Looking for a "game anime" with summoning monsters using stone circles

I think it could be Monster Rancher (also known in Japan as Monster Farm).

Here is a summary of the show from Wikipedia, bold emphasis is my own:

  The story follows a boy named Genki Sakura, who is a keen player of
  the Monster Rancher video games. After winning a tournament hosted by
  the game's creators, Genki wins a special CD that he can use to unlock
  a special monster in his game at home. However, upon using this disk
  in his game console, he finds himself transported to a world of
  monsters that, much like Genki's game, are given life by scanning
  special stone disks within temples. There, he meets a girl named
  Holly, who is seeking a stone disk containing a legendary Phoenix that
  will save the land from the tyranny of an evil ruler named Mu. Upon
  attempting to use the disk Genki had won to try and release the
  monster, they bring forth a different sort of monster, which Genki
  names Mochi. Wanting to free the land from Mu's rule, Genki, Holly,
  Mochi and their other monster companions go on a quest to find the
  stone disk that contains the Phoenix.

One of the monsters mentioned in this summary, Mochi (sometimes also written as Mocchi), is the name of a Japanese confection. It seems that "Sweetcake" is used as a translation of this name sometimes, based on the results of Googling monster rancher "sweetcake". Here is a picture of Mochi/Sweetcake which may help jog your memory more than written words.


TL;DR: Berg Katze's note (and himself) was absorbed into Hajime. He is currently trapped and powerless inside her "chest". Your confusion stems from the fact that the scene never made it to the TV series.

Episode 12 has two versions. There is a "director's cut" version that was shipped as an OVA, showing the confrontation between Hajime and Katze, when she gains control of Katze's golden note (I did not watch it).

From wikipedia:

  OVA          "Embrace"           January 22, 2014
  Director's cut of episode 12. Scenes about the civilians and the Crowds are expanded on, while the battle between Katze and OD is cut. An added segment shows Hajime's face-off with Katze, with her fusing herself with them by absorbing their NOTE into her body.

Alas, Katze is not that powerless, since it seems he can take over Hajime's Gatchaman form:

Again wikipedia:

  Her original NOTE and Gatchaman form takes on red accents after fusing with Katze, and her Gatchaman form's face switches from blue eyes to a red smile when Katze is in command.

IMO, it was a bad choice to leave Hajime's showdown to the OVA (even if it was financially good for them), since it is important to the Crowds-Insight plot.


How do the storylines of the Fate series connect?

Fate/Zero is the prequel to Fate/Stay Night, taking place 10 years before the latter. It originally consisted of 4 light novels written by Gen Urobuchi with the story set by Kinoko Nasu, who wrote the original visual novel. The former revolves around Kiritsugu Emiya and his involvement in the 4th Holy Grail War. The latter revolves around Emiya Shirou and his involvement with the 5th Holy Grail War.

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia is considered the sequel to Fate/Stay Night, taking place 6 months later. It's really half story-canon and half fandisk.

Fate/Extra takes places a long time after Fate/Stay Night, but in a parallel universe. It pushes some fun concepts and new servants and is for the most part considered a canonical part of the Nasuverse.

This so-called "Nasuverse" is a term used to describe the Type-Moon universe that Nasu Kinoku the main series writer, and Takeuchi Takeshi, the main series character designer, have created.

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya started out as more of a gag-dojin manga serialized in Comp-Ace. It tells the "what-if" story of what would happen if Illya became a magical girl and had to capture Servants as cards. This series is not considered canon.

The Carnival Phantasm anime series was adapted from a gag-dojin manga called Take-Moon, published in Type-Moon Ace magazine and authored and illustrated by Eri Takenashi, who did Kannagi. It mostly revolves around inside jokes about Type-Moon and characters from other Type-Moon series, who end up meeting each other in the same universe for one reason or another. While this series is not considered canon, certain references are made to their respective canonical series.

Fate/Strange Fake is a short fan-made non-canon light novel written by Ryougo Narita, the writer of Baccano! It was was first released online as an April Fools' Day joke with no illustrations, but was later inserted into Vol. 2 of the Type-Moon Magazine. The story is set in Snowfield, a small town in California (north of Las Vegas, Nevada), ten years after Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, during an incomplete copy (with no Saber-class servant) of the 3rd Holy Grail War, supposedly initiated by the US Government.

Fate/Apocrypha was originally intended to be an online game, but the plans fell through. It later became a light novel series written by Yuichiro Higashide and illustrated by Ototsugu Konoe, with 3 volumes released at Comiket. The story is set in a parallel world (to the main Fate universe) in which the Grail was removed from Fuyuki City after the Third War, so the events of Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero never occurred. The story focuses on the clash between the two opposing factions, Red and Black, with each summoning 7 Servants of their own, and the Grail itself summoning special Ruler-class servant as a mediator of this Holy Grail War. Whether or not it's canon has not yet been determined.

Fate/Prototype is a reimagined version of Nasu Kinoko's original draft of Fate/Stay Night, which Nasu wrote during high school but which was eventually vastly overhauled to be a visual novel to be more suitable to target audiences. Much of the lore stayed the same, but the system of the Grail War differed. Though certain character archetypes and concepts (i.e., Gilgamesh, Avenger) stayed the same, the main character Ayaka Sajyou and her Servant are gender-swapped compared to the visual novel series. Though never officially stated, this series is probably non-canon.


Do any of the manga from Bakuman exist in real life?

There are two direct official adaptations of Bakuman's manga in real life.

Otter 11

As @ʞɹɐzǝɹ said, Otter 11 has been published in Shonen Jump as a oneshot by Takeshi Obata(Art) and Tsugumi Oba(Story), which are the same persons that made Bakuman.

PCP (Perfect Crime Party)

PCP has been adapted as a novel by Takeshi Obata(Art) which is the illustrator of Bakuman, and Sei Hatsuno(Story).


Why is Saber wearing a white wedding dress and why was she posed like that?

The reasons are twofold. The original visual novel, which is what the anime was based on, was an eroge. Naturally, scenes like these would appear. This scene came straight from the visual novel with minor differences.

The second reason has to do with Caster's identity.

   Caster's real identity is Medea. Her life was full of betrayal and her innocence was taken away from her when she was young. Her backstory indicates that the reason why she put Saber in such an embarrassing position with the dress was because she essentially wanted to do the things that was done to her to Saber. The difference is that she wanted to make Saber her slave and make Saber betray Shirou out of her own free will. She didn't want to control her forcibly with the Command Spell, an analogue to how Aphrodite forced her to become Jason's lover with her powers. The dialogue in the Visual Novel also shows why she put her in such a dress and why she had taken a liking to Saber. She wanted the white dress to represent Saber's virginity, and she wanted her to succumb to sexual pleasure while staying a virgin forever.

Without spoiling, the scene was not mere fanservice. Rather, it has to do with Caster's past. The things that Caster did to Saber were the things that happened to her in her past life.


What does the phrase "Rokkon Shojo" mean?

Rokkon shojo does indeed mean purification of the six roots of perception. By my current knowledge there is no other meaning to it.

The usage however that is most known to people is during mountain climbing, or as haikugirl.me phrases it

  ‘rokkon shojo’ is a common expression often repeated while climbing a mountain, especially Mount Fuji. ‘Rokkon’ (六根) means ‘six senses’ (i.e. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and conciousness). ‘Shojo’ (清浄) means ‘purification’. So, the phrase refers to purifying your heart of all the bad stuff (desire, anger, fear, depression, etc.) that comes from what we take in via the six senses.

However this would not make a lot of sense in koutetsujou-no-kabaneri. The way ja.wikipedia describes it.

  そのため執着を断ち、心を清らかな状態にすることを言う。そのため不浄なものを見ない、聞かない、嗅がない、味わわない、触れない、感じないために俗世との接触を絶つことが行なわれた（山ごもりなど）。

This is a phrase as referred to in Buddhism. Which would roughly translate to something like

  Cut of your obsessions, refer to your heart in a pure state. Do not see what is unclean, do not ask, smell, taste or touch. Cut off your contact with the world in order not to feel.

This does fit the series a bit better. By killing of your emotions, it will make it easier to kill. This is something used in the modern day military as wel.

It also fits into the series given that

   a monster cannot be defeated unless its heart, which is protected by a layer of iron, is pierced.

making refer to your heart in a pure state which I believe can also be interpreted as cutting of ones heart (please correct me if I am wrong) a fair pun of sorts.


What happens if one dies in Soul Society?

From the Bleach Wiki:

  The Human World and Soul Society are parallel to each other and are two sides of the same coin. Families separated by death are rarely reunited in the Soul Society unless they arrive in Soul Society together. People live nestled together like a family of strangers. One never gets hungry (if she or he doesn't have spiritual powers) and aging is slowed to a great extent, with lifespans of 2000 or more years not being unheard of, though such ages are limited to Shinigami or other Soul Society dwellers with high spiritual power.

and to answer your question,

  A soul that dies in Soul Society is reincarnated on Earth as a new Human with no past memories.

Edit: However, given the huge difference in lifespan, Soul Society should accumulate souls and the Human World should run out of souls...

souls can "escape" this cycle by turning into hollows and entering Hueco Mundo (or god knows which new worlds Bleach will come up with). Souls can be exterminated permanently by Quincy:

  Quincy completely extinguish Hollows. Thus the souls that come to the Human World do not return to Soul Society and therefore the souls would increase only on the side of the Human World. Meaning, the Human World becomes heavy in souls causing Soul Society to spill over into it; mixing life and death. The ultimate result would be the end of the world.


Is puking blood when punched in the gut a common trope in anime?

Yes, this is a trope known as blood from the mouth and sometimes also crosses over with the waterfall puke where a stream of blood will follow.

This trope is used to indicate significant physical damage to a character, through a force that would be at least significant to getting hit by a car.

Disclaimer, I am not a medical professional. The following based on prior received medical treatments and their explanations, and online articles.

In real life this can also occur, it is one of the symptom of severe hemorrhaging, which in it self is internal bleeding due to damaged blood vessel's.

Vomiting blood is considered a dangerous symptom which would require immediate medical attention.

