then unfreeze time. (Quite unlikely)
He wears a glamour charm that allows a mask like covering over his face which is just an illusion, through which he may be able to eat at will


Why can't Yunyun find a party to join? She knows advanced magic, and everyone knows she knows advanced magic because she's a Crimson Demon. She posted a note on the adventurer board at some point, but for some reason the only people she attracts aren't looking for a qualified mage, even though Crimson Demons are in apparently high demand.

I feel like Yunyun because I'm about to answer my own question.

There are large light novel spoilers forthcoming. You have been warned.

    She can't make friends or join a party because she's an idiot.

  As revealed in the Mask spinoff, Yunyun frequently goes on high level solo quests. In addition, when other adventurers get in trouble, Yunyun frequently rescues them. Every time the party tries to thank her, she says "Sorry for doing something unnecessary" and runs away.

  Because of this and the fact that she's always solo, and extremely powerful, rumors have spread through the guild that she hates associating with people. It is believed by the general population that she is a powerful loner player, like Kirito from SAO basically.

  Added to the fact that she is good looking, most of the beginner adventurers in the town believe that she is too good to be friends or party members with them, because she is a beautiful and powerful mage who doesn't like to associate with others.


What's the piece of music played at the 5min mark of episode 5 of Tokyo Ghoul? I'm asking about the classical piece played on the disc while Tsukiyama ponders over how to eat Kaneki.
I tried using Shazam to search, but unfortunately, it couldn't work for me.

Assuming that I'm watching the correct segment of Tokyo Ghoul, this is an extract from the first movement of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9.


What card game is being played by The Phantom Troupe? In episode 44, "Buildup × To A × Fierce Battle", I was wondering if anyone could tell me what card game is being played by The Phantom Troupe not involved in the fight in this episode. They seem to simply discard cards one after the other, except for one moment when one of them flips theirs over to reveal a king of hearts.

Is this a real game, or something made up similar to Gungi?

It's rather hard to say, as we see only a few clips of the game. However, it seems that the game is some variation of Cheat, where players play cards face down and tell others what card they played. The catch is that they are allowed to lie. The goal is to get rid of all your hand cards.

There are few details to pinpoint a specific variant, but it seems that the cards are played in order (see 7:10 in the episode, where they say numbers 8 to 10 in order).

Also, if your bluff is called and you're found lying or if you call a 'bluff' but the play was true, it seems you're required to add all the cards in the stack to your hand. (See 8:10 from the episode, where Shizuku plays a card, claims it's '13'. Shalnark doubts it but Shizuku reveals it to be a king. Shalnark then picks up all the cards.)

There are no signs of additional rules on how cards are dealt, how they are supposed to be played, if you can play more than one card at a time or if any cards do something special.

Could be that the game is as simple as dealing the whole deck to all players, each playing one card at a time (with Cheat rules), from 1 to 13 (and probably 1 again). This would make a simple game, but the bluffing would be intense.

The manga only shows a single panel of them playing, so that's even less information.


Why are there new airbenders in Avatar? In the spin-off of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, we learn in the second season that the bending is a gift from the Lion-turtles.

However, during season 3, there are new airbenders due to Harmonic Convergence.

Why then there are not new water/fire/earth benders?

Harmonic convergence led to great change that did more than provide a pathway between the two worlds. Since the fire nation had previously wiped out most air benders, there was a great imbalance among the four nations. There was a natural rebalancing that occurred as a result of harmonic convergence which led to an awakening for air benders only. Since Korra said this was how the world was supposed to be, a good reason for that would be that the spiritual energy helps keep a balance among the four nations and bending types.


Why were Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp surprised when they saw the Dragon from Punk Hazard? I wonder why Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp (and also Robin) were surprised when they saw the Dragon from Punk Hazard while the three of them have already seen Ryu, the Dragon that they met on Warship Island?

Their surprise stems from the fact that the Warship Island Arc is a filler arc. As One Piece wiki says:

  It is the first story arc of the series not to be based on any content from the manga by Eiichiro Oda, making it the first filler arc.

Another reason might be the fact that they had encountered a dragon (if you count it as one) only once before, and didn't expect to meet one on Punk Hazard.


Is there a specific arc for Sinon in the anime? I'm rewatching the whole SAO series and I go to the manga whenever I want to clear things up for the show but I thought about something.

In the Aincrad novels, there are specific chronological Arcs for:

  Silica, Lizbeth, Yui, Sachi

But in the second season, we see Sinon, a "main?" character. But isn't there a specific Arc for her? or some more backstory than what we see in the Anime?

   The fact that she gets scared of guns but in-game she isn't, and her past at the bank.

I couldn't find any Arcs for the characters of the second season so if there are where can I find them or what are they called?

The whole Phantom Bullet arc is Sinon's arc, in the same way the Fairy Dance is mostly Leafa's arc, for the most part. Neither character has another side-story outside of these arcs, seeing as most of their past is expanded within them.

In the Light Novels, this is Volumes 5 and 6. Most of what you want to know about Shino/Sinon will be in those two volumes.


How can there be two separate bodies with the same souls? In chapter 671 of Naruto, "Naruto and the Sage of Six Paths...!!", The Sage of Six paths told Naruto that he was the reincarnation of Ashura and Sasuke was the reincarnation of Indra. But then, he also mentioned that the previous reincarnations were Hashirama and Madara.

Because Indra's soul is inside Sasuke, and now that Madara is alive, whose soul does he have? Is there something that I've missed?

From what I understand, Indra and Ashura were transmigrated into Madara and Hashirama respectively during their lifetime. After both Madara and Hashirama died, their souls/chakra started looking for other hosts. We can say so because of what the Sage said,

  Now that Indra's transmigration is over...

Now that the new hosts are Sasuke and Naruto respectively, Indra need not be present in Madara (since he has come back to life). Madara had already attained the chakra of The Sage of the Six Paths before he died, and since he was brought back to life using the Edo Tensei, he retained the chakra of The Sage of the Six Paths.

Also from the other things that were said in the chapter,

It is safe to consider that the souls of Indra and Ashura were not controlling the host, rather used it as a container and helping the host. So we can say that both the souls of the host and Indra/Ashura existed in the same body. After the death of the host, the soul/chakra of Indra/Ashura moved on to find another host.

Now that Madara is back to life, he has his own soul in him and lacks the soul of Indra as that is present within Sasuke.

So basically, Madara's soul is his own.


Which is the highest recorded power level in Nanatsu no Taizai? I was reading the Nanatsu no Taizai wikia and I saw there Chandler's power level is listed to be 173,000 , which is over Meliodas' power level of 142,000 , which I thought to be the highest.

Which is the highest recorded power level in Nanatsu no Taizai?

As per the wiki's page on Balor's Magical Eye, the highest known-for-certain power level recorded in Nanatsu no Taizai is Ludociel's impressive 201 000 (Chapter 286, page 14). However, we know that Mael has a 200 000+ power level (Chapter 278, page 12). As this is relatively vague, Mael may or may not have a numerically higher power level than Ludociel.

Since Mael has often been described as the strongest Archangel in-universe, it is almost certain that his actual power level goes beyond 201 000. Alas, since it has never been recorded precisely, we cannot actually confirm this.


Can Katsuki Bakugo fly as much as he wants with his explosion quirk? In My Hero Academia, we see several times Bakugo using his explosion quirk to lift himself to mid-air and fly to increase his speed. How much can he uses this technique to fly? Can he fly as much as he wants or is he limited to fly a few metres above the ground?

I can't remember this being elaborated in the manga, but since it is very serious of the mechanics of the quirks, we can find out ourselves. I'll use this page as reference.

  Katsuki's Quirk allows him to sweat nitroglycerin from his palms and detonate it at will to create explosions.

So as long as he sweats, he can fly. This effect is in fact achieved by being on the right side of the shock wave of the explosion. However:

  These explosions, especially when used repeatedly in rapid succession, were actually shown to have a negative impact on Katsuki's arms.

So there is a limit.

To actually fly and not just "jump" midair, he would need to navigate the explosions constantly, adjusting their strength and also needing a really big amount stored if he wants to fly long distances, which on the other hand he needs to carry.

So if Bakugo wanted to fly, think of him as an Iron Man without repulsors in his shoes (allowing him only to navigate and accelerate/decelerate with the hands) on short fuel with every second of the repulsors being on taking a burden on his arms. Not really flying.


How does the Elementary School Principal get away with so much? In Gakuen Alice, the Elementary School Principal is involved with a lot of things that seem to be illegal, including

  the death of Mikan's father.

Is it ever said in the manga how he can get away with that? Why doesn't anyone (including the government) stop him or at least try to prosecute him?

Everything I found is this:

  He is known to cause countless chaos to the academy without leaving enough proof for his actions, which explains why he has never been punished.

Source: http://gakuenalice.wikia.com/wiki/Kuonji


What part of Tiger & Bunny do purple, white, and green plastic bins refer to? In an article I read recently, entitled "Images That Do Not Make Any Sense If You Are Not A Fan", about a Twitter hash that is currently trending, there was an image of a bunch of color-coordinated plastic bins:

The article seems to suggest that this image is somehow related to Tiger & Bunny. What part of the anime are these bins referencing?

