Having checked Wikipedia, TVTropes, the official website (via Wayback Machine), and Anime News Network, there was no information on this. Even if the show was deliberately made to be bad, it's likely that the production company wouldn't reveal that fact, so we'd have no way of knowing. Hence, there's probably no definitive answer to this.

However, the sorts of problems in the show aren't the sorts which one would deliberately create if the show was deliberately made to be bad. The show primarily suffers from an incoherent plot, as well as bland characters. But it doesn't seem to be deliberately incoherent; rather, they had no room to fit any plot in the short time that was allotted. This is evidenced by the fact that there are flashbacks to scenes which never took place on camera. Probably there was initially some attempt at a plot, but crucial pieces were cut during production.

It's also notable that the show, while terrible, isn't anywhere near the worst anime ever. If the production team was deliberately trying to make a bad anime, they could have done even worse, e.g. by using worse artwork or adding more plot holes. There's nothing good about Cosprayers, but there's plenty that could still be worse. As Jon Lin noted in the comments, M.O.E. (the studio responsible for Cosprayers) has done plenty of mediocre anime, and Cosprayers could easily just be somewhere on the low tail end of the distribution without being deliberately made to be bad.

Finally, as I noted in the question, it doesn't make any sense why Cosprayers would be aired before Smash Hit! and LOVE♥LOVE? if they were making it deliberately bad. The better strategy from a production point-of-view would be to air it the last of the three.

It's worth noting that at least one guy on the internet agrees with me. This review of Cosprayers discusses whether the show is intentionally bad or not in the final paragraph:

  But back to that question of the parody retcon: According to Wikipedia, Smash Hit premiered only a week after CosPrayers ended, so it does seem possible that the producers had planned all along for CosPrayers to be crappy. But if that's the case, they're still complete blockheads. First of all, where's the sense in airing the intentionally sucky show-within-a-show before airing the making-of show that gives it context? Your audience will get bored and/or annoyed and go off to watch something else long before you have a chance to reveal the whole "it was supposed to be crap all along!" twist. And secondly, a crappy work does not automatically get any less crappy just because you made it crappy on purpose. If you sing a song horrendously off-key, it doesn't matter whether you did it because you're tone-deaf or because you're doing it intentionally to make some point — either way, it's still going to make my ears bleed. Being sucky on purpose isn't enough by itself — you have be entertainingly sucky, and preferably also include some satire on the sucky thing that you're imitating. Plus, I don't think CosPrayers is outlandish enough in its suckiness to qualify for the "haha sucky on purpose" crowd. Simply put, it's not bad enough. Despite that "worse than CosPrayers" meme, it's not the worst anime out there, nor is it even the worst I've seen. It's just kind of mediocre and incoherent. It fails even at being legendarily awful.

There are some sources which make the opposite claim, but neither side has any direct evidence. With that in mind, I'm of the opinion that while we can't know for certain, based on the above evidence it's very likely that the show was not intentionally bad.


What are the requirements to wield God ki?

What we've seen in the anime is Goku first got god ki when he became super saiyan god (red) after making the ritual where 5 saiyans of pure heart surrounded him.

Vegeta first got god ki only (not in super saiyan) when he was sent to train to another dimension by Wiss along with Goku

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNpUK5n9bHg

there Vegeta tells what they call god ki is ki which doesnt overflow from his body

In this other video, after being told by Wiss not to overflow their ki, both Goku and Vegeta get a taste of super saiyan blue, which supposedly is "having the power of a super saiyan god (god ki) and then becoming a super saiyan"

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

So, a requisite to have god ki is to learn how to control ki for it not to overflow from the user's body. Personally, I also believe you need a certain minimum power level to attain god ki, otherwise why Wiss made Vegeta train and raise his power level before telling him how to use and get god ki (Additional note: Wiss also mentions "he is reaching the level where he can sense god ki").

Unless you are a special case, such as Kamisama (Dende) or Supreme Kai, who can feel other's god ki and therefore have god ki, because they were assigned gods or they were born gods, when they have a low or not so great power level (it's stated than only gods can feel god ki)

And for the manga, I dont remember anything relevant about god ki. Usually Toyotaro in the manga tries to fix the mess done by the anime or movies regarding different contradictory concepts with some additional explanations , but this wasnt the case. (sometimes he also makes more mess than coherence)


Why did Madara have Rinnegan before activating it and nobody noticed?

Yes, it was a mistake (and yes, I noticed it before you did, ask the regulars at chat =P), nice job spotting it!

In the manga, that specific scene doesn't exist (the part where he looks up at the Rasengan), so apparently the animators or the editors simply made him with the Rinnegan for some reason.


Can Kakashi use the jutsu he copied without the Sharingan?

It's a good question you there. Kakashi uses the Sharingan to copy ninjutsu that he has seen from other ninjas like the Water Dragon Jutsu and to continue using them, he has used his memory and experience to remember the seals to perform them. The Sharingan is a tool which he uses it to learn other ninja's ninjutsu the fast way and his brain memorises the ninjutsu so that he can cast it instantly whenever he needs it.

Hope I have answered your question.


Has Dragon Ball Super Broly changed the original Dragon Ball story?

The scenes in original anime were filler added by Toei Animation. So the new story does not contradict the original manga written by Akira Toriyama. Also Toriyama had released a manga called Dragon Ball Minus which is the story upto Goku being sent to Earth. In this manga, Goku is shown wearing a saiyan armor and is 3 years old. As the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie is written by Toriyama, the same details are included in the movie as the manga.

As the anime was dependent on the manga, Toei Animation had to add many fillers to make sure the manga was ahead of the anime. Hence the discrepancy.


Why Al's had lost all his body and Ed's lost just his arm?

What Truth takes is not arbitrary, but ironic; it takes something symbolic of what the alchemist who opened the gate desired. This is explained by Father in Chapter 102 of the manga (found in Volume 25), and is summarized by the FMA Wiki as:

  Father discusses the irony behind the works of the 'Truth', who took Ed's way to 'stand by himself' and his 'only family', Al's body so he 'cannot feel the mother's warmth as he craved', Izumi's 'capacity to nurture the seed of life' and, now, with Mustang, coming full circle, 'depriving the man who had a grand vision to save his country of his eyesight, denying him to see what his beloved nation will become'.

As Brotherhood follows the manga, the reason stands there as well; in the 2003 anime, the reasoning may be similar, but likely exists simply because it was done in the manga, and the reasoning had not yet been revealed there.

Within your question, there is a false assumption, that "one body & soul" can be traded for another human life; human transmutation is not possible, and nothing was taken as any sort of equivalent exchange. Al's body was taken as the price of opening the gate, as was Ed's leg (his arm was not part of this exchange), Izumi's organs/reproductive system, and Mustang's eyes.

Furthermore, Al's soul was never part of the price. It was not taken by Truth; only his body was taken. It's shown within Brotherhood and the manga that Al's soul was what animated the failed human transmutation; it was the nearest thing close to a human (the chemical composition was correct) that shared a blood link to him. As the failed transmutation could not survive long term, Ed gave his arm not as part of the initial transmutation, but to force Al's soul onto the nearest human-shaped object and bind it before it was lost.


Its a filler episode.

From here you can see that it is present in the anime only, with no reference in the manga. Also can you specify in which episode of naruto/boruto Lee used that move. Apart from the filler there is no mention of that move in any other episodes.

Also check here to see which episodes are filler and which are not.


Does everyone from Naruto's generation have chakra within them?

I don't blame you for asking this question. It is hard to imagine how everyone could have chakra if Kaguya was the origin of chakra, and only a few people had actually descended from Kaguya. But there are some fillers that you have not seen that will explain how.

In one of the late Shippuden episodes, we see Asura Otsusuki, the grandson of Kaguya, teach a bunch of people ninjutsu while he was on a mission to supposedly find water. I think he spread chakra by "donating" it to people. It's either that or everyone has a chakra flow that was unnoticed before Kaguya, and she activated the chakra flow and started the concept of shinobi.


How come Alphonse can do alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?

Alphonse can always do alchemy, throughout the whole show. The only times he cannot perform alchemy are the same times that Edward cannot;

   When Homunculus uses his ability to seal off alchemy temporarily.

Now, in the beginning of the show, he does not perform alchemy often because he needs to draw transmutation circles to be able to. Drawing transmutation circles takes time, and is not often practical in fights or other scenarios that need quickness, especially if he does not know the proper circle (they can perform more basic transmutation simply, and both Al and Ed are geniuses, but they are still shown studying often). He is however, shown transmuting items throughout the show, both before and after

   gaining the ability to transmute without a circle, like Ed does.

In fact, Alphonse has a particular ability (at least in the Anime) that no other alchemist is shown to have. He can transmute without physically touching the transmutation circle.


Why have people's wishes become so powerful after God vanished?

Actually, yes. Throughout the series, it is mentioned that the reason humans can actually live they way they can is because God has given them their "wish". The reason for the immortality (even if it is miserable) is because God has given up on them and given the human beings what they desired. (Even if it's not a great idea...)

So, this whole thing became possible because of the humans wishes and what they thought was best. So, since this happened before "God" vanished (or as God did, that is) it's safe to assume that perhaps God was capable of fulfilling a few things here and there, too.

This is just speculation but perhaps God has not abandoned them completely just yet.


Where does the split happen between Mai-Hime and Mai-Otome?

They're entirely different story wise, My-HiME is set more or less in our world while My-Z HiME (My Otome) is set in a fictional universe.

They are roughly connected by the character and their personalities that exists in both series, such as Mai's and Natsuki's rivalry, Natsuki's Same Sex Relationship with Shizuru (In My-Z HiME they are much more open, in My-HiME they only are open with each other about their feeling near the end) and Haruka hot tempered personality and malapropism with Yukino always correcting her.

Also both series portray the females being the ones with power having to also come to terms with their adolescence and love at the same time as controling this power. in My-HiME it was choosing to have power at the cost of the person the girl loved the most (the warning Natsuki gives Mai before she awakens her Child) while with My-Z HiME it was choosing to have power and never being with a male (explained by how the Y Chromosome will destroy the Nano Machines and thus Otome's can't have any relationship with men)


Are tsundere/yandere/kuudere unisexual terms?