A pretty good explanation on what Hemorrhaging is in near layman terms can be found on: medical news today


The #-hit kiss is a technique first seen in action by Irina Jelavić in chapter 8 ("Breast Time") in the manga (page 17), or episode 4 ("Adult Time") in the anime (6.5 minutes in), when she kisses Nagisa for a 30-hit kiss.

See full-size image

It is described by Nagisa in the manga:

  I truly felt the weight of her "killing" words and that she was the real deal, a professional hitman. A kiss so incredible that it overpowers the senses. It could bring even the strongest men to their knees.

So this kiss is a weapon for seduction and assassination, and Nagisa recognizes its power. This is the reason he knows how to use it on Kaede Kayano later. It's because he experienced it first-hand by Irina.

The hit count is, as a comment mentioned, probably a reference to combo hits in videogames. From Wikipedia:

  The first game to count the hits of each combo, and reward the player for performing them, was Super Street Fighter II.


Has an anime ever come out before the manga was published?

Yes, there are exceptions to the "rule" that an anime must be inspired by a manga. There are indeed some anime that do not have a manga corresponding, and other such things.

But yes, there are also anime series which inspired one or more manga.

The following list are some of the (arbitrarily selected as recognizable) names from a more complete list featured on the TVTropes article "Anime First":

Code Geass
Cowboy Bebop
Digimon Xros Wars
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (as the article says, a weird example; the manga was created for the purpose of guiding the anime film)
Wolf's Rain


Light novel, Chinese or Japanese about a low noble/commoner in a school for kids with magic powers

Ah. I found it by chance. It's "Seirei Gensouki ~Konna Sekai de Deaeta Kimi ni~"

A summary can be found here:
https://zmunjali.wordpress.com/seirei-gensouki-konna-sekai-de-deaeta-kimi-ni/

And the piece that is summarized in detail can be found between chapters 10 and 11 of Act 1.


How is the concept of aura in Hunter x Hunter?

The concept of Nen in HxH is comparable to Aura, Chakra, Haki, Mana, Magic, etc. from different series. It directly translates to Mind Energy apparently. In this series, it is life energy of the wielder who can manipulate it in different ways.

You can obtain Nen abilities by being exposed to Nen.  Otherwise it takes years of training.

The most basic Nen can be used by any type of Nen user.  These are:

Ten - put aura around body rather than let it leak out of the body. also protects from other's aura
Zetsu - stop flow of aura (make yourself less detectable)
Ren - generate a large amount of aura around oneself for offense
Hatsu - manifest aura to have special effects

There are other abilities similar the the above which most users can learn to perform but are not "typed": Gyo, In, En, Shu, Ko, Ken, and Ryu are the examples so far.

Some very special users are known as geniuses and learned to use their Nen abilities without mastering the above.  The main examples are the Apraiser and the Fortuneteller.

The form a user's Hatsu takes is controlled by that user.  While in theory any user can master a skill from any of the 5 basic types, they tend to have an affinity for one type and can master it much easier.  Unlike other series, the Nen type is about how you move your aura and not elemental.

Conjurors can turn their Nen into physical objects.  They often has special properties. (summon chains for instance)
Transmutors can change the properties of their Nen and then manipulate that. (turn Nen into electricity and vice versa for instance)
Enhancers apply their Nen to themselves to enhance their own physical abilities. (punch hard for instance)
Emitters push their Nen into projectiles of into other people causing special properties. Sometimes the Nen takes physical shapes such a gorillas, energy balls, mascots, or fists but are still composed of Nen.
Manipulators, finally, put their Nen into other objects and then manipulate that Nen to manipulate that object.

These are grouped so the most similar are near each other.  As Conjuration requires turning you Nen into something else, they find it easier to do Transmutor skills then Manipulator skills, for instance.  Enhancers find it much more difficult to do complex manipulation of Nen in other objects than just emit it as a projectile.

Specialists are special. Their Nen abilities cannot be described as any of the above and are rare.  No other group can learn a Specialist's ability, though a Conjuror or a Manipulator is more likely to become one than any other group.

Finally, very specific Nen abilites are somehow much more powerful than more general use abilities.  Putting restictings on its use, therefore, such as a ritual, target restictions, or delayed activation can make the Nen ability far more powerful.  For this reason, alot of power Nen abilities have complicated rules which must be followed.  Kuripika can only use some abilities on spiders. Gon's attacks have a long charging time and a chant. Chollo has several specific conditions which must be met before he can use his main ability.


Issei was able to use Vali's White Dragon Emperor power, Divine Divide, because Issei took one of the jewels in Vali's armor during their fight in Volume 4 and put it on his own. This allowed him to gain access to Vali's predecessors (past Hakuryukou) and their powers.

   I picked up the thing lying at my feet—a jewel of the [Vanishing Dragon]. Earlier, when I hit him, his armor was damaged and this thing flew out. His body’s armor seems to have restored the destroyed section including the jewel, though.
 ...
 I smashed the Sekiryuutei jewel that was on the back of my right hand into pieces, and drove into it the [Vanishing Dragon] jewel that I picked up before! —Your power of vanishing! I’ll transplant it into my Sacred Gear!

He managed to activate it right after he transplanted it into his Sacred Gear.

   A hit to Vali’s abdomen with my right fist! In my mind, Buchou’s breasts shook!
 [Divide!!]
 At the same time I activated the Hakuryuukou power I had just transplanted and felt the aura covering Vali decrease sharply.

As for the predecessors (refer to my first paragraph), one of the past Hakuryuukou indeed came to him later and helped him during his fight in Volume 10 of the novel.


What's this show with a boy who has been recruited by missionaries?

I believe it could be Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari as there are multiple races, something about a princess, but I don't remember it that well.
His mecha looks like a lizard. He is the white one in this screenshot:

And if what you meant by egg is where the pilot is, then it could be this part of it:

Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari

Synopsis

Kenshi —half-brother of intergalactic hero Tenchi Masaki— has been summoned to the mysterious world of Geminar, and his only hope of returning to Earth is piloting a bio-mechanical weapon in a shocking assassination attempt! When the mission fails and Kenshi is captured, he discovers he's been lied to by the very culprits who transported him to this strange new world. Luckily, Princess Lashara kindly welcomes Kenshi and invites him to live amongst her followers. Now, caught up in a political whirlwind —and hotly pursued by Geminar's female population— Kenshi must find a way to get home while civil war erupts all around him!
Source: FUNimation


Where does Bungou Stray Dogs cut off in the manga?

According to Mangaupdates,

  Season 1 ended at Vol. 4 Chapter 16, Season 2 ended at Vol. 9 Chapter 37, and Season 3 ended at Vol. 13 Chapter 53.


If you've watched the first season, you should skip the specials and proceed directly to the second season. After that, watch the movie (when it's available).

The "specials" (usually called "Psycho Pass: New Edit" or "Psycho Pass: Extended Edition", I think) are a re-cut/updated version of season 1, with only minor changes. The reason there are only 11 of them is that they're double-length. If you were starting from nothing, it would have been better to watch the "specials" and then season 2, but since you've already seen season 1, I don't think there's enough new content to warrant watching the re-cut version before moving on to season 2.

That said, if you ever find yourself wanting to rewatch the first season of Psycho Pass, I would recommend watching the "specials" instead of the original version of season 1.


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

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

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

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

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

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


Why was Misaka Mikoto chosen as the candidate for the Sister's project when she was just a normal child when they asked for her DNA map?

If I recall correctly, an explanation for this is hinted at by Mugino later on in S, although it is addressed in more detail later on in the novels. In short, Misaka was selected because of something called the Parameter List.

   It turns out some people actually are more predisposed to be espers than others. Academy City maintains a database known as the Parameter List, which seems to contain predictions/projections about how much potential an esper has. (The database is kept top-secret to prevent social unrest). Using the information in this database, the city prioritized development and resources towards the children with a higher potential, because these children would yield a higher return on investment.

 So the researchers took Misaka's DNA map even though she was only a Level 1 at the time because she was projected to attain a high level based on the Parameter List.


Where was Shinji Matou during Fate/Zero?

Shinji was overseas at the time. He is only mentioned by his father Byakuya in the original Novel.

  He was briefly mentioned by Byakuya in the original Fate/Zero novel, his only child was sent overseas in the name of studying.

Source: Shinji Matou - Other Appearances

  Why did Zouken need Sakura if he had Shinji?

The original reason Zouken adopted Sakura was because Shinji was inferior as a magus due to their declining bloodline and wasn't fit to be an heir. Shinji stated in the Fate Route that this was because the Matou didn't properly adopt to the land, as they were foreigners to Japan, unlike the Tohsaka.

Furthermore, since having two heirs would weaken the inheritance (magic) that is to be passed down, and raising both as magi is always believed to cause conflict between the siblings down the track (as was the case with the Aozaki family), the Tohsaka's, like any other magus family, can only choose one heir.

Because the Tohsaka's and Matou's were ancient allies back from when the 3 families were tutored by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Tokiomi Tohsaka put Sakura up for adoption to the Matou.

  Like most magi, her father chose only one daughter to carry on his family's tradition as he believed raising an additional child would introduce competition. Zouken Matou, an ancient ally of the Tohsaka House, offered to adopt Sakura with the intention of training her as the successor of the Matou's magecraft as his own heir, Shinji, was incapable of sorcery.

Source: Sakura Matou - Background

The reason why Rin was chosen over Sakura was because Rin's Elemental Affinity was all five, while Sakura's was Imaginary Numbers. However, it was during her "training" which forcefully changed her Elemental Affinity to Water (Matou standard) that Zouken saw her potential as a Master.

As for Shinji Matou being a Master, he was a fake Master. From the beginning, Sakura was the Matou's Master. The book Shinji is shown to hold when he commanded Rider was the Book of the False Attendant, which was created from one of Sakura's Command Spells. Because the book cut Rider's Prana supply from Sakura but didn't change the source to Shinji, Rider needed other ways to gain Parana to stay manifested, thus the set up for Blood Fort Andromeda. Sakura made the book for Shinji to use, as she did not want to fight in the War because

She could hurt Shirou (at that time, she was not aware that he had become a Master)
She would hurt Rin (despite being told by Zouken to think of her former family as dead, she still recognized Rin as her sister)

Sakura was only forced to fight in the war in the Heaven's Feel Route when Shinji splashed something on Sakura during the Blood Fort's activation, causing the worms inside Sakura to go crazy. This forced her to fight in the war and put an end to it, lest she be consumed by the worms.


