Can Logia type Devil Fruit users fight each other?

Besides using Haki, some elements seem weak or inferior to other elements, as shown when Ace fought against Smoker and when Ace fought against Akainu.

When Ace fought against Smoker

When Ace fought against Akainu

This fact is also mentioned on One Piece Wikia:

  A Devil Fruit user who normally dominates all other powers can sometimes be brought down by a power considered "weak" in comparison; one such example is the Gomu Gomu no Mi unexpectedly withstanding the Goro Goro no Mi's powers, the Doru Doru no Mi unexpectedly holding back the Doku Doku no Mi's powers and Akainu's Magu Magu no Mi dealing a fatal blow to Ace despite his Mera Mera no Mi due to an order of superiority. Another surprise also came when the Mera Mera no Mi clashed against the Moku Moku no Mi, equalizing with each other, and then later against the Hie Hie no Mi with the same results.


I remember in Digimon Adventure 2 there being a gate between the Digital World and the Real World which has a "corridor" where anything is possible.

BlackWarGreymon sacrificed himself to protect the Gate which when Mytoismon tried to break though it from the Real World ended up getting trapped in this corridor because of the seal BlackWarGreymon made, this is were we see the Digidestined able to have their partners assume every evolution form at the same time, as the battle continued Mytoismon was pushed back into the Digital World and the multiple forms disappear when they enter the Digital World probably because of Data Limits in the Digital World.

I would assume all travel between the 2 worlds is done though this Gate and "corridor" where the "corridor" is used to make digimon real and turn people into data and some objects into digimon (as seen in Frontier with the trains), the Gate itself probably doesn't have a fixed point.


What're the names of the Thunder and Poison Dragons?

Laxus and Cobra are Second generation Dragon Slayers, so they weren't taught Dragon Slayer Magic by a Dragon. Hence, Thunder and Poison Dragons are never mentioned (moreover, they possibly do not exist at all).

  Those from the second generation of Dragon Slayers have had Dragon Lacrima implanted into their bodies, granting them the ability to use Dragon Slayer Magic. Because they were not taught their abilities by a Dragon, they are considered artificial Dragon Slayers.


Are Watari and Kaori a couple by the time she is hospitalized after missing the gala violin concert?

At least judging from the Anime Series, they never have been a couple.
Here is why I believe that:

Just after the group of friends went to visit Kaoris concert for the first time, Watari does notice that Kousei has a thing for Kaori. I mean the dude is a piece of bread but even he noticed.
He does hardcore wingman Kousei to go see Kaori once she's in the hospital.
Apart from the fact they have nothing in common he still seems too interested in all other girls as well, thats how I'd judge him not really bonding with Kaori in the first place. :)


By that point in time, Light wanted to kill anyone who threatened or insulted him (though he would not really want to admit the latter one).  His ego and desensitization had risen to the point that he did not not really care who he killed.  Near claimed to be L's true heir and the one who could bring Kira (as known as L now and also known as Light) down.  Of course he wanted to kill him.

I don't think he would have seriously entertained any other idea at that time even if he bothered to come up with it.  He was more inthralled with his godhood than even the battle anymore.

Note: I don't think it mattered that at episode 37 (the last episode) that even after killing Near, he would still be captured.  He wanted to kill Near because he insulted/threatened him.  If he could avoid capture, though, he would have probably done that planning on killing him later.


What is the Music called which is played when antagonists are plotting something?

You may be looking for Kokoro no Hadaka. It's typically referred to the Raijuta theme. It's by Ueda Yuji.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHl_sYLLktw

Here's a list of all of RuroKen's OSTs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rurouni_Kenshin_soundtracks

This one is the fourth track in the Rurouni Kenshin Original Songs I soundtrack.


Why could the Tendo control the weather?

This is caused by one of the techniques pain Nagato uses the Rain tiger at will technique. This technique infused with chakra causes the user to sense outsiders chakra

  when guarding Amegakure Nagato was able to use the Rain Tiger at Will Technique to make it rain. This rain was infused with his chakra and as such, served as a large-scale sensory technique for him in his village.

The description of this technique would be

  A perception ninjutsu, allowing one to freely manipulate rain infused with the user's own chakra. The rain falls from rain clouds, formed with Pain's own chakra. During this technique, the falling raindrops are closely linked to Pain's senses. When the rain is obstructed by a chakra belonging to someone not of the village, the existence of the intruder can be detected. The rain will keep on falling until Pain uses the seal to cancel it. Pain made it rain every Sunday in Amegakure, or whenever he had to leave the village.


What do the colours of the souls mean in Dororo?

There is just gray, that is a normal human, White means a human with a pure soul, red means a ghoul or a demon you see it for the first time in episode 1.  gray with red lines means a human who killed people it's first seen in episode 5. In episode 12 you see a green soul. This from the statue (the god). Green is probarly wood. In episode 16 you see that a tree also has a green soul and the right arm of hyakimaru is also green.

In episode 13, there is 1 new color,

   a soul that was gray with black holes, this was a human that was revived from the death by a demon.

In episode 14, there are 2 new colors,

   the color blue and yellow. If I have to guess those are ghosts that are killed people.


What's the meaning of the title "B Gata H Kei"?

Okay, so a bit of a Japanese lesson:
'B-gata' would normally refer to the blood type. The Japanese are pretty fond of associating blood types with certain personality traits; and a B-type person is considered to be a bit impulsive, passionate, but their actions 'don't come across clearly' to others. (That seems to describe Yamada's character rather well, doesn't it?)
On the other hand, 'H-kei' normally has to do with 'ecchi' (the Japanese word for 'sex' that came from the pronunciation of the letter 'H' that is an abbreviation for the word 'Hentai'. Phew.) and 'kei' refers to a type (or even a lineage) of something. Generally put, 'kei' (系) is a classifier for objects (living or non-living) that comes from a tree kind of structure, while 'gata' (型) literally means 'mold' or 'model' and looks at a classification of objects into categories.

All this being said, the official meaning of B-gata H-kei is that the 'B' stands for 'Bousou' (暴走), which can be translated to a 'rampage'; and the 'H' stands for 'Hentai' (変態), which we know is the word for perverted behavior. So the title refers to how Yamada is a rampaging sex-crazy pervert.

I tell you all these pieces of information because they form a sort of pun. The second explanation is the 'correct' one of sorts (in that it's official), but that does not negate the pun that exists in the title - whether it was intentional or not. There is reason to believe the 'B' could also refer to bra-size, as many people have pointed out. That adds to the pun as well, perhaps.

Anyway, I hope this sheds some light on the meaning of 'B型H系'. I can't post too many links here, but check out beta.jisho.org to look up the meanings for the Japanese words I used. Also, this is where I got the 'official' explanation of the title:
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1040891740
It's all in Japanese. The person who had answered that question wrote that this explanation wasn't mentioned in the manga, but in a weekly magazine called Young Jump.

Also, this link: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1139264431
The answer there talks about how the blood types of all characters in the story are actually never mentioned (as of the time of that answer), though the fact that Yamada is a B-cup is known. It also mentions that Yamada as a character is modeled after Sanri Youko (the mangaka) themselves and so speculates that Yamada's blood type could be the same as Sanri-sensei's. (Unfortunately, their blood type is also unknown.)

I'm not a native Japanese speaker (just an enthusiastic learner!) so I might not be entirely correct. But I hope this answer helps, somewhat. Anime titles often have many hidden meanings in them, and it's fun to look for all their possible interpretations.


Taking in to consideration that Blood Lad makes use of allot of parody (only in that one episode almost all of his finishing/attack moves are derived from other anime/games)

Following the policy of FUNimation

  Legal

  May I create new content using FUNimation properties?

  Taking an artwork into a new medium such as 3D animation and/or creating fan fiction based on an existing artwork usually does not fall under Fair Use. For more on fair use, please see this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

  Such works are generally considered “derivative works” and the right to create such works is one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder. 17 USC § 106(2)

  If someone creates a derivative work without authorization from the copyright holder, they can be liable for copyright infringement. Whether we will seek to go after them or not, is another story...

  Fair use

  Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.

Taking these rules in to consideration it would most likely mean that if he finished the Kamehameha he would indeed have gone beyond the point of fair use, and into the area of copyright infrigment.

EDIT

As for the Japanese copyrights. They indeed seem to be quiet different yet comes down to pretty much the same in rough lines (can read them here)
And a modifyd fair use law seems to be in place aswell, which is more similar the Korean version then to the english version.


I think Doflamingo can only control those who are weaker than him with his strings.

The most powerful man he has been shown affecting with his strings by far is Jozu, but he didn't control him in the same way he did Bellamy, he just froze him still. Jozu couldn't move, but Doflamingo didn't move him around like a puppet either, whether because he couldn't or just didn't bother isn't clear.

I suspect that for people far weaker than Doffy, like Bellamy or Riku, he is able to completely control their movements, for those weaker than himself he is able to stop their movement, but not move them like a puppet, and that those stronger than him, like presumably Kaido, are able to move freely even when he's trying to control them.

Almost no-one in One Piece has any absolute powers, I don't think Doflamingo's puppet ability is magic, I think he is just able to exert a great deal of his strength through his strings. I think Luffy and Law are at the level that Doflamingo could perhaps stop their movements, but he wouldn't be able to puppet them around like Bellamy.


Who is this character in Wagnaria / Working?

that is Maya Matsumoto, the self proclaimed "perfectly normal" member of the staff.

On the 13th episode of the first 2 Seasons she has a speaking role in which in the first season she actually introduces herself. she also has a speaking role in the 3rd episode of Season 3

Also in the Artbook that comes with the Season 2 Premium Edition from NISA you can find her making comments on a number of pages


What's the correct pronunciation for Luffy or Rufi?

This answer needs a premise.

You see, Japanese don't distinguish between the L and R sounds. The L doesn't really exist and the R is not pronounced like in English. It's more similar to the Italian/Spanish R but it's not rolled. Also, FI doesn't belong to the standard Kana — ha, hi, hu (fu), he, ho — but it's constructed.

Based on this, you could say both (and probably for Japanese there really isn't a difference like for us). But apparently Oda meant the name to be Luffy (can't find a source yet), and since the Japanese language cannot faithfully represent this name it became Rufi, being the closest match to the actual name.


Where I can buy "Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms" manga/light novel in English?