The dere family along with tsundere (unapproachable outside, sweet inside), yandere (sweet outside, crazy inside) kuudere (cold outside, sweet inside), and dandere (asocial outside, sweet inside).

All of these terms are used to describe traits, rather than the characters themselves, so they are used asexually. However, because the terms (most prominently with tsundere, since it is the most popular trope of the family) are attributed mostly to female characters, people usually attribute the terms as female traits.


Is the World Government aware of the existence of the Sky Island?

I believe that the world government does not know of the Sky Islands, because when the Straw Hats land in Navarone, the officials do not believe Zoro, Luffy, or any of them when they say they came from the sky.  Considering Navarone was a huge Marine Base, if the World government knew of the Sky Island, they would have let them know.


How was Sayaka able to retain her memories during Rebellion?

It was because Sayaka and Nagisa (aka Bebe) came with Madoka and were entrusted with Madoka's powers and memories.

When Madoka went into the barrier she knew it was a trap set by The Incubators as such she entrusted her powers and her memories to Sayaka and Nagisa and fool The Incubators.

  It's revealed that Madoka, Sayaka, and Nagisa didn't have their memories altered by Homura's barrier. Instead Madoka entrusted her memories and powers to Sayaka and Nagisa in order to fool Kyubey. Sayaka and Nagisa simply played along with the barrier while waiting for the right time to reawaken Madoka. Sayaka admits that while it's caused them quite a bit of trouble, Homura has been trying hard and deserves her reward.

Source: Rebellion/Synopsis - Part E (Second Paragraph)

It is hinted beforehand that Sayaka has extra knowledge as after Homura and Mami fought Mami remembers that their enemies were the Wraiths not the Nightmares however Sayaka remembers the Witches and that Bebe/Nagisa is taking the form of the "Desserts/Sweets Witch"1 (understanding why Homura suspected her to begin with). she shouldn't know what Witches are however because in Madoka's Universe they don't exist.

Also because they played along there was no reason for Homura's labyrinth to try and alter their memories, but i also like to suspect the divine nature of Madoka's powers that they had been given provided some protection since the barrier was one way and only invited people in. Madoka was invited and maybe Sayaka but Homura would have no knowledge of Nagisa and even if she went in as Bebe (thus looking like Charlotte's first form) she was never invited in and i would think that the barrier would try something at first but when Nagisa played along it then just decided to factor her in

1: Depending on what version you see Sayaka will call Charlotte the Sweets Witch or the Desert Witch


Is there any connection between the Doupo Cangqiong and Da Zhu Zai and Wu Dong Qian Kun Chinese Web Novels?

They are from the same author. They exist in different worlds but the protagonist of Doupo and Wudong travels to the dazhuzai world and they exist there now. There's probably a span of hundred of years between dazhuzai and the other two.


Why did Beerus say "Say something." at the end of Episode 118 of Dragon Ball Super?

Due to their brotherly bond, he wished to have heard some goodbye words. Beerus deeply cares for Champa as does Champa for him. They are like siblings. They always fight, cause drama but at the end of the day they want the best for each other.

During the fight between the Namekians and Gohan & Picollo. Whiz was asking Beerus why he was silent for a while and is he worried that Champa's universe might be erased. Nobody knows Beerus like Whiz does, so if he asked that question then it implies that Beerus was genuinely worried about Champa.

Remember the episode of the tournament before this where Beerus's universe won from Champa's universe? They were awarded a wish with the universal Shenron. What did Beerus wish for? To restore the planet earth in Champa's universe, so that Champa could enjoy the good food as well. He could wish for selfish things or to strengthen his warriors or whatever else, but he did it so that his kid brother could be happy and enjoy the food as well. This indicates that Beerus cares about Champa the same way as an adult brother cares for his kid brother.

So back to the universal tournament; the stakes are high and while they enjoy fighting each other we can conclude that both want to win, but they don't want their brother to lose either. If anything Champa wishes deeply that if he doesn't win then his Brother Beerus should and vice versa.

At the final moment Champa called out to his big bro and would've probably said something but he isn't a fool. Due to his troubled face he resorted to making a funny face instead, indirectly telling Beerus to not worry and rather to focus on winning. Beerus on the other hand... wanted to hear some parting words. A "good bye!" or "good luck!" would have lifted his spirits a bit, but knowing Champa he didn't want to resort to a touching goodbye, so he acted accordingly to his behaviour. Beerus wish to hear some final words was what made him say that.

This is simply the bond of an elder brother losing his younger brother while both are aware that one is going to vanish... and at the moment of vanishing you would want to hear your brothers voice doesn't matter what it is. This is more something emotional and sensitive rather than some beyond-human-level form of communication. This was the feeling of losing someone close to you while being unable to do anything about it at all.

Off-topic; Vegeta was pretty pissed about it as well. And remember what Vegeta said to Cabba? He would win the tournament and wish Cabba's universe back so that Cabba could show him around in his universe. At the current episode and ending I think that Beerus has a similar feeling right now. He wished planet earth back for his brother previously. It is quite obvious what his next wish will be (if they are granted a wish at all).


There are in fact ghouls outside Japan.

There's the Chinese terrorist organization, Chi She Lian
There's also a group in Germany studying ghouls, Ghoul Forschung Gesellschaft
There's also ghouls from Russia, e.g., Donato Porpora


Who took care of Naruto when he was young?

Third Hokage promised Kushina, when she was dying, that he would take care of Naruto, and he did.

Whole villagers knew that a monster fox was inside Naruto. This news also spread to the other villages. If it weren't for the astute care of the Third Hokage, other villages would have kidnapped Naruto and would have absconded him out of Konoha.

The Third may not have sheltered him at home, but he did keep an eye for Naruto. That is what taking care means.

Besides, Iruka and others were there too. However, the main role was still played by the Third.


What specific event was the forking point between the two storylines?

Here's a list of differences between the first movie and the original timeline

The most notable plot-wise is that Misato knew about Lilith, and she knew what Lilith's purpose was, and later before the Ramiel battle, she showed Shinji what Lilith was and explained why he needed to fight the Angels.

  The appearance and identification of the Angel Lilith at the end of the first movie and just before the commencement of Operation Yashima (Corresponding to Episode 06 of the TV series), unlike the veil of secrecy kept in the original series where Lilith was never seen until Episode 15 and wrongly identified as Adam until Episode 24.

  More notably, Gendo and Fuyutsuki speak about a "contract with Lilith," which did not exist in the old series. Lilith's existence may not be a mystery, but its role is hinted to take a different turn from its original series counterpart.

There was no mention of a "contract" with Lilith in the original time-line.


When does *The Miracle of Endymion* occur?

When Index asks Touma what Endymion is, he mentions it's been visible before, including when she holds a grocery bag while standing next to him. This flashback is to footage from the end of the first II opening. This doesn't contradict the above placement of Miracle, although it does require said footage to occur early in (or before) II.
In particular, the aforementioned flashbacks are doctored; for example, the II opening doesn't include Endymion.

This is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek gag. Index is breaking the 4th wall a bit by pointing out how strange it is this space elevator was never pointed out before despite being under construction all this time in the background (because in real life it hadn't been conceived of yet so obviously it wouldn't be in the story back then), and Touma casually retcons it into existence with a few flashbacks where it's been inserted into a few scenes.
This is a way of acknowledging the awkwardness with which its inserted into the canon and timeline of the series and allowing the story of the movie to progress onward without further attention paid to it.
So, in answer to your original question, the timing is as you've sleuthed it out to be. It's meant to take place between the tree diagram arc and the festival arc, and they playfully retconned some scenes to make it fit into the timeline despite a lack of evidence for its prior existence. The commentary tracks on the movie also confirm this is the case.


Why did Bleach anime stop airing? And did Bleach manga also end its serialization?

According to Wikipedia, the original run of Bleach anime in Japan has finished since March 2012. It seems that you follow the English dub, which finished airing on November 1st, 2014, so you don't realize that it stopped airing in Japan long ago.

As for the reason, from the posts I have seen on the Internet, there seems to be no official reason given for the cancellation of the anime series. (Usually, the official reason will be cited before people give their own interpretation or speculation of the situation, but I don't see any).

This page by edas88 gives 2 theory as for why the series was cancelled:

The anime was sub-par and had too many fillers1.

I don't know if this source for TV anime series viewership rating is reliable or not, but viewership for Bleach started out at around 5%, gradually dropped but still managed to get 2-3% up to the point of Aizen's defeat, but it reduced further and sustained at 1-2% till the point it was cancelled.

Compared to the other two series in the Big 3, One Piece sustained at around 10% viewership over the same period, and Naruto at 7-9% at the beginning, but still got 3-5% at the point Bleach anime was cancelled.

1 Wikipedia says that 111 of all 366 episodes are fillers.
The anime stopped to wait for more material from the manga, instead of continuing with filler episodes as what they had been doing.

On this side, at the time of writing, there are some speculations that the anime will restart production in 2015, since the manga is expected to end in 2015.

At the time of writing (May 27th, 2015), the manga has not ended its serialization yet. According to mangaupdates, chapter 627 was released on May 21st, 2015 by scanlation groups. There is no news headline regarding the imminent end of the serialization (except that it is confirmed to end in 2015), so I think it is going to continue for at least a few months.


Old Anime (similar to Pokemon) that involved going to different places (/times?) and capturing monsters in their eggs?

It sounds like Flint the Time Detective

  It is the 25th century. The dark lord has 'infected' history with time-devices that could damage history beyond repair. Flint and his father lived in the prehistorics when they got turned into fossiles. They are discovered and Flint ges turned back to his original state. With the help of his father, a boy Tony and a girl Sara he has to travel trough time to bring the time-devices back to the land of time so history will be saved.

In particular there are creatures called time-shifters that can assume different forms, among which there is an egg-like form (monster egg).


What does the German say in the opening of ef - a tale of melodies?

It looks like the entire OP has been translated in this article. It says that the lines are from 2 different EF related songs, "Eternal Feather" from the ending theme of the last episode of "ef - a tale of memories" and "Emotional Flutter" from the opening of the game "ef - a latter tale".

The article has all of the text, side-by-side, with the English translation and (in red) the song that the line came from. There's also a note at the end about some names of other EF related songs on-screen.

  Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]The smile left behind on the road home, [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]My breaking heart has been healed [Eternal Feather]I heard a tender voice [Eternal Feather]Pieces of a dream spill and fall into my palms [Eternal Feather]To search for the lost answer, I start running [Eternal Feather]Overcoming the time when we came across each other [Eternal Feather]Our hands join together [Eternal Feather]Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]I search for your back that I have forgotten about [Eternal Feather]Making the loneliness end [Eternal Feather]I believe you, but I feel uneasy [Eternal Feather]And I dreamed of your voice [Eternal Feather]I fear getting hurt [Eternal Feather]and make my face smile, [Eternal Feather]I'll start weaving a breakable courage, if we're together [Eternal Feather]When I change even the pain frozen onto me into warmth [Eternal Feather]The sound of the bell echoes [Eternal Feather]Into the endless future [Eternal Feather]Soar up high into the sky [Eternal Feather]Even if you don't have feathers [Eternal Feather]I believe you, but I feel uneasy [Eternal Feather]And I dreamed of your voice [Eternal Feather]The smile left behind on the road home [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]The white wings swayed [Emotional Flutter]Running with my outstretched hand, [Emotional Flutter]I chased after your shadow [Emotional Flutter]If the falling white snow were to pile up, [Emotional Flutter]It would cover up these sad colors [Emotional Flutter]The love sleeping deep within my heart [Emotional Flutter]Please remember it [Emotional Flutter]Soar high up in the sky [Emotional Flutter]And spread your wings [Emotional Flutter]Inside the gentle rays of the sun [Emotional Flutter]You showed me your dreams [Emotional Flutter]Fluttering down from the high sky, [Emotional Flutter]Wear your white wings [Emotional Flutter]Our joined hands [Emotional Flutter]Won't let go of the future [Emotional Flutter]The love sleeping deep within my heart [Emotional Flutter]Please remember it [Emotional Flutter]The smile left behind on the road home [Emotional Flutter]Will never find the voice it looks for [Emotional Flutter]The darkness engraved in my memories even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]Even now, won't end [Emotional Flutter]There was a distant sky on the other side of the window [Eternal Feather]I was watching the unreachable clouds [Eternal Feather]My breaking heart has been healed [Eternal Feather]I heard a tender voice [Eternal Feather]Swooping down from the sky, [Emotional Flutter]The white wings swayed [Emotional Flutter]Pieces of a dream spill and fall into my palms [Eternal Feather]To search for the lost answer, I start running [Eternal Feather]Overcoming the time when we came across each other [Eternal Feather]Our hands join together [Eternal Feather]Holding the reviving memories [Eternal Feather]To my chest [Eternal Feather]Running with my outstretched hand, [Emotional Flutter]I chased after your shadow [Emotional Flutter]I search for your back that I have forgotten about [Eternal Feather]Making the loneliness end [Eternal Feather]


What is the music on season 3 episode 21 of My Hero Academia around 6:20?

The soundtrack is called Hero A, here's the link: Hero A and here's the link to the instrumental if the rap isn't up your speed: Hero A instrumental


In the Overlord LN, how did Shelltear get mind controlled? And by whom?

Her name was Lady Kaire, but she was injured before she could completely take control of Shalltear and left her in the regular enemy NPC state (I don't do anything until something attacks me mode). As for what she used, in Yggdrasil it would have been a world-level item, but I'm sure they're going to have their own name for it in this new world. PS: World-level items basically make hacks look like child's play, so it was most likely a really long incantation.

Citation: All of this information is available in the last episode of Overlord, on Funimation, a legal site, with reliable translations. Episode 13, the episode in question, is available for everyone to watch, although you will need an account to prove you're 17 or older.  At 19:03, Lady Kaire and what she did is explained by a kneeling knight.  The fact that it is a world level item is said earlier on in the anime by Ains.


An anime where a boy, who can eject fire from his finger, saves a girl from black-suited men

If anyone is looking for the same anime, I just got the name of it from Google.
It was Kaze no Stigma. However, the story remains incomplete as the author of the light novel series died in June, 2009.


What does Shouko said to Ishida on the bridge in chapter 54?

So I watched the limited theatrical release today.  While I can't say that I recall anything verbatim, I'll be updating my answer from here.

Shouko says, not signs, in the movie, that

   She believed that if she weren't around anymore, everything would be better, which is what led her to attempt suicide in the first place.

This tears into the heart of the matter:  the immense guilt and discomfort that Shouko feels about the entire situation, which is what led her to make that decision.

Also, this highlights a point in which the film diverges from the manga, so take this with a grain of salt.

While I can't interpret JSL very well, we can infer what happened through the use of context clues a few chapters earlier.

   This happened after Shoya effectively saved Shouko's life, when she attempted to jump off her balcony into the river below.  Recall in an earlier chapter, Shouko and Shoya swapped positions, effectively keeping her on the balcony, and him plummeting to the water below.

From that, what we can infer is...

   Shouko thought that Shoya was dead, and was feeling incredibly remorseful for attempting suicide, and that Shoya had been badly injured due to her actions.  She's frantically apologizing and is grateful that he's alive.


How many episodes will Dragon Ball Super have?

Until now, it is officially confirmed to have at least 72 episodes of DBS. Rumors have shown that it will be 100 episodes, or even more if it's getting more popularity, but all of that is not true. Rumors are rumors, it is not yet confirmed, all we can do is to wait for upcoming news.


Are these two people with the same given name the same person?

no, Emiya Shirou and Kotomine Shirou are 2 different people. infact apart from their appearance resembling one another in a way the only thing they both have in common is that they are both people who end up become 2 different Servants for Holy Grail Wars and at one stage were also Masters
Emiya Shirou ends up one day becoming Heroic Spirit EMIYA and summoned as Archer in both Fate/Stay Night's Fifth Holy Grail War and Fate/Extra's Moon Cell Holy Grail War (though in the latter his name has become lost in history)
Kotomine Shirou is one of the Masters of the Red Faction in Fate/Apocrypha, Master of Assassin and Leader of the faction. however his true identity is  Amakusa Shirou Tokisada

Shirou's True Name is Amakusa Shirou Tokisada (天草 四郎 時貞, Amakusa Shirō Tokisada), the teenage leader of the Shimabara Rebellion. Born in the Edo period, he was a boy of miracles who could nearly be called a saint. However, how exactly he was discovered; a good half of his lifetime is wrapped in mystery.

Source: Kotomine Shirou - Profile - Identity (first paragraph)
He was originally summoned as the Ruler Servant during the Third Holy Grail War by the Einzbern Family instead of Angra Mainyu as Avenger however the war never ended properly due to the Nazi's stealing the Greater Grail thanks to Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia who then ended up stealing it from them.
in Fate/Aprocypha's timeline after the third war he spent time with Risei Kotomine and was "raised" with Kire Kotomine. he was later sent by the Church when the Mage's Association wanted a member of the Church to side with them in reclaiming the Greater Holy Grail from Yggdmillennia.

Differing from the timeline of Fate/stay night's Third Holy Grail War where the Einzbern family summoned the Avenger-class Angra Mainyu, they abuse one of the systems installed in the Greater Grail and brought forth Shirou as a Ruler-class Servant who was meant to be an impartial authority whom regulated the progress of the War. The Einzberns wished to call forth a proper Heroic Spirit befitting of the Ruler class rather than some nameless Eastern hero. However the act of summoning a Ruler was already a severe interference in the normal operating format of the Holy Grail War so he was a compromise with the advantage of his Command Spells
...
As Risei Kotomine rescued the Master of the Tohsaka, Shirou helped him with his rescue work. As Darnic successfully stolen the Greater Grail, the survivors were Shirou and Risei.
...
Risei prepared a family register, registering him as his son "Shirou Kotomine" (言峰 天草, Kotomine Shirō). He had joined with the Church thanks to Risei's connections. He entered the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament as Kotomine Shirou, but naturally Risei couldn't acknowledge him as his son there and approached him honestly as a friend. Around the time when Risei's son was born, Shirou had deliberately diminished his contact with Risei. Shirou remained distant from Risei's own son. Shirou consciously avoids Kirei Kotomine because Shirou noticed the "distortion" within his stepbrother.
...
As the Mage's Association decided to seek one Master from the Church in order to have their involvement prove the legitimacy of their cause. Having already hypothesized the possibility of a Great Holy Grail War—a situation with seven Servants versus seven Servants occurring instead of a normal Holy Grail War. In such an abnormal situation with seven Servants versus seven Servants and where even the previous Ruler had summoned his own Servant, the Greater Grail automatically summoned the Ruler for this war, Jeanne d'Arc, but Shirou had included even that into his calculations as an event within his expectations. Shirou promptly joined the Red faction as the dual mediator and Master sent by the Holy Church.

so as you can see the Kotomine part of his name was used to cover up his identity while the Shirou part actually comes from his real name


Is it possible for an author to just write a story and let someone else make a manga or anime of it?

Sure, although it depends heavily on your talents, language, and most of all luck (or alternatively, massive amounts of money).
You basically have three paths:

Get published as a Light Novel or Webnovel, and get a manga adaptation.
Become a story writer for a manga.
Commission someone to draw your story into a manga.

for all intents and purposes, to break into 1 or 2, you will need to write in Japanese (or to a lesser degree, Chinese or Korean) and post your work to a fiction posting site like 小説家になろう or pixiv. Ride the trend (currently it would be Isekai), promote your work on the likes of Japanese Twitter, and with a massive amount of luck (with the tosh that gets published these days, I am not sure talent is that necessary), you will rise above the massive sea of LN writer hopefuls to get selected for a publishing deal - and if you are even luckier and sell well, you might get a manga adaptation.
I am not going to say it is impossible to get a manga adaptation as an English writer, but Japanese publishers really have no reason to look for talent elsewhere when there are thousands of amateur writers committing millions of words in their own language online for free hoping for that big publishing break, even at bottom barrel rates.
Submitting your work to publishers directly rather than online is of course an option, but that seems to have been mostly phased out for the online model.
Lastly, for 3, if you have plenty of money and don't care about actually selling your work, you can just commission an artist or (amateur or freelance) mangaka to draw your story (although it will likely cost you an arm and leg for what is in essence a vanity project)
EDIT: this is a response to OP's comment that became far too long for its own good, so I am adding it here. Mods, please tell me if this isn't appropriate.
I will be frank; it is nearly impossible for an English writer to break into the Japanese manga market directly, regardless of talent.
The manga market is absolutely saturated with talented hopefuls (most of whom will never even get a oneshot published, let alone a series), and the LN market even more so. Thus like I have said, Japanese publishers have very little reason to turn to foreign talent - why risk the legal and communication pitfalls when there are hundreds of Japanese who are eager to replace them for little recompense?
I'd say that the best chance for a foreign writer to get published in Japan is to be either A. To get an internationally bestselling book or B. work with an artist (as @Mary has said) to get a bestselling comic, and have a Japanese publisher pick up rights for localization of your work.
For A., there are cases of foreign books getting a manga adaptation (e. g. The Unwomanly Face of War. Note that this book is by a Nobel Literature prize-winning author), but they are very rare, and generally reserved for the bestselling of books or classics in the public domain.
For B, while foreign comics (e.g. Chinese and Korean webtoons and Western comics) have recently made decent headway in penetrating into the Japanese market, most of them deviate signifcantly from the cliches and customs of the manga genre (and are successful at least partially thanks to that difference).
If you really want keep it limited to manga form, I suppose you could find a mangaka who is willing to collabrate with you via both translating and drawing your work, but that honestly isn't much more likely than getting a bestselling book.
TL;DR: It is really bloody difficult, especially if you can't write in Japanese.