A pretty clear answer is given here.

To summarize it,

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

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

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

To quote the page:

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

Edit:

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

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


Why was Sakurai Takahiro recast in Psycho-Pass 2?

I'm not sure if this has been confirmed, but it's most likely that Takahiro Sakurai enjoyed playing Makishima Shogo in Psycho Pass. With all the praise he got, I think he enjoyed the project (Psycho Pass) so much that he wanted to get back in the action even if it was a role he wouldn't normally take on.


What happened to Katakuri's mouth? It was due to his fast eating habits that caused his mouth to greatly expand. I'm no medical expert so I'm not sure if this is possible in real life.

Why does he hide his mouth? Mostly due to insecurity (I mean, if it were me, I'd probably also hide my mouth). As stated in the wiki, he is very sensitive to the point that he would attack anyone who sees his mouth.

He also hides himself from everyone while he is eating. Because he is gluttonous and seems to value his snack time greatly. From the wiki, it is stated that:

  ...Katakuri is extremely private about his eating habits, as he is extremely gluttonous and slovenly, talking to himself in ecstasy about the quality of the food. He loves donuts and enjoys gorging on them since childhood. For this reason, he eats his snacks in solitude, and this is the only time he uncovers his mouth...


Where did the song "Yume ni Katachi wa nai keredo" come from in One Piece?

Unfortunately, the song is not an official One Piece song.

It's a parody song of 歌に形はないけれど (Uta ni Katachi wa Nai keredo) by doriko (Vocaloid producer) with its lyric changed.

The original song: NicoNicoDouga (posted in 2008, the official video posted by doriko himself)

The parody song: NicoNicoDouga (first posted in 2010, the original/oldest video with Hatsune Miku as the vocal)


How does the checkpoint get upgraded in Re:Zero?

It seems that in the first safe area after all dangerous events have passed and subaru has no chance to be harmed it creates a save point, however it doesn't update at every moment he is not in imminent danger.


Can Rikudou Madara activate his Limbo Perfect Susanoo in the anime after Mugen Tsukuyomi ends?

He never does, but he theoretically could. He's still an Uchiha, and still has the Rinnegan and also uses Limbo while in Six Paths mode, however there is no reason for him to. The Truth Seeking Balls are a more perfect defense than Susano'o and the new abilities granted to him by the Six Paths' chakra seemed to be at least as powerful, if not moreso, than his Susano'o.


What are the limitations of the Flying Thunder God technique (Flying Raijin Jutsu)?

As from what we have seen this far, if you remember the fight of Minato and the A (War Arc 4th Raikage), Minato had a lot of kunai with the mark of this Jutsu spread around the area. So we can say there has to be a specific limitation.

Also we know this technique is connected to the chakra of each user, so it means there are also some limitations there as it's one he makes it takes some of the chakra user.

As for the longetivity of this justu as from the wikia about Flying Thunder God Technique(Flying Raijin Jutsu):

  As Minato also noted, the marking formula never disappears from a marked target.


Is it known if One for All can't be passed through genes to children?

Before I answer your question, I will talk a bit  about a villain, Tomura Shigaraki, (His original name was Tenko SHimura); All for ones's favorite prodigy. Tomura Shigaraki is the Grand-Son of the 7th Torch bearer of One for All, (Nana Shimura who passed her quirk to All Might.)

However, from what the anime has showed us, Tomura's quirk is of an entirely different classification, (His quirk decays, which isn't a power type when compared to one for all). Also, Tomura's father did not inherit "One for All". From that alone, I'd say it's not possible for children to be born with one for all. This is mainly because I don't believe any sane parent would want to pass on such a "powerfully catastrophic" quirk to their unborn child. We all know that the "One for all" quirk has negative effects on users whose bodies aren't prepared and capable of containing the backlash of its power.

From the tournament Arc, the dangers of one for all shows itself. We see Midoriya destroy and batter his body (all because he isn't capable of containing the effects of the power at 100%). However, Midoriya had worked very hard for the last year, training his body to be able to withstand the quirk.

Imagine what would happen if a baby unknowingly used "one for All" quirk for the first time, (Ikr, it wont be a good sight at all). The fact is that children who are born with quirks, usually have to develop their quirks to become strong, but One for All is the total opposite of that, the user will firstly have to develop their body, so they could receive and contain a quirk that has already been developed by its previous Torch bearers.

Therefore, before a current torch bearer passes on a quirk. They would usually ensure that whoever they want to pass it on to is worthy of such a quirk, and has also put in the effort (so that when they get it, their bodies will be capable to handling the backlash from using such a powerful quirk.)

So to answer your question, I believe that its actually possible to willingly pass on the quirk to an unborn child who is inside a woman that has "One for All". However, the chances of that happening will forever be very low, because of how dangerous it will be for an unprepared child to wield. Not to mention, the problems that could arise if "All for one" realizes the quirk is wielded by a child.

Also, it seems that your not getting the concept of One for all. There can't be multiple users of One for all at a given time. Once a current torch bearer passes on the quirk to someone else, his embers start to drastically decline.
 (Think of One for All like a torch of flames), So sooner or later the person who passed the quirk on will run out of that spark, and then will no longer have the ability to use one for all. What i mean by this is once you pass on the "One for All quirk" you no longer have the quirk. All thats left is a small portion of the remnants of the quirk that your body has gotten accustomed to, but then you will use up that leftover power and then not be able to do it in time.


Do Zoro, Nami and Robin suffer from bad eyesight?

Considering they don't wear glasses normally or even while reading, it's fair to say that their eyesight is just fine. They simply like to wear those glasses from time to time for the sake of appearance. Even Sanji wore glasses for a moment in One Piece Film Z, for that same reason.


Anime about a little girl who lives in a cabin by herself in the middle of the forest/woods

This sounds a lot like Binchou-tan, though it looks like a children's show, there's some pretty heavy moments in the show.

She lives in a cabin out in the forest by herself. It's hinted at that she used to live in the cabin with her grandparents and they've died (she visits a tree like it's a grave). She also wears a piece of charcoal on her head, that's sort of a play on words with her name (binchou=charcoal). I think in the very first episode, she encounters the snake. Although she does speak, a lot of the anime is narrated by a woman. Every once in a while, a bunch of her friends (all girls, sometimes animals) come to visit her, but for the most part, she is completely alone.

It's about 12 episodes long at about 12 minutes per episode and was adapted from a 4-koma manga.

More info:

My Anime List
Anime News Network


From Wikipedia: .hack//G.U.

  Matsuyama has stated that the acronym "G.U." has twelve meanings related to the plot of the games but the central theme is "growing up" in many respects.


What is the power order of the Straw Hats?

This is after the dressrosa arc:

The bounties are a good representative of the strength of each member of the strawhat crew.

The only odd ones are Sanji, Usopp and Chopper.

Chopper because he is viewed as a pet instead of a full member
Sanji because he didn't participate that much and Usopp because he was said to be the one who instigated everything but that was wrong.

So for power range according to posters (with dismissing odd things):

Luffy
Zoro
Sanji
Nico Robin
Franky
Brooke
Usopp
Chopper
Nami

Usopp, Chopper and Nami are also called the weak trio so saying those three are the weakest is a pretty good assumption.


Why wasn't Killer Bee recognized as the 5th Raikage?

I do not believe Kishimoto wrote anything in regards to transition of the 4th to the 5th Raikage, but the selection of the Raikage is not touched on a whole lot and is unclear to us.

  How the Raikage is selected isn't clear; after the Third Raikage died, his son automatically became Fourth Raikage, a decision made many years earlier

It is possible Killer B was nominated for the position, but we may never know. I can say that Killer B has no passion to being a Kage - his passion is music and his goal is to be greatest rapper. If he was nominated, Killer B may have turned it down, like Jiraiya, to pursue his passions

  Despite being responsible for the village's protection, B aspires to be the world's greatest rapper.

While there have been, and currently are, Kage who are jinchūriki, this does not automatically make them the next in line a Kage position. It is merely tradition for the next jinchūriki to be a relative of the current Kage.

  Because jinchūriki were so important to their village, it was a tradition for a jinchūriki to be a relative of the current Kage, both to strengthen the jinchūriki's loyalties to the village and to display the Kage's might.

Given that Killer B is the (adoptive) brother of the 4th Raikage, he became the jinchūriki for his brother.

  According to Motoi, the reason behind him becoming a jinchūriki was for the sake of his brother, even if it meant being shunned by the villagers


This is a common trope, not specific to anime. It can be seen in a lot of western cartoons.

The increased air pressure, that is created when blowing very hard, creates a force pushing outwards from your breathing cavities and connected airways. Technically, mouth, nose, ears and eyes share the same complicated pathway, so you could blow your eyes out, if you try hard. The trope in question is just an exaggerated example of it.


I think you meant to say "fetish" rather than "fantasy"?

Not that I'm aware of, but in many cultures, naming is of great significance, there are often attitudes that being given a name or title is perceived as a great honour.

Catholics does this, for example, when they receive their baptized name; as well as Buddhists, when they receive their dharma name.

Many monarchies have a tradition of the monarchs taking on a new regnal name when the new monarch ascended to the throne.

It's also common trope for feudal servants/subordinates serving a new master to take a new name, it's a sign of throwing away their past and therefore subservience to the new master.

Another common trope is a new pet being drawn to feel happy when they're first named. Often the trope goes that the pet feels unhappy/angry/uncomfortable while the owner scrolled through a few names that then got rejected before they ended with the one that the pet seems to respond well to (IRL, this is likely just reflection of the owner being happy for having finally picked a name, because chances are the pet doesn't care or understand).

This is definitely not unique to Isekai genre.


Why is Erza able to feel pain during Kyouka's fight?