Unfortunally you're out of luck. according to MangaUpdates it has yet to be licensed for English

However it's currently only 1 volume in Japan and on-going having only came out last year so it's a new-ish series. so it's still possible it could come out


How did all of the weird creatures end up in class 2A?

Most likely, it's purposely because the entire academy was run by mages, and they would know about most if not all of these cases. There also is the fact that a 10 year old genius mage was given that class specifically.

It will, though, remain in the realm of speculation as no such thing has been mentioned in the manga series.


Can you kill a human with a Death Note in less than forty seconds?

According to the first rule in How To Use III

  If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name.

So the time of death (e.g. "NOW") won't go into effect for 40 seconds.


Why do protagonist usually mispronounce or forget the name of opponent or others?

You only have a limited amount of mental capacity for stuff, right? So what do you do when you've got too much to remember? You forget the stuff that's less important.

The joke in having a character regularly forget another character's name is usually a sign that they don't consider that character important enough to remember. It's also a huge sign of disrespect, even moreso when it happens enough to become a running joke. And then, when they do remember, it's a sign that they finally consider that character important enough to make the effort.


Who and why is the woman in Tomoe's arms right before he goes on search of Dragon King's eye?

As you've said, this happened in the past, 500 or so years before Nanami was even born.  So why should it be odd for him to care for another woman besides Nanami?  It doesn't seem an odd situation to me.

But odd you should ask this question, because the spoiler answer is: Yes, it is Yukiji whom he was carrying for in the past, and actually, no, he can't entirely tell her and Nanami apart. As implied by the fact that the Dragon King's eye was in Nanami's body in the present, Nanami is Yukiji's descendent, and looks quite a bit like her.

But furthermore, further along in the manga, Nanami goes again into Tomoe's past in order to learn about him (for reasons I won't go into here.) After having seen him with Yukiji in the past, she knows that he believed himself in love Yukiji, and so she tries to not interfere with his relationship with Yukiji. It turns out that Yukiji hated youkai, and Nanami ends up saving Tomoe's life when Yukiji refuses. In order to not interfere, Nanami tries to hide herself and tells people to tell Tomoe it was Yukiji that saved him. So, he had in fact fallen in love with Nanami, but due to misdirection, thought it was Yukiji. It's implied on some level he's aware that they are actually different women, as he seems a little confused when they act differently.


Gyro is killed and eaten after the Chimera Ants invade NGL.

   but he is later reborn as a Chimera Ant... and the first to keep all of his human memories and break free of the Chimera Ant Queen's control.

Additionally,

   The Chimera Ant King, Mereum, cannot be Gyro, because Gyro was shown leaving the hive at the same time that Gon was training to defeat Knuckle, in Chapter 204, before Mereum was born.


Why did the clocks move one hour backwards when Rin summoned Archer?

The explanation is kind of dumb.

The day before Rin summoned Archer, she was rummaging through her father's effects in hopes of finding stuff that would be useful for the summoning. One of the things she found was the box containing the pendant (and, at least per the depiction in UBW 2014, the catalyst for Gilgamesh), protected by a magical MacGuffin that, when activated, makes clocks go wonky and apparently rewind by one hour. She activated the MacGuffin. The clocks rewound in two half-hour increments. She only noticed one of the half-hour increments. The end.

Nasu later stated in an interview (in Complete Material 3) that this was apparently an intentional "test"-of-sorts on Tokiomi's part, the idea being that if she couldn't handle a minor issue like this, she wasn't cut out to be in the war.

This makes no chronological sense, because Tokiomi likely never expected Rin to be in the war in the first place (Tokiomi would have expected the fifth war to take place around 2060 or so, by which time Rin would have had descendants rather more sprightly than she), but there you have it.


What does the 'D' stand for in all the names?

Update

We start to see the meaning behind the D. In the episode 703 of the Anime...

   ...Corazon talks to Trafalgar D. Law, telling him how young kids in Marie Jois are instructed to see D. as a sort of boogeyman:

 "Badly behaving children will be eaten by the D."

 He continues saying that in some parts of the world, the Family of D. is known as 神の天敵 (kami no ten teki), translated "God's natural enemy".

 He also states that "God" in this instance is used to refer to the Celestial Dragons.

It hasn't been revealed yet I think.

  The initial was first pointed out in Oda's SBS questions and answers corner, he was also asked what the D in Luffy's name stood for. Oda just replied to read it as a D for now and that he would reveal the truth behind it in time.

You can read more in the Will of the D. wiki.


What does the print on Franky's shirt mean?

Some comment here suggests that the sun is a reference to the rising sun, so "AM", as in "in the morning"/"Ante Meridian". It then becomes "I AM HT". HT would be the acronym of 変態 (HenTai) or pervert.

So that would mean the T-shirt is actually subtly saying "I am a pervert".


What is the connection between The Delgados and Gunslinger Girl?

I can give some insights into the why. The how probably was through the usual process of licensing foreign songs.
The anime was made by Madhouse who contributed two episodes to the 2003 anime Animatrix. This project was important at the time, since it was a direct result of the anime-craze in the west in the early 2000s. Anime studios in Japan started to pay attention to foreign markets and with people behind a major Hollywood success like The Matrix reaching out to Japan to create something like the Animatrix, chances with the western market seemed good.
And thus a lot of studios did some projects betting on that western market. For Madhouse, these projects included Texhnolyze, Monster and Gunslinger Girl, each of them featuring a song by a foreign artist and deviating from usual expectations of anime fans, who just discovered their fetish for maid characters in their moeblob harem shows, that casual western fans didn't even knew existed.
The songs:

Texhnolyze (2003): Guardian Angel from Juno Reactor
Monster (2004): for the love of life by David Sylvian

Gunslinger Girl was part of the studios efforts to appeal to the western market, which is why obscure foreign artists ended up in anime of that time. At least that's my attempt at explaining how this came to be. I don't have any inside knowledge and am speculating from an observer's point of view.
The second season came out five years later and was handled by a different studio. To be specific in 2008. It was at a time everyone betting on the western market realized that this was a huge mistake. Studio Gonzo who made the biggest bet was in the most miserable state and talks of bankruptcy went through the news.
It was under this circumstance, that the studio handling the second season tried to deemphasize the appeal to the western market and therefore changed the character design towards something I described above as moeblob. This is purely speculation on my part, but it seems like a valid assumption that this was the motivation behind the change.
It also didn't help very much, that the manga itself wasn't exactly going strong. Most of the story weaknesses were copied directly from the source. It just so happened that the first season made subtle changes in the presentation to appeal to western audiences, which the second season avoided.


Why does Super Sonico always wear headphones?

I believe this is an example of the Never Bareheaded trope in combination with the Nice Hat trope.

Never Bareheaded: A character always appears wearing a headdress of some kind, and never, ever takes it off. It doesn't have to be a hat, any kind of headgear is fine. Furthermore, it doesn't always have to be the same headgear, the point is that this character is never seen bare-headed. This gives him a certain mystique, since while it might just be that he wears the hat because he feels like it, the fact remains that we never learn what his hatless head looks like.
Nice Hat: To show that you mean business, it's important to have style. Enter: the nice hat. It may actually have utility — even conveying special powers — but more often than not it just looks cool, or even just sexy.

Considering that Super Sonic is pretty much a half-naked model for Nitroplus, the Nice Hat trope "sexy" part does most certainly fit this description.


Wouldn't Aether make humans sterile too?

That doesn't seem right.

Coppelion are sterile because their reproductive cells experience high doses of radiation, not because the rest of their cells are immune to radiation.

It's not Aether itself that causes the sterility - it's the radioactivity. But, in general, Aether is administered to treat short exposures to radiation (if you've suffered a long exposure, you're probably dead), which might not be long enough to cause sterility.

Of course, if a human were to spend a long time exposed to radiation after being treated with Aether, then yes, I imagine they would become sterile.


What music plays in Hunter x Hunter SLOW MO?

Okay after quite a bit of research, I think I may have found some stuff that may help you.

The episode that you are looking for is Monster x And x Monster (ep. 112). The slow motion part is largely the first half of the episode.

There are a number of tracks that play during the slow motion scenes. Here's a playlist of tracks from the Chimera Ant arc (30 tracks), of which I think your best bets are either Hegemony of the Food Chain, Kingdom of Predators, or Legend of the Martial Artist. Of the three, I think Legend of the Martial Artist is the song you are referring to, but you can go through the playlist to find the specific song for which you are looking. Keep in mind that multiple tracks were playing during the time you are referring, so it might be a mix of a few different songs in that playlist.


Why do people tend to think anime is weird porno?

In the 90s, Anime (formerly called Japanimation in some magazines and sources) became the latest target of alarmist conservative media due to a set of OVAs titled "Urotsukidōji" or "The Overfiend" in many English translations:

It's a 3 part series which contained masses of animated gore, demon tentacle rape, and horror.

Not only was it offensive to much of the public, it had become very popular - not only amongst hard-core anime fans, but by normal television viewers also. 40,000 copies were sold in Britain - at a time when 500 people was the average attendance for an anime con there.

Having been leapt upon by the media, this of course only amplified its success for anime title would rarely leave their niche viewership.

Sensational journalism by its very nature is intended to elicit a response from the reader/viewer and talk spreads fast in local communities. When finding another "Overfiend"-contender, media outlets are able to remind viewers about the previous controversies - or even tangentially related events, such as a normal anime film release, may be tainted by a headstrong reporter.

This anti-anime sentiment started to spring up in casual use, spreading further propoganda - whether intentional or not. For example, this quote from the British Board of Film Classification about anime :

  In Japan it seems, these films provide sex and violence for men, who watch them after work in male clubs where sexual favours are bought and sold.

Which is clearly not true - a lot of the Western world did not think of anime as separate from hentai, and the hentai stories they had been exposed to were selected to be the worst examples. Even now you will see anime being used as an example of something immoral:

source

The fact that anime is produced in the East played a significant factor also, in many people's eyes Eastern people were seen to be different, and weird. Even harmless children's titles such as Pokémon were affected with mass reports of children choking on pokéballs, having epileptic fits and the like. Other popular titles were pounced upon too, like Full Metal Alchemist's use of magic circles or the 'evilness' of the Death Note cast.

