Is there any Anime/Manga adaptation with source material from outside of Japan? Were there ever any instances of something taken from outside of Japan (book, comic, literature) that was turned into anime or manga?

Of course there are.  I would give you some examples

Les Miserables

  Les Misérables (French pronunciation: [le mizeʁabl(ə)]) is a French
  historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is
  considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the
  English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its
  original French title. However, several alternatives have been used,
  including The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor
  Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims and The Dispossessed.1
  Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris,
  the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters,
  particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his
  experience of redemption.2

  Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the
  history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris,
  politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the
  types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has
  been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage,
  television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of
  that musical.

It has a manga and anime adaptation

Les Miserables Anime (aired in 2007)

Les Miserables Manga (was published from 2013 to 2016 )

And many more ( this one that cross my mind, so i couldn't give more )

Update answer based your request

Deltora Quest(based wikipedia, it was published around 2000 to 2005 )

  The Deltora Quest series is the collective title for three series of
  children's literature fantasy books, written by Australian author
  Emily Rodda. It follows the adventures of three companions as they
  journey across the fictitious land of Deltora, endeavoring to recover
  the seven gems stolen from the magical Belt of Deltora and defeat
  allies of the evil Shadow Lord. The series was first published in
  Australia in 2000, and has since been published in more than 30
  countries. As of February 2010, the series has sold over 15 million
  copies worldwide, including 2 million in Australia. It is published
  by Scholastic in Australia and the United States. In most countries,
  the series is illustrated by Marc McBride.

  The series consists of fifteen books: the first eight comprise the
  Deltora Quest series, the next three comprise the Deltora Shadowlands
  series (also known as Deltora Quest 2, Deltora II or Deltora 2) and
  the final four comprise the Dragons of Deltora series (also known as
  Deltora Quest 3, Deltora III or Deltora 3). There are also six other
  official bonus books to the series: The Deltora Book of Monsters,
  Tales of Deltora, The Authorised Ultimate Deltora Quiz Book, How to
  Draw Deltora Monsters, How to Draw Deltora Dragons and Other Creatures
  and Secrets of Deltora. An anime adaptation of the series aired on
  Japanese television from 6 January 2007 to 29 March 2008. An anime
  adaptation also aired in Australia for a short time. A Nintendo DS
  game for Deltora Quest has also been made in Japan. In 2011 Emily
  Rodda announced in an interview as part of the Australian Council of
  the Arts Get Reading! Program that she had sold the movie rights of
  the Deltora Quest series to a "prominent Hollywood production
  company."

Picture taken from pinterest

It has a manga and anime adaptation

Deltora Quest manga

Deltora Quest Anime

If you want to see more about this kind of topic, you could find it on MAL Discussion


What are the differences between Studio Ghibli's film adaptation and the original manga of "From Up On Poppy Hill"? I could only find a one line synopsis of the manga on Wikipedia's entry on From Up On Poppy Hill:

  The main character, Umi Komatsuzaki, is a high school girl who has to grow up quickly when her father goes missing.

I would like a more comprehensive list of differences than this:

  The manga is set in the late 1960s in Yokohama, Japan; the Ghibli film is set in 1963.

As mentioned by OP himself, the Blu-Ray version has some extras [1][2], including Goro Miyazaki, the director, talks about the differences between the manga and the movie.

  Director Goro Miyazaki on Yokohama – (15 mins) Miyazaki talks about making From Up on Poppy Hill a period film and the differences between the manga and the animated film adaptation.

  Director Goro Miyazaki on Yokohama (18 min.; HD): From Up on Poppy Hill's director speaks about shifting the original manga's setting to 1963 Yokohama, striking a balance between authenticity and properly cinematic visuals, the history and geography of Yokohama, and even a few notes about ideas that didn't make it into the finished film. This is a conversation that would benefit from some tightening in the editing room but is still well worth taking the time to watch.

But for the starter, Japanese Wikipedia lists some of the major differences:

  The movie followed the original manga's theme and setting for main characters, but the plot and story presentation were greatly modified, making it an original work.

  The introduction of "Quartier Latin", the high school's newspaper club's clubhouse as the original material in the movie. Shun and Shirou were trying hard to protect their clubhouse which had been planned to be demolished. Umi, trying to tell the goodness of the clubhouse to the students, proposed a clean-up and become close to Shun through it. The movie's storyline was largely constructed around this "building conservation" act.
  The timeline in the movie is around May-June 1963. To prevent extending the school year, Shun was placed in 3rd year from the beginning, Umi's 2nd year, and Sora's 1st year.
  The school uniform was changed from blazer to sailor suit.
  The main character's surname was changed from Komatsuzaki to Matsuzaki.
  The lodger Kitami Hokuto's name was changed to Miki Hokuto, the gender from man to woman, and the profession from veterinarian to doctor.
  The main character's mother Nijie Komatsuzaki's name was changed to Ryoko Matsuzaki, the profession from cameraman to college's associate professor (English literature).
  The setting about mahjong gambling was cut.
  Regarding the suspicion about the birth, it's revealed that the photo of father that Umi shown is the same as the photo that Shun had.
  Umi's grandfather, Shimatarou is no longer alive, and many characters in the manga didn't appear.


What did really happen in the end of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom? Some people claim that those Mongolian flowers are poisonous and that Ein ate one when Zwei died, but I've researched and there is no reliable source that tells us that those flowers are really poisonous. Some people claim that actually, they weren't together, Zwei was somewhere else, and others claim that Ein killed Zwei.

Did both Ein and Zwei die? What did really happen there?

The anime ending is different from the visual novel.
Ein and Zwei were definitely together in that last scene because Ein was talking to him.

The poisonous flower idea is a fan theory without official source. There are no official explanations of what happened in the last scene. It does make sense, though, to assume Ein committed suicide after Zwei got shot, and the flowers are the best and easiest tools for her suicide.

Since there's no official explanation, you can go with whatever idea you want.


Why is there an episode 1A and 1B on Crunchyroll? I'm starting the series Re: Zero on Crunchyroll and I noticed theres an episode 1A and 1B, what is this about?

I found a twitter post answering this exact same question and it appears that Crunchyroll merely split the one-hour episode in two parts. You should start with A, then continue to B, and then continue chronologically.


Where can I find an English dub of Naruto Shippuden episodes 78-140? So I just got into Naruto a few months ago and have been binge-watching my way through the entire series. I watch some subbed anime but after watching so many episodes dubbed I just can't get used to subbed episodes. I've gotten to episode 77 and suddenly the dubbing is gone. The dub doesn't start again until episode 140 on Hulu, and I can't seem to find it anywhere online. Did they just never dub those episodes or is there something I'm missing?

On the Anime and Manga Meta we have a list of Legal Streaming Sites. i don't stream myself so i wouldn't know if the episodes are on there. do be aware that some sites do employ Geoblocking which, depending on where you live, you may be redirected to a local site or prevented from using it all together (as with some Youtube Chanels)

If the Episodes you are looking to Stream are not there the other alternative and legal path is to buy the DVDs. Dubbed wise Collections 6-11 have Episodes 66-140. this RightStuf Search Result has these Collections available to buy, they ship internationally but the DVDs are Region 1, which is fine if you are in the US or have the equipment/programs to use Region 1 DVDs (ie. a Region Free Player).

if you are in Australia then Madman list some of these collections but not all of them (no idea why they just stop after Collection 8)


How powerful are the jutsu created with Scientific Ninja Tools? If a ninja student or genin use scientific ninja tools, can they match the jutsu made by upper ranks, such as chunin or jounin? How about matching a kage?
How powerful are the jutsu created with Scientific Ninja Tools? Does their power have a limit?

Since there are various types of scientific ninja tools and each have different purposes, I'm assuming you are referring to the Gauntlet (based on how your question is phrased).
These tools are new to the Narutoverse as a whole, so there is little information on them both in and out of universe. However, based on the gauntlet wiki, it seems likely an academy student or genin would be able to "match" the power level of Jonin or Kage in a sense.

The Gauntlet was developed by Katasuke of Konohagakure's Scientific Ninja Weapons Team as a way to allow anyone (even non-shinobi) to use complicated jutsu without the need for training or the requisite skills

(Emphasis my own)

Jutsu are not ranked by a power level, but rather the difficulty to perform based on chakra control and skill. The power of the jutsu is determined by the caster. If the caster does not have proper chakra control, the jutsu would be weaker than one who has excellent chakra control.
In order to use the Gauntlet, a jutsu would need to be sealed into a scroll cartridge to be used as "ammunition". So theoretically, the strength of the sealed jutsu would be based on the who would created the cartridge. So for example, if Sasuke were to created a cartridge using a fire-type jutsu, it would probably be more potent than if Sakura tried to do create a cartridge using the same jutsu. And then vice versa for medical jutsu


What is the strength level of Madara's Susanoo? Madara compares his Susanoo with the Tailed Beasts. We also know at one point of time, the 3rd Raikage had a chakra level comparable to that of a Tailed Beast. However, the difference in power of Madara's Susanoo and chakra level of the Third Raikage is huge.

So how do we comprehend the power level of Madara's Susanoo?

Let's take a look at some instances where Madara manifested his Susanoo's power:

It can summon 2 meteors simultaneously which resulted to complete chaos.
His clones can summon Susanoo with ease.
His Complete Body - Susanoo is gigantic.
It can take down 5 Kages easily.

Tengai Shinsei
Madara's Susanoo on Narutopedia

Having awakened the power of both his Mangekyō, Madara could use Susanoo. He did not need to fully manifest it to benefit from its use: with just its ribcage he can withstand an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, and he could perform attacks with only its upper half. [...] His Susanoo wielded up to two (four in the anime) undulating blades that could be thrown, then maintained and controlled remotely. Madara can also produce Yasaka Magatama of varying sizes.
[...]
According to Madara, the full power of his Complete Body — Susanoo was comparable to that of the tailed beasts, and no one had lived to see it a second time. Madara was able to shape his stabilised Susanoo as an armour which he equipped unto the Nine-Tails in order to complement their respective abilities.

So is there any way to break his extraordinary defense?

 Yes. The increased defensive strength of Madara's final Susanoo's form can only be destroyed or even pierced by powerful techniques like Hashirama's Top Transformed Buddha [Ch. 626].