According to Wikipedia, pain isn't one of the traditional senses. It's marked under non-traditional senses.

I think that's the reason pain is NOT stolen together with tactile perception (well, I thought, before I looked deeper, pain is connected to the touch sense, but it seems not).

Traditional senses:

Sight
Hearing
Taste
Smell
Touch

These are 5 base senses (for more info, view this article). As you can see, pain is not listed. But there are others like:

Balance and acceleration
Temperature
Kinesthetic sense
Pain
Other internal senses

As you write,

  she can curse to increase Erza's sensitivity to pain

but then

  she remove all 5 senses from her in other curse.

Pain is not a base sense.


Why does Sakura's inner voice say "cha" at the end of her sentences?

According to Catchphrases and Verbal Tics from Naruto Wikia, the phrase "Cha" was replacement of "Shannarō" and "Shannarōyo" in the English dub often used by Inner Sakura, which have no literal meaning, but it can be translated into "Hell yeah!", "Hell no!", or "Damn it!" depending on the situation.


Can a person shorten their own life by using the Death Note?

Besides the fact that one can trade half his lifespan for improved usage of the Death Note,

  The human who becomes the owner of the Death Note can, in exchange of half his/her remaining life, get the eyeballs of the god of death which will enable him/her to see a human’s name and remaining life span when looking through them.

A user also can write down their own name in the Death Note. This will cause the user to die early due to their own described causes. Of course the rules of the book still apply, meaning that the user's death as written in the note wont take effect if this occurs after his already stated point of death. Therefore, one can shorten his life using the note.


Is there such a thing as Waifu-Wednesday?

Yes and no. No Waifu wednesday is not a officially recognized day for waifu's. Yes, it is a commonly used term in the Waifu-owning society.

Right now, Waifu Wednesday is used by people that have a Waifu/Husbando and use Waifu Wednesday as a mid week appreciation point for their Waifu. This is mostly done by spreading the love of their waifu's by posting Moe and or Kawaii pictures of their Waifu/Husbando.

For those not familiar with the term Waifu Check out "where does the term "waifu" come from?"


There's an article on One Piece Wiki which describes the mini-series. I've copied the summary below for completeness, but you might prefer to read it there since it has relevant links to other articles.

  While exploring the moon, Enel finds a small robot in a crater and attacks it. The electricity, instead of harming it, recharges it (much to Enel's disappointment). The robot, identified as First Lieutenant Spacey, finds its fallen comrades - Macro, Galaxy and Cosmo - and weeps over them while Enel watches on, impassive. While the Lieutenant is mourning, a fox-like Space Pirate attacks it from behind with an electrocuting spear.
  The Space Pirate, then attempts to attack Enel, who nonchalantly phases through the spear, attacks, and defeats it in retaliation. Enel, then sees a huge explosion in the distance, and is angered by what appears to have destroyed his ark, Maxim. Meanwhile, over at the area of the explosion, three more Space Pirates are converging, planning to excavate the moon for its treasures. Enel soon appears at the excavation site.

  In the meantime, the shocked, but still alive Lieutenant Spacey reminisces about why he and his comrades came to the moon in the first place. An old man named Professor Tsukimi made them on Machine Island, and one day, while watching the moon and eating snacks, a huge explosion happened on it, much like the one that destroyed Enel's ark. The professor, shocked, swallowed his dumpling without chewing, resulting in him suffocating to death.

  After burying the professor, the four Spaceys traveled to the moon (each one with a balloon) to take revenge on the one who caused the explosion that resulted in the accidental death of the professor by suffocation. Upon reaching the moon, they find the same space pirates that destroyed Maxim, and despite overwhelming odds, they fought the captain of the Space Pirates. In the end, however, all four of them were defeated.

  In present time, Enel attacks the Space Pirates and destroys the entire excavation site with his lightning powers. This uncovers a canal that he intends to explore. Before he can do so, however, Lieutenant Spacey (towing his comrades' bodies behind him on a sled) rushes up to him and thanks him for avenging him and his comrades' "father".

  Enel shocks the Lieutenant, and all of his comrades out of sheer annoyance, and goes on to explore the dried-up canal, coming upon a cave. Inside the cave is a huge Mayan-esque city, which he decides to electrocute as well. The resulting surge of electricity awakens not only the city, but a horde of ancient-looking Spaceys as well.

  The entire city, having been activated, all of the ancient Spaceys, as well as the four "new" ones that Enel had just met, rush to thank him, much to his confusion. Enel, then studies a wall painting, and realizes that the original Birkans, his ancestors, one of which is Professor Tsukimi, came from the moon. Looking around, Enel sees endless followers, and an enormous amount of "vearth", and decides that the "Fairy Vearth" was everything that he had wanted.


The last we saw of Moriah was

   him attacked by Doflamingo and a group of Pacifista in the backstreets of Marineford. According to Doflaminog this was because Moriah was deemed "too weak"to continue serving as a Shichibukai. When asked by Moriah is Sengoku ordered this, Doflamingo told him that it came from someone higher than him. [Chapter 581/Episode 490]

Perona asks Mihawk about Gekko Moriah

   Mihawk tells her that Moriah was alive at the end of Battle, but he is not sure if he is still alive now. The newspaper reports that Moriah is dead

Doflamingo however later reveals to the Gorosei,

   that Moriah escaped before he could deliver the killer blow, probably using his DF power. He also asserts that Moria was critically injured and die anyways. [Chapter 595/Episode 513]

Thus Moriah's official status is Unknown. Doflamingo believes he is dead, but according to New World Times, Moriah survived and is in hiding somewhere in the New World. This is however based on eyewitness accounts and thus NOT a confirmation.


Who is this girl in a blue witch costume and braids cosplaying as?

I think its "Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea"

that is her, I think


Anime identification request about guy with invisible pills (hentai)

As OP describe It sounds like The Invisible Stud contain nsfw image.

Synopsis:

  Mie happened to pick up medicine that an old man dropped. When he took the medicine, his figure disappeared. Soon he went to a public bath to peep, and began to molest. Then, he went to an all-girls school.

And there only three character Fujisawa , Mei and Suzu.


How does the memory wipe work in Gakuen Alice?

Mikan seems to remember Natsume because of the alice stone . (Chapter About Creating Alice Stone) , When Natsume give the Alice stone to Mikan , it was nullify and each fragments came back to her . (sorry for my bad english) one of those fragments was About the One she loves . At first it was fuzzy to clear those memories that step by step occuring into her mind when Natsume give that alice stone everything becomes clear .

  "  Natsume pulls out the bag containing her tiny Alice stone, the first one she gave to Natsume when they were 12-years-old. Natsume hopes that by returning the Alice stone to Mikan, its proper owner, she will regain her memories, especially him. He gives it to her, and when she takes it, it is suddenly absorbed into the palm of her hand, which means that she has regained some of her Alice"(http://gakuenalice.wikia.com/wiki/Gakuen_Alice_Chapter_179)


Have there been any other saiyan hybrids?

As far as I know there hasnt been shown any other similar species that saiyans can cross breed BUT, there might be in the future since Vegeta's brother has a girlfriend named Gure from another species, who doesnt even look very human alike, and I suppose that if he chose her as a partner it's because they can have offsprings. Gure is a short, alien with black eyes and two nostril, horizontal egg shaped head and a white skin color that might have a very low tint of green or grey. He appeared with her in a non canon special, but he was mentioned later in canon movies like Battle of God and Broly, so he became canon. Though we dont know if his girlfriend became canon with this too.


Why did the man steal the protagonist's lump?

According to Wikipedia:

  An old man has a lump or tumor on his face. In the mountains he encounters a band of tengu making merry and joins their dancing. He pleases them so much that they want him to join them the next night, and offer a gift for him. In addition, they take the lump off his face, thinking that he will want it back and therefore have to join them the next night. An unpleasant neighbor, who also has a lump, hears of the old man's good fortune and attempts to repeat it, and steal the gift. The tengu, however, simply give him the first lump in addition to his own, because they are disgusted by his bad dancing, and because he tried to steal the gift.

The mean old man doesn't want to steal it, he wants to get rid of it like the protagonist did.


Asking a ninja to hide in the ceiling and get pierced by a spear?

This is a common trope in period dramas involving samurais and ninjas.

You see, when ninjas hide under floors or in attics, they need to be wary of spears and swords from samurai. It's routine in many dramas to stab the ceiling and walls to check for concealed ninja. If you stab and get blood, you got your ninja.

A very well-known story is of a figure called 穴九右衛門 ("Hole" Kuemon). Kuemon was a ninja sent to assassinate the Lord of a castle. In the process of infiltrating, he got stabbed in the head by a spear and almost got caught. However, he was able to lie still, wipe the blood off, and await another opportunity. Eventually, he succeeded and he returned with a scar on his head, earning him the moniker "穴" (hole).


Can more than one person have the same devil fruit power?

They have similar fruits but not the same.
Boa Marigold has the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: King Cobra.
Boa Sandersonia has the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Anaconda.

  A majority of the Zoan Devil Fruits also come in different "models" that result in variations of the animal. For example, the Inu Inu (Dog) Fruit has Jackal, Dachshund, and Wolf models, the Ushi Ushi (Bull or Cow) Fruit has Bison and Giraffe models, and the Hebi Hebi (snake) has Anaconda and King Cobra models.

Source


Since inline spoiler tags are not possible and I don't want 9,001 spoiler blocks, I'll preface this by saying:

This answer contains many spoilers for the Evangelion series. If you have not watched through at least episode 24, this will contain spoiler material for you.

As a note: Everyone in Shinji's class had lost their mothers (for potential soul salvaging for the Evas), and I believe most had relatives working at or connected with NERV. Each one was also obviously the same age, as a result of being born in the year of Second Impact 14 years prior.

In general, the candidates are chosen by the Marduk Institute, a committee which selects potential pilots for the Evangelion piloting program. They so happen to have listed Tōji Suzuhara at the top of their list, and so he ends up being the test pilot for Unit-03. According to an AU, Kensuke Aida is to be chosen after Tōji, but since there is an incident with Unit-04, this is never seen. There are extenuating circumstances for our main cast, though.

