Does Saotome Ranma talk like a member of the Yakuza?

I was hoping a native Japanese speaker would answer this question, but it doesn't seem like we have any at the moment so here's my best attempt.

Ranma speaks a bit like a yakuza, but that's not how it's supposed to be interpreted. He does speak very rudely at times, but he's much closer to an average delinquent's (ヤンキー or yankee in Japanese) speech pattern than a yakuza's. The two manners of speaking are somewhat similar, because both of them are rude and disrespectful towards authority, and also somewhat cocky, and indeed Ranma is supposed to come off as rude, cocky, and disrespectful to authority. However, there are definite differences. I'd probably call yakuza-speak a sub-dialect of yankee-speak, but it has a lot of specific properties which Ranma's speech doesn't.

Rather than describing both dialects here, it'll be easier to link to places that have already done so. This blog post describes some basics of yankee speech. Here are a few lessons on yakuza-speak. As you can see, there are similarities, but yakuza-speak goes a whole lot farther in a lot of ways and has its own vocabulary. For instance, yakuza-speak usually has rolled Rs and slurred vowels (rare in yankee-speak), while both have some vowel changes. The difference is actually pretty similar to English. In English, if someone swears a lot and insults everyone all the time, you wouldn't assume they were a gang member, but you'd probably expect gangsters to talk that way, and you probably also would find that person a bit unpleasant even if you didn't think of them as a gangster. In all cases I looked at, Ranma seems to be squarely in the delinquent category, but not really in the yakuza category.

In fact, there's somewhat of a spectrum of delinquents in Japanese culture, with some speaking very similar to yakuza, and others not really fitting into the yankee archetype at all. For instance, the delinquents in Beelzebub often do roll their Rs and slur their vowels, but don't use most of the yakuza vocabulary. Ranma's speech is definitely less aggressive and offensive than that, but still less respectful than how a normal person is expected to speak. On the other end, Clannad's Okazaki Tomoya is a delinquent, but mostly speaks like a normal guy, and doesn't fall into the yankee archetype at all. However, it would be wrong to construe any of these characters as yakuza members unless there's evidence elsewhere. In some cases the more thugish of the delinquents may even be in gangs, but yakuza is different from just ordinary gangs (a better analogy would be the mafia).

However, the show is over 20 years old, and the yankee archetype, which was very popular in the 1980s and early 1990s during a period when action and martial arts shows were very popular, is much less common now. Ordinary Japanese people may not be as accustomed to it as they were at that time, so there's somewhat more room for confusion now. Speech patterns have also evolved quite a bit in that time separating the two dialects more and pushing Ranma further on the delinquent spectrum. Also, when Ranma transforms to a girl, she still speaks the same way, even though women are expected to speak more respectfully in Japanese society, which could lead to further confusion. And finally, the two dialects are definitely close, so some confusion is possible even without all the other factors.

As such, the misunderstanding is understandable, but if a person watched the show from the beginning, they would definitely not get the impression that Ranma is somehow related to the yakuza. Someone listening to the particular clips from the song you showed could easily make that mistake, since Ranma is speaking in an especially angry tone (especially in his female form) at that time and also because there isn't very much dialogue in the first place to make the distinction.

Unfortunately, the only source I have for this other than the above links and number of years of studying Japanese is a 5-minute conversation with one of my Japanese professors about this subject, so it's entirely possible that I'm wrong about some of the above assertions. However, I do think that I'm correct that you aren't supposed to interpret Ranma as speaking like a member of the yakuza, just a particularly rude and cocky teenager.

It's also worth noting somewhere that the average Japanese person's perception of how yakuza speak is pretty different from how they actually speak. Most Japanese people only know the yakuza through yakuza movies, which use a fairly limited subset of yakuza-speech to be easily understandable while still sounding authentic.


What is the reason behind this strange censorship of a specific scene in Tokyo Ghoul?

The whole show was highly censored, as shown in this comparison album (Obviously spoilers):
https://imgur.com/a/tvt2r

The main reason is Japanese censorship laws, which are very different from laws in the West, but some people have mentioned that S2 was airing at the same time as some ISIS attacks took place, thus this might have something to do with TV networks censoring knives.


Pokemon could die in multiple ways, some of which are
  listed here:

  By Over Exertion: In the Movie, Celebi: Voice of the Forest, it is shown that a celebi goes out of control, wreaking havoc in the forest. It exerts itself so much that when it calms down it simply disintegrates and dies.
  By Sacrificing Themselves: It is seen in the movie, Pokemon Heroes, that a Latios sacrifices itself to protect the city of Alto Mare. How exactly does he die is unknown.
  By Getting Eaten: The pokedex entry for Wurmple states that it has to defend against Starly to prevent being eaten. We can assume that the same applies for Caterpie and other worms.
  Some Special Condition: Like Charmander, who will die if the flame on his tail goes out. This is also valid for its evolutions.
  Aging: Pokemon who do not die from the above causes can be assumed to die from aging. This assumption is validated by the existence of pokemon graveyards with the people visiting it remarking on the long companionship provided by pokemon.

  Some anomalies which are unexplained:

  Existence of Legendary Pokemon: It is probable that legendary pokemon live forever. Pokemon like Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza are referred to as "super ancient pokemon" implying that they live forever. Same may be the case with other legendaries.
  Ghost Pokemon: Deaths of pokemon do not explain ghost-type pokemon. It is possible that they are born as ghosts. Pokemon after dying may become spirits, like the Marowak killed by team rocket.

  In essence, the aspect of pokemon death may have been avoided in the franchise because it was designed primarily for children.

REFERENCE: How do Pokemon die? on Quora


What is Kasuga reading from in chapter 34?

In the top panel, Kasuga is reading lines 1-4 of 『漂泊者の歌』 Hyōhakusha no Uta "The Wanderer's Song", a poem in the collection 『氷島』 Hyōtō "The Iceland" by HAGIWARA Sakutarō. In the bottom panel, he's reading lines 16-19 of the same poem.

  日は断崖の上に登り
  憂ひは陸橋の下を低く歩めり。
  無限に遠き空の彼方
  続ける鉄路の柵の背後に

  [...]

  かつて何物をも信ずることなく
  汝の信ずるところに憤怒を知れり。
  かつて欲情の否定を知らず
  汝の欲情するものを弾劾せり。

There exist English translations of Hagiwara's poetry (though I'm not sure whether this specific poem has been translated), but none of them are available online, as far as I can tell. An enterprising person with access to a good dead-tree library might like to search for a printed translation of this poem (perhaps this one). The scanlation you have is definitely botched (e.g. "Urehi" is not a name but rather 憂い "sorrow"), but I don't feel competent enough to offer an alternate translation.

I don't have the knowledge of Japanese literature to contextualize this appropriately, but my reading of the poem (which could be wrong) is that it is basically in praise of those who wander and aren't tied down by nostalgia / attachment to places they have left behind. Donald Keene writes a bit about this poem and its collection in Dawn to the West (an excellent read on modern Japanese literature, by the way).

In the context of Aku no Hana, this probably has some thematic relevance or ironic value or something - but I haven't actually read that far into the manga, so I wouldn't know.


In chapter 369 (episode 240 aka episode 65 (2014)) Jellal crushed his own eyes to prevent himself from falling for Nightmare's illusions. Seeing how he does not have an artificial eye like Erza, he could not find another way to destroy Midnight's illusions.


The second page of a reverse image search leads me to this Deviant Art page, where it's made clear that this is fan art. (A lot of fan edits can look reasonably professional. For example, I know of someone on YouTube who includes a lot of scenes in her AMVs which she creates with Photoshop or the such. As an example, this Fullmetal Alchemist AMV features a number of with Hawkeye and Mustang that are non-canon, and which the creator states as such on her Tumblr blog.)

However, since it's still interesting to look at whether or not a cross-over exists, I'll take a look at that as well. It doesn't look like there's an anime starring all four, at least in that a search for any cross-over spin-offs doesn't generate anything "official". As I don't follow any of these series, this may have been insufficient.

For what it's worth, I searched for one piece spin-off dragon ball z naruto bleach. However, one piece spin-off dragon ball z did generate this one-chapter collaboration involving both series and Toriko, so it can't be that my search terms are completely off. Replacing spin-off with collaboration still yields no useful, official results. Moreover, when I put the names of the series in quotation marks, all I ended up with on the first couple pages were either references to the Toriko collaboration or people comparing all four series.


Where should I start watching in the Naruto series?

Taking a look at the Naruto arcs wiki articles I found Fourth shinobi world war: confrontation to be the arc you are looking for.

As this is the point where the 4th ninja war starts.

  It spans through volumes 55 to 59, or more specifically, covers chapters 516 to 559 of the manga and episodes 261 to 270, and also picks from 272 to 289 of the Naruto: Shippūden anime and later picks up from episodes 296 to 310, and 312 to 321. The six episodes of the Power arc, along with two others, were shown in the interim. This arc is preceded by the Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown and followed by the Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax.

So you can either start at chapter 516 or if you prefer the anime, start at episode 296 of Shippuuden to skip the pain arc, and jump straight into the war.

I would however advice you to just watch it all. If you do not wish to watch 17325 minutes of non-stop anime. You can also take a look at the What can I skip guide


We have not seen Gon used his Nen since he's been healed, but he does look perfectly healthy. I think the answer lies in the way Kirua phrased his wish:

This picture was taken from "mangapanda". I have the books (in French) and it says "Return Gon to the way he was". Also, page 7 of chapter 323, Illumi states that Kirua will most likely ask "alluka to make Gon as he was before".

Therefore, I think Nanika brought back Gon to his state (physical, Nen...) before his fight with Pitou, as if it never happened. So, any restriction or contract Gon imposed on himself in order to defeat Pitou has been canceled.

Again this has not been confirmed anywhere in the manga yet.


Kagura Karatachi is a shinobi of Kirigakure, who works as an aide to the Sixth Mizukage. He is in line to become one of the seven swordsmen of the mist.

  He looks like Yagura so much. Are they related?

Yes, Kagura is Yagura's grandson. Tsurushi Hachiya said so in episode 27 of the Boruto anime as he also mentioned that when Kagura drew his sword he became a different person and killed his classmates which Kagura obviously regrets.


Is Highschool of the Dead on hiatus again?

