What's so important about hibernating? Why do they need to hibernate? Chisaki is on the surface and didn't fall asleep, and I don't see her become sick and all, which means that it's fine if they don't hibernate.

Also, Hikari, Manaka, and Kaname didn't age after hibernation. Why is that? Is it that everyone who hibernates doesn't get older? And why are they naked? None of other Shioshishio villagers lose their clothes when they hibernate.

This is picture of Manaka hibernating; she didn't age or wear any clothes.

In the final episode, Hikari's father explains:

  Children born to a person of the surface and a person of the sea lose their Ena. For this reason, the people of the sea had to hibernate before the surface met its demise. We had to make sure that there were enough descendants to leave behind and that there was a chance at a future.

Hibernation in this series seems to be equivalent of Cryonics. Which is where an organism is preserved for virtually an indefinite amount of time by being frozen. During this process, the organism is frozen in time and does not age.

So the belief is:

There's an apocalypse coming. And everyone on the surface will die.
If the entire population of Shioshishio marries into the "surface people", there will be no one with Ena to survive the apocalypse.
So the only way is to hibernate through the apocalypse.

But then Hikari's father continues on:

  But Miuna prove me wrong. Miuna has Ena now. That means there's hope for the future even if we wake up.

This is why everyone wakes up.

So biologically, there is no need for an individual to actually hibernate. That's why Chisaki is fine having been on the surface the whole time.

On the other hand, there's nothing in the Anime that seems to explain why Hikari, Manaka, and Kaname woke up naked on the surface.


Strawhat Grand Fleet's status relative to Heart Pirate At first, the Strawhats make an alliance with Heart Pirate, and then after Dressrosa Arc we are introduced to the Strawhat Grand Fleet. What I want to ask is: does the Strawhat Grand Fleet have equal status as the Heart Pirate, or lower?

Though there are no sources, we can surmise the difference in the nature of relationships between Luffy and Law and Luffy and Straw Hat Grand Alliance.

Straw Hat-Heart Alliance was formed on Punk Hazard by their two captains in order to defeat Kaido, one of the four Yonko of the New World. According to Law, who proposed the alliance, their cooperation would give them a 30% chance to defeat the Yonko.

The Straw Hat Grand Fleet is a fleet formed by seven organizations who vowed to serve under Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hats. These seven organizations are represented by

  1 Cavendish - Beautiful Pirate (75)
  2 Bartolomeo - Barto Club (56)
  3 Sai - Happo Navy (1000)
  4 Ideo - XXX Gym Martial Arts Alliance (4)
  5 Leo - Tonta Corps (200)
  6 Hajrudin - New Giant Warrior Pirates (5)
  7 Orlumbus - Yonta Maria Grand Fleet (4300)

The key difference to note is the missing objective in the second. Luffy-Law alliance was formed for the purpose of defeating Kaido, one of the Yonko, so they could go closer to the title of Yonko themselves and hence the Pirate King. They are still rivals (Friends/Enemies) but while they are pursuing the same mini objective (defeat the Yonko) they are co-operating with each other. The members of Grand Fleet would support Luffy unconditionally.

Pirate Alliances in One Piece is an interesting read. Some important points

  The captains who formed the alliance are theoretically equal in status, and cannot give each other orders. They may have limited control over each other's crews, but the highest authority still lies with the respective captains.
  An alliance is usually formed with the purpose of reaching a specific, mutual goal. It may be something that neither crew could accomplish on their own
  A common problem with pirate alliances is betrayal; when one captain sees no more use of the other, it results in treason in order to reduce the needs to share glory.

Thus we can surmise Luffy and Law share the status of EQUALS, while those of the grand fleet share the status of SUBORDINATES. Also note that this objective has been extended on request of Momonosuke, since Kaido is holding the Shogun as well, dubbed as Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance

Extended Question in Comments  So, the Grand Fleet are subordinate Law too?

The short answer is No. The Grand fleet is oathsworn to Luffy, but they are in no obligation to follow even when they are in alliance.

However, this often comes out to nothing since Law has the brains and judgement and the leaders of fleet have enough sense to follow those orders. The wikia however also states

  In a situation where one of the captains gets captured, the other can take charge of their remaining subordinates.

Thus in adverse scenarios, Luffy's Crew and subordinates may listen to Law because of his status as a captain of an allied crew, but they can have their own judgements.

I made a poor example of Shanks and Whitebeard, but it does help to illustrate my point. They both are Yonko, Whitebeard's Generals know that Shanks is allied to their interests (The battle with Kaido). But they do not follow Shanks after the death of Whitebeard but Marco instead. Also note they DO retreat after Whitebeard's death because what Shanks said made sense. Though he did threaten the consequences.


Who is this character? Can somebody please tell me what is the name of this character?

I am trying to find this character's name. I have tried to google it and went through a couple of anime lists, but it just doesn't ring a bell.

As noted in the comments by Senshin, this is a figure of Death Note's Near.


Is Ritsu really necessary? Ritsu was great when she was first introduced, but as I go on with the series, she seems to be a little less useless every time I see her, and then in the past few chapters, she was just gone. Is she truly a great help? When they went to that one place to make a major Assassination attempt, I noticed that Ritsu didn't take part at all. So what I'm asking: is she a necessary component of the class?

Bear in mind that there are a lot of students in E-class, and as such the author has the tendency to rotate characters in and out of focus. Ritsu has her moments in, for example, the Assassination Island Arc and the God of Death Arc (not gonna discuss in depth to keep the answer spoiler free.) The only students that have more of a consistent focus are Nagisa and Karma.

To answer your question, her necessity as a component of E-class is more or less equal to any other supporting character, for example Ryouma Terasaka.


Why does "Shin Sekai Yori" portray a homosexual relationship? In Shin Sekai Yori, there are kiss scenes between two men (Shun and Satoru, I think).

Are that scenes also described in the original novel? Why does it have these scenes since it is unusual for typical anime, and it isn't in the yaoi or shounen ai genres?

This behavior is straight from the novel and is described by the Minoshiro in episode 4.  The answer will be revealed through the course of the story, but a quick witted watcher and/or reader will have his/her answer at episode 5.

  As the Minoshiro explains, necessity dictates that the human society on the brink of destruction must be reformed into a society of love, like the bonobos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo). It is assumed that the grafting of bonobo DNA into the human genome causes certain attributes to be transferred. One of the explained behaviors is the relieving of stress through sexual activities (as observed in episode 5, when captured, Saki and Satoru engage in such activities to reduce their axiety and fear).

Combining this information with real-world information can then be extrapolated as:

  One of the other observed behaviors in the bonobo, is the bi-sexual nature, which is present in apes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals#Bonobo_and_other_apes). To form a society of love as the intention was, it can be assumed that the effect is already present in the human genome and may have been strengthened by the DNA grafting. Saki and Maria have a similar relationship.

So, why did they include these scenes?

  That's the background of the humans and thus a critical part of the story.


What is this manga in which the King of Hell escapes Hell with his cat and becomes a high school student? I think the storyline goes like this. The King of Hell escapes Hell with his cat. He assumes human bodies to start his new life as a high school student, while his cat becomes a beautiful nurse who works at the school. He is enjoying his new life with a goofy smile while people are trying to find him and bring him back to Hell. They can only recognise him by the extensive black ink tattoo on his back, which can be seen even in his human form. In his human form, he is short with whitish hair, and his cat is a beautiful black-haired beauty. However, in his demon form, he is very tall and handsome with black hair, and his cat returns to being a cat. I think it could have been yaoi-ish, but I can't remember though.

I think you are looking for Mad Love Chase (Japanese title: Harlem Beat wa Yoake made).  That's one heck of a plot.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

  A supernatural comedy about the Prince of Hell, Kaito, and his cat, Levun, who decide to run away together to escape an arranged marriage the Prince wants no part of. Somehow upon entering the human world, the Prince's appearances changes from tall, dark, and handsome to short, light and skinny, and his cat becomes a tall, busty female. Now the Prince is living life as a regular high school student and his cat is the school's nurse. Meanwhile, the King of Hell sends a womanizing vampire, a short tempered werewolf, and a kind hearted zombie to retrieve his son. Not to mention, the Prince's fiancée is not going to just wait around forever.

The main character also has the tattoo you had mentioned:

  He has a distinctive, black tattoo on the whole of his back, which identifies him as the Prince of Hell.

The original Tokyopop page cited there has a dead link for it's reference.


Are there two separate Mewtwos? In the first movie and the anime series, Mewtwo's voice clearly indicates that Mewtwo is male. In the 16th movie, Mewtwo appears to be  female. It was then shown that that Mewtwo can mega evolve into Mewtwo Y. From this, is it possible that there are two Mewtwos, where the male is Mewtwo X and the female is Mewtwo Y? I know that in the game, Mewtwo does not have a gender, but this is from the anime's perspective.

I did some research and it appears that there are actually two different Mewtwos, as you suggest. I know this sounds a bit outlandish at first, but it is mentioned and supported in numerous different sources.

From GameFAQs:

  In game: genderless
  Real mewtwo from the first movie: male
  New mewtwo from genesect movie: female, apparently

From Pokemon Database:

  The original Mewtwo, created by team rocket (First Movie & Mewtwo Returns), was a male.
  This is the moody Mewtwo you know best.

  The second Mewtwo appears in Genesect and the Legend Awakened and is female.

  There is no real evidence for exactly who created this Mewtwo, but it may have been another team following Giovanni's original plans. It could also have to do with the "multiple parallel universes" mentioned to exist in ORAS.

  If this were to be the case, this Mewtwo would have been created at abut the same time in about the same circumstances, but was born a female and may have never met Ash.

In general, it appears that the movies can sometimes operate within different timelines of the regular anime, so these multiple parallel universe theories can exist separately.

From the Bulbapedia entry for Mewtwo, it states that Mewtwo is genderless, but Bulbapedia refers to the games and not the anime/movies.

You can also watch this video, where a semi-popular YouTuber discusses the gender of Mewtwo (and reaches the same conclusion that there are two Mewtwos).


In Root A, did Hide feed himself to Kaneki so that he would heal? Hide started bleeding shortly after Kaneki woke up, however, Kaneki had passed out from blood loss and was having difficulty healing.
Then there's the weird dream Kaneki had that makes me believe that maybe he was, like, sleep-feeding or something.

