I would assume the basis mangaka's use for witch incantations and the like would come from Mantras. sometimes they are called Arias or incantations but the basic principle is that the words that make them up hold value either to the actual spell or to the user.

In Soul Eater the witches use Arias which flow from their themes. For Blair, even though she's "a cat with a ridiculous amount of magic", her attacks are themed around Halloween and pumpkins are a symbol of Halloween eg. "Pumpkin Pumpkin, Halloween Cannon!".

For Medusa, her theme is Snakes, so when she says "Nake snake cobra cobubra", it's a reference to snakes ("Nake" and "cobubra" may be deliberate misspellings of Snake and cobra), and her Vector Magic seems to resemble snakes in how they move.

I haven't seen Negima however from nhahtdh's comment it would work out the same since the words "feels comfortable and natural to the user" the words would have a psychological effect on the caster. so most likely a new mage will have weaker/unstable spells in the beginning but as they practice they build up an Aria which will make them feel conformable.


With her clothes don't forget that Ouran High is a school for rich kids which one can assume their uniforms cost a bit aswell, probably tailor made for each individual from the finest material, something Haruhi just can't afford.

  Having gotten gum in her hair just before school begins, she cuts it short and being unable to afford the expensive Ouran uniform, she wears shapeless, baggy clothing. With her messily-styled hairdo, large glasses (which once belonged to her grandfather) and masculine clothing, she's thought to be male and Haruhi does nothing to discredit this idea.

Source Haruhi Fujioka - Apperance (1st Paragraph)

The glasses are because she does have bad eyesight and wears contacts throughout the series (as we see when Renge is making a film and Takami sees Haruhi shed a tear without needing eyedrops).

As for the reason why she "cross-dresses" before becoming a Host it's because she doesn't see it as cross-dressing because to her gender doesn't matter.

  Two characteristics that define Haruhi is her straightforward nature and belief that one's gender doesn't define one's choices

Source Haruhi Fujioka - Personality (First Paragraph)

This is also apparent when the Host Club go to the beach (a real one, not an Otori rehab clinic) and Haruhi stands up against a couple of guys who are harassing the girls. Haruhi doesn't see that her being a girl means anything different so with that mind set there is no male/female clothing, just clothing.

Of course one can also assume her transvestite father may have also left a bad impression of how girls/women really are.


Mecha anime where boy pilots small, somewhat feminine robot that can teleport to him

I think this might be Ninja Senshi Tobikage(Ninja Robot)p?

This might be the feminine robot or the one which has the capability to connect with the mind of the protoganist (Joe maya). As for the yellow robot , it maybe Golden lion

just a small figurine version to show the size difference and that they can combine together to form another robot form.IT was aired first in late 1980(1986 to be precise). But many people including me watched it in the late 90's .


An anime about toy dolls which can be controlled when the player wears a headset

This is Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer

  12-year-old Misaki Suzuhara has just gotten involved in Angelic Layer, a battling game using electronic dolls called angels. Even as a newbie, Misaki shows advanced skills as she meets new friends and enters Angelic Layer tournaments to fight the greatest Angelic Layer champions of the nation.

Below is are 2 pages from chapter 3 of the manga showing the head set and how the doll can be controlled when the player wears the headset:


What does Playmaker mean when he says "Arrowheads confirmed!"?

The number of arrow heads on a Link Monster corresponds to its link number, so I've always taken this as a declaration that Playmaker is about to perform a Link Summon and that he has the correct materials to do so. Other characters use the phrase as well. From what I've seen of VRAINS, Playmaker sometimes follows the "arrowheads confirmed" statement by saying what link materials he needs.

It is like in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal and onwards, how some characters when performing an Xyz Summon will say "I'll overlay level X monster1 and monster2 to build the overlay network". It could just be for our clarification and the duellists.


At the end of the series,

   he's bitten by Sunako, then becomes the only surviving day-walker, and then is seen smuggling Sunako away. Presumably, he'll accompany Sunako either in hiding or to find another village to turn into a Shiki village.


Why was the first episode of Osumatsu San removed from Crunchyroll?

The series has took liberties with the content included in the episode.

The entire first episode is about the sextuplets trying to decide what type of anime they want to be since they really don't think Showa era anime will work anymore. So they change their art style and they go through a number of gags parodying anime from recent years.

Within the first episode we see parodies from Attack On Titan, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and probably several others I didn't catch.

An example of such:

In Japan, the law sides heavily with the original creator of a work, and provides no legal protection for parody creators:

  The author shall have the right to preserve the integrity of his work and its title against any distortion, mutilation or other modification against his will.

Thus making the parodies shown in episode 1 a liability. Part of the joke of this episode is that they finally figure out what kind of anime they want to be 23 minutes in, when the episode ends, triggering a third animation style change.

Anime News Network has put out an article about the first episode. The episode was pulled from all streaming sites and a new first episode was animated and added to the home video release to replace it.


How do the magical girls match up to their prefecture?

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

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

Aichi: Rin Takehara & Subaru Amashita

Akita: Mai Inakura & Topiko Arube

Aomori: Neo Shiratori & Rui Shirakawagoshi

Chiba: Sen Hazakura

Ehime: Setoka Himeno

Fukui: Fuku Echizen

Fukuoka: Arisu Sugawara & Ume Hoshino

N/A ,

Fukushima: Momo Iwaki

Gifu: Hidari & Minori Ichiki, Shizuri Tsuzuku

 , N/A

Gunma: Tsutsuji Makai

Hiroshima: Akane Wajima & Miwa Kyuumon

 ,

Hokkaido: Komako Kitano & Yuki Miku

 ,

Hyogo:  Hotaru Kugui & Tamae Sakamoto

N/A ,

Ibaraki: Mio Kasama &  Nobara Yuuki

N/A ,

Ishikawa: Yuri Inuwashi

Iwate:  Meguru Hoshi &  Yuki

 ,

Kagawa: Kanoka Tamamo

Kagoshima:  Hayame Kaji

Kanagawa: Minamo Kousaka

Kochi: Monobe Tsurugi

Kumamoto: Renka Ariake

Kyoto: Mebuki Konoe & Miyako Saionji

 , N/A

Mie: Suzuka Kamiki

Miyagi: Naruko Aoba

Miyazaki:   Himuka Amano

Nagano: Shinanono Kawanakajima

Nagasaki: Ameko Kamishiro

Nara: Fuhiko Fujiwara

Niigata: Ichiko Echigo

Oita: Kemuri Midoriyu & Touka Taketori

 , N/A

Okayama: Suzume Momomura

Okinawa: Manami Hika & Menou Amakusa

 , N/A

Osaka: Sakura Midou & Yana Minase

 , N/A

Saga: Sayaka Yoshino

Saitama: Tamame Saijou

N/A

Shiga: Kinoe Oumi

Shimane: Chitose Kunibiki

Shizuoka: Matsuri Sengen

Tochigi: Hikari Tochinobi

Tokushima:  Narumi Sudachi  Hi-san & Sara Shirasagi

N/A ,

Tokyo:  Rin Kobari

Tottori: Chiyo Miasa

N/A

Toyama: Karin Hotarui

Wakayama: Kino Shirarahama

Yamagata: Yukana Akaba

Yamaguchi: Natsumi Manten

Yamanashi: Koi Momoyama

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


What is the name of this anime i watched in 2004?

Sounds like Brave Police J-Decker. Here's a summary from the wiki:

Brave Police J-Decker was the fifth anime of the Brave Series and aired in Japan during 1994 and 1995.
Brave Police J-Decker returns the series to a subtly lighter tone, focusing more on the concept of "robot as human-built AI construct" emphasized by the previous season's series, Brave Express Might Gaine. Grade schooler Yuuta Tominaga stumbles upon Deckerd, a humanoid robot under construction by the Japanese police, built to fight advanced forms of crime. Yuuta's constant contact with Deckerd gives the robot a "heart", or personality; when Yuuta is recruited as the "boss" of the "Brave Police" as a result, a true human/robot partnership occurs.

It's got mechas that are Police, Firetruck, and Ambulance themed.

Deckerd: The sentient police robot that transforms into a police cruiser.
Duke: A sentient robot that transforms into an ambulance.
Fire Roader: A massive firetruck that serves as Duke's support vehicle.

They combine in various combinations as well as the "Fire J-Decker Max Cannon Mode", a combination of all the vehicles.


Anime with special weapons and female characters fighting?

The anime that you are trying to find is most likely to be Kämpfer.

Plot:

  The plot revolves around Natsuru Senō, a normal high school boy with blue hair. One day he wakes up and found himself turned into a girl. A stuffed tiger "Harakiri Tora" comes to life and tells him that he has been chosen as one of the "Kämpfer", a female fighter. The Kämpfer are destined to fight with other Kämpfer. The story starts when he is attacked by an unknown girl who happens to also be a Kämpfer.


This site is a great for anime lyrics from pretty much any show you can think of.
Youtube is also a great source. I got a ton of results just by searching "girls dead monster english sub"
I'm not sure that you'll be able to find all of them, but stuff like This is all over youtube.


Paradise Kiss is actually set in the same universe as Gokinjo Monogatari, another work by Ai Yazawa. There are bonus sections in Paradise Kiss, but from what I can tell (at least from the first bonus section on chapter 10), it shares characters from Gokinjo Monogatari instead. According to Wikia, Paradise Kiss is actually the sequel to Gokinjo Monogatari.

Paradise Kiss and Nana were published by different companies, so it is likely that they are not allowed to have much cross-over between the two. As far as I can tell, there is no other cross-over between Paradise Kiss and Nana. The only example I can find of a possible cross-over (other than in the bonus sections), is from a random forum where a person mentions that a dress donated in Paradise Kiss is bought in Nana, but that hasn't been substantiated.


What does "shirobako" mean in terms of the anime?

Amusingly, there is an "anime collaboration cafe" in Tokyo called SHIROBACO (no direct relation to the anime Shirobako). They have a page explaining the origin of their name:

What's SHIROBACO
"SHIROBACO" = "white box"
In the anime industry, this refers to a video recording that is distributed to members of the production staff prior to airing. Though technology has advanced and it has become easier to receive video in digital formats, the video is still referred to as a "white box", just as it was when VHS was in use.