Quoted from a post on Facebook. The post explains why the authors release chapter 30 after so many gap, all the reasons for delay and whether they will release more chapters or not:

  Alright folks, after WEEKS of intense investigation, convincing, pleading, smooth talking, and talking to "people who know people" in Japan... I'd like to clear things up about the situation of H.O.T.D. from the past 2 years, now, and the foreseeable future:

  The reason for the manga's 2 year hiatus was for 2 reasons:

  Writer Daisuke Sato had a heart disease that required a lot of treatment, surgery, and recovery.
  Because of the earthquake that happened in Japan, he didn't think an apocalypse story was appropriate to continue at the time until Japan recovered from it.

  During those 2 years, Daisuke and Shouji were VERY surprised to find out that H.O.T.D. had become so popular worldwide.
  The purpose to release Chapter 30 was for multiple reasons: to get the Satos back to work on the story, to see if the manga was still popular, and finally to let fans know that they haven't forgotten about it.
  In May, Daisuke started preparing rough drafts for chapters 31 and beyond and throughout this summer he will be working on finalizing on where the story will go, and research in terms of locations, military, weapons, and vehicles... as stated last year at the anime convention in Germany.
  Shouji went back to work on Fire Fire Fire: Black Sword to make himself get used to working on multiple stories. Plus he had a desire to go back to that story anyway.
  Sales for Chapter 30 when it was released digitally were going "surprisingly well for a single chapter" and that future chapters WILL be released on the same day in both the US and Japan.
  The Japanese Publisher Kadokawa is currently deciding if they want to release a chapter of Triage X and H.O.T.D. at the same time or a bi-monthly pattern.
  The next chapters of H.O.T.D. are VERY crucial on deciding if the series will end with an 8th volume or continue when they go on sale. If you American H.O.T.D. fans don't buy digital copies, they'll take it as a sign of losing interest and the series will end prematurely... So don't go bitching and whining if that does happen. It'll be your fault for not supporting the creators.

  So there you have it, a lot of hard work and contacting the righ[t people]

  Credit to Joey Senna McRae for gathering all this info.

EDIT : As comment above by Darjeeling the mangaka Daisuke Satou passed away, so we probably will never see the continuation of the story.


where can I digitally buy the soundtrack of Food Wars?

Search in https://vgmdb.net/ to get info about the soundtrack (like the distribution information).
Example: Food Wars All Albums,  Food Wars Second Plate Albums
You can also use the catalog number associated with the album to google search.
You can also directly visit the anime shows official website to get information regarding the ost of the series. But, obviously the site will be in Japanese.
Example: Official Site
Try,

CDJapan
Ark Square
Soundcloud

Sometimes an OST will be released in with Blu-Ray/DVD release (Check the official site/twitter for this information). Other options you could try would be YouTube, Amazon and itunes. But, it depends if it is being distributed in your region. If it is not then you will have to buy or import the physical copy from another site or third party vendor.


What should I know if I am to watch Fafner Exodus without watching the prequel series and movie?

There was a prequel series, an OVA and a movie, and they do all need to be watched (and in that order) to understand Exodus.

Fafner's plot is pretty complicated. You may even need to watch the original series twice to understand it (the first half was done by a different writer and isn't as good, but makes more sense on a second watch).

It's a good series (and Exodus is brilliant so far), but it does require a fair bit of time investment, and the plot isn't for everyone.


Death Note, chapter 2 - Website "The Legend of Kira the Savior"

...the text of that website mentions the resurrection and the return of Kira. Which would mean that Kira existed before and also that his followers are a group which has existed already and believes that Kira now has come back. While this might be true, first you have to remember that:

Not much is known regarding the legends, myths, beliefs and religions that existed in the world where Death Note is set. All we know is that it is similar to our world. It would therefore be too hasty to immediately conclude that a cult believing in Kira before Light used the Death Note is already in existence. It might or might not be the case.
In addition, there is no way to verify the existence of Kira's followers or Kira before Light had the Death Note as this was never explained nor explored in the manga. All we know is that websites talking about Kira as the 'messenger from hell' were suddenly put up after the news picked up on the mysterious killings.
Furthermore, it would not be difficult for people to make up stories given the imagination we have. Anyone who knows how to make a website with nothing better do can make a website about Kira. Why then do multiple sites talk about Kira if people can make up their own stories? It could be the Kira myth or legend started by one website was found to be popular to most so other websites copied them and the popularity spread even more.

So you see, we can't assume yet that these 'followers' existed way before as they could just be a random group of people who have their own motives or objectives. There's many possible reasons why they would do that.

However...

It is possible that Kira, that is, a person who held a Death Note before, could've existed. This is because there are rules in place regarding the ownership and usage of a Death Note whenever it falls in human hands. If this is the case, then it is also possible that a group of people who knows nothing about the Death Note worshiped this person because of his/her power. It is also possible that this cult survived throughout time and interpreted the mysterious killings as a sign of Kira's return. In order to spread the 'Word' about their religion, they might have put up a website, which could reach more people.

But again, this is all just possibilities so we cannot definitely say nor conclude on anything unless the mangaka would reveal them in the future.

To conclude, did Kira (a person who held a Death Note) exist even before Raito Yagami started his actions of justice? Maybe yes. Maybe no. But the possibility that he existed is strong due to the presence of the rules regarding humans obtaining Death Note ownership. Did followers of Kira also exist before? Maybe yes. Maybe no. It would be too early to say without evidence that they existed as Kira's 'legend' could just be a made-up story in order to gain more website visitors or for any other reasons known only to the person or to that group of people who created/started the 'legend'.


There hasn't been any other demonstration of their powers other than what was shown the USJ fight, which includes what you've mentioned above, so we can't assume that they have anything else. We know that they're artificial beings that have been experimented on to have multiple quirks, so we may end up seeing other powers at some other point.

   As of the recent chapter, 143, though this has not been expanded upon


What is the update status of "The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor" webtoon in 2019?

Yes, LMS will soon start the release of season 3.

Originally season 3 would start in early 2019, however delays have been announced. The author had an accident, and hurt his arm. Leading to a new writer, and the team taking the chance to make some changes to the characters etc. Hence the series will start again in late 2019 instead, with the earliest indicator being October.

All though I can't find the original Korean post anymore, here is the translated edition of the Writen apology by LMS

Edit
LMS has since 30-09-2019 released a new chapter, officially kicking off season 3.


According to the Something Awful playthrough thread for the game:

  Because of the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system, blood
  in this game is colored pink. Rest assured, though, it is human blood
  you will be looking at, and it doesn't mean our characters are
  secretly aliens or elves.

TVTropes also says the same thing:

  Many murder scenes are liberally splattered in Pepto-Bismol, thanks to
  the intricacies of the Japanese game rating system.

So it seems like making the blood realistic would have given the game a higher age rating, possibly restricting some of their target demographic from being able to purchase the game. But the pink blood also goes along with the main artistic style of Dangan Ronpa.

According to Wikipedia:

  The game uses pop art, a bright and colorful style, as a way to
  contrast the dark subject matter of murder. Scenario writer Kazutaka
  Kodaka stated he desired to "...shake user's heart by showing a
  devastating accident in not devastating ways. But, by some measure, it
  might be more shocking than showing a devastating scene."


Is this picture migate no gokui with kaioken?

The form seen in the picture is called "Ultra Instinct" in English which indeed is Migatte no Gokui, something that even the gods have difficulty with to attain. This was shown in the last episode of DBS (episode 110).

Based on what I read in the wiki (link below) and what Whis said during the episode, it is when your body responds without your brain having to progress the impulse. This is a state of the body which isnt based on ki. That's why they detected no ki during the fight. Going by that logic it is possible to attain this state while maintaining a SS form, or maybe even a SSG form. It is possible that Goku used Kaioken in the picture since his aura is indeed red. His hair style also seems to be from a non SS form, otherwise I'd suggest that it could also be the SSG form.

So based on the aura color the only option left is Kaioken in combination with Ultra Instinct.

Wiki source: http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Ultra_Instinct_%22Omen%22


Anime about a guy who sees and then eats invisible bugs?

This sounds like an episode of Boogiepop Phantom.

Different episodes focused on different characters, each having a special ability... that was usually not as beneficial as it seemed. Their stories intertwined and showed the events from the different viewpoints of these characters. The guy who could eat bad memories was one of these episodes.


How can a death note shorten the lifespan of others?

Yes, to the extent of how can you manipulate a person's actions with the DN. (1) (2). But care must be taken not to break the other rules:

In your example, B will die in at most 23 days because A has written B's name in his DN.

But let's assume C wants B dead BEFORE that timeframe.

There is a conflict in the writing C did in the DN:

  Y, Car accident. Dies at 12:30, after he produces a deadly poison, which he injects into the food the person he knows as ''B'' eats. After he did this, he will die 9 days later in a car accident.

C's writing may be in conflict with this rule:

  If the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack. This is to ensure that other lives are not influenced. Even though only one name is written in the Death Note, if it influences and causes other humans that are not written in it to die, the victim’s cause of death will be a heart attack

So it can either be considered as a violation of the rule above (and Y will die of heart attack) or work as intended by C.


Is there some type of connection between Mavis and Zeref?

I think Zeref and Mavis had a thing. You know how Zeref said one day, that he realized the meaning of life and stopped all of his bad ways? Well, I think that day was the day Mavis died. Possibly killed by Zeref himself. He may have felt terrible and realized that he needed to be stopped. So as he awaits Natsu to get stronger, he stays near Mavis, enjoying her presences till the day comes.


Why did Angel and Otonashi want to pass on and make others pass on?

I think senshin makes a lot of good points in the comments, but I can also see where you're coming from with this; from a certain perspective, it does seem like it would be better to try and stay in purgatory forever.

I would give two major reasons why the kids decide to pass on anyway, both based on senshin's comments:

It's philosophically, culturally, and narratively necessary that they don't squat in purgatory for all eternity;
They can't really stay there anyway, because the place is constructed as a giant trap for exactly that kind of thinking.

Regarding point 1, think of it this way: in a Christian setting, God would not allow people to just live fantasy lives in purgatory with no intention to pass on. It would go against the philosophy of the Christian religion; in Christianity, either you go to Heaven, or you go to Hell. God sends people to purgatory to give them a second chance at Heaven, and if they don't take it, they go to Hell. The very construction of the universe forbids people from permanently living in purgatory. It's kind of like being someone with no citizenship in any country; purgatory is like an airport, where you can stay for a while but not forever.