Did Hide maybe feed part of himself to Kaneki so that Kaneki would heal instead of dying?

Hide let kaneki eat him so kaneki could regain his strength and the 2nd season of the anime doesnt follow the manga.


What SAO spin-off had a female character that resembled Kirito? I know it was a Sword Art Online spin-off.

There was Asuna and Silica in their SAO avatars.
They meet a "Kirito".
That "Kirito" turns out to be a female player.(like reverse of Kirito's GGO avatar)
She is a fan of Kirito
I think it takes place inside Aincrad in ALO and before Kirito transfer his ID to ALO again.

Anyone know the title of this spin-off?

The spin-off you're looking for appears to be Sword Art Online: Girls Ops

This manga follows Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth through a story that takes place both in the real world and in the new ALO1.

They do indeed meet a player that they first think is Kirito, but it turns out is a female player that dual wields out of admiration of Kirito. She says that she thinks fate made her character look like that.

From Sword Art Online - Girls Ops Volume 01 Wikia:

  She then told the other girls that her name was Kuro and that she took her name from Kirito's nickname, «The Black Swordsman» (黒の剣士, Kuro no Kenshi?). Kuro then explained that she took up a dual-wielding style out of admiration of Kirito


Which chapters does Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun anime cover? Which chapters does the anime cover? Where should I start reading in order to continue from the anime?

The anime covered about the first 4 volumes of the manga.

If you want to pick up the manga then starting at about chapter 16 would be a good choice.

If I remember correctly there was a little left out in the final episode of the series, but nothing critical.


Why did Sinon act strangely when Kirito grabbed her tail? I noticed in an episode of Sword Art Online II (Calibur arc) that Sinon (a Cait Sith) reacted strangely when Kirito grabbed her tail. Silica (also a Cath Sith) noticed this but it seems that she too (just like me) has no idea. What happened here?

The following is quoted from Sword Art Online Book 8: Early and Late, page 221

  The triangular ears and tail unique to the Cait Sith race were of
  course organs human don’t have, however, they could sense the feeling
  using an unknown mechanism. Being grabbed hard by a player who
  wasn’t aware of the fact would cause a «super weird feeling»——
  Silica’s explanation——for that reason, the reaction was always very
  amusing.

This quote actually shows us a few things:

Why Kirito pulled her tail in the first place: it's "amusing"
What it feels like: "a super weird feeling" cause by sensentations from an organ humans don't normally have - similar to the wings in ALO, I might add
Why Silica looks at her tail in the YouTube clip: calling it a "super weird feeling" was her description, so she clearly knows how it feels. In other words, it's likely that someone (possibly Kirito, since he seems to enjoy it so much) has done the same thing to her.

I've added the picture of this scene from the light novel just for reference.


Did Light Actually Like L (in a friendship way)? When I watched episode 25 of Death Note (AKA the one when L, Watari, and Rem died), I noticed that Light was strangely kind to L. Is that because he was nice to L before he died, or because he actually thought of L as a friend? This is something I have been pondering over ever since L said that Light was his only friend.

This might be my personal opinion, but this does not look like the face that a person would show his friend when that friend is dying. Light had been pretending to be L's friend for a while, so by (over-)reacting he achieved two things. The first would be keeping his image and the second would be giving him a reason to go looking for the Death Note, that he knew would be laying around somewhere.


What type of Pokemon is Beedrill? I've been arguing with my friend for a while about this.
But is Beedrill classified as a wasp or a bee Pokemon?

Its name is indeed "Bee"drill, but its shape is one of a wasps'.

Beedrill is a bee. It's classified as such in the Pokedex and its in the name as well.


Is there any material relationship between "Pandora in the Crimson Shell" and "Ghost in the Shell"? This season's Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn is a work created in part by Masamune Shirow - the same fellow behind Ghost in the Shell. Much to my chagrin, I haven't gotten around to watching Ghost in the Shell. But I do know bits and pieces about it, and there seem to be some surface-level similarities to Pandora in the Crimson Shell (which is airing right now, and which I'm watching).

Obviously, the title, for one (both in English and Japanese - Koukaku Kidoutai vs. Koukaku no Pandora); Pandora has "Gerzekoma" robots while Ghost has "Tachikoma" robots; and the whole focus on cybernetics and the line between humans and machines.

Do these surface-level similarities reflect any material relationship between the two? (e.g. is Pandora an alternate-universe to Ghost, or a "meanwhile, in this other part of the world" story, or something?) Or is it just that Masamune Shirow chose to write about similar themes in two otherwise unrelated manga?

In a sense, yes, they are on the same universe with Ghost in the Shell: Arise, which is the prequel to the original Ghost in the Shell manga/movie.
The TVTropes's article (Warning, TVTropes link!) mentioned some background about it:

Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn (紅殻のパンドラ / Koukaku no Pandora) is a cyberpunk action comedy manga based on an unused concept of Masamune Shirow (designs of which would eventually be re-used in Ghost in the Shell: Arise).
(Emphasis mine)

Researching further on Japanese Wikipedia also mentioned about its relation/connection with Ghost in the Shell: Arise,

 Relation with Ghost in the Shell: Arise

 At the time when it was originally planned, the title was supposed to be Ghost Urn with its plot having the same background setting as Ghost in the Shell: Arise (GitS:Arise). In the original plot, Uzal Delilah (Sahar Schehera) who was supposed to be the same person with Dr. Zhinzhee Bekka Arr Thied who appeared in chapter 3 & 4 of GitS:Arise; Clarion, and BUER were supposed to appear in GitS:Arise. Moreover, GitS:Arise's character Kurtz was originally Ghost Urn's character, with Ian Kurtz as her equivalent character.

 The setting took place years after Uzal and their companion moved to Cenancle Island and were living there after the incident in GitS:Arise. The illustration of the original plot that appears at the end of its tankobon not only shows Kurtz, but also cyborgs who protect Dr. Thied, Nami Hozumi, and other characters who become the model for GitS:Arise's characters.

 However, Ghost Urn anime project was suspended due to various circumstances. When KADOKAWA restarted the project, this time with manga, the setting and characters were recomposed. In addition to that, the setting became pre-GitS:Arise, and characters who were supposed to be the same in both series were separated totally. Finally, the title was changed to Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn.


Who is the boy in the coffin in the last episode (of the Gemini of the Meteor)? Who is the boy in the coffin that wakes up in the last episode of the second season, Gemini of the Meteor? What significance does he play? Why does he look like Yin?

If it's sticking vaguely close to the manga it's Kagutsuchi (the being unknown) who is created when Izanami (Yin) and Izanagi (Hei or Shion) bond as predicted in the Mikata Documents.

  Izanagi gazes upon the false sea bottom, waiting for Izanami. Izanami
  will cross the sea bottom and eventually the two will meet. When they
  do, heaven and earth will split in two, and there the Gate of Hell
  will open. From the Gate will come forth one, a being unknown. And
  strife will continue for eternity.


Is there a particular café that does anime coffee art? I've seen a lot of coffee art of anime characters on social media, and I'd love to get my own anime-coffee - or even find out the location so I can see more of their art.

Is there somewhere specific that serves these anime coffees or is this just individuals creating the art?

Coffee art is commonly refered to as "Latte art" (ラテ・アート in japanese). By searching this term in japanese along with "anime" (アニメ) on the internet, you will be able to find many results (such as this blog where you will find many anime latte arts), and even many tutorials to make your own latte arts!

If you want to go see by yourself in a café, you can probably use this article as reference as it lists many recommended places in Japan where you can enjoy latte art. However, arts such as characters representations usually require lot of preparation/work/tries, so I would not expect too complex arts by going there in the first place.


How large is Dorj the cat? In Little Busters, Dorj (ドルジ) is a very fat cat with tiny paws.

But there seems to be some discrepancy about how large Dorj really is. Some sources place him at around half Rin's size (as seen above), but sometimes he's much larger.

Does Dorj have an official size? If not, at what size does most official material (figures, promotions, etc.) place him?

According to this page, Dorj is as large as a seal.

In this picture, he appears to be about twice the size of the children. This page also describes him as being like a seal, as does this page.

Various images of him show him in varying sizes, so there doesn't seem to be one set size, though he is always described as large. (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex. 3)

These are action figures of of the characters giving one version of the relative size:

In the picture, Dorj is about half the size of Rin's body, but her head is disproportionately large and this may not be canon in terms of proportions, so it is difficult to tell.

As a whole, half the size of Rin seems to be a reasonable estimate, but there doesn't seem to be an official size beyond "large" and, sometimes, "large as a seal".


Where can I find mecha schematics? I am writing a short story and need the schematics of the Escaflowne or any other mecha robot to add details to my story. Transformers schematics work too. Particularly, the torso part of the rider and the overall robot itself. I know Transformers don't have riders, but you get the jist.
All the help is appreciated.

A quick Google search led me to this page, where you can find a full list of mechas from the Macross franchise (a quick browse through some pages there showed me that not all mecha have schematics there). For example, this page in particular has all the details for the "Centinental/Kransmann MBR-07-Mk II Spartan Main Battle Robot", along with some perspectives and schematics.

Searching Google for "anime mecha schematics" also shows a lot of results (many of them are from the website referred above):

Some of them even seem to be rather detailed, like this one (despite its small size):

You can always follow the images to their source, and possibly find some more results that may interest you.

I also found this other site where you can find some other drawings of mecha from some series, including Gundam. In this one, p.e., you can find schematics for the cockpit (in the bottom):

I also found this forum, where you may find something if you have some time and patience (I didn't). For instance, in this thread I found this drawing from Gunbuster.

For Escaflowne in particular, however, I was not able to find anything.


What do people eat, if not rice? Episode 7 of Koutetsujou no Kabaneri brings up the point that nobody in Japan eats rice anymore, since the rice paddies are outside the stations, and hence overrun by the kabane.

This makes a lot of sense, and is a splendid bit of worldbuilding. But if they can't grow rice, what staple food(s) do they grow and eat instead?