Koichiarator is strong, however, you have to note that he has been designed specifically for combat and has a lot of additional features which make him very strong. His body is extremely hard and he has very high defenses. Hence he's strong enough to tank those powerful attacks from Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan.You missed something out with regard to the beam struggle between Goku-Vegeta and Koichiarator. Goku and Vegeta didn't go all out and only bought Gohan some time to charge up his Kamehameha and strike. It was stated from the start that Gohan wanted Goku and Vegeta to save their stamina to square off against Universe 11.With regard to Gohan's Kamehameha,
 Koichiarator didn't actually fire a beam attack against him. He is designed to resist strong attacks which is why he managed to survive so long.Also, Paparoni used his special abilities to give Koichiarator an attack, speed and defense boost. So in other words, you could compare it to Basil being given the special drug during the Zen Exhibition match.
Now to answer your question with regard to its strength, you can't really gauge or compare its strength and this is why. I want to refer to an incident which happened in Dragon Ball Z where Gohan was training on the Kai's planet with the Z-Sword. We see Gohan struggling to use the Z-sword at the start and to even pull it out. Neither Kibito nor Shin was even strong enough to Pick it up. However, the Block made of Katchin was strong enough to break the sword into 2. That doesn't imply the block of Katchin is stronger than Gohan.In terms of strength, as, in actual power, I'd say it's at the level of Super Saiyan 2  Goku at max. (Assuming it didn't have those special features designed to help it in combat).

Some pictures Supporting what I said


What does Rumi say/sing at the end of the OP for Tonari no Seki-Kun?

Even I freaking low that OP, She does say "Yamete" which roughly translates to "Stop", It can also be interpreted as please stop or anything along those lines depending on the tone it is said in.


What's this manga about a boy who could control time

I think it's the Psycho Busters:

I could find this specific information from the wiki of this manga:
"Angered by ... ruthless murder ... power awakens and time begins to rewind." which refers to bringing back the death.

Also there is mention for the Greenhouse you said and the group with some boys.


How can the spirits of Zanpakuto manifest in the real world?

That was a filler. So it wasn't explained anywhere in the manga and as far the main story line is concerned, Zanpakuto's spirits cannot manifest a form other than the sword forms. They can however present their true form to the yeilder and no one else, unless you consider that weird equipment Urahara created for the sole purpose of training which is seen early on in the series.


Song playing during My Hero Academia Episode 53 (The Test) at the end?

The song is : Tekkin Battle

Here is a link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_F_zfGNBBM

Check at 1:51


Why did Hajime Nagumo entered a second Labyrinth?

After they were summoned, the Pope Ishtar told them that regular people can't perform interdimensional magic, that the God Ehit was the one who summoned them, and only he could bring them back to their world.

When they find Oscar Orcus' remains in his hideout at the end of the first labyrinth and are bestowed with Creation Magic (an Age of Gods Magic), they are told that the other labyrinths also contain other Age of Gods Magics, so Hajime deduces that his best chance at finding a way back home is collecting the Age of Gods Magic sealed in the labyrinths in the off-chance that one of them has some sort of inter-dimensional application.


Who was Hajime talking to at the end of Gatchaman Crowds?

Yes, that's Katze.

Most of the time, Katze talks with a high pitch, especially when bullying people. However, when Katze is not in control of the situation, his/her voice drops. This can be heard several times in the battle between O.D. and Katze that starts at 6:05 in the same episode. It's the same voice.

Besides, at the end of the series everybody else likes Hajime; who except Katze would claim to be sickened by her? :-)


Where can one buy Manga locally in Australia?

Many bookstores, such as Dymocks, also sell manga, and have online stores where the manga in stock. You may also want to check Kinokuniya, since they do imports from Japan as well as stocking locally distributed books. Of course the Japanese imports are typically in Japanese, but there are some rare bilingual releases if you're able to find them.

Additionally, it looks like Simon & Schuster has picked up the rights to distribute Viz Media titles in the wake of Madman's announcement, so most of those should still be available after May. The other companies, though, might be a bit trickier to track down. Looking at the S&S website, they mainly redirect you to retailers rather than selling directly, but hopefully it won't be long before the manga shows up on their site so you at least know where to get them.


The dragons we have seen so far do follow a unique theme and magic which is not necessary an "element". This table on the wiki sums it up pretty nicely. Acnologia is known as "The Black Dragon". (There is also a white dragon, Weisslogia). So the theme of Acnologia is "Black". What exactly are the limitations of its "black" magic are haven't been shown in the anime/manga.

However, there is a reason why Acnologia is "different" from other dragons.

   Acnologia is a cataclysmically powerful Dragon Slayer that can take the form of a Dragon.  Born over 400 years ago, Acnologia was one of the first Dragon Slayers to come into being, entering the Dragon Civil War on the side supporting coexistence. Acnologia and a group of other Dragon Slayers, however, disregarded the cause their comrades fought for, and killed every Dragon they could, bathing in their blood. Due to the overuse of his Magic, Acnologia's physique eventually turned into that of a Dragon's, and he proclaimed himself to be the Dragon King. This event was forever etched into history as the Dragon King Festival.

You can read more about Acnologia's history and the Dragon King Festival on the wiki (it has a decent summary) or read the manga. This is discussed in Chapter 301 of Manga.


What is the title to this song on Fairy Tail?

I believe the song is called Kizuna.
Kizuna-Fairy Tail OST


Whether it's possible or not is currently unknown. It has not been revealed in the manga or the anime yet however other guilds will not let any wizard have 2 guild marks at the same time. This will question their devotion to the guild and it will be meaningless to stay in either of them. A guild is a family and you can only have one family.

It is arguable that the guild marks can be hidden under their clothes and nobody would notice. However some guild marks, like Fairy Tail's, is more than just a mark, it is a magic contract too as stated in the link you have given. It has not been shown that other guilds have them but it is possible to corrupt a wizard's magic with 2 different magic contract on their body. Just imagine 2 different natures of magic going on in a wizard's body.


Why does a Devil Fruit's power nullify only if the user is knocked unconscious and not when he sleeps?

Not all Devil Fruit powers stop working when the user is unconscious.

Luffy was knocked unconscious and nearly drowned during the Arlong arc when he was submerged in Arlong's pool.  Despite this his neck was stretched far enough to give him air.  This was also seen when he was on Amazon Lily.  There... parts... of him were stretched by the tribe while he was unconscious and that is all I'll say on that.

It would appear that if conscious or reflexive control is required to operate the user's power (such as Robin or Crocodile), the power will not work if they are unconscious.  If the power causes a permanent change in the physiology of the user, the ability probably still works while they are unconscious.

Sugar is the perfect example of all of this because her fruit also makes her look very young.  This is not reversed when she is knocked unconscious because that is not consciously controlled.

However, if it were that simple, Moria (or others) could never sleep.  We are forced (whether it makes sense or not) to assume that the limited awareness a person has when asleep keeps some activated powers active.  Specifically, ones that generate some conscious minion.  In Perona's and Sugar's cases though, this obviously doesn't work if they are knocked unconscious.  This makes sense as when someone is unconscious by force or alcohol, they do not dream (until they are mostly recovered) and sometimes lose control of subconsciously controlled faculties (such as bowels or, more seriously, breathing).

All of these rules seem to change fruit to fruit so it is impossible to tell if, say, Law's body switches or Van Decker's marks would revert if they were knocked unconscious.

Please note: Moria did not lose control of his zombies because he was unconscious but because he took all of their shadows into himself at the end of the fight.  He did, however, lose control of the shadows when he was knocked unconscious. Most likely though he would have lost control of zombies in this situation anyways. You didn't make this mistake but I did several times while writing this.


Yes, Master Roshi is really bald. He mentions it himself in Chapter 25:

In the first tournament, he used a special glue to attach his hair. He mentions it when revealing his identity to Nam, who was just defeated by Goku (Chapter 46):


Weiß Schwarz is a Japanese two-player dueling collectible card game created by Bushiroad, based around (and in collaboration) with various anime series.

The game is separated into two factions Weiß-side and Schwarz-side, which are German for "white" and "black," respectively.

Here is a better video on how to play the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXzMtFp_ZN0


Why was Hiou and Kanae's meeting omitted in Skip Beat anime?

A lot of things that are in the manga aren't shown in the anime, so they must have thought it wasn't important enough later on.
Usually the reason for this is that there isn't enough time for it in the stated amount of episodes given to the director. Or you could say that there isn't enough budget.
The Skip Beat anime series was also ended and not continued, probably because of lack of popularity or budget.

On myanimelist.net, a user asked the original director of the anime series if it would be continued. The director would like to but states that there has to be a big amount of popularity for the series to continue. This makes me conclude that apparently the anime wasn't popular enough, which is strange because the manga has a huge amount of followers. But usually a manga series has more readers than the anime has watchers, due to more chances for manga to be published than for anime.
Also on the wikipedia page for anime it says:

  anime became more accepted in the mainstream in Japan
  (although less than manga)

This is also a reason why some manga series are continued while their anime counterpart is not.


