Why does Naegi call Togami "kun" and Aoi "san"?

Japanese honorifics can be confusing to non-Japanese (personally, I was still confused when reading this question). However, other than the suffix (-san, -kun, etc.), which part of the name is also (if not, more) important. Note that their full names are Byakuya Togami and Aoi Asahina (given name - surname).

By calling Byakuya Togami as Togami-kun, it means that Naegi respects him, but their relationship is not that close (using family name). Kun, in this case, is used to refer men in general (or, male friend). Probably, he didn't call him Togami-san because it's too formal.

By calling Aoi Asahina as Aoi-san, it also means that Naegi respects her, and their relationship is closer than between Naegi and Togami (using given name). San, in this case, is also a respectful way to refer anyone (kun can also be used to refer women, but it's more a rarer and special case). As for why he didn't call her Aoi-chan, it's probably because they're still not that close, not until he found her endearing.

Although the question didn't ask, the more confusing thing is why Naegi calls Kyouko Kirigiri as Kirigiri-san, despite their closeness and also love interest. One can suggest that because he respects her more than anyone, but can't get closer in relationship. Naegi once tried to call her cute in Danganronpa (the game, in Another Story), and she acted embarrassed at first, but soon it was revealed that she was actually fooling him. Considering that she looks tough, more likely a tsundere that doesn't easily show her dere side, Naegi was having a hard time to feel closer to her.


Can Midoriya transfer just one of his quirks?

Not sure what you are asking. The "quirk transfer" was part of One for All and it transfers everything that has been accumulated in One for All. Also, the so-called "stockpile energy" comes from all the previous owners strength and quirks merging together within One for All thus granting the users a surge of power. They aren't 2 different quirks.
From https://myheroacademia.fandom.com/:

One For All is a transferable Quirk that can be passed on from one
user to the next. One For All also allows the user to stockpile an
enormous amount of raw power, allowing them to significantly enhance
all of their physical abilities to a superhuman level. This results in
unbelievable levels of strength, speed, agility, and durability.

Up until now, there isn't a record of other owners of One for All that could use previous quirks and Midoria is the first one to do it ... so we still don't know the full extent of this new side of One for All.
But to answer your question: No, Midoria can't only transfer one quirk or part of One for All since those are embeded in the core of the quirk and it comes as a whole package.


What is the difference between a regular wall and the wall Kakashi summoned?

Let's see what was Kakashi trying to do. First of all, he summoned the wall behind Pain. So his intention was not to make a barrier to protect himself, but rather to limit Pain's movement, probably to make it harder for him to evade Kakashi's attacks. Right after that he tries to hit Pain with Raikiri, but because of Rinnegan he misses and hits the wall instead. Note that Pain is already pushed to the wall, so he can not evade backwards.

So basically he has just two ways to move to left: forward, from where Kakashi is attacking, or upward, trying to jump over the wall. Considering this, I would assume that the dog heads are there to prevent the enemy from doing so, and possible catch and hold him at the wall if he is reckless enough.

Note that it is not the only technique which combines Earth element and Kakashi's dogs. He also uses Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu (literally "Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang") in his battle against Zabuza. In this technique, tha dogs travel underground, track their target and then assault it with their fangs to hold it still and let Kakashi hit it with Raikiri.

So yes, I think the wall had roughly the same purpose.


Is Vegeta now capable to transform to SSJ3 or SSJG?

How to Achieve SSJ3 Transformation

Well, there are no concrete way to achieve that form, Goku discovered SSJ3 form while doing training in the Other World. It is possible that according to Goku, time does not exist in the afterlife; as such, using Super Saiyan 3 there is easier. For Gotenks' case, they are basically geniuses at SSJ as they are 1/2 Human 1/2 Saiyan Hybrid. I covered this topic here (Are half-blooded Saiyans stronger than pure-blooded Saiyans?).

Could Vegeta Achieve SSJ3 Transformation

Also, there are no official answers to that yet. In theory, Vegeta did have the power, and he was strong and capable enough to achieve it. If he train in the Otherworld after he died during Buu Saga, he might push himself forward a bit more, making him easier to achieve the form. Vegeta witnessed Goku fighting Kid Buu in SSJ3 form, he understood that it was extremely powerful, yet it had serious drawbacks. It notably leads to extended levels of fatigue, even long after powering down. Through training, Super Saiyan 2 actually seems to be a more reliable, stable and more effective form. But, as always, vegeta spends all of his time playing catch up that he never even thought to consider a possibility of a form beyond Super Saiyan 2.

How to Achieve SSJG Transformation

This was easy. It is done by performing a ritual. It requires 6 pure hearted saiyans hold hands in a circle and transfer their ki into the Saiyan who is becoming the Super Saiyan God.

Goku is selected as the main Saiyan because you know, he's the main character. In episode 9 of Dragon Ball Super, Goku said he'll make Vegeta the next one if he failed becoming Super Saiyan God through the ritual.

Could Vegeta Achieve SSJG Transformation

In theory, yes, very likely. Vegeta could have achieved SSJG form if he's the main one during the ritual, but yet it doesn't have concrete proof on that.


Who is the most powerful in Dragon Ball?

The most powerful character in the Dragon Ball universe, currently, is Whis, Beerus' assistant.

This is stated in an interview with Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball:

  I suppose if Beerus’ strength is a 10, [Super Saiyan] God would be right about 6. [...] Incidentally, I guess Whis would be about a 15.


From Naruto-wiki:

  Unlike Lee, who specialises in taijutsu because he cannot use ninjutsu and genjutsu, Guy is fully capable of using the other two forms of ninja abilities, as he is proficient enough to dispel a high-level genjutsu.

actually he summons this turtle multiple times in the manga


Is there a re-encounter with the sea monster that ate Shanks's arm?

Yes, Luffy did. It isn't shown in the anime, but Luffy reencounters this Sea King, the Lord of the Coast, later in chapter one of the manga. Immediately after setting out from Foosha village Luffy is attacked by the Sea King, and is pleased to have a chance to show it what he has learned in the ten years since their last encounter.


Why does Kuroko call Misaka "onee-sama"?

Onee-sama is commonly used in an idol-follower relationship between women, usually signifying extreme adoration on the part of the follower so on the surface it can look like Kuroko idolized Misaka because she's a Level 5.

However, we see that Kuroko sees Misaka as something than an Idol ie. groping her in the showers, getting jealous of any man being with her or wanting to see her, stealing her underwear,

   she has obviously done this before as she knew that the real Misaka would attack her if she stole her underwear using her Esper powers proving the one she was with was the real Misaka

this would indicate that Kuroko has feelings for Misaka which are ignored by Misaka possibly passing it off as just Kuroko's personality.

This would be a subset of the idol-follower type of relationship, signalling a lesbian relationship with the youngest of the couple referring to the oldest one as "Onee-sama", this is common in Shoujo Ai/Yuri where the youngest adores her older partner and the term is used to demonstrate how strong they feel as wanting to be a family with them.

However there are times where the oldest in the couple find this as a sort of "turn on", in the first Sono Hanabira game Yuuna gets Nanami to call her Onee-sama and the moment Nanami does we can see the euphoria in Yuuna as Yuuna keeps requesting Nanami to "say it again" and tries to get her to use it in conjunction with some lewd talk (to which Nanami releaises what she is about to say and stops it), Yuuna also tried to get Sara in the second game call Kaede Onee-sama but after a couple of uses Sara chooses not to.

Now as for the second part to your question, while i have yet to read the light novels, given Kuroko's personality it may have started when Misaka and her first met being "love at first sight", i remember Kuroko mentioning she had to "pull some strings" to get her and Misaka to share the same room and given how Misaka is used to Kuroko actions and how Kuroko is used to being "punished" it would indicate it's been going on for quite a while


What's the song in Naruto Shippuden 423 at the time 9:20 when Sakura teaches them how to make food pills?

It is an unreleased track called "Minato Saves Kushina". Here it is on Youtube.


What is the violin soundtrack that plays in episode 47 when Gon receives Ging's tape?

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

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

You can listen to it on youtube


Where can I buy raw manga in PDF format?

As far as I know, there are no raw, digital manga being sold in PDF format. You can convert them, however, using applications found in the Internet. Here are some sites I found that sell raw, digital manga (and there are more mentioned in the forum links I posted below):

https://booklive.jp
https://www.ebookjapan.jp/ebj/
https://www.cmoa.jp
https://books.rakuten.co.jp/e-book/
https://sokuyomi.jp
https://bookwalker.jp
https://honto.jp
https://www.amazon.co.jp

Where I found those sites above:

https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/3ekjyj/sites_to_buy_raw_manga_from/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/212get/is_there_a_way_to_buy_legal_digital_copies_of/
https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/7hg7i6/best_legal_japanese_ebook_sites_for_raw_manga/


Has there been any power level figure given in Dragon Ball Super?

No, there is no power level figure in Dragon Ball Super. The device which was used to measure power level can measure upto a certain limit after which it get destroyed. Also power level increases as the fight keeps on.


What is the English translation of the letter (written in Japanese) in Anohana: The Movie?

Transcript:

  めんまに[謝]{あやま}りたいから、お[願]{ねが}い[叶]{かな}えようって[思]{おも}ってた
  I want to apologize to Menma, so I think my wish has been granted.

  いつからか... いつからか、[私]{わたし}...　じんたいが[好]{す}き
  Since when... Since (who knows) when... I fell in love with Jintai.

いつからか means “since some time or another; since who-knows-when”, but I am not very sure how to put it to make it sound natural in English.


Is the Nine Tails still stronger than the Eight Tails even though half of him was sealed away?

It's not specified explicitly, but I think not.

Itachi told Kisame that the nine-tails had to be sealed last, because if it doesn't, the Gedo Mazo would be thrown out of balance, and break down. Akatsuki definitely knew about how the Kyuubi was sealed, because Tobi was there.

   In the manga, Naruto together with the Nine Tails managed to fire a bijuudama of equal scale to that of the Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven tails combined.

From those I conclude that even after half of him was sealed away, the Nine Tails still has more power than the rest of the tailed beasts, if not combined!