Here is an image of one such white box that I found on some dude's blog:

Sites on the internet are saying that Shirobako had a scene early on where optical discs (which would count as shirobako these days) were being distributed to the people at Musashino Animation. I assume they're right; I don't remember there being a scene like that off the top of my head, but that's probably because I was distracted by Miyamori being cute.

At the end of episode 12, once they have sent the last episode of Exodus to the station, NabeP brings a shirobako (in this case, a white optical disc) of the last episode to the show-completion party.


If the time you're referring to is from an episode not including the opening, that song starts when Naruto stops Orochimaru when he is about to attack Sasuke. It's Naruto Main Theme, from the first OST of Naruto.


Is the Accel World manga the whole story?

I thought I'd defer to someone which have read both but I think this can be estimated based on how much both medium covers the anime. According to Mangaupdates,

  the Accel World manga has 42 chapters and covers the anime from its first chapter up to Chapter 24

while

  the Accel World light novel covers the anime from the first volume up to Volume 4 Chapter 12.

Based on this, if we were to estimate that 4 light novel volumes is equivalent to 24 manga chapters, then the manga, approximately, is until around the 8th or 9th light novel volume. Since the light novel currently has 22 volumes, there's a lot of content the manga has not covered.

So if you want to stay up-to-date with the story, I suggest you read the light novel, which is also where the manga is based on.


List of manga chapters animated in Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties

The titles of the chapters are arrange in order of appearance in the anime. The anime also added some original content to create smooth transition between unrelated chapters.

In order not to confuse viewer (?), even though the anime draws material from various arcs in the manga, they are modified (sometimes heavily) to fit the pretext that all characters have known each other, and with all the details involving the plot (from where the chapter comes from) removed.

Chapter titles are taken from Wikipedia - List of Hayate the Combat Butler chapters. Title of 4-koma manga are taken from scanslation.

Episode 1

Hayate episode.

Chapter 303: "An Ordinary Life That KyoAni Wouldn't Turn Into an Anime" (京アニがアニメ化とかしない方の日常?)
Chapter 352: "Illness begins in the mind. That means you will get sick if you neglect your mind." (病は気から。気を抜くと病気になると言う意味)
4-koma ??
4-koma Colorful Chapter 24: Hermione and The Secret Clothes
Chapter 353: "He Caught A Cold Because He is No Longer An Idiot" (バカじゃなくなったからカゼをひく)

Episode 2

Nagi episode.

Chapter 197: "If You Feel Like You Have Become a Little Greater When You Wake Up Early in the Morning... Then You Are Imagining Things" (朝早く起きるとちょっと自分がエラくなったような気がする…という気のせい)
Chapter 174: "Even if the Law Says You Can't, You Still Want to See it" (法律でダメって言われても、観たい気持ちは消えない)
4-koma Colorful Chapter 16: Sanzenin Nagi's Less Than Beneficial Information
4-koma Colorful Chapter 5: The Wild Kingdom
Chapter 339: "A Single Yen Can Make One Laugh or Cry" (１円に泣いたり笑ったり)

Episode 3

A-tan (as Alice) episode.

Chapter 306: "It's an Option That Comes Default on Little Blonde Girls" (金髪幼女にはデフォルトでついてるオプションです)
Chapter 316: "Don't Move Another Step" (もうお前一歩も動くな)
Chapter 317: "If it's Important, Keep it with you" (大事なら持っとけ)
4-koma ??
4-koma ??
Chapter 318: "Sign"
Chapter 346: "And The Butler Made Them" (そして執事はそれを作ったとさ)

Episode 4

Isumi and Sakuya episode.

Chapter 341: "A Maid Will Not Be Found For Isumu-San Until 23rd Century" (伊澄さんのメイドさんは２３世紀まで見つからない)
4-koma Volume 29 (Front): Hi-tech Isumi-san ~Eps. Smartphone~
4-koma Volume 29 (Back): Hi-tech Isumi-san ~Eps. App~
Chapter 175: "You Bump Into Everyone You Need in Life" (人生に必要な人とはだいたい出会うようにできている)
Chapter 309: "The Honorific "Onee-san" is Filled With Romance" (敬語お姉さんが恋愛で満たされて)

Episode 5

Hinagiku episode. The anime didn't follow chapter 340 too closely (only around 50% of manga stays the same in the anime), but it makes the story better. For chapter 220 to 223, which occurs during the Golden Week in the manga, all the inheritance related stuffs are excluded in the anime.

(Up to just before the end of) Chapter 340: "Hinagiku-San's Wish Does Not Seem As If It Will Be Granted Even If She Uses The Holy Grail" (ヒナギクさんの願いは聖杯を使っても叶いそうにない)
(Start from near the end of) Chapter 220: "The Time to Forget Your Troubles Has Come. The Memory Mechanism Is Still Scientifically Unclear" (トラブルは忘れた頃にやってくる)
Chapter 221: "Because You Go to the Beach, There's Something You Have to Do" (ビーチに来たからにはやる事がある)
4-koma Volumn 12 (Front): Into the Dream, Into the Dream
4-koma Volumn 12 (Back): Don't you want to go?
Chapter 222: "Love Makes People Run in Odd Directions And Then They Want to Die" (恋は人をおかしな方向に走らせる。後で死にたくなる)
Chapter 223: "Winning And Happiness Are Equal But Not Linked" (勝つことと幸せはイコールで結ばれない)
(The rest of chapter 340)

Episode 6

Izumi, Miki, Risa (Idiot Trio) episode.

Chapter 356: "Even with Three Heads, 'Hmm...I Dunno' is all the Three can Come up with" ( 三人寄ってもう～ん…どうなんやろ…って三人で悩むだけ)
Chapter 373: Pros Are Amazing In My Field
4-koma Volume 28 (Front): If you can't concentrate, you can't do anything.
4-koma Volume 28 (Back): With the ability to concentrate, you can do anything.
Chapter 308: "Carelessness Means Acting Carelessly in Careless Moments" (うっかりは、うっかりしている時にうっかりする)
(Plus the first page of chapter 309, which is animated after the ED sequence).

Chapter 6

Ruka episode. There are quite a number of differences between anime and manga in the second part. In the manga, chapter 292 to 299 covers the first meeting between Hayate and Ruka, and the first meeting between Nagi and Ruka. These chapter also involves Housen Yozora (法仙 夜空) chasing after Hayate to destroy a fragment of photo that Hayate is holding on to. In the anime, which animates content of chapter 298 and first half of chapter 299, the story has been modified under the pretext that Ruka has known everyone else in the apartment, and Housen Yozora is replaced by Gilbert Kent.

Chapter 357: "Cycling Yahoo!" (サイクリング ヤッホー)
Chapter 358: "To be Blunt, I am an S at the Core. Also, Never do what I do!!" (ぶっちゃけ根はどSなのです。あと絶対マネしちゃダメ！！)
4-koma ??
4-koma ??
Chapter 298: "Idol Master" (アイドルマスター?)
(First half of) Chapter 299: "Don't Stop! Dreamer on the Road!"


Is there any proof that players really die in real life after dying in SAO?

tl;dr: Players did indeed die from having their brains fried. Otherwise, it would be odd for Kirito to never be told and to make statements suggesting that he doesn't know.
A general meta-observation
Firstly, I should note that it would be very odd story-telling if we (and Kirito) were deceived about players having their brains fried and never were told that this was actually a lie, given how the "real death" factor was so intrinsic to the set-up of SAO. It's normal for stories to have plotholes or to leave some things unexplained; this, however, is more an issue of some sort of Occam's Razor for stories.
Observations from SAO
Halfway through the first episode, Akihiko states that there is no logout option, and that removing the NerveGear will result in death. He then pulls up a bunch of news articles and footage about the deaths that have already occurred. However, perhaps Akihiko is just bluffing and making fake news articles.
If Akihiko were lying, then it wouldn't make sense for the players to be trapped so long, as suggested by David Mulder; people outside could just remove players' headsets. Perhaps people outside wanted to play safe after the announcement (despite the reduced credibility, since the 213 who supposedly died would still be alive) or heard a different version (e.g. "After this announcement, everyone who tries to exit the game environment will be killed."). However, this can only be the case if they had cause to believe that NerveGear was capable of killing people.
Moreover, as suggested by Killua, these scenarios would seem inconsistent with Akihiko's conversation with Kirito after SAO is cleared:

Akihiko: Just a moment ago, the remaining 6,147 players were logged out.
Kirito: What about the ones who died? What about the 4,000 who died?
Akihiko: Their minds will never return. In every world, once you die, you're gone.

By this point in time, Akihiko sounds relatively forthright, and it would be really strange for him to omit information at this point if Kirito is going to find out the truth once he logs out anyway. However, it's still possible these people instead all died "from malnutrition or the extreme stress of thinking it's the real deal". (This still leaves the 213 who presumably would not have actually died at the beginning. Again, it would be very odd story-telling if they didn't actually die and we never knew.)
It's thus worthwhile to look at Kirito's interactions after he leaves SAO.
Post-SAO, in-universe evidence
In the first episode of the second season (about 13 minutes in), Kirito questions the government official who approaches him if he was sure that the players of Gun Gale Online have really been dying of heart attacks after being shot in virtual reality-like circumstances. He wonders if the GGO cases are similar to what happened in SAO:

Kirito: You're sure it was heart failure, right?
Kikuoka: What do you mean?
Kirito: [flashback to an image of the NerveGear headset] There wasn't any brain damage?

This suggests that players could indeed die from brain damage after being killed (or having had their headsets removed) in SAO. (Kikuoka even later mentions NerveGear's ability to destroy one's brain via its microwaves.)
Moreover, it probably was the case that players did die from this mechanism. If not, it would be odd for Kirito to not be aware of the fact, or for Kikuoka to not correct him (e.g. "Sure, NerveGear is physically capable of destroying brains, but that's not what happened in SAO."), when this scene takes place more than a year after SAO was cleared. (SAO is cleared in November; the GGO arc starts in December of the next year.)
After all, Kikuoka would presumably be aware of such cases as a government official involved with the SAO case. Similarly, Kirito was involved in the investigation---by the GGO arc he has told Kikuoka everything he knew about the SAO incident---so it would be expected that he would know of such specifics a year after the case.


Why was it so easy to defeat Toneri, Kinshiki and Momoshiki?

Naruto and Sasuke during Boruto saga are way stronger than the version in the war arc, so any actual threat that is Kaguya or even just slightly above her is not gonna do much against them and did so because they were nerfed in the movie.