It's similar to an animation cel used in western animation. They're one of a kind collector's items and are worth a lot of money. They serve as the base for the animation.


Find a manga about a boy who uses heavy hammer as weapon

It is crocket!.
http://myanimelist.net/manga/17005/Croket!

I have found it after scanning 600 titles on myanimelist


Why did the earth disappear in the final movie?

The movie doesn't explain it well since it was only a part of what the story is. It was all explained in the manga.

   Sugata Eishirou was forced to use The Rule by a younger him. The Rule (the monument with writings on it that Sugata inspected earlier) granted his wish on what appears as the last writing space available on it. The wish was for the world to disappear.


Not much is known about Energybending. Before the four elements and the avatar were created, Energybending was the only bending-art in the world. Out of this, the four bending-arts were created (Airbending, Waterbending, Earthbending and Firebending), so these are based on Energybending. Energybending is the base of all arts. While the for bending-arts are based on the Chi, Energybending works a little bit different: It bends the energy in general and not the Chi.

With that, Energybending can be used to take and restore bending-power and knowledge (nothing more is shown, but I guess that much more is possible):

Avatar Aang uses the ability to take bending-power from Ozai in the last episode of Avatar: The last Airbender. This is a dangerous technique, as the soul of the user must be completely clean; otherwise, it can happen that the victim takes over the user.
Both the lion turtle (in Avatar: The last Airbender) and Aangs Spirit (in The Legend of Korra) use Energybending to transfer knowledge to other people. I guess it's possible to take memories, too, but that's nowhere proven.
Korra uses the ability to restore bending-powers to help some victims of Amon. The spirit of Aang uses that ability to restore Korras powers.

Also, Energybending is the only bending-power that can be used by a spirit without a medium (as shown when Aangs spirit teaches Energybending to Korra).


Using Summoning Jutsu who has blood of someone who has made a contract?

In Chapter 363, Sasuke's Death...!! (episode 125 of Shippuden), Suigetsu summons Manda using Sasuke's blood. This was right after Deidara used his C0 technique.


Garmillans only sometimes speak alien language

I have not seen the anime but a foreigner (or in this case, alien) speaking in the native tongue of the audience or the intended audience is common not just in anime but also in movies. It's a trope called Translation Convention and it is for the 'audience's benefit.' As mentioned in the wiki:

  We are meant to assume that the characters are really speaking their own native tongue, and it is being translated purely for our benefit.


Is it possible to have absolute obedience using Death Note?

There are a few practical limits.

In the movie the death had to occur within 23 days.

In the anime, Light experimented with what he could make the victims do. If it was physically impossible for them to do something, nothing would happen.

Also, remember one of the rules:

  After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

That's not a whole lot of time to write down what someone should do.

Apart from that, the victim would be forced to do what was written, as Light discovered when he did his experiments.

Also, it only seems to affect the target of the death. It was pointed out somewhere early in the anime that others could not be coerced. When Light tried to find Ray Penbar out, he had to create a pretty complicated scenario. He could not just write "Any FBI agent will now reveal him- or herself".


As stated in seastome wikia

  Seastone only works upon direct and constant contact.

Which means it works only on devil fruit user not on the power or material they produce using power.

  It has been shown that although a Devil Fruit user loses his/her powers when in contact with the Seastone, said powers can still be used on and affect the Seastone. Example is when Mr. 3's candle wax key could open Seastone cuffs and cell doors, though this may be because the locks themselves are not made of Seastone or because the wax has no Devil Fruit powers inside it, as shown when he unlocked Ace's Seastone handcuffs. Another example is when Shiki levitated battleships in Marineford, despite the hulls being lined with Seastone. Trafalgar Law was also able to switch Seastone chains with regular ones, using his abilities.

Another example is Aokiji Kuzan's ice formation power, which he uses it to make ice road on the sea to travel in his bicycle. Here the ice doesn't melt just because it came in contact with the sea.

And this is just the guess but seastone might melt if comes in contact with Akainu's lava where the temperature of lava is greater than melting point of seastone.


If you don't recall the Dragons that are created by the Dragonballs are only as powerful as the person who created them.  This means that Shenron is not all powerful and cannot grant a wish outside of the power of their creator, an example would be wishing to destroy Freiza when Kami was the creator.  Dragons from the Dragonballs can grant any wish as long as it's within their creator's power... this means a being more powerful than the creator of them cannot be destroyed by the Dragon and the Dragon can be destroyed by that being.

Dragonball Wiki Excerpt:

  Shenron can bestow any wish as long as it does not exceed the power of
  his creator, who must be still alive (i.e. Kami/Piccolo or Dende).

During Battle of the Gods this means that Dende is the current creator of the Dragonballs, which means that any being more powerful than Dende could defeat Shenron...


What's wrong with Kagura's pronunciation of "ka-wa-wi-i"?

Gin: "Not like that! Ka-wa-wi-i!"
Kagura: "Ka-wa-wi-i!"
Gin: "No! Ka-wa-" (here he chokes on his coffee)

Kagura says Ka-wa-wi-n the second time.

If so, though, I'd expect Gin to tell her to drop it rather than say the word from the beginning again.

No one can tell what the writers want Gin to say instead.


How did Sara from Samurai Champloo know about her son?

She had some sort of extrasensory perception, which is proven by the fact that she was blind, but still proficient in fighting. Also, she tells Fuu that she is able to sense things she cannot see, and she can sense Momo hidden in her clothes. When she fights Muugen, she tells him she can sense his anger, meaning she could somehow feel what other people feel and their states of mind.

Given the above, and the fact that she realizes that her son is dead when a pinwheel stops, I can only conclude that the stopping of the pinwheel made her realize some state of mind/feeling coming from the pinwheel merchant (something she was not aware of before), which in turn made her realize her son was dead.

Although this is speculation, it is the only thing that seems plausible to me. However, the stopping of the pinwheel may have some deeper meaning that I am not aware of.


Why has the Hayate no Gotoku anime switched studios so many times?

(I'm Japanese, so please excuse my English.)
First a bit of background:

Season 1: This season was a Sunday morning anime in Japan. Sunday morning anime means children anime. SynergySP is known as an anime studio for children.
Season 2: After this season, Hayate moved to the midnight anime for adults in Japan. To produce an anime for adults is the contrary to the SynergySP's corporate philosophy.

After that, you can read the Hayate's author, Hata's thought:

TVアニメが始まります。
第三期ではありません。
今回は新アニメ。
新しいハヤテのごとく！です。

Translation

The TV anime will start.
It is not the 3rd season.
It is a new anime.
New Hayate no Gotoku!

As for your question:

I've seen a few shows switch studios once, but switching twice seems extremely rare.

Typically when the timeslot moves from a morning/children anime to the midnight/adults anime, often times you will see a studio switch.


Who did Mirajane, Gildarts and Erza face off against to become a S-Class Mage?

Looking at the past results on the S Class Mage Promotion Trial wiki, I would likely say that they had to fight the S-class mages present at that time (Eg: Erza had to fight either Laxus or Gildarts). It is not clear when and who Gildarts fought. It could have been Makarov, it could have been previous guild members or he could have shown his competence through other ways. It isn't really known how the previous tournaments went down. Remember that they don't have to win the fight to be promoted, like when Gildarts let Natsu continue the game or they might even get lucky like Gajeel. So the competition is not a power ranking.

Past Results

X???    Gildarts Clive
X778    Laxus Dreyar (Age 17)
X779    No Successful Candidate
X780    Erza Scarlet (Age 15)
X781    Mirajane Strauss (Age 16)
X782    Mystogan
X783    No Successful Candidate
X784    Trial Suspended


Is Monster available in 5.1 surround sound?

No, the English version doesn't have a 5.1 Surround track. This is probably because the original Japanese was released as only Dolby Stereo and the wasn't a way to create a 5.1 mix from the source (I have no source to back up that claim), and the show is pretty long so it's unlikely there will be a rework of the audio unless there's significant interest.

I've also looked at the HK release of Monster and that is also Dolby Stereo.


Why didn't the Arashiyama team just deactivate and reactivate their triggers during ep 15?

The possibility of a trap, and the training they received.

Think about it, when is the best time to attack?

When the enemy can't defend.

They had no idea if they were being watched, and since it takes only a split second for someone with chameleon to hold a trion blade to their throat, it would make no sense to risk turning human.


In episode 20 of Attack on Titan, how does the Female Titan have 3D Maneuver Gear after regaining human form?

This answer pretty much explains everything.

Whilst riding on horseback

  Zoe- Erwin, why did you order Levi to resupply? There's no time to
  waste.

  Erwin- The female-form Titan was eaten. But did you see the person
  inside get eaten? I didn't.

  Zoe- You can't mean-

  Erwin- Ah, yes. If your original hypothesis was correct, they can
  still move to a degree after regaining human form. If they'd prepared
  3D Maneuver Gear in advance...

   Erwin- The person inside the female-form titan is wearing our uniform right now... The enemy is now camouflaged as one of the troops.


Is there an official English pronunciation of Planetes?

The name "planet" comes from the Ancient Greek term πλανήτης (planḗtēs), meaning "wanderer." In modern Greek, it's more or less pronounced "planítis. "

Note that the Japanese romanization is "Puranetesu," プラネテス. Planets is romanized "Puranettosu, " プラネットス.

By inference, we can assume that the title is pronounced "PLA-NE-TES. "


How did Light went unnoticed by his dad?

it was because Light didn't own the Death Note that was on his body, concealed by his clothing.

When the Kira Task Force got the Death Note from the New Kira in the Yotsuba Group, when Light touched the Death Note his memories returned however Kyosuke Higuchi was still alive and had ownership of the Death Note. with his restored memories Light remembered the details of his plan and used the scrap of the Death Note in his watch to kill him

  Light also touches the Death Note while inspecting it, thereby regaining his memories of being the real Kira. Light then uses a Death Note scrap hidden in his watch to kill Higuchi.