Clear explanation of karma-kun's answer to the final math problem in Assassination Classroom?

All the atoms in the crystal lattice are identical. Let's say the volume of an atom at the vertex (not corner, if it is a corner, you will need a slightly different reasoning) is B. Each atom at the vertex takes up (1/8)B of the cube.  See diagram.

For a cube with length a, it consists of the central atom A with volume D and  8 atoms at the vertices each taking up (1/8)B of the cube. Thus,

a3 = D + 8 × (1/8)B

However, since we  know that the atoms at the vertices are actually identical to the central atom, The volume B is equal to D and hence,

a3 = B + 8 × (1/8)B ==> B = (1/2)a3

QED

All the technical terms that you have mentioned are what I was learning in my high school. This question is not hard, as Karma has said. It is a combined question of maths and chemistry.


How much content is required at minimum for a manga to get anime adaptation?

I think the correct answer is 'at least one page'. (because if it was zero, it wouldn't be a manga adaptation)

There is no set limit on how much content one must have in order to get an adaption. The deciding factor is instead decided by the production company, sponsors and any other involved parties that make up the committee who decide which animations to produce. It does help the management board decide on a series if it the series has significant existing fan interest from the manga.

Now, while I can't think of any one-page manga that have been adapted, it is perfectly possible if the committee agrees to it - There will just be more effort put into planning around this.

This blog post explains further about the anime production process:

  This process depends on who’s pushing for an idea and who is backing it up, it can be animation studios themselves along with sponsors, but many anime are adaptations of manga or light novels, in which case, publishers front costs (including the costs of having it shown on TV stations). The production company (e.g Aniplex) gathers staff, sponsors, and looks at advertisement and merchandise. While many people describe studios as being cheap, only around half the budget is often given to the anime studio, with the rest going to broadcasters and other contributing companies.

It is also worthy of note that many mangas themselves are adaptations from light novels or visual novels or may have other spin-off content which adds to the content that the studios can work with.

The content range of which adaptations do come to life can vary significantly. This is to do with chapter sizes, author preference, committee requests, etc. Every show will have different requirements and differing ease of adaptation.

For example; Chihayafuru's first season (of 13 episodes) covers 40 chapters & Claymore with 22 episodes covers roughly 60. Hikari lychee club is a manga adaption, but is very different in style and story.

This is probably a bit of a disappointing answer, but there is no minimal content requirement and it is something that differs from company to company.


What are the Four Noble Families of Soul Society?

Here is a compiled list of the noble families compiled from the Bleach Wiki

They are currently 4 greater noble families, but only 2 have been revealed:

The Shihouin Clan are tasked with taking care of various treasures and weapons. Yoruichi was formerly the head of this family. The head of this family typically served as the head of the Onmitsukidou.
The Kuchiki Clan are charged with protecting the history of the Soul Society. Byakuya Kuchiki, Captain of the 6th Division is the head of this family. The Shihouin Shield is used by Juushiro Ukitake (13th Division Captain) and Shunsui Kyouraku (8th Division Captain) to destroy the Soukyoku.

There used to be a fifth, the Shiba Clan, equaling in prestige to the two know greater noble families, but after the death of its most prominent member, the former lieutenant of the 13th Division, Kaien Shiba, the family's prestige seems to have fallen. They seemed to have specialized in fireworks. In Chapter 529, it is revealed that Ichigo's father, Isshin, is from a branch family of the Shiba Clan and former 10th Division Captain.

The Ryoudoji were also once a noble family, but they were exiled over 1000 years ago from the current series timeline.

There are also various lesser noble families that serve the greater noble families, here are the known ones:

Feng Clan, served as assassins and executioners for the Shihouin Clan. Sui Feng, Captain of the 2nd Division & General Administrator Commander of the Onmitsukido Special Forces, is the head of this Clan.
Kyouraku Clan, not much is know about this family but the fact the it is quite old and prestigious. Shunsui Kyouraku, the captain of the 8th Division is the second son from this family.
Ukitake Family, is another lower noble family. Juushirou Ukitake, the captain of the 13th Division is the eldest son of this family.
Oumaeda Family is a family in service of the Shihou Clan and the Onmitsukidou special forces. The current Lieutenant of the 2nd Division and Corps Commander of the Patrol Corps of the Onmitsukidou, Marechiyo Oumaeda is the eldest son of this Family.
Kira Family is another lesser noble family, Izuru Kira, Lieutenant of the 3rd Division, the a member of this family. His status within the family has not been mentioned.
Kasumioji Family, they are famous weapon-smiths in Soul society. The members are predominately female.
Kannogi Family, the appear in to be connected to the Kasumiouji in the anime.


What is the significane of 8 in Anime and Manga?

It all comes down to superstition.
4 and 9 are considered "unlucky" numbers because of their phonological resemblance to the words 死 (shi – death) and 苦 (ku – suffering).
7 and 8, however, are considered luckier. 7's luckiness is steeped in Buddhist tradition and folklore. 8, which is written as 八 in kanji, is reminiscent of a strong foundational base, like a mighty sugi or ginkgo tree or a firm architectural feat.


In Yaiba, why does Nezuko still have a "muzzle"?

Remember that the main thing that Tanjiro is trying to do is find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human. Also, at this point Nezuko is unique because she's the only known demon who has never tasted human blood - even Tamayo and Yushiro rely on allegedly humanely-sourced blood to survive - and it is strongly suggested that this makes it more likely that she can be turned back.

Additionally, Urokodaki used hypnosis on Nezuko when she was sleeping to make her see demons as the enemy and humans as friends. It's not clear whether this is a long-term solution, or if there's a chance that it could wear off at some point. If it does, and Nezuko winds up biting a human, then not only would she potentially be un-saveable, but he and Tanjiro would be bound to kill her as per his promise to the Demon Slayer Corps.

Therefore, Nezuko wears the muzzle to ensure that she never has a chance to taste human blood, either because the hypnosis wears off or just through random chance (for example, in the heat of battle she could wind up biting someone or just getting blood splashed in her mouth from someone's wound).


How much different are the live action and manga versions of "Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo"?

The Live Series cover the first arc of the manga (the "First Witch War" as it is called by a character in the second arc).

  WARNING: SPOILER HEAVY.

I won't bother into putting spoiler markings into the answer, or it will be just a wall of yellow strips.

Comparing the live action to the manga, we have the following differences, in no particular order:

The seventh witch (Rika Sayonji) is downplayed. Since the story will end just after the ritual, she is not developed, and strikes as mostly comic relief for her no-panties gag.
Kentaro Tsubaki is missing.
The old building is not mentioned. We never know where the sealed room is. Neither is the arson arc ever mentioned.
The ritual takes place in the sealed room, instead of the student council chapel.
Leona Myamura is Rika's "Friend". This means Haruma Yamazaki is demoted to a plain antagonist, his character development with Leona is ignored. Also, Leona had her memory wiped in the series, while in the manga she is shut-in as to not lose her memory (she eventually returns and is wiped for a short time).
Shinichi Tamaki is missing. The witch-stealing power is given to Yamazaki. He is replaced by Isobe in the series.
Mikoto Asuka still has her invisibility power, since She is hinted to be Yamazaki's lover to fill the void left by Leona
Ushio Igarashi remains Nene Odagiri's follower at the end of the series, instead of teaming with Asuka as he did in the second season.
The witches' wish is subverted in the series finale, into a gag. Rika wishes for panties, and then Yamada is forced to use the cancelling power to wipe the witches' powers. In the Manga, Yamada wishes to remove the power directly.


Do Gods and Goddesses regain their power inside dungeon?

They never lost it. Aside from the rule of them not being allowed in the Dungeon, it is also stated at the beginning of all three forms of the series (anime, manga and LN) that the Deities are not allowed to use their power while they reside in the human world.


Which one of "Crows", "Crows Zero" and "Worst" takes place first?

As far as story progression goes (in chronological order), it is Crows Zero, Crows, Worst.

However, Crows was the first series that was published (1990-1998) and then Worst was the second to be published (2001-2013). Crows Zero began after Worst (2008-).

There are also other manga series too:

Crows Gaiden (1995-1998)
Sono Go no Crows (2001)
Crows Zero 2 (2012-)

Each different series follows a different set of characters.

Keep in mind that Crows and Worst are the main stories. The other series are all series based on the side characters of the main story.


What's the anime where people kill monsters?

Shawn, you are good. That is the one! I was off on a few details such as the year (early 2000's) and the terminology (torches) but you were able to give the correct answer. Shakugan no Shana!


What is it called when an anime character is emotionless on the inside and sweet/kind on the outisde?

I don't think there will be any satisfactory answer here. This answer itself is almost better suited as a comment, but there is too much to cover in a comment or two.

Most importantly, this is probably not an anime related thing. The intent is there, but looking at the results, I can only find a non anime related answer. To address this, the most important thing to note is that there is most likely no "Dere" personality that can fit what you are talking about. At least, it's not mainstream, and generally would make no sense for one to exist at all.

Dere personalities are, first and foremost, personalities (and usually refer to how they express love). One decent reference, here, lists most if not all of the main ones, none of which match what you are looking for. It's all about their personality, how they express themselves. A Sociopath pretending to be good natured is not expressing them self, they are pretending to be something they are not. You can argue that Tsundere's are the same, they fake their tough act, but the only thing they have in common with our Sociopath is the part about them faking. There are terms for that kind of faking, and that is probably the best answer you can get here.

What the Tsundere does, and what our Sociopath is also doing, is something that can be called a Facade (There are probably other applicable words/phrases, but I will use this one). They are faking their personality, putting on a Facade to the world, hiding the truth. They are pretending to be something they are not, for their own reasons. The main difference, is that the Tsundere hiding their personality, is their personality. The sociopath and psychopath hide their true feelings for other reasons, usually keep secrets a secret, or to net some kind of gain from others.