As for how Boruto's rasengan finished the enemy is because Naruto used his chakra to charge it and you can expect that his rasengan is going to be over powered.

These are reasons I believe so, as you can't expect them to be same level when they fought Kaguya as they did not have experience with their power and it's already shown in this series and many other that you become more powerful as you grow older until certain age.


Who are all members of Namikaze clan and is Namikaze clan a descendant of Senju clan?

Namikaze isn't a descendant of Senju. I think it would have been mentioned in the past if it was, just like how it was stated Uzumaki is related to Senju. The past references has been brought up so many times with Kushina having Senju DNA, and therefore Naruto has it too.

As for all the members, we only know of Minato. No other Namikaze member was revealed in the manga. I haven't watched all the fillers, but there might have been another Namikaze person in there.


When did Itachi plant his crow inside Naruto?

Itachi stores the crow inside Naruto in chapter 403, during the Itachi Pursuit arc.
Itachi used a shadow clone to talk to Naruto, who wasn't willing to listen. As such, Itachi was forced to use a Genjutsu in order to make him listen.

He uses a Genjutsu as a distraction:

And then the crow is stored (physically, I think) inside of Naruto:

This is corroborated by this Naruto Wiki page.


His quirk allows him to shape matter to his own extent just by touching the area. He touches the other person's body and it explodes than it comes back and merges into his own. He all he needs to do this is to get the hands on the said person.


Has super saiyan kaioken ever been animated in Dragon Ball Heroes?

Dragon Ball Heroes is an independent series with its own story arcs as well as original characters. It also uses both the plot and characters from both Dragon Ball Super and GT to fuel its storyline, but it does not affect either of the series. So therefor, no. This is proven at this Link.


What is the name of the fast organ song in Parasyte -the maxim- ep17 at 6:35?

The song you are looking for would be Full Moon

As Pratyush mentions in the comments, it is available on special track cd.


how close was kabuto to achieving the power of sage of six paths?

There's no measured way of saying this, but considering how poorly his control over sage chakra was, because of how much his appearance changed, I guess he was just being arrogant. He wasn't even truly capable of absorbing natural energy, since he implanted himself with cells from Jūgo to absorb natural energy constantly. He also wasn't aware, at that time, of how strong Naruto had become and what his power consisted of, so in summary, he was not the closest thing to the Sage of Six Paths nor he was close to anything like it.


Why are wolves associated with regeneration?

In Ban's case, the fox is linked to his sin of greed, because he drank the fountain of youth. But I guess in Japan, their ability to heal comes from the Fox Demons called Kitsune which have a variety of powers.

And I would guess the wolves' healing comes from the Werewolves Tales where they would heal any wound immediately if it wasn't inflicted with a silver weapon.


Does Super Dragon Ball Heroes Universe creation arc have a manga version?

I found.    https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Dragon_Ball_Heroes:_Universe_Mission_(manga)   there and random chapters at other sites. Im not thinking its official, but seems popular


Why is katakana used for the onomatopoeia/sounds in the background?

Using onomatopoeia to stress sound effects in literature is not manga-specific or even comic-specific. For example, 1966's Batman TV series or even Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents had readily available audio to match their onscreen text with emphasis. But several cultures have their own origins. Tracing back when this particular artistic/literary device caught on would be pretty exhaustive, if even credible at all.


How did Toshinou Kyouko's personality change?

I believe that because Kyouko was being bullied, she became shy and wary of people and her true personality was being suppressed.

Once Akari came to stop the bullying, Kyouko would have been able to have more confidence in herself, letting her express herself more, becoming the Kyouko we know and love today.

As for an official statement, I can't seem to find one on the author's Twitter account, or from googling - but I'm fairly certain it would be a similar answer to the one above.


Can a mangekyou sharingan user awake Eternel Mangekyou, by only transplanting a pair of Normal Sharingans, or does it need a pair of MS?

No, they cannot. It is in the manga and in the wikia.

  ...usage of the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities can cause a great strain on the user...it can cause considerable damage to their being, leaving the body in agonising pain and causing deterioration to their vision until eventually over-usage leaves them blind. Their vision can be restored by transplanting the Mangekyō Sharingan of an Uchiha with strong blood ties — ideally a sibling — thus awakening the so-called Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan

As far as I know, there have been no cases where Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan awakened simply by transplanting 'normal' Sharingan eyes unto a Mangekyo Sharingan user.


Why don't people utilize the Rinnegan to its fullest?

We can be fairly certain Madara is just too strong without using the Rinnegan at all. Although Madara's strength has never been explicitly discussed, we can infer it indirectly through other plot points. Madara fought on par with the Senju Hashirama, who used to have the 9 bijuu as his "pets". Other badass characters have had a lot of trouble dealing with just one.

   It is heavily implied that the battle happened before Madara activated his Rinnegan. During the fourth ninja world war, Madara effortlessly mopped the floor with the five Kages. If Madara did use the Rinnegan, Kishimoto-sensei may have chosen to skip it to retain suspense over its powers.

Obito has only implanted the Rinnegan (and not "earned" it, like Madara). Maybe overusing Rinnegan drains his chakra rapidly (just like overusing Sharingan does to Kakashi), and hence he chose to not use it fully. Alternately, Kishimoto-sensei wants to save it for the climax.

Nagato being able to use it could be because:

   Being from the Uzumaki clan, he naturally has a huge amount of chakra. Madara likely chose him to receive the Rinnegan for that reason. Madara's plan involved getting himself revived through Rinne Tensei. He had to pick someone who could reliably use the Outer Path without passing out.

Another key difference between the three:

   Nagato received his Rinnegan when he was a child, and must have learnt to use the full powers of Rinnegan through years of practice. Madara awakened the Rinnegan shortly before he died, and Obito has had it for only a few weeks at most.


There was an early claim that there is some magic tree that grows a Devil Fruit every thousand years or so.  Similarly, there are stories about the "Sea Devil" being the origin of the powers.  There is no real justification for these and they can be taken as in-story myths.  We essentially don't know if they are true or not.

What we do know is that when a Devil Fruit user dies, its ability is transferred to a regular fruit in close proximity. This is shown when the Salamander Fruit eaten by Smiley regenerated into an apple as it died. This regeneration cycle explains why all these fruits are scattered everywhere and how they continue to exist.

This does not explain where the fruits came from however.  It seems from out-of-universe statements by Oda that Vegapunk will soon (if not already I'm not up to date on the manga) explain the origins of the fruit.  This and the existence of artificial Devil Fruits indicate that more in depth knowledge about their origin and nature is known among the scientific elite of the New World.  This information has not, however, been revealed to the reader.

For the specific case of the Fire-Fire Devil Fruit: when Ace died, another piece of fruit of the same kind somewhere near Marine HQ became a Fire-Fire Devil Fruit.  This was eventually obtained by Doflamingo and brought to Dressrosa as a means to flush out Luffy.  As the military was in control of the battleground, I would expect they had fruit available to absorb the powers and gave this one to Doflamingo as part of the plan.  Alternatively Doflamingo or someone else could have carried fruit with them during the battle to collect the powers themselves.


Is Alluka a biological offspring of the Zoldyks?

There's no information from the manga yet which can deny Alluka as a biological offspring of the Zoldycks. However, I'm not sure that them saying they don't know where Alluka came from would mean that Alluka is not blood-related. I still think they're referring to the Alluka-possessed-by-Nanika, not to Alluka alone.

I am going to cite this image from Volume 33. Here, it's showed that Nanika is from the Dark Continent:

As far as I know, this information is not yet revealed to the characters. 'The truth is we don't know...where he came from.' Given the little knowledge there is about the Dark Continent and the fact that they still don't know that Nanika is something from the Dark Continent, it would make sense that the Zoldycks would make this statement. They thought Alluka was their child before the first incident or sign that he/she is possessed. They probably became unsure who Alluka really is after they found out about Nanika since their previous children and even their ancestors did not manifest something similar.

To conclude, I think Alluka is a Zoldyck, unless future manga information reveals otherwise. What happened was Nanika possessed Alluka when he/she was still a child, making the Zoldycks doubt that he's/she's family. How Nanika came to Alluka all the way from the Dark Continent is currently unknown.


Are there any prominent non-fan dubs of "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" in other languages?

There's also an OP sung in Mandarin, but it looks like my old link to that has been removed from Youtube by Bandai.

There's this Spanish Full Opening that I believe is sung by Jessica Toledo.

And this appears to be (the song at least) a Korean version of the short OP.


What exactly does "best girl" mean and where did the expression originate from?

When I first sat down to investigate "best girl", I was pretty sure that this was a fairly old lexical item - not pre-internet, by any means, but probably c. 2003-04. Alas, I had fallen victim to internet time dilation yet again.

Having looked into it, I now claim that the idea of "best girl" as we now conceive of it only started to come into being quite a bit more recently - I would generously estimate c. 2010, or maybe a little bit earlier.

Of course, the idea of a "girl" being the "best" is as old as time. What we're really interested in is the idea of "best girl" as a distinct lexical item; as part of a particular grammatically-unusual construction, in which "best girl" is not accompanied by the definite article, often in a clipped utterance; as something that can be snowcloned (as it has been, to give us "worst girl" and "best boy"); as something so argot-y that it provokes confusion from people not familiar with the jargon of the internet anime subculture. In other words we're talking about things that are archetypically like "Ritsu is best girl".

I decided to take a look through the /a/ archiver - it only has posts from Feb 2008 forward (and I think its coverage is a bit spotty for 2008), but that seems to be good enough for our purposes. Why? Well, look at the search results for "is best girl" - there are about a hundred results between Feb 2008 and Jul 2010 (and thus almost certainly very few before Feb 2008), but a further 37,000 between Jul 2010 and now (Feb 2015). Some of that is certainly attributable to an increase in users on /a/ (see the bottom graph here for an idea of how much growth we're talking about - roughly a factor of three from trough to peak), but I think that far more of it has to do with the "meme" of "best girl" taking hold. (Implicit here is my claim that the idea of "best girl" as we now conceive of it is directly correlated to the usage of "best girl" without a definite article.)

Another good proxy for the memeticization of "best girl" is the growing use of "best girl thread" on /a/. Here, we see 25 posts from Feb 2008 to Apr 2011, and then a further 2800 from Apr 2011 to now (Feb 2015). Here, I think we can identify a fairly discrete changeover around mid-2011, when the phrase "best girl thread" began to sharply rise in popularity.