Source: Kyosuke Higuchi - Appearance (last paragraph)

as he was holding the Death Note when Higuchi died Light became it's owner. After this Light gave up ownership of the Death Note but kept it on his body so he could retain his memories

  Soichiro makes the Shinigami Eye Deal with Ryuk, allowing him to gain the Shinigami Eyes. Using the eyes, he is able to learn Mello's real name, though he is fatally wounded by Jose, one of Mello's gang members, and their bomb. Because Light has given up his Death Note to make his lifespan is visible while keeping one on him to prevent his memories from being erased, Soichiro dies happily believing that Light is not Kira.

Source: Soichiro Yagami - Plot (2nd Paragraph)

So for one to have their memories from their ownership of a Death Note they don't need to be the book's owner, they just need to be physically touching it.


Other than just flat out watching it there are two major routes.

A) Just read the manga, it's kind of close and gives a good summary in broader strokes,

B) Watch the movies battle of the gods and return of freeza then you've just got the zamasu arc and the current arc to watch :-)

For the record questions like this don't really belong here. Since it's so heavily opinionated, and can have no factful approach.

Conversations like that are better on forums like my anime list or other places.


Why did Gilgamesh remain in the human world?

Initially, it's stated that servants are kept in the world by the Holy Grail. (This comes up in the Good End of "Unlimited Blade Works," but I imagine this piece of information might have appeared earlier.) They also need a mana supply; note also that servants who had become separated from their masters in Fate/stay night did not immediately disappear. In the case of Gilgamesh, both of these conditions were fulfilled. The Holy Grail was still around, and Kotomine kept the orphans from the fire under the church and used them as a mana source.

In the events of Fate/stay night, other servants were also retained, even when the Grail was destroyed. In the "Good End" of the "Unlimited Blade Works" route, Saber stays in the human world. Rin has been supplying mana to her, and she asks Shirou to help her. Similarly, in the "True End" of "Heaven's Feel", Rider stays with Sakura even after the destruction of the Grail; per the wiki, this is possible because Sakura has enough mana reserves because of her connection to Akasha.

The Wikia also gives an explanation of what happened to Gilgamesh at the end of Fate/zero. (I cannot provide much more commentary on this, since I haven't followed the series lately.)

  Due to his proximity, Gilgamesh is caught off guard and becomes drenched by the pollution that spills from the Holy Grail. He obtains a physical body, and because he has been incarnated into the world, he decides that it is time to once again unite the world under his rule. He continues to follow Kotomine after the war is over, and Kotomine provides him with energy drained from children orphaned by the fire to sustain himself. He decides to wait for the next Holy Grail War to cleanse humanity, so he retrieves a potion of temporary youth from his vault that reduces his physical age and allows him to smoothly blend in with society for ten years.


Why are Shinigami and their Zanpakuto so different?

I guess my comment seemed answery & I used to have such fond memories of Bleach so here goes. Disclaimer: if you're willing to accept lazy filler writing as the answer, do not read anything below this statement because I don't have classes tomorrow so I thought I'd write & reminisce.

Reasons why the personification of Zanpakuto do not directly reflect their shinigami

Literary sense would dictate the following:

Character Overlap is unpopular & otherwise bad. You don't want to give every character of focus a clone. It's just bad writing to introduce partners as complete doppelgangers. It's different when that clone-character is referential to someone else (everyone in Naruto who was like Naruto) or substituting (also in Naruto, when Sai was a new Sasuke). Those are typically OK (but should not abused, Naruto).
Lack of material is the biggest reason for every problem Bleach has ever faced -- this is fact. Otherwise, it'd still be a beloved powerhouse than a retiring flagship of entertainment. With identical plots, new characters or focusing on B characters seem like an OK idea to seem fresh.
Filler arcs demaaaand disposable conflict, that is, sometimes you get ones knowing they're just buying time so they don't even attempt to seem exciting and other times you get game-changers and you cry knowing the cute girl who isn't useless will die or leave. In this case, everything would wrap up with a smirk by the sunset for "even though we had our differences, we'll move forward". Keep in mind, delivering this can be cheesy so it often gets rushed.
Thought-provoking topics or questions like yours is a subplot waiting to boil but all too often it's just left to fizzle without details. Which leads me to my next speculated point,

Self-reflection/acceptance implies dealing with the parts of yourself that you know you need and how to achieve them. Like, Ichigo's inner world reacts to the good (hometown, maybe more) and bad (raining on all of that, drowning in it) in his life. But his frustrations with himself turned into a seasoned old guy and animal instinct-man who create a demand that Ichigo needs to be stronger to overcome the odds. Rukia, the cute tomboy/soldier focused a lot on being militant, but has inner fascination with beauty only seen in her inspiration from Shiba Miyako (Kaien's wife), Byakuya's art & strength, and it can be argued that this is represented in her zanpakuto's embodiment. Also Sode no Shirayuki in this arc is bothered that Rukia's primary personality makes her just a military tool. Even though Muramasa's powers promotes the feelings of being oppressed to persuade the spirits to fight their Shinigami, the underlying ideas are still there in most of them -- or just secretly made up reasons to move plot because filler rarely has decent direction.

It's just a lot of open-ended conjecture that has good intentions of making fans expand on the characters they enjoy, hence those two examples up top and this following final piece.

[Speculation]

Kazeshini's personality is one that Hisagi detests not solely because of how he is but instead who he is -- the extension of his very soul. He doesn't emphasize with Kazeshini which makes it a part of himself he cannot identify. Kazeshini reflects this confusion which is why they agree to disagree. Alternatively, if they meet halfway, neither would be stifled by fear (to kill) or frustration (that seems weak). Achieving Bankai is probably about releasing insecurities & inhibitions to become whole or enlightened -- you know, growing with your sword instead of against/away from it -- or that was the original idea.

[/Speculation]


There's several components to the 3D gear that are separate and operate independently. Not all aspects of the mechanics have been revealed in intricate detail, but there is a pretty good idea of the overall operation.
The short answer is that, yes, it is essentially all gas-powered. The trigger causes the gas to shoot the wire out, and a gas compression is also what shortens the wire to pull the device's user forward.
Operating device
The operating device is what the user holds (where the triggers are located). The mechanics of this are not known, and are described as being a black box.{2} Use of this component is what allows the others to function.
Grapple piston
Once the user pulls a trigger, it activates a piston{4} within the main device. This piston uses a quick spurt of compressed gas to fire forward the grapple hook toward its target.{nt.1} No other power source is necessary for this to happen due to the intense compression release from the piston.
Propulsion
The user's grapple hooks fire from a coil{1} which is located in the device itself. When the user wishes to move forward, their gear must quickly pull the cable back into the device. This is done via a fan mechanism{3} that is also gas-powered. Basically, when the user wants to wind back up, the compressed gas blows into the fan, spinning it rapidly and coiling the wire back up, pulling the user forward.

References and reading

Episode 8, card 1
Episode 8, card 2
Episode 9, card 1
Piston at Wikipedia
3D maneuver gear at the Shingeki no Kyojin Wiki
Note 1: Episode 8's second currently disclosable information states that the gas is "compressed ... and injected"{2}, but this appears to be a grammatical error; see comments below.


Why didn't Lelouch use the "obey me" order on everyone?

At the very beginning, right after he got his powers, Lelouch may not have been sure that it was possible to give such powerful orders. This is why, for example, Lelouch ordered a female student from the academy to engrave a cross-mark on a wall every day forever: to determine how long a geass would last. Presumably, he was performing similar experiments that weren't shown to the viewer.

In some cases, Lelouch could be morally conflicted about geassing people. In the last episode of R2, we see him wavering on whether or not to use a geass to command Nunnally to give him the FLEIJA control device. It's possible that he felt the same way about using his geass on other people as well. (Then again, that might just be a special thing for Nunnally.)

Recall now that people are able to reject a geass (at least temporarily) if it is in strong conflict with their morals. Guilford, for example, would probably have found the idea of obeying Zero to be utterly repugnant, and may have resisted the geass to a degree, which could have thrown a wrench in Lelouch's plans. This could be why Lelouch instead geassed Guilford to view him as if he were Cornelia - to circumvent that issue.

There are probably a few other reasons, too, which hopefully other people will be able to come up with in their answers.


On which chapter does Naruto married Hinata in the manga

Naruto and Hinata's wedding was never shown in the manga. It was only depicted in the novel titled Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding which was written by Shō Hinata and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.


Is the Merlion in Faye's childhood video a real location?

The Merlion is often associated with Singapore, so the extrapolation that Faye is Singaporean is reasonable. However, the exact location of the Merlion in Cowboy Bebop is less immediately clear to a contemporary viewer not from Singapore. In the ep. 24 video where it appears, there is a waterfront, and a merlion at the end of a boardwalk. (Click images for bigger size.)

According to Wikipedia, there are five "official" Merlion statues in Singapore; it seems reasonable to restrict my attention to these. The only one that could fit the merlion in Cowboy Bebop is the one in Merlion Park which stands at the mouth of the Singapore River. (The others do not have waterfront views.) The Merlion Park statue is also the oldest merlion statue in Singapore, and possibly the most famous one, so it's likely that this statue would have been chosen for reference.

One might notice that the location doesn't entirely match up. In Faye's video, there is nothing to the right of the boardwalk the Merlion is on, whereas in current images, there is a set of steps and no boardwalk. However, the position in Faye's video matches up with the original position of the Merlion. (Reference) (The Merlion Park statue was moved in 2002 after construction affected the seafront views and the positioning relative to the Singapore River. Seeing that Cowboy Bebop was produced in 1999, there is no reason for Faye's video to show the merlion in anything but its former location.)


Doesn't letting the non-existent students do exams acknowledge their existence?

This is just a guess, but just because they have exam papers doesn't mean that the related people gave it to them, nor does it mean that it will get picked up by people in the class.

What I'm getting at is some other teacher probably handles the curriculum for the ignored student.


Gemini has the power to copy things. So since Gemini can copy the keys doesn't mean that lucy would be able to use them. Duplicating doesn't mean to copy. Copying something like on a printer isn't the real design. It's a "copy" of the real thing. Meaning that she wouldn't be able to use the copy, but she would be able to use the duplicate. Saying that Gemini only uses copies not duplicates. So lucy would not be able to use the fake keys.


Where does Aizen make this quote about self-rightfulness?

It's in episode 62.

Ukitake asks "Have you become that corrupt? Have you?"
Aizen replies: "You're blinded by your self-righteousness. From the beginning,
no one has ever stood at the top. Neither you, nor me, nor the gods.
But soon, that unobtainable vacancy at the top will be filled."