In most cases when a character is drawn a different style that is shorter than normal, and is still the same character, it would be a form Japanese caricature called super deformed or SD for short. The term chibi literally means a short or small person, in this context refers to something that's short and usually cute. A chibi version of a character would be a different character, or maybe that character in the past when they were younger. For example the character Chibi-Usa from Sailor Moon is essentially a younger version of main character Usagi, but still a distinct character. Chibi-Usa isn't a caricature of Sailor Moon, she's drawn like any other child her age. On the other the super deformed giant robots in Mobile Suit SD Gundam are caricatures of the normal sized giant robots in previous Gundam series. They aren't drawn simply as smaller version of the robots, instead they have exaggerated heads that are about half as tall as the entire robot.

To put in a western context, super deformed is like getting your portrait drawn by one of those street artists you can find in areas frequented by tourists.  Something like chibi would be the series Baby Looney Toons where the characters were all infant versions of the classic Looney Toons characters.


How did the Straw Hat crew become stronger in Enies Lobby?

I found an interesting answer to a similar question on Reddit:

  The main idea behind their power jump is that when the Strawhats first fought CP9, they were largely confused and unsure. All they wanted to do was get Robin back, and only attacked CP9 after they got in their way. Note that in the Galley-La mansion, Luffy tried to reason with Robin first, and only attacked Lucci twice: once to defend Paulie and afterwards while Robin was exiting the room. Zoro attacked Kaku only after Robin was leaving as well. It's the same with Sanji on the sea train; when he kicked Blueno, Sogeking was holding Robin. Sanji wasn't trying to beat Blueno, only make him let go of the kart.
  Does that mean the three of them weren't going all out? In a sense, you could argue that: Why go all out on an opponent you don't even need to defeat? Would defeating them have gotten Robin back? Absolutely. But the Strawhats typically avoid conflict unless necessary; as evident by the fact that Luffy only states he'll kick someone's ass after he has a reason too.
  I always saw two reasons behind the power jump. First, CP9 was the strongest group they had ever faced, and forced Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to become stronger, which I'm sure definitely helped. However, the second reason is that, in order to get Robin back, they had to go through CP9. They couldn't talk to her like in the mansion, nor could they have kicked Blueno off the kart like on the train. Without defeating CP9, they couldn't get Robin back, and so they put everything they had into their battles because there was no other alternative.

A canonical reference is this:

Another point to be noted is that Luffy's new learned techniques of Gear Second and Gear Third make sense because he had been working on new techniques/moves after fighting Aokiji the first time, and Zoro's Asura can also be explained on the basis of the immense training he undergoes on a daily routine. Nami's learned techniques are mostly just various scientific uses of the perfected Clima Tact that she was given by Usopp.

  After the events in Skypiea, Usopp upgraded the Clima-Tact into the Perfect Clima-Tact, which was first introduced when Nami and crew were trying to catch up to the Puffing Tom with the Rocket Man. With a better knowledge of Nami's preferences and a handful of Dials to spare, he changed the Clima-Tact from a party toy with a few combat capabilities into lethal weapon capable of amazing weather powers that only Nami could unleash. With this, Nami became fully capable of fighting on her own, and just as superhumanly powerful, in a sense, as any other crew member.


Can Capacity Down disrupt Accelerator's esper powers?

Seeing as Capacity Down functions off of sound waves the answer actually depends.

If Accelerator is aware of it or is for any other reason reflecting sound waves away from him then no, it won't have any effect. If however he is taken by surprise and is not reflecting sound waves then it would work. He would hear it and it would prevent him from using his abilities to reflect it away from and also shut down his other abilities as well.


What kanji is this, and what's its meaning?

It isn't kanji.  The character you see here, and others, were invented for this particular TV series.  They're called ヨゴ文字 ("yogo moji"), and this character in particular is a substitute for the kana む ("mu").

See the following charts for details: kana and numbers

As for what it means, given the context in your question, I would guess the む on his mask is 無 ("nothing").

(As an aside, these characters remind me of Tangut script.)


How much of the original Sailor Moon anime isn't from the manga?

You are correct that, overall, the classic anime has more non-plot advancing material (i.e. filler) than the manga does. On the other hand, in many cases, the anime boasts more plot and depth of storytelling, whereas the manga plows through each story arc in a more bare-bones, brief, and (arguably) flat style. As a couple of examples: 1) whether villain or ally, many characters in the manga are introduced and then promptly killed off in order to move on to the next character. Only in the anime are enduringly popular minions such as the Witches 5, Amazon Trio, and Animamates developed into personable and sympathetic characters. 2) In the manga, it's not as clear as to how the Starlights enrolling as students at Juuban High School is very necessary to advancing the plot, whereas in the anime, as a result of their schoolmates friendship with Usagi, Ami, (Rei: actually, she attends a different school but she usually comes over to their campus to hang out), Makoto, and Minako, which took the span of a whole season to develop to the point of mutual trust, leads the Starlights to end up being the only ones who stand with Sailor Moon and protect her until the end; without their encouraging pep talk, she would have given up her star seed to Sailor Galaxia in episode 198 (if she had done so in order to escape her grief, everyone in the galaxy would die permanently, the end).

(While it is the case that Sailor Moon Crystal has, for the most part, avoided filler, the storytelling is arguably lower in quality than that of the classic anime [Crystal's viewer numbers have sharply crashed, a drop of 77%]).

The number of changes in the classic anime from the original manga is so high that it would take an online encyclopedia to list them all. As just one narrowed example, consider the LGBT content:

The classic anime invented the following popular LGBT-related content which was NOT present in Takeuchi’s original manga (and thus, is NOT present in the reboot):

~ Kunzite/Zoicite: in contrast to serving as the 1991 anime’s sole canon gay couple, in the original manga, Kunzite had a straight romantic relationship with Sailor Venus (Codename ha Sailor V volume 3), and Zoicite is shown in a manga illustration with his arms around Mercury, implying that they were also a heterosexual couple on the Moon Kingdom.  The live-action Sera Myu (Sailor Moon musicals) incarnations follow these pairings.  The 2013 La Reconquista musical paired up the male generals with each of the female sailor soldier guardians at a ball, and particularly highlights a prominent and cute relationship between Zoicite and Mercury.  The completed 2003-2004 Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon live-action TV series does not include any romances for Kunzite or Zoicite.

~ Fiore: one of the classic anime’s original characters, featured in the R movie and the Another Story video game, could be interpreted as liking Mamoru, though this was never explicitly affirmed or denied.

~ Fish Eye: a gay cross-dresser who fell for Mamoru in the classic anime, is, in the manga, merely an mildly-effeminate monster-of-the-day (the same could be said of Hawk’s Eye and Tiger’s Eye - all three of their outfits are… unique).  In the manga, he never cross-dresses or expresses any homosexual interest.  He only attempts to seduce Ami (Mercury).

~ Sailor Starlights: in the classic anime, this trio flipped back and forth between female and male when they transformed from sailor soldiers into civilian guise and developed intriguing relationships to varying degrees with the Earthling sailor soldiers but, in the manga, there are no fun Taiki (Star Maker)/Ami (Mercury), Taiki/Makoto (Jupiter), Yaten (Star Healer)/Minako (Venus), or Yaten /Luna vibes.  Those were introduced in the anime along with the sex-switching that challenged gender norms.  In the manga original, Ami hates Taiki, Michiru (Neptune) hates Yaten, and Haruka (Uranus) hates all three - that’s really the entire extent of the interaction between these extraterrestrials and the solar system soldiers.  Usagi, Minako, and Makoto blush and get heart eyes when the Three Lights transfer to their high school, that’s it.  Even Yaten’s passionate and undistracted devotion to Kakyuu Princess is original to the classic anime, and the anime’s Haruka vs. Seiya rivalry and Seiya/Michiru flirting were not in the original manga… heck, basically anything you liked about the Starlights in the classic anime wouldn’t show up in a reboot.  Taiki’s softening toward his astronomy teacher and his sweet hospitalized fan or laughing for the first time in years; Yaten as a cat person who constantly flips his bangs in annoyance; Seiya’s boy-next-door softball training, amusement park date, and conflicted, unrequited love in the vein of Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me that spanned 28 episodes (82% of the final season) with Usagi?  That’s all original to the classic anime.
The manga Three Lights are always female and demonstrate zero personal preference for passing as male.  Manga Yaten and Taiki are merely girls without any sexual preferences indicated, who disguise themselves as boys for a mission.  Since neither of these characters display any attraction to anyone, they’re not lesbians.  Since they’re not particularly masculine by any stretch of the imagination, don’t identify as male, don’t evidence any interest in gender identity whatsoever, and wear feminine clothing in private, even attempting to identify them with cross-dressers is a little shaky - in their minds, their boy band costuming is just a disguise rather than a conscious lifestyle choice.
That leaves us with Seiya (Star Fighter) alone, who is attracted to Usagi in the manga.
Seiya (Star Fighter)/Kakyuu: it can be interpreted that manga Star Fighter had feelings for Kakyuu Princess before arriving on Earth but this is not overt.  Kakyuu resting her head on Seiya’s shoulder was only shown in the classic anime, not in the manga.

In contrast, in the original manga, there was:

~ Sex-switching Usagi (Moon) and Minako (Venus), which was not included in the anime.  Many English-language websites bemoan the fact that Takeuchi-sensei was shocked that, in the classic anime, the Starlights were male in civilian form - but she’s the one who thought up sex-switching in the first place.  In the manga, Usagi uses the Hensou Pen (Disguise Pen) to transform herself into a man (a groom [pages 190-191 of volume 1 of the Kanzenban {Perfect Edition}]) and Minako uses her compact to transform into a male in BSSM itself (a Mugen Gakuen [Infinity Academy] student [pages 167-169 of volume 5 of the Kanzenban]) using the phrase “Moon Power!” (「ムーン・パワー」).  As an aside, Minako also twice used her compact to transform into male form in Codename ha Sailor V (a teen idol [pages 115-118 of volume 1 of the Shinsoubon {Reprint Edition}] and a samurai [pages 140-141 of volume 2 of the Shinsoubon]), both using the phrase “Mikazuki Power Transform!” (「三日月パワー・トランスフォーム！」).