Angel Beats uses more of an Eastern-style religious philosophy, but the same idea applies. Who knows what happens to them if they don't take their second chance, but in the Buddhist philosophy, escaping from the cycle of rebirth through some backdoor like remaining permanently in purgatory is just as unfathomable as escaping both Heaven and Hell by the same mechanism would be in Christianity.

This is simultaneously an in-universe and out-of-universe reason. Out of universe, the writers would have written it like this because that's what their cultural background would lead them to. In universe, the characters would want to pass on for the same reason: their culture is telling them that it's unthinkable to just linger in purgatory forever, ignoring their problems. (Since some kind of afterlife explicitly exists in the Angel Beats universe, there probably are safeguards of some kind to prevent permanent squatters in purgatory, but we never see proof of this in the series since no one tries to remain in purgatory with the express purpose of remaining in purgatory.) They do all seem to decide, very quickly and suddenly, that they're ready to face their problems and pass on, but the latter half of the show had all kinds of pacing issues, so I count that more as a writing problem than an actual inconsistency in the universe.

Regarding point 2, it's not only becoming model students that will cause them to pass on; it's becoming fulfilled, in any way that allows them to move past whatever was haunting them. This is abstract enough that it seems like no matter how you tried to avoid it, you would eventually become fulfilled and end up passing on. The SSS didn't because they were purposely holding on to their rage, turning it over and over in their minds, dragged on by the charisma of Yuri. But how long could they have actually stayed like this?

As we saw in Episode 3, all it took to send on Iwasawa was a really great performance. She had no idea it was coming and didn't consciously seek it out at all; she just happened to stumble on something that made up for whatever she'd missed out on in life, and it sent her on. The things we saw send the characters on in the last few episodes probably aren't the only things that would have worked. For each of them, there is most likely a wide spectrum of events that would have caused them to become fulfilled enough to pass on. Even locking yourself in a windowless room might not have been enough to prevent passing on; for all we know, if Yuri had sat in a dark room and thought long enough about what happened to her siblings, she would have eventually come to the same conclusion she reaches towards the end of the series, and would have been contented enough with it to pass on. It's entirely possible that becoming superheroes with all the food and Internet they wanted would be enough to content them and send them on. There are traps everywhere for someone who's trying to enjoy themselves in purgatory without passing on. The only surefire way to stay in purgatory is to stay tormented and miserable, and where's the fun in that?

To end with, I'll address a few of the specific points mentioned in the OP:

"You won't be humiliated by others for being dumb." Yuri does quite a lot of humiliation of the dumb. They don't mind because they like her, but bullying and social ranking can still exist in this world. I guess you can at least settle your differences in a sword fight or gun fight, though, since no one can die. The pleasure of repeatedly stomping down the people bullying you, though karmically a little iffy, might even be enough to send you off into the next life.
"You can become a super hero." Sure, but to what end? There's no one to save and no one to fight. You could have fun leaping around the buildings for a while, until you think "This is so much fun! I love being a superhero!" and then poof, off to your next life.
"You can play video games and program your own. You could create and share videos on sites or social networks like Youtube and Facebook." We don't know how much of an Internet actually exists. There might not even be an Internet; you might be limited to desktop apps that you burn to discs made from dirt. Even if there is, there might not be any Facebook or YouTube, and you'll have to make them yourself. Then you'll feel all satisfied that you recreated YouTube, and then poof, off to the next life. On the other hand, the only operating system available is Macrosoft Winding, which seems to be based on Windows, so using the computer might be a good way to stay angry and miserable so you don't pass on.
"You could reincarnate into something or someone who is way worse off." I actually think this is pretty unlikely. In Buddhist philosophy, what the kids are really doing when they come to terms with their bad memories is getting rid of a negative karmic seed and ridding themselves of an attachment to the physical world. These are good things in Buddhism; they help you reincarnate into a better state and bring you closer to breaking out of the cycle of rebirth. So if anything, they would probably reincarnate into a better life than the one they left. (And the "terrorist in Gitmo" scenario is unlikely because reincarnation in Hinduism and Buddhism starts you as a newborn, so even if you began as a newborn Yemeni villager, you would still have the choice not to be a terrorist.)
"You're probably going to lose your memory." They probably were afraid of this when they chose to pass on. Kanade and Otonashi certainly were, anyway. But the other reasons for passing on were persuasive enough that they overcame this fear.


Is "Dragon Ball AF" a real continuation of Dragon Ball series?

No, it isn't included in actual series. It is as you can say a fan-made because DBZ was off for so many years and fans were excited for any new glitch that this universe makes. The latest series is Dragon Ball Super.


What are the differences between normal version and director's cut version of episode 6?

According to the wiki:

  The uncut version of this episode features more explicity such as:

  More of Yoko's breasts are revealed. At the end of the episode, her top falls off completely-although we still don't see anything.
  Gimmy's penis is briefly shown. (This is actually not seen as taboo in Japan, as Gimmy is considered too young to be sexualized.)

  Scenes added include:

  Kamina trying to peek at the girls.
  The beastmen fool Kamina into giving up Gurren-by offering to remove the pixellation seemingly covering their nudity. (Of course, they
  aren't actually naked-just wearing tiny, skin-tinted swimsuits.)
  The beastmen using a shock collar-like device on the girls.


Did both Crocodile and Smoker use the artificial rain powder in Alabasta?

No, only Crocodile used the rain powder. Smoker was specifically asked by Hina if he used the dance powder and he said no (chapter 212). I know you stated this but it's firm proof until it's said otherwise.


What order do I watch the Minami-ke series?

There are 4 TV series and 3 OVAs in Minami-ke franchise.

The TV series:

Minami-ke (Oct 8, 2007 - Dec 31, 2007)
Minami-ke: Okawari (Jan 7, 2008 - Mar 31, 2008)
Minami-ke: Okaeri (Jan 5, 2009 - Mar 30, 2009)
Minami-ke: Tadaima (Jan 6, 2013 - Mar 31, 2013)

The OVAs:

Minami-ke: Betsubara (Jun 23, 2009)
Minami-ke: Omatase (Oct 5, 2012)
Minami-ke: Natsuyasumi (Aug 6, 2013)

Timeline (OVAs are in italic):

Minami-ke (Oct 8, 2007 - Dec 31, 2007)
Minami-ke: Okawari (Jan 7, 2008 - Mar 31, 2008)
Minami-ke: Okaeri (Jan 5, 2009 - Mar 30, 2009)
Minami-ke: Betsubara (Jun 23, 2009)
Minami-ke: Omatase (Oct 5, 2012)
Minami-ke: Tadaima (Jan 6, 2013 - Mar 31, 2013)
Minami-ke: Natsuyasumi (Aug 6, 2013)

Source: http://www.myanimelist.net


How does Aqua not purify her beloved alcoholic drinks?

First, Aqua did purify alcohol.

In one of Megumin's spin-off light novel1, Aqua was working as a part-time waitress at the guild's bar. However, once she got scolded and fired by the owner since she purified the alcohol accidentally. That's the reason why she was doing civil engineering work instead in the first episode. (source: [1], [2]:post no. 53 by DPKAszx20, reddit)

This implies that she can't really control her purification power; any liquid that she touches will be purified regardless of her intention. Her character introduction usually mentions this (examples: [3]:Aqua/Power Incontinence, [4], [5])

On the other hand, there's also an important info regarding her purification skill. According to a bonus light-novel for digital publication2, Aqua's natural purification skill power changes depending on her emotion/feeling. When she is in pure emotion, her natural purification power is high, otherwise when she is in "vulgar" mode, its power is low. (source: [1])

However, the mystery of her enjoying alcoholic drinks until drunk is never explained explicitly: was she really enjoying it? did she really drunk? Thus, there are only fan theories:

It is based on her emotion (as mentioned before) (source: [1])

When she's drinking alcoholic drinks, she's exposing her self-desire. This makes her purification power low, and thus she can enjoy it. On the other hand, when she was working as a waitress, she was not engulfed in her self-desire because she didn't want to drink it, and thus she accidentally purified it.
Only liquid that's touched directly gets purified (source: most of her character introductions, [2]: post no. 49 & 50, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

Most of the cases, she touched the liquid with her skin (e.g. Darkness' grape juice). However, it's implied that drinking is safe because the lip is considered as mucous membrane, not skin. The problem is, this also generates more question like how she purified customers' alcoholic drink and Kazuma's tea...
She can't really control it (source: reddit, reddit, reddit)

Which means she was actually drinking plain water, and her being drunk was due to the placebo effect or water intoxication.

Debunked fan theories due to the fact mention here:

She only purifies water-based liquid, and alcohol is not water (source: [2]: post 47 & 48, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

Chemically, alcohol is ethanol (C2H6O2), not water (H2O). This means that she probably was drinking pure ethanol instead, which surely made her drunk. (Debunked because she did purify alcohol)
Purification takes some time to work (source: [2]: post 52, reddit, reddit)

Similar to the case when she took a long time to purify a lake, she needed some time to purify her drink. (Debunked because she purified Darkness' grape juice instantly)
Alcohol is considered holy/pure/sacred by many religions (source: reddit, reddit, reddit, reddit)

There are facts about alcohol such as wine is considered sacred. Examples are Jesus turning water into wine, Japanese gods like sake, etc.. (Debunked anyway, since she did purify alcohol)

Finally, the scene where she was drunk and puking rainbow is anime only. It's not mentioned in the light novel, thus might not be considered canon. (source: reddit)

Another thing to ponder: why isn't her bodily fluid got purified? If this is to be considered, then the only theory that works is "Only liquid that's touched directly gets purified".

Sources:

[1]: Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Japanese)
[2]: 2channel (Japanese)
[3]: Characters/KonoSuba: Protagonists (Warning, TvTropes)
[4]: NicoNicoPedia (Japanese)
[5]: AniOta Wiki (Japanese)
Reddit Personally, I don't regard reddit discussion highly enough though...:

About Aqua and Alcohol
How does Aqua drink tea/wine/beer if she purifies it when she touches the drinks?
S2E9 gave me a question. Why does aqua purify everything except booze?
If Aqua can purify any liquid into warm water...
[Spoilers] Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 - Episode 9 discussion

1 The spin-off light novels are officially free to read on Sneaker Bunko (Japanese), but I don't have time to find the related passage. It'd be great if someone can confirm this in the comment.