It's related to the color-coordination of each superhero's costume. Each characters has a color they identify with:

Barnaby Brooks Jr., a.k.a. "Bunny" is White (with Red).

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a.k.a. "Wild Tiger" is Yellow (with White and Green).

Antonio Lopez, a.k.a. "Rock Bison" is Green.

Yuri Petrov, a villain known as "Lunatic," is Black.

Side note: the fried rice is a reference to how Bunny finally learns how to make fried rice (Kotetsu's favorite food).


Looking for an old anime about two (android?) girls in search of a heart I remember the anime series revolving around two girls, an older and a younger one. The younger one was some kind of android of sorts and she was sad because she wanted a heart.

The girls were both dressed as maids and the younger girl had short orange hair.

It was an older anime for sure, I must have watched it around late 90's or early 00's.

At the end of the anime, the younger android girl went into some kind of facility, probably a government facility, for some reason.

I vividly remember the ending being a bit violent, the older girl (I think she was an android too but with a heart) came to save the younger girl and they were falling down a huge circular pit type thing while being shot at.

I am pretty sure they survived but I cannot remember the name!

This sounds like Mahoromatic 2 (Something more beautiful), the second season of the series which involves battle androids (dressed as Maids in the case of these 2) and spans 14 episodes.

From the Wikipedia entry for Minawa, the orange-haired younger android:

  Minawa is first introduced in Mahoromatic ~Something More Beautiful~. Clumsy and anemic, she ends up living with Mahoro and Suguru and going to school under the pretext of being Mahoro's younger sister. She has a habit of apologizing for everything she does, even if she has done nothing wrong. She claims to be a runaway member of The Management, but is later revealed to have been sent to gather information on VESPER's battle android Mahoro after being promised a heart in return. Mahoro, however, convinces her that the fact that she can cry means she already has a heart.

The original series aired in 2001, but the one with Minawa, the orange-haired girl aired in 2002. The first series didn't have Minawa in it.

Episode 10:

   Where the enemy android from The Management tells Minawa that it's time for her to hold up her end of the bargain, so she kidnaps Suguru (the male lead) and takes him to the laboratory (where the large cylindrical room is). Mahoro comes to save him but is captured, then Minawa has a change of heart and frees everyone but gets shot in the process.Mahoro then goes crazy and destroys everythingAnd the episode ends in a huge fire fight (looking down into the bottom of the cylindrical room which is on fire)

The ending of the 2nd season:

   Is pretty violent as a culmination of both Mahoro's lifespan ending and the final battle. It's also pretty sad as well as controversial for an ending.


Does Kakashi's Sharingan use more chakra than the Uchiha clan members? As in Naruto, Kakashi used his Sharingan only during a combat.

Where as the Uchiha clan members (mainly Itachi and Madara), used their Sharingan almost all the time.

So, does the Sharingan consume more chakra in the case of Kakashi as compared to an Uchiha?

To directly answer the question, NO, it doesn't.

Theoretically, I think the consumption/amount of chakra using Sharingan comparing to other Uchihas is the same. They only differ on how they use them with their bodies. We all know that Uchihas (mainly Itachi and Madara) has bodies mainly adapted to use Sharingan thus making them efficiently use it in battles. On the other hand, Kakashi retains his body (which is not Uchiha's) causing him to use Sharingan inefficiently which in return produces waste chakra during its usage.

Sharingans are like weapons - same weapon requires equal strength in order to use them. But no different body can use the same weapon.

Don't get me wrong, the other answer is still correct. But does not necessarily answers the question.

Update

In addition, as per @mirroroftruth, Kakashi can't deactivate his Sharingan. Active Sharingan constantly use chakra.


Where can I find this song from The World is Still Beautiful? I'm searching for song from episode 12 of the anime adaptation of The World is Still Beautiful (それでも世界は美しい). I know both title and vocalist, but can't find it anywhere. It's called "Ame Okuri no Uta" （雨おくりの歌）　by Chisa Yokoyama　（横山智佐）.

It is shown in the list of insert songs in the credit roll of episode 12:

Here's the link. The OST was uploaded on September 27, three days after the official release.


When did Naruto learn how to generate a Rasengan unassisted? Jiraiya, Minato, and Kakashi each could generate and maintain a Rasengan using only one hand. When Naruto first learned the technique, he needed shadow clones to help him.

When did Naruto learn how to generate and maintain a Rasengan without the aid of shadow clones or chakra arms?

The first time Naruto used Rasengan without clones is in Naruto episode 134 at around 8:20.

Edit: Here is the part where Naruto first used Rasengan with only one hand.


Where is Claire's, Luca's, Cloche's, Frelia's and Mir's Install Ports? I know that Aurica's is behind her neck, Misha's in just above her breasts and Shurelia's is above her butt (her words)

Despite Duelithnode Crystals being used for Installing than Gathnode Crystals in Metafalse Luca and Cloche would still have an Install Port for Life Extending Agents, likewise with Claire being a 3rd Generation Reyvateil. and since Shurelia has one i would assume Frelia and Mir have one aswell

So i am wondering where Claire's, Luca's, Cloche's, Frelia's and Mir's Install Ports are?

Cloche has it on her armpits, and Luca has it on the higher part of her back, as shown in AT2 itself.
Mir has it above her navel, and Frelia has it in the same place as Shurelia. Claire's however, is unknown, and when someone asked her in the Toukousphere, she threatened to blast them with her song magic.


The title of the song in Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei season 1 episode 16 around 19:08 I'm looking for a song played in the anime Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. The song is in season 1 episode 16 and it starts around 19:08.

I've searched everywhere for it and I couldn't find it.

What is the song title?

If you're talking about the song that plays just after First High wins the match, it's track 21 "Universal Use" from the Mahouka Original Soundtrack 1.


When will the airing of Fairy Tail episode 176 begin? Will the series be aired again? If yes then when?

Yes, it is definitely starting. It was on a hault because the anime had nearly caught up with the manga.
It will be coming anytime in 2014.
The dates hasn't been revealed yet.
This article from Crunchyroll has information about the return.

So Fairy Tail is definitely returning with advanced animation and some more suspense :P
----UPDATE----

  This year's 13th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced
  on Wednesday that the new anime adaptation of Hiro Mashima's manga
  Fairy Tail will premiere in Japan on April 5. New episodes will air on
  6 TV Tokyo networks every Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
  Source


Could Bartholomew Kuma's Devil Fruit work inside Doflamingo's Birdcage? What would happen if you were pushed (i.e. transported) by Kuma's Devil Fruit powers while you were trapped inside Doflamingo's birdcage? Will the victim get wounded or injured by the slicing strings of the Birdcage when transported inside Kuma's Paw-like bubble? Or will the Birdcage give way for the Paw-like bubble to successfully escape?

Since there are no facts that supports any of the 2 scenarios, I will say that the Bridcage strings would tear the bubble apart since a bunch of DF-users tried unsucessfully to stop the cage strings from moving.
Following "one piece logic" I am inclined to say that Kuma's paw-bubble isn't invincible (since it is made out of "air-like" shield) as it would one of the best DF there is if the user can make objects invulnerable. Therefore I say that the Kuma's bubble wouldn't pass through Doflamingo's Birdcage


Has there ever been a duel, where Yugi used every existing card right? Has there ever been a duel, where Yugi (or Yami) wasn't protected by the plot armour and won a duel with cards that were released during that time and used the effect as stated on the actual card in real life?
Anime and Manga are very welcome as source.
And for the love of god: Can somebody please explain what "Pot of Greed" does?!?

I honestly can't recall any where he didn't have an 'additional' affect to something, or went and did something impossible for a card game (like smashing the moon against mako or breaking the float ring against the floating castle)...
Also pot of greed lets you draw 2 cards from your deck


Why isn't anime critically analyzed like other forms of literature or entertainment? In high school English classes, we read many classics, such as Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Lee, etc. In many other classes, popular TV shows and movies are analyzed. Granted, these are also classics, such as Hitchcock's Psycho or Nichols' The Graduate.

Why is anime/manga not as critically analyzed by the general public, like other works of written/illustrated art are? There are a lot of different forums that review anime and many people on the internet who have their opinions on different shows, but why is it not recognized by the general American public like other literary works? Is it its age (it is still popular, and therefore not old enough to be considered a classic)? Is the fact that it is seen as a cartoon by many in the US? Is it due to negative stereotypes in the west surrounding anime (many may consider all anime to be hentai, for example, and therefore disregard it as an art form)?

EDIT: To explain this more...many, many anime have underlying themes and meanings that stretch sometimes deeper than current novels/books that are considered literary classics by the academic community. So, why aren't these shows studied and analyzed in an academic setting? For example, if I am in a high school/college film analysis class, why is the medium of anime not considered when picking source material to analyze?

A few of these shows I think you can find deeper meaning in easily (and this part is subjective, you may disagree), with similarities drawn to novels that are considered classics:

Ping Pong: The Animation: allows the viewer to determine the definition of success (similar to Invisible Man)
Attack on Titan: comments on the human experience, portrays reality with a hunter/prey dynamic (just like Lord of the Flies)
Fooly Cooly: coming of age story (just like Catcher in the Rye)

Many others can be listed, and the above shows can be analyzed much, much further.

Sorry for the poor tag, couldn't find one that was applicable.