Other alarmist conservative media scares include: Dungeons & Dragons, the Harry Potter books and many other niche areas of society - some of which embraced it and took advantage of the attention like death metal bands or ouija board manufacturers.

There of course are hentai titles that are sketchy, which is where it all started from, and there is fanservice that targets pubescent teenagers, BUT what the media has made many people assume that anime is a "genre" of film and all titles are like this. However, anime is a medium that can be about anything - and just like normal filmography - a medium can tell be used to tell the heart-warming story of a boy reunited with his father - or be used for less savoury topics.

(TLDR: Certain controversial titles + echo chamber = reputation)

References:

Schoolgirl Milky Crisis by Jonathan Clements

Further Reading:

SATANIC PANIC: POP-CULTURAL PARANOIA IN THE 1980s


Is there any explanation for the Rinnegan being on people?

That is due to the effect of Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Once it is cast:

  All those who fall under its gaze are trapped in the genjutsu, with the Rinnegan's design appearing in their eyes to represent its influence.

Just like when you can see the Sharingan pattern in Kyuubi's eyes when it was under Obito's control during the attack on Konoha.

Source:

Infinite Tsukuyomi


Anime Reference:
As you can watch in this scene, it's not that Luffy finds out that Sogeking is actually Usopp. It's just that he introduces himself as:

Luffy and Chopper: Sogeking from the Sniper Island?
Sogeking (Usopp) : That's right! I'm one of Usopp's close friends. I'm here to help you out on your journey.

Manga Reference:

Hence, when Luffy asks Sogeking to burn down the flag, he asks this to him as a sniper, assuming him to be nearly as good as Usopp.


Why didn't Melody (センリツ, Senritsu) enter Greed Island to heal her condition?

There's really no indication that Melody even knows that the game exists.
While the Greed Island game is among the easiest "treasures" to acquire in the Hunter x Hunter world (it's ranked in the second lowest difficulty tier, and only because it's so expensive), not every hunter knows ever item that exists. There's really no indication that Melody has ever even heard of Greed Island. Even during the Yorknew City arc, when the auction for a copy of the game in an auction, Melody was busy doing her job as part of Killua's team.
Afterwards Melody wasn't really seen in the story until the Succession Contest arc. I haven't read it yet, but I don't think Greed Island played any part in that any more.
There's also no indication that items inside Greed Island are public knowledge.
Sure, the people playing the game have a pretty good idea what all is in the game (and the people hiring them). But outside the game nobody has mentioned any item that's in there. So, even if Melody had heard about Greed Island, for a rumor or something, there's a good chance that she'd have no idea an item like Angel's Breath would be in there.
Before the details of Greed Island were introduced to us as readers, all characters did seem to consider it as just some regular-ish game. A rare and unique game, but still just a game.
That might kill you for real.


Can a Uchiha get their sharingan back from an implant?

Kakashi and Danzo got their Sharingan via transplantation while the fourth great ninja war was ongoing, then Madara removed Obito's Sharingan from Kakashi's left eye and was able to implant it into his and utilize it.


How can Titan Shifters with multiple forms control which form they transform into?

Actually having that titan just means that the shifter has thar titan's powers. So if a shifter has multiple powers in possession, he/she will still just tranform into one body, and can use the titan power.
A little spoiler but eren will still have the titan body like he has now, and it has been regularly mentioned that he can use the war hammers power, so it doesn't mean to have a different titan body per titan power.
A Spoiler from Chapter 117 makes it clear, even if you are anime-only, it will only grow your interest, and not spoil the storyline likely -

 In this, eren is using the war hammer titan's power, in his usual form (the one he had earlier too)


In which episode does Kakashi think Naruto is his sensei?

The episode is #329 of Naruto Shippūden, titled "Two-Man Team". It's manga equivalent is Chapter 571, "Tailed Beast Mode!!". The scene you're referring to is at 08:05.

Kakashi mistakes Naruto to be his former sensei right after Naruto deflects the five Tailed Beast Balls with astonishing speed.

Here's the scene from the manga:


As noted in the comments by Senshin, this is a figure of Death Note's Near.


Why isn't anime critically analyzed like other forms of literature or entertainment?

I think the simplest answer is that anime is just not that popular. Though immensely popular and gaining momentum, the anime community just isn't that widespread. If you look at it critically MOST of the anime fans are limited to the popular and mostly Shounen series such as  Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Deathnote etc.

Compare it to the consumption of various books and movies and their penetration into our society. The iconism resulting from this is what raised them to the platform where it seems that more and more of such media is critically analysed. As Hakase pointed out, if you go to an anime forum/blog, you'll see plenty of critical analysis of anime, especially the history and tropes.

Another factor is the geography. The popularity of anime and manga has grown and they are an integral part of the Japanese culture. However, other places are adapting and amalgamating the same later. This will automatically lead to the feeling that anime as a medium is more targeted towards the audience it sells for, i.e. the japanese. But as an "outsider" we're not in a place to critically analyze it. The same may be true for various literary works or other media.

A relevant example is the Indian epics "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana". I doubt that many people know it on this community, but Indians have critically analyzed each and every line of such epics as deep as it can go. Awareness of them is just limited to the Indian subcontinent, but now the teachings are spreading. The same is true with Anime.

Some food for thought:

Anime popularity: Blogpost: A comment that I liked

  Depends. Again sales you might make the case but in terms of iconism there's no chance. Everyone knows who Batman is. No one knows who Luffy is.

A good blogpost about how to look at Anime as a medium of entertainment


What happened to Retsu's doll at the clothing shop?

I finally got around to watching this and here is my theory on what exactly happened to the doll. After Retsu gets her dress Killua asks her to give Gon and him the location that she believes to be where the Pairo doll is that contains Kurapika's eyes. After a small argument Killua asks Gon for a moment alone so they walk outside to the alley. Before the even leave the store Retsu uses the Soul
Doll ability. According to the HxH wikia a brief description states:

  The ability to make a doll copy of a person that the target is strongly thinking about. Conditions in performing Soul Doll are :
  Omokage's doll must be adjacent to the target while that person is thinking of someone. When the doll is adjacent to the target, it will turn into the person that the target is thinking about. The real person of whom the doll is based cannot feel or notice this (without actually being there). ref(Omokage Abilities)

During the brief exchange with Gon, Killua has the ever present flashback of Illumi telling him that he will betray his freinds. After Retz comes out and addresses them in the alley they leave, the scene zooms back into the alley and we see a purplish aura that grows into a humanoid shadow.

So my theory is since Retsu can manipulate her doll without strings she sent it after Gon and Killua in the alley and once the Soul Doll ability was activated it caught on to Killua's thinking of Illumi and once they left the alley it transformed into the Illumi doll that we see later on in the movie.


I believe that because his birth was fueled by so many humans it is impossible to say that he was born from any particular one despite clearly having human DNA and features. This is similar to the way Youipi was born from a magical beast. The King, as he explains in his fight with Netero is instead the culmination of his entire species' evolution.


Discrepancies between Kishimoto and the Asura Path?

Since your question has two parts, I will do my best to explain them.

(1)

  It turns out when Pain assaulted the Hidden Leaf Village, it pretty much was the end! So why did he say these things would not be in the Naruto universe when in fact they were?

Manga and Anime industry are like comics in western culture. Unlike those from DC, Marvel and other publishers, most of Manga artist (Mangaka) decides how the show is going on. I assume on Marvel or DC, they would need to discuss a lot with plotline for comics.

Also you may have heard about Naruto pilot Manga, which is quite different from current implementation of series. What I am going to say is the "Mangaka" is king of the manga and whatever he says is not planned and will do anything as he desire in his manga, without considering things such as plot holes and others.

Plus with "Boruto" and Ootuski clan being from outer space will make these into making things like it is planned from beginning of series.

(2)

  Also, what exactly are the powers for people who've wielded the Rinnegan at some point, like Obito, Madara, and Sasuke, regarding the Asura Path? Can they even use it since it involves constructing your own weapons? Or is there something they do to summon these weapons?

Well for this one, I have some scene from a book I read earlier. A guy asked "DO you know how strong is batman?" and his friend replied "As far as the author wants to". The same could applied here. I rarely doubt Kishimoto would really planned Obito to imitate as Madara at first place. He may have planned for him to be part of an arc, but not this deep.

Back to question, the only Rinnegan user who extensively use Asura path is, for what I believe,Uzumaki Nagato. Other Rinnegan users are listed but I have never seen any of them using such.

For constructing own weapons, I believe is part of Yin and Yang combined release, not from abilities of Asura path. With ongoing "Boruto" series, your questions will be answered in more detail, so just keep patience. (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง


Who exactly are featured on the walls of Maria, Rose & Sina?

Until chapter 69, there has not been any mention yet of who Maria, Rose and Sina are in-universe. Neither has there been any explanation from the author as to who they supposedly represent. Though I have found this interesting interpretation as to what they might mean by kcwhitmore and gettingfitandstayingthere written on the snkconspiracytheories tumbler page. You can read it here or below.

First of all we have Wall Sina. The heartland of the civilization, the interior is an idyllic place, almost utopian in its bliss. This is accordance with the name ‘Sina’ which in fact means blessed. The reader/watcher was provided with a view into this blessed world when shown Pixis’ interactions with the government official. There was wine and food in abundance; beautiful rooms, buildings, and surroundings. This is in direct contrast to the outer most wall: Maria.
Even pre-attack, the interior of Wall Maria boasted none of the lavishness of the interior of Sina. This land was the outskirts of human domain with a scarce amount of food and other natural resources. The nature of this interior is reflected in the wall’s name; Maria means ‘bitter’. There is a decided bitterness to the life style within Wall Maria. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin did not grow up in a blessed land.
On top of that, Wall Maria was demolished by the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan surged through the gape to break entry into the interior as a whole. This provided the titans with entry into the interior of Maria, forcing the humans back; decidedly dislodging their control in that land. This reflects the second definition of Maria, which is ‘rebellion’.
Finally we have Wall Rose. ‘Rose’ is a symbol for innocence, youth, and love. It is also the token symbol of many Great Goddesses, including Aphrodite. This love and youth and innocence is seen in Eren’s blissful ignorance as he declares the counterattack to have begun. For five years they lived in a tentative peace after the fall of Wall Maria. But that innocence was shattered by the appearance of the Colossal Titan once more.
The duality of a rose’s natures should also be considered when thinking of the Wall’s names. Rose’s though symbols of beauties are also dangerous because of their thorns. The walls as a whole function in this same regard. They protect the people, but they also keep them caged. There is a harshness to them despite the sanctuary they provide.
Overall the walls are, especially as considered by Wallists, three goddesses. These goddesses show truths of the world: there is bitterness (Maria) and blessedness (Sina)—a harsh duality (Rose) of the black and white society that are separated by the walls.