2 Unfortunately, I can't find the origin of the light-novel mentioned there.


The answer lies in Ichigo's existence. At the end of the battle between Aizen and Ichigo, Ichigo noted that Aizen's sword is filled with loneliness. Before Ichigo, there was no one of the same level of spiritual pressure as Aizen. This is proved in the conversation between Ichigo and his father, Kurosaki Isshin, on episode 301 of the anime.

   Isshin: Let's go (after Aizen)

 Ichigo: Don't you feel it? There's no way we can fight such monstrous spiritual pressure.

 Isshin: As I thought, you really can comprehend his powers.

That wasn't the exact words but is pretty much what they said in that episode. And previously during the battle between Aizen vs Isshin, Yoruichi, and Urahara, Ishin said that when he slashed Aizen, he didn't feel anything. Aizen felt so empty. This is because Aizen's power is far above Isshin, that Isshin can no longer comprehend (Isshin also mentioned this to Urahara after he unleashed Getsuga Tensho towards Aizen). This is later proven by Aizen when he made a normal human vanish just by being near him without the man actually understand that going closer to Aizen will kill him.

Why Aizen kidnap Orihime? The main reason is once again, Ichigo. Deep down, Aizen believed that Ichigo can reach his level. And to encourage Ichigo's growth, Aizen kidnapped Orihime so that Ichigo would feel the urgency of getting stronger.

The other, less significant (from Aizen's point of view) reason is Orihime's ability, Shunshun Rikka, which can negates reality. Aizen was curious about it when he saw Orihime used it to restore wounds.

As for Ichigo saying Aizen's sword is filled with loneliness, it was mentioned in episode 310 at 8:30-10:30 of the anime.

As for Yamamoto, he certainly was regarded as the most powerful Shinigami, but Aizen doesn't seems like seeing him as his equal. This is my own guess though.


Why is Utena able to beat other duelists?

tl;dr: Utena probably wins because of some sort of spiritual or moral quality she has.
Why is Utena able to win?
In Utena's second duel, Utena is losing until she "absorbs" power from the prince. Moreover, Touga, who is watching the duel, says:

What was that just now?! Was that the power to bring the world revolution? The Power of Dios?!

This indicates that Utena is probably aided by something that has nothing to do with her sword skills---probably whatever the image of the prince signifies, as the image frequently appears falling from the sky or imposed on Utena's body just before she deals a finishing blow.
Incidentally, in ep. 15, Mamiya says, of the Student Council members:

Swords strong enough to defeat Utena Tenjou may have crystallized inside of their hearts!

Mikage counters this by saying that the "weak-hearted fools" on the Student Council have already been defeated by Utena before. The emphasis here isn't on the physical abilities of the duelists. Thus, there might be some "spiritual" or "moral" aspect to some of the duels.
I should also note that in some of the cases, it's not surprising that Utena is able to beat the duelists, even if we don't consider any "unnatural" causes. For example, in ep. 5, Utena wins the duel after Miki becomes distracted (when Anthy cheers on Utena). Similarly, in ep. 29, Juri leaves the duel after her locket is broken.
Who is the prince?
In Saionji and Touga's ep. 33 conversation, Touga says that Akio saved Utena as a child by showing her "something eternal".
Later, in ep. 34, the flashback to Utena's childhood in ep. 34 indicates that the prince who saves Utena is the prince whose image appears in Utena's duels. This is the Rose Prince, who in second flashback is revealed to be Dios and Anthy's brother.
Akio must then be a degraded version of the prince, or a "fallen" Dios---in the flashback, it is stated:

the prince [the Rose Bride] loves is no longer the prince she knew. Not anymore. He is now the End of the World.

Thus, Touga might be right about Utena winning with the "Power of Dios". (Being not entirely sure what the "Power of Dios" is, I hesitate to say that this completely explains Utena's victories.) If so, perhaps she is channeling this power towards the end of the duels, when the image appears.


How much does a typical anime episode or series cost to make?

This is going to vary a lot depending on the budget of the series. The difference between high budget and low budget series is big enough that applying this to any individual anime is probably not a very good approximation. As an aside, this is essentially a rehash of my answer here, though the question is different enough that I don't think it's a duplicate.
A single episode of a typical anime today costs roughly 10 million yen. This Cruncyroll article from 2011 lists the following breakdown of costs for one single 30 minute episode of a 2011 anime had the following breakdown of costs:

Original work - 50,000 yen ($660)
Script - 200,000 yen ($2,640)
Episode Direction - 500,000 yen ($6,600)
Production - 2 million yen ($26,402)
Key Animation Supervision - 250,000 yen ($3,300)
Key Animation - 1.5 million yen ($19,801)
In-betweening - 1.1 million yen ($14,521)
Finishing - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Art (backgrounds) - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Photography - 700,000 yen ($9,240)
Sound - 1.2 million yen ($15,841)
Materials - 400,000 yen ($5,280)
Editing - 200,000 yen ($2,640)
Printing - 500,000 yen ($6,600)

for a total of about 11 million yen.
This image (in Japanese) is a breakdown of the costs of a single episode of the series Bamboo Blade. As you can see, the price comes in at just under 10 million yen. This site has some more info, as does this list (though not everything there is anime and most is old). But the bottom line is that the market price is roughly 10 million yen per episode, which comes out to 230 yen per frame. Some of that goes to things other than animation, but the bulk is for art and animation costs.
As for the source, the production company typically self-funds its own original anime. For example, Puella Magi Madoka Magica was funded by Aniplex. For adaptations, the publishing company typically provides some or all of the funding, as it serves as a form of advertising for the original. The details on these arrangements are very secret and can vary a lot.
Note that the production company also has to pay for the TV run in most cases, since late-night TV slots are purchased by production companies as a form of advertising for their final product e.g. DVDs (see Why does anime usually air at night in Japan? for more information on this). According to this blog post, for a 52-episode series airing on 5-7 stations, this would be in the ballpark of 50 million yen, or about 1 million yen per episode. They typically only make back their money at the point of DVD sales, which is why studios never know exactly how much money they're able to invest on a new series.


Why does anime usually air at night in Japan?

It's partly a matter of targeting specific audiences. Depending on what time a show broadcasts at, you can tell roughly what their target audience is.

Plenty of anime are broadcast in the morning. From this season, Danchi Tomoo airs at 9:30, Dokidoki! Precure at 8:30, Toriko at 9:00, One Piece at 9:30, Uchuu Kyoudai at 7:00. These are mostly shows which are aimed at younger children. Those also all air on weekends. There are some early morning anime which air on weekdays as well, but typically they air before school hours begin.

There is also some anime which broadcasts in the evening. These are generally programs which would be appropriate for a family to watch together or for older children/teenagers to watch on their own. Some examples of this from this season are Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 (5:30 p.m.), Train Heros (5:30 p.m.), Doraemon (7:00 p.m.), and Yuugiou! Zexal II (7:30 p.m.).

Late night anime are typically those which are targeting a mostly adult fanbase. In many (but not all) cases they aren't appropriate for younger viewers. Even if they are, they wouldn't be interesting to those viewers. At least in principle, the broadcast time is late at night so that children won't accidentally tune in while adults can still watch it or record it. Late at night, TV stations do not enforce broadcast restrictions as strictly as during primetime hours. Late-night anime thus has the connotation of having a lot of fanservice and moe, though that isn't always the case. For many of the shows, like Chihayafuru, it would probably be fine to show it in the evening, but since there are already established time blocks for showing anime, sometimes shows like that get shown as late-night anime anyway.

It's also true that most late-night slots are usually (though not always) purchased from the TV station by the production company directly. Since this doesn't require external sponsors, and because it's cheaper airtime, it's typically easier to get a late-night slot than a primetime slot, so this has become the default for a majority of anime which are not aimed at children. This is done essentially as a form of advertising for the final product (DVDs). Incidentally, this is also the reason why most anime production companies are gladly willing to sell rights to simulcast for next-to-nothing, because it serves as advertisement outside Japan, but DVD licensing rights are expensive (because the DVD is the final product and the way which they expect to make money).

Late night anime slots have existed on-and-off since the 1960s (one of the earliest being Sennin Buraku from 1963-1964), but the first really successful series was Those Who Hunt Elves in 1997. This was also at the start of an anime boom, and rather than trying to expand in the daytime, many new anime series opted to follow this and go for night slots. In recent years, this has become the default method for broadcasting anime, and a majority of anime are broadcast in late-night slots. Occasionally, some of those which are particularly popular will get rebroadcast in other time slots.

As for why late-night series in other countries sometimes get better slots than in Japan, it's likely because of the different business model. In Japan, late-night TV are essentially advertisements for DVDs. They are not aimed at being profitable on their own. In most other countries, there is a much smaller supply of anime broadcast (some of which was broadcast late-night in Japan), and it is often sponsored or on pay-to-view channels. Hence, they can afford to broadcast a lot of anime during the day because of less competition and better sponsorship.

English Wikipedia has some more information, though the article is poorly sourced and out-of-date. Japanese Wikipedia is a little bit better and more in-depth, but still has sourcing issues.


Have there been releases of the Dragon Ball manga per issue in English or only collected editions?

You can find them in VIZ's website, both in digital and paperback: https://www.viz.com/read/manga/dragon-ball-volume-1/product/104

Each volume contains more than ten chapters. Based on my experience reading official translations, it does not necessarily mean that each volume would contain one or two arcs as those can span several volumes. However, if it is an omnibus (meaning several volumes compiled into one), it might be possible and those are also available in the same website: https://www.viz.com/read/manga/dragon-ball-3-in-1-edition-volume-1/product/3197


In the manga version, Ishida said,

  "It's cold... and it's warm"

The sentence didn't look fit with what Ishida said before. Rephrasing it a little bit,

  "By the way/You see, I... feel cold and warm"

Well, my thought about what the meaning of these words are:

"It's cold" refers to the cold of the river
"it's warm" refers to the blood starting to surround his body when he's in the river. The average temperature of blood is pretty high, and when it's escaping your body that quickly you can tend to feel the warmth before it has time to cool off. You can see in the frame where Ishida mentions "It's Warm" is the same frame where he begins to bleed out. Same goes for in the movie, its voiced over as soon as he begins bleeding out as well.