I think the simplest answer is that anime is just not that popular. Though immensely popular and gaining momentum, the anime community just isn't that widespread. If you look at it critically MOST of the anime fans are limited to the popular and mostly Shounen series such as  Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Deathnote etc.

Compare it to the consumption of various books and movies and their penetration into our society. The iconism resulting from this is what raised them to the platform where it seems that more and more of such media is critically analysed. As Hakase pointed out, if you go to an anime forum/blog, you'll see plenty of critical analysis of anime, especially the history and tropes.

Another factor is the geography. The popularity of anime and manga has grown and they are an integral part of the Japanese culture. However, other places are adapting and amalgamating the same later. This will automatically lead to the feeling that anime as a medium is more targeted towards the audience it sells for, i.e. the japanese. But as an "outsider" we're not in a place to critically analyze it. The same may be true for various literary works or other media.

A relevant example is the Indian epics "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana". I doubt that many people know it on this community, but Indians have critically analyzed each and every line of such epics as deep as it can go. Awareness of them is just limited to the Indian subcontinent, but now the teachings are spreading. The same is true with Anime.

Some food for thought:

Anime popularity: Blogpost: A comment that I liked

  Depends. Again sales you might make the case but in terms of iconism there's no chance. Everyone knows who Batman is. No one knows who Luffy is.

A good blogpost about how to look at Anime as a medium of entertainment


Preventing manga books from having yellow pages I just started collecting mangas I wonder how am I going to prevent them from having yellow pages. Currently, I store them in a glass shelf without a cover.

Are there any other ways?

Although I have no manga, I do have a large comic book collection. I protect them with "comic book bags" (or sleeves) and anti-acidic cardboard.  They are stored in special boxes designed for comic books.  These supplies are also available and fitted for manga.  You can store 1 or 2 books per bag.  If two, you place them back to back, with an anti-acidic card in-between.

There are several vendors.  The one I use is Bags Unlimited, which has been around since 1976.  They have a huge number of "archival supplies" for comics, books, CDs, magazines, you name it.

I just read @Maroon's comment. Once yellowed and brittle, you can't do much about it.  But the purpose of the anti-acidic paper is to minimize damage to the books in the first place by helping neutralize the acids in the paper stock of the books.


What was the terrible artwork on the flyer in episode 1? At the end of episode 1 of Choujigen Game Neptune - The Animation, Compa and IF are handed a flyer with some extremely ugly artwork.

What is this flyer?

The character who hands the flyer to them is Rei Ryghts who is voiced by seiyuu Kobayashi Yuu. Apart from being a well-known voice actor, Kobayashi is also known for her strange and disturbing art style, exclusively using black and red and with only a very coarse resemblance of anything real. This has been covered by many news sources even in English, including Kotaku five times (so far), Crunchyroll (and again here), and dozens of blogs and lesser known sites. This image is just another example of such drawings, included as a comedic reference which many viewers would catch (at least in Japan).

As for any in-universe significance, this does not seem to be important in the anime. A similar event occurs in the third Neptunia game, but as the anime is following an original story line loosely based on the games. The scenes after the credits in this show are humorous bloopers or extra scenes related to that episode but not to the overall story. In both episodes 2 and 3 (the next one with IF and Compa) neither the flyer nor Rei makes any appearance, so it's pretty safe to conclude that this won't be important for the overall plot.


In what order do I consume the Blame! universe? I recently stumbled upon the Blame! movie on Netflix. I eagerly watched it, enjoying every minute of it - not least for the underlying amazing world. I realized that it was based on the manga of the same name and looked it up.

Now there's more than just the manga, to my knowledge there is:

Blame! (Manga)
Blame!² (Oneshot?)
NOiSE (Manga)
NSE: Net Sphere Engineer (Manga?)
Blame! (ONA)
Blame! Prologue (ONA)
Blame! (Movie, 2017)

In what order should I best consume these works? And am I missing any more of them in this list?

You can start reading the original sources. The other works is just like a side-story, not really canon (as far i know, the side story is just an "explanation chapter" or a filler chapter about the Blame! universe that never explained before in the original Blame! manga, based on Wikipedia and myanimelist. I have never read those side-story, nor try it ).

Main story

Blame! (manga)

Side-story (not recommended, but you can give it try)

NOiSE
Blame Gakuen! And So On

The Blame! movie only cover some part like:

Cibo first appearance : Volume 2, Chapter 9.
the rest : Volume 5 - Volume 6, Chapter 26 - Chapter 34.

In your question, you put the ONA version of Blame!, and looks like it's a clip of Blame! anime but i never heard about those ones. There is no anime adaptation of Blame! until Netflix made one.


If a Pokémon trainer loses a gym badge can they get it replaced? In Pokémon: Indigo League, if a trainer earns a gym badge but then loses it during their travels and/or gets it stolen, do they have the ability to get it replaced without having to battle the gym leader again?

Throughout the series Ash keeps his badges pinned to the inner part of his jacket, but he's always flaunting them. Would it be possible for someone to just steal all his badges and skip the process of battling gyms, or is there some kind of registry that will verify the trainer's progress?

for the first question
In the first season ep75 "Bad To The Bone!" a guy named Soto has lost all of his badges to Team Rocket saying "All our struggles and sacrifices were for nothing", meaning he can't just go and claim his badges were stolen, but in the 5th season ep45 "Why Wynaut!" after Ash's badges were stolen Clair the gym leader tells him "If you report that your badges were stolen I'm sure they'll be reissued in time", coming from a gym leader it must be true, so the situation in "Bad to the Bone" is different since it's may not be in time, given that in Ash journey he lost his badges three months before the league started and in Soto situation it's a matter of a day or two.

for the second question
In the episode "Bad to the Bone!" after Team Rocket had stolen the badges from Soto, Jessie saying "I've finally got my very own set of badges, now I can enter the Pokemon League Competition and prove ... " and the whole Team Rocket plot to steal the badges was to enter the Pokemon League, saying it's enough to enter.  Although in ep77 "Round One Begin!" Ash is been asked by a clerk in the Pokemon Village an identification to register the Pokemon League and Ash gives her his Pokedex it's been clear since ep2 that the Pokedex serves as an ID too, so if a person will give an ID with his badges it will be enough although he may steal them as proved from "Bad to the Bone" episode.


Why Tomoki is the only one who does not forget Hiyori? In the movie as well as the manga, when Hiyori disappears everyone forgets about her. But Tomoki still remembers about her. He gets a headache, but he still remembers her. And then everyone else starts to remember Hiyori too.

How does that work?

I'm pretty sure this is just another one of those cases where everyone was supposed to forget a certain character (Hiyori), but because someone (Tomoki) cared for them so much they were not fully affected.

The headaches are because he is not supposed to remember, but he remembers something. And because he remembers, everyone else does too.

So simply said he didn't forget because he cared too much.
(Which makes it sound as though everyone else didn't care enough, but that's simply how these things work. The main character has to be the special chosen one.)

First thing similar I can think of would be Time Stranger Kyoko.

  Kyoko is erased from everyone's memories and it is like she never existed. But after her bodyguard and lover finds a photograph of her he remembers and gets everyone else to remember her too.

Please also refer to TV Tropes - Ret Gone and Un-Person.


What does the cry "kon" mean? In the end of episode 9, Inari's assigned apprentice familiar Kon the two guardian foxes of Uka-sama start crying the sound "kon" and soon the other foxes around Inari shrine respond, gathering as blue magic fires on the road up the mountain.

Is this like dog's barking is transcribed as "woof" but in fox version? Or is it a name of some higher power they were calling?

It's how Japanese interpret phonetically the cries of foxes, the english equivalent to "woof". There's no special meaning in the title.


Has there ever been official pornographic media for an anime and/or manga series? I've been wondering about this for a while now. With how perverted some anime and manga are without ever crossing into pornographic content territory, were there ever any anime or manga with official pornographic media? Example: a little spinoff series of sorts of a regular anime/manga, with one or two episodes focusing on characters bumping uglies mostly. Bonus points if those "interactions" are officially canon.

Obviously, I'm not talking about something like Dragon Ball or Pokémon. That's just weird. I'm talking about anime and manga that are already adult oriented, which already have some light sexual elements or sexual overtones, where it would make sense for official pornographic content to exist.

I wouldn't be surprised if some companies already tried to squeeze some extra bucks from the more fanatic and perverted parts of the fanbase, while those uninterested in the content never have to see it if they don't want to.

I'm specifically talking about series(es?) that started out relatively non-perverted and whose main source stayed relatively tame - no intercourse is ever shown directly, but it could be implied. VNs that had perverted elements and were turned into anime/manga later do not count, but feel free to give some examples if you want to.

To answer the question as posed:  largely, no.  A work will make its intentions clear up front.

An anime or manga creator typically shies away from playing both sides, and will either commit to having their work be either tame or explicit.  That is to say, on one side, you'll have a work which is largely non-sexual and then has a few fanservice scenes (for example, The Electric Tale of Pikachu), or work which is largely dedicated to pornography (examples omitted, for...reasons.)

To call some attention to a point made here:

  I wouldn't be surprised if some companies already tried to squeeze some extra bucks from the more fanatic and perverted parts of the fanbase, while those uninterested in the content never have to see it if they don't want to.