~ Haruka (Uranus)/Michiru (Neptune): yes, they have a romantic relationship in the manga, BUT very little is shown or said of it when you contrast it with their classic anime version: although you would see a good amount of Haruka/Usagi action including their manga kiss, manga Haruka/Michiru romantic scenes and dialogue are sparse.  Almost all of their suggestive lines, Haruka’s clearly stated answer to what her koibito’s name was ("koibito" is a Japanese word which can mean either simply "girlfriend"/"boyfriend" or can mean "lover"; usually in the context of shoujo anime, it refers to the former), and their moving interlude after Galaxia removed their bracelets originated in the classic anime. Fans who met Haruka through the anime might also happen to be surprised to discover that her manga version wears a high school girl’s school uniform, mini skirts, girly blouses that show off her cleavage, and a polka-dotted scarf - in the manga, sometimes she presents as a man, but other times she’s rather feminine; it was only in the older anime that she consistently dressed masculine.

~ Haruka (Uranus)/Usagi (Moon): Haruka/Michiru fans may be disappointed to realize that there’s a lot more Haruka/Usagi than Haruka/Michiru visuals in the manga, and there’s also a brief Mamoru/Michiru vibe.  People who like the idea of Haruka/Michiru being monogamous would be challenged by manga Haruka’s amorous advances toward Usagi in full knowledge that Usagi has a boyfriend and while being in an apparently open relationship with Michiru.  The classic anime Haruka flirted with Usagi and Minako, but it was only in 2 episodes accompanied by Michiru’s bemused comments which indicated she didn’t consider it anything serious, whereas the manga Haruka pursued Usagi a lot more seriously.

~ Seiya (Star Fighter)/Usagi (Moon): in the manga, there’s some chemistry and a kiss, but most of what Seiya does in the manga is send Usagi anonymous postcards.  The duration in which the Three Lights attend school with Usagi and friends is all too brief.

So that's just one example of the countless large and small differences between the manga and the classic anime.

There are positive changes (Serenity/Sailor Moon committed suicide twice in the manga, whereas in the anime, she didn't), neutral or disputed ones (some fans like the serious manga Rei [Mars], whereas others like the anime Rei who teases Usagi as a friendly sort of love/hate rivalry), and generally-received-as-negative ones (the manga Shitennou had served Prince Endymion in the Silver Millennium and returned to loyalty, giving him strength, whereas the anime version had no backstory of their being loyal to him). The aspect where the manga/anime difference is greatest is that the end of the manga and the end of the anime are completely different. Some fans like the manga version better, some like the anime version better.


Are the Arakawa anime chapters based off a manga?

There is an Arakawa Under the Bridge manga, and it has a lot of chapters. At the time of writing, the following tankobon volumes exist:

Volume    Chapters
   1        1- 23 (+X)
   2       24- 47 (+X-2)
   3       48- 77 (+X-3)
   4       78-107 (+X-4)
   5      108-136 (+X-5)
   6      137-166 (+X-6)
   7      167-196 (+X-7)
   8      197-225 (+Nakamura Koubou Shutchou-ban, X-8)
   9      226-255 (+X-9)
  10      256-280 (+Shuushoku no Yuusha Recruit, Hige mo Seifuku no Uchi, X-10)
  11      281-301 (+Riku-chan Kinsei Nikki 1, 2, Meikyuu Labyrinth, Tokimeke!! Arakawa Memorial, X-11)
  12      302-325 (+X-12)
  13      326-356 (+Joshi-ryoku Sentai Love East, X-13)


Was there ever a Pokemon game based off the Orange Islands?

There is no game located in the Orange Islands. Perhaps the closest game would be Fire Red/Leaf Green where the player could explore Sevii Islands. There are arguments that this was inspired by the Orange Islands, but I haven't found any proof.

There have been player modded games fitting in with the Orange Islands - Example, but no official release. Reference

According to this answer on another site, the Orange Island plot was half-hearted and this probably meant that there was no real push for a related game on that end.


Where are Yoshida Shouyou's "Other" students currently?

They most likely gave up on being a samurai and accepted the alien government when the war was lost and their teacher died or they were caught executed by the government for taking part in the war.


Why Masashi Kishimoto did not author Boruto?

He needed a break!

An excerpt from an interview he did at New York Comic Con (per Anime News Network):

  Christopher Butcher:
  72 volumes of Naruto. Did the editors of Shonen Jump want you to keep going? Some of the Shonen Jump series go for a hundred volumes or two
  hundred volumes. Did the editors want you to keep going on Naruto?

  Masashi Kishimoto: I would be lying if I said there wasn't some pressure from management, the powers that be as they were, but I had a
  pretty clear idea of how I wanted the story to come to a close, so I
  had to put my foot down and say, 'No, I'm sorry, this is it.'

It's also the case that during the creation of Naruto, Kishimoto got married and was supposed to go on his honeymoon with his wife, but never did.  After the series was completed, he was finally able to do that, even though his son was (at the time) about as old as Boruto would be in-canon.


Need help in identifying movie with a boy who can turn into a tree, and a girl from centuries ago

Origin: Spirits of the Past

I finally Googled "walking volcano anime" and found Origin: Spirits of the Past!

I kept Googling "ribbon phone", "ribon phone", and kept getting some other anime. I kept thinking it was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, but the art styles were totally different. Maybe I thought it was a Miyazaki film because of the story's environmental message.


Why can't anime studios create animes for foreigns audiences?

I'd say that it's not that they can't, but rather that there simply isn't much incentive for them to do so. It just doesn't make much business or financial sense to target a foreign audience, not when a Japanese audience is much closer, more familiar, and less costly to target.

To target foreign audiences, I would imagine that an animation studio would need to expend a lot of additional time and effort on things like dealing with overseas licensors, TV networks, distributors, as well as having to handle language barriers and translations (since I'd imagine that most people working in a Japanese animation studio wouldn't be fluent in English). Even for typical anime, studios tend to avoid hiring native speakers of foreign languages if they need a voice for a character with a foreign language, because it's generally much cheaper to hire someone born in Japan. So, if even one foreign voice actor is too costly, then the entire production being in a foreign language would be out of the question.

Okay, but what if we just let the studio produce everything in Japanese, a language that the staff are all familiar with, and then let another company handle the translations for the foreign audience? Well, if the original language is in Japanese, they might as well just target it to Japan in the first place! The localization is probably best left to companies in the target country who natively know the language anyway (or else we might get something like the Engrish in the Psycho Pass Movie). Also, as Memor-X points out, Japanese studios for the most part have little control over which English actors are used and how the English localization and distribution are done.

That's not to say that anime targeted at foreign audiences have never happened. The barrier is just higher. As you and Memor-X mention, Afro Samurai was a production that happened thanks to Samuel L. Jackson's interest and contribution. Gagantous also points out that Netflix has financed a number of original anime series that seem to be animated by Japanese studios, and like with other Netflix original series, are released worldwide all at once.

So, as these examples have shown, Japanese animation studios are capable of creating anime for foreign audiences. It's just that in most non-exceptional cases, they wouldn't have much reason to do so.

Note that if the incentive is there (e.g. either personal interest or with investment from a foreign party, like with Samuel L. Jackson and Samurai Afro), it is doable. After all, if there's a foreign producer already in the loop, then the entrance barrier is much lower.

While Japanese anime studios haven't really created any foreign-targeted anime on their own, they have however been involved in a number of foreign animation productions. So in a way, I suppose you could say that Japanese animation studios have (co-)created a number of anime (for some definition of anime) for foreign audiences. For example:

Batman: The Animated Series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, but animated by various overseas animation studios, including the Japanese studios Spectrum Animation, Sunrise, Studio Junio, and TMS Entertainment (as well as various other studios from South Korea, Hong Kong, Spain, and Canada).
The Animatrix, a compilation of nine animated short films based on The Matrix trilogy, was produced by the Wachowskis, but a large number of the films were animated by Studio 4°C and Madhouse from Japan.
Transformers Animated (I watched this series growing up!) was produced by Cartoon Network Studios, but animated by the Japanese studios MOOK DLE, The Answer Studio, and Studio 4°C.
Legend of Korra had some parts of it animated by Studio Pierrot from Japan (as well as Studio Mir from Korea).
Miraculous Ladybug is produced by French studios Zagtoon and Method Animation, in collaboration with De Agostini Editore from Italy, Toei Animation from Japan, and SAMG Animation from South Korea. Actually, it was originally going to be a 2D anime-style series (see this trailer for a taste of what could have been), but for design reasons, they switched to 3D CGI animation later on.
Also, Toei Animation has actually been commissioned to provide animation for lots of American studios in the past.

As a final side note, I'd like to add that there is precedent in other media  where the producers mainly target domestic audiences over local audiences when there's money to be had. For example, Hollywood and China.


Is there any connection between "Whispers of the heart" and "The cat returns"?

The story of "The Cat Returns" was inspired by some of the scenes shown in "Whisper of the Heart" namely the ones depicting the fantasy story the main character wrote. This story was later realized as a manga by Aoi Hiiragi who did the manga "Whisper of the Heart" was based on and then turned into a movie.

  In 1995, Studio Ghibli released a film entitled Whisper of the Heart, based on a manga by Aoi Hiiragi, of a girl writing a fantasy novel. Although the girl's life had no magical elements, the film featured short fantasy scenes depicting what the girl was writing of the Baron, a character of her novel, which were so popular that an indirect sequel was made, featuring the Baron and another girl, a high school student, named Haru. Muta also returned. The Cat Returns began as the "Cat Project" in 1999. Studio Ghibli received a request from a Japanese theme park to create a 20-minute short starring cats. Hayao Miyazaki wanted three key elements to feature in the short — these were the Baron, Muta (Moon) and a mysterious antique shop. Hiiragi was commissioned to create the manga equivalent of the short, which is called Baron: The Cat Returns (バロン 猫の男爵 Baron: Neko no Danshaku, lit. Baron: The Cat Baron) and is published in English by Viz Media. The theme park later canceled the project. Miyazaki then took the existing work done by the "Cat Project" and used it as testing for future Ghibli directors — the short was now to be 45 minutes long. Responsibility was given to Hiroyuki Morita, who had started as an animator in 1999 for the film My Neighbors the Yamadas. Over a nine-month period he translated Hiiragi's Baron story into 525 pages of storyboards for what was to be The Cat Returns. Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki decided to produce a feature-length film based entirely on Morita's storyboard; this was partly because Haru, the main character, had a "believable feel to her". It became the second theatrical (third overall) Studio Ghibli feature to be directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Takahata.