Volume 6, chapter 43: page 15, 16, 17


Are there any other known members of Anbu: Root, apart from Sai and Danzou?

At one point, Yamato was a member of Root. This is true in both anime and manga. Kakashi was also a member of Root, but this is only true in the anime. Yamanaka Fuu and Aburame Tatsuma, the two ninja Danzo brought to the Five Kage summit was also member of Root. For a full list of Root members, see the wikia page.

Credits to Ero Sennin for pointing me the Root wikia page.


What happens if a dragon lacrima of another element is implanted?

Spoilers to recent Manga chapters, But to be put simply they gain the ability to use and presumably eat that element. This is shown by

   One of the Elite Members of the Alvarez Empire,God Serena, who used to be a wizard saint, rank 1, who had 8 Dragon Lacrima implanted into his body.

This is shown when (Even Bigger Spoiler):

   he uses the Cavern, Purgatory, and Sea King Dragon slayer magics in rapid succession to beat down four wizard saints ranked 2,3,4,and 5. Draculos Hyberion, Wolfheim, Warrod Sequen, and Jura Neekis were all incapacitated by his 3 attacks of those 3 dragon slayer magics. He then prepared to finish them off with Gale Dragon Slayer Magic, but was interrupted before he used that one.


Why did Goku/Vegeta not recognise Broly?

They didnt recognize him because the former Broly movies were non-canon (not written by Akira Toriyama but by Toei animation) so they dont follow exactly the same timeline-continuity. In the new Broly movie story, Goku and Vegeta never met Broly before, the events of the 3 former movies never happened. Besides this Broly is supposed to have a different personality than the former Broly, who was pure evil who wanted to destroy everything and this is somehow a good guy.


Can Death Note misfire if a person changes their name and appearance to that of another person?

My personal guess would be that nobody would die. It was established at this question that despite changing names, the Death God would still see the original name. Therefore Mr. B would still show A as his real name. So if you would write down Mr. B, while thinking of Mr. A, the names would not match.

Now about having the exact same face. One could argue that Mr. B would die, because you did write down his name and did think of his face, but despite having undergone plastic surgery, your face will never be 100% exactly the same. Even with identical twins, they will have differences. That's why I believe that nothing will happen, since the Death Note probably knows you are not thinking of Mr. B, but of Mr. A, due to their faces being slightly different.


How did Minori and co. get back to Akiba at the end of S2E21?

After looking through the skill lists on the Log Horizon Wikia I could not find another skill that would allow them to fast travel back to Akihabara but according to the Adventurers abilities page they can use Call of Home to return ref(Adventurer Abilities). So it would make sense that they either used Call of Home or just traveled back on foot with a time lapse that wasn't noted. ref(Skills)


How and when did Uchiha Madara learn Edo Tensei?

It is not really stated how and when Madara learned to use ET.

But it is possible that during the battles between Senju and Uchiha, Madara had seen Tobirama use it. And since ET is not a bloodline jutsu, and Madara as top Uchiha ninja, he copied it with Sharingan's ability.


Which powers does the Black Asta transformation give to Asta?

Apart from the ability to fly, Asta's speed and strength are greatly increased when he enters his anti-magic state.

  An extra perk and probably the most useful effect of the flow of anti-magic is on his mind. It improves his focus and clears his mind.

Asta also gains the ability to sense strong mana. Actually, its more like his Black Asta form is automatically drawn to strong magic. And depending on how much Anti-magic he channels through his body, the overflowing energy erodes magic near him.


What is the violin song in My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 20 played at 20:28?

The song is called "Dependable! Cheerful Person" Wind Adlib. It's on the OST for the first two seasons as best as I can tell. You can hear the full song on Soundcloud here.


What is the song playing in Code Geass R1 episode 24 when the black knights are ready to fire with the heavy cannon?

It's Black Knights, the 11th track of Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion O.S.T. 2. (SoundCloud link))


Are Wendy Marvell and Sherria Blendy a couple?

They're not a couple. They are friends. I live with another dude. We pay 400 dollars each to rent an apartment close to our university. And I assure you we're not a couple.

Wendy and Chelia have always been stated to be friends. Also, one of the last chapters has disclosed and confirmed that Wendy has never done anything sexual with another human being (chapter 508). It's a confirmation, Wendy and Chelia are just friends and did nothing sexual (not even a kiss) during that year.

There are just 2 hints that may lead into thinking they're a couple:

That they lived together for 1 year. As I said before they didn't do anything.
The famous quote: "Don't cry, Wendy... Even if I don't have my magic, at least I'm still alive... And love is way stronger than anything magic could offer."

It is exactly how it sounds. Wendy was going to die and Sherry saves her, but she loses her magic. The "love is way stronger" can be interpreted many ways, and most aren't yuri related. Since the beginning of the series everyone says love is the strongest force and it's usually not related to love affairs. Ultear sacrifives herself, Lucy almost dies a few times trying to protect Wendy...
protecting each other is something Fairy Tail does with everyone of their members regardless of gender. Wendy joined Lamia Scale because Fairy Tail was disbanded and has been part of that Guild for a whole year, more time that what she has spent beeing a fairy tail member.

In the future the author may change that if he wants but so far they are good friends.


According to various Japanese sources,

   Kazuya's parents divorced.

From Aniota Wiki -spoiler part- (Japanese),

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

Rough translation:

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

From comment no. 65 on a Japanese blog,

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

Rough translation:

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

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

   一也の場合はママリンと父が離婚したんだよな。ロクでもない奴だったのか

Rough translation

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

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


As there is no direct evidence to explain how it would affect them I would assume,

With the Knight of One, Bismark, I would dare say he wouldn't see the "before images" thus unable to predict their movement. Considering that he was the Knight of One and had his eye sewn shut, I would assume it wouldn't hinder him all that much not having his Geass as he would have been able to prove himself to others without his Geass (he position of Knight of One may have been just because he's in league with the Order)
With Marian, I dare say it would kill her has it was her Geass which kept her alive in Anya. If she was in her own body she wouldn't be able to transfer her conscientiousness so had the Canceller been in use when V.V attacked her she would have died
With Mao it would be similar to how his Geass Power reacts with those with The Code. Effectiveness depends as Mao became focused on C.C so much because she was the only person he couldn't read the mind of, on the one hand The Order could use it to prevent their secrets being discovered but on the other hand Mao may affiliate himself as a member of the Order because he would be with other people he can't read the minds of, a sense of peace for him

The problem is that the Geass the Canceller dispelled in the series were Geass Powers which didn't benefit the caster directly. with Marian's, Bismark's and Mao's Geass there are sustained effects and they reap all the benefits (ie. Marian can jump bodies, Bismark can just react with foreknowledge and Mao can gain info from other's minds) as such the question needs to be asked how the Canceller would work with them. Would the Area of Effect shown when Jeremiah used it (the blue sphere) apply an "immunity" effect to those in the area or would it only work on who has it equipped.

the one point in the series were we could see wether or not the Canceler applied an immunity effect is when Shirley dies. Lelouch is using his Geass on her but we don't know if it was having any effect on her has his order was to keep her alive when she had been shot and on the verge of death. also if she had immunity to Geass it may have been as a result of her dying, as shown when Euphie was dying and the Geass effects on her was dispelling.

Given that Bismark is in league with The Order there is the chance functionality against his Geass may have been developed as the Canceller worked on the Geass Effects of current members and one person who was their captive (and the children who forced a Knightmare Pilot to shoot his allies during the attack on the Order may have been a by-product of research on Lelouch's Geass given it's similarities).


During the Substitute Shinigami arc, it is mentioned that Ichigo and Ginjo are Substitute Shinigami. What does this mean?

According to the Bleach Wiki:

  A Substitute Shinigami (死神代行, shinigami daikō) is someone who became Shinigami by obtaining another Shinigami's power, or by going through a much harder and riskier process to transform him/herself into one.

Ginjo was the first Substitute Shinigami that was recognized as such by the Gotei 13. The origin of his powers is unknown but according to Captain Soi-Fong he murdered many shinigami to get his powers.

Ichigo, on the other hand, received his powers from Rukia Kuchiki when she gave him a portion of her power by the method of endowing her zanpakuto with said power and stabbing Ichigo with it, in order to protect his family.

  If a Substitute Shinigami appears, Soul Society gives that Shinigami a special badge which they use to monitor and restrict the Substitute. However, the Substitute is told that it is a license which is given to Substitutes that prove beneficial to Soul Society to allow them to do their work and identify them as a Substitute. The badge alerts the user if Hollows are nearby via an alarm sound which can only be heard by the owner and the item itself is only visible to other spiritually aware beings. The Badge can also allow the soul to leave the body.

Ichigo received his badge after he went to SPOILER invade the Seireitei to rescue Rukia from being murdered on account of her giving power to a Human. The Gotei 13 saw the sheer power Ichigo possessed and recognized him as a Substitute Shinigami so they make keep an eye on him and call on him in times in need (Personal opinion which preceded to be the spine of the rest of the series's plot).

Ginjo received his badge for a similar reason, so that the Gotei 13 could watch his actions (specifically so he would not murder more Shinigami to gain power) and to call on him in times of need.SPOILER In time he realized the real purpose of the badge and feeling betrayed he disappeared from the Gotei 13's radar without a trace.

Source:Bleach Wikia


Why does Betelgeuse freak out at the presence of a "lesser spirit" in episode 22?

After Betelgeuse die he became some sort of quasi spirit himself allowing him to possess those who are spirit compatible or lacking in sanity, in this case the fingers , Subaru and skip by the anime, Julius (The guy got his own issue).

Julius however cannot be possessed due to having six guardian spirits. This did not allow him to choose Julius as a host after the last of the fingers were eliminated but instead tried for the next best thing which is Subaru. if he did tried to possessed Julius. Betelgeuse must fight against the other six spirits and that can cause severe pain to the mind of the host which may cause him to be ejected and die for real.

Subaru to was having the same problem like Betelgeuse but we saw it much clearly, severe headache when the spirit try to cleanse him of Ram illusion

Even when Subaru has IA ,Julius lesser fire spirit to help him Subaru is not the true pact wielder of the spirit making him vulnerable to possession.