Dakimakura, and some of the designs you get with them, largely fill this void, even if the work is non-pornographic (as is the example prior with KonoSuba and Oregairu).  The same is true of other fan-oriented goods, like figurines in various poses and attire, and sales of certain articles of clothing.

(I think at one point, Sailor Moon had released a line of lingerie.  I neither judge nor ask questions.)

I do want to highlight though, that this is likely being driven largely by the companies and not necessarily the creator themselves.  I don't deny that some element of the creator's participation is necessary, though.


Can a transmutation circle be reused? Could the Transmutation Circle in Xerxes be reused even if it wasn't partially destroyed? I understand that Transmutation Arrays, the circle on Mustang's gloves, etc. are capable of being reused. But does the same physics stand for a large scale transmutation circle used for sinister acts? And also, what about the Nationwide Transmutation Circle in Amestris?

While not explicitly declared, we have every reason to assume that transmutation circles are reusable...assuming a few things. I base this off of observations of all of the (as you called them) transmutation arrays that we see tattooed onto people or stitched onto their clothing, or carved into their metal equipment. I'm further connecting it to the fact that there is apparently not anything too special about these 'permanent' circles, as

   Mustang carved one onto the back of his hand and was able to use it just fine.

So, here are the assumptions.

1: Your transmutation circle is not destroyed when the surface it is marked on changes. For example, in the original anime, Ed gets himself out of trouble by scratching a circle into a set of restraints. When the restraints change into something else, the circle is destroyed because he morphed the material it was marked on. Or any of the times Al uses a circle to launch chunks of Earth at enemies.

2: Your circle is marked in a way that is not easily disrupted. A lot of the temporary transmutation circles we see, such as the ones that Al uses, are drawn with chalk. Chalk smudges easily, and the transmutation reaction may be enough to smudge it. And, as we have seen, transmutation circles need to be very precise in order to function properly...so a bit of smudging should be enough to ruin it. Another way this could be messed up is if a liquid is spilled on the chalk...like the mess made at the end of Ed and Al's very, very failed human transmutation attempt.

I can't find an example of this actually happening with a 'drawn' circle, because Ed and Al have a tendency to use Alchemy that destroys their transmutation circle...and the times that they haven't (see: repairing the radio in Lior) they only intended to use that circle once. However, in that case, the circle remains intact and appears to be completely unchanged...so I see no reason it couldn't be used a second time.

Furthermore, in the 2003 anime, we see transmutation rooms set up that have the circles painted onto multiple walls. If the circles only worked once then had to be repainted...there'd be no sense in using paint in the first place...chalk is much cheaper and quicker to work with.

All told, there isn't any reason to think that transmutation circles are somehow less re-usable because you didn't stitch them onto the back of your glove or engrave them onto a gauntlet. As long as you don't mess up the circle, we have every reason to believe that they could be re-used.

In the case of the Xerxes circle or the Nationwide Transmutation Circle...we have every reason to believe that they could have been re-activated, assuming the two things I stated before are true. Naturally, I assume this means that one of the first things that they set about doing after the final battle was damaging the array so it wouldn't work any more.


What is the point of Chaos;Head if it’s not in the same worldline as the other Science Adventure entries? I noticed that Chaos;Head’s divergence ratio is different than the one of Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes. What was the point of that series to begin with since nothing basically happened?

Because the point of Science Adventure series is not really about divergence ratio or the same worldline, but just due to the official genre/theme.
Back in 2008, when Chaos;Head was first released, the genre was officially given as "Delusional Science Adventure" (妄想科学ADV). At that time, there was no plan of making this into a series.
It was not until 2009 when Steins;Gate was released with the genre as "Supposition Science Adventure" (想定科学ADV), making it a series and also the 2nd entry.
This is then followed by:

Robotics;Note: Expansive Science Adventure (拡張科学ADV)
Chaos;Child: Delusional Science Adventure (the same as Chaos;Head)
Occultic;Nine: Paranormal Science Adventure (超常科学ADV)
Anonymous;Code: Supposition Science Adventure (the same as Steins;Gate)

The series emphasizes real scientific elements heavily while still allowing them to mix with fictional elements. This includes, but not strictly limited to, time travel and divergence ratio.

Main reference: Japanese Wikipedia on Science Adventure Series


Why are "traps" and "genderbending" so common in anime and manga compared to Western media? It seems to me that anime and manga has tropes like "traps" and even characters that change gender quite frequently, especially in comparison to Western series, which seem to have characters more consistently within "the binary." In particular, I'm thinking of shows like Ranma 1/2, Maria Holic, Ouran High School Host Club.

I am under the impression that Japanese culture is quite conservative, so this doesn't make much sense to me. I would expect a conservative culture to create series that aren't so liberal with gender related themes.

Is there a reason for this? Or am I somehow biased? Are there strong counterexamples to my observation?

I think Euphoric's answer is just one piece of the puzzle. It's a more direct answer to the question in the title, but, to my mind, not quite complete. I'm not equipped to piece together the whole thing, but I'll try to contribute what I can.

Japanese culture seems to have been fascinated with gender themes all the way back to its very beginning. Shinto mythology apparently features a transgender deity called Ishi Kore Dome no Kami, and some of the creation myths incorporated homosexual themes. Source.

Japanese kabuki theater originally had both male and female actors, but starting in the 1630s, the Tokugawa shogunate banned women from appearing on stage due to the increasingly erotic nature of the plays, so male actors began playing all female roles. (Kabuki, "Transition to yarō-kabuki"). An all-female theater group called the Takarazuka Revue was established in 1913; women play men's roles in their productions, somewhat like the common anime trope of a class putting on a production of Romeo and Juliet or Sleeping Beauty with a boyish-looking girl playing the male lead and a girlish-looking girl playing the female lead. In more modern times, visual kei street fashion often emphasizes an androgynous look for men and women. The Wikipedia page on Bishounen discusses more about both historic and modern aspects of how Japanese culture views androgyny and gender blurring.

So Japanese culture already had a long-established tradition around gender issues. I believe the prevalence of traps and genderbending in anime is a modern expression of this tradition. As Euphoric says, because anime and manga are drawn, they are beyond the bounds of the physical. They don't need to find an actor who's a little androgynous and dress up that actor to accentuate those features. Anime and manga can actually just draw a girl and say it's a boy, or draw a boy and call it a girl.

As to the last point about potential cultural bias, it does seem that Japanese culture deals with these themes in a unique way, though similar themes are not unheard of in the West. The situation with kabuki during the Tokugawa period, where all parts were played by male actors, is similar to the situation in England during Shakespeare's time: female actors, though not officially banned, were highly uncommon. Young boys often played female roles. (Wikipedia, Boy player). This makes Twelfth Night and other plays with cross-dressing a sort of triple-layered metafictional joke: at the time Twelfth Night was first produced, Elizabethan audiences would have seen a boy playing a woman who was in disguise as a boy.

There are also modern Western works where men disguise themselves as women or vice versa, e.g. Mrs. Doubtfire, Ladybugs. (Whatever you think of their quality, they do exist.) In Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602, Jean Grey disguises herself as a boy, as does Arya Stark in George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings.

However, I hesitate to call any of these "counterexamples" to the premise of this question. Aside from Shakespeare, the Western works I mentioned don't really use this device to explore gender issues. They might, just a little, in a small way, but mostly, it's just for comedy or for practical reasons, like blending in with an all-male mercenary troupe. Ranma 1/2 is also mostly comedic, but other such anime and manga actually explore gender issues at some depth. Traps like Haganai's Yukimura, Mariya Holic's Mariya, and Otoboku's Mizuho are designed to be attractive to heterosexual male viewers, while also provoking a feeling of confusion or discomfort. That discomfort can be capitalized on for comedy, as it is in Haganai and Mariya Holic, but this method is very different from the way Mrs. Doubtfire creates comedy.

There are highbrow works of literature and film which explore gender issues in the same way that these anime and manga do. But the anime and manga examples are not highbrow; they are relatively popular, and created for normal readers and viewers, not for literary critics. Haganai and Otoboku are even aimed at a young, male audience, not an audience known for its openness to discussing gender issues. It does seem that Japan has a unique tradition around gender issues in fiction, and the modern use of traps and gender-bending in anime and manga is a modern continuation of that tradition.


Are the latest Naruto movies separated from the storyline? Will the anime have a different story than the latest movies? The movies were too rushed, and they got a bit too far from the anime story.
Edit: One of the things I want to find out is if the time-skip would also be in the Anime.

Interestingly, even though almost all the Naruto movies are fillers, they are part of the storyline. Check this post.

The exceptions are the latest two movies. "The Last: Naruto Movie" is officially classified as chapter 699.5 in the Naruto manga, while "Boruto: Naruto the Movie" is in the beginning chapters of Boruto manga.


Would Infel has disappeared if she and Nenesha succeeded? At the end of Ar Tonelico II - Melody of Metafalica when Luca and Cloche are singing EXEC_with.METHOD_METAFALICA/. Frelia is warning Infel that if Luca and Cloche are successful Infel will disappear because of what will happen to the Infel Pira, all the while Infel is saying she knows she's going to disappear because she designed Infel Pira.