Quoted from old version of Madara Uchiha on Narutopedia


Why were most of the characters' names changed in the dubs? In the anime Captain Tsubasa (I don't know if this is the most well-known name, since I knew it as "Campeões: Oliver e Benji", its Portuguese dub name), most of the characters' names were changed when the series was dubbed.

For instances, in the Portuguese dub, these are some of the names that were changed:
    Ozora Tsubasa - Oliver Tsubasa
    Genzo Wakabayashi - Benji Price
    Ryo Ishizaki - Bruce Ishizaki
    Taro Misaki - Toby Misaki (or Tobi Misaki)
    Kojirou Hyuga - Mark Landers
    Jun Misugi - Julian Ross
    Hikaru Matsuyama - Philip Matsuyama
    Shingo Aoi - Shingo Au
    Nakazawa Sanae - Patrícia Sanae (usually called Patty)

From what I know, almost every dub (if not every single one) changed some names when the series was dubbed. I also know that some of the changes were different from dub to dub.

Were these changes something that happened because every dub 'team' decided to change the names?
Or was it something that happened in the first dub, and that all the other dubs decided to follow (possibly because they were dubbed from the dub, instead of the original), unaware of the changed names?

Also, provided that the list is not too extensive, what names were changed in what dubs?

Captain Tsubasa IS a very popular anime that was said to inspire a sense of sportsmanship in children. Anime is well known for its influence on the audience.

When it was dubbed, (in Hindi (Indian)) the names were not changed since they could very easily be distinguished in my language as something foreign. The pronunciation varied drastically though.
I suppose the names were changed to make things easier as it was aimed at a younger audience who might have trouble remembering names they don't often hear in their regions.
If I recall clearly, there weren't any changes in the English dub either.

It also depends on the dub team. If I were young and I saw complicated names in a cartoon (not familiar with anime then) and others, I might as well prefer something else without giving it much time or chance.


Why does Edward prefer to use his automail over Alchemy? So I've been watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and I didn't understand why Edward didn't use Alchemy every time he encountered enemies?
Like the fight with Number 48 in Research Lab 5, and the first fight with Scar, and etc. He just uses his right automail arm like a short sword, and we all know its not very effective to fight long ranged enemies. Alchemy definitely seems stronger, but why doesn't he use it?

He's trained in martial art by his master, Izumi Curtis. So he's definitely confident in his close combat ability. As to why he uses it over alchemy, you don't think he's just going to rely on alchemy all the time do you? He can adapt to different combat situation, and be more unpredictable if he can switch fighting style. Also his automail blade looks cool.


Are there any other uses for a Pokeball besides capturing and storing Pokemon? Can a Pokeball be used for things other than storing pokemon?

Like a "Hoi-Poi Capsules" from Dragon Ball or even to imprison humans?

They were made for storing pokémon, only. It can be seen, that some trainers play with them (at least in the games, there are jugglers and some psychics who make the balls float in the air). It can happen, that there are different things than a Pokémon in it, like when Ash found a riceball (?) in his Pokéball after the tries to catch a Mankey, which throws the riceball at the Pokéball, but besides from that, Pokéballs aren't used for anything else than catching and storing Pokémon.

In the anime, it was also shown that a Pokéball can't catch trainers, the beam that would transform the Pokémon to energy (to store it in the ball) just doesn't have any effect.

In the games, however, items which can be found in the world are shown as a red Pokéball. Whether it's for the sake of simplicity or whether they are really stored in Pokéballs is unclear (but you don't get a Pokéball with every item you find).


When does Kakashi first use his Mangekyou Sharingan? In Naruto, when does Kakashi first use his Mangekyou Sharingan? Because as far as I know, he and Tobi both awaken their Mangekyou Sharingan when Kakashi saw Rin and Obito get killed, but he never uses it in the series until Shippuden.

Kakashi's first known use of the Mangekyo Sharigan was against Deidara. However, I think your question really is why did he not use it earlier. There could be a number of reasons why he did not use it or was not shown using it earlier.

Kakashi awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan when Rin was killed. He thus failed to keep his promise to Obito. Hence, this was a emotionally painful moment for him, tied to both Rin and Obito. Maybe he did not want to use it since to avoid revisiting those emotions.

As mentioned in lexter's answer, another reason is that being a non-Uchiha, he simply did not have enough stamina to use it effectively in battle. Even after timeskip, he could only use it twice in a day, and had to take rest for a week or so after he used it. Before timeskip, he was in charge of genin-level students, and he couldn't risk getting knocked out and put his students in danger.

Also, before the timeskip, he simply did not get to fight villains against whom he was forced to use it. He only fought Zabuza and Haku during the Land of Waves arc, and unnamed shinobi from Sand Village and Sound Village during the Invasion of Konoha arc. If Orochimaru were to fight him, Kakashi would probably be pushed to using it, but Orochimaru fought with the Third Hokage instead.

Losing to Uchiha Itachi easily may have compelled Kakashi to consider using it, due to the usual shounen/Naruto logic of "If I want to protect my nakama, I have to get stronger."

There could also be a couple of author issues why Kakashi couldn't be shown using it earlier. Sasuke was a protagonist at the time, and his main aim in life was to kill Itachi. Therefore, it was necessary to introduce Itachi as a superpowerful villian. Ensuring that Mangekyo Sharingan is first mentioned when Itachi is introduced would maximize the audience's perception of how strong and evil Itachi is.

The other reason is it was not in the author's plan that Kakashi had already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan when the series started, and planned to offer an alternate explanation for how he awakened it during the timeskip period. However, as he started addressing the hanging threads while winding up the story, he decided to shoehorn it into Obito's backstory.


What exactly happened when a person passed on? After watching the final episode of Angel Beats, I saw that, after the credits,

   both Otonashi and Angel found each other again after being "reincarnated".

But is that all that happened when everyone passed on? Did they just lose their memory and get reincarnated as a human with a similar look?

In the Angel Beats! universe

The anime didn't tell us much about what happened to the people who passed on, except for the ambiguous scene at the end. There is a chance that the ongoing visual novel will explore this topic a bit. For now, we can only refer to side materials, such as the third drama CD released with the sixth limited edition BD/DVD volume. In the drama CD, everyone reincarnated as a human being with a similar look (except one guy), but not with a similar personality (except a few). They all met in the Afterlife World for the second time after dying again, and they were able to recognize each other and remember their previous lives.

In the Keyverse

SPOILERS ahead for the following series: charlotte, clannad, little-busters and one.

There are recurring themes and concepts that connect together the worlds of Angel Beats!, Charlotte, Clannad, Little Busters! and One. Note that One is generally considered to be part of the Keyverse because

  [m]uch of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand Key.

In Clannad, there is the Illusionary World:

  This world is later revealed to have been created by Ushio, who died regretting having left her father alone. She therefore became the girl in this world with the hopes of meeting her father again and collecting enough light orbs to make a miracle possible. [...] In theory, the Illusionary World is the after-life; when a person dies they are still connected to the real world, yet they are free to create their own world.

In Little Busters!, there is the Artificial World:

  When the artificial world was created, her wandering soul which still had a lot of regrets and unfulfilled wishes entered the artificial world. [...] [Riki] got involved with Saya so much that her existence caused him to stray away from the other Little Busters members. At some point, Kyousuke realized that he has to make Saya leave as soon as possible in order to come back to the original purpose for the creation of the world[: to make them strong enough to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world].

In One, there is the Eternal World:

  The Eternal World is a place similar to the afterlife where a person's "other self" awaits. Anyone can access it, though it is only accessible once one has lost his or her grounding in the real world. It may be necessary to form a pledge with someone in the real world as a guide to the Eternal World, but one's memories surrounding the pledge become vague. A grace period can be granted between when the pledge is made and when someone goes to the Eternal World. Once the process has started, nothing can prevent someone from going to the Eternal World, and returning to the real world is difficult. Someone about to leave to the Eternal World starts to be forgotten approximately one week before going, and the amount of time before someone forgets differs based on how much someone thinks about the person leaving. However, he or she is remembered the moment that person returns. If a strong emotional bond is established in the real world before leaving, a person in the Eternal World can be returned after approximately one year.

In Charlotte, there is The World that is No Longer Here, which is a world where people with superhuman abilities exist, and regrets ensue. Otosaka forms a pledge with Tomori to loot the abilities of everyone in the world in exchange for her love, but eventually loses memories of the world with ability users.

Then recall that the main setting of Angel Beats! is the Afterlife World:

  Despite the numerous enigmas that surround the world, it serves as a sort of second life for teenagers whose lives were filled with despair and pain. They are brought there after they have died and, alongside others, try to live there with fulfilled existences to make up for their pain. After, they disappear as their happiness has been granted. [...] Or, it could be simply said that time does not exist in the Afterlife and teenagers who died with regrets can go there, regardless what time of death or time period said person is.

In summary, all these worlds are for people who have regrets and lost memories surrounding the regrets.

So what happens in the Keyverse when a person "passed on" from one of these worlds? They return to the real world, and in the case of Tomoya in Clannad, he returned to a past point in time after collecting enough light orbs to grant his wish.

Based on the recurring themes and concepts in the Keyverse, this is the sequence of events that unfold after Kanade and Otonashi passed on from the Afterlife World:

They had established a strong emotional bond before leaving to the Afterlife World, which ensured their eventual return to the real world. [One]
They had been helping people achieve happiness by fulfilling their goals, so the light orbs that appear in the OP and in episode 13 granted their wishes and brought them back to a time before the point of no return so they could meet each other and be together. [Clannad]
Since coming to the Afterlife World, Otonashi and Kanade had grown stronger and opened up their heart more, so they would be in better shape when they return to the real world to overcome their tragedies (abdominal injury and heart failure) and change the outcome of the adversities favorably for them. [Little Busters!]
They were able to recognize each other thanks to a song of a certain musician, which they somehow retain the memories of. [Charlotte]

Interestingly, Otonashi Yuzuru (音無 結弦) means "no sound" and "fastened strings", Hatsune (初音), the name of Otonashi's little sister, means "first sound", like the first sound of heart beat of a person long thought to be dead, and Kanade (かなで/奏) means "to play an instrument". Playing the Meaningful Name trope, Kanade "plays" out the tunes of her romantic encounter with an Otonashi whose love string is fastened.