Does the chunin exam ends with only one winner?

It is explained by Sandaime Hokage that, though there is one winner of the tournament, it doesn't guarantee that he will become a chunin.

He also explained that there can be more than one chunin from an exam and there can be none too.

If there was only one chunin per exam, it would have been impossible for all  of Naruto's friends to become chunin after his 3 years of training with Jiraiya.


What language does Feitan speak when activating Pain Packer?

According to the Hunter x Hunter Wiki:

  Feitan's first language is Chinese; he speaks in sentence fragments in Japanese while switching to his native tongue when angered.

Given this, and the text is written in either Japanese kanji or Chinese (as @kuwaly beat me to pointing out), and the fact that there is a Japanese translation provided, I'm going to conclude that the text is written in Chinese. (There may be some fragments of Japanese, but I somewhat doubt that.)


Manga magazines usually have many series running concurrently with
  approximately 20–40 pages allocated to each series per issue. Other
  magazines such as the anime fandom magazine Newtype featured single
  chapters within their monthly periodicals. Other magazines like
  Nakayoshi feature many stories written by many different artists;
  these magazines, or "anthology magazines", as they are also known
  (colloquially "phone books"), are usually printed on low-quality
  newsprint and can be anywhere from 200 to more than 850 pages thick.
  Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and various four-panel
  yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series can run for many
  years if they are successful. Manga artists sometimes start out with a
  few "one-shot" manga projects just to try to get their name out. If
  these are successful and receive good reviews, they are continued.
  Magazines often have a short life.[50]

Source

  One-shot manga tells its entire story in 15-60 pages, usually written
  for contests, and sometimes later developed into a full-length manga
  series (much like a television pilot). Many popular manga series began
  as one-shot stories, including Dragon Ball, Fist of the North Star,
  Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Berserk, Kinnikuman and Death Note, among
  others. Some noted manga authors, such as Akira Toriyama and Rumiko
  Takahashi, have worked on numerous one-shot stories in addition to
  their serialized works. Rising Stars of Manga was an annual
  competition for original English-language one-shot manga, many of
  which have gone on to become full-length manga series.

Source

Note: Emphasis mine.


Did Genos get more powerful than Metal Knight?

Metal Knight calls everything "weapons testing".  He's not actually trying to defeat anything.  As such it's impossible to really tell if any feat we see him display is even remotely close to his "maximum".  This is especially so given that these are always remotely piloted suits, meaning there may be dozens of them, and variations within them, that could in principle be used in concert (think Tony Stark and his fleet of suits in Iron Man 3).


Why did Togusa's family computer buy Cerano Genomics stock by itself?

I will move this to comment, when I'm able.

Notice the [mouse] cursor being moved to the "purchase" button. This is clearly an individual and not software. The user also scrolls through the list to find the Cerano entry where software would index and select the entry directly from an array or list in memory and not with the mouse.


What is Natsu hiding under the bandage on his right arm after he came back from the training since chapter 418?

At the time of writing (chapter 446), it is not yet known, what is beneath Natsu's bandages.

The only thing we do know is that (the magic on) Natsu's arm reacts to the Spriggan 12 (or maybe just strong opponents in general). In the latest chapter (446), Natsu's arm reacts for a second time to one of the Spriggan 12, Alvarez Empire, Spriggan's personal guard. Other than that, nothing really happened to his arm.

There are many theories out there as to what it could be, but the most popular (or probable) one is that his arm is turning into that of a dragon. Up until before the second time skip, Igneel had been preventing Natsu from becoming too strong, in order to prevent Natsu from turning into a dragon, but with Igneel gone, nothing had been restraining Natsu's progress any more, so my guess would be that his arm has turned partly dragon. Other theories are that he had obtained Fairy Glitter during the time skip or

   that his arm is turning into that of a demon, because his etherious side is waking up. Maybe Igneel was not only trying to keep Natsu from turning into a dragon, but also from turning into a demon (aka E.N.D.).

Obviously many more theories could be thought of, but, as I mentioned at the beginning, nothing is known about his arm yet, other than the fact that the magic reacts to the Spriggan 12.


Why is Kimblee the Crimson/Red Lotus Alchemist?

According to the wikia article for Kimblee...

  In the manga, Kimblee uses this array to transmute ordinary matter into explosives by clapping his hands together. By combining the contradictory symbols of the sun and moon, gold and silver, water and fire, the Crimson Lotus Alchemist creates an unstable imbalance of energy in whatever matter he touches, causing it to explode violently.

The trivia section below then states:

  The kanji that makes up Kimblee's State Alchemist name in Japanese (紅蓮 Guren) is a source of contention among translators. While the word "Guren" can be translated as "Crimson", the kanji (紅蓮) suggests another possible translation that reads "Red Lotus" or "Crimson Lotus". As the Crimson Lotus is often used as symbolism for fiery explosions, it is most likely that Red Lotus or Crimson Lotus is Kimblee's true name despite Guren having been translated as Crimson in the subtitles of the first anime series and both English dubs.

So the answer appears to be that because his alchemy is know for large, fiery explosions, he was named after the Red Lotus, which can symbolize the same thing.


What chapter does Attack on Titan season 2 finish at?

Yes, the events in Episode 37 of Attack on Titan (Season 2, Episode 12) corresponds to Chapter 50 in the manga. That means that if you wanted to pick up right after Episode 12, as everyone mentioned above, it would be Chapter 51 (Volume 13) of the manga. Just for anyone looking for an episode-manga equivalent of Season 1 and Season 2 of Attack on Titan:

Season 1:

Season 2

This is the best equivalency I've come up with. Please note that some things were covered in the manga and not the anime, and there were some events that occurred in difference places than in the anime.


Does Knights of Sidonia have anything to do with the Muse song by a similar name?

Cydonia is actually a region on Mars - the name derives from here and is not actually made up. Sidonia seems to be an alternative spelling for this.

As for the "knights" bit, the region is best known for the face-shaped landmarks that were discovered by the Viking Orbitors, It is very likely the "Knights" refer to these faces, which strike a resemblance to tapestry and stained glass depictions of medieval knights:

  Some commentators, most notably Richard C. Hoagland, believe the "Face on Mars" to be evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization along with other features they believe are present, such as apparent pyramids, which they argue are part of a ruined city.

The region has been featured in more than these two mediums and in fact has inspired episodes of the X-Files, Final Fantasy IV, Invader Zim and more.

There doesn't appear to be a connection to the two works apart from the names, which may have differing spelling to avoid lawyer conflicts, for search engine & catalogue uniqueness, because of mistranslation, or a variety of other reasons.


Why was it so easy for Kichimura to tear the one-eyed owl kakuja apart? Because Kichimura is not as weak as he makes it seem to be. He is one of the half-humans raised in the Sunlit Garden, together with Arima. As stated here,

  Half-humans have highly developed physical capabilities, and I think a good example for this difference from normal humans are Kishou Arima's and Squad Zero's abilities.

Apart from those enhance abilities, Kichimura also became an artificial one-eyed ghoul, possessing Rize's kagune like Kaneki. While not directly stated in the manga, it is heavily hinted that one-eyed ghouls are much more powerful than normal ones. Rize and her kagune's strength is also recognized and this is seen by the fact that she was the one used by Kichimura to become

  his 'dragon' after Kaneki, who was temporarily his 'dragon', was rescued during the Dragon War arc

With this and the fact that Kishou Arima is able to hold his own fighting Eto before, it would, therefore, not be impossible for Kichimura to do the same, with the same capabilities as Arima and further enhanced by Rize's kagune.

In addition, Kichimura has the element of surprise, and Eto was not expecting his power. If she knew, she might have been more careful but as seen in that episode, she just attacked head-on and you can clearly see the look of surprise in her face as her kakuja is torn.


Effects of writing the name of a person who has an identical twin with the same name in the death note

It would probably depend on two things. One of which is the fact that you would only be thinking of one face, not both. The way it works is if you thought of the first twins face, but wrote the name and though of the name belonging to the second, nothing would happen. Even if they had perfectly identical faces, you wouldn't be thinking of both, just one. Identical twins are two separate people, and as such, the death note would still treat it like such.

This idea is based on my personal though about the subject that I've actually thought about for at least a year.


There is no reference in the manga, except maybe for a tiny bit, see edit at the end of post. Manga spoilers ahead. But just as Arcane indicated, All For One is no Gentle Criminal but a serious opponent who goes for the kill if he sees it fitting.

It is explained in the Manga that

  All for One has been like the boss of the mafia in the past, distributing Quirks among his underlings and himself as he liked. Not to mention that he set up the kid of the previous power holder of All Might's quirk to want to kill All Might. We basically know that All for One is evil incarnate regarding the series.

He may has no "death touch" like Overhaul, but given the damage he inflicted to All Might and

  the previous power owners of All Mights quirk

if he ever would have fought Endeavor, it surely would have been mentioned, as surviving a fight with All for One is a feat in itself and requires a lot of luck.

However,

   since All for One is merely imprisoned,

it is a possibility that he will fight Endeavor in the future.

  A prison break would be a typical trope for a series with super villains. (Also that way that the hero killer glanced at All for One gives me hope.) At that point Endeavor would possibly still be #1 hero and see it as his upmost important duty, as the new symbol of piece, to contain him again. I would gamble on Endeavor to die trying.

EDIT: As I was hinted by a comment, there is this one occasion starting around chapter 85

  Where All for One, who was still on the run at the time, got apprehended by the heroes. This happens in chapter 93: All for One gets attacked by some of the heroes after he fought a while with All Might and tried to break him psychologically. Other heroes evacuate civilians on the stage that prevented All Might from going all out. In particular, Endeavor unleashes some flames on All for One, which he dispels with ease. Endeavor also encourages All Might verbally. He was, together with the other heroes, just giving All Might a minute to catch his breath and rescue the civilians, All for One didn't even bother attacking Endeavor. I would hardly call this a fight rather than interfering in All Might's fight with All for One.