But i am wondering, would Infel had disappeared when she and Nenesha tried to create Metafalica 400 year ago and succeeded? does this mean Metafalica was doomed to fail back then because it would require someone to sacrifice their life?

After reserching in the EXA.PICO Wikia about Infel, it seems thatn in the chance the Song was executed properly, no one would have died. As long as Infel's calculations were correct.
Infel developed METHOD_METAFALICA/. to patch the EXEC_METAFALICA/. song, which had requirements to strong, and ended up killing any Revaitail who sang it.

So, is is likely Metafalica could have worked back then, if Infel had not closed of her heart and caused the song to fail.

The reason Infel will die if Luca and Cloche succesfully sing METHOD_METFALICA/. is because she is now a sublimated consciousness living in the Infel Phira server, and the transmigration of Infel Phira would defragment the server's memory and delete her data.


What other Beaters were there in Sword Art Online? In Episode 8 - Black and White Sword Dance, after Kirito got Asuna to agree to cook the Ragout Rabbit, Asuna dismissed Kuradeel and got refused:

  Kuradeel: I can not leave you alone with a shady character like this
  Asuna: While I can't say anything about his shadiness, he is actually quite strong. In fact, he's 10 levels above you, Kuradeel.
  Kuradeel: Are you implying that I am somehow inferior to him? Wait, don't tell me he is one of those Beaters.

In Episode 2 - Beater, after beating Illfang the Kobold Lord, Kirito was discovered as a Beta player. Reflecting on Diavel's request, Kirito takes an antagonist stance and lies about how far he had progressed during the beta of SAO:

  Kirito: I made it to floors not even the other Beta players could reach.
  Kibaou: Then that makes you worse than a Beta, YOU A GODDAMN FILTHY CHEATER.
  Background Player: He's a Beater!
  Kirito: Beater huh? Yeah, I like the sound of that.

I was under the impression that Kirito was the only "Beater". However, Kuradeel says one of those Beaters, which implies that there are more as apart from him. Using the plural form, Kuradeel is grouping Kirito with others.

So I am wondering, were there any other Beaters in SAO? If there were, do we know who they were?

It would depend on your definition of "Beater." While they are not specifically referred to as "beaters," their actions and hidden ulterior motives would likely label them as such.

If you define it as Beta players who take advantage of their inside knowledge from the closed beta for their own benefit, then there are at least two.

Diavel, attempted to manipulate a certain transaction to ensure that Kirito played a support role during the Floor 1 boss encounter, so he could get the last kill bonus
Coper, tried to use a monster to PK Kirito, so that he could get a certain quest item
Morte, from SAO Progressive, Vol. 2, one of the Beta players that completed the "War of Elves'" quest (one of three people, including Kirito), has a hidden agenda...

Not all Beta players have ulterior motives.

Argo, an information broker that provides the "Strategy Guide by Area". The guide is distributed in NPC shops and provided many resourceful information about the game.

But all in all, the term "Beater" is just a derogatory term non-Beta players use for Beta players that don't share their knowledge and keep information to themselves. Non-Beta players are jealous of the knowledge Beta players have and seek to ostracize them, so the Beta players either have no choice but to share what they know or be forced to play by themselves.


Why was Kakashi Hatake doing all of the hard work in the episode when they first fought Zabuza? Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were standing back, and Kakashi was fighing Zabuza all by himself. Why?

At that time, the members of Team 7 has just passed from the Academy, they were just kids. Sakura couldn't help much because she was very weak, she hadn't learnt medical ninjustsu to reinforce her punches. Sasuke may have been a bright child but he was still an amateur and he hadn't awakened his Sharingan. Even if he had awakened it, Zabuza was a formidable opponent, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. And Naruto didn't know any jutsu other than Shadow Clones, and he didn't have control over Kurama's power. But Naruto and Sasuke did fight against Haku if not Zabuza. It's obvious that the strongest team member Kakashi should fight against Zabuza since he's so strong.

P.S. I think you have not watched the Naruto series and you've only watched the Shippuden series.


How did Xandes survive? In episode 12, Farangis (or however we wanna spell the priestess' name) shoots Xandes in the back while he's running away after facing Daryun in battle and losing to him. After the arrow lands on his back, Xandes falls off a cliff to what I thought was his death:

However, in 19 I saw a character that looked like Xandes again:

And that was then confirmed to be him indeed:

How exactly did Xandes survive? Is it mentioned in the previous adaptations or in the original novel?

Unfortunately, the details behind his survival are not mentioned in the original novels either as he is a minor character. Therefore, all they wrote is that he survived, that is all.

  Xandes survived the encounter, and at the beginning of the next year he joins Hilmes's Army of Parsians after the latter is task by Guiscard to subdue the rebellious Temple Knights of Bodin.

My first intuition is that, judging from the fact that he can swing such giant weapons, it shows he does have amazing physical strength and probably dexterity and this allowed him to survive a non-fatal arrow to the shoulder and get back to Hilmes.

  Xandes carries a very large sword and stated that he is a great warrior.

My second guess would be Arzhang saving him after he fell off the cliff, like how he saved Hilmes in the 2nd last episode. Arzhang also collected Xandes after he was wounded in his duel with Daryun, so we can say that Arzhang probably saved him when he was hit by the arrow.


Why are the Eldian's in possession of Warships? I have read the manga revolving around the Eldian Military, how they have Ironclad Warships that are in regard very similar to modern day Warships. I do not understand though, because I didn't think it was explained well enough, how they came into possession of such ships, as well as their Airships.

If you're talking about the Eldians outside of Paradis Island (the one's where [Spoiler Alert] Reiner come from), that was because of the Marleyans. Due to the Marleyan's fear of the Eldian's titan transformers, they created weapons, technology capable of destroying these Titan transformers. That's how the Marleyans got into possession of four of the original nine titan transformers (wont explain it here).

Sources: Manga. It was mentioned by one of the Marleyan higher ups. Forgot the chapter. But besides that, it was heavily implied.


Slice-of-life-ish random comedy manga with interconnected vignettes Each chapter is a vignette that's usually in no way related to the other chapters, except for re-occurring characters who show up in multiple chapters to tie them together as being in the same universe (or alternate universes, I guess).

I can only remember 2 chapters at the moment, one clearly, the other not so much.

One had two guys. They went out drinking (I think) and one (blonde with glasses, IIRC) fell asleep. The other, a shaggy-haired brunette (or something) kisses the blonde. Blonde wakse up. Shaggy says something like "I wish I'd done this sooner. I guess my time's run out." It's revealed Shaggy either died before that outing or was in a coma and then died that night.

Another chapter had a group of girls (they were all in gym shorts, I think, so they might've been a volleyball team or something) hiding in a shed or gym equipment shed. They're all deathly afraid of having to venture outside looking for help, as they send one from their group at a time to look for help and wait to see if they return because there's a monster or murderer waiting outside to murder them all.

They play a game where each person in turn has to name an item/person/whatever within a given subject whose name begins with the same letter as the last letter of the previous word.  They cannot repeat words. Head Bitch uses a word that forces the next girl to repeat a word as there's no other word that fits the bill. The girl is despondent, screaming about how Head Bitch knew that word could not be followed up with an allowed word, but is sent outside. Head Bitch then tells the others how she knew very well she was signing that girl's death warrant and how they all hated the girl that was just sent outside, anyway.

They start the next round of the game after a while. The girl before Head Bitch uses the word Head Bitch used to doom the previous runner. Chapter ends.

This is Nickelodeon by Douman Seiman. The latter word game you mention is probably the shiritori game in chapter 6, and the former story with the two guys is from chapter 7.


Why is Killer Bee still alive? I just want to ask, in Naruto Shipuden when Madara extracted all the Tailed Beast by using the Gedo Statue. It is said that when the tailed beast is removed from a Jinjuriki the Jinjuriki will die.

I just want to ask, why was killer bee not dead and was able to have a dream under the infinite tsukoyumi. How is it possible?

According to this link

  Madara then proceeded to chain them up and prepared to remove
  Yang-Kurama and Gyūki from their jinchūriki. Struggling against its
  confines, Gyūki apologised to B as it was extracted and sealed within
   the statue along with the other tailed beasts,
  but not before cutting
   off one of its tentacles, letting B survive through the chakra within
   it.

So in short he was having chakra worth of one tentacle which was cut off from Gyūki and just because of this he was able to survive.


How does Aqua not purify her beloved alcoholic drinks? It's a recurring issue in that Aqua easily purifies many liquids such as swamp water, tea or hot spring water. However, this is never an issue whenever she imbibes alcohol.

Was it ever explained if she only purifies "water-based" liquids or she does have control over what she purifies and never seems to apply it well except for her beloved alcohol? Word of god from the author or a select passage from the light novel address this would be great.

First, Aqua did purify alcohol.