A song in episode 2 of GitS: Stand Alone Complex I'm looking for music that sounds in the background on the second episode of GitS: Stand Alone Complex, the episode with the rogue tank. The music is playing from 11:35 to 15:00.

The track you're looking for is:

Album                       : Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex - OST - Be Human
Track name                  : spotter
Track name/Position         : 9
Performer                   : YOKO KANNO
Recorded date               : 2003


Who are the three Homunculi that are with Irisviel and Saber? In Fate/Zero, when Irisviel and Saber arrive in Fuyuki in episode 3 they are accompanied by three Homunculi maids.

One of the three had slightly curvy hair coming from her hood which makes be think it was Leysritt and I assume where she is, Sella would be close by.

I am looking for confirmation of who these three Homunculi Maids are. If two of them are Leysritt and Sella, what happened to the third that prevents her from serving Ilya?

This only partially answers the question. However, in both of their Wikia pages, under Appearance it states that Leysritt and Sella are in fact 2 years old.

  Despite her appearance, she is only about two years old.

Sources: Leysritt/Sella - Appearance *exact same wording on both pages

Given there is no mention on either of their pages, of them being in Fate/Zero I would assume this would be referring to their appearance in Fate/Stay Night which would make it impossible for them to have appeared in Fate/Zero which is set 10 years prior to Fate/Stay Night.


What is the significance of Asuna's heterochromia? In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, we note that Asuna has heterochromia, with one green and one blue eye.  Here's a shot taken from official artwork.

However, in Negima!?, we note that she doesn't have it at all.  Here's a shot taken from the third (I think) episode.

What is the significance, if there is any, of Asuna's heterochromia?  Why wasn't it present in the second season?

There is no significance
Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia, a.ka. Asuna Kagurazaka, has one green eye, and one blue eye, as depicted in every canon appearance except in Negima!? There is no real known significance as to why she has heterochromia, though it may have something to do with the fact she is of royal descent. She is seen as having heterochromia before she looses her memory, so that isn't the cause.
As far as why Negima!? is different, it is because it is a different studio who worked on this project, and they did redesigns for many of the characters. Negima!? actually has a number of differences from the original manga.
That we know of...
Mahou Sensei Negima (the manga) was canceled, so there were many stories that went unexplored. There is a possibility that this is something that the author was unable to reveal because it involved bigger plans around Asuna. Sadly, without speaking with the author himself, there isn't any way to know.


Does Gowther go back to the 10 Commandments? When Gowther gets his memories back, does he turn back to the 10 Commandments or stay in the 7 Deadly Sins?

The original Gowther created the doll, and died to end the holy war. Leaving something to take his place he created Gowther the doll. Gowther the doll joined the 7 deadly sins and went on adventuring with them to end the demons with the 10 commandments.
Gowther may have betrayed the 7 Deadly Sins a few times but he has not left the 7 deadly sins and still goes on trying to end the demons and prevent the holy war form happening again.
This based on what happens in season 3.


What are the differences between the manga and anime versions of Excel Saga? How does the anime for Excel Saga differ from the manga? More specifically, does the plot in the Excel Saga anime depart significantly from that in the manga?

I've read that some characters only appear in the anime. What are notable differences between the characters who appear in the manga and those who appear in the anime? Are there any other differences? Is the structure of the anime (i.e. one episode spoofs of different genres) different from that of the manga or are there similarities?

I've only read a bit of the manga, but as far as I can tell, the manga was more of a focused satire on the state of Japan's economy and politics in the '90s and early 2000s (a bit more like the later, similar series Nerima Daikon Brothers). It didn't have as much genre parody as the anime did. It also had the character of Elgala, a third ACROSS agent who works alongside Excel and Hyatt.


Why did Kishi draw the One Piece symbol in the last page of the last chapter of Naruto? Why did he put a One Piece skull and crossbones (along with the straw hat) on the very last page of the last chapter of Naruto? Seems odd, as the authors differ in both manga (Kishi - Naruto, Oda - One Piece), and I don't understand why.

Oda also made a reference to Naruto in the latest chapter (766):

Notice Nami's dress with Konoha's symbol on it, and how there's a fox eating ramen with a whirlpool on its back.

It's just a way for them to acknowledge each other's work.


Is the story of Momonosuke, the boy who transformed into a dragon, based on any folklore in real life? During the Punk Hazard arc, the boy Momonosuke transformed into a dragon. The story of a boy who turned into a dragon sounds really familiar to me for some reason. I believe I might have heard it somewhere before as some sort of tale, or maybe even as a part of some myth. I have been searching quite a bit to find something similar, but I couldn't find anything.

So is the story of Momonosuke, the boy who transformed into a dragon, based on anything?

There are a couple of cartoons/anime/movies where a boy transforms into a dragon.

American Dragon: Jake Long, an American cartoon.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a movie based on the novel with same title, which has a boy who turns to a dragon.
Legend of the Dragon, another cartoon.
Fafnir, a legend connected to the idea of a person turning into a dragon:

  In Norse mythology, Fáfnir (Old Norse and Icelandic) or Frænir was a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Ótr. After being affected by the curse of Andvari's ring and gold, Fafnir became a dragon and was slain by Sigurd.

A Chinese legend of carp turning into dragon after passing through the Dragon Gate.


Kancolle. Song played at the night talk before reassignment to other fleets I am very interested what is the name of the song played, when Fubuki and Mutsuki decided to talk to each other during a night walk. Yuudachi with Sendai sisters join them later and all of them make 'Torpedo Soul' pledge. It was just before all of them are going to be reassigned to new fleets.

It was in episode 5. Starts at about 3:20 and ends at 5:11.

I already figured out that composer is most likely to be Natsumi Kameoka (亀岡夏海).

Yes, the composer is Natsumi Kameoka. You can find the song in this official OST, TV Animation "Kantai Collection -Kan Colle-" Original Soundtrack "Kankyo" Vol.1.

The song is on Disc 2, track #25 titled CHINJU FU (鎮守府) you can hear the sample here.


How old is Himura Kenshin? In the anime, Kenshin appears to be about 17 (at least to my western, Caucasian eyes).  Consider that the revolution was 10 years in the past, and it must have taken years during the war for him to develop his skills and reputation as Battosai the Man-Slayer.  At a minimum, I think he's got to be 31, and that is if he got started in the revolution while still a mid-teen.

A simple google search returns the following:

  Age

  28 (about 33 end of series)

Source: http://kenshin.wikia.com/wiki/Himura_Kenshin


Why does Heathcliff (Kayaba) smile at the end in episode 14? In episode 14 of SAO, at the 14th minute mark:

   Kirito kills Kayaba.  He did not try to stop Kirito, and died smiling. Was he waiting to be killed by Kirito?

Did Kayaba expect it?

If I remember correctly it's never said. But it's probably to do with the fact the Kirito defied the system, as Kayaba does mention something similar in the final episode of Season 1.


What is the song in the first episode called? After a short opening segment to the series there was this opening song. After searching for the opening for a bit I found that it was not the same song.

So which song is used and what is it called?

With user1306322's advice I attempted some searching. And came to the conclusion it was Toki No Mukou Maboroshi No Sora - FictionJunction.

The song I originally kept finding was the opening song of the visual novel instead of the song used in the anime. And the fact I found to be familiar is most likely due to Yuki Kajiura, which has allot of anime songs on her name that I watched.


Where does Aizen make this quote about self-rightfulness? I was looking for one specific quote from Sousuke Aizen but I was not able to find it, I googled it and watch some of the scenes that I believe he says it but didn't really find it.

If I recall correctly I believe he says it to Ukitake and I think it goes something like this:

  "...You are blinded by your self-rightfulness..."

Or something like that but I wanted to remember it correctly and the context of which it happened. If someone remembers it properly it would greatly appreciated!

It's in episode 62.

Ukitake asks "Have you become that corrupt? Have you?"
Aizen replies: "You're blinded by your self-righteousness. From the beginning,
no one has ever stood at the top. Neither you, nor me, nor the gods.
But soon, that unobtainable vacancy at the top will be filled."

Here is the link to the moment you are referring to.


Dragonball Z - Rule for dragonballs This may be a question that can't be answered but I figured it may be a little fun to try anyways. I know the rules that are established about the dragonballs:

1 (original earth) /2 (later on earth) /3 wishes (Namek) depending on which version you have.
Wish can't exceed the creator's power
If the earth dragonballs then can't make the same wish twice

So in rewatching the series with my wife recently, when they are on Namek she asked if they could just take the balls into space to hide them which is a great question IMO. Freiza, or Vegeta for that matter, could have just parked their space ship floating over Namek or on some moon or close by planet and had it come get them every so often to deposit found dragon balls, or in Freiza's case where he doesn't need air to breathe he could just fly away with them.

So are there any rules about the dragon balls leaving the planet to which they were created on? Would they turn to stone? Would they just not work?

You made a small mistake, with regard to the rules of the earth's Dragon Balls, they can be used to grant up to 3 wishes. However, if one of the wishes involves reviving a large number of people, it can only be used to grant up to 2 wishes.With regard to your main question, as to whether the Dragon Balls would work on another planet, the answer is Yes, at least in case of the Namekian Dragon Balls. We know this because they were used to revive Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu on earth which you can see here.Hence, to answer your wife's question. Yes! It would've been certainly possible. However, there are reasons why that wouldn't work with the narrativeThe first is Frieza's character. Frieza was considered to one of the strongest fighter in the Universe. A Universal emperor and it would be very unlike him to take the dragon balls and hide it when he could take it from anyone he pleases simply because of how powerful he was. The Frieza then didn't fear anyone. Although the Frieza in DBS would do something like that, the Frieza in DBZ wouldn't simply because of how strong he was.Now with regard to Vegeta, he began collecting the Namekian Dragon Balls when he heard about Frieza wanting to collect them. So ideally, Vegeta would want to collect the Dragon Balls immediately before Frieza does and make his wish. At the same time, Vegeta had absolutely no intention of confronting Frieza or engage in combat with him. If Vegeta spent time taking every single Dragon Ball he had to another planet, came back and repeated the process, Frieza would've most likely found a Dragon Ball  during this period of time. This would require Vegeta to confront Frieza and engage in battle with him which is something he clearly wanted to avoid at that point in time. So on account of the situation, it would have been impractical for Vegeta to do this fast enough to be able to get all Dragon balls and wish for immortality.