Source


Why didn't Goku use Super Saiyan God's regenerative abilities to recover from Freezer's deathly blow?

The most likely explanation is that it's just a contradiction introduced by Toei Animation.
While Toriyama writes the general plot of Dragon Ball Super, both Toei Animation and Toyotaro are free, to some extent, to fill the holes left by Toriyama. These additions usually contradict future events when they mess with not-well-defined concepts (e.g. the scope of Super Saiyan God's powers) and Toriyama later starts defining them (e.g. by showing that such transformation cannot in fact heal).
In this case, Goku's mortal wound made by Freeza was probably Toriyama's idea while the one made by Beerus was added by Toei Animation without considering future implications.
It could also be that Toriyama himself introduced this plot hole, but the scenario I described above happens more often.


Is there any canonical evidence that the winged being curses were really lifted?

According to this page, which cited a study of Air's ending:

From: "Colourful Pure Girl" in the March edition.
"The author declared that those two kids were not the reincarnation of any of the characters and he doesn't want people think of air like that."
The author also says that those two kids were more of outsider view point. It's like themselves (KEY) are watching the story.

How to get to the study's page:

(The text is taken from Key Fans Club.)
In more detail: the study said there were three curses that were cast on Kanna:

Restriction on reincarnation. This was the direct result of the sealing a thousand years ago, and the effect was that in a set period of time, Kanna's soul could not be reincarnated. This curse was automatically lifted after about a hundred years when the power of the seal had weakened.

Solitude. This curse was an indirect effect of the sealing of Kanna, caused by Kanna's sadness and guilt over Ryuuya's death such that she became unable to form a close relationship with anyone lest she suffered great pain. This curse was lifted by the development of a close bond between Misuzu and her aunt, Haruko, made possible because of Yukito's sacrifice, which prolonged Misuzu's life by temporarily saving her from dying by the third curse.

Dreams. Dreams were the manifestation of the memories of the winged beings in their reincarnated bodies. Both the vastness and accumulated sadness of the memories of the winged beings could damage a human's body. Yukito offered his mental storage capacity to Misuzu so that she would be able to live long enough to break the second curse, which prompted his own memories to be transferred to Sora. With the second curse gone, Sora flew to the heavens to bring the last happy memories of Misuzu to Kanna so that she could be released from Ryuuya's shadow and returned to Earth, and blend the memories of the winged beings with the Earth's. From then on, no one needed to bear the memories of the winged beings alone anymore, so the third curse was also lifted.

The children playing on the beach at the end should not be seen as the reincarnations of Misuzu-Kanna/Yukito-Ryuuya, but as the all-knowing Key staff and you, the viewers.


A major difference between Inuyasha and several others when it comes to the jewel shard's effects is that Inuyasha is heavily influenced by his human side, having been raised by his mother until her death and without a full blooded relative around to teach him control of his demon side. I've noticed that half demons in the show can lean towards either being more like their human side or demon side. Jinenji and Inuyasha would lead towards their human sides with their love for their human mothers whom raised them.

Naraku on the other hand chose his demon side through and through which is only displayed so surely whenever we see him try to suppress or throw away Onigumo's human feelings for Kikyo. As such, his becoming full demon in power has little effect on his mind because he's already using that side's state of mind to begin with.

Because Inuyasha's demon blood was never trained properly and said blood is so potent to begin with, his more baser instincts are what come out when it over powers his human side. (This potency and his expected death is actually why Inuyasha's father had Tetsaiga passed on to Inuyasha because he knew the results that would come if his demon blood overpowered his human blood in life or death situations) Demons are much more blood thirsty than humans, paticularly those lower class and weaker demons who have not developed a higher order of thinking which is why they are often referred to a little more than "savage beasts". Sesshomaru has had centuries training and controlling and evolving those instincts and power with the supposed assistance and overview of both parents.

Koga too is very in tune with his wolf-ish animal instincts before he even gains his shards, and everyone else who does not seem to have major effects mentally seem to already know their place in the world and do not have questions on where they stand like Inuyasha who is constantly torn from his years of shunning in both races to wanting the jewel at all just so he can fit in to one category.

Now Kagome and the crew have thrown him for a huge loop with their ease in accepting every part of who he is now, which completely throws off everything he's learned about his kind in the eyes of just about everyone else in Feudal Japan. (And that's about 150 years of being rejected by everyone but his mom and Kikyo)


Is Makise Kurisu's thesis referred from a real thesis in real life?

Just like time travel itself, this is very much part of the science fiction of the anime.
As far as we know memories are physically stored in the brain and can thus not be uploaded or downloaded through telephones.


What is the method used by Oomuro Sakurako in her "lucky color" lottery?

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

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

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

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


How much of the manga do I have to read before watching "Those Awaiting a Star"?

I started watching Those Awaiting a Star despite my concerns. I am currently on ch. 15 of the manga, and I didn't have any trouble understanding the first episode. I did notice, however, certain details that would require knowledge of certain manga chapters:

Early in the episode, Ruth speaks to Chise as a dog. Later, he transforms into a boy to eat breakfast with her and Elias. Understanding this requires the viewer to have finished reading the arc where Ruth is introduced and where he becomes Chise's familiar. In other words, the viewer must have finished reading ch. 12.
Reference is made to Chise being a Slay Vega. The OVA also depicts Chise as being haunted by her ability to see magical creatures invisible to others as a child. Both of these aspects of Chise were discussed prior to the Ruth arc. (Unfortunately, I forgot the exact chapters, particularly since some of the information in question is spread out over several chapters.)
One reviewer complains that we are not introduced to Elias or given an explanation for why Chise is studying magic. Personally, I do not think we actually need to know either. As far as I am concerned, this can simply be handwaved as part of the worldbuilding or plot construction. Either way, sufficient context is given in the beginning chapters of the manga, in the first volume. The above also holds for Angelica's appearance at the beginning.

Since everything above is explained in enough detail by the point in the manga where Ruth appears and becomes a familiar, it would appear sufficient that an OVA viewer at least read the manga up to ch. 12, if not finish vol. 3. (Although Ruth's attachment to Chise happens in ch. 12, it took me until ch. 14 to properly understand that Ruth could shape-shift.)


Which anime do these figures of girls wearing idol-like uniform belong to?

These are characters from the gacha mobile rhythm game THE iDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS, a rhythm game spin-off of THE iDOLM@STER franchise. Unlike its counterpart THE iDOLM@STER: Million Live!, it features a completely original idol line-up, with the original characters of the franchise only making guest appearances in events.

The game also got an anime adaptation that ran for 2 seasons, the characters shown here were part of the ensemble of 14 idols selected to star in the adaptation, these 14 characters were shown in the adaptation as girls that were scouted for the Cinderella Project ran by the Producer. Other idols in the game also make an appearance as already established idols, making them all senior to the 14 newbies.

The figures you shared depict Moroboshi Kirara, Kanzaki Ranko and Mimura Kanako in the outfit they used for the Opening Theme for the 1st season of the anime. This outfit was used as well for the final concert shown at the end of the 2nd Season.

Moroboshi Kirara is a tall girl with a deep love for cutesy things, which goes to show in her burikko-like speech patterns. She does have a complex about her height being a mismatch with her personality but she's really optimistic as well which tends to hold back her complex.

Kanzaki Ranko, the fallen angel, a chuunibyou-style idol. She has trouble being honest which is why she hides behind her "fallen angel" persona, down to her everyday speech. Incidentally, she's no good with horror.

Mimura Kanako, a slightly chubby girl who loves sweets. She keeps worrying about her diet, but can't seem to be able to stick to them. A happy-go-lucky cinnamon roll.


Have there been any hints by writers about Blast?

Blast appears during a certain, fairly recent (by chapter number) flashback in the webcomic.  The depiction is pretty fully detailed (full facial details are obscured, but it's more detailed than "vague shadowy outline"), and interacts with the character having the flashback.

His appearance seems vaguely similar to one or more characters in both the manga and webcomic, but for now that seems to be the only connection: vague superficial similarities--this particular style of face and hairdo seems to be common, and no one has ever appeared in this outfit before.


Is it possible for Kakashi to obtain an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?

The answer to your question is yes, Kakashi can obtain Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

But the problem is that his Sharingan consumes a lot of his chakra. At some stages, his overuse of Kamui made him exhausted, too. In this source, it does say that:

  "Repeated use of the technique puts a great deal of strain on the
  user, causing his left eye to bleed if overused"

As a result, using Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan could result in a life-threatening situation for him. And as per the previous answer, you need to transplant a Mangekyou Sharingan, preferably from somebody close, such as a sibling.


Where was Fate staying during the first season?

On Earth, Fate and Arf live in an apartment which is probably located somewhere in Uminari City. Apart from that, their home is the Garden of Time, the base of Precia Testarossa in the dimensional space.


What is the difference between "arc", "hen" and "season" when categorizing anime series sub-stories?

Arc is English word and Hen is Japanese. They both indicate storylines (separation by what is happening in story), whereas season is used to split the anime by industry and commercial timeline (commonly by actual seasons: Winter 2015, Fall 2015). Multiple arcs may comprise a single season or multiple seasons maybe needed to finish a single arc.

Take One Piece for example. Season 3 and Season 4 of One Piece anime actually share arcs.


How did Dizzi get trapped in Kenny's laptop?

Kenny said that one day when he plugged his laptop, there was a massive power surge and Dizzi popped up in Kenny's Computer.The reason for the same is clearly mentioned in the Second Episode of Season one, titled, "Day of the Dragoon". After Tyson loses to Kai, Andrew and Kenny go to Tyson's house to check on him.  Here, Kenny tells Tyson who Dizzi was and goes on to mention the above stated reason.