  Beside that, where did the expression (or meme, I'm not sure it is considered a meme) originate from?

I am fairly confident that we can't pinpoint a specific origin for the term - as I mentioned above, the idea of a "girl" being the "best" is obvious and needs no explanation. The transition from discussion of "girls who are the best" to discussion of "best girls" as a crystallized notion was almost surely slow and gradual.

I should add: while I don't think we can pinpoint an origin for the term, I'm pretty sure that it was popularized on /a/ before spreading to the wider internet in the past two years or so. As the classic Human Centipede-inspired graphic suggests, a large fraction of anime-related memetic content (that isn't ganked directly from Japan) does come from 4chan.

  Is this an expression that is used in Japan too, or is it a Western thing?

I'm by no means a 2ch memelord, but I don't know of any direct equivalent in Japan. Even if there is one, English "best girl" is assuredly an independent invention, and isn't inspired by the Japanese equivalent.


Why is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg both a Dead Apostle Ancestor and Wizard Marshall of the Mage's Association?

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is a Dead Apostle because he fought Brunestud of the Crimson Moon who created the True Ancestors who in turn created the Dead Apostles.

Brunestud is the Ultimate one of The Moon and this one of the Aristoteles called Type-Moon. In the beginning over four thousand years ago he responded to a call from the collective will of the Earth, Gaia, to protect it from human corruption and in exchange Brunestud was allowed to live on the earth.

Brunestud created the True Ancestors based off his image as a natural protective system for the planet and to return it to it's natural state which is why Alaya does not act against them (remember that Alaya is the collective will of humanity which will deploy Counter Guardians to save humanity from destruction). after this he went around challenging other being on Earth and amassing followers in an attempt to eventually take the Earth as his own kingdom.

he eventually attracted the attention of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg who was already a Sorcerer wielding the Second Magic. in a battle which Kiniko Nasu likes to keep to himself the 2 fought.

  He was eventually defeated by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg wielding Second Magic. He tried to pull the moon to collide with Earth but it was pushed back by Zelretch's magic, so it was unable to affect the planet. With all of his power, Brunestud did not foresee being defeated by a human, but lost to Zelretch due to being too late in understanding the power of Magic, "a rule outside of the rules." Before his defeat, he sucked Zelretch's blood converting him into a vampire.

Source: Crimson Moon - Profile - Background (2nd paragraph)

  They're also generally hostile to both The Church and the Mage's Association. Furthermore, Dead Apostles in general have proven to be extremely antagonistic towards humans.

you are right that there is hostility it should be pointed out that the Association wont do anything unless the Dead Apostles risk exposing Magic to the public (as been their stance with their own Magi who can do the most inhuman thing so long as it's not publicly exposing magic) and given what's been happening with Aylesbury the Chruch, knowing full well what the Aylesbury Valesti is for, isn't going to make a movie

  Due to the development being funded and developed entirely by human means, the Mage's Association and Church are unable to intervene until the advent of the ritual.

Source: The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors - Attributes - Aylesbury Valesti (2nd Paragraph)

Obviously though when the ritual starts thew Church will probably get involved and if it's too public that's when the Association will get involved.

as for being antagonistic to humans, not entirely so. for the most part "human" in this case is anyone not either in the Church or a Magus. The Church hunts them down because they don't see them as Human and if they aren't human and can't be controlled they should be destroyed. Also within the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors there are some who weren't even human to begin with and their origins explain why they would be against humans

Primate Murder is a Beast of Gaia and has the absolute authority to kill humans. it's counted as a Dead Apostle Ancestor because it's under Altrouge Brunestud's control and started to drink blood like it's mistress.
ORT is one of the Aristoteles like Brunestud of the Crimson Moon but he is Type-Mercury having crashed on Earth 5000 years before the Common Era in preparation for the event that would occur in Notes. it's counted in the number of the Dead Apostle Ancestors because it was discovered to have vampric abilities

though there are some Dead Apostle Ancestors who aren't our enemies in a way.

Merem Solomon was turned by Brunestud of the Crimson Moon himself back in the day yet he and Merem feels an immense sense of gratitude towards him since Brunestud actually helped him by turning him into a Dead Apostle, of which he has directed his gratitude towards his golden princess, Arcuied, since Brunestud destruction. also Merem like treasures and joined the Church to access their relics and became the fith out of eight executioner of the Burial Agency and thus hunts vampires. the Church knows he's a Dead Apostle however he is "a non-human who can be controlled", so to speak
Gransurg Blackmore was a Magus who fought and was defeated by Brunestud but survived. Brunestud made him his personal Magus and Gransurg became a Dead Apostle on his own though his magical research. after Brunestud's destruction he's worked with the Association like how Merem works with the Church though at one point the church had sealed him but we was able to escape. unlike Merem he only kills other Dead Apostles if they stray from the teachings or wishes of Brunestud.

while Dead Apostle Ancestors, Merem and Gransurg would oppose Altrouge who generally leads the rest. both worship Crimson Moon as a god and see Altrouge was an impostor and that Arcuied is the true reincarnation of Crimson Moon with Merem even helping her out at times (though Arcuied doesn't know how to respond to his unconditional affection). one of them even hates Altrouge for taking Arcuied's hair (i think Merem).

we also know that Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is also Dead Apostle and he's willing to help out Magi having appeared during Rin Tohsaka's trail at the end of Heaven's Feel and created Magical Ruby and Saphire for Rin and Luvia.

As for Zelretch's allegiance, it's stated on the wikia that it's to humanity and the nearly extinct race of True Ancestors. while his friend Caubac Alcatraz is a Dead Apostle Ancestor (who like Gransurg became one though his own research rather than being turned) they were probably friends before hand and the 2 were at Arcuied's Coming of Age Ceremony (only Zelretch and Arcuied is shown).

Though whether he'll fight against Aylesbury Valesti is yet to be seen. his wiki page does state that he is

  surprisingly meddlesome in worldly affairs

and given that in Fate/Extra the state of the world is suspected to have been the Aylesbury Valesti occurring earlier it might be bad enough for him to interfere. he could also just have the same sorta reason as Merem and Gransurg to fight it just because Altrouge is involved because he acts as a surrogate grandfather to Arcuied though it's not stated what his opinion on Altrouge is


How was Light able to maintain his academic performance?

Light was the top in his class is academics and also in tennis, which just goes to characterization to express the point that he is the all around A+ student. On top of all that Light also works as a civilian consultant for the police and he employs his amazing logical deductions to help him solve crimes. Again this goes to show that Light is extremely intelligent, very hard working, and can multi-task exceptionally well. There is a scene where L has Light's room bugged and Light is using one hand to do his math home-work while his other hand writes names to kill people, as if it were nothing. Light was able to keep up his grades because the tests and work he was doing was beneath his intelligence and might as well have been "what is 2+2" because that's how easy Light's classes were to him.

Over time Light starts to go psychotic as the stress finally gets to him and he's trying to get all suspicion away from him as he tries to kill L and I believe that's because Light has never really been challenged or stressed before; for the first time ever Light is having a hard time controlling the situation and at first he enjoys having to actually try but as the series progresses he fades into madness as he can't control the situation and he refuses to accept that as an answer because he is used to being on top of everything and never getting over-whelmed.


Why does Madara appear unhurt despite being covered in wounds?

From chapter 659,

Madara mentions that due to the healing powers of Hashirama's he is able to recover must faster and is taking close to no damage.
So it is not just just Hashirama's senjutsu, but also his healing powers that have made Madara virtually invicible.
Also from the same chapter:

It is not that he is not being damaged, but that his healing is so fast that all damage seems to have no effect at all.


What is the effect of Piety commandement?

As read on the wiki article on commandments

  Piety「敬神 Keishin」
  Anyone who shows their back to the wielder will become an obedient slave of the Demon King and by extension, his representative and youngest son, Zeldris.


Difference between manga and light novel written by same author

A manga is a comic book or graphic novel - a story told in sequential art.
A light novel is a prose book with some illustrations. Called "light" because the content tends to be easy-reading and the size is small and portable.

I googled it myself and the first search result was this below:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-manga-and-light-novels
And honestly you won't find a better answer to this. Question is pretty much the same as well. You just added the same author clause.

By looking at the timing of manga and light novel(almost the same) i can just say that, either he wasn't ready for someone to work on his creation or he wanted to expand his fanbase while he was onboard to earn money or fame or even just the simple logic "like providing fans his content as per his vision". He, decided to write both novel and manga.


Why are animals devil fruits not Paramecia?

Because that is simply how they are defined?
Zoan fruits give the specific ability

to transform into an animal, as well as transform into a hybrid form of their own species and the species the fruit allows them to transform into.

Wiki
Paramecia on the other hand are simply defined as all those powers that are not animal transformation or elemental transformation.
Why the Mochi Mochi no Mi is classified as (special) Paramecia and not Logia is currently unclear.
It was actually first stated to be a Logia.

In the Magazine release of the chapter, it was stated to be a Logia, but retconned in the Volume release as a "special Paramecia".

Wiki
Functionally it is basically the same as a Logia. A possible explanation for the different classification could be that Mochi is manmade and not a natural element.


What's Arthur power level when he uses the Excalibur sword?

Excalibur is the legendary sword believed to hold ultimate power, which can only be wielded fully by its true master. Whomever wields this sword will becomes near invincible. However, those who use it and are not destined for it, will be corrupted and ultimately destroyed by an all-consuming lust for power.

In the legends, Exalibur was given to King Arthur by the first Lady of the Lake. After the death of King Arthur, Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the lake. A hand then rose from the water and took it into the lake. Another legend says Excalibur was drawn from a stone by Arthur to prove his royalty.


Why is Yuki surprised by the Level E vampires?

It's apart of Yuuki's denial that Vampires can be bad, don't forget her earliest memory if that of her idolized Kaname soaked in blood yet she doesn't fear him (at first). Also as a Guardian all the other Vampires she has met are in the Night Class and none of them are like the Level E she encounters.

We see later during the the first part of the series Yuuki trying to deny that the Vampires of the Night Class, particularly Kaname, and the Level E's are the same blood thirsty creatures but Kaname tries to make Yuuki understand they are the same by letting her see him drink Ruka's blood being fully aware Yuuki was peaking though the door. he did this knowing

   that if Yuuki is afraid of Vampires she wont want to return to being one

i also suspect that when Yuuki went into the Night Class Dorm during the day and almost had her blood taken by Aidou Kaname was well aware the moment Yuuki entered but also knew Aidou was awake. making sure to stop Aidou at the right moment


Is Garp the only Vice Admiral to have a customized ship?