Is Moro capable of raising his power unlimitedly with his technique? So the new villain Moro has the hability of absorbing life energy around him, similar to the Genki Dama, but without needing the life forms to lend the energy to him, he just takes it from them. Does this mean Moro is capable of raising his power unlimitedly?

Based on the recent Manga Chapter, it has been established that Morro's true power isn't simply raw physical strength but more dependent on his magic.We know this as Goku makes a comment after sensing Morro that his energy wasn't that big( Which was the case for some of the other strong fighters we've seen like Jiren and BrolyI would consider Morro to be a character similar to that of Hit. Just like Hit was much more deadly with his special assassination techniques in comparison to his raw strength, Morro is most likely deadly with his magic. So to answer your question, it might not necessarily raise only his physical strength. It might possibly allow him to improve his magic or raise its power or what not.


What is the name of the song that plays at 5:28 in Noragami Aragoto episode 8? What is the name of the song that plays at 5:28 in Noragami Aragoto episode 8? I'd like to know the name of the song and where to find it.

Assuming you're talking about the piece that plays right when Manabu shows up, this is "M03" from the Noragami Aragoto OST (disc 2, track 10; only found on the second version, not the first version). Here is a 15-second extract from the beginning of the piece.


Where can I find the transcripts of anime episodes online? I am looking around the internet for the transcripts for anime series and their episodes but cannot find one in particular for Attack on Titans.

I was searching around the internet for a while and couldn't find some sites. Does anyone know a website that does/contains the transcripts for anime series and their episodes? If not, I would like specifically a site for Attack on Titans episodes.

This would be useful I think for example you are answering a question and would like to add a certain spoken scene from an anime episode, and instead of watching the entire episode or skipping to that scene and playing and pausing the scene over and over again just to type out what they are saying, you can simply just have a look at the transcript and copy and paste it.

I know I might be lazy, but I think it would be extremely helpful. Anyone know any sites?

http://animetranscripts.wikispaces.com/Attack+on+Titan+-+%E9%80%B2%E6%92%83%E3%81%AE%E5%B7%A8%E4%BA%BA

It's not there for every episode though... I'll try some digging around.

http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=attack-on-titan-2013
No names though. Just the lines.


What happened to Kazuya's father? In episode 13 of the anime,

   it's revealed that Kazuya and Kanon aren't biological siblings; their parents (Kazuya's mother and Kanon's father) married each other after both children were already born and old enough to walk and talk. It's heavily implied that Kanon's mother died due to some illness

but nothing was said about Kazuya's father.

Does the original game (or otherwise another official adaptation of the game) explain what happened to Kazuya's father?

According to various Japanese sources,

   Kazuya's parents divorced.

From Aniota Wiki -spoiler part- (Japanese),

   実は果音とは血の繋がらない義理の兄妹である。一也の母(離婚)と果音の父親(死別)が再婚したためであり、再婚したのは10年以上前である。前田姓はもともと果音達の姓であり、一也達は再婚してから前田姓を名乗るようになった。果音が義理の妹であることを一也は知っているが、果音には隠している。しかし、わだかまりがあるわけではなく本当の妹のように大切に思っている。また、兄として果音を守ってあげたいとの感情から果音とはすぐに打ち解けいてるが、果音の父親と打ち解けるのは少し時間がかかったようである。 (Emphasis mine)

Rough translation:

   Actually, (Kazuya is) Kanon's stepbrother. Kazuya's mother (divorced) and Kanon's father (bereavement) remarried more than 10 years ago. Maeda is Kanon's surname, and Kazuya's family took it as their surname after their remarriage. Kazuya knows that Kanon is his stepsister, but he hides it from her. However, without any ill-feeling, Kazuya cares about her like real sister. Also, even if he shows his feeling and wanting to protect Kanon as her brother immediately, it takes quite a while to show that to Kanon's father. (Emphasis mine)

From comment no. 65 on a Japanese blog,

   一也の両親は離婚。ママリンは女手一つで一也を育てる。果音の母親は病死。パパリンはそれもあって娘を溺愛。兄妹二人がであったのが大体10年ほど前（新見さんより前ですね）。現在の両親は職場が同じで、それが縁で再婚。 [...] (Emphasis mine)

Rough translation:

   Kazuya's parents divorced. His mother was taking care of him alone. Kanon's mother died. Her father also really cares for her. Kazuya met Kanon around 10 years ago (earlier than Niimi). Their current parents works at the same place and remarried by fate. [...] (Emphasis mine)

And last but not least, post no. 857 on 2channel,

   一也の場合はママリンと父が離婚したんだよな。ロクでもない奴だったのか

Rough translation

   On Kazuya's case, his mother and father divorced, eh. Worthless guy, wasn't he?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find where this is explained since I don't touch the series.


How does Beatrice remember about Subaru? In episode 5 of the anime Subaru experiences the first Return by Death at Roswaal's mansion: after he runs away from his bedroom, he meets Beatrice, who remembers him even if that should be the first time they meet in that "loop". How can she remember him?

Because the "save point" for that part of the story is not the point when Subaru wakes up for the first time, but when he wakes up for the third time. That's also when he first meets Ram and Rem. (His first waking is before the opening in episode 4, while his third is right after the opening.*)

*At the start of episode four

   Subaru wakes up, notes that it's an unfamiliar ceiling, walks around a bit, finds the library, talks with Beatrice then falls unconcious because Beatrice suck some of his mana.


Is Pyrrha Nikos really dead? The last episode in the RWBY-verse so far seemed to paint the picture that Cinder Fall shot Pyrrha Nikos, taking Pyrrha's aura. But the question I'm asking is: Is Pyrrha really gone for good? Me and my friends have been coming up with good but still questionable theories, but one theory makes sense to me: Jaune still hasn't unlocked his true Semblance, so maybe Jaune's Semblance has something to do with Pyrrha's resurrection. I hope so. Please put my thoughts to rest!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is extremely likely that she is dead.
This thread is a fairly good place to look for all the discussion, and I would agree that she SHOULDN'T be brought back for various stated reasons.
But the biggest piece of evidence is the message from Jen Brown, her voice actoress (found under trivia and shown below).

To start let me just say it has been a true honor to play such a vibrant character. Playing Pyrrha meant the absolute world to me and getting to see how much she meant to many of you as well means a lot.
The entire Rooster Teeth team and RWBY crew deserves so much praise for how beautifully the show was handled. I have known from the minute I was cast 3 years ago that this would be Pyrrha's fate. It was Monty's intention from the start. And although it is kind of a relief to no longer have to keep it to myself, I am very sad that her journey has come to an end. Watching that final scene was beyond emotional for me. When you've invested so much into a character it is hard to let them go.
Most importantly I thank Monty. I miss him every day and thank him for trusting me with Pyrrha. Monty also intended for me to play other roles after Pyrrha's exit and although I have no further details right now... I fully trust that Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross will stay true to his wishes and have me back as someone new. I love those guys.
I end by giving my heartfelt gratitude to you the viewer. You guys are seriously the best. And for the last time, I'm sorry!
Oh yeah, and also... Long live Lisa Lavender!!!

So it's unlikely that she is coming back, at least not in the way we all know her. She may make an appearance (with Juane's semblance etc. or something else), but she is likely gone from the physical standpoint.


Why do Pop Team Epic episodes repeat with different voice actors? When watching Pop Team Epic on Crunchyroll, each episode plays twice in a row. Both times the episode is nearly identical, only with the main characters voiced by male actors instead of female actors.

Why does each episode of Pop Team Epic play twice? Why re-record the show with different voice actors?

According to an interview done to the producer of the anime, there were several reasons:

The animation originally was meant to be broadcasted in web format only, not as a TV series. Then the author asked the producer if it was possible to record two tracks: one with female voice actors and one with males and broadcast the primary track and the auxiliary. This wasn't possible with web streaming.
Then when they considered a TV broadcast for the series, the episodes weren't long enough to allocate one full slot of broadcast, and unlike previous seasons, they didn't have another series to fill the slot.
So instead of broadcasting one episode with dual audio as the author requested, they just paid for the entire slot and broadcast the 2 recordings, with male and female actors. There are differences in both because the director and producer give full freedom to the seiyuus to do whatever they wanted (and they didn't like it), and they even modified some scenes according to the actor used (Ep. 3 Bison reference) or their performance in the recording (the Tomokazu Sugita episode). But these were minimal.

The interview is in Japanese here: https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1517584766


Why do the Gold and Silver Brothers in Naruto Shippuden have whisker marks? I recently watched episode 269, and in a flashback, they had whisker marks BEFORE they got swallowed by Kurama (Nine-Tails) and started eating its flesh.

My guess is the author is making a reference to the Maneki-Neko or the fortune cat with the whiskers. It is a tradition that these ornaments brings forth good luck or fortune. Back in the old days, copper, silvers and gold were used as part of the currency exchange, that is why the Maneki Neko is sometimes coated in gold like color.

Towards the end before the Gold and Silver brothers were completely sealed away, Darui did mention something about if a bunch of copper work together, it is worth more than a lump of gold or silver.


What happened to the tomoe in Sasuke's Rinnegan? Sasuke's Rinnegan (pre-chapter 700) had six tomoe.

In Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage chapter 6, when Sasuke's Rinnegan is shown, it doesn't have the tomoe:

What happened to the tomoe in his Rinnegan? Is this an error or is there something else to it?

The latest manga of Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage, show us that his eye was weakened and that's why he didn't have tomoe in his Rinnegan or why he couldn't activate his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

It was weakened because he tried to open dimensions with his eyes which consumes a lot of chakra, as Obito had tried before he died in the battle with Kaguya.


Can anyone tell me what anime this nekomimi girl is from? Does anyone know who the girl with the cat ears is or what anime she is from?
The one between Shana and Naruto.

Thanks

This is the character Mito Mashiro, the main heroine from the visual novel/eroge Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity by studio Lump of Sugar. It has a 2009 anime adaptation, but I think the image posted is taken from the VN directly. She is the incarnation of a goddess, and her goal is to bring harmony between humans and a fictional supernatural race called Tayutai. She also falls in love with the protagonist.

Here's a similar picture from the visual novel. It's a slightly different pose, but I think it's clear that it's still her.


Who would obtain Coordinate's ability if Historia was killed by the MP? When MP killed Historia's mother they also wanted to kill Historia. In that time Reiss's family was dead so what was Reiss/central government plan to obtain Coordinate power if no one is left of the Reiss bloodline?