But still wanting Julius as a body due to his more powerful body Subaru was taken hostage to try to get Julius to get rid of his pact , not wanting Julius his friend (and himself)  getting possessed and wreaking havoc he ask to be killed by Felix . Felix in turn ruin Subaru Gate causing his blood to boil (see episode 5 death) and Julius tearfully end his life for that loop.


What is the disease called "Tsurarekia (ツラレキア)"?

I'm not sure if this is an error in subtitles or if they slightly altered the real disease's name, but either way I think they are referring to Tularemia, which is pronounced as tsuraremia (ツラレミア) in Japanese.

From the English Wikipedia article for Tularemia, bold emphasis is my own:

  Tularemia (also known as Pahvant Valley plague, rabbit fever, deer fly
  fever, and Ohara's fever) is a serious infectious disease caused by
  the bacterium Francisella tularensis. A Gram-negative, nonmotile
  coccobacillus, the bacterium has several subspecies with varying
  degrees of virulence. The most important of those is F. tularensis
  tularensis (Type A), which is found in lagomorphs (rabbits and similar
  animals) in North America, and it is highly virulent in humans and
  domestic rabbits. F. tularensis palaearctica (Type B) occurs mainly in
  aquatic rodents (beavers, muskrats) in North America and in hares and
  small rodents in northern Eurasia. It is less virulent for humans and
  rabbits. The primary vectors are ticks and deer flies, but the disease
  can also be spread through other arthropods. The disease is named
  after Tulare County, California.

From the corresponding Japanese Wikipedia article, to show the Japanese pronunciation:

  アメリカ合衆国カリフォルニア州トゥーレアリ郡（w:Tulare County, California）で発見されたことからツラレミア
  (tularemia)

Which translates to...

  ツラレミア (tsuraremia, Tularemia) comes from the fact that it was
  discovered in Tulare County, California.


Why does Yuno fall for Yuki in the first place?

Darjeeling's answer is right about the things that made Yuno falls for Yuki, but as far as I remember, there's deeper truth behind that:

 Yuki wanted to go stargazing with his family, but his parent got divorced. So Yuno answered that she will be his bride, his family, so that Yuki's wish might come true. And to Yuno's answer, Yuki replied that they had to become adult first. The important thing was, later it was told that, at that time, Yuno's parents HAD already dies. She might seem OK, but she had actually fallen deep into despair, thinking that there's no future for her. And that was where the stargazing conversation happened, in which Yuki (kinda) promised to take her as his bride. Thus, that event gave her a new hope, a future as Yuki's wife.

So, without Yuki himself realizing, at that time, he saved Yuno with his words, and that event became a life support for Yuno.
I forgot the chapter of manga where that complete reason is revealed, but for sure it's not an early chapters, since a big, big secret

 The story about how Yuno's parents death

has to be revealed first. Though I remember that when it was revealed, Yuki himself realized that

 "So I've became her only moral support..." or something along that line


The manga your looking for is Classmate, Kamimura Yuuka wa Kou Itta

  Shirasaki is incredibly bored by his unchanging daily school life and he ends up falling in with his weird classmate Kamimura Yuuka, who rants about changing the world to his uninterested classmates. However, when she reveals the truth about the nature of their world to him, everything will quickly become stranger than he would ever have expected!


Where is it mentioned the Accelerator's Vector Transformation works on all 11 dimensions?

In To Aru Majutsu no Index light novel volume 6, page 57, it is explained how teleporters use the 11th dimension to move objects:

  [...] Though the phrase “to teleport within space” sounded simple, the theory behind it was to get away from the three dimensions, find her position in the eleventh dimension, and then calculate the vectors to teleport. [...]

In volume 20, page 107, it is specifically explained that:

  When he reflected teleportation powers, a strange phenomenon occurred in the 3
  dimensional world, [...]


Is Nishikyougoku Ramuko a word play of Toushinou Kyouko?

Nishikyougoku Ramuko (西京極ラム子) is a wordplay on Saikyouyaki Ranko (西京焼蘭子), the name of the author of the fictional magical girl series, the story within story Majokko Mirakurun (魔女っ娘ミラクるん), from which Toshinou Kyouko's doujin works are derived. We do actually know the name of the author of Majokko Mirakurun through the eyecatch featuring Toshinou Kyouoko:

Nishikyougoku is the name of a train station on the Hankyu Railway Kyoto Line as well as the name of the westernmost street of Heiankyou, one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. Ramu means rum, which refers to Toshinou's favorite ice cream flavor, rum raisin. Saikyouyaki is Kyoto-style grilled fish, and Ranko is just an ordinary feminine name.

A note on the difference in pronunciation of 西京極 and 西京焼: it's how the kanjis are grouped together. 西京極 is 西 + 京極 (west + end of capital) while 西京焼 is 西京 + 焼 (West Capital + grill).


Do both Kamui Sharingans share one dimension?

The Kamui's alternate dimension is one and the same for both Kakashi and Obito. This has been seen a number of times during their fight in the 4th Ninja War.

Kakashi teleported Gedo Mazo's neck using Kamui, only for Obito to promptly bring it back using his Kamui
Kakashi got a clue to Tobi's identity because a kunai he teleported left a scratch on Tobi's mask who had teleported himself at the same time to avoid Naruto's Rasengan.
Kakashi then teleports Naruto's Rasengan so that it can hit Tobi in the alternate dimension where he just teleported his arm.

However, the first clue to this fact was given much earlier when Tobi came to talk to Naruto. Kakashi tried to use Kamui on him, only for Tobi to remark, "Don't bother with that Kakashi. It won't work on me."


Why does Kuriyama always say "How unpleasant!"?

There isn't any deep meaning to Kuriyama's fuyukai desu / "How unpleasant!" in the light novel. It's just a thing she says frequently - a catchphrase.


Is there more than one World Tree in the "known" world?

Short answer: probably yes.

Longer answer:

Firstly, it's clear that the two trees are obviously different trees:

The World Tree is said to be the tallest tree in the world, reaching 1784 metres in hight.

The tree in the background is obviously a different tree, as it is on an island and there isn't a town underneath it. It also appears to be big enough to be a world tree, as it is far taller than the trees that surround it.

(However, it may only appear to bigger than the sappling because of the perspective and the height of the clouds)

If this is a world tree, and Ging has been to it, (assuming Ging has never been outside the 'known' world) then there is a second world tree in the 'known' world.

This probably isn't improbable because Chimera Ants are also from the outside world so we know things from the 'outside' world can come into the 'known' world.

On the other hand, there is another possibility - that Ging is lying to Gon when he said he has never been to the outside world. There are 28 survivors (of which, only two are official) from expeditions to the dark continent so Ging could be one of them. He is one of the top five most competent nen users and could have the power to survive the trip.

However, there is never a reason shown for Ging to lie to his son.


Kakuzu's way of getting all the five chakra elements

This is just the theory, but I always assumed that since the blood vessels and the chakra network are intricately related, if you take one the other also follows.

Thus when Kakuzu takes the heart of the shinobi he also takes the chakra vessels tied in and around the heart. Thus he would push his own chakra into the heart while his unique body mimics the nature of the chakra vessels of the original body.

Thus he builds his own chakra, uses the handsigns to concentrate/accumulate it, but when nature transforming the chakra he passes it through the heart which acts like a processor to change the chakra nature to the type needed.


Why didn't Nero tell the Black Bulls (or anyone) about the devil, elves, Licht, and the first Wizard King?

Nero was not able to speak before the elves re-incarnated.

Edit: Actually it wasnt until the shadow palace was summoned at Clover Castle.
This is from the Wiki

> When Asta asks if she is Nero, she confirms and explains that she was originally human and could not speak as a bird until the Shadow Palace was summoned


We have not yet seen a Fish Devil Fruit user. They will not be able to swim underwater due to the Devil Fruit curse, but they will be able to breath underwater due to the Fish's abilities.

Seeing as there has not been a Fish Fruit user thusfar, this statement is speculated on the very similar case that we have seen, where a fishman had eaten a devil fruit. Vander Decken IX, a Japanese bullhead shark fishman, ate the Mark Fruit. In chapter 615, Vander Decken IX explains that due to the Devil Fruit Curse, he is rendered unable to swim. We can later see him in chapter 631, where he has put an air-bubble around himself to retain his energy and not to make him able to breathe. This last part is confirmed at the end of the arc, because even after the air bubble had been removed from Noah, Vander Decken IX did not suffocate and was seen alive, being arrested, instead of buried.


Why is Nanatsu no Taizai : Seisen no Shirushi only 4 episodes?

TL;DR This was never intended to be a full season. This is just an intermediary series to keep the audience's interest while the real season 2 can be finished once the Manga is sufficiently ahead.

MyAnimeList: New 'Nanatsu no Taizai' TV Series Announced for 2016.The page clearly states,

  The announcement does not specify whether the new series is a sequel.

This has been done before for example with Magi. Post season 2, several episodes relating to Sinbad's history were released so that the Season 3 had enough source material.

This is a original mini arc written by the author himself. According to the discussion on MAL.

  This is basically a movie, but instead of releasing on theaters, it’s been released on TV in 4 episodes....
  Anyhow, I’m cool with that as long as it is written by the mangaka (which it is). Hopefully we will get an announcement later this year (or maybe next) about a possible sequel in 2017.... I doubt there won’t be one given the great success of this franchise.
  Also, this was never announced as a second season to begin with, so I’m not sure why some of you’re surprised by this... It was announced as Nanatsu no Taizai (2016), not Nanatsu no Taizai Second Season (2016) from the very beginning. If this was indeed a second season, they would have added that to the title the day it was announced, simple as that.
  Anyway, looking forward this original mini arc story written by Nakaba Suzuki himself.


Is Nanachi able to ascend from the 6th layer again safely due to being a narehate?

Nanachi is able to see Curse, so she is able to avoid it. You can also remember that she've established her hideout in zone free from Curse, which may mean she still needs to avoid it.

So, can she ascend from 6th layer again? Probably yes, if she can find zones free from Curse. Is she immune to Curse? Most probably - no, at least there were no apparent facts proving opposite.


Why didn't the Titans wipe out humanity yet?

This has no answer yet, and probably will not for a while. The author has stated the publication will run for at least another three years from the date of the linked article (September 2014).