Rei Ayanami was chosen by Gendo because she is, in fact, one of many clones of Yui, Gendo's late wife. This was essentially an executive decision by Gendo so that he could use her for his Instrumentality plans.

Shinji Ikari was chosen, also by Gendo, for a different reason: Evangelion Unit-01 has the soul of Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother, in it, and Yui refuses to let anyone else pilot Unit-01.

Asuka Langley Sohryu was chosen because her mother, Kyoko, was in Germany with Asuka, performing the soul salvaging into Evangelion Unit-02. Obviously Asuka made a good match for a pilot.

And Kaworu, well... Kaworu is just the exception that proves the rule: He was sent by SEELE and is actually an Angel, so he doesn't follow convention. At all.

In the Rebuild continuity, this is slightly different. Rei's reason is the same; Asuka is just a very well trained pilot; Mari has powerful connections; Kaworu works for SEELE again; and Shinji's reason is unknown as of Rebuild 3.0.


Found the answer in the Wikia article on Samehada. The ownership is actually based on Samehada's personality. It seem to have its own conscious (emphasis mine):

  Samehada is unique for being a sentient weapon that gains nourishment from the chakra of others and as such, the blade is at its happiest when engorged with chakra that possesses both a distinctive and pleasant flavour. It apparently greatly enjoys Killer B's chakra since, according to Kisame, it tastes like octopus. However, it has shown displeasure towards fire-natured chakra, stating that — according to B — it's far too hot. Being capable of conscious thought, Samehada chooses its own user, an exclusive process that has often resulted in it being thought of as notoriously picky. If someone it disapproves of attempts to wield it, spikes protrude from the handle in order to force them to release their grasp, at which point Samehada will make efforts to return to its chosen owner. Even if it did betray its former owner for a more powerful wielder like Killer B, the blade was at least close enough to Kisame to mourn his death.


Why wasn't Hama still controlling Katara?

If we analyse the episode,
Hama isn't actually fighting but rather forcing Katara to willingly use bloodbending.
Hama only attacked Katara because Katara refused to learn the art of Bloodbending. She was horrified to learn the technique and by the idea of controlling another person's body.
In Avatar Wikia, Bloodbending is stated as:

a sub-skill of waterbending which allows a waterbender to hydrokinetically take hold of and manipulate the various fluids within an organism's body. This technique is referred to as the darkest, most powerful, and most feared of all bending techniques and is the only art known to endanger the user's mental state.

Going Back to the Episode "The Puppet Master"
Hama Teaches Katara the Southern Water Bending Style
They Meet an old woman in an Inn named Hama which then teaches katara the Southern style waterbending and also a series of techniques in order to obtain water in places devoid of any obvious water sources.

Following her demonstration, Hama offered to teach Katara a powerful technique that was only possible during the full moon. When Katara expressed hesitance due to the rumors of disappearances, Hama reassured her that two master waterbenders under a full moon should be able to handle anything.

Hama Reveals Bloodbending and offered to teach Katara

That night, Hama led Katara into the forest and told her about bloodbending and its ability to control another living organism. Horrified by the idea of controlling another person's body, Katara refused to learn bloodbending. Hama argued with her, stating that it did not matter whether she wanted to learn it or not, because the power to use it existed either way. For trying to wipe out their entire culture, Hama extolled that they must have vengeance upon the Fire Nation. This outburst led Katara to realize that Hama had been causing the villagers to disappear, but the latter angrily stated that the people of the Fire Nation deserved the same treatment that they had given to her and all the southern waterbenders. Hearing this caused Katara to adamantly refuse to learn bloodbending and to try to stop Hama from further terrorizing the town.

Hama used bloodbending against Katara to temporarily force her into submission

"They threw me in prison to rot, along with my brothers and sisters! They deserve the same! You must carry on my work."
— Hama to Katara.

Katara soon regains control of her body, reminding Hama that she too draws power from the moon, and is powerful enough to overcome Hama's technique. The two begin to battle, each drawing water from the grass and trees surrounding them, but it quickly becomes obvious that Katara is the superior combatant.  Hama's bloodbending is useless on her.

When Katara appears on the cusp of victory, Aang and Sokka arrive to assist her—and succeed in doing little more than providing Hama with an advantage, as she uses bloodbending to control them like puppets to attack Katara.
Katara evades their attacks and manages to freeze both Aang and Sokka to two separate trees to stop them, but this proves to be only a temporary solution. Hama frees them both and resorts to sending them flying at each other, with Sokka's sword pointing straight at Aang. At the last second, Katara desperately uses bloodbending to subdue Hama and protect Aang.

Hama succeeded in making Katara use Bloodbending

Hama remarked that her work was done, as Katara had already willingly used and mastered bloodbending. She laughed maniacally as she was dragged off, leaving Katara in tears.

Hama surrendered herself knowing that she had now passed her technique bloodbending onto another waterbender from the same tribe (Southern water Tribe) which is Katara.
We can Infer that Hama isn't actually fighting Katara but rather forcibly teaching her to use Bloodbending and to pass her art onto another waterbender, which is against her will.
here is a review on the The Puppetmaster from IGN

Great aspect of this episode was Hama's origin story, which we saw through flashbacks. In addition to showing us how she (Hama) was captured by the Fire Nation and later developed bloodbending, it also did a good job of making her a sympathetic character. While her actions were clearly out of line -- namely, kidnapping innocent Fire Nation civilians -- you could understand where she was coming from after being locked away for so many years. She even made some good points about the morality of bloodbending and how using it was not a choice but a necessity: "The power exists, and it is your duty to use the gifts you've been given to win this war."
Of course, the highlight of this episode was the final showdown between Hama and Katara, which dovetailed nicely with Aang, Toph and Sokka's investigation into the "Full Moon spirit." But I think [the part where] Hama was demonstrating her bloodbending on Katara, and Katara rising above it adding, "You're not the only one who draws power from the Moon." This, followed by Katara's own mastery of waterbending, which far exceeded Hama's amateur skill level. Regardless, Hama accomplished her mission -- to pass on the art of bloodbending to another waterbender -- thus concluding the episode on a noticeably dark note.


Song playing at the end of ep 127 of Fairy Tail

The song is Nakama Tachi, from the first OST. You can listen to it at this link.


Is Prelude to Paradise the same song as one of Hunter x Hunter (2011)'s soundtrack?

I could not find an exact match to this song searching through the OST's I will agree that it does seem familiar to the Zoldyck Family theme at about 20 seconds into the Zoldyck theme they sound very close but there is a difference. As far as for link there is no real way to tell other than to ask the composer of Prelude to Paradise. ref(HxH Zoldyck Theme)


Well for starters, let us examine the factors that influence the strength of a Potara fusion.The first obvious factor would be the characters who fuse/ take part in the fusion. It would logically make sense for a fusion between stronger characters to be > than a fusion between weaker characters. For example, a fusion between Goten and Trunks was Effortlessly pummeled by a Base Vegeta on account of his superior strength. A potara fusion also stacks additional multipliers. In the Buu saga when the fusion was first introduced, Goku contemplates fusing with Hercule who is substantially weaker than him. This proves that there is still some benefit from the fusion. More information regarding character Gokule can be seen hereFinally, in Episode 114 in DBS, Shin states that a fusion between Android 17 and 18 would be ideal as they are Compatible. So one can assume maybe the compatibility between the charaters result in a superior fusionWith regard to whether Kefla is stronger than VegitoThe Vegito from the Buu Saga is obviously weaker than Kefla. Caulifla and Kale are substantially more powerful than the Goku and Vegeta from the Buu Saga. Hence, it would logically make sense for Kefla to be stronger.Based on the above logic, it would obviously make sense for Vegito from the Goku Black arc to be several time stronger than Kefla. SSJ2 Caulifla at the very least is comparable to SSJ2 Goku/Vegeta. Kale on the other hand at the very least, is comparable to SSJG Goku. Even if you consider Kale to be equivalent to SSJB Goku or Vegeta/ it still wouldn't make a difference as Caulifla is clearly no where close to Super Saiyan Blue.The next main factor is based on compatibility. The compatibility between Goku + Vegeta and Kale + Caulifla is more or less identical as in both cases, they belong to the same race and also belong to the same gender and there really isn't any reason to indicate Kefla is a much more compatible fusion in comparison to Vegito Also, I don't believe Kefla was ever strong enough to "Kill" UI Goku. This misconception stems from comments made by Krillin and Roshi. I believe these comments were made simply based off concern and that Roshi and Krillin clearly have no idea with regard to Goku's level of power. During Goku's second fight with Jiren, the latter uses a punch which Goku describes as the strongest attack he's ever seen and the power of which scares goku out of his SSJB form. Goku then proceeds to tank several of these punches one after the other in his base form. For future reference, I think it would be much safer to take Whis's statements at face value and possibly even the statements made by some of the Gods of Destruction as the level of power being utilized by Goku is far beyond something which Roshi & Krillin can comprehend.


Guild Mark is a kind of magic contract which is printed magically on each guild member. It helps in identifying a mage's guild.

Sometimes it can be used to perform group magic, for e.g., during the Tenrou Island Arc the members of Fairy Tail combined their power against Acnologia to defend against its attack.

Also, during the Grand Magic Tournament Mavis says only those having the Fairy Tail guild mark are able to see her.


Why do the resurrected bodies disappear in the impure world resurrection jutsu?

The souls can be freed from the Impure World Reincarnation if they are given closure. Experiencing a emotional change allows them to break out of the jutsu and the soul can ascend.

Orochimaru stated that Hashirama Senju could break the summoning jutsu if he wanted. I'm not sure why he chose not to during the fight with Hiruzen Sarutobi.


What technique is used to draw the lifelike backgrounds in the movie Ponyo?