So far this is the only ship which has been shown to be customized to have the customized figurehead of the dog.

  It first appeared in Chapter 91 and Episode 68. It was last seen parked outside Dawn Island, but since Garp resigned from the Marines, it is unknown if he still has access to the ship.

Hina's ship on the other hand is a similar to a normal Marine Ship, albeit with an unusual coloring. It first appeared in Chapter 171 and Episode 127.

Source: One Piece Wikia: Marine Ships


Is there any relation between the Bar name 'Quindecim' and the Bartender 'Decim'?

The former owner of Quindecim was 'Quin'

She was then replaced by 'Decim'

Hence, it's definitely not a coincidence that the name of the bar is Quindecim.

As the Wikia article on Quindecim states:

  It is likely the arbiters Quin and Decim were named so for working on the fifteenth floor.

There is no evidence of this. One thing is for sure though, Quindecim wasn't named after the arbiters since Quindecim means 15 in Latin and that's the name of the floor the bar is on.

Hence, it's very likely that Quin and Decim were both named after the bar. However, nothing was ever stated in the anime or the movie 'Death Billiards', so we can never truly know.


What kind of Sage mode does Kabuto have?

It's Snake.

  Sage Mode can be learned in two places, Mount Myōboku of the toads and Ryūchi Cave of the snakes. Learning Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku or Ryūchi Cave grants the user with a toad and snake style of Sage

Source: Sage Mode - Narutopedia

  After Orochimaru's sealing, Kabuto travelled across the world and ultimately discovered the location of the Ryūchi Cave. There, he was taught senjutsu by the White Snake Sage and gained access to Sage Mode. Physically, Kabuto undergoes little alteration in this form, with the only visible changes being the markings around his eyes extending onto his back and the growth of four horns on the back of his head, as well as darkened sclerae.

  [...] Kabuto also gains access to further snake anatomy, such as their brille, which allows him to severely impair his opponents through the use of intense light whilst remaining completely unaffected himself. [...]

  Due to his research and self-modifications based on Jūgo's clan's abilities, Kabuto's body can passively and continuously absorb natural energy without aid even when moving, allowing him to potentially maintain his Sage Mode indefinitely. According to Kabuto, this meant that he was no longer a snake, but had instead transcended into a dragon

Source: Kabuto Yakushi - Narutopedia (emphasis added)


What is the significance of the X on people's faces from Shouya's perspective and why does Ueno get the X on and off?

Spoiler Warning

.TL;DR
So the summary of this answer is:

The "X" mark can be symbolized as "Not My Friend" or "No interest to interact with them". When Ishida feels pissed off because of an act or the attitude of someone/something, the "X" mark would be put on their faces. And when would the "X" mark be taken down? When Ishida thinks like "I like him/her, such a nice person" about someone or something.

Because Ueno is so hypocritical, that make Ishida so pissed and happy at the same time. The X mark on Ueno's face was first marked in volume 3, and it came off in Volume 7 (the last volume), when Ishida tried to change himself. In volume 7, all the 'X' marks that everyone had in Ishida's perspective have already come off

The content from this point on contains spoilers. Read it at your own risk.
From what I could figure, the most accepted answer for this kind of question is one where you can find in the manga version.  Although I have not watched the anime in full, the anime version seems lacking in explanation. And of course I have finished the manga.
1. What is the significance of the X on people's faces from Ishida's perspective?
The X's first appeared in Volume 1, Chapter 5, page 2-6.
Here are some of the pages (read from right to left)
Page 2-3

Page 4-5

Page 6

He has an

 anxiety disorder being with other people.
 He feels pissed off because of his own negative thought about the others. Look at the yellow marker, he hates everything, even the friend of friends that he hated. The "X" mark can be symbolized as "Not My Friend" or "No interest to interact with them". So that's the reason why the entire class have "X" mark on their faces. For Nagatsuka why he got "X" mark from the first, there is something that Ishida hates about him. For the other people like Sahara that doesn't have "X" mark when they met on the train, because Ishida has no reason to hate Sahara for some reason (exclude his classmate nor neighborhood that he hate). He will put the "X" mark down when someone wants to acknowledge him more and he trusted it.

2. Why does Ueno get the X on and off?
It's explained in Volume 3, Chapter 18, Page 12-17 (read from right to left).
Page 12-13

Page 14-15

Page 16-17

Ishida said that he doesn't care about his ex-friend (aka all his  elementary school friends) in pages 12-13, but when he met Ueno for the first time since junior high school, he did care. At first, Ueno's face didn't have the "X" mark but in chapter 21, pages 9-10, Ueno did something terrible to Shouko, and that made Ishida really pissed of with Ueno's attitude. So that's why Ueno got the 'X' mark on pages 15-16.
Page 9-10

Page 15-16


Quinx squad keeps their RC level low enough they can eat regular human food. (Post time skip Urie is seen eating at some fancy dinner with I believe Matsuri Washuu if I didn't get the name wrong.) Additionally in very early chapters of :re Sasaki cooks food for Mutsuki. During Kaneki's flashback of his imprisonment after the events of V14 it's shown that some sort of slop is pushed through his door which he doesn't eat. Otherwise perhaps quinx are given RC repressants as well which could help with hunger. Kaneki notes in chapter 99 that he was using RC suppressants in his time with the CCG (albeit noting it had an effect on his hair color).

Exact chapter citations forthcoming when I have time.


What are all the aspects of the Love Live TV series that were voted on by fans?

The polls seem to decide quite a bit of the series, sans plot. Unfortunately, not all of them were broadcast well (at least, in English or otherwise easily found). As you mentioned, characters' hairstyles, costumes, and appearance were voted upon. I was unable to find these specific polls and their results. In particular, it does not appear that the actual poll pages are available anymore.
In addition to the character attributes, though, names of the group and the mini units were decided through polls, and there are frequent (and still ongoing) popularity polls. Some polls are used to determine character order in media such as music videos.
Dengeki G's magazine is the medium through which (most of) the polls are hosted. They, and their results, were printed in the various issues of the magazine, and conducted through their mobile site.

(Note: All magazines are published two months in the future. Here, I've used the actual month of publication, rather than the "issue date".)
The first through fourth popularity polls ran as follows:

First popularity poll: Announced July 2010, ran from 15th-31st August.
Second popularity poll: Announced December 2010 (could not find poll run dates).
Third popularity poll: Announced July 2011, ran from 24th August to sometime in September.
Fourth popularity poll: Announced January 2012, ran from 15th February to 10th March. The results (#1 Kotori Minami, #2 Niko Yazawa, #3 Maki Nishikino) were published shortly after.

The naming polls were early in the publications, following the first popularity vote:

First idol group name vote: Ran from September to October 2010. After its success, five of the best names were chosen to be voted upon again.
Second idol group name vote: Ran from 31st October 2010 until January. The winning name, "μ's" (muse), is announced.
Three Units vote: Announced January 2011 (could not find poll run dates). The running unit names (Printemps, BiBi, and Lily White) were announced in February.

The popularity votes (or "general elections") were polls done for all the heroines of the show and were done by mobile phone site via Dengeki G's mobile site. I could not find the issue date for the 5th popularity vote, but it is ongoing at Love Live!'s official website, and will decide the central character of the 6th single music video.
Here is small publication of one of the results:

As for the rest of the polls' results, most of them can be found on the Japanese Wikipedia for μ's
and Aquors (screenshot here; they do not appear to be readily available anywhere in English).


What was the point of blocking the robot outbreak using Kill-Ballad?

I believe the game was a defense against fixing the problem.

The guy who started it was one of the people who worked on the game with Frau, so he must have been betting that the person who was trying to gain access would not beat the hacked kill-ballad character, even if it was Frau herself.

(since she made the system she could give herself the rights back to fix the problem but couldn't play kill-ballad well enough to beat the hack)

(It also gave Kaito a chance to save the day ;])


A happy instrumental song which plays during a flashback in Naruto Shippuden

I guess your are asking this one:

Naruto Shippuden OST 3 - Peaceful Theme

Link Below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1O04qZv3-4


What is the significance of the lottery box in Yuru Yuri Nachuyachumi! OVA? And why are some of the words crossed out?

I believe this is the same box that was used earlier in the series for drawing lots. It's a running joke that Kyouko kept on pulling out the box, crossing out what she originally wrote on it, and writing something new.

The first time, in Episode 1 of Series I, everyone put in things that Akari could do to try and stand out more as a main character, which is probably what "めだちた girl" refers to. The manga translation that I read translates the word as "star wannabe girl". Yui thinks that it sounds pretty horrible when she sees it, so it seems like that out of whack feeling was intentional; it was supposed to be Kyouko--intentionally, since she's always messing with Akari, or possibly unintentionally--using a term with the negative connotation that Akari was trying to draw attention to herself.

Another time, which seems to have only happened in the manga, Kyouko filled the box with conversational topics like "Club activities" and "I'm hungry" and penalties like "Say 'Shazam!' at the end of your sentences" and "Talk erotically". (Akari had to say "Shazam!", while Chinatsu had to talk erotically.) There were other instances across the manga and anime where Kyouko pulled out the box and wrote something new on it; being Kyouko, it wouldn't be too surprising if everything she wrote was some kind of pun on the original
"めだちた girl".


Lucy calls the guys perverts a lot. It's sort of her thing.

She calls Natsu a pervert in part because there seems to be a running gag of him coming into her personal space unannounced and unwelcome.

It goes along with the running gag of Gray always taking his clothes off... and getting called a pervert.


Does Kyoukai no Kanata anime adapt light novel closely?

As far as I know the story is different from around episode 3 onwards, because the light novels were still being written while the anime was being produced

I've only read the fan translation of the first one and a half volume and as far as I know the entire hollow shadow thing wasn't even in the light novels.

Also, the Mirai-hen movie with the amnesia was anime original.


How does Kirito come back to life when he's fighting Heathcliff?

Logically, there is a delay in between the death flag being detected and the NerveGear frying the brain, which is explain by how a Revival Item (Divine Stone of Returning Soul) can be used within 10 seconds of a player's death.