What kind of food is Erina's father talking about?

If I'm not mistaken he's not quite talking about "enjoying" the food as much as he is talking about "understanding" the food. I say this because of two pages in particular. (I believe one is the one that you quoted from.)

Firstly, in Chapter 133 page 12 he states that "True Gourmet Food, It greatly resembles excellent paintings, sculptures, and music." Then he goes on to state "The true worth of all first rate art can only be understood by those who have a certain quality of character." I believe he's implying that most of the people in the room (possibly the world also, he is pretty arrogant) are just amateur spectators and don't really know, and will never know, what "True Gourmet Food" is.

Secondly, in Chapter 133 on page 13 he states that the only thing that should be called "Cuisine"/"Gourmet Food" Shoul be the food for the select few that understand it's worth (The Above Paragraph). Any other food is just fodder. Which further backs my point that I made that says he thinks that majority of people won't know what "Gourmet Food" is. I say this because Fodder is a food for livestock and I'm assuming based on his personality that he is comparing the general public to cattle.

It might be that he is talking about a taboo/forbidden style of gourmet, but I think that it is more likely that he is just talking himself up and talking others down.


Why if Endeavor solved more crimes than All Might, he isnt considered the number one hero?

I don't think there is a clear reason stated for that, but I think it has to do with what heroes are supposed to be in the MHA world: they're not just cops, they're something more than that.

They're supposed to inspire people

In MHA, most children hope to become professional heroes themselves, which mean that, most likely, heroes are idolised, and many people see them as much as heroes as they see them as public figures.

Their behaviors, the way they treat their fans, all of that will play a part on how a hero is perceived, if he is better or worse than another hero. And as we have seen multiple times, Endeavor's behavior is not that great. I can see why some people would not see him like a great hero (Heck I'd even say that he is closer to a villain than to a hero).

They're supposed to do other things than just resolving incidents

When Tsuyu goes to do her internship, we can see that heroes can be doing other things that doesn't always involve apprehending villains, patrolling water, patrolling streets, etc etc.

Rescues is one other of the major points of being a hero, and, with Endeavor's ability (and personality) I'd wage that rescuing people from a disaster is not what he's the best at (fire isn't really suited in most disastrous situations), while All Might is known to be able to save tons of people quickly.

Number of incident, against gravity

While he solved the most incident in MHA, we don't know the severity of those incident, while we have seen him at work, and we know that he is not weak at all, he could very well have solved hundred of small incident involving petty criminals.

So in short, the reason why he isn't the number 1 hero, is because he is the best in only one area of his work, All Might is better everywhere else.


Does the title of Bobobo-bo bobo-bo mean anything?

Bōbō (ぼうぼう or ボーボー) is a common phenomime (non-auditory onomatopoeia) expressing excessive growth of things such as weed or hair, growing all over the place and unkept. The originally planned title was Hanagēbo Bōbobo (ハナゲーボ・ボーボボ), with hanage being nose hair as you may well know. This was scrapped because although Bo-bobo uses his nose hair extensively, his is not exactly growing "all over the place". But the author wanted to keep the phonomime in the title, and ended up with the final title.


Why did the anime have so many additional cards?

As far as I can tell, there has never been an explanation given for this change. However, there is one major difference between the manga and the anime that may have led to this. In the anime, Meiling Li comes to help Syaoran Li collect the Clow Cards. This may have caused a need for more episodes to deal with her getting in the way of Sakura collecting Clow Cards, which required more Clow Cards to exist.

This is the major difference between the manga and the anime in terms of the collecting Clow Cards arc,  but this is only speculation.

There are six "leader" cards (The Dark, The Earthy, The Firey, The Windy, The Light, and The Watery) and all remaining cards, whether part of the original 19 or part of other 33, fall under the leadership of one of those six. While the creators of the anime made 33 more cards, they did not make any more leader cards, implying that these cards are filler.

More information about the Clow Cards can be found here: http://ccs.wikia.com/wiki/Clow_Cards


Why didn't Giorno heal Polnareff's body and restore his soul to the body?

It's not addressed canonically as far as I'm aware but I can think of at least two possible reasons:

It's too risky: Giorno was able to heal his own body and transfer his consciousness back because he used his own stand to do so. Either Gold Experience Requiem can't transfer a second party's soul between bodies or they aren't willing to risk the possibility that Polnareff's soul would vanish in the attempt
It's a temporary solution: As we saw with Bucciarati, Gold Experience can't completely reverse death, just temporarily bind the soul to the body as it decays. Given the choice between this and staying a turtle, Polnareff may have chosen the later.


Are there any resources about the inspirations of Miyazaki in making Howl's Moving Castle?

I don't think this book has anything about Howl's Moving Castle in particular, but Starting Point: 1979 - 1996, written by Hayao Miyazaki himself, and translated by Beth Cary and Frederik L. Schodt, is a 500 page treasure trove of interviews and other works regarding Miyazaki's thoughts and inspirations on his films. I purchased this book many years ago and only read a portion of it, so I can't really attest to how much this will help, but it's a good starting point for your research on his other films (pun may or may not be intended).

EDIT: Upon further research on Amazon, I discovered that he has another book called Turning Point, 1997 - 2008 along the same series, which does seem to contain information on Howl's Moving Castle. You might want to take a look into this.


What does this borderline ki first Krilin and now Goku get mean?

We got an answer to this question in the last episode(98). Basically its just a barrier that is used to protect them against posion, so it cannot make contact with their skin.
From this we can conclude that it had nothing to do with the aura Krilin has showed us in a previous episode.


In which episode does this picture from the opening of K-ON! appear?

Many of the scenes from the K-On openings don't ever happen in the anime or manga. They're things that we can imagine might have happened off camera sometime. I'm fairly certain this scene of Ritsu is one of those.

For example, this image of Mio wearing Nodoka's glasses never happens:

And Azusa never licks the whisk like this:

Clannad does the same thing—the opening contains scenes that look like they're repeated from somewhere in the series, but actually aren't, like this one:

And this one:

It's obviously difficult to present hard proof for this, especially hard proof that that specific scene with Ritsu never appears, but I'm 99% certain that those two scenes I mentioned with Mio and Azusa never appeared anywhere. I'm about 85% certain the scene with Ritsu never happened in the anime, and about 75% certain it was never in the manga. However, there might have been a similar or related scene; Azusa did make a cake, so we can imagine she might have licked the whisk while doing that, and this might be a similar case.


What is the song playing in Code Geass Episode 14: Geass vs Geass

The song is Masquerade, which is Track 13 on the first OST according to the metadata on my iPhone/iPod.

  Masquerade
  Vocals: Hitomi
  Lyrics: Kuroishi Hitomi
  Composition: Kuroishi Hitomi

While I can't time the song perfectly to where I believe it starts in the episode, one point that makes me believe they are the same song is at 0:51 of the song which matches the song at 20:54 of the episode (in the link)


What are the consequences of ignoring Kyubey's contract?

Nothing, the end result has always been Magical Girls becoming witches regardless if they fight or not.

When a Magical Girl is made, their Soul is removed from their body and made/placed into the Soul Gem. As they use their magic, the Soul Gem clouds in which they need Grief Seed to purify. If it's not purified, it will become a Grief Seed and the Magical Girl will become a witch, shown when Sayaka transformed in Episode 8

After Sayaka became a Witch, in Episode 9 Kyoko is seen using her magic to preserve Sayaka's body. We can speculate that without a soul, the body starts to rot and the Soul Gem is actually preserving the body on its own.

This is somewhat hinted in Episode 10 in the timeline Homura and Madoka defeated Walpurgisnacht and Homura was asked by Madoka to kill her (the final timeline of Moemura). In this timeline, we see that both of their Soul Gems haven't been fully tainted as they didn't have the same pattern as Sayaka's

Since all Madoka and Homura was doing was laying in the ruins not using any magic themselves, we can assume that the Soul Gems continue to taint as they maintain a Magical Girl's body until it starts creating those strange patterns in the blackness that Sayaka's Soul Gem did just before she transformed.

Alternatively, since a Magical Girl's body just stops responding when they are separated from their Soul Gem (as demonstrated when Madoka threw Sayaka's off the bridge and it landed in a truck that drove past), one could also assume that the ability to control their body also slowly taints the body, including talking which is what Madoka was doing before Homura kills her.

As such, even if you tried reneg on your side of the contract, I speculate that the end result would still be the Magical Girl becoming a Witch

What about after the series?

Post Series:

   In Madoka's Universe, still had Magical Girl's purifying their Soul Gems though those black cubes Wraiths drop (shown when Homura is talking to an Incubator about the witch system)

Post Rebellion:

   In Homura's Universe, we aren't 100% as to what has changed with Magical Girls, but given that Homura has given the Magical Girls normal lives and stripped them of their memories (and power as evident with Sayaka's confrontation) and that she had the power to erase the Incubator's from existence but chose not to instead re-purpose them to do Madoka Universe Magical Girl Work (dealing with Earth's Curses), I would assume that she has made it so that so that Magical Girl's won't become witches via inactivity, otherwise this might cause the Law of Cycles of act and reclaim Madoka to deal with them.


Are the final fantasy mangas spinoffs or retellings?

There are indeed allot of manga/novel/manwha adaptions of Final fantasy games,anime and movies and there are indeed some with alternate content to the already known storys or even totaly new storys. As found on final fantasy released media wiki

  Many Final Fantasy games have been adapted as novels and manga series. With the advent of the Internet, web novels and digital publishing have also become common. These stories act as companion pieces, offering an interpretation of the game's events or expanding the plot of the games by depicting additional scenarios.