The MP had no plans. However Rod Reiss, Historia's father, was still alive at the time and could theoretically have taken the coordinate himself or fathered more children to do so. Provided he could consume Grisha (or later Eren). Also, when Karl Fritz and family moved and changed their name to Reiss, some of the family stayed in what became Marleyan territory. They are not mentioned thereafter, but some could have survived.


What is the context of this reference to Chrollo Lucilfer in Inou Battle manga chapter 1? In chapter 1 of Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de manga adaptation, Andou made a reference to Phantom Troupe's leader Chrollo Lucilfer from Hunter x Hunter series, as pointed out by Tomoyo. (Note the matching cross-shaped tattoo on his forehead).

What scene from Hunter x Hunter is being referenced here? And what is the context of that scene?

The scene being referenced is Chrollo's response to Gon's (the protagonist) question directed at him, "How can you kill people who have nothing to do with you?"

For context, Chrollo is the leader of the Phantom Troupe, also known as "the spider", a murderous group of thieves. In the Phantom Troupe arc, the scene in which this reference comes from, the Troupe kills many people in Yorknew City in order to steal goods from a large underground auction run by the mafia.

The scene that this is quoting comes from episode 56 of the 2011 anime, "Beloved X and X Beleaguered". The quote itself can be seen at 16:30.

(Source: Crunchyroll screenshots)


How can Smoker hold Sea Stone as a Devil Fruit user? Do anyone know how can Smoker hold Sea Stone when he himself a devil fruit user?

Only the tip of his Jitte is made of sea stone. The rest is made of a substance he can hold.


Where and how was Diavolo hiding where he was after the body swaps of Silver Chariot Requiem? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, I don't understand the rules of the body/soul swap and where Diavolo was hiding during the soul swapping shenanigans of Silver Chariot Requiem.

Was Diavolo apparently hiding inside King Crimson who was attached as a summonable stand of Trish (along with Spice Girl)? If so this raises many other questions for me of such as

Why is it that King Crimson attached to Trish? Could King Crimson have happened have been attached to Trish, but could've been attached to anyone else as well? I would have assumed the stand to have been attached to the mind/soul as has been the case for the other swaps.

Why is Diavolo's "soul" inside King Crimson, a stand rather than a regular physical body like the other swaps (albeit Polnaroff is in a turtle transport MacGuffin that has stand...?)

Why didn't other souls get put into stands e.g. Giorno is inside Foo Fighters the airplane stand? My memory is foggy but I feel the question could be asked about how chaotic you want to make your swaps do every bullet in Sex Pistols count of a potential body then?

Or is it the case that split personality thing made it so Trish and Diavolo's mind/soul was in the Mista physical body she was inhabiting, and that King Crimson just has an innate perk of letting Diavolo inhabit it?

Diavolo's Soul, which is attached to King Crimson, was "set free" by Silver Chariot Requiem.

Much like he shared a body with Doppio (without having full control), the same thing happened with Mista's body, now being inhabitted by the soul of Trish. Assuming Diavolo had no choice who he swapped with, this fact stands as mere coincidence.

Doppio had no idea he was being inhabited by the boss, therefore it stands to reason the same thing is true with Trish and her soul in Mista's body.

Using Mista's body & King Crimson, Diavolo managed to kill Narancia in Giorno's body undetected.

If you watch the scene, Mista seems to be the closest to where Giorno's body (inhabited by Narancia) was strung up.


"I want to forget the little nuts" In the Ending animation sequence of Jintai, the song Yume no Naka no Watashi no Yume
(My Dream Within a Dream) plays with the following lyrics in romaji:

  Wasuretai tte kimochi
  Sore mo uso ja nai kokoro

On Anime Lyrics it is translated so:

  The feeling of wanting to forget
  It, too, is an emotion that is not a lie

But in the subs I have, it is translated like this:

  What is it?
  There you sit on my lap, little squirrel
  The chestnut is like your flag, you child of the forest, seeking courage

  When the sounds of March are all around, even the humans will know

  Day in, day out, I sow the seeds for the future
  Eventually they bloom to flowers, and all feast on what it brought to fruit
  My dream fulfills that of the others at the same time
  Isn't it nice to make your wishes then?

  I want to forget the little nuts
  That's what I really feel like

  What's wrong today?
  You wave your chestnut like a flag, little squirrel
  Soon you will run to the forest again, your refuge
  What's wrong today?
  Here you sit on my lap
  Why don't you rest?

The animation sequence itself contains many objects that come directly from the story. Most of them I recognized, but where do these little nuts come from in the subtitle translation? Was it a mistranslation or some subtle reference to the events of the story? I wonder if the differences are because of some double-meaning words or some hidden context that one of the translators (or both) didn't get.

Seems like the translation has been fixed in your link, it no longer says nuts.
Also the original translation you quoted had many mistakes in it, for example this:

You wave your chestnut like a flag, little squirrel

The lyrics at that point is 旗振る子リス which means Little squirrel waving a flag transliterated, and nothing suggesting about waving chestnuts. In the corrected version on the site by Ohseki, it is now translated as Little squirrel, waving your flag.
I'm pretty sure that it was just a bad translation overall.


How does binding a soul to an armor suit allow the suit to move? We know a couple of characters whose souls are bound to armor suits, e.g. Alphonse or Barry the Chopper. It was explicitly shown that the armor suits have nothing inside - which means they are just pieces of metal with an rune that binds the soul to the armor.

So how are they able to move at all, not to mention that they have significant physical strength and agility?

In each case of a bonded soul, the blood is directly placed against the armor, allowing the iron in the hemoglobin to physically interact with the metal (and presumably any other material it would be bonded with)[1]. This means, basically, that the alchemic procedure allows the soul to interact with the metal as well.

When a blood seal is made, it is connected to a being, and must remain with only that being, as well as it must be connected. That means that if Al loses his arm, he cannot move it; however, if he picks up an iron pipe, he cannot move that at free will either, as it was not bonded to him initially. (Even at one point, he transmutes part of his body and can no longer manipulate it.)

(Note: Alphonse has no eyes lit up in his helmet because the helmet is separated.)

In the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, souls are that which contain a being's personality, thoughts, and memories, which is seen later in the series:

   For example: Kimblee's soul is able to connect with Pride from within; Hohenheim's many souls are spread around the land and are able to think and act with their energy; and Hohenheim was able to speak and interact with the emotions and arguments of every soul within him from the memories that soul kept.

Thus, we can connect the dots: Alphonse's soul is connected to the armor through the blood seal, and is able to act with his full set of memories; thus, Alphonse can use his memories and thoughts to move the armor at will.

The physical strength and agility comes from their ability to not be restrained by inner forces. (Imagine how much faster you could run if your body worked the same, but without bones and muscles weighing you down!) However, all the fighting skill and ability comes from things that soul has learned (both before getting that body, and after).


How do the magical girls match up to their prefecture? In Magica Wars (Mahō Shōjo Taisen) There are 47 Magical girls, one for each prefecture.

The designs for the magical girls were decided on Pivix during a competition, and there is an iOS game of the same title, so the list of the girls should be out there somewhere.

What I was wondering was how do the girls match up to the prefectures, as it will be hard to keep track of later on as more characters are introduced.

I already know (from the anime) of:

Miyagi Prefecture: Naruko Aoba
Shizuoka Prefecture: Matsuri Sengen
Tokyo Prefecture: Rin Kobari
Ishikawa Prefecture: Yuri Inuwashi
Mie-ken: Suzuka Kamiki
Kumamoto Prefecture: Renka Ariake
Kyoto Prefecture: Mebuki Konoe

The Magica Wars Wikia has updated with a list of the girls.

The series only included a few of them, here are the prefecture's girls in their entirety (with pictures where available)

Aichi: Rin Takehara & Subaru Amashita

Akita: Mai Inakura & Topiko Arube

Aomori: Neo Shiratori & Rui Shirakawagoshi

Chiba: Sen Hazakura

Ehime: Setoka Himeno

Fukui: Fuku Echizen

Fukuoka: Arisu Sugawara & Ume Hoshino

N/A ,

Fukushima: Momo Iwaki

Gifu: Hidari & Minori Ichiki, Shizuri Tsuzuku

 , N/A

Gunma: Tsutsuji Makai

Hiroshima: Akane Wajima & Miwa Kyuumon

 ,

Hokkaido: Komako Kitano & Yuki Miku

 ,

Hyogo:  Hotaru Kugui & Tamae Sakamoto

N/A ,

Ibaraki: Mio Kasama &  Nobara Yuuki

N/A ,

Ishikawa: Yuri Inuwashi

Iwate:  Meguru Hoshi &  Yuki

 ,

Kagawa: Kanoka Tamamo

Kagoshima:  Hayame Kaji

Kanagawa: Minamo Kousaka

Kochi: Monobe Tsurugi

Kumamoto: Renka Ariake

Kyoto: Mebuki Konoe & Miyako Saionji

 , N/A

Mie: Suzuka Kamiki

Miyagi: Naruko Aoba

Miyazaki:   Himuka Amano

Nagano: Shinanono Kawanakajima

Nagasaki: Ameko Kamishiro

Nara: Fuhiko Fujiwara

Niigata: Ichiko Echigo

Oita: Kemuri Midoriyu & Touka Taketori

 , N/A

Okayama: Suzume Momomura

Okinawa: Manami Hika & Menou Amakusa

 , N/A

Osaka: Sakura Midou & Yana Minase

 , N/A

Saga: Sayaka Yoshino

Saitama: Tamame Saijou

N/A

Shiga: Kinoe Oumi

Shimane: Chitose Kunibiki

Shizuoka: Matsuri Sengen

Tochigi: Hikari Tochinobi

Tokushima:  Narumi Sudachi  Hi-san & Sara Shirasagi

N/A ,

Tokyo:  Rin Kobari

Tottori: Chiyo Miasa

N/A

Toyama: Karin Hotarui

Wakayama: Kino Shirarahama

Yamagata: Yukana Akaba

Yamaguchi: Natsumi Manten

Yamanashi: Koi Momoyama

If anyone can fill in the blanks, that'd be great. If you speak Japanese, there's a card site here


What does "K-On!" refer to in the series? I have been watching the English dub of it on public TV and I haven't seen any mention of K-On in the series itself (with the exception of the OPs/EDs).