In one of Megumin's spin-off light novel1, Aqua was working as a part-time waitress at the guild's bar. However, once she got scolded and fired by the owner since she purified the alcohol accidentally. That's the reason why she was doing civil engineering work instead in the first episode. (source: [1], [2]:post no. 53 by DPKAszx20, reddit)

This implies that she can't really control her purification power; any liquid that she touches will be purified regardless of her intention. Her character introduction usually mentions this (examples: [3]:Aqua/Power Incontinence, [4], [5])

On the other hand, there's also an important info regarding her purification skill. According to a bonus light-novel for digital publication2, Aqua's natural purification skill power changes depending on her emotion/feeling. When she is in pure emotion, her natural purification power is high, otherwise when she is in "vulgar" mode, its power is low. (source: [1])

However, the mystery of her enjoying alcoholic drinks until drunk is never explained explicitly: was she really enjoying it? did she really drunk? Thus, there are only fan theories:

It is based on her emotion (as mentioned before) (source: [1])

When she's drinking alcoholic drinks, she's exposing her self-desire. This makes her purification power low, and thus she can enjoy it. On the other hand, when she was working as a waitress, she was not engulfed in her self-desire because she didn't want to drink it, and thus she accidentally purified it.
Only liquid that's touched directly gets purified (source: most of her character introductions, [2]: post no. 49 & 50, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

Most of the cases, she touched the liquid with her skin (e.g. Darkness' grape juice). However, it's implied that drinking is safe because the lip is considered as mucous membrane, not skin. The problem is, this also generates more question like how she purified customers' alcoholic drink and Kazuma's tea...
She can't really control it (source: reddit, reddit, reddit)

Which means she was actually drinking plain water, and her being drunk was due to the placebo effect or water intoxication.

Debunked fan theories due to the fact mention here:

She only purifies water-based liquid, and alcohol is not water (source: [2]: post 47 & 48, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

Chemically, alcohol is ethanol (C2H6O2), not water (H2O). This means that she probably was drinking pure ethanol instead, which surely made her drunk. (Debunked because she did purify alcohol)
Purification takes some time to work (source: [2]: post 52, reddit, reddit)

Similar to the case when she took a long time to purify a lake, she needed some time to purify her drink. (Debunked because she purified Darkness' grape juice instantly)
Alcohol is considered holy/pure/sacred by many religions (source: reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

There are facts about alcohol such as wine is considered sacred. Examples are Jesus turning water into wine, Japanese gods like sake, etc.. (Debunked anyway, since she did purify alcohol)

Finally, the scene where she was drunk and puking rainbow is anime only. It's not mentioned in the light novel, thus might not be considered canon. (source: reddit)

Another thing to ponder: why isn't her bodily fluid got purified? If this is to be considered, then the only theory that works is "Only liquid that's touched directly gets purified".

Sources:

[1]: Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Japanese)
[2]: 2channel (Japanese)
[3]: Characters/KonoSuba: Protagonists (Warning, TvTropes)
[4]: NicoNicoPedia (Japanese)
[5]: AniOta Wiki (Japanese)
Reddit Personally, I don't regard reddit discussion highly enough though...:

About Aqua and Alcohol
How does Aqua drink tea/wine/beer if she purifies it when she touches the drinks?
S2E9 gave me a question. Why does aqua purify everything except booze?
If Aqua can purify any liquid into warm water...
[Spoilers] Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 - Episode 9 discussion

1 The spin-off light novels are officially free to read on Sneaker Bunko (Japanese), but I don't have time to find the related passage. It'd be great if someone can confirm this in the comment.

2 Unfortunately, I can't find the origin of the light-novel mentioned there.


Did Kakashi's sharingan evolve because Obito was watching? Both Kakashi and Obito awaken their Mangekyou at the same time as told in this question When did Kakashi and Obito awaken their Mangekyou Sharingan?  The sharingan Kakashi owns originally came from Obito, so is it due to Obito also being there at the moment Rin died that Kakashi's Mangekyou also awakend? Or asked in a different way. Would Kakashi have been able to awaken the Mangekyou without Obito being there?

Interesting question with no definite answer, so I'll post my 2c here.

The Mangekyou Sharingan is activated by the immense grief caused by killing the person closest to you. However, it seems like you don't actually have to kill him, but witnessing his death is enough.

For example, Itachi did not actually kill Shisui, rather, he watched him commit suicide (filler).

I believe that both of them awakened their Mangekyou Sharingans separately, and because they were both at the scene when it happened, it happened simultaneously.


Why does Greed in FMA (2003) want to know how to bind a soul to an armor? Greed mentions in Episode 33 (Al, Captured) that he wants to know how to bind a soul to an armor so that he could also be "immortal" like Al. But since Greed is a Homunculus, he doesn't even have a soul, as mentioned by Lust (probably in Episode 21 - The Red Glow) as the reason why Homunculi can't perform alchemy.

Can someone explain Greed's intentions?

This may not be mentioned in the anime but I am answering based on what I understood.

Ling Yao at the very end of the brotherhood anime mentions to Greed that all he wanted was friends and relationships that supported him.

Greed also had multiple phases when he was reminded of his friends that he had before being killed by the father.

So to answer your question, Greed wanted to bind his friends' soul to an armor and bring them back to life since Human transmutation is not possible.

TL;DR
He wanted to revive his friends who satiated his empty feeling in his heart.


Why does Inga turn into a woman? In UN-GO Inga turns into a older female and people must answer her question. Is there a specific reason for the transformation? Or is there a deeper reason for the transformation?

  Inga has the mysterious ability to transform into an adult woman. When he has changed into this form, she can use her power that, when a question is asked, the victim has no choice to answer it with the truth. This ability has proven very useful in cracking cases, but difficulty is in asking which question so that the culprit will indeed be revealed.
  Inga's power
  BereisgreatAdded by Bereisgreat
  When she uses her powers, she takes the head of the subject in her hands and asks her question. The light in the room start to flicker and Inga's eyes start glowing with pink lights. She somehow transforms again, this time into, what seems like, a corpse. Her eyes and mouth are wide open and are glowing with the same pink light. The corpse then falls apart in pink butterflies and those butterflies enter the mouth of the victim, after which he or she has no choice but to answer the question Inga asked, with the truth.

If you watch the Inga-ron OVA, they show that Inga is actually inhabiting the body of a woman who died to save Shinjurou when they first met. His body transforms back into hers when he uses his powers.


What's the name of the first ending and second opening song of Hu Yao Xiao Hong Niang (Fox Spirit Matchmaker)? Unfortunately, this "anime" is from China and there're no subtitles for the information shown during the openings and endings. I've already searched a lot on google to find any traces, but I didn't succeed.

Does anybody know the name of the first ending and second opening song?

Here's the link (it redirects you to a YouTube video) for the ending song starting at 13:01 and second opening song starting at 1:56.

Edit: the video on YouTube seems to have been removed.

Since you are watching this show, I assume that you know Chinese and can read it. Therefore, I consider it unusual that you did not just google the name of the show and look for its Baidu Baike Page, China's Wikipedia equivalent. Anyway, here is the page for that show. LINK

This page has the name for all the show's openings and endings, even the insert songs.

Here are Youtube links for each OP and ED. Btw, OP 1 really is just 1.30 long, it is already the full version.

OP 1: 爱You Ready爱我 Ready

OP 2: 梦回还

ED 1: 東流

Insert Song: 相聚万年树


What is this type of hairstyle? Its a kind of hairstyle that has two hair strands hanging down from the top of the head maybe at the center of it

This is a sub-trope of Anime Hair, which is known as the Hair Intakes

A sub-trope of Anime Hair, this hairstyle resembles the hood scoops on a muscle car and also looks a bit like cat ears, allowing for the visual appeal of the Cat Girl in series that are too "realistic" to actually feature such a supernatural creature. Seems to be more common among females, though male examples are plentiful as well.
Seems to be especially prevalent in Visual Novels.


Is there a place that has Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor subtitles? I've been looking for subtitle tracks for Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor, but haven't had any luck. I figured I'd ask here in case any of you guys knew.

If you check AniDB's list of subs, there are a whole list of groups that have subs for it.

  Philosophy-raws
  ACX
  E-D
  Daman
  Anime-MX
  Blitz
  W_B
  B-A
  A-E

At the time of this answer, these are the groups which have completely subbed Fafner, according to AniDB.


What is the significance of the toad statues in Mount Myouboku? In Chapter 409, it's said that they were people who failed Sage Mode training and were turned into toads and eventually into stone. But there don't seem to be many people that signed the summoning contract, so they can't all be from people who failed Sage Mode training.

Why are there so many toad statues? So where did they all come from?

According to here:

  There is a sacred fountain on Mount Myōboku which produces a special oil which allows people to more easily feel the natural energy around them, but if the person is not perfectly still, becoming one with nature, he or she starts becoming a toad and eventually turns into stone. This oil can only exist in the atmosphere of the mountain, and will evaporate if taken outside. There are many statues of the frog ancestors and of people who tried to learn senjutsu, but failed and became toad statues. The statues are treated with much respect.

People live at Mount Myōboku, and some can use senjutsu, so it stands to reason that there would have been a number who failed.

To address the other part of your question, Minato (the Fourth Hokage) is also known to have been able to summon toads, which shows that it isn't just Naruto and Jiraiya who can summon them.


Can Freezer 4th form defeat SSJ2 Cabba? In the tournament of power, when Freezer faced Cabba, Cabba turned into SSJ2 and Freezer who was in 4th form transformed into Golden Freezer and defeated Cabba SSJ2 easily. I thought Freezer 4th form was strong enough to defeat Cabba SSJ2 but him transforming into Golden Freezer make it dubious. Can Freezer 4th form defeat SSJ2 Cabba?