Based on stuff

Final Fantasy II Mumu no Meikyu, Is the
Novelization of Final Fantasy II written by Kenji Terada
Yūkyū no Kaze Densetsu Final Fantasy III, Manga adaptation of Final Fantasy III by Yū Kinutani (art) and Kenji Terada (story)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Novelization of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within by John Vornhol
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ~Hatenaki Sora no Mukō ni~, Manga adaptation of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles by Ryunosuke Ichikawa (three volumes)
Final Fantasy IV, Two-volume novelization of Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV: The After, Novelization of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Adventure Log, Official Final Fantasy XI webcomic
Final Fantasy XII, Manga adaptation of Final Fantasy XII by Gin Amou
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates 4 Komaansoroji Komikku, Manga adaptation of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (2 volumes)
Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero: Promise, Series of web novels written by Jun Eishima and first published on the official Japanese Final Fantasy XIII website, depicting the thirteen days leading up to the events of the game

Unique content

Sō no Kizuna, A side story to Final Fantasy: Unlimited
Final Fantasy: Unlimited After, A series of web novels published on the official Japanese Final Fantasy: Unlimited website, which continue the story of the anime
On the Way to a Smile, Collection of two novellas, "Case of Denzel" and "Case of Tifa", set in Final Fantasy VII's continuity, written by Kazushige Nojima and published in the book Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Prologue
Final Fantasy XI ~The Out of Orders~, Manhwa set in the Final Fantasy XI continuity, by Kim Byung Jin (art) and Kim Sungjae (story)
Final Fantasy XI, Series of novels set in the Final Fantasy XI continuity, written by Miyabi Hasegawa


Manga involving girl who was raised in the forest and her parents died and she rejoined society and went to a fancy school

The name of the manga your mentioning is called Pansy.

A girl is raised by monkeys before being brought to where people are and eventually meets the crown prince. It turns out her family was good at pianos.


Togame's left eye changes whenever she is scheming or in an ambitious state of mind. This first began when she witnessed her father being killed, at the same time that her hair turned white. I do not believe it is explained why this change takes place beyond that witnessing her father's death changed her view of the world, but it could be elaborated in the novels.

It's also worth mentioning that Togame's name (とがめ) in Japanese is probably a reference to this eye, though it can be read in many ways. The particular reading here would be 十が眼, which could be interpreted as "eyeball shaped like 十 (to; the character for the number 10)". This is fairly unorthodox Japanese, but it's clear that this was one of the readings that the author intended.

Of course, Togame is the fake name that she made up for herself after her father died, so she wasn't called that until she got her cross-shaped eye. Before that, she was named Yousha (容赦). This is likely a counterpoint to another interpretation of her name, since 容赦 means forgiveness, while 咎め (とがめ) means blame or rebuke, which is fitting given how that incident changed her life towards seeking revenge.


Why wasn't Jiraya able to use Sage mode completely?

The title great Legendary Sannin does not mean theat he was the master of all types of techniques. He has sealing jutsus, summonings, body activation, combination techniques and is a pretty darn awesome Ninja. He did master the Sage techniques, he just couldn't perfect it.

Naruto surpasses Jiraiya as a Sage because of the nature of Sage chakra. It has to be in balance with the other two types of chakra in you. The balance was slightly tending towards Senjutsu chakra for Jiraiya and hence the toad like appearance, doesn't mean he didn't master how to use it.

Naruto mastered it too, but with the balance being perfect. Also, his clone training technique gave him 4 times more practice [exponentially more] than what Jiraiya was able to spare during his missions and travels. So it is possible that's a reason he was able to perfect it. Surpassing his master meant the perfect balance of chakra without any frog features according to sage Fukasaku.

They both were masters of Senjutsu, as they were able to use it without becoming a toad, were able to perform Kawazu kumite [excuse me if that's a typo] and giant rasengans.
HTH.


Yes, Senri is the cousin of Kaname, and with that also of Yuki. He only referred to him as a cousin once during the vampire ball. Here he tells Rima that he is going to support his cousin.

I don't remember it ever being revealed as to why they are not referring to each other as family, this might be due to the confusion the difference in last name might cause.

The reason as to why he has his mothers name and not his fathers name has not been revealed either. This usually is the choice of the parents.

  When you marry you choose which name to carry on or if you'd like to keep your names separate for job purposes (like a few of my teachers did). Some families need a male heir so the man takes on the woman's last name to carry on the family business. Most of the time the woman takes the man's last name though. Children don't really have a choice in the matter and most of the time they get the father's last name (except if he was accepted into the woman's family in which case they get the woman's family name). source


What does Shoko say to Yuzuru in chapter 12?

Panel 3 (Not sure about this one)

Sign: Me (eye) - you - heart
Meaning: What's with that look? What are you thinking?

Or,

Sign: You - money - receive
Meaning: Did you receive money?

Panel 4

Sign: He - sorry
Meaning: Apologize to him (Shoya)

Panel 5

Sign: Can't be helped - together -
 apologize
Meaning: Can't be helped, let's go apologize together

Panel 7

   Sign: I - leave it alone - you
 Meaning: I don't need you, do what you want!

References: item777's blog (Japanese), los-endos' blog (Japanese).


Do any characters from the main series of "Attack on Titan" appear in "Before the Fall"?

No, there is none.

Before the Fall is set decades before the main Attack on Titan series. Even if some of the older characters in the main series were already born during this time, they were not deemed significant enough to be depicted in the story yet since they made no appearances and the story is mainly focused on Kuklo and his time with the Survey Corps.


What's the job or purpose of the family of The BaskerVilles in Pandora Hearts?

The Baskervilles hold chains and one of the doors to the Abyss. According to the Pandora Hearts wikia:

  It is implied that the Abyss surrounds the world, as if the chains holding the world together are destroyed, the world will fall into the Abyss.

Additionally:

  Chains can leave the Abyss by contracting with humans and Baskervilles

Lastly:

  [Levi] continued to explain that among the Baskervilles' many duties to maintain a harmony within the Abyss, was protecting the Chains to prevent their destruction.


Why didn't Kushina die when the Nine Tails was released from her?

She didn't die immediately for the same reason why Kurama, Nine Tails, was put in her in the first place. She inherited her clan's, the Uzumaki, extremely big amount of chakra.

  Kushina was eventually told why she had to leave her home of Uzushio and go to Konoha; because of her special chakra, she was to be the next jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

In the statement above is indicating her special chakra.

  As an Uzumaki, Kushina was blessed with a strong life-force, granting her tremendous chakra reserves and vitality. This also gave her tremendous stamina, healing powers, and longevity. Ultimately, this trait let her survive the Nine-Tails' extraction minutes after giving birth, and still provided great aid to Minato on the battlefield shortly after despite her heavy exhaustion. Likewise, while still weakened, she did not die immediately from being impaled by the Nine-Tails' claw. Even by her clan's standards, Kushina possessed a powerful and special form of chakra that made her well-suited for becoming a jinchūriki, effectively sealing the entirety of the Nine-Tails inside her and further enhancing her reserves.

The one above talks Kushina's chakra, why she survived the extraction of Kurama, why she was still alive even after Kurama's claw stabbed her, and why she was a perfect candidate to become a Jinchūriki.

  The vitality inherent to the Uzumaki clan allowed her to survive the extraction, though greatly weakened by experience, the masked ninja tried to have the Nine-Tails finish Kushina off.

The one above and the second one mention her getting weaker once Kurama was extracted from her.

  Uzumaki naturally possess incredibly strong life forces, granting them very long lifespans; Mito Uzumaki was born before the founding of Konoha yet lived well into the reign of the Third Hokage. This also enables them to recover from injuries and exhaustion in short periods of time, enough to survive the removal of tailed beasts, although they are still left near death afterwards. Uzumaki also have the ability to heal and rejuvenate allies by having their allies bite them and suck their chakra. It is dangerous however to use this ability too regularly. At least one member has displayed a unique sensory ability.

The one above is technically saying that the Uzumaki have special traits that let them live more than others, just like Mito, and the ability to heal others, just like Karin. They can also recover from injuries and they can even survive a Tailed Beast extraction but they will be left near death,

   just like Naruto when Kurama was extracted from him.

Kushina didn't die immediately because of her inheritance of her clan (this is the reason why she was still alive). But she did die from Kurama's claw because she was already weakened from his extraction, and the claw opened a bigger wound that was not healed immediately.

Sources:

Kushina Uzumaki
Uzumaki Clan


What is the significance of anime characters' catch phrases?

Usually they're puns or just included for character. I think the aim behind it is to make characters more memorable.
Some of these pay off quite nicely for the series - Squid Girl's de-geso~ is instantly recognizable for fans even outside the show. The usage of it online or in popular media makes for good promotion for the series.
'de-geso', is a pun on Geso(tentacles) and De-gesu:

In end of Edo era and beggining of Meiji era, “De-gesu” is used by males of the lower class as transformational word of “Desu”.
“Geso” means tentacles of squid. Its article is mainly based on viewpoint of cooking. If your intention is to refer to Scientific aspects of squid, you would have to choose “Shokusyu” means just tentacle(s).
De-geso is the word combined De-gesu with geso. In the beginning of movie, Ika-chan spoke formally (but rudely) as the invader. So it is natural that she says manlike and old-fashioned terms like De-gesu. Of course, present Japanese don’t use such a word.
Traditionally, characterizing by making original suffix like De-geso was common technique in Anime. This is regarded as too facile nowadays.

De-geso~
Datebayo
Catchphrases could be used in order to emphasize a particular aspect of the character - Naruto's "Believe it!" (the frequent English translation) builds on his lively boisterous character, or in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei "I'm in despair", puts focus on the lead's suicidal & depressional tendancies.
I'm in Despair!


What was the first anime that uses different ending/opening songs in every episode?

tl;dr Shōnan Bakusōzoku, an OAV from 1986 with 12 episodes and 12 endings (ended only in 1999).

Intro

I took up Gao WeiWei's suggestion and used ANN's API to create a duplicate of their database and then search for all titles that have as many OPs/EDs as they have episodes. If anyone is interested in the code for this (it's not nice :P) and all results, go here.

Assumptions

I restricted the analysis to titles that have at least 6 episodes. ANN's episode field sometimes contains additional information such as '10 (+2 Specials)' in such a case I only take the first number and ignore the rest. There are no checks for the title or anything like that, if ANN lists an ending twice or if the same ending appears multiple times with different artists, those all count as separate. Most importantly, the relevant date is the start date (because that is less parsing work and because often there is no end date given).

Result for EDs

Below are the results. With the above restrictions, ANN has 30 animes that fit the bill and the oldest of them is Shōnan Bakusōzoku. Note though, that the final episode is from 1999! Among the first few, Iczer Reborn ended in 1991-02-25 already, so maybe that's your winner? See here for the full table.