However, as for how Kirito, whose HP was 0 but was still able to affect Heathcliff, was explained by Kayaba Akihiko when he congratulated Kirito for doing something that went beyond the system by using the power of the human will. This concept is reasserted when Kayaba appears before Kirito in ALO and reminds Kirito about how he acknowledged this.

It's more of an anomaly rather than any sort of plot hole. In essence, Kirito shouldn't have been able to do anything when his HP reached 0, but he was still determined to end the game because Asuna believed he would end the game for her sake. That determination allowed him to transcend SAO's rules.


How exactly were Madara and Obito able to control Kurama?

Okay, in order to understand the answer, you need to understand the links between the Tailed Beasts, the Uchihas and the Senjus.

The Sage of Six Paths was powerful enough to subdue the Ten-Tails, store it within himself and even split it into the nine Tailed Beasts. His two sons, Indra (whose descendants formed the Uchiha clan) and Asura (whose descendants formed the Senju clan), inherited his powerful chakra and also his power to control the Tailed Beasts.

Therefore, members of these clans who had evolved to a certain upper level like the Mangekyo Sharingan (Madara and Obito) and the Sage Mode (Hashirama Senju with his wooden dragon) also inherited the Tailed-Beast-controlling abilities which originally belonged to the Sage of Six Paths Hagoromo and was later passed on to his descendants.


As far as the manga is concerned, episode 12 is also the first time Kagami has been to Comiket. Or at least a previous visit isn't shown.

Kagami has been to the gamers store with Konata several times, so it wouldn't be a surprise if she managed to drag her along to Comiket.

In volume 1 of the manga, Kagami exclaims "I've never been to that". There are no Comikets shown between this scene and the one that Kagami arrives at.

As a point of note though, new Lucky Star strips were occasionally released at comic conventions around Japan. If you were convinced that Kagami had been there before, perhaps she and Konata appeared at one of the Comikets 'IRL' before Tsukasa.


Why do anime (in general) have so much time in between seasons?

There are sooo many anime series (and manga for that matter), that broadcasting companies don't know which will be hits and which won't be at the time of establishing a contract with a studio.

The fact is, when a studio gets the green light to do a series, it is typically one season; that is, with the exception of some of the Jump comics that have long-running series (e.g. Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, and so on).

So when the studio gets the green light to start production, the number of episodes is already decided. For some, this is enough to do a full story arc and have a clean ending. Others end more openly or on a cliffhanger. This can drive the audience to pick up the manga to see how the story continues, or to the hopes of the studio, the popularity will be high enough that the audience will request or demand a second season. This is evident in the recent Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) boom.

This is also true for Japanese dramas. Typically, they are all one season. And if there is a second season, it comes much later because the studio and the TV broadcasting company weren't originally planning to make a second or third season from the get-go. This means you also have to account for production time between the seasons too.

Hope that helps. (My only reference is that I lived in Japan for over 5 years and saw this happening a lot and heard about it in the news.)


How long did Light's father have to live?

How to Use: XLII (from Volume 08):

  The use of the DEATH NOTE in the human world sometimes affects other human’s lives or shortens their original life-span, even though
  their names are not actually written in the DEATH NOTE itself. In
  these cases, no matter the cause, the god of death sees only the
  original life-span and not the shortened life-span.

With this, I would say Soichiro had some time to live still, but the use of the death note made his death unnatural.


How do hybrids (half-humans and half-ghouls) rate in strength compared to normal ghouls?

Biological half-ghouls are extremely rare. However,

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

Artificial half-ghouls are similar.

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

Half-humans raised in the Sunlit Garden

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

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


There's a bit of speculation here, since there is no blatant in-universe explanation nor Word of God to fully demonstrate the reason for this.

You may want to take a look at the answer to why a soul bonded to a suit of armor can move, because the explanation here is pretty similar. Essentially, keeping in line with the series' representation of eyes being windows to the soul (a common trope), basically: Sight is not necessarily handled biologically.

Here's basically how this works: If an average person loses his sight (as does happen in the series), he cannot see, because there is no channel of vision connected to his soul (for either eye). However, Alphonse, Barry, and the other soul-bound armors do have this channel of vision, just as there is the ability for them to move their steel fingers (with, of course, the channel being in opposite direction).

The reason what he sees does not collide with what his body sees is because his body is not transmitting its sight to a soul. It has no conscious mind to connect to its sight. As for his sleep, because he has no biological mechanisms, they do not need to rest, but his conscious mind still remains active because it is affixed to his soul (imagine the way we dream).

You're probably thinking, "Oh, hurr hurr, mister clever, there's still no physical organ to transmit the vision data!" And you'd be absolutely right! There is nothing which suggests that there is a physical entity able to transmit visual data from the real world to the armor seal, whereas there is a physical entity able to move his limbs. It's not even known that only armor with helmets can see; in fact, when Barry is reduced to a single plate of armor, he appears to be able to see his body standing over him.

So to put it simply, your answer is: Alphonse and other soul-bound armors see because it's necessary for the story. We can loosely explain it, as I did above, but there still is no legitimate, solid reason why this should be possible.


According to the Wikia, it's unknown (but likely true) whether Kafuka was the same person as Akagi An or not.

In the final chapter of the manga, it is revealed that Kafuka had died prior to the beginning of the series, having her organs donated to a cast of characters that indecently make up the majority of Nozomu's class. However, she was "too optimistic to die", and thus possessed one of the main female characters in every scene of the series. In the bonus chapter of the 30th volume, it was revealed, that Kafuka continues possessing girls to be able to live on with Nozomu as his wife.
However, to let Kafuka be able stay with the teacher, all the girls have to live under one roof and go through a rotation of divorces and marriages (it has to be done to let Kafuka stay teacher's wife all the time), which makes it resemble a harem.

(my applied emphasis)
we do know that Kafuka wasn't in the class during the run of the series, however, we can't conclusively tell if she is the same person as Akagi.
Personally, I believe that she is not Akagi, as Kafuka was supposedly not alive during the series, and there's not much to suggest she is a ghost.
I imagine that during the flashbacks, the students refer to the character as An because that was her actual name. Then she became possessed by Kafuka, and with time the other students started referring to her as Kafuka instead of Akagai An.


Osamu Dazai's book titled "Josei Gakkou (Highschool Girl)" in "Tsuki ga Kirei"

There's no work called Josei Gakkou (Highschool Girl) by Osamu Dazai, but there's 女生徒 (Joseito, Schoolgirl).

The English version is titled Schoolgirl, translated by Allison Markin Powell and published by One Peace Books.


Did the writer of Sword Art Online do a research on guns when writing Gun Gale Online?

The details of the guns in the game were actually quite basic. Here are three spots in novel #5 that mention specs on real guns used in the game:

Before the title page- Here, it says facts about Sinon's Hecate II, things like the length of the gun and the size ammo it uses. Also the fact that, in real life, the gun has been banned from being used on human targets.
Page 137- Kirito asks why the assault rifle fires smaller rounds than a sub-machine gun and Sinon explains that it's for higher speed and accuracy, a trait that has been used since the M16.
Page 140- Sinon recommends the Five-Seven to Kirito for a sidearm to use with his lightsword. She explains that it uses small bullets shaped like rifle rounds. This gives it an advantage of accuracy and penetration.

The bit in Sword Art Offline wasn't included in the light novels, but the trivia on each of the guns is indeed there.


What is Cyua singing at the beginning of "AL℃-@"?

This is only vaguely an answer to my question, but: the second OST included the piece "Harmonious" (also used as the ED for episode 23), which is a vocal piece to roughly the same melody as "AL℃-@" (this is a standard Sawano trick, as with "MKAlieZ" vs. "aLIEz"; "アZ-Kat" vs. "A/Z"; and so forth). Like "AL℃-@", it has a 16-bar vocal introduction from 0:19 to 0:35 (albeit in 3/4 rather than 4/4), but with actual comprehensible lyrics:

  煌めく欠片
  降り注ぐ空に
  未来繋ぐドア
  隠した

Roughly,

  The shining fragments, falling through the sky, concealed the door to the future.

Now, this clearly isn't what Cyua is singing in AL℃-@, but as mivilar  noticed in the comments on Cole's answer, Cyua distinctly appears to be singing the word 未来 mirai "future", and it lines up with what the singer (Amamiya Sora / Asseylum) is singing in the third four-bar segment of the introduction to "Harmonious". Unfortunately, I have difficulty identifying any other correspondences between the known lyrics in the introduction to "Harmonious" and the unknown lyrics in the introduction to "AL℃-@".


What is the origin of the "Hidden" event in Fairy Tail?

The origin is literally impossible to trace. At best, we'll see who implemented this idea first but it could have been thought of a long time ago or done in many things that we don't have knowledge of. Hiro Mashima (the manga-ka) might be able to say where he got this or why he decided on this but its not exactly a rare idea to do this. Its pretty much a simple twist on a "zero sum" kind of game. I'm almost certain that Assassin's Creed was not the first to do this.

Come to think of it, in earlier chapters of Fairy Tail, Mashima used to scribble "Mashima's ramblings" in the gaps or sides of the page. From these "ramblings", we know Hiro Mashima does play video games (and at the very least, owns a PS3). So even if Assasin's Creed multiplayer was not the first to implement this system, there is some offchance that Mashima got the idea from playing that game.


Warning, some spoilers for Ar Nosurge are below:

Ar Nosurge is set in the same universe as Ar Tonelico, but not on the same planet as Ar Tonelico (mostly, two of the main characters do visit Ar Ciel, the planet in Ar Tonelico). It is also a prequel to Ar Tonelico (the plot of Ar Nosurge takes place around 700 to 800 years before Ar Tonelico).

Despite being set on a different 'planet', there is a major story link between the two, as it deals with the origin of the Teru tribe in Ar Tonelico. You also meet a major character from Ar Tonelico in Ar Nosurge.


Why does Mahmut empty a bottle of liquid upon returning home?

I haven't seen the series, but it sounds like a libation, or ritual pouring of liquid.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libation . It is an ancient practice of many cultures, usually as an offering to a god or in remembrance of those who have passed on. If the series takes part in Japan, it may specifically be a Shinto or Buddhist practice, but if in an anonymous fantasy world, they probably generalized the custom.  What you describe certainly fits with what the article states.


I'm going to preface this with a note that I've just looked a little into rabb.it's model, so my understanding will be imperfect. However, it looks like it's built around a particular interpretation of the laws that allows for a certain amount of wiggle room.