Do Spell Ranks have any numerical equivalent?

There are no such numeric formulae; at least, not in the official materials. Numeric rankings are rarely mentioned in the show; one of the rare such examples occurs in an episode of the original series, where Nanoha's magic power is estimated as 1.27 million, while Fate's is 1.43 million. (They were both of AAA rank at the time.) "Plus" and "minus" are not modifiers that can be applied multiple times to a rank, either; "A+" is simply a rank higher than "A" and lower than "AA-".

Mage ranks are qualitative; they do not just measure amount of magic power, but also skill. They are usually granted by a test by TSAB; when this is not possible, i.e. in case of antagonists, they can be estimated. A spell rank presumedly signifies the rank of a mage who should be able to cast the spell, but this isn't a hard and fast rule: "Eternal Coffin" is a S+ rank spell, but Chrono (ranked AAA+) was able to use it thanks to his device's specialization for freezing magic; for another example, Teana (ranked B at the time) was able to use an AA-rank technique during a training to combine her projectiles with a barrier in order to protect them from an anti-magic field.


What are the "tentacles" coming out of people's heads?

After Kei comes to, he finds out that the Earth he knows has been fractured into many different realities, a majority of the  of the planet being controlled by 3 main powers: the Emaan, the Terram, and the Mu.

The Emaan are nearly identical to humans, except for prehensile antenna-like tendrils that come out from the backs of their necks. Emaan males have one, while females have two. They seems to respond and move based on the emotions of the host (like cat ears or dog tails). These tendrils don't exert enough power to actually be able to move or lift heavy objects, so it's assumed that to be some evolutionary artifact. It's mentioned that in the series Emaan acting as spies in Terram have these surgically removed.

The Terram are probably closely related to the humans of Kei's world. The Mu are a robotic race, they were created to serve their creator, but later turned on them and wiped them out.


How much of the manga did the Arslan Senki anime cover?

I’m a great fan of Arslan Senki and read the novels in Japanese twice. Sorry it’s been almost 2 years since you posted your question, but I will answer all your doubts.

The anime took the art style from the second manga adaptation when telling the story of the novels. The anime character designs belong to Shingo Ogiso as well.
The story itself was quickly taken directly from the novels as the only source as the anime caught up with the manga.

There were 19 chapters published when the anime started running (5th April) and also when it ended (27th September).

https://bookstore.yahoo.co.jp/shoshi-417773/

https://bookstore.yahoo.co.jp/shoshi-522005/

The first link corresponds to volume 3, which includes chapters 11-19 and was published in Japan on February 9, 2015.

The second link corresponds to volume 4, which includes chapters 20-27 and was released in Japan on October 9, 2015. It is important to note that the anime had already ended before this date though.

Just so that you know, episode 9 from the anime covers up to chapter 19 from the manga, and episode 10 covers up to chapter 23. So it would be something like that more or less.

After that point, episodes 10-25 from season 1 as well as all episodes from season 2 could not take the manga’s adaptation into account while adapting the novels as there was no manga to begin with.
The manga’s pace is incredibly slow. Even now, 2018, it still hasn’t started dealing with what season 2 covered (the latest manga Chapter 57 is adapting the last part from novel 3, whereas the anime’s season 1 covers novels 1- 4).

I’ll explain this later in more detail, but the manga’s adaptation is faithful and respectful to the novel source material. The anime’s adaptation not so much.

The difference between the manga and the novels is minimal. The manga adapts the novels in a consistent and faithful way. The anime, however, is less faithful. Yet again, I’ll explain this later.

Now, these are the 2 issues that the OP has. I’ll explain all of them:

  How much of the manga did it cover?

  Are there any differences between the manga and the anime?

Those questions are answered in these points. I'm adding a few more details for context as well.

1. What should I read?

Arslan Senki is a Japanese novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. There are sixteen novels written between 1986 and 2017. A manga adaptation by Chisato Nakamura started running in 1990 and finished running in 1996. It had an original ending as it caught up with the novels. Because of its popularity, a second manga adaptation illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa debuted in 2013. An anime adaptation was made in 2015.

The novels are praised as a masterpiece in Japan, which is the reason they received adaptations in the first place and people kept up with them for 31 years. I would very strongly advise you to read the novels over every Arslan Senki adaptation.
However, there is no official translation as of now, and not much content has been fan-translated for the past 31 years. So… if you don’t know Japanese, I recommend you read the second manga. It is the most faithful adaptation you’ll find, and it’s in English.

2. Where should I start?

Depends on what you want to do and your situation.

-If you’ve just watched the anime and you want to read the novels (as I said, they’re regarded as a masterpiece) I would advise you to start from the very beginning. The novels are very long and complicated, so starting from the very first volume is the best option.

-If you can’t read the novels for language reasons and want to read the manga instead, I would advise you to start from chapter 19. The differences between manga and anime increase after chapter 19-20 (end of episode 9) and keep increasing ever since (for example, chapter 29 doesn’t exist in the anime).

-If you’ve read the manga and want to delve into the novels, you can start where you left off on the manga. Unlike the anime, the manga follows the original material quite faithfully.
To further help you understand the overall situation, I’m also going to tell you what the current situation is.
2.2 Current situation
The very first season of the anime covers novels 1-4. The anime caught up with the manga when only 3 manga volumes had been published. Those 3 manga volumes cover the first novel.
The second anime season covers the last part of novel 4 (as in the novel, Andragoras's escape from the dungeon is written before the funeral in St. Emmanuel) as well as novels 5 and 6.

The manga currently has 57 chapters and is now in the middle of novel 3’s last chapter where Sam reunited with Kubard and convinced him to fight for Hilmes and it is just before Arslan circulated the manifesto all around Pars.
As you can see, the manga has already covered (as of March 2018) half the novels seasons 1 and 2 from anime did. It took almost 5 years though.

3. Would I miss anything if I start where the anime ended?

You would most certainly do. The anime starts making more changes from the original novel source material after episode 10 from season 1, so I would suggest you start reading from chapter 19 or 20 (start of episode 10). This is obvious, but when the anime makes changes while adapting the novels, it also deviates from the manga’s faithful adaptation.

4. Are the manga and anime adaptations faithful to the original source material? Are there any differences between the manga and the anime?

Anime: It has added quite a few scenes. Some of them seem to be very important, but don’t exist in the novels. For example:

The fact that Arslan saves Daryun from Arzang, the sorcerer, just before reaching Peshawar Fortress
The fact that Bahman gets killed by Hilmes
*The fight between Daryun and Hilmes at the end of season 1
*The fact that Bodin's men take the sacred sword Ruknabad
*The fact that Hilmes gets Ruknabad. In the novels, no one can take the sword except the chosen one who will take over the will of Kay Khosrow, the ancient great King.

And lack, among others, the following events from the novels:

The fact that Narsus defeats and kills Arzang. They even skipped Narsus saving Alfarid for the 2nd time, which made Alfarid fall in love with Narsus.
The fact that Daryun apologizes to Gieve for considering him an untrustworthy person. This event takes place after knowing that Gieve had saved Arslan.
The fact that Hilmes murders Kishward's very loyal subordinate and Azrael's brother.
Hilmes valuing Zandeh’s skill of gathering information by using his men.
The fact that Bahman accompanies Arslan to Sindhura and fighting bravery as a marzban.
The fact that Bahman dies in Sindhura
The fact that Salima, daughter of Mahendra, lets Rajendra arrest Gadhevi, who is Salima's husband.
The fact that a sorcerer tries to steal the secret letter of Bahman and Narsus cuts off his arm.
The fact that Andragoras tells the secret of Hilmes's birth to Sam.
*The fact that Daryun captures Etoile before the battle in St. Emmanuel.
*The fact that Merlain and Kubard defeat a Lusitanian troop together.
*The fact that Jimsa and Zaravant escape from Andragoras's forces and they start searching Arslan together.
*The fact that Zandeh throws Ruknabad into a crack in the ground, and pursuades Hilmes to once forget about it at the time when Ruknabad refused Hilmes and made a large earthquake hit.

("*" refers to scenes from parts of the story that have yet to be reached in the manga as it’s still behind the anime)

Whereas in the manga, all the events I remember that were added are just (Note: this list should be quite decent. Unlike the previous 2 ones, here I made a big effort to gather all the differences I remember having noticed when I read the manga):

The first chapter (which was also in the anime)
One short fight between Arslan and Kharlan (which was also in the anime). I wouldn’t really call it a fight, but in the novels Arslan and Kharlan don’t have that short crossing of blades before Kharlan fights Daryun.
The fact that Etoile hands a small religious book to Arslan close to a river and the conversation with his companions about it (the anime added the act of giving the Bible, though under different conditions and there was no chat about it between Arslan’s companions when they go to Hodir’s castle)
The sentence “one in one hundred million” used by Daryun (I think the anime used it once during the first half of season 1) as well as Arslan’s famous word “delicious” when referring to delicious food (the novels also use that word, but it’s more frequent in the manga. The anime used the word as well).
Farangis usually dresses like a man in the novels, whereas in the manga there’s fan service. The anime took the manga’s character designs, so obviously it includes such fan service.
The fact that Elam has a memory of Narsus praising his cooking skill
The fact that Kishward already has a wife and a son, whereas in the novels his wife and son appear much later.
When Daryun reveals Arslan identity to him, Daryun holds his hand. The revelation part is the same, but them holding hands at sunset is new.
The fact that Montferrart's brother is among Bodin's soldiers who were killed by Hilmes when Lusitanian soldiers were fighting over the sacred flag. In the novels, he wasn’t present there.
Jaswant (this character debuts in chapter 43 of the manga) sees Narsus painting, whereas in the novel it’s not described that she takes a glance at his painting.
The fact that the story of how Daryun got hold of his polearm is more detailed in the manga.
In one of the latest chapters of the manga (+55), Hilme’s secret is more explained than in the novels.