Below is what has been revealed so far:

   The reason seems to be that the Coordinate, which has the power to control Titans, is "lost".  Mindless titans can't be controlled without it.

   It could be said that Colossal Titan only emerged recently to take down the wall since a Titan of that size and power has never been available before.

   Titans are actually used to enslave/control the population (since the royal family seemed to have had the Coordinate power for several generations). They never attempted to use it against the "enemy" before Eren took control of it, which is odd. Bertolt, Reiner, Annie could actually be working for the king, since the royal family "lost" the Coordinate to Eren's father.


Who is this goggles-wearing character from the second My Hero Academia S3 intro?

This character is a anime-only character, not appearing in the manga or an anime episode as of yet.

Most likely just for something to look cool in the OP.


What happened to Eren that made him unable to turn into a Titan in chapter 53 of the manga?

I'm pretty sure this is due to the fact that turning into a titan requires energy.  Serially turning into  one like that was wearing him down, such that he couldn't turn into the normal full-sized titan of normal titan intelligence.  If he burned enough energy as a titan or through regeneration, he would not be able to turn into a titan at all for a while, as established much later in the manga.


Did they ever talk about who left the nanomachines/viruses on Mars?

i haven't read the books or manga myself but from my understanding, Vampires/Methuselah were human colonists sent to Mars where the contracted the "Bacillus Virus" which is a Martian Virus, if there was life on Mars before humans arrived it could have been the cause of Martian Extinction though i'm not sure if it's a natural virus, engineered virus or a virus born from dead Martian's who evolved to be vampires but there doesn't seem to be any indication that the Bacillus Virus was alien in nature to Mars (ie. having came from somewhere else in the universe).

Crusniks Nanomachines were also found on Mars and if the Bacillus Virus is connected to Martian Vampires, then the Crusniks Nanomachines may have been made as a weapon to use against them as we know Crusniks feed on Vampires and are by far more powerful.

As for the concept of space/aliens that's what the Methuselah are to the Terrans in the very beginning as they where Humans who were changed on Mars and came back to wage war so in a sense they are aliens, the Ships we see at the beginning of the anime series is more than likely space ships from Mars at the beginning of the war.

Also in the anime the scenes we see Able, Cain, Seth anbd Lilith on a spaceship looking over Earth and at the end we see it. this ship is called Ark and i think in the novels it's covered again, see bellow (major spoiler)

   The Vatican destroy's the Empire's second largest City with a nuclear attack, Seth goes to reactive the Ark hoping to use it's Satellite Cannon to destroy the Vatican's nuclear launch facility
 Cain and Dietrich appear and take control of the Ark and it's revealed Cain plans to crash it into the earth and Able gets involved with the fight between Cain and Seth
 Seth is able to stop Cain's plan but is weakened where Cain then severs her head, killing her. the Order of Rosenkreuz twists the information framing Able for Seth's Murder and since Seth was the Empress Augusta Vradica, seen as the "Mother" of the Methuselah, and Able is allied with the Vatican the Empire starts and all out war with the Terrans

though i'm not sure if the above takes place in Rages Against the Moons or Reborn on the Mars


Is Persona 4 Golden anime different from the original Persona 4 anime?

You have to watch Persona 4 before watching Persona 4 the Golden, the reason is in P4G they skip most of the plot presented in the original series and pretty much only animate the parts with the new character, Mary. So while watching the Golden you just have to fill in the missing parts with the original P4 or it won't make sense. Whatever happens in the original won't change except a small part in the end but even then it's not that much of a change, it's pretty much adding a final final true ending over the true ending of the original adaptation... Either that or play the Golden game for PS Vita since that one has the full story, not chopped up like the adaptation.

TL;DR P4G doesn't touch anything that happens in original P4. If anything, watching P4 priorhand is mandatory


What is the symbol/tattoo on Sebastian's hand?

Fun Facts About Sebastian Michaelis' Symbol written by aneir on DeviantArt stated:

  Fact 2: Pentagram

  The Pentagram is a five-sided star, usually made with a single continuous line, with the points equally spaced. It is often depicted within a circle. This is one of several geometric star designs representing the mysteries of creation and redemption, the soul of man in its relationship with the Universal Spirit. Magickally, such diagrams are considered efficacious in rites and rituals of evocation and transformation.

  Among the Greeks, the pentagram was the symbol of the goddess Kore, who resumed in her mythos the descent and ascent of the human of soul from the Underworld. Her sacred symbol, the apple, shows a five-pointed star when sliced horizontally through the center. The Pythagoreans, who based much of their philosophy on numbers, used the pentagram as an amulet for health and spiritual well-being. They wore the pentagram both upright and reversed and when hiding from persecution, they used the pentagram as a secret sign of recognition.

  By the Middle Ages, the pentagram had become a general symbol of spiritual wisdom and truth, and it was marked on doorways and windows to keep evil out of the house. There is evidence that the old village witches made use of the pentagram, which they called the Witches' Foot, the Druid's Foot or the Goblin's Cross.

  The Church decided it was no longer proper for Christians to use the symbol after the Christian Inquisition began burning village wise women and identifying them by the sign of pentagram.

  After the invention of the printing press and subsequent publication of Agrippa's Occult Philosophy and numerous magickal grimoires, the pentagram became a popular symbol of occult knowledge.

  And to add to this, there are apparently two different types of pentagram or pentacle. An upright and an inverted pentagram:

  An upright pentagram is a 5 pointed star with one point aligned upwards.
  An inverted pentagram is a 5 pointed star with two points aligned upwards.

  Inverted pentagrams are largely associated with Baphomet, an imagined pagan deity (in other words, a product of Christian folklore concerning pagans), which is revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. Often mistaken for Satan, it represents the duality of male and female, as well as Heaven and Hell or night and day signified by the raising of one arm and the downward gesture of the other.

  Its name may have come from two Greek words, baphe and metis, meaning "absorption of knowledge." It has also been called the Black Goat, Devil's Goat, Goat Head, Goat of Mendes, and Judas Goat. Its first appearance appears to have been during the vicious interrogation of members of the Knights Templar by the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisition. There was little consensus among different victims' descriptions of the Baphomet.

  It can probably be safely assumed that their description of the Baphomet is more a product of the Inquisition's torture methods than of any actual statue that was in use by the Knights...

  Fact 3: Writing within the Pentagram

  Magicians also use the pentagram as a part of the Solomon Lamen (Seal of Solomon), which is composed of three sigils: the Pentagram, the Hexagram and the Secret Seal (a Mercurial symbol). In this lamen, worn as a necklace by the magician when invoking spirits, the pentagram is used to open a doorway to spiritual forces.

  The words on the seal have the following meaning:

  Abdia - I conjure thee in secret, O Spirit!
  Ballaton - Come forth from thy abode and speak clearly in my speech.
  Bellony - Put forth thy might and discover unto me the knowledge and power in thy keep.
  Halliy - Answer in the inward silence all of my questions without fail.
  Halliza - Assume and show forth unto me thy form of divine perfection.
  Soluzen - Open unto me thy secret door and fulfill me of my purpose!


Anime series about a main character gaining power from blue blob on his arm

You might be looking for Ayakashi (2007, 12 episodes).

  Adapted from the 2005 adults-only superhuman battle action visual novel game Ayakashi. Ayakashi is a parasite life force that gives superpowers to its host, taking in return the host's entire life force. Kusaka Yuu is a student that lost his will to live after the death of a dear childhood friend, until the day a mysterious girl, named Yoake Eimu, appears. From that moment on, his life would never be the same again. Hunted by Ayakashi and their hosts, the power within Yuu awakens and a never ending battle begins.

Yuu KUSAKA in his OP mode.

In episode 2, an evil guy killed many random people in a park and harmed Yuu's classmate in order to provoke him and awaken his powers. He got totally pwned by the enraged protagonist.


Why does Ojiro get angry from hearing the word "bakeratta"?

It appears one of the main characters of Obake no Q-taro is also called Ojiro.

I thought Q-taro was the one who said "Bakeratta", so I was looking mostly at his character - but it is actually his little brother, Ojiro, who is the link.

He can understand everyone speak, but can only say "Bakeratta", Q-taro is the only one who understands what this means.

So I guess his Ojiro and his brother (in Megane X Parfait) watched it before, and made a joke out of it because they share the name.


Was Chiisana Obake Acchi, Kocchi, Socchi ever released in English?

The article that senshin found indicates that Saban Entertainment, the infamous anime mutilator and "creator" of Power Rangers, co-produced Chiisana Obake Acchi, Kocchi, Socchi, so it seems incomprehensible that they wouldn't have produced an English dub. I also found an English-dubbed video of Three Little Ghosts which I am quite sure is the show I saw. The Anime News Network page gives the three ghosts' English names as Sally, Bumper, and Cutter, which is exactly what I remember their names being in the show I saw. The ANN page doesn't list any English voice actors, but this TV Tropes page mentions that Saban and other dubbing studios around this time frequently didn't credit the voice actors, so it's possible that the compilers of the ANN page couldn't find any information on the English voice actors and decided to leave it blank.

Given all that, I'm quite satisfied that Chiisana Obake Acchi, Kocchi, Socchi was released in the US and that it was the show I saw.


After Kaiyodo began selling Danbo models, a photographer named Arielle Nasal began taking photos of them every day for a year

See her account here

These photos were eventually compiled into a book "365 Days of Danboard"

This piece is the source of many danbo scenic photographs, and the inspiration for others

After this, there were many Danbo photographs being taken. Many Facebook, Tumble and Flicker pages set up with Danbo photos as their focus. Most notable of these is the Danbo Love Flickr group who have amassed a staggering 35,000 photos of Danbo

There are 4 different models of Danbo available at time of writing - Original, Amazon.JP branded, 7/11 Branded, Miniature


Shiny Bulbasaur doesn't have a golden bulb but Ivysaur and Venusaur do

It's the seed on shiny Ivysaur and Venusaur that is golden. While still a Bulbasaur, the bulb as yet to bloom and the seed is covered by the green leaves.

In one episode of the anime, it shows a Bulbasaur evolve into an Ivysaur. Albeit it's not shiny, you can clearly see the evolution process causes the bulb to bloom which reveals the seed on its back.