First off, it is definitely legal for you to get a few friends to come over to your house and join you in watching, for example, My Hero Academia on Crunchyroll. It is definitely not legal for you to book a local cinema and sell 100 tickets for people to watch you stream the same show on the big screen. Somewhere between the two is a legal grey area that would earn two teams of lawyers a decent amount of money to chart. So rabb.it offers what is essentially a virtual version of the former - you can get about 20 people into the room watching the show together and sharing the experience.

It also looks like they use a peer-to-peer client, which means that none of the streamed content ever goes to their server. This helps protect them from the kind of issues Youtube has, although it's not a perfect protection (before torrents, there were a few major P2P clients for sharing content that got shut down because they weren't considered to be doing enough to protect against sharing copyrighted files).

So the main things that allow rabb.it to do what it does (and this is based on interpretations of IP law, which mean that if taken to court with the right judge and lawyers this could change):

Limited room sizes
No hosting of content
Requires someone to actually have an account on the streaming site
Live stream (not providing a download)

That's not to say that someone couldn't get around those things, but in doing so they would probably be in violation of rabb.it's terms of service, although I'm not sure what they would do in that instance. It's also not obvious (to me) how they prevent people from using the service to get around geoblocking, which could cause them some problems at some point.


How do online Nerve Gear games handle player authentication?

Your question can pretty much be answered by watching episode 1 of Sword Art Online.

The Nerve Gear uses a username and password identification system as shown at 01:37 of episode 1.

But as you mentioned, this does not occur in Alfheim Online. This is where we can consider the Nerve Gear to be the authentication factor, being a device that stores the save data.

   We know it can save data Yui's data was saved to his Nerve Gear and was transferred to Alfheim Online as a result.

  But if I steal your device, I could impersonate you in all games...

This would indeed be true, but doesn't the same count for login credentials? If you steal somebody's username and password, you can also impersonate that person in game. And don't forget, it's harder to steal physical objects all around the world than to steal some username and password from your home computer.


Where can I read the Inazuma Eleven manga online?

Unfortunately, there are no official English-language localizations of the Inazuma Eleven manga in existence, in print or online.

You can easily verify this by:

checking the Wikipedia page for Inazuma Eleven (manga), which does not list any English-language localizations.
looking at the AnimeNewsNetwork encyclopedia page for Inazuma Eleven and seeing that this page also does not list any English-language localizations.
searching Amazon for "inazuma eleven manga" and seeing that you get no hits that are actually manga.


Why do people wearing a headband with two flashlights or candles when acting crazy or out of place?

It originates from Ushi no toki mairi

Picture taken from Wikipedia

Wikipedia Explanation

  Ushi no toki mairi refers to a prescribed method of laying a
  curse upon a target that is traditional to Japan, so-called because it
  is conducted during the hours of the Ox (between 1 and 3 AM). The
  practitioner—typically a scorned woman—while dressed in white
  and crowning herself with an iron ring set with three lit candles
  upright, hammers nails into a sacred tree of the Shinto shrine.
  In the modern-day common conception, the nails are driven through a
  straw effigy of the victim, impaled upon the tree behind it.
  The ritual must be repeated seven days running, after which the curse
  is believed to succeed, causing death to the target, but being
  witnessed in the act is thought to nullify the spell. The Kibune
  Shrine in Kyoto is famously associated with the ritual.

  The woman performing the curse is generally portrayed as dressed in white,
  with disheveled hair,wearing an iron "crown" that holds three
  burning candles, suspending (from her neck) a mirror upon her
  chest (which lies hidden) and wearing a pair of tall
  clogs (geta), She would then nail a straw doll representing her
  target to a sacred tree (神木 shimboku) at the Shinto shrine.

  The iron "crown" that she wears is actually a tripod (五徳 gotoku) (or
  trivet, a stand for setting cooking pots, etc., above a heat
  source) which she wears in inverted, slipping the iron ring over
  her head and sticking candles on its three legs.

In Anime and Manga, this kind of action tells the Audience of the current genre. Usually this action in Anime/Manga is a joke (for entertainment purposes) not to mention the character you showed us wants to curse someone (except the genre of the manga/anime is a thriller or horror).


Mysterious black hands on chapter 383 of Hunter x Hunter

If you read the succeeding pages of that chapter, Fugetsu Hui Guo Rou clearly realizes what it was and said to herself that:

  Leaving the ship...doesn't mean escape...but death?!

Also, after saving Kacho Hui Guo Rou, or her Nen beast to be exact, she told her that:

  There's punishment for leaving the ship.

This leads to the conclusion that it is probably a Nen ability or something similar, put in place around the ship to detect and prevent people leaving and eliminate them if they ever make it out. As to who put this up, it was never revealed if I recall correctly.


Is there a reason why the actors sound exactly the same as their anime counterparts in the live action movies?

Going through Wikipedia's list of Death Note voice actors for the live action movie, it seems that there is not much overlap (if any) between the Japanese actors and the Japanese voice actors for Death Note.

However, going through the first couple entries of the list, it seems that at least a number of the English voice actors for the Death Note anime also functioned as voice actors for the dubs of the live action movies. While this isn't true for some characters (e.g. Naomi Misora) this definitely seems to hold for a number of the voice actors for the major anime characters.


If Itachi used Izanami on Kabuto, then how does his Mangekyou Sharingan work?

I'll have to clarify a few things before I answer this question so it is completely answered.

First off, Itachi didn't use Izanagi, he used Izanami.
Second, he used Kotoamatsukami via Shisui's eyes to stop the Edo Tensei influence Kabuto had on him, but Shisui's eyes were placed in a crow.
Third, Izanagi and Izanami can be used once in each eye, as shown with Madara.

The Izanami is an ocular genjutsu of the Sharingan, that is designed to trap an opponent without eyesight. It was developed to save and reprimand an Izanagi user, for they couldn't handle their power and eventually abused it during battles.

Both Izanagi and Izanami result in the loss of vision in one eye, until used by the other. Madara used Izanagi in one eye to come back to life after defeated by Hashirama Senju. This resulted in the loss of one eye, but his vision was then restored when he awakened the Rinnegan after implanting Hashirama's cells into himself with the intent of getting Wood Style.

As shown, only one eye turned white and the other Sharingan remained.
Itachi used Kotoamatsukami to stop Kabuto's influence on him with the Reanimation Jutsu, as it was set to activate once Naruto looked at Itachi's eyes, thinking that Sasuke would implant them. And Itachi had two Sharingan, meaning that Izanami would only blind him in one until he used it in the other eye as well. He then casted Tsukuyomi with the remaining eye, and thus could use it after using Izanami.


Are the Japanese names of the characters from Ente Isla references to something?

If you're asking what "the joke" is with names like "Maou Sadao" and "Yusa Emi", the joke is that their Japanese names sound suspiciously similar to their Ente Isla names/titles:

"Maou Sadao" is very close to "Maou Satan" / "Demon Lord Satan"
"Yusa Emi" is very close to "Yuusha Emi" / "Hero Emi"
"Ashiya (Shirou)" is sort of close to "Alciel" (Arushieru)
"Urushihara (Hanzou)" is sort of close to "Lucifer" (Rushiferu)

As a side effect of this, some of their Japanese names sound curious/archaic, since you kind of have to stretch to find Japanese names that sound similar to Christian angel/devil names.

Separately, some of the names are also "translation jokes", so to speak:

The "Suzu" (鈴) in "Kamazuki Suzuno" means "bell". Indeed, her Ente Isla name is "Crestia Bell".


Is Super Saiyan Rosé Goku Black's version of the Super Saiyan Blue or his version of the original (golden) Super Saiyan?

The answer was given recently in manga 20 and it's blue. Rose is Black's version of the super saiyan blue

Source (spanish only) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sJzIM8uvcQ


Why does Rin in blue exorcist have an eye bigger than the other when uncontrollable?

because his evil side is taking over and besides in every anime when their mad one of their eyes get smaller than the other


The only way you can know of the ending and how the plot actually unfolds is to read the rest of the chapters you haven't. Since the final volume hasn't been translated and released yet, you either need to buy up to the last translated volume and buy a raw version of the final volume and be able to read Japanese, or ask someone you know who knows Japanese to at least give you a rough idea of what happens. I would not rely on the wikia pages for this manga as they are not updated, which might mean that either contributors to the site only read scanlations or they haven't got the time to update yet.

So far, I can't find sites similar to wikia that actually details what happens per chapter so the only options you have are what I mentioned above. Unless, of course, someone here on the site actually follows the manga, understands Japanese and has read up to the final volume.


Great question!

After seeing Sailor Moon Crystal, will I miss anything by skipping the first two seasons of the original anime?

No... and yes.

No:
You are correct that Sailor Moon Crystal's 26th episode leaves off at the same point in the storyline as the end of the classic anime's R season.  If you go straight into the S season, you will not have missed out on any essential plot points, characters, or character details.

Yes: Sailor Moon Crystal is its own canon.  It follows the manga more closely than does the classic anime, but also has points where it veered away from the manga content in ways that conflict with both manga canon and classic anime canon. So there are 1) aspects of the classic anime's first 2 seasons which follow the manga in areas where Crystal did not, and 2) aspects/characters that are original to the classic anime canon and thus not covered in Crystal. The details about 30th century Crystal Tokyo differ significantly between the classic anime version and Crystal, but this will not affect jumping in from season 3 much since that material doesn't get mentioned again much from S onward. Likewise, the R season contained a plot arc that you'll have missed about the Makaiju tree and aliens who came to Earth, and the R movie contained an original story involving Mamoru's backstory, but as they are not referenced again later, you won't notice this at all. However, you will notice that some characters you met in Crystal are not in the classic anime (for example, Ittou Asanuma is absent from the classic anime until a tiny cameo in season 5, whereas Kumada Yuuichirou is a love interest for Rei original to the classic anime starting in the 1st season). So there will be moments where you'll notice things like, "I guess I'm supposed to know who this person is," or "I see that Mamoru actually transforms by magic into Tuxedo Kamen in this version," etc.

Recommended: Watch the first episode of the classic anime, then watch episodes 8, 10, 25, and 34 (the first appearances of Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako) so you can meet them in their classic anime personalities (Ami and Makoto are pretty similar to how you know them, whereas classic anime Rei and Minako are fairly different in personality from the personas given to them in Crystal). Then jump ahead to episode 90 (a.k.a. episode 1 of the S season).