Those are good old hand-drawn backgrounds. Here's a part of an interview with Suzuki Toshio, executive producer and former president of Studio Ghibli (emphasis mine):

  During this decade CG [computer graphics, - singerofthefall] came up and we realized that it enables us to
  make expressions richer when using it as supplement of regular cel [sic!]
  animation. On the other hand a new problem appeared. The progress of
  computing tech is so fast that it isn't easy to catch up. If a movie
  at one point is made by the highest tech, it will become outdated
  soon. There is one more point. We tried CG on Howl’s. For example, the
  legs of the castle were made by CG. However, it didn't seem very
  natural to me and I told Miyazaki that his skill was better than that
  of a computer. He accepted it and quit using CG after that. Hence the
  latter half of Howl’s doesn't include any CG. We now know CG has both
  its plus and minus sides. So the theme of this movie is as the story:
  simple. The visual effects are simple as well, while on the other hand
  it needs very hard working because of the drawing all it by hand.

It is also mentioned here:

  Miyazaki, whose films include "Princess Mononoke," "Howl's Moving
  Castle" and "My Neighbor Totoro," has used computer animation to
  embellish hand-drawn images. But before "Ponyo" went into production,
  he shut down the computer-graphics department at his Studio Ghibli,
  opting to work solely in hand-drawn images.

And finally, from this article:

  He insisted he still uses a pencil to draw his animated characters and
  backgrounds: “Currently computer graphics are used a great deal,” he
  noted, “but it can be excessive. I think [animation] needs the pencil,
  needs man’s hands drawing.”

I would recommend you to check some of Makoto Shinkai's works (if you haven't seen them before) the quality of the animation and backgrounds there is stunning.

Update:
There is an artbook called "The Art of Ponyo", which contains sketches hand-drawn by Miyazaki. I don't own it, but you can take a look at it's reviews here, here and here. The book includes both pencil and watercolor drawings, including characters, backgrounds, etc:

  Usually I use poster paint to create the backgrounds; then I color the
  base in a pale color, adding subtle hues and shading on top of it.
  This time, with Ponyo, I added things like tints or detailed
  expressions with colored pencil on top of what I drew with poster
  paint...


Why doesn't stabbing himself in the chest with Rukia's sword hurt Ichigo?

A zanpakuto is born out of a Shinigami's soul, and it obeys its master's will. When Rukia stabbed Ichigo with her zanpakuto, it was her will to transfer her powers to Ichigo, and hence Ichigo did not get hurt. If she had instead attacked Ichigo as an enemy, it would have hurt him.

Although this is not canonical, during the zanpakuto rebellion filler arc:

   Ichigo did get hurt when Sode no Shirayuki attacked him.


What chapters/episode are the Hore Herb & Horedan Flower in To LOVE-Ru?

The Hore Herb (ホレ草) is inferred in To LOVE-Ru volume 5 chapter 40 and the Horedan Flower (ホレダンの花) is from an original scenario on a booklet packaged with The First Edition of To LOVE-Ru Darkness 2nd BD/DVD.

In volume 5 chapter 40 of To LOVE-Ru (凶悪バレンタイン, A Brutal Valentine' Day),

   when Rito asked Mikado-sensei what happened to the students, she replied that she had told Lala to add an aphrodisiac from a plant from Planet Hore in her chocolate.

 御門: 催淫効果のあるホレ星の薬草を入れるように教えちゃったのよね

 (The original panel in Japanese)

Regarding The First Edition of To LOVE-Ru Darkness 2nd BD/DVD, this is the booklet.

However, there's no review/further information about the content of the booklet, aside from the Japanese Wikipedia putting a footnote for the source of Horedan Flower.


In "Weathering with You", what was Hina's real age?

From what I could understand, the wiki is not incorrect. You are misled by the fact that you isolated this sentence out of the whole article. The wiki provides the timeline where the events you cited (when Hodaka speaks to the detective) happened on August 2021. Hina was 15 years old at this time. During their altercation with the police, it would make sense that the police would say she's 15 since she is at that time. The wiki page you cited as incorrect states there that Hina's age is 18 as of 2024, which is 3 years since 2021.

Thus, the wiki page is just putting the latest age information from the movie timeline. It is not incorrect, the wiki just prefers to put the latest information depending on where the story has progressed or ended.

Both information from each websites are correct. You just need to understand that the other website you linked recounted the events on August 2021 (Hina is 15 years old at this time).


What happens to Demon Weapons who eat innocent souls?

"Who exactly is able to become a Kishin?"

It has been stated in both the anime and the manga that humans cannot consume souls, only demon weapons. Yet Don Al Capone, a human, was seen eating human souls in the anime. The result of his soul consumption turned him into a Kishin egg, the first step in  becoming a Kishin (to my understanding, first you become a Kishin egg, then a Demon Sword, then a Kishin).

However, that only applies in the anime. In the manga, there are no "Kishin eggs" only Shinigami's list of evil human souls that only Lord Death can distinguish to be evil.

If you are referring to the manga, I'd say only demon weapons can become Kishin except for Asura who consumed his weapon which was already a Demon Sword. By swallowing his weapon he gained the ability to eat souls.

However, in the anime humans can become Kishin eggs, but it seems unlikely that they would turn into "Demon Swords" because they are still humans--not Demon Weapons. On the contrary, Jack the Ripper's hands appear to be completely replaced with claws which, in some way, makes his body a weapon, so I suppose it's plausible.

"What would've happened if Asura's Demon Sword continued to eat human souls?"

If Asura continued to feed Vajra human souls, then Vajra would have been the one to become the Kishin, so long as he wasn't eaten first.

"Could a Demon Weapon become a Kishin without a meister?"

Demon Weapons are fully capable of consuming souls. And, assuming that they are able to kill humans on their own, yes, they could become a Kishin without a meister.

However, some weapons such as Nygus or Liz (or Patty but not together as a Weapon/Meister pair, individually) are probably unable to turn a specific part of their body into their weapon form that can be used effectively like Soul and Justin Law. Such people may be incapable of becoming a Kishin solo.


Why does Hayate have to cover herself when she enters and leaves Saint's Church?

It is probably customary, just like it is a custom in some Christian churches that a woman is expected to cover her head when entering a church building, especially during the services.

The Sankt Kaiser Church is modeled after Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular. It also has an autonomous area on Mid-Childa; compare the Vatican city state. (There even exists a counterpart of the Turin shroud.)


In the end of the last episode of RahXephon, does everyone retain their old memories?

There is no answer to your question provided in the canon. After the tuning of the world, we only see a very short scene (at the very end of the final episode) showing Quon as a baby. It's safe to say that she probably remembers nothing. Ayato and Haruka (offscreen mostly) discuss things that indicate they may have some awareness of what happened, but to what extent they may have retained memories of it is impossible to say. Nobody else is referenced, so it's anybody's guess as to what the rest of the world knows/thinks.

Sorry to be so inconclusive.


Yes, she can create any kind of weapon as long as she has an understanding of how something is made.

If you take a look at the wiki:

  Momo's Quirk gives her the ability to create any non-living material from her uncovered body through the molecular manipulation of her fat cells. As long as she has an understanding of how something is made, she can create it. However, it takes her a longer period of time (and more of her skin being exposed) to create large objects.

But yes, she has limits:

  She states that the more she eats, the more material she has to work with, so she needs considerable ingestion of food for her Quirk to be effective. This makes a possible danger that she would likely become extremely underweight if her Quirk is used too much.


What is the pendant at the end of the Black Clover's 9th opening?

First of all, SPOILER warning.
Now Yuno's pendant happens to be a magic stone. That pendant was the last magic stone the elves needed. So that's the reason it's shown at the opening.
MANGA SPOILER:
Yuno's relation with the pendant is explained in the manga. Yuno is actually the prince of the spade kingdom. His father is the overthrown king of the spade kingdom. A certain group attacked the king and his court so they can rule the kingdom. They wanted Yuno to be safe, so their butler put Yuno at the church, sacrificing his his own life. The magic stone belonged to the king, and that's the reason he gave it to Yuno.


Did Kakeru stay, leave to travel abroad, or is there really no closure by design, at the end of Glasslip?

I think he left because the tent is gone and i thought he went into his room not his tent after that touko heard kakeru called her name and they mentioned they want to meet each other so they can see the  same thing like calling each other name in the first and last episode


It was not officially said but it was implied that Charles had actually been using his Geass on Anya for years to erase her memories. If you remember Jeremiah activated his Geass Canceler right after Anya revealed that she had no memories. Presumably, the memory erasing was to prevent her from discovering Marianne's presence or some similar event. Throughout the series Charles is the only one was is able to erase or delete memories and he is also in a key position to be erasing them and he would want to keep Marianne existence hidden.


What is the in-universe reason for the name "Fairy Tail"?

From Makarov's history based on Wikia:

  The guild was named 'Fairy Tail' as the eternal mystery behind whether fairies had tails or not, or if they even existed, was like an eternal adventure.

So I guess the guild's (Fairy Tail's) purpose is to have a great adventure as if they are solving the mysteries about fairies.


He simply transformed back to base form. If he was knocked out or seriously injured he would start being a lot more serious as based on his past actions throughout dragon ball(z/super). Instead when he got back he didn't look injured at all.


How did Ryuk trick the King of Death Gods?

It looks like Ryuk tricked the king of Gods by pretending he had lost his Death Note.
Chapter 60
Sidoh appears for the first time. Sidoh says that he thinks it is about time to kill a human or two. This happens in 2009, 6 years after Ryuk had dropped his/Sidoh's Death Note on earth. From this we can see that Sidoh is a lazy and clumsy Death God, who did not realize he was missing his Death Note for at least 6 years. Which explains how Ryuk became the owner of this Death note. According to How to Use: XII, you lose ownership when the Death Note is stolen, unless it is retrieved within 490 days, which it wasn't.

If you lose the Death Note or have it stolen, you will lose its ownership unless you retrieve it within 490 days.

Chapter 65
Sidoh appears again. This time he realized he had lost his Death Note and had asked the King of Gods, whether he had seen his Death Note. At which the King replies that Ryuk had already taken that Death Note, pretending it to be his.

When I told the King of Kings what it looked like, he said, "Oh Ryuuk said it was the one he'd lost, and took it with him"

Conclusion
Ryuk was bored and didn't feel alive in the Death God world. But according to How to Use: XXIV, Death Gods are not allowed to stay in the human world for long periods of time. Therefore when Ryuk found Sidoh's Death Note, he saw a once in a lifetime opportunity to have some fun. He pretended to the Death God that the Death Note was his, so he could obtain ownership after 490 days and at that time the story starts.