No. If you recall, Back in the ROF arc, Base Goku was easily overwhelming Final Form Frieza. Since the Golden Frieza multiplier is > Super Saiyan Blue, Frieza had the advantage. Frieza stated that he mastered the transformation and stopped the stamina issue with the Golden Form before the T.O.P. He never necessarily had an opportunity to train. The Universe 6 Saiyans are very comparable to the Universe 7 Saiyans. Cabba was capable of holding his own against a Base Vegeta in his Base form. Even in Case of Caulifla, she was holding her own against SSJ, SSJ2 Goku etc. While the latter is stronger, Cabba isn't far off. Since SSJ2 is 100 * Cabba Base, Final form Frieza wouldn't stand a chance(This is because of how strong base Cabba is). Hence, he had to turn Golden to quickly finish the fight.


What is the name of the guitar song plays in the beginning of After the Rain episode 2? There's a guitar song that plays in the beginning of After the Rain episode 2.

What is the name of the song?

The name of the song is Saka wo Iku Bus.

I am so grateful for the people who created this beautiful anime and OST.


How does Machvise even hit anyone? In the Dressrosa Arc, we see Machvise fight. His fighting style is focused around his Devil Fruit, the Ton-Ton Fruit, which allows him to change his own weight (up to a weight of 10000 tons!) with him jumping up in the air and then falling down on top of people.

What I truly cannot understand is how he is even able to hit anyone! One Piece is a universe where people are fast enough to smack cannon-balls out of the air and dodge bullets, how are they unable to just get out of the damn way when they see him jump up!?!?

Even falling from a mere 20 meters will take about 2 seconds, long enough for a real-life person to see where he will fall and get out of the way. And Machvise tends to jump a lot higher than that, sometimes what seems like 100 meters up, which would take 4.5 seconds to fall down from!!

Honestly, I feel that his Fruit is far more suited for a fighting style that focuses on wrestling (and he even has the big, burly body structure that would work well in wrestling). Just run in, and as soon as he gets a good grip he makes sure to "fall over" on top of the person (or at least on top of whatever part he managed to grab) while adjusting his weight to a couple hundred tons. If he does that when holding an arm, he would tear it clean off the body! Way more effective than "jump and hope to hit"

Changing his weight at will implies being able to lower it to close to nothing too. That is probably the technique he uses to reach dozens of meters in a single jump before increasing it greatly again to fall back with mighty power.

While falling, he could also lower his weight again to the weight of a feather and use the large surface of his body to glide sideways to reach any fleeing enemy. This is what a falcon in free fall does, precisely reaching his moving target with the fine tuning of his wings.

Using this, he can reach great velocities he would otherwise never reach with his legs only, running after his opponent in a more "traditional" wrestling style.


Why didn't Kamesenin just chose to destroy the saiyan space ship when Vegeta and Nappa was on their way to earth? During Vegeta Saga

As I know, Bulma has asked Shenlong to kill the saiyans before they reached Earth. But, Shenlong said that the he couldn't do that because the Saiyans are stronger than him.

I am just wondering.. Since saiyans couldn't live in outer space. Why wouldn't they wish for destroying their space ships instead of resurrecting Goku? What's your opinion about this?

TL;DR : God is not strong enough to destroy those ships, therefore Shenron isn't either.

For the same reason why Shenlong can not kill the Saiyans, he may not be able to destroy the ships.

On the Dragon Ball Wiki :

  Shenron can grant a wish within its powers as long as it does not kill, create love, repeat a wish he previously granted, surpasses its creator's power, and a few more restrictions.

We do not know the resistance of those ships, but we know two things

It was built with really higher technology than the one present on earth
It is strong enough  to resist a fall and crash from space

Considering those, we can assume that God, which is as strong as Piccolo at this moment of the manga, is not strong enough to destroy it


Is episode 12.5 in Durarara a filler? I am following the anime through EpisodeCalendar and there is no episode 12.5. Is this episode a filler or part of the original story? (That is, would I miss any part of the story if I skipped this episode?)

Durarara episode 12.5, "Justice Is Slow But Sure" isn't a recap episode. It and episode 25
are DVD only episodes that actually have some semblence of plot to them (as much plot as you get with Durarara). It's not related to any of the
main plotlines, though, especially the:

  overarching yellow scarves/dollars that's part of the later half of the first season.

So it's kind of a side story. You can treat them as OVAs.


Who is the voice actress for the 'young' Nori-chan from the anime Kiznaiver? Unless I am mistaken, it seems as if Nori-chan from the anime Kiznaiver has two different voice actresses. One for the 'young' Nori-chan and one for the main part of the story.

My question -
Who is the voice actress for the 'young' Nori-chan?

The young voice can be heard in

season 1 episode 1 at the start of the episode
and season 1 episode 10 at around the 21m:44s (timing includes opening song).

I'm sure I've heard this voice before, it is incrediby irritating.

They aren't played by the same person.

  Who is the voice actress for the 'young' Nori-chan?

Teenage Sonozaki is played by YAMAMURA Hibiku, but child Sonozaki is played by 財前咲良 (probably read "ZAIZEN Sakura"). She's credited in episode 1 as "girl" (少女).

In episode 9, she's again credited, this time as "Sonozaki (child)" (園崎（幼少期）). Curiously, her name is spelled 財前咲来 this time. She has barely any internet presence, but judging from this page, I think the episode 9 spelling is correct. (The same spelling is used when she's credited in episode 10.)

  I'm sure I've heard this voice before, it is incrediby irritating.

As near as I can tell, this is her first role in anime, so you probably haven't heard her before.

It does appear that she voiced young Cinderella in the Japanese dub of Disney's 2015 Cinderella, though, and I imagine she might've had some other minor gigs (commercial voiceovers, etc.) too.


What are the differences between the One Piece anime and manga? Recently I started watching the One Piece anime and noticed some differences in the story line  than were present in the manga, and I was wondering if there was a huge divergence in the anime over the manga like with Black Butler, or more like slight differences in plot like with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

The anime and manga closely resemble one another.

This is mainly because the mangaka, Eiichiro Oda actually actively participates into the animation process. So whenever they want a filler episode, they will contact Eiichiro Oda for confirmation, and he would either approve or reject it.

I believe the only deviations there were was some part in the beginning of the anime that did not totally follow the manga, and ace's tattoo. Which later on got adapted in the manga as well, so not sure how much that would count as a difference.


Is "The Vision of Escaflowne" a shojo anime? I grewup watching The Americanized version, and recently rewatched it in the Japanese...only to come out feeling like I just watched an entirely different show. This is a Shojo anime is it not? It had all the components of a shojo....a girl in a reverse harem off in a magical world guiding the fate of others. Who she chose as her partner and lavished her affections on shaped the behaviour of the other characters, which shaped the entire world they were in cause of their importance. It had entire episodes without any fighting at all, just dialogue about peoples feelings. Even the opening is Shojo-like. Young attractive Angel men...I don't see how this couldn't be a shojo anime.

Yet all I remember growing up watching the American version is it was about fights fights fights and lots of dialogue sequences that might even last entire episodes breaking up these fights. How they phrased the lines and even the opening... the show was clearly aimed at boys.

Yes, The Vision of Escaflowne anime is actually a shojo anime.
According to Japanese Wikipedia, the original draft of the anime was to mix robot anime with elements from shojo manga and transforming military vehicles with the title 「空中騎行戦記」(Kuchuu Kikou Senki, lit. Mid-air Trail Riding War Chronicle)
However, when the anime was localized for the TV broadcast in the USA, it was heavily edited. According to the Wikipedia,

[...]. In August 2000, Fox Kids began broadcasting the series in the United States. Produced by Saban Entertainment under license by Bandai Entertainment, these dubbed episodes were heavily edited to remove footage, add new "flashback" sequences to remind the audience of the events that just occurred, and to heavily downplay the role of Hitomi in the series. The first episode was skipped altogether, and the series soundtrack produced by Yoko Kanno was partially replaced with more techno rearrangements by Inon Zur. This modified version of the series was canceled after ten episodes due to "low ratings". Fox explained that they edited to meet their own target audience, to comply with broadcast standards, and to fit the allowed timeslot. [...]
(Emphasis added)


Why could Shirou use Rho Aias? In the UBW final battle, how come Shirou could use Rho Aias? Archer mentioned it was from the Trojan War (probably learned it while working as a counter force), but Shirou hadn't seen Rho Aias yet (not even when Archer used it).

According to the World Material FAQs from fate/complete material III with Nasu (p.130) reated to the VN:

Q: In the end of the Rin route, was it Shirou that projected Rho Aias in the Shirou vs Gilgamesh fight? Or was it Archer? In Fate/side material, it's said that it was projection magic from Archer, but in the story, there was the depiction of Shirou "pulling the shield from the hill". Does this mean that this switched to Archer's scene?
A: This has been easy to misunderstand, but the part about Archer supporting Shirou was the time before Shirou pulled out Rho Aias, before Shirou came to his realization.
After Shirou's monologue about his surprise that he was still alive after taking Gil's attack, "If I survived, there must have been a reason why I survived. But that was simply something I didn't have any control over."
That was the "Rho Aias" that Archer made to help Shirou in a way that wouldn't let Gilgamesh know there was someone else waiting to ambush him.