So I am wondering, what does K-On refer to in the series? If it refers to nothing, then is there a particular reason/meaning to the name K-On?

"K-On" is pronounced the same as the word 軽音 keion, which means "light music" (in the Japanese sense, not the classical sense). The main characters are, of course, part of the light music club, which is the 軽音部 keion-bu. The "K-On club", if you will.

If you had watched it with Japanese audio, you would have probably noticed the word sprinkled all over the place (since they talk about the club a lot, obviously). The eyecatches (I forget for which season) also have audio of Yui saying "K-On". I suppose they must have changed the eyecatches to something else for the English dub.


Is there a Naming Scheme for the Abyssal Ships? In Kantai Collection, the Ship Girls like Fusou and Bismark are named from real life ships.

I am wondering if the Abyssal Ships like Wo and Ta are named with a particular scheme aswell or if it's just random? (I'm not Referring to Bosses like Southern War Demon or Anchorage Princess)

There is definitely some pattern to the naming of these ships. The enemy ship classes are named in Iroha order corresponding to the first 18 characters of the Iroha, a classic Japanese poem which uses all 47 classical hiragana* (excluding ん but including ゑ and ゐ) once. This is an old-fashioned way of ordering hiragana (modern Japanese usually uses Gojūon ordering). It can be used to label things in order without resorting to numbers, similar to how one might use letters A, B, C, etc. For example, the series Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei uses the same ordering for classrooms, though in modern day Japan classrooms would usually be labelled by letters. The main difference between this and other ordering systems is that Iroha order feels more authentically Japanese and old-fashioned than the other options.

A table illustrates the relationship between the numbers and the kana. From the wiki

 Ship Class           Normal #           Elite #          Flagship #
Destroyer I-class       501                514              564
Destroyer Ro-class      502                515              552
Destroyer Ha-class      503                516              553
Destroyer Ni-class      504                514
Light Cruiser Ho-class  505                515              554
...

You can see that the numbers are ascending, particularly in the leftmost column. I'm not sure the right columns are correct since there's some repetitions, but it would be a lot more work to check everything than it's worth doing here. Anyway, at least the normal numbers very clearly count up from 500, while the class kana progress in the Iroha.

That still doesn't explain how the ships themselves are ordered, though it does say how they're named once you know the ordering. The ordering of types is pretty clear. All the Destroyers come before Light Cruisers, which are before the Torpedo Cruisers, etc. For the most part, it goes from smaller to larger ships. It's not exactly the same as the order here for your available ship types (for instance, battleships come after carriers, rather than before), but it's similar.

How the ships are ordered within each type is a bit less clear. I think that most enemy vessel classes are based on a class of ship available to you. For example, Battleship Ru-class seems to be based on the Nagato-class, while the faster but less armored Battleship Ta-class has more similarities with the Kongou-class battleships, and the Aviation Battleship Re-class is based on the Fusou-class aviation battleships. The order there is compatible with the order in the Ship List, in that Nagato-class comes before Kongou-class, which comes before Fusou-class (at least prior to any remodeling).

I suspect for the other types of ships, there's a similar relationship, but I don't actually know which enemy class corresponds to which of your classes, and some don't seem to match well at all. I'm not even sure the creators really put that much thought into it. If there is a nice correspondence, I suspect someone has compiled this somewhere before, if possibly only in Japanese. However, I didn't immediately find it while searching, and it's a tangential enough that I'm not sure it needs to be stated here. Even if there isn't an exact correspondence, it's clear that the enemy ships are numbered in a way that at least makes sense when you compare it to your ship list.

Anyway, at the end of the day, there's no real meaning to the individual names. In terms of literal interpretation, they could have just as well used "A-class", "B-class", etc. (nevermind that those have a different meaning in English). The use of Iroha order here is consistent with the general mood of KanColle as a semi-historical game. It probably isn't worth reading much more into it than that.

 Note that the ship classes are actually written in Katakana, e.g. 駆逐イ級 rather than 駆逐い級. This doesn't really change anything significant, and one can just as well write the Iroha in Hiragana or Katakana. In this context, it's similar to writing in italics in English. There's a bit more to it than that, but the subtleties between Hiragana and Katakana use in this sort of context aren't really worth going into here.


How does Hitagi fall if she's weightless? At the start of Hitagi Crab

  in an accident involving a misplaced banana peel, Hitagi falls down the flight of stairs that lead to the upper floors of Naoetsu Private High School and ends up in the arms of Koyomi Araragi

but the oddity that Hitagi was inflicted by was the Heavy Stone Crab which took away her weight which means she's weightless and sorta like being in space so when she tripped she wouldn't fall down like unless someone gave her a push after.

not to mention that when Araragi catches her he feels that she's weightless which is how Hitagi's "secret" was found out by him

How does Hitagi fall if she's weightless?

As @AkiTanaka mentioned and by checking Volume 1 of Bakemonogatari, we can see that she's not exactly weightless. She weighed 5 kilograms. To quote from the light novel:

  You’ve noticed, haven’t you?...That’s right─I don’t weigh a thing..Well, it’s not as if I don’t at all─a girl my height and body type would have an average body weight in the high forties, in kilograms...But my actual body weight is five kilograms...Now, if you want to be completely accurate, it’s only that a scale displays my weight as five kilos─I personally don’t notice it....

Her saying she weighs nothing is just an exaggeration or a figure of speech. She doesn't really weigh nothing, it's more like a hyperbole, since the difference between 5kg and an average person's weight is noticeable.


What is the point of using the kunai? The kunai just seems very pointless. With the power of characters in the Naruto and Boruto series people can easily stop them. They barely ever do damage to people and there are so many different fighting techniques/abilities to use during a fight. The kunai just seems very pointless. Why do the characters use the kunai in battle?

Why bring a knife to a gun fight? Well, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Kunais are one of the many tools shinobi have at their disposal. While it may seem like a useless weapon at first glance, there have been instances in the series in which the use of a kunai have been proven quite useful.

Close Range
If I remember correctly, Kunais are used a lot during close range combat. While up close, it would be easier to thrust a kunai than to attempt to perform a justu.

During the Kakashi vs Zabuza fight on the bridge, Kakashi used kunais to stab and incapacitate Zabuza’s arms to prevent him from performing hand seals.

Long Range
Kunais have also been shown to used as long range weapons.

A common tactic is to attach a paper bomb and throw it into a crown of enemies. You can hinder with enemy without the cost of chakra.

While performing stealth missions, it’s better to take out enemies with a small dagger than a giant fireball.

Minato was also known for throwing kunais that had his seal to allow him to perform his teleportation justu.


Who is the uniformed guy in this Owarimonogatari end card? This is the end card for episode 11 of Owarimonogatari. (Click for larger image.)

Who is the guy left of Shinobu, in some sort of uniform?

I tried searching, but the most information I got was from Crunchyroll, which seems to have only listed the artists and other works they are famous for. (In the case of ep. 2, the title associated with the author is obviously related to the content of the end card, but this isn't true of most of the others. I did try looking up Human Crossing, but wasn't able to find a character who looked blatantly similar to the guy I'm curious about. This might be, however, because I don't know anything about the series.)

This is a reference to a college-aged Kosaku Shima, the titular character of Kenshi Hirokane's Student Kosaku Shima series.

College students in the Showa era wore uniforms like this. This uniform and emblem is specific to Waseda University, Kosaku Shima's alma mater.

The public Twitter for the series even made a tweet about the end card: https://twitter.com/shimakosaku1966/status/675702573433663488


How did Homura get a bow as a weapon? In the last episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica TV anime, Homura seems to have Madoka's bow. In earlier episodes, she only use guns and bombs, when and how did she get this weapon?

She got her weapon from Madoka.

This is a question for Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica writer) at a Nitro+ Q&A Panel

Q: Did Homura get her weapon from Madoka?

   A: The weapon Homura got filled the hole that Madoka left when she couldn't use the bow anymore. [Note: I'm not sure if I got this right, maybe someone who still remembers the details of Madoka's ending properly could fill me in with the details of this]


Why did the anime stop having ending songs since episode 279? Since episode 279, the One Piece anime doesn't have ending songs. Instead, it has long openings: almost 3 minutes, instead of the usual 1:30 openings.

What was the reason for this change?

I don't think any official explanations were given (I tried to search but there are only speculations).

I think the most probable reason is the fact that when you're watching broadcasts on TV, as soon as the ending theme song pops up you change to another channel. Almost nobody watches the ending credits/openings and this is true also for other things. Think about when you go to the movies: when the credits starts rolling, is there someone that will stay sit there? Maybe, but that's quite rare. Same for movies on TV, you usually change it because... you really don't care, unless you need to look up some actor/character in those rare occasions.

For this reason, and I'm quite convinced this is the case, they cut the ending theme song, made the opening longer and put the credits there instead. More people are likely to watch it, not just those that like the song, but also once you get to the channel, you're less likely to change it just because it hasn't started yet.

Along with the recap, this makes the "opening part" much longer, even cutting from the usual ~24 minutes of actual episode time.


Can Stand users de-summon their Stand whenever they want? In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I've been wondering why, when a person's Stand is getting hit, they don't just unsummon it.
Can Stand users de-summon their Stand whenever they want?

If you felt like you were being punched in the stomach would you be able to run. The answer is no because you would be in pain it is kinda like that for stands as stands are a physical manifestation of the soul.
Also removing your stand in the middle of a fight would be suicide for example hanged man and emperor did damage to people's actual bodies without touching their stands


Is there a relation between Shigaraki's power and how many hands does it have in his body? I was watching a video of a Youtuber who covers My Hero Academia, and he made it sound like there is a relation between the amount of hands Shigaraki has attached to his body, and how much of his potential power he can release.

   He mentioned he lost some of his hands in one of the last chapters of the manga, #chapter 238 apparently

Is there a relation between Shigaraki's power and how many hands does it have in his body?

In Chapter 222, it was mentioned that these hands somehow help Tomura Shigaraki calm down aside from making him nauseous. If I recall correctly, this was the only function it had and serve no other purpose to Shigaraki or his power.

Some of these hands are recovered from Tomura's family when he accidentally killed them. The other hands from two unnamed street punks.