The god of death must not stay in the human world without a particular reason. Conditions to stay in the human world are as follows:

When the god of death’s Death Note is handed to a human.


What is this song that plays in Hunter x Hunter?

The soundtrack isn't included in the original soundtrack CD, so it is unreleased, you can't search it by soundtrack name. This list shows you soundtracks included in every episodes. See ep. 37 because ep. 26 doesn't have a list (cuz it's a filler, doesn't include in either Blu-ray or DVD).


I found the answer. It seems like she appears have brownish-red eyes, but red by default according to most of the Zun works. Also, the brown eyes were actually a bit red, just that it mostly appeared brown if you don't look closely.


Where do the terms "Law of Wheels/Cycles" come from?

By interview of Gen Urobuchi, Law of Wheels/Cycles is a folklore talked between Magical Girls.

Following idea is my (and some Japanese anime fan's) guess.

Law of Wheels/Cycles is translated from "円環の理".
理 is principle or reasonable.
I think 円環 is circle or ring instead of Wheels/Cycle.

Madoka is officially written as "まどか", but most Japanese have a name in kanji.
By a naming dictionary,
most common kanji for the name "まどか" is "円"(circle).

By this two facts, I guess 円環 means Madoka.
In the rewritten world, most people forgot about Madoka, but Homura found some affected things from Madoka.
I guess the folklore was named Law of Wheels/Cycle because of such a effect.


I highly guess they made that up to convert this scene into a less violent type for the younger-age audience. In the actual manga, this was what it looked like:

You can see that the arm is chopped off but with no flower petals whatsoever and judging by the angle, the blood is ought to be seen. They probably did not want to reveal that part and instead took it from the side angle by "magically" making the arm disappear.


What order do the events from the "Inuyasha" series (movies included) occur in the timeline?

All movies can be seen after they meet Sango.  There is no chronological order to see the movies except you see them as how they got released.
You can watch the movies with out any problem in the Inuyasha chronological order.  I guess after they meet Sango and she becomes another member of their gang,  and before the Inuyasha final season since some characters die in the last season and few of those do comeout in the movies, all 4 movies can be seen between those episodes. They are not canon so they do not affect the Inuyasha main story or are even mentioned in the series.


What kind of glove is being shown in the following pictures, and why is it nearly always a knife user who wear this style of gloves?

These gloves are called finger loop sleeved gloves but sometimes also referred to as (long) Fingerless sleeved gloves.

They more often then not come with no holes at all, or with only a thumb hole. However the one in the picture is not unheard of either

The image below comes from an ebay search on sleeved gloves, similar results can be found on amazon as well.


Why are some scenes in shows on Funimation very dark or very oversaturated?

The short of it is that Funimation's video player is completely borked.

Here's the long of it: it has to do with 1.) differences in how televisions and computers handle RGB color; and 2.) Funimation being incompetent.

What's the RGB color model?

In the (8-bit) RGB color model, colors are represented as a 3-tuple of numbers ranging from 0 to 255, which represent the amount of red, green, and blue in the color. For example, (0, 0, 0) represents no red, green, or blue, and is thus black; (255, 0, 0) is 100% red, no green, no blue, and is thus a maximally-red red. (65, 105, 225) is a nice shade of royal blue.

Now, here's the thing: on a computer, your colors can have all three values in that 3-tuple be anywhere from 0 to 255, and your monitor will happily display whatever color that is. This is referred to as "RGB Full", or "0-255".

But on a television, your colors are expected to have all three values range from 16 to 235. Any values higher than 235 are treated as pure white (for that component of the 3-tuple); any values less than 16 are treated as pure black. This reduces the dynamic range of your video a little bit, but this doesn't really make too much of a difference. This scheme is referred to as "RGB Limited", or "16-235". This page has a nice overview of the subject: RGB: Full vs. Limited.

How does this impact anime?

So when anime airs in Japan, the broadcasters receive video that uses RGB Limited, and then they broadcast it to homes in Japan, who watch their anime on TVs that expect RGB Limited, and all is well, since the color range used by the broadcaster matches the color range expected by the receivers.

When a competent streamer like Crunchyroll receives RGB Limited video from the studios in Japan, they re-encode the video to use RGB Full, and then stream it to their client-side video players, which expect video that uses RGB Full. All is well, since the color range which Crunchyroll's video uses is the same as the color range that the Crunchyroll player expects.

Alas, Funimation is not competent. While I'm not privy to the internal workings of Funimation, the behavior their player exhibits is fully compatible with the following sequence of steps:

Funimation receives RGB Limited video from the studios in Japan (just like Crunchyroll does).
Funimation re-encodes their video to use RGB Full.
Funimation streams video in RGB Full to their client-side video players.
The Funimation video player is broken in some way that makes it think that the video it's receiving is still in RGB Limited, and thus converts any colors below 16 or above 235 to black or white, respectively.

What does this mean for the viewer?

Consider a dark scene, like the Arslan Senki one mentioned in the question.

When Funimation receives it from the broadcaster, there might be a lot of dark grays - let's say those are RGB (24, 24, 24), in RGB Limited [remember: in RGB Limited, (15, 15, 15) is 100% black].
Then, Funimation re-encodes to RGB Full, meaning that we have to scale the 16-235 range up to 0-255. This converts our (24, 24, 24) gray to roughly (9, 9, 9) gray.
When Funimation's video player receives the re-encoded video, it treats it as being in RGB Limited, and hence displays the (9, 9, 9) [which would be gray in RGB Full] as black.

See what happens? Dark colors get further desaturated to the point where they're pretty much just plain black. And on the other end of the spectrum, light colors get oversaturated, by the same mechanism.

And now you know.


The short answer is no. It is not based on the Islamic religion. It is based on a several middle eastern originating stories and historical characters.

The main characters names such as Ali Baba and Cassim are from 1001 Nights also known as the Arabian nights. Sinbad is also a character from a series of arabian stories. Solomon was a real king back in 970BC.

Basically what they have done is pulled in several popular names from Arab stories and literature and Middle Eastern history and mixed it in with their story. I'm too new to link more references, but you get the idea.


What is the software to create this type of anime?

Actually the software is mostly independent of the style. The style depent on how the artist is drawing it...

Anyway it is not always possible to redraw a image because the software is not supporting some functions! The style from the website you linked is pretty simple so you do not need something special.

It would be possible to draw the image above with the standard paint of windows except the cheeks (if you look closely a special brush was used to draw this). But this is absolutely not suggested if you really want to redraw it.

The image is very likly drawn with a tablet that supports pressure/speed recognition (recognizable at the fading outlines) and a software that supports paint application modes (recognizable at the shadows/lightning) and also layer support (the green/yellow background is one layer and the girl with the table and the chair is at least one layer).

Such things are mostly supported on a reasonably good painting software:

Adobe Photoshop (monthly payment)
GIMP (open source)
PaintTool SAI (pay once)
Anime/Manga Studio (pay once)
Paint.NET (free to use) I am not sure if everything is possible in this software I listed above!


Could the Cowboy Bebop movie be set a few years after the series?

According to the wiki.

  The later Cowboy Bebop movie Knockin' on Heaven's Door is said to be set between episodes 22 and 23 of the original TV series, but Shinichiro Watanabe will not rule out the idea that the movie is a dream.

So I would say its definitely not after the movie since the creators think it was either a dream or between the old episodes.


How is Madoka not a god anymore at the end of Rebellion?

Madoka is still a God, albeit maybe broken (i'll explain).

What Homura did was separate Maodka into 2, the God Madoka who is the Law of Cycles and the Human Madoka who existed before attaining her divinity which Homura separated from the Law of Cycles.

these however are both still the one Madoka as near the end (before Homura gives back Madoka's Ribbon) Madoka begins to remember that she was apart of something greater and her eyes change to the same colour as that of her god self. we see that Homura tries to stop Madoka in remembering because if Madoka remembers she'll return to being a God, removed from the world with no one knowing she ever existed.

Why is Madoka broken? Sayaka hints on this when Homura first created the new universe asking if Homura was planning on destroying the universe, this would indicate that the Law of Cycles is broken in some way. we're not sure in what way but given that the Law of Cycles purifies Puella Magi before becoming Witches we can assume that Witches can be born again, the threat on the Universe probably being how Madoka's own witch was capable of doing this so another witch can aswell.

Also if Madoka being able to exist wasn't such a great deal then why is Homura worried about Madoka regaining her memories as the Law of Cycles? this would indicate that in Homura's Universe the Law of Cycles still exists and needs the human Madoka back.

However we don't know the full extent of what Homura's Universe is like. all we know is that Homura had greater control (being able to seal Nagisa's and Sayaka's memories/witch powers), Witches can possible be born, Wraiths still exist and the Incubators are being forced to manage the curses of Earth. we don't know for certain what Sayaka meant by the universe being destroyed or why Madoka can not exists as a human with the memories of having been a god.


Why do anime and manga use the same faces?

This is a matter of artistic style and a branding strategy.

As a prime example: Studio Ghibli films are arguably the highest-quality anime produced. They painstakingly aim for realism in the movements of characters and objects and the backgrounds are lush and extremely detailed.

The balance of light and shadow accurately matches real life, and every cell is intentionally still hand-painted in the studio to preserve the high quality (Roger Ebert's interview with Miyazaki Hayao reports, "Miyazaki, who is suspicious of computers, personally draws thousands of frames by hand. 'We take [handmade] cell animation and digitize it in order to enrich the visual look, but everything starts with the human hand drawing. And the color standard is dictated by the background. We don't make up a color on the computer'").

Not only do the Japanese think so, but Studio Ghibli's work has been internationally acclaimed for its impeccable quality. Without any interest in a computer-generated template, Studio Ghibli uses the same face character designs over and over.