In other words, the first Rho Aias that defended him (as he was chanting UBW, it's difficult to project something like that at the same time) against Enuma Elish was project by Archer (EMIYA).

The original has 7 petals, this one has 5 in the 2015 ufotable anime.

The second one inside UBW was probably one copied from Archer's version (perhaps drawing from the experience that flowed into Shiro as they clashed). It's not clear how many petals was in this version (likely 4 petals, like in the Heaven's Feel path). This part was never really clarified, but you can compare it to Kuro's projection of it using the Archer Class Card from Prisma Illya.

Note that against Lancer, Archer had to muster almost all of his prana to project a 7-petal version. Since he didn't have the prana for another 7-petal projection, he probably summoned a lesser projection in order to protect the Shirou and what reserves he had left.
Rho Aias not being a sword (being a shield), is going to cost more prana to summon. Since the UBW reality marble was not up, it's unlikely that Shirou had the means to to summon it at the time. So it's more likely that it came from an external entity (Archer).
The Fate/side material encyclopedia on Rho Aias (p.78-79) states that:

The Rho Aias that protected Shirou's spellcasting during the finale of the Rin route was not something he projected himself, but was actually made by Archer who was watching the battle from a distance.

Shirou mentioned that he was able to project it by pulling it out of the "hill of swords." This is likely a metaphor that refers to his reality marble (a materialization of one's inner self) or the collective of Archer memories, and not a literal hill.


How are ditzy characters classified? How are ditzy/airhead characters classified in anime/manga? For example, while Lucky Star's Kagami is a tsundere, her airhead sister, Tsukasa, is a ________?

You are probably looking for the term dojikko for Tsukasa:

  Dojikko is Japanese for clumsy with the feminine suffix "-ko"
  added on the end. The attraction is not limited to Japan, the concept
  of a Cute Clumsy Girl has worldwide appeal, mainly because her
  clumsiness makes her more approachable. The main difference is that in
  the West a Cute Clumsy Girl is probably supposed to make the audience
  chuckle, while Dojikkos tend towards making them say, "Awwww! She's so
  cute!"

Source: TVTropes article on dojikko

Also, Kagami is not really a tsundere, unless you think she is in love with Konata, which some fans really do seem to support. She should probably be classified as the tsukkomi (straight man) in manzai, where Konata is usually the boke:

  Called manzai in Japanese, this is a kind of Straight Man and Wise Guy
  duo, but it's also the interaction between two characters who
  constantly play off each other. A boke's job is to set up the gag by
  telling a story or explaining a fact which is obviously false (making
  him an idiot) or flawed (making him sneaky). The tsukkomi is, roughly,
  the Straight Man who has to correct him, often physically.

Source: TVTropes article on manzai

Edit: Since dojikko didn't seem to be a proper answer, I looked up more character types on Japanese websites and think I found exactly what you're looking for. It actually fits in really well with my explanation of manzai above. My new answer is that Tsukasa is a tennen boke (natural boke, also translated as natural airhead):

  A tennen boke is an eccentric person who has exceptional talent in
  being a natural boke. Even though a person can be called a tennen
  boke, there is no such term as tennen tsukkomi. In manzai, the boke
  deliberately entices both the tsukkomi and the audience's laughter by
  executing a calculated line. However, the tennen boke describes
  someone who naturally (without any preparation or purpose) says
  boke-like things.

  It can also be called simply "tennen" or "tennen kyara" (tennen
  character).

Source: Translated from the Japanese Wikipedia article on tennen boke

So basically, a boke is someone who says dumb things on purpose in order to anger the tsukkomi and make other people laugh. However, a tennen boke says the same dumb things without realizing they are actually dumb.


Is Kaio-ken increasing Goku's potential? We know that using Kaio-ken damages your body as you are forcing it to go beyond its limits. But is it also increasing your potential for the higher power? I mean as the body is facing the forced power up it will try to improve and endure that power the next time, right? I guess it works kinda like muscle training, the more you push your muscles the more they develop.

So can't Goku stay in the Kaio-ken mode for an extended period of time (while not fighting) to increase his capacities and go beyond Kaio-ken X20?

Kaioken is not a state or transformation. It is a special technique which multiplies Goku's power. Assuming Kaioken doesn't have a limit and you could reach a multiplier beyond 20, Goku doesn't necessarily need to keep utilizing the same to get used to the state. This is because Goku has to train his body to be able to adapt to the physical strain imposed by Kaioken. This requires excellent Ki control which is why Goku was able to stack it on top of SSJB and we never see him stacking it on top of SSJ2 or SSJ3 when he fought Beerus or Back in the Buu Saga against Kid Buu.Also, it's been stated by Whis to Vegeta that God level training involves excellent Ki control and not just putting your body through a lot of physical strain. Also, Kaioken acts as a multiplier to Goku's current level of power and not his Base form unlike his other transformations. So in other words, if someone were to train and achieve a stronger transformation which is a higher multiplier, having a higher multiplier of kaioken wouldn't make a difference.Suppose there existed a transformation which was a lot superior to SSJB(Not gonna use UI here), which is a significantly higher power multiplier than SSJB, then even 30 times SSJB, will not be able to stand up against that power. The best way to illustrate the same would be with an example. Let us assume Goku has a power level of 2 and let there exist one transformation which is a 100 times multiplier and another transformation which is a 200 times multiplier. If Goku utilises the first transformation and is capable of using Kaioken * 3/ his power would be : 2*100 * 3=600. Incase of the second transformation, let's say he can only use Kaioken * 20, but his power would be : 2*200*20=800. (Please note these are not actual power levels and it's only an example to prove the same)


Does Sakamoto know that Nano is a robot? Nano Shinonome and Sakamoto are among the most interesting characters in Nichijou. The portrayal of daily life of a human-like AI with a condescending talking cat is something special in it's own respect, let alone Nichijou's humorous tone!

Usually, Sakamoto calls Nano 「むすめ」: "Musume", which translates to "girl" and calls Hakase as 「ガキ」: "gaki", which roughly means "kid".

However, is there any episode where Sakamoto actually talks about Nano being a robot or directly addresses Nano about it? Further, is there any incident where Sakamoto is present when Nano's hand opens up or something similar happens?

Or is it only Yukko who fully acknowledges the fact that Nano is a robot and respects her feelings throughout the series?

If not in the anime, I'm curious if it happens in the manga!

Sakamoto has had too many interactions with Nano to not be aware that she's a robot.

From an informal sense, the fact that Nano has a screw on her back is giveaway enough for Sakamoto that she's not a normal human being.  The fact that it spins often enough is evidence enough in the sense that Sakamoto has at least seen her act as a robot.

Additionally, when they first meet, her age (1 year old) belies her size, maturity and responsibilities around the house, in spite of the fact that Nano still acts a bit like a kid.  Sakamoto could infer that she's no normal human from that, too.

In spite of the fact that Sakamoto has never directly talked about Nano being a robot, he has a very gruff and overbearing manner of speech, him being older than everyone else.  He hasn't used honorifics with anyone, and has only provided the professor and Nano with nicknames, since...

   he calls his previous owner, Nakamura by her last name.


What is the connection between The Delgados and Gunslinger Girl? The excellent "Light Before we Land" by the Delgados is used as the theme-tune for the first season of Gunslinger Girl (ガンスリンガー・ガール / Gansuringā Gāru)

Why (and how) did an obscure track by a Scottish 'Indie' band end up as the theme song for a Japanese anime series based in Italy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTxoH_5CnhM

I can give some insights into the why. The how probably was through the usual process of licensing foreign songs.
The anime was made by Madhouse who contributed two episodes to the 2003 anime Animatrix. This project was important at the time, since it was a direct result of the anime-craze in the west in the early 2000s. Anime studios in Japan started to pay attention to foreign markets and with people behind a major Hollywood success like The Matrix reaching out to Japan to create something like the Animatrix, chances with the western market seemed good.
And thus a lot of studios did some projects betting on that western market. For Madhouse, these projects included Texhnolyze, Monster and Gunslinger Girl, each of them featuring a song by a foreign artist and deviating from usual expectations of anime fans, who just discovered their fetish for maid characters in their moeblob harem shows, that casual western fans didn't even knew existed.
The songs:

Texhnolyze (2003): Guardian Angel from Juno Reactor
Monster (2004): for the love of life by David Sylvian

Gunslinger Girl was part of the studios efforts to appeal to the western market, which is why obscure foreign artists ended up in anime of that time. At least that's my attempt at explaining how this came to be. I don't have any inside knowledge and am speculating from an observer's point of view.
The second season came out five years later and was handled by a different studio. To be specific in 2008. It was at a time everyone betting on the western market realized that this was a huge mistake. Studio Gonzo who made the biggest bet was in the most miserable state and talks of bankruptcy went through the news.
It was under this circumstance, that the studio handling the second season tried to deemphasize the appeal to the western market and therefore changed the character design towards something I described above as moeblob. This is purely speculation on my part, but it seems like a valid assumption that this was the motivation behind the change.
It also didn't help very much, that the manga itself wasn't exactly going strong. Most of the story weaknesses were copied directly from the source. It just so happened that the first season made subtle changes in the presentation to appeal to western audiences, which the second season avoided.