What does "It will restart in issue #1" mean?

Issue#1 is the Weekly Shonen Jump issue to be released in the week of Nov. 25, 2013.1 Naruto Chapter 656 would be available in that week, which I guess, is the main motivation for your question.

A literal translation, with absence of context, such as the one below may have led to a misinterpretation that Naruto is taking a break till end of 2013. It is actually taking only a one week break.

Weekly Shonen Jump, as the name suggests, numbers its issues by weeks, from 1 to 52. The issue which carried Naruto Chapter 655 was issue #51, released in the week of Nov. 11, 2013.

1. Due to time zone difference and other reasons, different readers may get chapter translations on different days of the week. Hence, referring to the week by its Monday date to avoid confusion.


There is no fixed rule to decide the boundary of a volume of a Manga. It's upto the mangaka and the publisher to decide where a given volume starts or ends. They're generally published arc-wise to maintain a uniformity throughout the volume.
As per Wikipedia

In Japan, manga are usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, paperback books.
After a series has run for a while, publishers often collect the episodes together and print them in dedicated book-sized volumes, called tankōbon.


Why is there a soup ladle in the mortuary in Jojo Episode 38?

Considering that these tools are not present in the equivalent manga panels I'm going to assume that they're not supposed to be there.

I'm going to say it's a minor animation error and nothing more.

Based on the screenshots you provided I think it's very possible that the background was CGI. The sharp shadows, lack of detail, and flat colors and lighting all seem to support this.
So it's very possible that they simply had a 3D asset that looked about right and used it.


Why do Japanese names change within a manga to have various forms at different times?

Overview

Most of your examples have to do with the fact that converting a "Western" name into the Japanese syllabary is a lossy operation, meaning that it's not always possible to reverse-engineer out the original "Western" name just by looking at how it's written in Japanese.1

It's not that the names are changing over the course of the story, it's that the translators are translating the same name in different ways at different points in time.

Examples

  The princess of Alabasta had her name written as

Her name in Japanese is written ビビ, which is romanized bibi. So you can see how one might think this is from "BB". But one could also plausibly think that it's supposed to be "Bebe" with a long "e" /i/.

The other problem is that historically, Japanese did not have the "v" sound /v/, and used /b/ in its place, so you can see how one might come up with "VV" or "Vivi" too. (My impression is that Japanese is in the process of developing /v/ on account of loanwords; cf. https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24498/.)

  Darius's son had his name as

His name in Japanese is written シャビィ, which is romanize shabii. In English, there are many ways of representing the "sh" /ʃ/ sound. Think of words like shingle or chute. In other languages that use a Latin-derived alphabet, there are still other ways. Consider, for example, the Spanish footballer Xavi - whose name in Japanese is spelt シャビ shabi, which only differs in vowel length. I suspect that whoever romanized it as "Xavi" was taking inspiration from Spanish.

(And again, the "b"/"v" thing from before still applies.)

  His sister

Her name is written シャルル, which is romanized sharuru. This is the standard Japanese spelling of the English name "Charles", but since the character is a woman and "Charles" is almost exclusively masculine, I'm guessing the translators were forced to pick a similar-sounding approximation instead. The above comments about how "sh" is written apply here too.

  So I'm guessing Xenophon could have also been

This character's name is written ゼノフォン zenofon. A reasonable translator would immediately jump to "Xenophon" for this because "Xenophon" is a real name, while theoretically-plausible alternatives like "Xennofaun" and "Zen O'Fon" are not. But you're correct - there are other English spellings that could have been written in Japanese as zenofon.

  The "Famous Detective"

I don't know what's going on here - the character's name is plain old Japanese 毛利小五郎 Mōri Kogorō, and I don't know why anybody would read his personal name as "Togo". However, I don't read Detective Conan, so if there's a plot reason for this (maybe he goes by an alias or something at one point), I wouldn't know.

Discussion

This is a recurring problem that plagues translations of all anime and manga that feature characters with names that aren't either Chinese or Japanese. (Chinese typically can be reverse-engineered correctly because the names will be written in kanji, meaning you can just read off the modern Mandarin pronunciations for the characters. Note, though, that other issues sometimes occur when romanizing Chinese names in Japanese media.)

Sometimes, official guidance about English spellings will be provided by the author or publisher, in which case you can just go with those. (Though, be warned, sometimes they pick objectively terrible spellings. I distinctly recall Heavy Object being particularly ludicrous here.)

Absent official guidance, translators have to take their best guess. This gets difficult when the names of the characters in a given anime/manga are names that are either extremely rare or outright do not exist in the real world - at that point, you're basically pulling guesses out of your nether regions. This was a huge issue for Akame ga Kill - see the table below, where "unofficial" means what the fan translations thought the name was before official guidance was provided. (This isn't even an exhaustive list!)

╔══════════╦══════════════╦════════════╦══════════╗
║ Japanese ║ Romanization ║ Unofficial ║ Official ║
╠══════════╬══════════════╬════════════╬══════════╣
║ マイン   ║ main         ║ Mein       ║ Mine     ║
║ ブラート ║ buraato      ║ Burat      ║ Bulat    ║
║ ラバック ║ rabakku      ║ Rabac      ║ Lubbock  ║
║ シェーレ ║ sheere       ║ Schere     ║ Sheele   ║
║ エスデス ║ esudesu      ║ Esdese     ║ Esdeath  ║
║ ラン     ║ ran          ║ Ran        ║ Run      ║
╚══════════╩══════════════╩════════════╩══════════╝

Notes

1 By contrast, we can almost always determine the correct Japanese spelling of a name by reading a Nihon-shiki romanization of the name, though we can't determine which kanji were used to write it. This is partly to do with the relative phonological richness of English as compared to Japanese, and partly to do with the fact that the Japanese "alphabet" is a syllabary (making transliteration difficult), whereas the English alphabet is indeed an alphabet, and a highly non-phonetic one at that.


Which anime's female character was the most famous across the internet in 2015?

There are a few different ways of interpreting your question. Interpretation #1 is "among all characters who appeared in anime from Jan 2015 to Mar 2016, which of them is most popular on the internet by metrics X, Y, and Z". Interpretation #2 is "among all characters who appeared in anime from Jan 2015 to Mar 2016, which of them is most popular on the internet as a consequence of their appearing in the anime by metrics X, Y, and Z". Interpretation #2 is considerably more difficult to measure, but it may be more relevant to you.

It also matters whether by "the internet" you mean "all of the internet" or "the English-speaking internet", because Japanese viewers tend to have systematically different tastes than non-Japanese viewers.

#1 / all

Under interpretation #1 and "all of the internet", the answer almost surely has to be someone from Kantai Collection, which is the biggest thing since sliced Touhou. Take your pick from Shimakaze (an early character who achieved high popularity and has maintained it since); Fubuki (brought to prominence by the anime); Kashima (the newest high-popularity character from the franchise); or any number of other shipgirls. (I think Shimakaze wins by most metrics, including pixiv illustrations - 24000 as of now; this pixiv poll from 2014 by a large margin; etc. But she did have a considerable head start, being ship #10.)

#1 / English

Under interpretation #1 and "the English-speaking internet", sites like MAL are good places to look.

On MAL, the top-ranking female characters from anime that aired during the time period in question are Senjougahara Hitagi (Monogatari), Suzumiya Haruhi (via Nagato Yuki-chan), Saber (Fate), and Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail).
On Anime-Planet (which I think skews to a more casual demographic than MAL), the list is Erza Scarlet, Hyuuga Hinata (Naruto), Suzumiya Haruhi, and Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail).
AniDB is a bit more difficult to work with since they have ratings rather than just "likes", but the toppers by raw rating (without adjusting for confidence based on number of ratings) are Miyauchi Renge (Non Non Biyori, twice!), Kongou (KanColle), Cure Beat (PreCure), and Cure Moonlight (PreCure)

#2 / all

Under interpretation #2 and "all of the internet", the answer may not be someone from KanColle, because the anime, while still very popular, was not quite as ridiculously popular as the game on which it is based.

Idol shows are another common source of super-popular female characters. Within the time period under consideration, Love Live! and Idolmaster both aired, and both of these shows derive more of their popularity from TV than KanColle does. I know that Love Live! has (had) periodic character polls, but I can't find many of them at the moment. Here's one from Jan 2016 ish which has Nico at the top (see, Japan has weird taste), and another one from back in 2013 that has Maki at the top (okay, not that weird). No idea whether Idolmaster does them too.

Other than that, I don't have any good data, but my impression is that the various female leads from Saekano, Fate, Oregairu, and Monogatari are also potential contenders under this interpretation.

#2 / English

For the English-speaking internet, interpretations #1 and #2 are actualyl mostly the same, since most of the English-speaking internet's exposure to "otaku culture" is through anime, with virtually no non-anime media achieving prominence anywhere near the most popular anime. (Contrast Japan, where KanColle, the game, is very much a thing.)

Perhaps the key exceptions are a select few visual novels like Fate/stay night and Muv-Luv; and wildly popular manga like One Punch Man and Shingeki no Kyojin (though these things pretty much always get anime adaptations eventually). But I'm not aware of any non-anime properties like this during the time period under consideration, so I expect no real difference between interpretations #1 and #2.

Miscellaneous notes

One other well-known source for this kind of thing is Newtype magazine's monthly character polls. But I warn you in advance, their polls skew in very strange ways. For example, Kira Yamato is almost perpetually ranked, despite not having been on TV since 2005. Anyway, I found most of these for the time period in question, and it turns out that Saber tops about half the polls and places in the top 3 in the rest.

My personal take

If you choose to include KanColle, I think the obvious answer is Shimakaze, or possibly Kongou, given that you want a character with high recognizability in the vein of Haruhi/Asuna/Mikasa/etc.

If you choose to exclude KanColle, which may also be reasonable depending on your target audience, I would recommend a character from Monogatari, which has had 7 years to stew in the minds of people, yet is still putting out new animated content. Senjougahara is probably the most recognizable of them, but Shinobu/Kiss-Shot is more topical, given that Kizumonogatari is literally happening this year. The other reasonable option I see is Tatsumaki from One Punch Man, too, given the broad popularity of that show with English-speaking audiences.

Alternatively, you could just use Mikasa. Jiyuu no Tsubasa (recap movie #2) did premiere in June 2015, after all.