Here is the link to the moment you are referring to.


The Senzu Beans are mainly used to replenish Physical Health and Energy instantly.  However, during the android Saga, the senzu bean was capable of healing him despite Dr. Gero literally ripping his torso apart. Also, in future Trunks Timeline, it was implied that Future Gohan wouldn't have lost his hand if he were to have eaten the Senzu Bean himself instead of giving it to Trunks. Even in the latest Tournament of Power arc, Vegeta had a black eye after his fight with Jiren which was instantly cured on taking a Senzu Bean after getting eliminated. Hence, with regard to the first part of your question,It is not an "All- Cure medicine". It was stated in the Android Saga that Goku had died on account of having a heart virus and that there was no cure available at that point in time. So that implies that the Senzu Bean is definitely not a cure-everything drug.With regard to the second part of your question,I believe the Senzu Beans wouldn't necessarily cure malnutrition or per-say make a person Healthy. It would only reset the person back to the exact state he was at before receiving any injuries.This answer is very hard to determine considering the fact that these Senzu beans are mainly consumed by Fighters who all are Physically Fit and ideally follow good Nutrition. At the same time, the rules of Malnutrition applied to Humans would be significantly different compared to other races like the Saiyans(Since they produce a massive amount of energy and in turn have a massive appetite, and we see Goku and Vegeta pig out on food and are yet relatively healthy). Hence the one person I would like to consider under the mentioned circumstances is Yajirobe. Yajirobe is definitely a lot unhealthier in comparison to the rest of the Z-Fights and has excess body fat. So ideally, if a Senzu bean is capable of restoring a Mall Nourished Body to it's normal state, it should be able to restore Yajirobe to a more healthier state which clearly doesn't happen.Then again, the probability of finding an individual in the Dragon Ball Universe suffering with Malnutrition is pretty low considering the obvious theme/setting of the show. So one cannot state a definite answer with regard to the same.


How do Mirai Nikki Mosaic, Paradox, and Redial relate to the main series?

The three series are spin-offs to the main series. All of them are assumed to be canon.

Mirai Nikki: Paradox follows Aru Akise as the main character along with murmur, and takes place in an alternative timeline to the main series.

Read more about the plot here

Future Diary: Mosaic features Minene Uryu (the 9th Diary Holder) as the main character and includes five chapters, each of them focusing on several arcs of the story under Minene's point of view. Some plot points are revealed that were not disclosed in the main story.

Future Diary Wikipedia Page

Future Diary: Redial is different from the first two as it is the only one that was animated (as an OVA). Redial covers the events in the Third World leading up to—and then slightly past—the final scene of the series. It follows the Yuno of the Third World.

Review of the OVA


Other than Madara, who among the Uchiha Clan possesses or successfully awaken the Rinnegan?

I just realized that the correct answer may be potentially wrong.

As we have seen thus far, Madara and Obito are the only 2 Uchiha to have used the Rinnegan. Aside from them, Sasuke is the only other Uchiha clan member that is still alive, whom hasn't awaken the Rinnegan yet.

With that said, Sasuke is potentially capable of awakening the Rinnegan any second now. Sasuke has bitten Karin many times. Karin is an Uzumaki, which is a distant relative of the Senju. That means Sasuke has Senju cells inside of him!

With the DNA requirements fulfilled, Sasuke can pull a quick one and activate Rinnegan stunning Madara, the Shinobi alliance, and all of us readers :)

Updated with known Rinnegan users:
Madara,
Obito,
Sasuke,
Sage of 6 Paths,
Kaguya


Is Tale of Fairy Ice Trail Considered Canon?

I don't think so, I've searched Fairy Tail Wiki and found this:

  Tale of Fairy Tail: Ice Trail (氷の軌跡, アイストレイル, Aisu Toreiru) is a Japanese manga series by Yusuke Shirato and a spin-off of Hiro Mashima's manga series Fairy Tail.

If it's a spin-off I don't think it's canon


Is intentionally producing a lower quality TV release unique to anime?

You are correct that it is about a rush of timing during the initial broadcast of the series.  The Sailor Moon Crystal Failures website is maintaining a log of Toei's initial run screenshots with their Blu-Ray revisions. Toei was running behind from the beginning (it originally announced that Sailor Moon Crystal would start in summer of 2013, but the release date was pushed back twice: to early 2014, and then it finally did start "airing" in July of 2014).

In the past, anime was made with hand-painted cels, so of course the production companies were careful to paint each one the way they wanted it the first time. Nowadays, most anime is made with CG, so the idea of getting something rough out by the deadline and then going back and tweaking it later has only quite recently emerged (another production change is that anime is now largely not animated by Japanese animators within Japan; it is often animated by Koreans in South Korea.  Another is that anime is less profitable within Japan than it used to be, so cutting corners more visibly in order to cut down costs was not previously common).
Sailor Moon Crystal was not considered profitable enough for TV broadcast (indeed its viewer numbers have sharply crashed [a drop of 70%] from the number of viewers of the first episode).  This could be another factor in Toei's decision to decrease the artwork quality for subsequent episodes of the initial run and thereby give themselves more time to touch it up afterward.

I agree with you that this is not a common practice in Western media. American cartoon viewers are very particular about the quality.  My friend who is a key-frames animator for The Simpsons told me that there is one animator whose entire job is just to animate the mouth movements, because if the mouth movement does not perfectly match the voice actor's words, the fans generally feel that they cannot suspend disbelief. In contrast, anime in Japanese does not always bother to record the voice actors' voices first before animating, since Japanese fans do not care much whether the mouth movements exactly match. English dubs of anime can sound strange precisely because the script translator, instead of choosing the most natural-sounding English translation for the original sentence, often chooses what he/she thinks the American voice actor can say that will match the animated mouth movements.  The dub voice actors then try to make their syllables match as closely as possible, even to the point of the sentence sounding unnatural in English. The reason is that American viewers are used to watching mouth movements like in The Simpsons and Disney films which are perfectly aligned. Along these lines, if a Western company released a cartoon that was not high-quality at first, it would be very ill-received and ill-reviewed, the show could be abruptly cancelled, and they wouldn't be able to make as much money.


How did everyone end up on Kamine island?

We see later on when Suzaku is remembering what he did when Lelouch ordered him to live what happened, Suzaku closed the cockpit of the Lancelot with Lelouch with him and went to escape, while i can't remember it entirely, he probably picked up Euphie on the way while Kallen chased after him knowing Zero was inside.

Because the Hadron Cannon was unfocused, C.C must have used the confusion to do something to the ruins remotely, possibly using the Thought Elevator, to send them to the island, it might have been area of effect as she probably was only targeting Lelouch but Suzaku, Euphie and Kallen was within the vicinity. C.C probably had planned that Lelouch would learn more of Geass, of Charles and V.V and of the Thought Elevator so that Lelouch would be prepared to grant her wish in the end.

How the Black Knight got out of the Avalon's attack, well as i said the Hadron Cannon was unfocused, it was still a prototype and Lloyd expresses how annoyed he is later on when Rakshata is able to perfect it by focusing the beams, because of the way the Hadron Cannon attacked and what we see it's assumed that the Black Knights retreated.

As for how they couldn't get in contact with Lelouch or Kallen, i'm quite sure what ever C.C did separated Suzaku and Kallen from their Knightmares and obviously they at the time were relying on their comms within the Knightmares so didn't carry radios, this is proven by the fact that the playback of Suzaku disobeying order was recorded in the Lancelot, the Britannian forces probably weren't aware of Suzaku or Euphie being on the island as they where there by chance on a separate mission investigating the ruins which Bartley suspects was the reason why Japan (and a number of other nations) was invaded in the first place.


What is with kimono that makes Japanese guys to fall for the girls in many anime?

It's a similar trope to one you see in Western media, where the normally un-feminine (or dorky, or nerdy, or otherwise not stereotypically attractive) female character dresses up for some kind of fancy party - if the characters are school age, then it's frequently a prom. So they ditch the t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, don a dress and heels, swap the glasses for contacts, maybe put on makeup and get their hair done, and then become the belle of the ball and make the male protagonist swoon.

A kimono (or yukata, since a lot of these scenes take place at festivals in the warmer half of the year) is a very traditional dress, and it's associated with elegance given its fabric (often silk) and intricate patterns. In addition, when wearing one, women will often put their hair up, maybe put on a little makeup, and wear geta which are elevated sandals, which have an effect on the wearer's height and posture similar to wearing high heels.


Where can I buy the digital version of Gantz manga?

Short answer, NO, there's no digital version of the US release of the GANTZ manga.

Long answer, some authors and publishing companies in Japan back in the day were against publishing their works digitally (like Nishio Isshin, Kawahara Reki, Log Horizon's author whose name keeps evading me, Kadokawa back in the day), I don't know for sure if that was the case with Hiroya Oku or Shueisha (I believe Shueisha was against it but don't quote me on that), but the fact is the Japanese digital version wasn't released until February 18th, 2014

This is 6 months AFTER the last volume was physically released in Japan, which came out on August 19th, 2013.  All the volumes were released in bulk on bookwalker that very same day. The link here will take you to the full list of the GANTZ releases (site is in japanese). Nowadays, more and more older series are getting digital releases in Japan.

Which means that there was NO digital release of GANTZ in Japan back in 2007 when Dark Horse made the license deal. IF their original deal had contemplated the future possibility of digital releases in Japan, Dark Horse could legally sell the digital version, but there's been no such release so far so either they don't care or they can't release digitally without another deal.


How do Raishin's spells for commanding Yaya work?

There are two types of spells:

Tactics (戦術, senjutsu) to control Yaya's magical circuit, "Herculean Strength" (金剛力, kongouriki)
Absolute skills (絶衝, zesshou) based on the tactic

Tactics

The spell is Pattern (magical nature) + Number (magical power) + Formation

There are 4 patterns which are comparable to Fuurinkazan:

吹鳴 (suimei, blowing [a whistle]) / whistle: increase the agility/speed, "as swift as wind"
森閑 (shinkan, stillness): strengthen the defense, "as gentle as forest"
光焔 (kouen, light & flame) / flare: increase the number of attacks/power, "as fierce as fire"
天嶮 (tenken, natural defenses) / stronghold: increase the attack power/durability, "as unshakable as mountain"

(However, according to an interview on Monthly Comic Alive 2012-9 with Reiji Kaito, the author of the series, he mentioned that suimei is for speed, shinkan is preserving magical power with things that aim for counters, kouen is for both speed and attack, and tenken is for defense)

The number represents the power. The higher the number, the more powerful it affects. As for now, it seems the number is always a multiple of 12 with the highest being 48.