╔════════════╦══════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦════════════════════════════╗
║  Vintage   ║ Type ║ #EP ║ #OP ║ #ED ║            Name            ║
╠════════════╬══════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬════════════════════════════╣
║ 1986-09-10 ║ OAV  ║  12 ║   3 ║  12 ║ Shōnan Bakusōzoku          ║
║ 1987-02-25 ║ OAV  ║   8 ║   6 ║   8 ║ Bubblegum Crisis           ║
║ 1990-09-25 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   1 ║   6 ║ Iczer Reborn               ║
║ 1992-06-15 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   0 ║   6 ║ Blue Girl                  ║
║ 1997-11-25 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   2 ║   6 ║ Saber Marionette J Again   ║
║ 1999-07-25 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   3 ║   9 ║ Ten Tokyo Warriors         ║
║ 1999-10-06 ║ TV   ║  12 ║   1 ║  12 ║ Seraphim Call              ║
║ 1999-12-18 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   7 ║   7 ║ Sakura Wars 2              ║
║ 2002-06-15 ║ OAV  ║   8 ║   8 ║   8 ║ Angelique: Twin Collection ║
║ 2002-10-02 ║ TV   ║  13 ║   1 ║  13 ║ Sister Princess: Re Pure   ║
║ 2003-05-08 ║ TV   ║   6 ║   1 ║   6 ║ Saint Beast                ║
║ 2005-10-21 ║ TV   ║  26 ║   1 ║  26 ║ Mushi-Shi                  ║
...

Huh, more endings than episodes?
You may have noticed, there are titles with more endings than episodes: They can all be considered to have as many endings as episodes. For Ten Tokyo Warriors, Sakura Wars 2 and Heaven's Lost Property those are caused by some kind of inconsistent annotation in ANN. For Akikan! they list an extra ending for a special but don't count the special towards the episodes. Katanagatari got an extra ending for the noitaminA rebroadcast. For Highschool of the Dead  and Maken-Ki! Battling Venus they count the OAV ending towards the anime.

Almost made it
I thought it would be interesting to also check which ones cut it very close. Here's an addtitional list sorted by #EPs/#EDs and then sorted by vintage. I left out all that have a quotient of 1 or less, since we already know those from above. The full list can be found here.

╔═══════╦════════════╦══════╦═════╦═════╦══════════════════════════════╗
║ EP/ED ║  Vintage   ║ Type ║ #EP ║ #ED ║             Name             ║
╠═══════╬════════════╬══════╬═════╬═════╬══════════════════════════════╣
║ ...   ║            ║      ║     ║     ║                              ║
║ 1.04  ║ 2007-04-08 ║ TV   ║  24 ║  23 ║ Lucky Star                   ║
║ 1.09  ║ 2010-07-07 ║ TV   ║  12 ║  11 ║ Strike Witches 2             ║
║ 1.09  ║ 2010-10-01 ║ TV   ║  12 ║  11 ║ Heaven's Lost Property Forte ║
║ 1.11  ║ 2006-02-10 ║ OAV  ║  10 ║   9 ║ Hellsing Ultimate            ║
║ 1.17  ║ 1990-01-26 ║ OAV  ║   7 ║   6 ║ Be-Bop-Highschool            ║
║ 1.2   ║ 1990-06-15 ║ OAV  ║   6 ║   5 ║ Devil Hunter Yohko           ║
...

As ʞɹɐzǝɹ already mentioned Lucky Star should qualify for the previous list, having 24 episodes and endings, but ANN is missing the ED for ep22. And so on, you can already see, this DB isn't perfect either ;)

Overview
Finally, here's a barplot showing the distribution of the number of endings among all animes that fit the assumptions described initially.

Result for OPs

There are only two result for #EPs = #OPs, and those are already shown in the list above (Sakura Wars 2 and Angelique: Twin Collection). The results for #EPs / #OPs are here. OPs are generally not as diverse:

More OPs than EDs and vice versa

As per Gao WeiWei's suggestion: There are 221 animes with #OP > #ED, among those 115 have no endings listed in ANN at all, which is probably a mix of the truth and missing annotations (full list). The other way around, there are 781 animes with #ED > #OP, 82 with no openings at all (full list).

Outro

This is not the definite answer either of course, ANN doens't provide an XML schema, so I might have overlooked something, and even if everything went well in my parsing, we already know they have a different opinion on the number of EDs e.g. for NGE (see GaoWeiwei's answer for that discussion), and there are several errors mentioned above. Answering a different question I realized I should have probably made sure the endings are unique, that doesn't affect the main result here though.


What determines what zodiac a person represents?

It is never explained what makes some Sohma born with the curse and some not and what animal they represent. The only rules seem to be that only one person can have an animal's the curse at a time and they must be part of the Sohma clan. The current condition where all animals are represented at the same time is rare.

Although some of the years do potentially match up (Ex. Shigure can be year of the dog 1982 and Tohru can be year of the dog as well in 1994, Ox is a year younger than the Rat, the Snake and the Dragon are close together), the year of birth isn't the single determining factor, since the ages don't match for all the zodiac members. (Ex. Momiji is the same age as Hatsuharu and slightly older than Kisa.)


Himself. And only himself.

Yagami Light truly perceived himself as a god where everyone else was a lower being. He explained in one segment that his lifespan is too valuable to make a deal for the shinigami eyes. Yet for even his closest allies (Misa) or even his family, their lives can be easily discarded. Light did not truly love anyone other than himself.


In Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) how does Nezuko get sustenance?

Demons

This are one of the abilities of a demon; (you can refer to the link to view the other abilities)

Immortality: Demons possess eternal youth and can live for centuries, sometimes even longer if they're incredibly strong. They can't die through conventional means, but can be killed by sunlight or with one of the Demon Slaying Corps' special Nichirin Blades.
Growing Power: The strength of a specific Demon depends almost entirely on how many humans they have eaten, and they can also grow stronger by receiving additional blood from Muzan, which is how the Twelve Demon Moons gained their overwhelming power. Some Demons, however, have a limit to how much they can use to grow stronger, and they might be not compatible with a higher amount of Muzan's blood.

Being that said demons don't need to eat humans at all to survive as they are immortal and they'd only do this because they wanted to become stronger so the answer is Yes, Nezuko takes the sleeping as form of nutrients to sustain herself though this not give her additional power because she's not consuming humans, she was just exhausted and use sleeping to make up for it.


In the ja.Wikipedia article of Symphogear, the term Noise is spelt as ノイズ, fully in Katakana. There is no mention of the acronym N.O.I.S.E. at all in the whole article.

The official website of Symphogear and Symphogear G also use the spelling ノイズ to refer to Noise, and there is also no mention of the acronym N.O.I.S.E. at all in the explanation of the term.

In contrast, you can find various terms spelt in Latin characters from the official websites and Wikipedia, such as F.I.S., S2CA, LiNKER, Anti_LiNKER, and S.O.N.G.

Currently, there is no evidence that N.O.I.S.E. is an abbreviation of a longer phrase. It is probably a stylized word in order to clearly differentiate it from the common noun "noise" for viewer from English-speaking countries (both in-universe and in real life).


Based on this website, it have 36 races.

Human
Giants
Dwarves/Tontatta Tribe
Longarm Tribe
Longleg Tribe
Snakeneck Tribe
Three-Eye Tribe
Mink Tribe
Kinokibito
Yeti
Fishmen
Merfolk
Skypieans
Shandians
Birkman
Merveillians
Automata
Cyborgs
Clones
Modified Humans
Space Pirates
Kumate Tribe
Okama
Nomads
Kuja
Torino Tribe
World Nobles
Wotans
Longlimb Humans
Zombies
Centaurs
Satyrs
Harpy
Toys
Homies
Klabautermann


It's Kekkaishi

Synopsis

  By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a "kekkaishi"--a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori's got some other demons to battle: an addiction to sweets and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty 16-year-old neighbor and childhood friend, Tokine Yukimura, is also a kekkaishi, but their families are feuding over who is the true practitioner of the art.


Which novels does the Bungaku Shoujo movie cover?

I've read the first 5 novels and from what I see, the main plot of the movie is basically the 5th novel (which is also the thickest one), though there are some parts of the other novels in there too, especially in the beginning and in the end (after the scene in the planetarium).


What is the first ever produced anime and manga?

What is thought to be the first anime was a 3 second clip that is 50 frames long, called Katsudo Shashin. In it, a boy writes 活動写真, which means "moving pictures" on a board. Its creator and date of creation are unknown, but it is thought to be from circa 1907.

There is an anime short from June 1917 named  なまくら刀 (An Obtuse Sword) that is 2 minutes long and a 1918 film adaptation of Urashima Taro, or 浦島太郎 that are thought to be the first films. The Kyoto International Manga Museum cites Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki from April 1917 as the first Japanese produced animation, though the Wikipedia article implies that there were previous works.

The first color anime feature film, which is sometimes considered to be the first anime by modern standards, is Hakujaden, which was created in 1958.

おとぎマンガカレンダー, or Otogi Manga Calendar, was the first anime series to be produced and the first to be televised. It ran from 1961-1964. Astro Boy first aired in 1963, making it one of the older anime series, but not the oldest. However, Astro Boy was the first 30 minute anime series as well as the first anime series that aired weekly.

Manga is a little bit more complicated because comics existed and it's hard to draw the line between where something stops being a comic and begins being a manga. Sazae-san was a comic strip published from 1946-1974 that has the longest ever anime series based off of it. Astro Boy is more generally referred to as a manga, and it began in 1951. There doesn't seem to be one specific manga cited as the first manga, though it seems to often be consider to have begun after WWII, as explained in this.

Edit: To add to this, Momotaro: Umi no Shinpei (桃太郎 海の神兵) was the first feature-length anime, which means that, at 74 minutes, it passed the 40 minute mark to be considered feature-length.

Edit 2: Some new information has been added based on information in the Kyoto International Manga Museum


What are the names of all the keys Lucy has?