Where can I watch Seiyuu shows? By Seiyuu shows I mean things like Hanazawa Kana's Hanazawa Kana Hitori de Dekiru kana, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu's Matsuoka Restaurant.

Is there anywhere where one can watch them completely with consistent quality? I can find them in YouTube but it was the one uploaded by some random guy on the internet. The quality also varies greatly, like some only have voice, some with only low res video, and it also miss some chapters (i.e incomplete).

Note 1: limit answer to legal sources.
Note 2: not limited to the said shows. They are just examples.

Hanazawa Kana's Hanazawa Kana Hitori de Dekiru kana:
You can listen to this radio program on Thursday, 23:00-23:30 Japan time, by visiting the following URL: https://www.uniqueradio.jp/form/form5.php.
This channel is legal under Japanese law.
I don't know if it's accessible from outside Japan.
You will be asked in Japanese where you live, your occupation, and your address. There is no option to choose an address outside of Japan, but you may choose Tokyo.

The Onsen (Japanese) is another well-known channel that offers voice actor's programs, but I don't know if it's accessible from outside of Japan.
At least the following YouTube channels are legal under Japanese domestic law. As these are YouTube channels, they can be accessed from outside of Japan.
These are provided by the holder of the official content.

Dengeki Bunko Channel
TrySail official YouTube channel
Second Shot Channel
Phonon Channel
YOUDEAL LIVE Channel
GA Bunko Channel
GAGAGAch!!!
warnerbrosanime
ANIPLEX
Hi★Channel
Bushiload
NBC Universal Anime/Music
KING AMUSEMENT CREATIVE
Anime Channel by FuRyu

For some content it seems to be possible to use Youtube's automatic subtitle generation.
Some of above content providers are American companies, but the contents are related to Japanimation.
Some channels seem to have special sub-channels. For example, the NBC Universal's channel, has the Gochiusa's channel as a sub-channel.　The operation of such a subchannel may be limited to when the program they want to promote (like Gochiusa) are on the air.


What was Natsu dreaming about in Lucy's room? I don't think I'm the only one who is wondering this; if I am, correct me. What was Natsu dreaming about when he woke up in Lucy's room? He woke up scared - was there a special reason or was it just to make us laugh?

Edit: This occurs in the Episode 76 of the First Season of Fairy Tail.

I remembered it wrong, Lol. The dream is about Lisanna. Infact it is shown clearly in the first minute before the opening.

We see a young Natsu searching for Lisanna in the forest, he trips and falls. He hears a girl scream, shouts Lisanna and wakes up. So clearly the nightmare was about the "death" of Lisanna.

This is infact an anime only scene. FT Wikia: Episode 76

  The anime adds a scene in which Natsu wakes up from a bad dream about Lisanna, with Lucy questioning him about it and yelling at him because he is in her bed and forced her to sleep on the floor.


Why did the Survey Corps search along the wall instead of on top of the wall to find a hole in the wall? Attack On Titan Manga [Chapter 37] [Chapter 38]

You know that part after the female titan part where suddenly Titans were spotted, Mike died and the survey corps horse rid along the wall to find a hole (which wasn‘t there but they couldn‘t have known)? They themselves knew that it was very dangerous because of course they suspected that there were lots of titans coming through the hole and if they found the hole they needed to flee or fight.

But why didn‘t they just run on top of the wall to find the hole? Of course they can‘t see it but they could see the titans and where they are heading to (to the hole) and they could see the titans going though the hole without risking their lives. I know that Ymir and Historia etc. didn‘t have their gear but Nanaba for example did and she could have helped them get on top of the wall. They even expected there to be lots of titans and the wall is 50 meters high they could see very far. I think it‘s an easier and safer solution.

Well, it is true that you could spot a titan from the wall but, don't forget the time of day it was. Night, it was pitch black at that time. You might be able to see a 15m titan but a 3-4 meter is questionable. Yes it would have been safer to use the wall but at the cost of visibility. I don't know exactly but most of the titans that we have seen arent 15m tall. So they chose to go on the ground to maximize visibility.


Is the Harbinger of Spring based on a real Japanese legend? In Episode 2 of Flying Witch, this rather strange looking fellow appears and terrorizes poor Chinatsu at the door.

Makoto explains that he's the Harbinger of Spring, some kind of nature spirit who ushers out the winter and ushers in the spring, like a fairy.

]

  He's the Harbinger of Spring. He's a splendid person who bids farewell to winter and brings about spring. He's like the fairy of spring.

The series takes place in the modern day and the witches and magic are very Western in style. However, the Harbinger's clothing looks like traditional Japanese clothing (almost ninja-like).

His mask sort of reminds me of a cross between the kodama from Princess Mononoke and the style of Jomon pottery:

So, at least within the series, it seems like the Harbinger is supposed to be a traditional Japanese spirit. Is it based on any similar real-life legend or is it completely a creation of the series?

In the anime, the Harbinger of Spring is called 春の運び屋 haru no hakobiya (spoken around 07:50~07:55 on Crunchyroll).

While I don’t remember having heard this name or seen this appearance before, similar “spirits” exist in Japanese folklore. And animes like this usually portray one or two, e.g. Mushishi or Natsume’s Book of Friends.

I would consider the Harbinger of Spring a force or spirit of nature, and not necessarily a specific legendary being, even if it may appear as one, like in this anime.


Does "group date" mean something else other than "a date with many people"? In the first episode of Steins;Gate 0, Okarin says something about going on group dates, with Feyris and Rukako yelling at him for doing that.

Is a group date any different from what I think it is, just a date with many people?

When asked by Feyris what Okarin's plan that day, he replied with "gōkon".

  Is a group date [...] a date with many people?

If "a date" implies "those who are already in relationships", then possibly this is the source of the misunderstanding.

According to Wikipedia,

  Group dating is a modern pattern for dating where a group of single men and a group of single women organise a night out, with the hope of forming romantic partnerships. It is most popular in Japan, where it is known as gōkon. In other cultures, group dating is becoming more popular as a safe alternative to single dating (especially blind dating), also helping to ease tension, because both parties will feel more comfortable having the company of their friends.

Also,

  In Japan, a gōkon (合コン) is a group blind date, typically used to form at least some friendships between two groups that are each of a single sex. Generally, a single man and woman who know each other organize the gōkon in advance, each agreeing to bring three or four eligible friends. The venue is usually a restaurant, an izakaya, or anywhere people can eat, drink and make a bit of noise.

Or alternatively, from Jisho

  joint party (e.g. by students from several colleges); combined party; mixer; two or more groups, esp. female and male students, combining for a party

However, the real reason why Feyris and Rukako were yelling and surprised was

   Okarin's 180-degree image change. Compared to his chuunibyou/otaku personality in the original Steins;Gate, he's now living (or looks) like a normal college student (i.e. having a social life, which is something that otaku usually don't care). Just before this, they were also surprised about his choice of school club ―which is tennis club― instead of Feyris' guess of UFO/UMA research club.


Why can't The Dwarf leave the flask? The Dwarf in the Flask, of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, is seen trapped within a flask during his first appearance.

At one point in the series, The Dwarf states that his greatest wish is to leave the flask (from FMA Wikia):

   Being a homunculus with no form, the Dwarf in the Flask was unable to perform any alchemy of his own. Furthermore, though the flask was the only thing that keeps him alive, [The Dwarf] desired to exist outside it.

However, due to the emboldened part above, it appears the flask is somehow keeping him alive (though he is only corked inside it). How does it do this, and how would he die if he left?

Because he had no form on his own. He's basically an essence of God, created from Hoenheim's blood.

If his flask would somehow break, his being would dissipate into the space, and lose his form and living consciousness.

Think of it as a soul with no body. Stuffed inside of a container, if that container would break, the soul wouldn't have anywhere to reside, and leave the world. (Al is a slightly different case, his soul is bound to the seal on the back of his neck).


Who is this running kid wearing a shirt with Uchiha symbol? There's a kid wearing a shirt with Uchiha symbol, but I have no idea who s/he is.

Who is this kid?

After doing some digging around, I discovered this scene is from the episode The Night of the Tragedy. According to the wiki, this is simply just an animation error

Trivia
In one scene, there is an animation error that an Academy student is shown having an Uchiha crest on the back of his shirt, despite that scene happening after the incident.

We know for a fact that there are very few Uchiha remaining. While it is plausible, as @Hostile Amigo mentioned, that not every Uchiha was present during the incident, this episode is part of the Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU Black Ops filler arc and shouldn't be counted towards canon.


Why does Kakashi Hatake always wear a mask? Since his childhood as depicted in manga/anime, Kakashi always wore a cloth mask covering his face, making only eye(s) and a portion of forehead visible.

What was the reason for this?

I have collected a few reasons, which are actually assumptions..

Because he was an ANBU. All the members of ANBU wear masks for various reasons. (hiding their identity, their feelings, expression, and so on, making them merely fighting robots)
Since his childhood days, he always was looked down on by the villagers because his father sacrificed a mission in order to save his comrades. This resulted in a huge loss to the village (maybe in terms of reputation and economy). He wanted to hide himself.
Moreover, people could easily mistake him for his father since they look similar (one example: Lady Chio attacking Kakashi Hatake because she mistook him for his father Sakumo).  He tried to hide himself with his mask, though people vaguely remember it since a generation has been passed.

Though all the above reasons aren't really valid now (in both the anime and manga), Kakashi still wears mask, for which the reason is unknown.

Just an idea Kishi had. And here is a piece of information from a blog:

  In an interview the question, "Why does Kakashi wear a mask?" was asked. Kishimoto's reply was that he saw ninjas as being "mysterious" or something, so in his character design he made Kakashi wear a mask, but he didn't do that with other characters because it's too difficult to get their expressions down when you can't see their entire face.

Blog link: [click here]


Why did One Piece chapter 750 come out late? I have been waiting and waiting and have been checking every website about One Piece, and I couldn't find anything.

Are there any reasons why chapter 750 came out late?

One Piece has been on hiatus for 2 weeks (Weekly Shonen Jump issue 28 & 29) since Oda was getting some sort of surgery done. It should be back in the next issue (issue 30).


What does it take to kill a Ghoul? In Tokyo Ghoul, fodder ghouls were getting killed by stabs to the chest and stomach, but then there are people like Nishiki getting impaled repeatedly and destroyed by Shuu, but he still lives. Plus, there's Kaneki getting those... injuries at the end of part 1, but he also still lives.