Out of all the common staple foods currently eaten, it seems that potatoes (or sweet potatoes) can provide the most calories-per-unit-area, clocking in at about 4-5 times as much as rice. But at just 4-5 times rice's calorie/area yield, they'd have to have lost no more than 75-80% of their arable land to maintain the same calorie output. Judging from the sizes of the stations we've seen, it doesn't seem plausible that they still have that much arable land - we see the railforts driving through days of outside-station land between stations.

Perhaps the resolution here is that Japan's population has dipped so precipitously in the face of the kabane menace that the meager amount of land enclosed by the stations does suffice to grow enough of some other staple crop to feed the people?

To answer the question, I am thinking in terms of Japan, if not a manga/anime world.

Did you forget to think of seafood? Seafood is a big delicacy in Japan, considering all of Japan is surrounded by water. Although they must be careful not to over-fish.

Reference


What does it take to be an alchemist, besides knowledge and technique? This is somewhat related to the question, Why can't the homunculi perform Alchemy?

Alchemy is an essential part of life in the series, where not only have the State Military weaponized it, but seems to be at the center of religion and priesthood of neighbouring countries. And yet, only a handful of people practice it. If it's so essential, why can't everyone work with it? We are not experts at all the fields we use, but we use them in some limited capacity anyway. For example, we are not all doctors, but when we have fever, we pop antipyretics; we are not all computer scientists, but we can use computers in our own ways, and so on. In the FMA-universe, alchemy seems to practised by just experts.

We already know that sin-essenced homunculi can't perform alchemy, but Father is a Homunculus (the original one), and yet he can perform alchemy. Ordinary doctors (eg. the Rockbells) have the smarts for advanced study, but don't seem to use any alchemy. Skilled automail mechanics have specialized technical knowledge, but none of them use alchemy.

There are exceptional circumstances where Father blocks tectonic alchemy for everyone, or Edward giving away his portal. But why can't everyone else perform some simple alchemy? Is there an explanation for this in the manga, that is similar to Star Wars' "midi-chlorians"?

Alchemy is a combination of chemistry and magic, and it requires both knowledge and technique to make a transmutation happen. Though you're correct that alchemy is an important part of the series, for the people of Amestris, it's still something that's exceptional and out of the norm. (Remember how often citizens are impressed when Ed or Al use the simplest of alchemy to restore broken objects.)

Your analogy of pills and computers isn't totally accurate. Yes, we take pills when we have a fever... but do you have any idea how to make one of those pills? I'm sure you've got a general idea of how to start (you take some chemicals and put them together), but the actual specifics are much more complicated. Same with computers - we can use the programs on them easy enough, but do you know how to code one of those programs? This is how people view alchemy as well - they see a tool that can be used to fix/create, but the actual process is far too complicated for most people. After all, Ed and Al have studied almost their whole life, and most of the state alchemists have also spent a great deal of time honing their craft. (As a side note, this is probably the reason alchemists tend to specialize in one type of alchemy, such as Roy's fire or Tucker's chimeras - they learned all the chemistry related to that field, and would be much less effective doing something else.)

The Rockbell doctors can't perform alchemy because although they are very smart (and probably have some chemistry training as well), they don't know the alchemical techniques necessary to make a transmutation happen. Similarly for automail mechanics - they have a ton of knowledge of which parts make up a functioning mechanical limb, but they don't know alchemy. (Likewise, this is why Ed needs Winry to fix his automail all the time - he doesn't know how it works on a technical level. He can transmute some parts of it like making a blade out of the aesthetic parts of the arm, but he is unable to to fully repair the arm on his own... he needs specialized knowledge for that.)


Which episodes in Boruto are fillers? Which episodes in Boruto are fillers? I heard that over 45% is filler. And that is a lot. So that is why I am asking.

Most of them: if it's not manga canon then it's filler. I think there are less then 20 cannon episodes.


Is Bakuman based on the real life story of the author or the people he knew? Is Bakuman based on the life story of the author himself/the people he knew or is it a manga with a fictional story?

Bakuman seems to be based on real characters. As listed in the Cultural References' article on Bakuman Wikia, with their similarities mentioned on the MangaFox forums:

  Ashirogi Muto appear to be based on Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

Akito Takagi and Moritaka Mashiro resemble Ohba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi, respectively. The writer and the artist part being analogous to Ohba being the writer and Obata being the artist, Mashiro's semi realistic style being akin to Obata's, the darker themed manga that get better reception (which was true for Ohba whose most sold manga is Death Note) and even Takagi's failed attempt at action manga resembles Obata's failure, Rampou, that got cancelled after the second volume. Takagi, according to Bakuman, is best at writing dark and elaborate stories; this could be parallel to Ohba's way of writing as an author (for example, Death Note). There were also chapters that talked about serious humor in Bakuman; this "serious humor" can also seen in Death Note.

Also notable is this statement made by a user of the forum link:

At the end of every chapter there's a page that shows a Name made by Ohba (with
funny and ugly drawings just like the ones that Tagaki used to do) and a Name made
by Obata, with better pannels and drawings (just like the ones that Mashiro makes)

  It's speculated that Niizuma Eiji is based on Eiichiro Oda and Tite Kubo.

Niizuma Eiji seems to based on Oda, with all the encompassing success of their manga and the rather childlike purity of their love of the artform.

  The editors of Bakuman appear to be based on real-life editors.

Ashirogi Muto's editor, Hattori Akira, is based on two real life editors.
The name is based on Hattori John Batist Akira while the likeness is based on Saito Yuu.
Aida Souichi, team leader of Hattori in Bakuman, is based on real life current vice editor-in-chief Aida Souichi. He was the editor for Bakuman from Chapter 1 till around Chapter 91. They basically used the same names (even the Kanji are the same) as the real life editors for most of the established editors.

  Hiramaru's comic tendencies with animals, exasperation at his editor, and laziness draw a parallel to Sorachi Hideaki, mangaka of Gintama.

He may also be based on Yoshihiro Togashi who is just as lazy and also has a mangaka wife: Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka of Sailor Moon.

  Nobuhiro could be compared to Hiroshi Gamo, a real-life mangaka famous for his gag manga and speculated to be Tsugumi Ohba.

  Aoki's specialization in romance manga, along with her experience and popularity with the series, draw a parallel to Kawashita Mizuki, mangaka of Ichigo 100%, Hatsukoi Limited, and Ane Doki.


Why didn't Kazuya use his freezing ability against Chiffon? On the last two episodes of Freezing Vibration (2nd season of Freezing), we could see Kazuya, Rana, and Satellizer fighting Chevalier's Pandora and Student Council President Chiffon Fairchild.

In this fight, although set as 2 against 1, Satellizer and Rana were badly wounded and beaten.

I was wondering, Kazuya was there and he has this powerful Freezing field he can generate on his own. So why did Kazuya not use his freezing ability against Chiffon?

Even though fighting against a "True" Pandora, two Pandoras working together with activated stigmata and a very powerful Freezing can mean a lot.

He used it in other episodes when he was fighting beside Satellizer against other tough pandoras. So why didn't he use it against Chiffon?

First of all, Kazuya doesn't know how to control his powers. This can be seen every time he uses them. It is always in the last second and only if somebody is in danger, especially Bridgette.

In this fight, he is unable to use it, because he does not want to hurt Chiffon. Also he sees that Rana and Bridgette have no chance of winning any way. Rana's arms were ripped off in a second and after she transformed and beat up Chiffon, Chiffon just stands up as if nothing happened.

   Also, Kazuya's powers are needed a bit later and he tends to overexert himself. So it would be impossible to solve the problems which arise later.


Why do animes have this "milky"-like texture? So I've always noticed this for years watching anime, I always look at anime characters and they seem to have to kind of milky/blurry texture on their skin/clothes. It's not to noticeable to some people, but hopefully you can see what I mean with these pictures.

(Click the pictures and zoom in for a better idea of what I mean.)

I copy and pasted the pics in Photoshop and used the eye drop tool on different areas of the skin and clothes. The color codes jump around everywhere so they can't be solid.

Could it be that these frames were scanned in at a certain DPI? Maybe something as a result of an editing software like After Effects? Or maybe it's the texture of the paper?

This happens if you encode a video with a lossy codec. In each frame the solid colors are actually drawn solid. But at the moment where they get converted into a video, a lossy compression is used. Lossy data compression discards some data from each frame so it becomes small (within the meaning of computer memory) enough to be stored on for example a DVD or so it is possible to stream them over the internet.

  Compression artifacts occur in many common media such as DVDs, common
  computer file formats such as JPEG, MP3, or MPEG files, and some
  alternatives to the compact disc, such as Sony's MiniDisc format.
  Uncompressed media (such as on Laserdiscs, Audio CDs, and WAV files)
  or losslessly compressed media (such as FLAC or PNG) do not suffer
  from compression artifacts.

If you look close to the image you can see some kind of a square pattern (two are highlighted with circles), also called artifacts, that appears if you use lossy compression.

A other effect that occurs is that the color is changing. Here is a example where the left image is a lossless png file and the right image a very high compressed jpg image:

The image to the left needs 168 KByte on the disc while the right only needs 2 KByte. If you want to know the reason why these artifacts are appearing, read the articles I provide below.

Information and image from Wikipedia and more information from Wikipedia.


What about Yukihira Soma's mother? I don't recall his mother being mentioned so far in the anime. Is there any info on her status/location?

In the end of chapter 1 of the manga is the only time I know she is mentioned (or more like shown in a picture).


How did they start sending messages to other's phone? When the anime starts and until episode 8, they attached a cell-phone to the phone-microwave and sent a message to that specific phone to trigger sending D-Mails. But in episode 8

   Ruka sent a D-Mail to her mother pager

and then in episode 9

   Faris sent a D-Mail to (probably) herself

So I'm wondering if there is a plot whole somewhere in the story, or did they figure out a way to send D-Mails from any phone to any phone?

As a side question previously it was mentioned that how they can set D-Mail's time of Arrival:

   each second on Phone-Microwave meant an hour going back, so I'm wondering how did they manage to set microwave time to 87600 (10 years)?

You just send the message from one phone/pager to another one. All you need is the microwave running and a running CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), plus the phone number of the receiver. You configure the microwave, turn it on and wait for the message to be sent.

Earlier in the story, they needed to connect the phone with the microwave, to determine, which message should be affected by time-travel.