The formation is separated into 2 types:

衝 (shou, thrust): Yaya attacks independently
結 (ketsu, bind): Yaya attacks first on a cooperative attack

Some examples:

吹鳴二四衝: 吹鳴 (suimei) + 二四 (ni-jyuu-yon, 24) + 衝 (shou)
光焔十二結: 光焔 (kouen) + 十二 (jyuu-ni, 12) + 結 (ketsu)

Skill

The spell is Pattern (magical nature) + "Absolute" (絶衝, zesshou) + Name

The pattern follows the previously mentioned pattern.

The name is just a proper noun.

The skills from the first 4 volumes corresponding to each pattern are:

天嶮絶衝<破却水月>: 天嶮 (tenken) + 絶衝 (zesshou) + 破却水月 (hakyaku suigetsu, destruction of the moon reflected on the water) / Final Stronghold "Razing Moon Reflection": By striking a blow against an opponent in a hardened state, Yaya can interfere with the opponent's magic and cause it to lose control.
吹鳴絶衝<ひさぎ太刀影【たちかげ】>: 吹鳴 (suimei) + 絶衝 (zesshou) + ひさぎ太刀影 (hisagi tachikage, silhouette of Catalpa long sword): By sending several ten times of the magical power, Yaya jumps to the air in a flash, almost looks like disappearing.
光焔絶衝<乱れ夜桜>: 光焔 (kouen) + 絶衝 (zesshou) + 乱れ夜桜 (midare yozakura, disturbance of cherry trees at evening): By sending out the magical power to the whole body, Yaya does a super rush attack by punching & kicking relentlessly while in that state. Even if each attack may be light, the attack rush can be continued while maintaining the magical power.
森閑絶衝<神機御雷【しんきみかづち】>: 森閑 (shinkan) + 絶衝 (zesshou) + 神機御雷 (shinki mikazuchi, miraculous thunder): Attack the downed opponent by hitting using the fist in the manner of tile splitting. A single blow that has enough power to sink the opponent's body to the ground by as much as 10 meters.

However, the 8th volume introduced 光焔絶衝<月影紅蓮> (kouen zesshou tsukikage guren, moonlight crimson lotus flower) and thus, there's a high possibility that other skills also exist.

(by the way, the previous skill does a reddish, intense rotation kick that can cause burning due to the air friction.)

Note from Nico Nico Pedia: the original source (light novel) itself doesn't explain the detail for both the tactics and skills and thus, it can only be interpreted by the reader/viewer from the given evidence.

References:

Japanese Wikipedia
Nico Nico Pedia (Japanese)
Hissatsu Waza Jiten (Japanese)
Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Japanese)
Wikia

Magic Circuit
Yaya


Identifying a sword from an anime, possibly from One Piece or Bleach

I found a site that appears to be selling this exact sword...and I hate to disappoint you, but they themselves make no reference to any anime.  It is merely a fantasy sword.


Is the plot of the Mega Evolution specials related to the rest of the Pokémon anime?

The mega evolution series focuses on a character named Alain who is later on introduced into the main anime in the xyz series. The mega evolution series plays a very important part in the plot, hence I would advise watching it in sequence with the Pokemon X and Y and XYZ anime.


Is the Vanishing Rasengan more powerful than the regular Rasengan?

It depends on who is using the Rasengan.
Someone like Naruto or Minato can make the Rasengan of its normal size would generally have a stronger one, but someone like Boruto who doesn't have the chakra to make it's size correct may make a weaker one. It's safe to assume that someone who has completely mastered Rasengan and can make it of normal size would have a stronger Rasengan than Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan.
In Chapter 55 I believe, Borushiki stated that Vanishing Rasengan is too weak to be a mortal blow, but is very painful when hitting the vitals. A mastered Regular Rasengan is strong enough to be a mortal blow, and even stronger when hitting the vitals. Because of that, Regular Rasengan is probably stronger than Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan.
It's just a problem of Boruto's chakra compared to people who have mastered a normal Rasengan.


Why didn't APE create more clones of the princess?

With the amount of hair Dr. Franxx obtained, APE did attempt to create multiple clones. However, 002 was the only klaxosaur clone to survive.

  Zero Two was created by Dr. FRANXX out of the Klaxosaur Princess's DNA. Many specimens like Zero Two herself were born but failed to survive; making her the only successful human-klaxo sapiens hybrid
  (emphasis my own)

This is explained in Episode 21, in a conversation between Dr. FRANXX and 002.

  Zero Two wakes up and says that 001 called her a fake. Dr. FRANXX says that 001 is the sole survivor of the klaxo sapiens, and she is her clone. She was created to operate Star Entity on behalf of the human race. He says that she was the only success


Her birth name was Elesia. After she was defeated by Arcueid her body was retrieved by The Church, she somehow survived even after Roa left her body and her link with him made her immortal. The Church "killed" her repeatedly throughout a month as an experiment to research her immortality, and then she was taken y the Burial Agency, there she was given the codename Bow for her preference with proyectile weapons. According to this TYPE-MOON Staff Roundtable "Ciel" is taken from "L'arc en Ciel", "BOW in the sky" or "RainBOW" in French, though Ciel = Bow (Ciel means sky, it's the L'arc part that means "the bow") was a mistake on part of the scenario writer but it was already too late when the demo was released, so they ended up having Ciel being good at air combat as well so it didn't feel out of place.


Well if you're trying to compare Saitama and Bang's power it's pointless. In one of the specials when Saitama goes to his Dojo, Bang admits himself that Saitama is way more powerful. Plus we don't know the limitations of Saitama's power. On the other hand, he's very likely stronger than Genos based on the fact that he's rank 3 in the S class of Heros and his experience and technique. Also if you watch the last episode where the S class Heros fight the monster, Bang seemed to be slightly stronger and fair slightly better than the other Heros like Atomic Samurai.

I'd say Bang is very likely stronger than all the S class Hero's below his ranking. However, Tatsumaki appears to be stronger than him.


I think the BGM you're looking for is titled Pinch Daisuki, it's on album
K-ON! Original Soundtrack, track #33

youtube link K-ON! - Pinch Daisuki [EXTENDED]


How are animals able to get stands in the world of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?

Approximately 50,000 years ago, a meteorite crash-landed on Earth around an underpopulated region of Cape YorkW, GreenlandW. In 1978, a mineral excavation team uncovered an unknown virus within the rocks of the surrounding area and determined that it had been lying dormant inside the meteorite that hit Earth long ago. Despite extensive research, government doctors were unable to determine the alien virus' purpose outside the total elimination of human life. Akin to the theory of evolution, it was discovered that certain people possessed a quality that would enable them to survive when exposed to the virus, additionally granting them supernatural abilities. ~JJBA Wiki

Stands are the result of the extraterrestrial virus and the host's immunoresponse to it, which explains why Holly Kujo's stand was killing her and which makes it entirely possible that animals such as Iggy, Pet Shop, Forever, and Bug-Eaten in Part IV contracted the virus into their bloodstreams through various means.
On the surface, rogue stands such as Silver Chariot Requiem and Notorious B.I.G. in Part V, Stray Cat in Part IV and Anubis in part III might initially seem to present a glaring hole in this theory, but the fact of the matter is that viruses are microscopic life forms and the one in question is of alien origin, which means its interaction with both organic and inorganic matter after the incubation period is bound to have unpredictable results and allows for a wide range of creative freedom on Araki's part.
To sum up it up nicely, "It's an alien virus, I ain't gotta explain S#!t." - Hirohiko Araki


Why nine tails's power could not help Naruto beat Pain?

Well, it all depends on who is in control and what their objective was.

When Hinata was stabbed in front of Naruto, he became angry and due to his anger, he went out of control. He was in need of power to save Hinata and would have done anything to get it. Which is the very reason why he gave up the control of his body to Kurama.

When Kurama took control of Naruto's body, Kurama was not trying to defeat pain. Rather he was trying to break out of Naruto's body. Which is generally the trend to any tailed beast and Pain knew that. Since the beast will be busy breaking out, capturing the beast would be much easier. Which is why he pushed Naruto to go berserk.

That is why Minato stopping Kurama's seal to be broken at the end and giving him the control of the body back to Naruto was that important. Because by that time Pain had exhausted a large amount of Chakra doing his planetary devastation attack. So it was the ideal time for Naruto to take the counterattack before Pain could regain his complete power.


Was it necessary for the Kais to let Gohan's energy be drained for Buu?

If I remember correctly the reason was because the Kai didn't know where Babidi was hiding. He used Gohan as bait, and then was able to follow Babidi's henchman back to the wizard's ship. If he hadn't done that, who knows how the story would have unfolded from there.

Also, it wasn't just Gohan's energy that restored Majin Buu, but also energy taken from the fights within Babidi's ship.

Knowing the characters of the Saiyan Z-fighters, they wouldn't have stopped Buu from resurrecting anyway. They would just want to fight him.


Where did character popularity polls originate?

This is such a common marketing strategy that I doubt it has an origin, but as for why it is done, it is to cater to the audience.

In the manga Bakuman, a popularity poll placed a side character named Kazuya Hiramaru in fourth place, immediately afterwards several chapters were devoted to him, which were very popular.

This implies that this practice is equally beneficial, and probably smiled upon by both readers and editors alike.


Anime basically translates to animation, so the Japanese don't really have a distinction. Claymation for example could qualify as 'anime' in the East.

From a Western perspective, 'anime' is a looser term, generally meaning animations from Japan, but sometimes it's applied to Western shows with the anime 'look', like RWBY or Avatar.

There's no strict guideline on what qualifies as anime and what doesn't, and arguments arise frequently online by people with different opinions on this.

It's safest to say Avatar is anime-styled.

In regards to the 'manga' of Avatar, it seems to be commonly referred to as a comic rather than a manga. But the format of this should have no bearing on the animated production.