Is Ishida just being inconsistent, or is there a reason for this? What does it take to kill a Ghoul?

As you know, ghouls have very strong muscle and high regeneration abilities. A ghoul's body can be damaged by Quinque or Q bullets.

The main requirement to kill a ghoul are weapons like those mentioned above and critical damage to a ghoul's body that even their regeneration abilities is not enough to keep them alive.

As stated here regarding the weaknesses of a ghoul,

  Ghouls will die if they receive extremely critical or life-threatening traumatic injuries that will kill them before they have a chance to heal.

As you described, some ghouls are still alive while some are not even when they received similar damage. It is because they are strong ghouls, they have more power compared to others and can handle bigger damage.


What is the order of the JoJo anime series? My friend recommended me to watch JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, but when I googled it I found there are many series.

What is the order of the anime?

In the order of the events in the series it goes like this:

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV) (This covers the Battle Tendecy Arc and the Phantom Blood Arc.)
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Stardust Crusaders
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Stardust Crusaders 2nd Season
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Diamond wa Kudakenai
Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai (OVA)
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze

All of the above are the main TV series. This anime also has the 90's version some movie, and an OVA.

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (2000)
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken


Why are all the agency cyborgs female? I just watched both seasons of the Gunslinger Girl anime adaptation. I'm not sure if this is addressed in the show or the manga, but why are all the cyborgs female? I take it that they are kids because it's easier to condition them - are there any male cyborgs in the manga?

The simple answer here is that this is what makes up a "Fratello" team, an older male handler and his young girl cyborg. This relationship is a really important theme throughout the series. They are young because they are easier to condition, plucked from traumatic experiences so they can form a strong new bond with their handler who has complete control over the conditioning and how much is needed. Like with the instance with Triela, where she sometimes expressed a bit of a rebellious (for lack of a better word) tendency toward her Hilshire, understanding the situation she's in and what the conditioning does, her bond with her handler trumps everything. Also see: Elsa, where her bond with her handler was so strong that it went to extremes (death).

I remember reading somewhere that this sort of relationship was easier to control as opposed to an older Female (or male) with a young boy, where the boy could be less cooperative and obedient, but I can't find that reference right now.

To answer your other question: No, there were no male cyborgs.


Why does "Shokugeki no Soma" get so many full colored chapters? I've never seen a manga with so many full-color chapters. I believe for Fuuka, Kimi no Iru Machi, Suzuka (all of them by the same author), and also many other manga only have a few pages of color manga when there is a color edition.

Yet, from chapter 116 to 134 (as of writing), all of the chapters have another version that is in full-color. From my perspective, this is very unusual. I understand that it is a very popular manga, but manga I listed above and other manga are just or even more popular, but none to my knowledge have had this many strings of full-colored publications.

Is there a reason to this or did the author/artist just have a lot of extra time to devote to coloring in the manga?

I think that they come from this digital magazine, which is done by Shueisha Inc.. So that means, it is done by neither the artist nor the author. I also think that it might just be because of the anime gaining popularity that they are trying to bolster the manga also. That's my two cents at least.


What is the order for watching Lupin III? I want to watch Lupin III anime. I tried to search it and found in 2018 ( currently airing ) there is Lupin III part V. So i wanted to watch in order, like Lupin III part I. Checked on myanimelist site ( let's put aside first the spin off or movie )

Lupin III part 1 (?)(1971)
Lupin III part 2 (1977)
Lupin III part 3 (1980)
Lupin III part 4 (?) (2015)
Lupin III part 5 (???) (2018)

When i tried to watch the first part, it's long long ago tv series. And there is a gap 35 year until the next sequel from part 3 to part 4 (?) .

How should i watch Lupin in a proper way ? Should i watch the 1971 version first ? Or is there a remake of the series from part 1 to part 3 in early 2000 (Like evangelion and cardcaptor sakura ) ?

Different to a lot of other anime franchises, almost all stories in Lupin are independent of the others so there is no required viewing order to understand them. All you really need to know is who the characters are.

But if you want to have some hints for watching the tv series, take a look at this. And if you are interested in the movies, specials and OVAs, take a look here.


Why is the Shinigami World so desolate? In Death Note, the Shinigami world is almost empty of any colour or life.

We can see that in the Shinigami world:

  Trees are lifeless (if there are any trees at all)
  Fruits are dried up and rotten
  There seems to be hardly any light (though there also doesn't seem to be any complete darkness)

Because of this I would like to know why there world is like this.

By the way where do you go once you are killed by your own Shinigami, given that Ryuk told Light that once you write in the Notebook, you can neither go to heaven nor hell?

Well, what did you expect of the world of the Gods that govern the dead? Historical speaking, the world of the dead and their gods live in a somber place. The author itself seems to just picture it like that without a real "motif" of the why but simply because it should be do like that:

  Obata said that he used "no real design motif" for the Shinigami Realm, and that he never settled on any concrete appearance; Obata described the Realm as changing appearance in each instance in Death Note, with it sometimes appearing as a dry field and sometimes appearing as a room "full of cookies." Obata says that he likes to think of the Shinigami Realm as "an abandoned building with chunks of chocolate sitting around." Obata said that he thought of the realm as being "inside something" and having a "claustrophobic feeling." Obata added that he would like to develop the Shinigami Realm further if it was used as the setting for a story.

I don't have the "Takeshi Obata Production Note: Characters." Death Note 13: How to Read. book to verify the Wikipedia source but if you buy it it should tell the same.


Was there a time skip on episode 2 of Tokyo Ghoul Season 2? I just notice that Touka has changed and became more mature. Her surroundings, including Hide who has a part time job, have also changed/became more mature.
How many years have passed? Does anyone know?

I don't think there is "a years time skip". At most a few months have passed, as the Anti-Ghoul members who were injured have healed and Aogiri have taken over some areas.

At this point in the manga, the time skip was around 6 months, but apparently this is an original story (for season 2) so that may not be a good guideline.


Can I watch Gintama' (2015) if I haven't watched previous seasons? I want to watch this new season but It will be my very first time with Gintama, so... Maybe should I start from the beginning?

Well, there's nothing stopping you from watching the newer episodes :)

Gintama is mainly episodic (as in, not much ongoing connection from episode to episode) so it's probably okay to do so. You might miss out a few references to past episodes though.

Of course, if you want to enjoy it fully I'd recommend you start from the very beginning.


In Kuroko no Basuke, are the characters ever compared to professional players? So, in Kuroko no Basuke (or, The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays, as suits you), we see that the Generation of Miracles has some pretty wacky basketball superpowers. I'm no basketball expert, but it seems like if you took the five of them and transferred them into the real world (powers and all), they would beat most actual NBA teams. And the thing is, they're just 10th-graders. Sure, maybe they're the best 10th-graders (even the best high-schoolers) in Japan, but surely they can't be as good as professional players in the KnB universe, can they?

Which brings me to my question - does the manga ever talk about how good professional basketball players (NBA or otherwise) are as compared to the high-school players the story focuses on?

Kuroko no Basuke (manga) never references any actual NBA pro by explicitly stating a name, but they have shown panels of professional basket ball players insinuating that they are from the NBA. The characters depicted don't actually resemble any specific pro, but rather a generic player - tall, built, and African-American.

It does seem like the Generation of Miracles could beat real life NBA teams, but the manga does indirectly explain how the Generation of Miracles will not prevail.

Take Kise's copying ability for example. He can only copy people's techniques that he is capable of executing, but because NBA players are so much bigger, faster, and better, his copying won't work.

Or in Midorima's case, he might have the insane accuracy as usual, but an NBA player can easily block his shot.

In the end, however, I don't think Kuroko no Basket will ever mention and compare with top NBA pros. There are certain things that are completely impossible, like Kuroko's phantom shot. It doesn't even theoretically work in real life because NBA plays man to man defense, where each member playing has to always follow their assigned opponent. You can't just misdirect someone following you and not see you shooting.

And don't even get me started on eagle vision...

UPDATE: In one of the latest chapters (242) that I haven't read yet, Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics is shown as the first NBA player in Kuroko. This is somewhat inaccurate though, as Ray Allen has been part of the Miami Heat for 2 years now.


Who has the highest official Dragon Ball Z power level? I remember Captain Ginyu exclaiming that Goku had a power level of 180,000 in the Ginyu Force arc, but I don't recall a higher scouter being shown/read aloud in any other episode/movie of DBZ (I'm not including Frieza's 1 million bluff).

Does anyone have more information on this from a credible source? If official data is available, I would also want to know the power levels of a regular Super Saiyan, SS2 and SS3 as well.

I'm not sure how credible you consider the Dragon Ball Wiki, but they have compiled a list of power levels of most characters mentioned throughout the series, including GT.

The highest power levels in that list would be the old Supreme Kai's at at most 120 billion, while the next largest power level would be Gogeta SSJ4 at 25 billion.

See here for a more exhaustive list.


Do these comment stickers from Pixiv come from anime? In Pixiv, you can leave a comment on any fan-art. There is also an option to leave a sticker for comment. They include an elephant, fox (?), girls, and skull.

Here is a fan-art example from one of those stickers. I've tried to google the tag but couldn't find anything.

I'm asking about all the stickers - elephant, fox (?), girls, and skull - , but more specifically, the one for these girls above. Do these stickers come from an anime? If so, which one? If they are original characters, do they have any names?

My guess is that the stickers do not come from anime, although I agree they certainly have an anime "feel". A professional site would be very foolish to use copyrighted material without permission.

Possible sources for the artwork would be from their own staff (including contractors and subscribers), public domain image repositories, and sites such as Deviant Art. For the latter, they would need permission from the individual artists, but many of them would be happy to give it in exchange for credit somewhere at the Pixiv site.


Which characters in My Hero Academia can fly? As far as I remember most characters in My Hero Academia can't fly. I suppose some might be able to do it, but as far as I remember I've only seen a Noumu with wings or Ectoplasm "ghosts" flying. Which characters in My Hero Academia can fly?

Flight is a quirk possessed by Christopher Skyline, who appears in the spin-off manga Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals

Aside from him a hero with wings called Hawks appeared in chapter 184 (the latest chapter as of now). We can assume from his name and appereance that he's able to fly, but we haven't seen him in action yet.

We've also seen a kid with big red demonic wings in a flashback, but we don't know anything about him.