   However, Daru wrote a program, with which you could set the number and various different things, so it was possible to send these D-Mails without the need of connecting the phone to the microwave.

Regarding your time-question: Daru applied many modifications to the microwave, so you could set any running-time. The microwave won't run the whole 24 hours, it just needs to be set to that time.


How are UQ Holder member numbers attributed? In page 12 of chapter 11, Touta and Kuroumaru are officially accepted in UQ Holder. They are, respectively, attributed the numbers 7 and 11:

Do these numbers mean anything in particular and correspond to something in terms of hierarchy (of power or ranking)? If so, how powerful/ranked are Touta and Kuroumaru?
Or are they just randomly chosen?

Not sure if this is considered canon, as I stopped reading the manga and am not sure if further details were revealed, but...

On episode 3 of the anime, when Touta and Kuromaru meet Jinbei Shishido, he tells 'em he's number 2, and Kuromaru says:

Again, not sure if this is canon. Also not sure if Kuromaru is just making an assumption, or if this is a given in the anime — there are some different things in the adaptation, and I don't remember this bit of conversation from the manga. But, if this is not an assumption, then the numbers are attributed according to how powerful the characters are.


What's the name of the first piece of music in Shingeki no Kyojin episode 1? In the 1st episode of SNK / AOT, there's this awesome song at 0:47, when the colossal titan appears. Do you know the name, please? I can't find it anywhere...

I assume this is referring to when the colossal titan appears in the prologue before the intro.

The song is called cóunter・attàck-mˈænkάɪnd (Counterattack Mankind) and is from Attack on Titan Original Soundtrack.

The actual part featured in the mentioned scene starts over half way through the track at around 3:25, which is possibly why it is hard to find.

It is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano.

The track can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PuP7IkpRLU


How did Latias transform in Pokémon Heroes? In the movie Pokémon Heroes Latias is able to transform into Bianca (a human character in the movie). Serebii.net, however, does not list transform as a move Latias can use. Were any comments made in the movie regarding the transformation? Is Latias using the move transform or is it using some other power?

According to Bulbapedia, in the Pokémon Adventures manga, Latias is also able to appear as a human by using its ability to refract light. This is consistent with its Pokédex entry in the Sapphire game:

  The POKéMON enfolds its body with its down and refracts light to alter its appearance.


What is Orochimaru's ancestry? Orochimaru has pale white skin and purple skin around his eyes. His eyes are also similar to that of snakes. Does it signify that he belongs to a particular clan? Or is he one of a kind?

In support of @Quikstryke answer, allow me to elaborate more on this topic.
How Orochimaru gained snake-like characteristics
From Orochimaru article on Naruto Wiki:

Orochimaru was an orphan who became a pupil of Hiruzen Sarutobi alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade. Compared to the more laid back Jiraiya, Orochimaru stood out as a genius — his talents, knowledge, and determination were considered by Hiruzen to be that of a prodigy seen once in a generation. According to Tsunade, Orochimaru had a twisted personality even as a child. His sadistic attitude was presumably due to the death of his parents. At some point after losing them, Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen's explanation of it representing fortune and rebirth inspiring Orochimaru to study kinjutsu and obtain knowledge of all techniques. Jiraiya theorised that Orochimaru went down this path in an attempt to forget his painful memories.

From the link above, we learn that Orochimaru did not get his snake like eyes from childbirth, but through his research on the white snake that he found near his parents grave. He spent his life researching about immortality and rebirth.
From Orochimaru article on Wikipedia:

Through his experimentations he has also been able to add some snake-like characteristics to his own body

Orchimaru's Snake Techniques
Below is the list of Orochimaru's snake related techniques.

Orochimaru's trademark trait is his affinity with snakes, in addition to impacting the appearance and composition of his true form, and granting him the ability to extend his limbs to abnormal lengths and to take on snake-like traits in battle, caused him to learn a number of snake-related abilities, including learning Sage Mode. His snake-related techniques have been referred to as Power of the White Snake. One such ability is being able to summon giant snakes to fight alongside him in battle, made possible by the summoning contract tattooed on his arm. This allows him to summon snakes within his vicinity, as opposed to having to place his hand on a surface.
If need be, Orochimaru can morph into a giant snake, despite being slightly smaller in size to his larger ones. His signature summon was Manda, a colossal snake which was described as the largest in the world, with immense fighting capabilities. With Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Orochimaru can instantly call forth snakes from his sleeves and mouth to attack his opponents in large numbers with venomous bites. A stronger variation of this technique was the Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, in which the summoned snakes grow noticeably in both numbers and size.
Another usage of snakes comes in the form of his signature weapon, the Sword of Kusanagi, the Kusanagi of Japanese legend. The sword, kept within the mouth of a snake within his own throat, is able to extend to great lengths to attack enemies that are very far away, can be controlled remotely by Orochimaru, and can return to him by turning in a snake. Although he is capable of wielding the sword normally with great proficiency, it's not uncommon for him to use it without ever removing it from his mouth. The sword is stated to be able to cut through almost anything, and despite failing to penetrate four-tailed Naruto's chakra shroud, did push him back an incredible length. In the anime, he is also capable of having numerous Kusanagi-like blades sprout from the mouths of the snakes he summons.
He is also able to summon use one of his larger snakes around its target, trapping it in its stomach. Following this, Orochimaru can speed up the digestion process on the target. His strongest technique is the Eight Branches Technique, which allows him to transform into an eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent bigger than the already colossal Manda, another reference to the Japanese myth. This was described as the ultimate snake-related technique, which turned the user into an immensely powerful "Dragon God".


What happened to the Kyuubi's chakra after Orochimaru releases the Dead Demon Consuming Seal? We know that when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, the 4th Hokage sealed half of the Kyuubi's chakra using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and half within Naruto.

When Orochimaru sliced the stomach of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal "Reaper"/Shinigami (Chapter 618), all things that was sealed in it was freed.

So what happened to the half of the Kyuubi's chakra that was sealed? Why didn't it return?

As of the current chapter (630), it is still not known if the Kyuubi's chakra was released from the Shinigami's stomach. It is possible that it is the gift that Minato is referring to when the kages and Sasuke's group are about to go to the battlefield.

From chapter 627, page 16


Do Gogeta and Vegito have all the same techniques? In Dragon Ball Heroes, Vegito has shown to be capable of using the kaioken. But Vegito in the same story and others doesnt use it.

Do Gogeta and Vegito have all the same techniques?

Gogeta and Vegeta are 2 different forms of fusion - One is formed by potara and other by fusion dance so they use same techniques.
Currently there is no official news of Dragon Ball Super but a rumour going of Super Season 2.
As for Heroes series it is fan-made going on as like GT series not made by the Dragon Ball Z or Super creator


What is the true meaning of this phrase in Dragon Ball Super episode 80? In episode 80, the High Priest said, "Universe 1 and 12, Universe 8 and 5 are exempt from entering, since their mortal level average is already over 7."

Did he mean that they won't be entering the tournament or did he mean that even if they lose, they won't get erased? The literal meaning of the word 'exempt' suggests that it's up to those Universes whether the want to join or not. I'm confused.

Yesterday in Episode 81 it was revealed that there will be 80 participants (10 per 8 universes) so 4 universes won't enter the tournament. This is most likely the 4 exempt universes, so the first option seems to be right: "exempt" means that they don't have to enter.


Change of protagonist or late entry of protagonist In all the manga that I have read and anime I have watched, the protagonist always appears in the first chapter of manga or first episode of an anime.

Most of the time without reading the plot we can tell who is the protagonist after watching only a few episodes.

So my question:

Has it ever happened that there any anime or manga where:

The character who we think is the protagonist turns into a supporting character and another character turn into the protagonist
The protagonist appears or debuts later than 1 or 2 chapters or episodes.

But not including where the protagonist dies and there arises another protagonist.

And while providing an example try to mention which type of plot as mentioned above

Yes, there are. TV Tropes refers to this as a Decoy Protagonist, although TV Tropes' definition generally seems to refer to when the apparent main character gets killed early on in the series. Some examples of this may include Gurren Lagann, Yuru-Yuri, and Bokurano (I took these straight from the examples page and have not actually watched the latter two).


How do hybrids (half-humans and half-ghouls) rate in strength compared to normal ghouls? In the anime series, there are several types of hybrids: artificial half-ghouls like Kaneki, biological half-ghouls like Eto and half-humans like Arima. How are they supposed to rate in strength compared to regular ghouls? Are they stronger, weaker or have equal strength? Is this stated in the series?

Biological half-ghouls are extremely rare. However,

in the Tokyo Ghoul universe, they are considered an urban legend and their strength are supposed to be superior compared to regular ghouls
To cite examples of their strength, Eto was an SSS rate in her Owl form and S rate without her Owl form; the Underground King waged war against humanity, prompting the creation of the CCG and V;

Artificial half-ghouls are similar.

Looking at the list of successful artificial half-ghouls here, one can see in the manga that their abilities are way above a normal ghoul
While not stated in the manga, I think what affects their strength is the abilities of the ghoul that they were made from (only Rize and Eto was used by Kanou to make artificial half-ghouls, who were at least S-rate ghouls)

Half-humans raised in the Sunlit Garden

have highly developed physical capabilities. While not elaborated upon, I consider their strength still superior to normal ghouls as most, if not all, of them were highly distinguished investigators (as seen in their membership in Arima Squad)

Against each other, it would be difficult to rank hybrids as there are a lot of things to consider. However, even without official information on their ranks, strengths, etc., biology tells us that hybrids have improved or increased function of any biological qualities. (Heterosis) So, it would be safe to say that hybrid ghouls are superior to normal ghouls.


Did Itachi know that Shisui had a Mangekyo Sharingan? Don't take me for a fool, I know the situation, but I've been watching the fight between Itachi and Sasuke, where he said something like this from the old times: "Come after me, when you will obtain the same eyes as mine, being the third to hold a MS."

He already had the Mangekyo Sharingan, so we can safely assume that he knew the story about his "elders", hence knowing not just about Madara, but Izuna and of course Shisui too. Obviously, he didn't know about Obito/Kakashi, but is this a plot hole, or did Itachi really not know that along with Madara and himself, two others already possessed that kind of Sharingan, making his statement false, since Sasuke would've been at least the fifth person?