Gold KeysGate of the water bearer key: Summoned the water Bearer, Aquarius.Gate of the Golden Bull Key: Summons the Golden Bull,Taurus.Gate of the Giant Crab Key: Summons the Giant Crab, Cancer.Gate of the Maiden Key: Summons the Maiden, Virgo.Gate of the Archer Key: Summons the Archer, Sagittarius.Gate of the Lion Key: Summons the Lion, Loke.Gate of the Twins Key:Summons the Twins, GeminiGate of the Ram Key:Summons the Ram, Aries.Gate of the Scorpion Key: Summons the Scorpion, Scorpio.Gate of the Goat Key: Summons the Goat, Capricorn.Silver KeysGate of the Souther Cross Key: Summons the Southern Cross, Crux.Gate of the Clock Key: Summons the Clock, Horolgium.Gate of the Lyre Key: Summons the Lyre, Lyra.Gate of the Canis Minor Key: Summons the Can is Minor, Nikora(Plue).Gate of the Compass Key:Summons The Compass, Pyxis.Artifical KeysCelestial Spirit Banishment Key(former): Banishes the Maiden, Virgo.


What is this song from Episode 53 of Hunter x Hunter?

As RichF said, the song of episode 53, at 6:51 doesn't sound asian-style at all, but if that is the song that you want, it's called Dirge From The Dark Side.


When did otaku become a derogatory term?

According to the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article (emphasis mine):

  Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, particularly in anime and manga. Its contemporary use originated with Akio Nakamori's 1983 essay in Manga Burikko.[1][2] Otaku may be used as a pejorative; its negativity stems from a stereotypical view of otaku and the media's reporting on Tsutomu Miyazaki, "The Otaku Murderer", in 1989. According to studies published in 2013, the term has become less negative, and an increasing number of people now self-identify as otaku,[3] both in Japan and elsewhere.

The first two sources are references to Nakamori's essay, where source 2 is a translated rendition of that essay.

Wikipedia goes on to mention that two animators, Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori, had used the term お宅 (おたく|otaku) as a formal, second person pronoun ("you"), which allegedly "some fans used... past the point in their relationships where others would have moved on to a less formal style."

The jisho.org entry explains:

  お宅（おたく）

  Pronoun

  you (referring to someone of equal status with whom one is not especially close)

  Honorific or respectful (sonkeigo)

This awkward use of the pronoun led to Nakamori choosing it to refer to anime fans, seemingly to characterize their social awkwardness (Though Wikipedia cites the Chinese edition of a book called Otaku Shijou no Kenkyuu, this appears to be backed up by Nakamori's second essay on otaku, from what I can understand of it).

So what does this mean? Was the term otaku derogatory from the start? It seems like it was. According to Lawrence Eng, who completed a PhD dissertation on the topic of otaku culture (emphasis mine):

  In 1983, the first published report appeared on the usage of "otaku" amongst fans. Akio Nakamori wrote a series of articles called "Otaku no Kenkyu" (Studies of Otaku) in Manga Burikko. He called those hard core fans who called each other "otaku" the "otaku-zoku" ("zoku" meaning tribe). His was perhaps the first article stereotyping otaku as being anti-social, unkempt, and unpopular. I've heard that the column was short-lived, and it didn't have a large impact on otaku culture (who pretty much ignored or was already used to such unfair stereotyping and discrimination).

Following the coining of the phrase, the so-called Otaku Murderer came into the public mind, which certainly didn't do the otaku crowd any favors, as you have already mentioned.

So back to that third source cited by the Wikipedia article. In 2013, in a study of 137,734 people, 42.2% answered that they think they are in some part "otaku," and the other 57.8% said they did not. The article continues by breaking down the results by age range (teens, twenties, thirties, and so on):

  10代：62.0％
  20代：55.6％
  30代：46.4％
  40代：44.8％
  50代：36.7％
  60代：26.9％
  70代：23.1％
  80代：23.3％

From this data, we can guess that somewhere during the '80s and the '90s (when people who are in their 50s and 40s now were in their 20s, and had grown up with anime and manga), the term otaku became more popular, and that trend has increased such that a majority of today's (Japanese) teenagers would consider themselves in some part otaku, and thus it would appear that the term is no longer considered quite as derogatory as it once may have been. The article also offers three examples of answers given by people who responded that they identify as otaku, which may shed some light on the reasons behind the mentality shift (translations mine, take them with a grain of salt):

  「サッカーオタク。熱中できる趣味というより、熱中できる気力があるの良いこと」

  "[I'm a] soccer otaku. Rather than being about an enjoyable hobby, it's having the energy to be passionate about something"
  「好きなゲームの話題だと、何時間でも話してしまいそう」

  "If there's a game you like, you'd probably end up talking about it for hours"
  「海外ドラマ＆その声優オタクでっすw」

  "im an otaku for foreign dramas and their voice actors lol"

This is just my speculation, but it's almost as if the term otaku has become diversified from its original connotation of an obsessiveness over anime and manga specifically. In other words, nowadays one can be an otaku for just about anything, which may be the reason for which it's become more of a popular term.

Conclusion (TL;DR)

The term otaku seems to have initially been coined to characterize certain negative stereotypes about anime and manga super fans, but over time has become more accepted—to the point that a majority of Japanese teens would say they identify as being, in some part, otaku.


If a Death Note user specifies, along with the actual target, the name of a person whose face the user doesn't know, will that person live?

The person would live in many cases. That rule indeed says that if multiple people are specified, that they all would end up having a heart attack, but it does not circumvent all the other existing rules. You would still need to have the person's face in mind while writing and the name should be the person's real name and not a nickname. The only thing that rule says is that all other details regarding the first person's death are just ignored.

For example if you write

  Person A stabbed to the heart. Person A would hug person B and would then kill person C. Person D would become jealous and would stab person A.

the Death Note would read it as

  Person A stabbed to the heart. Person A would hug Person B and would then kiss Person C. Person D would become jealous and would stab Person A.

or

  Person A
  Person B
  Person C
  Person D

So unless you had the specific person's face in mind while writing the name or unless the name was fake, the person would die from a heart attack.


Do the Wammy's House members speak to each other in English?

It seems safe to assume they're speaking English. This most likely is an example of a translation convention. As the first two paragraphs of that TV Tropes page put it:

  When a group of people whose native language is not English are
  together, away from any English speakers, the audience may nonetheless
  hear them speaking perfect English.

  This is not a case of Translator Microbes, in which an in-universe
  device is performing actual translation: We are meant to assume that
  the characters are really speaking their own native tongue, and it is
  being translated purely for our benefit (or the benefit of the casting
  director who is then free to hire English-speaking actors), like the
  dubbing of English dialogue onto foreign-made films.

Most of the time, when a translation convention is employed, the writers don't bother indicating that the characters are actually speaking another language, because the audience most likely doesn't care; the audience just wants to know what they're saying.

Further down the page, Death Note is discussed:

  In the Japanese version of Death Note, the scenes at which Interpol
  convenes and speaks with a British detective, as well as Near's
  dealings with the American SPK and Mello's conversations with the US
  Mafia are all presented in Japanese; presumably, they're actually
  speaking English.

  However, in the live-action movie, Lind L. Tailor, L's decoy, was voiced by an American, while a Japanese translator made a voice-over.

  This is how it was done in the manga as well, although only the voice-over is shown.
  This is assumed to be in effect for Wammy's House as well, unless we are to believe that all the residents of an orphanage in England
  speak Japanese as their default language.

There's probably no real evidence anywhere in the series that the characters are speaking English (I certainly don't remember any in the manga). The audience can assume they're speaking English because they're at an orphanage in England. However, as part of the translation convention, we see them speaking Japanese on screen. It's presumed that the audience doesn't care that much to hear them actually speaking English, so the writers just cut to the chase and show them speaking Japanese.

Note, this is different from the situation where L, Near, et al. speak to characters whose native language is Japanese. There, we have to assume they are speaking Japanese (or everyone is speaking English--unlikely, as characters like Misa and Matsuda who probably don't speak English are seen communicating effortlessly with L). But when the Wammy's House members are speaking among themselves, it seems safe to assume they're actually using English and we see it as Japanese under a translation convention.


Here is an excerpt from: http://kotaku.com/5936200/why-hatsune-miku-is-the-worlds-most-popular-virtual-idol

  Hatsune Miku is more than a little big in Japan. She appears on billboards, in TV commercials, and gives sold-out concerts to legions of fans the world over. Of course, being a popular singer in and of itself isn't something that out of the ordinary. However, what makes her unique is the rather large obstacle she had to overcome in her path to fame—namely that Hatsune Miku isn't even a real person; she's a computer program.

The main fact that she is a program that anyone can use to make their own music despite perhaps not having an optimal singing voice opened up new paths for many music artists. This led to many popular Vocaloid songs done by Miku such as MELT or World is Mine.


Why do the Survey Corps kill this character?

To begin with, it's not certain that Reiner is actually dead, the final frame of the manga shows the Armored Titan suffering intense damage, but as we haven't yet seen his corpse, it's best not to draw conclusions - he did just survive being half decapitated after all!

Secondly, even if he were to die, there is still the Colossal and Beast Titans that would be in possession of the same or similar information. As mentioned in Yokhen's comment, Annie too is in captivity and remains a potential source of information should she ever awaken. And as mentioned in Astral Sea's comment, it is believed that the information they need is in Eren's basement anyway.

Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, one of the Survey Corps. major objectives is the elimination of the duo that breached the wall in the first instance, as all other walls are in danger while they remain free. Therefore,  in Erwin's eyes at this time, the deaths of Reiner and Bertolt are likely far more advantageous than having them alive for questioning:


One needs to possess the Demon Factor to use Satan Soul. Mira said it herself:

It hasn't been explained if she already has it since birth or not.


Why do the Kage's have animals in the background?

I stumbled across this on a forum.. I could find no other references but for the most part, it makes sense somewhat.

  Gaara is the young buffalo with keen instincts and promise.
  Tsunade is the rampant moose that charges without hesitation.
  Raikage is the bear that holds dominance and power on top of everyone.
  Mei is the whale that protects the sea (her village)
  Tsuchikage is the ancient scripture, the scripture that possesses much knowledge and experience.


Why is Maid-chan voice actor listed as '???' in ending credits?

(I'm Japanese, so please excuse my English.)

Maid-chan's voice actor is Horie Yui, the same one as the Ryuunosuke.

This is the last episode's ending credit:

She has a radio program  called 堀江由衣の天使のたまご (Horie Yui's Angel Egg)
where she talks about the "???" and how the anime staff asked her to keep it a secret in the the broadcast that aired on 2013/4/7 in Japan.

From the unofficial text transcript of the broadcast.

I will reprint and translate only conclusion.

Japanese

  結論から言いますと、私にも、わかりません。

English

  As it turns out, I even, do not know.

This is the official conclusion.