And not much content from the novels has been cut down. Obviously, the novels will have more details, but the important events are told faithfully, and the stuff that gets removed is the kind that is unnecessary and overdetailed for a manga (the manga format is quite different from that of a novel). To name a few examples of the events that the manga didn’t include while adapting the novels:

Once Vahriz asks Daryun what his impression of Arslan's features is at Atropatene, there is a line that Daryun says ("He  has a handsome features. I guess young ladies all over the capital city will talk about him in two or three years, but uncle...") right before Vahriz tells him that he was actually asking which one of the prince’s parents looks more similar to him. That line I quoted is not included in the manga.
The reason why Narsu’s father died is because he fell down the stairs right before he was about to leave his land and help Andragoras. This led Narsus to go to the capital city and made him famous for the first time as a tactician.
Amidst the sorcerers who have served the master sorcerer, Gundhi  frequently appears in the underground room to receive instructions. In case you don’t remember it, he is the one with an incomplete mask that doesn’t cover the right side).
The fact that Narsus has been rumored to have love affairs while working at court. Furthermore, Daryun has fallen in love with the princess of Serica. (Just 2 months ago, the author mentioned they are no longer a couple**)
When Daryun fights with Bahadul in Sindhura, Daryun gets bitten by a jackal and he chops the jackal's head and even makes its eyes come out.
About Pars legends, there exists a deep tradition of not eating sheep brain. Nevertheless, right when Arslan and his friends are in Sindhura, they inadvertently eat it in the food they’re given. It is stated that Daryun loses his appetite after that, yet Farangis is fine.

** Refers to an event that Tanaka has stated to have happened, but it doesn’t appear in his novels. He tends to do this sometimes, and his words/messages add new canon material not mentioned in the novels themselves (sometimes these new details/facts said by Tanaka are actually included in the second manga’s adaptation). This time it was mentioned on 18th January 2018, where we get to know that situation I explained before and exactly how it happens. If you google  31年目のヤシャスィーン you can see it on nico video website, but you need to have an official account and it’s raw Japanese as no English subtitles exist. In that conference he also mentions unimportant stuff like the fact that he had already decided the ending even before the second half of the novels had started, that while writing dialogues he says them out loud to make sure it doesn’t sound weird, that Daryun is dressed in black because he was reading the historical and psychological novel The red and the Black…

Also, the manga has more violent scenes that are in the novels but the anime skipped, like:

The fact that faKishward makes one of Sindhuran’s soldier swing his boss's head from his neck.

  Conclusions: The anime changes and skips events a lot, whereas the
  manga sometimes adds an element/detail to the story rather than change it.
  The manga adds very little, and when it does it is unimportant stuff,
  it doesn’t remove much content and it doesn’t change things,
  making the manga a good adaptation of the novels. The scenes and even
  dialogues have been following Tanaka’s original work.


Hmmm maybe... Ninku?
The protagonist is "rather smaller ninja".
And in this pic he does "make a "ball" using his palm" and seems like he will throw it.


Which clockwisality should the swastika be in Bleach-related contexts?

The Zanpakuto article in Bleach wiki says that Bankai is written 卍解. The Bleach article in Wikipedia Japanese also mentions lots of 卍解, but no 卐解 found. Both 卍 and 卐 can be read Man/Ban in Japanese.

The 卍 is read Sauwastika in Sanskrit and is more common in Buddhism than Hinduism. In Buddhism the left-facing sauwastika imprinted on the chest, feet, palms of Buddha and also the first of the 65 auspicious symbols on the footprint of the Buddha.

The 卐 is read Swastika in Sanskrit and is more common in Hinduism than Buddism. In Hinduism the left-facing sauwastika is associated with esoteric tantric practices and often stands for Goddess Kali.


He had the opportunity to talk to many souls (or ghosts if you want to put it that way) yes, but it was never officially stated in the manga if he can see the dead. We can safely assume he had those interactions because the souls wanted to. Same is the case with the other characters in Demon Slayer.


Song used in the after credits scene of Boku no Hero episode 47 with the introduction of All For One

that's all for one theme (you can't run)
https://soundcloud.com/thighpocket/my-hero-academia-all-for-one-theme


Is there an official site for anime and manga ranking?

As far as I know there is no official ranking site for anime/manga.

The closest thing you could get to an official ranking would be ranking them according to their sales, which gets featured on a lot of sites. An example would be this MyAnimeList post. More info and sites can be found on the post Where can one learn about viewership ratings for anime?, where some nice sites have been listed.

Most other rating sites are, as hungerartist mentioned, user rated and therefore not official.


Does Ash ever re-encounter his Butterfree after the Butterfree's Goodbye episode?

A simple answer is no. We don't see Butterfree and Ash ever meeting again after their farewell in Bye-Bye Butterfree:

                    A scene just before butterfree's departure

As mentioned on the Bulbapedia (and partially in the comments):

  Ash's Butterfree has since appeared in the tenth opening for the anime, Spurt!, along with his mate, the pink Butterfree.

  However, he has not returned in any episodes since his last appearance. Ash has, however, flashed back to having him several times, such as in The Thief That Keeps on Thieving!, A Trainer and Child Reunion!, and Butterfree and Me!.


What makes the mannequins different from the results of the sacrifices' human transmutation attempts?

It's very simple. The so called act of "human transmutation" means that the intent of such alchemy is to create a fully functional human being, complete with memories, emotions, capability to feel and think. In other words, a perfect copy of a person.

The mannequins are mere cannon fodder. They don't have the ability to feel or have complex thoughts. They are just war machines following the order. That was the original intent with which they were created.

Compared to transmuted people, mannequins are much simpler, and as a result pose a much lesser threat to the world. Imagine if human transmutation went perfectly every time, and that you could create any number of smart, ingenuous people. What would bad alchemists do? Recreate evil geniuses of the past maybe, which would be much more dangerous than a bunch of brainless soldier mannequins. That's one of the reasons why human transmutation is forbidden, aside from being impossible to perform perfectly.


Why didn't Ban look for Elaine instead of staying in prison?

When Ban escapes from prison he explains that he allowed himself to be imprisoned because back then he craved pain.  This gave him, in a twisted way, pleasure but he grew tired of it. When he heard Meliodas was nearby, he escaped because following him would be more fun than being locked in a cell with bars through his limbs barely being fed.

It takes visiting the after life, having his team fight the resurrected Helbram, and fighting with Captain to decide to go out on his own to resurrect her.  He is obviously more than willing to take any opportunity to bring her back (even betraying his team) if he observes an opportunity.  This seems to indicate that he gave up for a while and did not pursue that goal because he did not know how to bring her back. He didn't seem to have a known way to bring her back but since going off on his own, he has started to search desperately.  I would expect he did the same before going to prison.

Keep in mind that, for an immortal man and long-lived fairies, 5 years isn't a very long time (even though it took much less time to fall for each other).  This was almost like taking a (pleasant?) vacation when he had no clear time constraint on his project despite it's obvious importance to him.  I would assume their was some guilty and self-contempt involved too.


Why would a studio intentionally mistranslate the title of "Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun"?

While translating 地縛 (jibaku) literally means "earthbound" (land + bind), the 地縛 in the official Japanese title 地縛少年花子くん refers to 地縛霊 (jibakurei), which means "ghost bound to a specific physical location (usu. where death occurred)".
The definition of 地縛霊 from Daijisen (a general-purpose Japanese dictionary) used by Japanese Wikipedia is

自分が死んだことを受け入れられなかったり、自分が死んだことを理解できなかったりして、死亡した時にいた土地や建物などから離れずにいるとされる霊のこと。
A ghost whose exists on a place (e.g. a land, building, etc.) at the time of their death and cannot wander off from there because they do not accept their death or understand why they died.
(Emphasis mine)

As an aside, the English term is "residual haunting" or Stone Tape.
The Japanese title replaced the kanji 霊 (ghost) to 少年 (boy). Thus, the literal translation of it is "Hanako-kun, the boy who is bound (to a certain place)". It actually does not refer to any place at all.
Regarding the official English localization by Yen Press, this is just a guess, but they possibly chose "toilet-bound" due to the origin of the tale and the character's in-universe background. Regarding if "bound" is correct or not (in refer to the anime), the official Japanese title refers to "bound" though.
*地縛 can also be read as jishibari, though it is unrelated to "earthbound" at all. On the other hand, the Japanese never uses 地縛 for "earthbound".


Who is this person who climbs Mt. Tsukuba and also Mt. McKinley?

It's likely to be a reference to Naomi Uemura, the first person ever to climb Mt. McKinley solo.

As a side note, Mt. Tsukuba is 877 meters high at it's highest peak), while Mt. McKinley is 6,194 meters high at it's highest peak.


Why does Light Yagami shuffle the two death notes?

If I recall correctly it was a part of Light's grand scheme to fully exonerate him as being Kira in the eyes of the task force and to kill L.
Only Light's Death Note had the rules written in English (see comments) and he added the fake rules in the back about needing to write a name very 13 days and if you destroy the Death note all those who touched it will die.

The Fake Death Note Rules are two rules that Light Yagami persuades the Shinigami Ryuk to write into the Death Note as part of a plan to clear him of suspicion. These rules ultimately lead to his downfall.

If the user of the Death Note fails to consecutively write names within 13 days of each other, then the user will die.

If a person makes this notebook unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who have touched the Death Note will die.

Source: Fake Death Note Rules
Ownership of this Death Note had to go to one of the Shinigami to then go to one of the Yotsuba Group (or any big company) and trusting L's detective work he would find the new Kira and recover the Death Note.
To do this Light had to have a second Death Note on him as he gives up ownership of his in order to retain his memories and claim ownership of the new Death Note when it's ownership is given up by one of the Shinigami. his new one he can give up ownership when he wanted to "get rid of this pride" while in imprisoned (ie. get rid of ownership and erasing his memories).
Now it was important for Rem to be the Shinigami of this Death Note that L recovered because if Rem didn't play along Misa's life would be in danger as such the fake rules wouldn't be exposed. Of course Light knew L well enough that L would still pursue Misa and seeking her execution by proving she was the Second Kira, forcing Rem's hand to then kill L. L would then be killed by the Shinigami everyone knew about and not by Kira and it would also kill Rem having intervened in Misa's death.