(I've written Shisui for purpose in the title, but we don't just have to talk about him.)

It is not a plot hole. And he isn't necessarily wrong. He just meant the third person alive. Of course he knew about Shisui, he had his eye. Of course he knew about Izuna and Madara too since he introduced their story to Sasuke. And he probably knew about other unnamed Uchihas too, if there were any, because as he said the Uchihas were killing their best friends for decades to achieve it. So I can't find any other logical explanation.


In the OVA "The Blind Alchemist", how come the subject of human transmutation live so long? In one of the OVAs of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood Specials - The Blind Alchemist, there's a blind alchemist who also attempted human transmutation, but

   it actually turns out to be the girl he brought back to life, his master's dead daughter is just bones and a bit of flesh. The weird thing is that she actually moved her jaws when Al went to see her, and this is years after the transmutation was performed.

So if human transmutation isn't possible and what comes back is just a few organs, how is she able to live, or at least move her jaw for this long?

It's not that Human Transmutation is impossible in the sense that it doesn't work, it's just that it very very rarely goes the way people want it.

as with any other Transmutation, Human Transmutation is still governed by the law of Equivalent Exchange where the input must be equal to the output, failing to do so results in a rebound where the transmutation forces are thrown out of balance.

  In the manga, it is determined that resurrective Human Transmutation is impossible because a soul that has left the mortal coil has passed on into the afterlife and can never be called back by human means. The attempt will cause a rebound due to both the inherent lack of any particular substance able to match a human soul in value and the fact that the initiated transmutation is reaching for an unattainable goal. Of the known attempted Human Transmutations, the rebound has been the "taking" of parts of the initiator's body out of the living world and into the void of the flow (in the case of the Elric brothers' attempted transmutation of their mother, Edward's left leg and Alphonse's entire body were taken and in the case of Izumi Curtis' attempt to revive her dead child, several of her internal organs were taken). It should be noted that the size of the body parts taken are generally equal to the size of the human being transmuted, in accordance with the law of Equivalent Exchange.

Source: Alchemy > Human Transmutation > Resurrection (2nd paragraph)

Remember that with both Trisha Elric and Izumi's child both showed signs of "life"

as for how the body was still alive years after, we can suspect it was more because of a Soul Binding or something similar

  Rosalie leads Al to a room with what appears to be a little girl's shriveled corpse inside. She reveals this as the result of the real Rosalie's transmutation, while she herself is a girl named Amy, who was adopted due to her similar appearance to Rosalie. Alphonse is surprised to learn that it is not in fact a corpse, but is alive, in a way similar to him.

Source: Bonus Episode: The Blind Alchemist > Synopsis

and in the manga, when Ed exhumes Trisha's body which Pinako buried, Ed learns that what it wasn't Trisha that he and Al resurrected as her hair colour and bone structure were different, so the "life" in Rosalie may have not really been her but some other soul if the body was comparable to a suit armor like Al's (in this case, a suit of fleshy armor)

Ofcause there's also the possibly that what "life" there was in Rosalie was not even human as showing signs of life doesn't equal being human as the Homuncli aren't human and Father's/Dwarf's body is described by Van Hohenheim has being a Leather Bag no different from his original flask


Why does Yokodera idolize Oscar Wilde? At many points in the story, Yokodera references Oscar Wilde with a sense of admiration and quotes him fairly frequently. This is done for a variety of reasons, from justifying his own actions to advising others, but in all cases it seems that Yokodera takes Wilde as a sort of role model.

Is it ever explained why he is so influenced by Wilde, to the exclusion of pretty much anyone else?

The manga never explains why exactly he is so fond of Mr. Wilde. It is possible that he views him as a pervy role model and inspiration, being notorious for his (homo)sexual shenanigans. Yet I don't think this is the main reason, since this is a het ecchi series, which tend to view homosexuality as squick.

It is more likely a reference to the nature of Wilde's works, which Yokodera has almost certainly read, given how often he quotes from them. They tend to focus on similar issues to the ones he's facing: e.g., The Importance of Being Earnest deals with matters of saving face, when to lie and not, the purpose and functions of social graces and hierarchy, and of course, How To Get The Girl! Not to mention the tone is almost always light, irreverent and satirical of his "social betters". All of this mirrors issues within his own life, and so he likely feels Wilde is a kindred spirit. (And not least, he's a very entertaining author to read, and eminently quotable for every occasion!)


Is Ninja Hattori a cartoon or anime? I've been watching this thing since I was 8, now I am curious to know what I've been watching all these years. I am not sure what makes an anime and a cartoon different, but I think anime has more violence content than cartoons.

In many of Ninja Hattori's episode, use of weapons, like sword and shuriken was shown. And in most of the episode you can see Hattori and Amada fighting, which is not suitable for a cartoon. Those fights can be compared to the fights in DBZ or other action manga and animes.

So what do you think, is it a cartoon for children or a action genre anime/manga?

It's Anime because it's made in Japan, and (generally) made for Japanese people.

Cartoons are animations in a broader sense, and as such, Anime is a form of Cartoon.
Made in Japan.

http://myanimelist.net/anime/4936/Ninja_Hattori-kun

It lies in the rating of the show and its targeted audience to determine what can be shown to viewers, low violence doesn't make something a Cartoon if that's what you mean.


Why did Pariston Hill leave the election stage out of a sudden? As I watched Hunter x Hunter on AnimaxTaiwan, I am not sure but probably Pariston won the election. Then he suddenly (probably) let Cheadle be the Chairman and left. If I am right, please explain his actions. If I am wrong, then please explain the election after the polls.

Pariston indeed won the election as Gon picked him because he knew Leorio afterall wanted to be a doctor. Also, take a look at the final result.

After that, Cheadle confronts Pariston in the hallway. These lines by Pariston might make you understand more about his action.

  I didn't become vice chairman because I wanted to become chairman.
  I just wanted to hinder the chairman.
  When I said silly things to tease Netero, he always looked so happy...
  I wanted to play with him some more.

  After he wipes his tears off...

  Cheadle-san, if the Association becomes a dull place under your leadership...
  I'll get serious about toying with you next time.

He likes to play around and enjoy himself, of course on the election too. According to Ging Freecss, Pariston's personality is similar to Netero's and his own. He's still care about the Association, like in the lines saying if Cheadle makes the Association become dull and boring, he will really make fun of her. But, instead of becoming the chairman, he prefer be the vice chairman and make fun of the chairman to satisfy himself.


How does a Poké Ball work? Is it ever explained how a Poké Ball works? I know that you throw it a Pokémon, and if it is weak enough, you catch it. But is the process ever explained? Does it work on humans? Do most Pokémon like being held in a Poké Ball?

A pretty clear answer is given here.

To summarize it,

The Pokemon is absorbed into the Poke Ball, and will try to fight back unless it likes the trainer. That is why the Pokemon needs to be weakened: if it is too strong, it will break free. If the Pokemon does break free, the Poke Ball will break and become unusable.

It was programmed to not catch humans, though it sometimes might accidentally catch other things it is thrown at, such as the rice ball Ash throws a Poke Ball at once.

The Pokemon becomes loyal to the trainer once they are caught, and they will generally follow the orders of the trainer.

To quote the page:

  The inside of a Poké Ball is "designed to be as comfortable for the Pokémon residing within", although this is not necessarily true. The Pokémon inside may simply be sleeping, or completely unaware of its own existence. Pokémon are, however aware when inside their Poké Ball — by calling their name, the Pokémon will emerge from its Poké Ball almost immediately.

Edit:

Not all Pokemon will stay in their Poke Ball, however. Pikachu refuses to stay in the Poke Ball, and in the game Pokemon Yellow, Pikachu follows behind the player. Pokémon Soul Silver/Heart Gold let the first Pokemon in a party follow the player.

The Pokemon are shown to be transferred on data chips when being moved to the Pokebox, and only one Pokemon can be stored in each Poke Ball.


What is the Hitotsubashi faction? It was clear that they were a traitorous faction within the Shogunate. In Gintama' episode 16, it's stated by Sougo that it's basically known that the Hitotsubashi were behind some bad stuff, but if they were called out for it, they could cause a lot of trouble for Shigeshige. But if they're only a part of the Shogunate, how could they have enough power to overthrow it, and how would that not be noticed?

In the same episode, Sougo says the Bakufu/Shogunate doesn't want any trouble with the Hitotsubashi. So if they're so dangerous, why weren't they taken out already? Just what kind of powerful organization are they?

I'm just having trouble understanding the premise of the Hitotsubashi.

Hitotsubashi faction is a faction within the shogunate that supports Tokugawa Nobunobu instead of the current (current as of that part of the story) shogun, Tokugawa Shigeshige. Think of them as the opposition party.

The very fact that Sougo said it means that the government knows about it. However, while they are dangerous, the shogunate can't just kill them all since the leader is a part of the Tokugawa clan. Also, the number of the supporters is quite big, thus any attempt to eliminate them would be met with hostile resistance which would throw Edo into chaos.

It should also be noted that while Edo appears to be at peace, they are under the occupation of a foreign force, the Amanto. The shogunate also have the Jouishishi rebels problem. An internal war between the shogunate faction and the Hitotsubashi faction would only weaken the government's position. Thus, the option that Shigeshige has is to appease the Hitotsubashi through political deals.


Origins of the nose-bleed in anime/manga In a similar spirit to my previous question, I wonder who was the first artist to feature a nose-bleed when thinking, shall we say, "provocative thoughts"?  Did it become popularized in anime/manga because of the popularity of the artist's work or because it is a common belief in japanese folklore?

As Beska notes in useful comments at the related question Does the “bloody nose” trope necessarily imply a sexual situation?,

  I think it steps around the question: whether there is a difference between what is understood in normal Japanese society vs anime.

and

  However, when I mentioned this to a Japanese person (someone who was not a big anime viewer), she was confused, and adamant that a bloody nose would normally just mean that the person was excited in general, and it would not necessarily have anything to do with sexual excitement.
  That's the problem I have. I mean everyone seems to "know" this...I did as well. And yet, when I asked someone Japanese about it (far more likely to know about the cultural norms than me), they had no idea what I was talking about (and were very adamant that it was not the case that it was sexual.)