There are four main points:

Studio Ghibli doesn't do this because they are lazy, cutting corners in the production process, or not creative enough. Similar and even nearly-identical faces are not a result of mangaka and animators feeling limited by their mediums, as if a wider variation in facial design would be too hard for them to pull off, or not worth bothering with. Studio Ghibli has never been interested in trading a drop in quality in exchange for a time-saving measure. Though many anime studios now animate by computer, the tradition of crafting and amply using a trademark facial design for multiple characters predates the technological possibility of mixing-and-matching hairstyles onto a basic "doll" head, and did not arise in the art form in order to make that the standard once animation software could be invented.
The character designer is a prominent position in an anime's staff roster, as some character designers, such as Tadano Kazuko and Nobuteru Yuuki, draw such recognizable faces that the designer can be billed as a feature of the series. Character design is all done in pre-production (before the animators start painting cells), so increased/decreased variation in the character design does not create a large impact on the production schedule once animating begins, unless the character's costume is extremely detailed. Once the designs are established, the character designer draws official settei (設定, meaning "materials") sheets which show the character from various angles and includes notes for the animators about details not to overlook. These usually utilize very clean lines, though some character designers distribute sketchy ones. The settei are photocopied and each animator receives one copy for reference while animating, so that the character designer's intent is realized even across a large number of animator staff.

Each mangaka or character designer has a style that he/she personally likes. It may get honed over the course of the beginning of her career, but once he/she captures his/her Ideal, the artist becomes a pro at making it consistent. Unless it is a rare manga or anime in which that character designer does not intend to draw attractive-looking characters, it stands to reason that the design perceived as most attractive will be used time and again. This may mean the same face for nearly all female protagonists, the same face for nearly all male love interests, and the same face for amicable, friendly men. As an example, Takeuchi Naoko can be counted on for consistency.

Only one of these blue-haired girls is Sailor Mercury:

Chiba Mamoru (Tuxedo Kamen) and his dead ringers from other series:

Tenou Haruka (Sailor Uranus) and dopplegangers:

Branding (also known as Visual Identity, Brand Management, or Corporate Design), is very important in successful marketing. Mangaka and character designers who provide immediately recognizable faces grant fans the ability to know in an instant that this is a title they are interested in, and whenever they hear an announcement that the same creator is starting a new series, they can know exactly what to expect. Studio Ghibli has crafted simple character designs that strike a chord, make the protagonist easily likable, and garner sentimentality from the viewers. This strategy ensures repeat consumers more than if they changed up the character design from film to film. A good example of strong branding that evolved from the time of her debut is Yazawa Ai:

early work →

middle period →

distinct branding →

Although many mangaka and anime character designers do this type of branding very well, it should be noted that this is not specific to manga and anime, but can be seen in other mediums in other countries.

For example, even while Disney intentionally adds hints of traditional cultural art styles into its films (eye shapes for Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Megara), facial design for Disney protagonists is, for the most part, easily recognizable as being Disney, regardless of the ethnicity of the characters.

Disney women of color:


What is One Piece doing to keep it one chapter/episode?

The One Piece manga and anime aren't in a 1:1 ratio. The distance beetween them even shifts around. The second arc took place between the 8th and 24th chapters in the manga, while the same in the anime took place between the 4th and 8th episode.

The main reason why the anime is this slow are the fillers. They help the manga "catch a breath" and sneak in couple chapters. (side note: This is still no excuse for fillers in the middle of an arc though).

Oda likes to put in a few filler episodes after every arc or when there's a new movie out.

With these however, there's still a very big chance that the anime will eventually reach the manga. If this happens, there are 4 possibilities:

They stop airing one-piece for a year so the manga catches up.
They start airing the episodes every 2 weeks.
They do what Game of Thrones will do / did and continue with a separate story line.
They start writing the story for the anime and make the manga based on that.


Where can I read Sword Art Online (Novel)?

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sword_Art_Online_light_novels for the list of translated chapters/volumes and their ISBNs which you can use to find the stores which have them on:

http://www.isbnsearch.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Search-Books/b?node=241582011


According to this Anime News Network review, Badlands Rumble is canon and occurs "between episodes 9 and 11 (after Vash has met Wolfwood, but before Legato closes in)". See the second paragraph of the "Review" section. However, as they point out, the movie's style doesn't quite match that of the anime at that time, given the higher budget, so it may be better not to worry about when it occurs.

Edit: as atlantiza points out below, the author of this review doesn't cite a source. Until I can find a better source, you should take that with a grain of salt.


Did the beast titan walk all the way to the wall, and can the Beast Titan run?

The way he reached there was by help of cart titan.
He transformed to a human, and rode on the cart Titan... Since the cart Titan is specifically for walking large distances, and even if there is luggage.


Why are Yubaba's spirit employees froglike?

I don't think, that there is a reason given, but considering how much the bathhouse workers, which are spirits of various animals, despise humans, it is pretty obvious, why they don't want to look too much like humans.

Most male workers are frog spirits, most female workers are slugs. Lin is a weasel spirit and Kamaji is a spider spirit.

Since you were asking about Japanese mythology, the only folklore tale, which I could think of and find, which had men change into frogs and women change into slugs, is The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya. It is a pretty popular tale, which is also used as a source for other manga/anime(i.e. Naruto). But I don't know, if Miyazaki really used this tale as an inspiration for the workers in the bathhouse.


Here is what makes her special.
Unlike other vampire who run around just killing random people and do what the want, Seras works for Hellsing, they have a reputation for dealing with stuff like the supernatural. Not to mention (as far as we know) She was the first person to be turned by Alucard(if any other people have been turned they were never mention nor brought up in Hellsing's brief run).
He considers her a miracle cause she is most likely the only person who Alucard has never killed(via bites anyway). Or transformed, everyone else is good as dead.

She is special cause she is Alucard's pet, his side kick and almost as dangerous as he is.


There's no background information explaining how Tsunade became a medical-nin or how she learned medical ninjutsu. She didn't have a medical specialist mentor. Maybe she did have one, but there's no source or background information to prove it.

There is a possibility that she learned medical ninjutsu all by herself, as she often read other clans' medical books to solve particular problems.


Are the technologies in Serial Experiments Lain based on real world technologies?

Familiar technologies:

The Wired

The Wired is similar to The Internet and runs on IPv4.

Tachibana Industries

Based on their naming schemes and designs, they're most likely a reference to Apple Inc.

Alice's Navi:

Alice's Navi looks like the bubble iMac G3:

Lain's original Navi

Lain's original Navi is based off the 20th Anniversary Macintosh:

C Language

The Navi systems run C:

Common Lisp Language:

The Navi systems also run Common Lisp (A dialect of Lisp):

MIPS-ASM

During one of the scenes where Lain is on her Navi, Assembly code identified to be MIPS-ASM flashes across the screen.

Copland OS:

The OS that the Navis run, Copland OS is based on a failed Apple project from two years prior.

PHANTOMa

PHANTOMa is similar to dungeon games like Might and Magic and Dungeon Master.

HandiNAVI

The HandiNAVI is similar to the Apple Newton line.

Protocol Seven

Protocol Seven is Internet Protocol version 7 (drafted in 1993) an RFC that was never implemented in favour of Internet Protocol version 6, whose RFC was drafted in December 1998, after the series had finished.

Unfamiliar:

Psyche chip

In Layer 02, Lain gets a chip that lets her interact with the Wired without standard input devices. This is similar to the concept of Virtual Reality, yet is beyond today's technology.

Unavailable at time of production:

CU Mail

In Layer 11, Alice is in a videocall with Juri. This is similar to today's videocalling services like Skype and Google Hangouts.

Navi's speech recognition:

Lain is seen controlling her Navi via speech recognition. This is similar to today's Cortana and Siri.


In Saekano S2, why does Kasumigaoka and Sawamura leave Tomoya?

Originally; both were content just to be with Tomoya, but after being scouted out by professionals far more experienced than them (in the last arc); they realized that they had more to go in terms of experience/skill.

Adding to the fact that a rare opportunity to work in your desired field (being scouted no less) is just too good of an opportunity to pass on.

This is one of the reasons why I liked the second season, it's because the theme: "We can't stay the same forever" or that "Nothing lasts" was very well executed.

In summary: Katsumigaoka, and Sawamura felt that their skills won't improve any further by being with Tomoya, so they left in an effort to improve their skills so they can make even better games with Tomoya in the future.


Who typically owns the rights to an anime's soundtrack?

Here is what I found :

From what I understood, music industry in anime is not really transparent. It's difficult to find trustable sources.

Firstly I had the idea to ask to Thomas Romain and here is his answer (translation below the screen) :

The translation :
"Who usually owns the rights on anime OST in Japan ? (except OP & ED) the studio ? the composer ?"
"Certainly not the studio. I couldn't say. Probably the production committee + the composer."

Thomas Romain is a French animator which works in Japan since several years. He works for the studio Satelight. So even if he's not sure about who owns the rights, I think you can trust him when he says that studios do not own the rights.

I also made some resarch on Wikipedia :

  Japanese copyright laws (著作権法 Chosakukenhō?) consist of two parts:
  "Author's Rights" and "Neighbouring Rights." As such, "copyright" is a
  convenient collective term rather than a single concept in Japan.
  Japan was a party to the original Berne convention in 1899, so its
  copyright law is in sync with most international regulations.

They say the copyright law is in sync with most international regulations. There are 3 actors : the composer, the producers and the broadcasters (wire diffusers). In anime production like pointed before, producers and broadcasters seem to be the same.

About the rights of each of them :

  The composer has all the moral rights on his music. He has also
  economic rights, that is to say :  Reproduction: The author can
  control the reproduction of a work, including photography, recording,
  and downloading. Communication: The author can control how a work is
  to be transmitted, communicated, broadcast, performed, exhibited,
  etc., including how copies of the work are to be distributed.
  Adaptation: The author can control the adaptation of a work through
  translation, dramatization, cinematization, and the creation of
  derivative works in general.

And for the broadcasters (here the producers) :

  Broadcasters and wire diffusers have the transferable economic rights
  of fixation, reproduction, making available, and retransmission.
  Television broadcasters also have a right to control photography of
  their broadcasts.

If you want more details, here is my source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_Japan