Who are these soldiers from Rider's Ionioi Hetairoi?

In short, we don't know who they are, although there is some evidence on who the black-haired adjutant might be.

The Seven Warriors

Ionioi Hetairoi means "The Companions of Ionia", so I would expect some, if not all, of these important-looking soldiers to be Alexander's bodyguards, which

  consisted of seven men, drawn from the Macedonian nobility, who also acted as high-ranking military officers, holding command positions such as general or chiliarch.

In fact, included in Sound Drama Fate/Zero Vol.2 "The Orgy of Kings" is this image (with some text edited out) of Iskander, and around him, seven men whose designs stand out from the crowds in the back:

But here's the problem: none of Alexander the Great's bodyguards were much older than his master, so who is that old man wearing a turban? Furthermore, six of these outstanding men are easily recognized as having appeared in the Fate/Zero anime, so if the seventh one, the guy in the middle wearing a black armor, has also appeared in the anime, he is most likely Mithrenes, who is not a Somatophylax. So it seems futile to try to match them to the Somatophylakes.

Designations by Fans

Immediately after the airing of episode 11 of Fate/Zero, someone, possibly from 2chan, posted this fan-annotated image that names these important-looking people:

From left to right, top to bottom: Eumenes, Parmenion, Hephaestion and Ptolemy.

It's actually quite an educated guess. Eumenes was known for his loyalty to his master and his role as the private secretary of Alexander. In this sense, it can be said that Eumenes and Waver are quite similar.

Parmenion was an experienced general who killed to ensure Alexander's succession to the throne was a smooth one. Being Alexander's second in command and also 40-50 years older than him puts Parmenion as the number one candidate to the identity of the man in turban.

Hephaestion's and Ptolemy's names are on there probably just because they are more well-known.

Eumenes in Fate Derivative Works

But "Hephaestion" does actually make an appearance in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, and she has this to say about Lord El-Melloi II:

  「ケチ。せせこましい。暗くて偏屈。寝起きが悪い。黴びた書物ばかり読んでる。卑屈なくせに傲慢。さも苦労人でございって顔をしてるくせに、終わってみれば一番事態を搔き回してる。どうだ、全部当たってるだろう」

  「気に入らない。まったく気に入らない。そんな偏屈な顔はエウメネスで見飽きてるというのに、この時代でも見せられるのか」

I can't provide a faithful translation, but she's basically saying she hates to see that perverse, arrogant and miserly face of Lord El-Melloi II even though she has seen enough of them already from Eumenes.

Also, in Fate/Grand Order, if you have both Zhuge Liang (Lord El-Melloi II) and Iskander as your Servants, then talking to a Bond Lvl 5 Iskander in My Room will trigger Dialogue 4:

  Hm? You have a strategist with a stern countenance. I’d like to see him compete with with Eumenes- Ah, he’s still an immature youth on the inside. How amusing it would be if he met Hephaestion!

These two derivative works seem to corroborate the fact that Eumenes gives off the same vibe or even the same look as an adult Waver, and we have one such person in Ionioi Hetairoi!

Eumenes or Waver?

We don't know, and for all we know, Eumenes might just be one possible future of Waver. After all, time warping is not an alien concept in the Fate universe.

Nicknames in Sensha Otoko

It's regrettable to say that we aren't able to identify the subjects in question with confidence. But if nicknames satisfy you, these are what they're called in Sensha Otoko:

Other Remarks

The design of "Erect Member" is really peculiar: he seems to be wearing a paludamentum and a helmet with a Sphinx on it (absent in the one-shot manga).
Why is the world of Ionioi Hetairoi a desert with no cavalries but only foot companions? The simplest explanation is that to draw horses and sceneries more complex than sand dunes is to create more work for the animators. However, I can't help but think that it is depicting Alexander's feat of crossing the Gedrosia desert, of which one theory argues

  was an attempt to punish his men for their refusal to continue eastward at the Hyphasis River.

Most animals perished in this sixty-day death march. Iskander's final fight with Gilgamesh, where his Ionioi Hetairoi got destroyed by Enuma Elish and he hears the sound of the ocean upon his death, resonates with a passage in this article:

  The horses soon began to succumb to the heat, so he left most of his party behind and rode off with only five men. At last they found the sea, and scraping away the shingle on the beach came upon fresh, clear water.


Is there any other studio that is known for a quirk like how Shaft has its famous head tilt?

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

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

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


Are songs written for anime openings or endings?

In most cases, yes.

A popular example of this is the anime K-On!. All the openings, endings and insert songs are written for the anime itself. They use the anime to advertise it and to sell more. Here is the list of the anime's albums which if you observe, are really dedicated for the anime itself. It even had two live concerts, Let's Go! and Come With Me where the seiyuu of each character actually played their character's instrument. Well K-On! has a plot that revolves around band members so it would be just appropriate to focus more on creating songs specifically for the anime's plot.

To prove that most anime theme songs (opening, ending, insert songs) are written for the anime itself is the existence of Image Song orCharacter Song.

  An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, dorama, manga, or commercial product that is usually sung by the voice actor or actor of a character, in character. It is meant to give a sense of the personality of the character.

So it would be more appropriate to write character song depending on the anime character's personalities and his/her situation on the anime he/she belongs to.

This article explains further about it and it also sites more detailed examples.


How long does Devil Fruit take to re-spawn after the death of user?

The only proof we have seen so far, indicates that the ability re-spawns immediately, as can be seen when Smiley died during the Punk Hazard arc.

Marshall D. Teach isn't a good counter-example as he probably didn't use the conventional way to obtain his second devil fruit power. He must have used his powers to obtain the power instead of just eating it. I believe that he used his powers to trap the spirit before it could be reborn. I believe he absorbed the devil, the moment it got out of Whitebeard's body and before it could travel to the nearest fruit in order to be reborn.

The fact that Caeser deliberately put a sack of apples near the location he would kill Salamander indicates that he was aware of the fact that it would re-spawn immediately. If it wouldn't, there wouldn't be any point in putting a bunch of apples in the sleigh near Smiley. And even if it was just a major coincidence that the apples were there, it still shows that the Salamander fruit demon was reborn the instant Smiley died.

I don't think it is a well known fact though. Otherwise the Marines would have put a fruit similar to the fire fruit nearby Marineford to keep that awesome power within the Marines. Or maybe they did and Doflamingo stole the fruit in the end. We can only speculate on how Doflamingo got the Fire fruit, as it hasn't been revealed and I doubt it will be revealed further down the series.


How did Koro-sensei prevent the Moon from falling onto the Earth?

Physically speaking, assuming there weren't any debris from the moon blowing up and hitting the earth, there's no real reason for the moon to fall down.

Gravity is determined by (among other things), the product of the Earth's and the Moon's masses. The acceleration is determined by the force of gravity divided by the moon's mass, so if you do the math, the only thing that matters in this problem space is the Earth's mass. The moon has no say in it.

It's similar to the reason all objects fall at the same acceleration on Earth, regardless of mass/weight.


What is the name of a Cartoon Network anime whose second season plot was based on time travel?

It is indeed Xiaolin Showdown.

It was broadcast between 2003 and 2006 consisting of 3 season. Each character was master of an element:

Big dude (Clay) - Earth
Girl (Kimiko) - Fire
Dot-Head (Omi) - Water
Remaining Boy (Raimundo) - Wind

It's actually an American production, but set in Asia. They protect the Shen Gong Wu from the evils that desire the treasure.

The first season ends with their failure and they need to travel back in time and create an alternate future resulting in their success. This is what the second season mostly deals with. In the third and final season the warriors travel to the Ying-Yang world to retrieve Omi's good chi.


Can Arrancar never fully remove their masks?

In Bleach, when a Whole becomes a Hollow their heart leaves their chest (forming a hole) and transforms into their mask. (Chapter 433)

The powers that a hollow develops and very body arise from the mask.

If the mask is removed, it would logically follow that the Arrancar would lose all of their power. We know that removing the mask from a normal hollow forces them to temporarily revert to their form as a Whole (the Ichigo vs Orihime's brother arc).

While we can't be sure this would happen to an Arrancar, the fact is that stripping an Arrancar's mask would strip away their very identity as an person. It's a horribly cruel thing to do, even for someone like Nnoitora or Syazel Aporro.


How was Ainz able to perceive the threat of skeletal dragon beforehand and warn Nabe?

If I remember correctly in the LN, Clementine talked about the existence of a Skeletal Dragon before it lands. Ainz then thought Nabe couldn't able to defeat it. That is why after some time Ainz says Naberal Gamma. This means she can get rid of the cover and use any spell she wants.


Why go through so much trouble to show a character is staring by having her say or shout "stare"?

In Japanese, there is actually an onomatopoeia/mimetic for the act of staring: じー jii (or something similar to that - mimetics don't generally have strictly prescribed spellings as far as I'm aware). To the English speaker, this seems bizarre, because staring is not an action that produces sound, so why would there be an onomatopoeia for it? Nonetheless, for whatever reason, Japanese is a language rich in mimetics, and often has mimetics for concepts that lack equivalent onomatopoeia in English.

So to the Japanese audience, it isn't terribly weird that there would be a "sound effect" accompanying someone staring at someone else. Now, I don't know that it's necessarily often the case that "the character actually says 'stare'" - certainly the character's voice actor will say jii, but I don't think that this corresponds to the character themself saying jii. I think the idea is more that using jii there as sort of a "sound effect" just emphasizes the fact that someone is staring at someone else.

Anyway, this causes a problem for subtitlers - clearly something is being spoken, but this particular utterance is something that simply does not and cannot occur in English. I don't know what a good solution to this is, and I guess that nobody else does, either, and this is how we end up with subtitles that make it look like the character is literally saying the word "stare". Which looks really stupid in English, but is there a better way to go about it? Not that I'm aware of.


Is there a significance of the term "Ribbon Girls"?

I think it's just that they both happen to wear ribbons. There isn't said anything about their ranking in training and ribbons.