This seems to be correct: that outside of the subculture of anime and manga, associating nosebleeds with arousal, or portraying it as a visual euphemism of sorts for such, is not common knowledge among the general Japanese population. As such, we can deduct that it does not originate in well-known folklore and thereby became a common belief. It most likely originated in manga or anime. Although the concept has now become recognized enough among otaku that Punchline features it in every episode, I discussed this with a Japanese female college student who is heavily involved in subculture (has manned a booth at Comiket, member of the university's Manga Research Society, practices drawing manga, reads manga and watches 4-koma gag anime, enjoys doujin visual novels, vocaloid fan) and even she had never heard of this trope, since it is not customary to come across it within the genres that she likes. Though by no means conclusive, she said that if you mention that a character gets a nosebleed, the average Japanese person will imagine that the character got punched by someone.

Apparently, NicoNico News interviewed an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor in Yamaguchi prefecture, Dr. Kanaya Kouichiro, on the topic of nosebleeds in anime/manga, but the video is no longer available online. His personal theory as to an origin is sports such as pro wrestling:

  In the past, people like pro wrestlers would intentionally give themselves small cuts on their forehead in order to build tension and atmosphere in a match. I can only imagine that the idea of extreme stimulation and an excess of energy was portrayed in the same way with nosebleeds, and it’s come to be the accepted method of representing that feeling.


Why didn't Minato make himself also the Yin-Kurama jinchuuriki? Since Minato used the Eight Trigrams Seal and the Four Elements Seal to seal Yang Kurama into Naruto, why didn't he use the same set of seals on himself to seal the Yin half? Why Reaper Death Seal? Or into Kushina? Seems like a pointless sacrifice. And waste of Yin Kurama's potential.

Naruto chapter 503, page 17:

Minato decided to seal Kurama into Naruto, primarily because of Jiraiya's words about the "Child of Prophecy", thinking/knowing that Naruto could utilize the Tailes Beast's power to be the saviour of the ninja world.
Minato tells Kushina that sealing the complete Kyuubi was not physically possible and they had to split the beast into the Yin and Yang halves for the sealing. Also, the entire Nine Tails' chakra was too immense to be sealed into an infant.
Kushina was dying because of the Tailed Beast extraction and therefore she wasn't capable (or wouldn't survive) of becoming a Jinchuriki again.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, Minato decided to seal the Yang half into Naruto (so Naruto could harness the power for good) and the Yin half into himself (as sealing the entire Kurama wasn't possible).

EDIT:

Minato and Kushina decided that Naruto could become the said child of prophecy with the power of the Kyuubi. Since the entire Kyuubi couldn't be sealed into the infant Naruto, Minato had to use the Reaper Death Seal. So the Kurama's power could be brought down to seal him into Naruto. Also, the Reaper Death Seal allowed Minato to choose which half of Kurama should be sealed into Naruto.

So essentially, Minato did become the Yin Kurama's jinchuriki and remained that way. But the loss of using the Reaper Death Seal is that, it seals the user's life too. Minato sealed Yang Kurama into Naruto by becoming Yin Kurama's jinchuriki and at the cost of his life.


Are there other nations in AOT? They've mentioned this before but I'm confused now because Marley says that they need to be more advanced than the other nations. So are there other countries out there with like modern tech? And would those be countries in our world?

Spoiler!

  In the manga, Marley [the County that Eren's father came from and the other titan shifters] is another nation in this manga also an Asian nation from which Mikasa's ancestors come from, the Hizuru . Untill the moment, this is an alternative universe to this,  so is not really our Earth or our countries. There are also other nations, but the main nations that appears to be everyone's enemy would be Marley. Marley has tried and has ruled or is currently ruling other nations. The Hizuru are joining with Paladis/Palaris [The island where the story takes place]. The Wikipedia link has the rest of the story. I'm up to update with the manga,  and the Wikipedia has it pretty much right https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan


Why did Jiraiya have to die? In Naruto, when Jiraiya fights Pain, he goes out of the barrier to confirm his suspicion about Pain (that all the 7 pains are dead) but he could have used a shadow clone instead. Shadow clones can transfer knowledge and experience (as told by Kakashi) and if Jiraiya had the chakra to maintain the barrier, swim when he is badly injured and then be alive just to write a message on the back of the toad (apparently I forgot the toad's name), he could have had the chakra to create a shadow clone. Why didn't he do so? [Why did he have die? I feel so sad about him :'( ]

Jiraiya once said: "In the ninja world, it's not how you live. Rather, it's how you die." So I think he applied this quote in his final seconds.

First, we can assume that he hadn't had enough chakra to escape from Pein (don't forget, he was stabbed a lot of times with Pein's chakra absorbing rods), so his last efforts were to send a message to Konoha.

Second, I'm quite sure he knew that this would boost Naruto, so practically Jiraiya sacrificed himself to make Naruto (maybe) the strongest shinobi in the world.

Third, maybe he even knew that his body could be resurrected or used by Nagato as a host body, so he didn't even try to escape. Rather, he realized the seal of his body.

So Kishi had some reasons why to "kill" Jiraiya, but in my opinion, he had to go to make the later story happen.


In the anime, how many girls did Itou Makoto sleep with and are they all emotionally tied? Did Itou Makoto sleep with all the girls in the anime? And if so, did all those girls were affectionate towards Itou? I'm not sure if Itou really played dirty with all the girls. I'm too slow with this kind of thing and I just happened to watch this anime because of Kotonoha.

My answer refers to the anime series only:

No, not all of them; remember, he was in a class wherein about half of all the 50 or so students were female. The only girls Makoto became intimate with were: Kotonoha Katsura, Sekai Saionji, Setsuna Kiyoura, Hikari Kuroda, Otome Katou, Minami Obuchi, Natsumi Koizumi and Kumi Mori.

And out of all of those, it was really only Kotonoha and Sekai who were affectionate towards him. The others were only interested in him for carnal pleasures or some sort of manipulation.


What is the difference between Dragonball Z and Dragonball Z Kai? When I first heard about Kai thought it was a Remake similar to the recent Sailor Moon Remake (not Crystal the original series where Haruka and Michiru were made to be cousins to censor their relationship). however i have seen posts that seem to indicate that the first few Sagas have been covered in less episodes in Kai.

So i am wondering what is the difference between the original Dragonball Z and Dragonball Z Kai? eg. What has been added/removed in comparison, do people bleed when their limbs get cut/ripped off (when i first saw DBZ there was never any blood)

To put it simply: DragonBall Z Kai is a remake which stays true to the original DragonBall Z Manga. A quick list of the main differences:

No Fillers.
Different theme songs.
Some Different Voice Actors (in e.g: Frieza, Gohan, Android 18).
Less Blood.

Note: Don't watch the censored version, you'll hate it.


How popular is One Piece in Japan? It is a given that One Piece is immensely popular in Japan, but is there any statistical data indicating the scale of its popular it is (historically, with respect to other popular series) in Japan?

Note that I am NOT asking "What makes One Piece so popular (in Japan)?"

The wikipedia article about One Piece has some interesting statistics. According to it, in 2008 Once Piece became the highest-circulated manga series (whatever that means), achieving a circulation of 5,956,540, according to this page. To compare: Naruto, which had the second place, had a circulation of 4,261,054.

In 2010 it was announced that 260 millions of manga volumes had been sold, and Volume 61 set a record as the highest initial print run of any book in Japan in history, with 3.8 million copies. If you think about it, it's huge. It even beats Harry Potter's sale rates.

It is also mentioned that One Piece is the best-selling series of all time in manga history, exceeding 270 million volumes sold as of February 2012.

Just to compare (although it may not be an exact analogy), here is the list of the most selling book series in history.

You can find some more infomation and numbers in the "reception" part of the article.


What is the song when Obito attacked Naruto and Sasuke in episode 378 of "Naruto Shippuden"? Which song was played in Naruto Shippuden episode 378 at about 15:10, when Obito attacked Naruto and Sasuke?

I think that is a clip taken out of "Shouryuu"  or "Rising Dragon" starting at about 0:30 into the OST.

It is from Naruto Shippuden OST 2 and is Track 1.

Source: Naruto Music on Wikia


Does "The Lost Canvas" OVA have a sequel? I watched the two OVAs of "The Lost Canvas" (26 episodes at total). But the story didn't end. Is there a sequel of this OVA series? If yes, can you please name them?

According to My Anime List, the sequel to the Lost Canvas OVAs is Saint Seiya's TV series. Also, this image of the timeline seems to back up that claim, though I don't know who created the image.


Absorbing nin-jutsu chakra (technique) Here are the two scenarios,

In the movie Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Will of Fire a ninja by name Hiruko while fighting with Naruto-san tries to absorb wind style Rasen-Shuriken. But he fails and exclaims that he can not absorb the technique.
In Naruto Shippuden anime series (I don't know exact episode number), when Naruto-san fights with Pain, one of the Pain successfully absorbs the Rasen-Shuriken.

Once the absorption is failed (in case of Hiruko), but other time its possible (in case of Pain).

Can anyone please explain how is this possible and reasons behind it?

The chakra absorbing technique used by Hiruko is Dark Release: Inhaling Maw. While in the case of Pain, or Preta path corpse to be precise, the technique is Blocking Technique Absorption Seal.
These two techniques seem to be no different right? No, it has a major difference.

Hiruko's Dark Release: Inhaling Maw

Classification: Kekkei Genkai, Ninjutsu, Chakra Absorption Techniques
Usage: Extract the physical and spiritual energy of another ninja, even from a considerable distance. He is able to completely remove the victim's chakra, potentially causing death.

Preta path corpse's Blocking Technique Absorption Seal

Classification: Kekkei Genkai, Ninjutsu, Dōjutsu, Fūinjutsu, Chakra Absorption Techniques
Usage: A highly advanced sealing technique that is capable of absorbing any chakra, regardless of any shape or nature transformation. As a result, this technique can absorb any ninjutsu based technique, rendering it ineffective on the user.