What will happen if Aizawa uses his quirk on Invisible Girl?

According to this,

  his quirk doesn't work on Mutation-Class quirks, which are distinguished by permanent alterations to the body. Invisibility is one of those that are classified as Mutation-Class.


Are eye techniques in Naruto based on anything real?

According to the Naruto wiki page on dōjutsu, there are two potential points of inspiration for the dōjutsu techniques (rinnegan/sharigan/byuakugan).

The first:

  The concept of dōjutsu may have been inspired by Futaro Yamada's 1959
  novel, The Kōga Ninja Scrolls (甲賀忍法帖, Kōga Ninpōchō), which featured
  two warring clans of ninja that had developed mutations and abilities
  through selective breeding, with the young heirs to each clan
  possessing mysterious dōjutsu.

Or alternately,

  Another possible inspiration for dōjutsu in the series may also be
  found in the Journey to the West classic's titular character, the
  Monkey God-King, Sun Wukong: After having eaten all of the 'peaches of
  immortality', the 'pills of longevity' and drunk all of the 'wine of
  immortality', and then was captured after a long rebellion against
  Heaven, the Monkey God-King, Sun Wukong, was then sealed into Lao
  Tzu's Eight Trigram furnace to be burned to ash in order for Lao Tzu
  to reclaim his pills of longevity. But after 49 days, Sun Wukong broke
  out--stronger than ever--his body having been refined by the flames
  instead of being reduced to ash, His eyes had also become a fiery red
  and golden colour, becoming known as his "Fiery-eyes golden-gaze"
  (火眼金睛, Huǒyǎn-Jīnjīng); an eye condition that allowed Sun Wukong to
  now see what's really there just by looking and the ability to see and
  recognise the real form of evil despite whatever form that it took on
  — but, likewise, it also gave him a weakness to smoke, fogging his
  vision.


Kancolle. Song played at the night talk before reassignment to other fleets

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

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


In anime, why high school students are not allowed to work?

Schools and teachers of Japan in particular tend to be more involved in the lives of their students than in the West. The reasons may vary, as each school sets their own policies.

The main philosophy behind such policies is that students should be more focused on school (and extracurriculars). Their reasoning is that working it distracts from time they should be studying and fitting into society through a club activity. Not all schools have such policies, but there are some that have over zealous policies -- some reasonable, other not. Luckily, or unluckily it's up to the teachers to enforce these policies. Some teachers give leeway to strict policies, while other find it to be their job to enforce it to a T. The series reflects a bit of it for those that understand the context.

What is typically imposed on students is not something that they want or need by rather conformity within the established bounds and norms of modern Japanese society (which ironically can be very archaic).


According to this CNN travel article, whose statistics are echoed in an ANN article from 2011, manga is very much a winner-take-all system. In 2009, the top 100-earning mangaka from among all titles that had tankoubon published earned an average of $900,000. The top earner, Eiichiro Oda, made around $15 million.

However, out of 5,300 titles with tankoubon sold in 2009, the earnings for the other 5,200 titles averaged around $35,000. While this isn't nothing, it's hardly an amazing living, especially in Japan where cost of living tends to be higher.

The raw numbers also don't capture the difficulty of a mangaka's lifestyle. To make it at all, you can't just be a good artist. You have to shop your work around relentlessly, trying to catch an editor's interest. Once you actually get your work published, you have to work grueling hours to get finished on time. And no matter how hard you work, you might still get axed; magazines publish tons of series and unceremoniously cancel them after a few chapters, either leaving the stories unfinished or forcing terrible rushed endings. It's not surprising that someone would not pursue such a difficult and unstable career when your best plausible outcome is to earn $35,000 a year.


What's this manga about a guy in debt who goes to a fantasy world?

The manga is Zero no Shiniki, and like you said, there's only one chapter translated so far.
Synopsis from MangaUpdates:

Kanzaki Rei is an avid gamer, but one day he hit rock-bottom due to his debts. During the night while sleeping, a strange phenomenon happened and sent him inside the game he previously played. A world of life and death awaits.


Why does Touma care if other people learn that magic exists?

Ultimately, Touma doesn't want everyone to know about the truth of Academy City, where corruption prevails and everyone is just a test subject. If everyone knows the truth, all chaos would break loose.

And once people learn about magic, the domino effect happens.

People learn about magic -> People learn about the struggle of power (Science vs Magic) -> People learn that Academy City is corrupted beyond belief in every aspect possible -> A big war ensues where everyone chooses a side

Just think about the magic side as a gang that is trying to take control of the government. The government (Academy City) has been sweeping their own dirty deeds under the rug, as well as concealing their opponents. Learning about magic opens the door to everything.


Which chapter corresponds to episode 381 of Naruto Shippuden?

That would be around Chapter 646: God tree.


Do apples grow on trees in the Shinigami realm?

From Death Note wiki

  Apples from the Shinigami Realm look like shriveled green peppers and do not resemble normal apples at all. Misa gave a juicy human apple to Ryuk and in return he lets Misa have a bite of an apple from the Shingami realm which Ryuk was carrying with him at the time. Misa takes a bite of the apple and then spits it out in disgust saying that it "tastes like sand".

It is not mentioned either in the anime or manga, whether these grow on trees or not.

It is mentioned though that

  Apples have become a very popular commodity or currency in the Shinigami Realm when Ryuk returns with an unknown quantity after the end of the series. In the manga one-shot, Midora bribes the Shinigami King with 13 apples she brought back from the human world in order to receive an extra Death Note, which she gives to C-Kira.


What is this anime with the power to change garbage into a tree?

The anime you're looking for is The Law of Ueki.


By our real-world definition of evil, yeah, he is. But Hunter X Hunter morality is pretty grey, so in-universe he's not really "evil" per say.I wouldn't say he's an anti-hero or even evil, though. He is selfish, a hedonist. He took the hunter exam for his own benefit and entertainment; he spared Gon, multiple times, so he that could grow into a stronger opponent(can be compared to a farmer feeding his cattle); he helped Kurapika so that he could fight Chrollo, and he fought alongside Illumi to protect Gon and/or fight strong opponents along the way. He has also killed a lot of people who weren't challenging enough for him throughout the series. He is a bloodthirsty hedonist who lives almost entirely in the moment and is always looking for stronger opponents to challenge himself. He is selfish, nothing more, nothing less.


What are the differences between the One Piece anime and manga?

The anime and manga closely resemble one another.

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

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


What does the original Japanese title of "Spirited Away" mean?

The Wikipedia page has what you want:

  "Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away"

Here, the 千 refers to "Sen". As кяαzєя notes, this is the name Yubaba uses to refer to Chihiro.


Is there other characters that their techniques have a negative effect of using lifespan?

According to the One Piece Fandom wiki, the Ope Ope no Mi and the Chiyu Chiyu no Mi are the two Devil Fruits, "confirmed to shorten the user's lifespan if used in a particular way."

Interestingly enough, the exact phrasing on the Gomu Gomu no Mi devil fruit page says that Gear Second, "hacks away at Luffy's life force dramatically, increasing a chance of having a much shorter lifespan because he is starving his body." So it isn't guaranteed per se that using this technique will shorten the user's lifespan, simply that it increases the chance that the user will have a shortened lifespan.


As chocking as it may sound R2 stands for second season.

There is no information that it could mean something else or at least I haven't found anything to back other information such as R2 being things like:

Round 2
Rebirth 2
Rewrite 2
related to the CG power overtaking both eyes
a 3rd element (such as c2 or v2)

If I had to name it, it would be "2nd Rebellion" as a continuation to the 1st season.

While there could be some crucial information provided on the manga that could clear I honestly don't recall any and perhaps some one could reinforce what I am saying.


Touhou Kinema Kan (東方活動写真館) is both the name of a defunct doujin circle and the series of animated music videos they produced in the years 2009-2011.

Below is the list of their works in chronological order:

東方活動写真館
東方活動写真館～第二幕～
橙の幻想郷音頭
東方恋隣童-Toho kourindo-
東方白昼夢
東方活動写真館～終幕～

Kinema (キネマ) is cinema, and kan (館) is hall, so Kinema Kan (活動写真館) is cinema hall. The kanji 活動写真 (katsudou shashin) is a retro word for cinema, used mainly in the Meiji and Taishō period.

Curtain is a mistranslation of 幕 (maku), which in this context means an act, a unit of a theater work. The first act is 東方活動写真館, followed by the second act 東方活動写真館～第二幕～ and the final act 東方活動写真館～終幕～, which is a compilation of all the previous works of the doujin circle in one disc.

References

Official Touhou Kinema Kan website [archived]
List of Touhou Kinema Kan's works [archived]


What is the name of this action anime involving magic that I had watched about a couple of years ago?

The anime you are looking for is Kannagi, the events you described are from episode 2. The purple-haired girl is either Nagi or her sister.

  Our unlucky protagonist, Jin, uses the trunk of a sacred tree to carve a statue for a school project. When he takes it outside, to his surprise it begins absorbing the surrounding earth and transforms into, hold your breath on this one, a girl! So like all similar setups this guardian deity is pretty pissed that her tree was cut down and lives with Jin while she takes out her anger on squashing bugs....er, cleaning the "Impurities."


Why is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" so prevalent in anime?

With "Read Or Die", it was part of the plot, since they cloned Beethoven himself. With most of the other instances, it's selected background music, and I'm not sure I'd say it's even that prevalent. Schubert's Ave Maria is used in a lot of shows. Same with Erik Satie's Gymnopédie No.1, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or Pathetique, Pachelbel's Canon in D, Ravel's Bolero, or what about Handel's Messiah?

Aside from the obvious thematic reasons you'd want to pick a classical piece, especially in shows that are set in a classical setting or at a music school (Nodame Cantabile, La Corda, etc), sometimes the animation/scene/sequence is storyboarded/tailored for a particular piece of music. In Evangelion, you had that super long pause during Ode to Joy. In Legends of the Galactic Heroes "My Conquest of the Sea of Stars", there's is a beyond epic 15+ minute long space battle that is intricately choreographed to the entirety of Ravel's Bolero.

Oddly, while it's said that Vivaldi's Four Seasons is the most played classical piece ever, I don't think it's used in anime all that much.

There's a thread on ANN that lists some of the more common classical pieces that get used in anime.