As I mentioned just now, there's a major difference, that is the classification. Note that Preta's path corpse's technique is classified as one of the Dōjutsu and Fūinjutsu. Dōjutsu, which possesses a number of passive abilities that normal Ninjutsu don't. Moreover, Fūinjutsu is also part of the classification. Recall what is Fūinjutsu -- Fūinjutsu are a type of jutsu that seals objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object. Ultimately, Hiruko's Ninjutsu absorption technique is just an absorption ninjutsu. With any Ninjutsu that possesses larger amount of chakra than his absorption technique, he will end up being killed. However, Preta path corpse's Ninjutsu Absorption Sealing technique is stronger than Hiruko's one. Do you remember that Jiraiya sealed Itachi's Dōjutsu, Amaterasu with his Fire Sealing Method(A kind of Fūinjutsu)? Even the highest level of fire release that cannot be extinguished with water or any other normal methods could be sealed, not to mention it's absorbed by Hiruko's absorption technique. That's the power of Fūinjutsu.
[Source and info are taken from Narutopedia. A wiki filled with SPOILERS about Naruto series :)]


Do Edo-Tensei ninja have infinite chakra? It seems that people that were edo-tenseied were never out of chakra, would they have a limit on how much chakra they can use?

This is indeed one of the benefits of the Edo Tensei Justu. Their chakra reserves are always refilled, allowing them to perform tasks and cast justus endlessly without having to worry about running out

  A second benefit is the limitless refilling of their diminished chakra reserves that the reincarnated individuals have access to; they can fight eternally and perform ordinarily physically demanding or chakra-intensive jutsu without issue, knowing their current reserves will infinitely refill


What is the title of the song that played in Yosuga no Sora episode 10? I need to know the name of the music that was playing in episode 10 of the anime Yosuga no Sora.

I mean the music that started at the 19:10 mark or the music that started when Haru saw Sora masturbating.

I believe it's "Tomadoi no Naka" (戸惑いの中), from the Yosuga No Sora Original Soundtrack -New- (ヨスガノソラ オリジナルサウンドトラック－New－).


In Naruto, what makes a person a genius? In our world, a "genius" is someone who is extremely smart, analytic or a fast learner.

Although there are similarities between our and the Naruto universe definition of "Genius", I still feel that it's not the same.

What is considered a "Genius" in the Naruto world? Is Naruto a genius? Is Sasuke a genius? Itachi? Nagato? I don't see it as strictly being smart.

I'd define "genius" by breaking down and analyzing the concept of "proficiency".

I like to think that for any skill, people are born with varying levels of ease in picking up the skill and/or developing it (nature). Extreme examples include people who feel like "I've done this before", which have some parallels with the awakening of Kekkei Genkai in the Naruto universe. From "baseline" level of ability, people can work to raise or lower their proficiency in proportion to how much effort they spend (nurture).

I would say that a "genius" is someone who was born with an extremely high level of baseline proficiency. Hence, with regards to your question, does a genius have to be smart, analytical or a fast learner? These three qualities differ slightly in character:

Concerning the skill of intelligence, people who are born smart are geniuses, but people who became smart after studying/practicing very hard need not be.
Concerning the skill of analyzing the battle situation, people who are born analytical are geniuses, but people who became analytical with decades of battle experience need not be.
Fast learners "develop their skill abnormally quickly" so they can be all considered geniuses (very fast learners, that is).

According to my definition, Jinchuuriki and lineages of powerful Kekkei Genkai (such as the Sharingan or Rinnegan) automatically qualify as geniuses. Interestingly, in the real world we don't have that much of "inherited genius" to be unleashed, so this is unique to the Naruto universe. Thus, to answer your question, Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi and Nagato are indeed geniuses; from Morpheus's answer, Shikamaru is one too.

However, it is important to define the scope of one's genius; different types of genius cannot be compared.

Shikamaru is a genius when it comes to "being smart" or "analyzing the battle situation".
Byakugan users are sensor-type geniuses.
Rock Lee is a proficient Taijustu user but is not a genius; he simply worked extremely hard to attain that level of skill.
Naruto and other Jinchuuriki are geniuses in chakra-intensive (and thus powerful) techniques.
Naruto is also a sage mode genius (being able to perfectly balance natural energy with his own chakra).
Regarding JNat's comment to the question, Naruto's proficiency in many other skills (walking on trees comes to mind) came from extensive training due to his spirit of "never giving up", but he cannot be considered a genius for those.
However, Naruto may be a genius at learning and picking up most skills quickly; coupled with his determination, that is a potent self-improvement skill in itself.


Why is Tangelo Island named as such? In Pokémon, there's an island named Tangelo Island. However, it's Japanese name translates to Bontan Island. There is another fruit called Pomelo, which in Japanese is said Buntan. Is this some pun on the name of the fruit? Also, Tangelo and Pomelo are quite different fruits:

Tangelo ^

Pomelo ^

Which one of these, if any, is grown there?

Tangelo Island is situated in the Orange Archipelago, a series of islands in the Pokémon world, located south of the Kanto region. Each of these islands is tropical and generally warm, and many of them are named after fruits—particularly oranges (its namesake) and other citrus fruits:

Valencia Island (Valencia oranges)
Tangelo Island (the tangelo)
Mikan Island (the Japanese name for satsuma oranges)
Sunburst Island (sunburst tangerines)
Mandarin Island, North and South (Mandarin oranges)
Kinnow Island (the kinnow)
Navel Island (navel oranges)
Seven Grapefruit Islands (the grapefruit)
Golden Islands (possibly the Shonan Gold)
Murcott Island (a type of tangor)
Trovita Island (a type of navel orange)
Fairchild Island (the Fairchild mango)
Shamouti Island (another name for the Jaffa orange)
Ascorbia Island (named after ascorbic acid, a common acid in citrus fruits)
Butwal Island (the Butwal lemon(unable to find a link on this))
Kumquat Island (the kumquat)
Rind Island (another name for a fruit peel)
Pummelo Island (alternate spelling of pomelo)
Tarroco Island (a misspelling of "tarocco", a variation of the blood orange)
Hamlin Island (the Hamlin orange)

(Note: All of the above islands also have Japanese names, such as "Bontan Island" that you pointed out, which are also largely related to citrus and citrus fruits. Additionally, there are a handful of unnamed islands, and a few named after the basic elements as well.)

Pinkan Island is another island in this area, whose name is derived from the Japanese word for "citrus" (柑 kan), and which grows berries by the name of Pinkan Berries.

However, aside from Pinkan Island, none of the others appear to grow fruits that are related to their name. It does not appear as if Tangelo grows tangelos and Navel Island grows navel oranges, for example. There may be fruits growing on these islands, like the Pinkan Berry, but there is not a trend for each of the islands that has determined the names of the islands.

In fact, like you pointed out, the Japanese and English names often diverge quite significantly; the reason they are able to do this is that each island is not specifically named after what grows there.


Which is the most powerful summoning (effective and efficient)? I have been a great fan of Naruto for a long time, And I have seen lot of animals being summoned. But its been very hard for me to think which one of the summoning is the most powerful?

Please provide manga episode number or anime. I would like to check it again.

First thing first, I personally don't want to include summons from Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation Technique in my list because hundreds of dead peoples were summoned by this technique. One more thing, Tailed Beasts are not included in my list because Summoned beasts are generally animals bonded with a ninja. As ninjas can summon beasts they are sealed with, the beasts can also summon ninjas. If we look at tailed beasts, they are not animals, they are a pure form of chakra, they are immensely powerful and hard to summon and bond with. This makes them not in the Top 5 list.
Top 5 strongest summons in Naruto's universe
5 - Fukasaku / Shima aka Two Great Sage Toads

(source: nocookie.net)

Summoner: Jiraiya, Naruto Uzumaki
Manga Debut: Volume #41, Chapter #375
Anime Debut: Naruto Shippūden Episode #127
What makes it Top 5: Extremely proficient in the use of elemental techniques that require the nature manipulation of wind, fire, and water.

4 - Gamabunta / Aoda / Katsuyu

(source: nocookie.net)

Gamabunta
Summoner: Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze (Fourth Hokage), Naruto Uzumaki
Manga Debut: Volume #1, Chapter #1
Anime Debut: Naruto Episode #1
What makes it Top 4: He successfully hold the Nine-Tails down while Minato transported it outside of the village using his Flying Thunder God Technique.
Aoda
Summoner: [Sasuke Uchiha][17]
Manga Debut: Volume #66, Chapter #633
Anime Debut: Naruto Shippūden Episode #373
What makes it Top 4: As a snake, Aoda is extremely fast and nimble, successfully moving through an entire army of the Ten-Tails' clones while evading all of their attacks.
Katsuyu
Summoner: Tsunade (Fifth Hokage), Sakura Haruno
Manga Debut: Volume #19, Chapter #169
Anime Debut: Naruto Episode #95
What makes it Top 4: Katsuyu's clones can attach themselves to injured people, allowing its summoner to channel their chakra through it to heal the injured person.

3 - Nagato's Giant Multi-Headed Dog

Summoner: Nagato, Unnamed Fūma Clan Ninja (Male Animal Path), Ajisai (Female Animal Path)
Manga Debut: Volume #41, Chapter #375
Anime Debut: Naruto Shippūden Episode #131
What makes it Top 3: Physically strong and resilient, it gained additional heads every time it splits or been struck, and each duplicated head carried the black receiver and the Rinnegan like the original.

2 - Monkey King: Enma

Summoner: Hiruzen Sarutobi (Third Hokage)
Manga Debut: Volume #14, Chapter #120
Anime Debut: Naruto Episode #71
What makes it Top 2: He was easily able to incapacitate a reincarnated Hashirama and Tobirama Senju in brief hand-to-hand combat when they tried to keep him from transforming under the command of Orochimaru.

1 - Demonic Statue of the Outer Path

Summoner: Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki (Sage of the Six Paths), Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha
Manga Debut: Volume #29, Chapter #254
Anime Debut: Naruto Shippūden Episode #10
What makes it Top 1: Possesses great strength. The Demonic Statue can emit phantom dragons formed out of absorption chakra, which is capable of extracting the chakra of anyone they come in contact with. Most important, the Demonic Statue is also capable of emitting chakra chains from its mouth, which binds the power of tailed beasts, and can be used to both extract them from their jinchūriki and quickly seal them inside the statue.

*Most information was taken from Narutopedia.


In "Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini", what happens to Hei's powers? In the second season of Darker than Black (Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini), Hei mysteriously...

   ...loses his contractor powers somewhere in the middle of the season.

In the beginning of the anime we can clearly see that...

   ...Hei still has his contractor powers, since he uses them in a fight in episode 2.

However, in later episodes it is revealed by some of the characters that...

   ...Hei's powers are completely lost, and he is but an ordinary human (well, a well-trained human, at least).

So what was the reason for...

   ...Hei losing all of his contractor power out of sudden, and without being noticed?

If you notice that at the beginning of "Gemini of the Meteor" season BK-201's star vanishes, and he loses his powers. At the end of the season,

   BK-201's star lighting up in the sky.

Each "False Star" has a corresponding Contractor, and they resonate when their Contractor's power is being used. As such I think it's safe to conclude the he has his powers back.


Where is Ergastulum located? In the anime, Ergastulum has the architecture of a typical Italian city. Yet, the newspaper is printed in English and the cars drive on the right, although road signs and the like do have a European feel to them. The police cars are also reminiscent of LAPD cruisers, in that they are black and white. Finally, from looking at the currency depicted in the anime, it seems that the city prints its own money.

I do remember a scene where a newspaper article shows something happening in Paris, France. So I do think the story takes place on Earth.

I have looked over the Gangsta Wiki and so far it does not seem to have any information on where exactly the city is located. Do we or will we know where Ergastulum is located? Is it its own country?

The setting is generally set somewhere in France or Italy since both people from the Mafia and Perrier (a sparkling water drink from France) are common. Worick also says 'ciao' before killing a gangster, which is an informal Italian word that can be used as a goodbye.

As you have pointed out, there is the newspaper article that states an incident occurred in France. There is also the fact that people call Nicolas an 'oriental' which is what Asians are commonly called in Europe, so it is likely set somewhere in Europe. Also, remember that France and Italy share a land border, and so are very close to each other.


How was Takuto be able to become a shinigami if he was in a coma? In Full Moon wo Sagashite, Takuto became a shinigami because he committed suicide, but in the end, he was actually in a coma.

How was he be able to become a shinigami if he was just in a coma?

Takuto was only a "shinigami in training" rather than a full shinigami. It is never explicitly said, but I think it is safe to conclude that he was never a full shinigami because he was never dead, but because his near-death condition was caused by an attempt at suicide, he was very near to becoming a true shinigami, hence, "shinigami in training."


An anime where a male character brings back some seeds and implants it on the wrist of his daughter I have watched an anime recently, but I have forgotten its title.

It is a sci-fi anime that resembles Black Bullet and Attack on Titan, in the sense that humankind is confined within some boundary due to threats outside that boundary.

A part of the story I remember is about this male character bringing back some seeds from outside the boundary. He would water one of the seeds daily in a pot he kept in his office (if I recall correctly), while the other seed was implanted into the wrist of a female character (his daughter, if I am not wrong).

Does anyone have any idea which anime this is?

Could it be Darker Than Black?

  In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his blind associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell's Gate.

A man takes a seed from Hells Gate and plants it in his daughters wrist as well as a pot in his office. This is in episode three.


Story gap between Manga Arc 2 and 3? So I have finished the anime and been reading the manga but after Arc 2 when Subaru and Ram decide to go after Rem it abruptly finishes and Arc 3 starts after the battle with the demon dog. Soo does that mean there is no manga chapters for that fight? Or will it be released later? Or there are the manga chapters but I couldn't find them..?

The Manga For Arc 2 and Arc 3 is published at the same time with different Mangaka

Arc 3,Truth From Zero Mangaka (Daichi Matsue) draw the first ones, A Day in the Capital) also and his work published in Comic Alive.

The 2nd Manga Arc 2, A Week in The Mansion drawn by Makoto Fugetsu is published by Big Gangan

Both are not finished as of my writing (19/10/2016).


What is the name of Misaka 10032's cat? In episode 10 (Misaka Mikoto) Misaka 10032 finds a black cat. Touma tells her to choose a name for the cat, since she was the one who found it. She says that the cat will be called dog, which Touma dismisses, proposing that she chooses a "more majestic" name. So she says Tokugawa Ieyasu, which Touma dismisses as "too majestic". She than chooses Schrödinger, which, once again, Touma dismisses as being "a taboo for cats".

It was not clear to me which became the definitive name for the cat, although I have only seen up to episode 14.
Is it ever said, either in the anime or in the novels, which name ended up being chosen? Or did she end up not naming it?

It does not appear as though the viewer (or reader) is ever told the true name of Misaka 10032's cat in either the anime or the novels (though I didn't check the manga).
From a translation of the novel (volume 3):

"That's right! A name! This is your cat, so take responsibility and give it a name!"
(Some irrelevant stuff omitted)
"Dog."
"Hah?"
"Misaka is naming this black cat Dog. ...Dog even though it is a cat. Heh heh."
(Some irrelevant stuff omitted)
"...No, um...Please give it a more serious and dignified name that fits the type of animal it is."
"Then Tokugawa Ieyasu, says Misaka after reconsidering."
"That's too dignified! Wait, are you the kind of character that pretends to think about things but doesn't think at all!"
"Then what about Schrödinger?"
"Hell no! Even if it was just an example, some professor who would happily come up with a story about sticking a cat in a box and spraying poison gas inside couldn't have liked cats!"
In the end, they decided to name the cat later. However, Kamijou had a bad feeling that they would be unable to agree on a name later either and she would end up literally nicknaming the cat "Later".

It does not appear to be mentioned later whether or not they did agree to name the cat, and it is always referred to as "black cat" or simply "the cat". From the Toaru Kagaku no Index Wiki:

It is not known if Misaka 10032 has decided on a name for the cat. Furthermore, since all the tentative names given by Misaka 10032 can be used on males, it can be assumed that the cat is also male.


In Reincarnated as a Slime, when Myulan is exploring Rimiru city, why did a dragonewt stop to stare at her? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYAsqsrvY2s&t=22s
Did he figure out Myulan was a Majin or something of that sort? This is season two close to the midway point.

Well about that those races of dragonewt's can sense powers if they focused on they're surroundings so he just found that there was a majin and was thinking maybe that she might be related to the other majin's in the vincity and he saw her confused but not as a threat that would destroy the magic in the surrounding.
For example take the dragonewts leader's sister she wanted to join as an assassin with a majin.
So they might be used to they're vibe and saw her with the same vibe.


What does it mean for animation to be done "on ones" or "on twos"? Animation is sometimes described as being done "on ones" or "on twos" or "on threes". What does that mean?

Basically:
Fundamentally, all anime today is produced at a rate of 24 frames per second. This is the same framerate used for most (all?) film today (e.g. in Hollywood movies). For a filmmaker with a camera, this just means setting your camera to expose 24 frames of film each second. But for an animator, this means drawing 24 images for each second of animation. This can be time-consuming.
To reduce the amount of drawing that needs to be done, many animations reuse images for multiple frames - rather than drawing 24 images for each second, they might draw just 12 or 8 images for each second, and then repeat each image for two or three consecutive frames. That is, one second of animation would look like the "twos" or "threes" row on the following schematic, in which each letter represents a different image and each column represents one frame:
frame#  01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

ones    A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X
twos    A--A  C--C  E--E  G--G  I--I  K--K  M--M  O--O  Q--Q  S--S  U--U  W--W
threes  A--A--A  D--D--D  G--G--G  J--J--J  M--M--M  P--P--P  S--S--S  V--V--V

As the schematic suggests, using 12 distinct images per second is called "shooting on twos" or "animating on twos", and likewise, using 8 distinct images per second is called "shooting on threes". Drawing a distinct image for each frame is "shooting on ones", and is akin to what happens in film.
But note that:
Mind you, it is not necessarily the case that all the pieces that go together to form a particular segment of animation will be shot at the same rate. For example, if you have some people walking in the foreground with a pan over a static backdrop in the background, the foreground might be animated on threes (since the walking animation doesn't need to be all that fluid), while the background might be animated on ones (since it takes very little extra effort to shoot more frames on a pan).
Most animation in anime is done on ones, twos, or threes - anything slower will look decidedly jerky. Nonetheless, you can speak of shooting on fours (6 images per second) or fives (24 images per 5 seconds) or higher numbers as well. Rates that are effectively non-integral are also possible, e.g. "shooting on two-point-fives", as below, is not uncommon:
frame#  01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

2.5s    A--A  C--C--C  F--F  H--H--H  K--K  M--M--M  P--P  R--R--R  U--U  W--W--

But I don't know if there is an actual name for doing that. If there is one, though, I'd bet that "shooting on two-point-fives" isn't it.


So, where does Grandma work? In episode 1 of Tsuritama Grandma Keito has a new job and she moves to Enoshima with Yuki.  She now works here (time mark 7:11):

The old-timey font defeats me, and I can't read it.  The best I can do is Gnolhima Samuel Cocting Garden. She is obviously a horticulturist of some sort. What is the actual name of the place?  I'm pretty sure "Samuel" and "Garden" are right.

According to Tsuritama Wikipedia, the store Grandma Keito works at is the
Samuel Cocking Garden

  Kate (ケイト Keito)

  Yuki's grandmother. She's French, and has a warm
  and cheerful personality. She allowed Haru to live with her and Yuki.
  She often gives Haru advice concerning his relationship with Yuki and
  human social interactions. She works at the Samuel Cocking Garden in
  Enoshima.

This garden, also known as the Enoshima Tropical Plants Garden, is an actual botanical garden in Enoshima, Japan


What is Gin and Matsumoto's relationship in Bleach? I have not read the manga for Bleach (aside for the Thousand Year War arc) and have only watched the anime. I wanted to know if they dive into Gin and Matsumoto's relationship deeper in the manga. It seems that they were really good friends, but I'm curious to know if they were also in love. So my question is, what is the context of their relationship in the manga, assuming more about them is explained?

With regards to Gin and Rangiku's relationship, the anime does not significantly deviate from the manga. I do not recall all the details of every chapter, but the Bleach wiki pages for Gin and Rangiku does not mention anything different from the anime.

   Given how Gin spent 100 years and even betrayed Soul Society to get revenge just for making Rangiku cry, it is very unlikely this was "just friends". Likewise, Rangiku seemed to be having feelings for Gin, though there is less evidence of that.