Is Sakura's gesture a dead giveaway that she lied about remembering the transfer student?

I am not aware of any Japanese body language rooted in having one hand on the table and the other pointed down like that. In fact, Japanese gesture communication is generally conducted at chest-height or higher.

Miho knew that Sakura was lying because she had just finished guiding Sakura to look at the blackboard, because she had been able to tell that Sakura obviously didn't remember his name, and clearly wasn't really paying attention when he was introduced to the class. Miho had just helped provide Sakura with his name since she obviously didn't remember him, so of course she knew that Sakura was lying when she pretended to still remember him.

The camera pan-down was more likely intended to center the view on Miho for her delivery of the 'liar' line than it was to display hand position or body language. And the camera was lowered as far as it was to cut Sakura and the transfer student's heads out of the frame to make it very clear where your focus was supposed to be (on Miho).

If Sakura had actually remembered the transfer student, she wouldn't have needed Miho to point his name out on the blackboard, and thus Miho wouldn't have believed her to be lying when she claimed to remember him.

So, in short, Miho's "liar" line was delivered because she just helped Sakura with the name of someone Sakura clearly didn't remember...then Sakura used that help to pretend she had remembered him all along, pretending Miho hadn't actually helped.

For some people, this might be acceptable because they just helped a friend save face...but it obviously annoyed Miho.


Why are wash pans dropped on a character's head?

I imagine this is somehow related to the common schoolprank of placing basins/buckets of water on top of door frames and waiting for people to come in and get soaked

As is mentioned in @Vogel612's link, it's sortof the Eastern equivilant of an anvil being dropped on someone's head. A bit more realistic perhaps though.


What do the parenthesized numbers in the [color] Scenes mean?

Most colors can be found in one form or another in image search results from Google (query color 8888). They seem to correspond to knitting yarn color codes. Some colors are in DMC chart, I couldn't find out where others are from.


What was the deal with Haruhi's Endless Eight?

Most likely the last arc of the show was originally planned to adapt The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, but the producers changed their mind well into production, and decided to make it into a movie instead. As a result they had to fill in a seven episodes gap that they already bought the timeslot for, thus this gimmick was born.

They Endless Eight chapter in the novel is only about the very last iteration where Kyon figures out the solution.

The point of Endless Eight was to provide a reason for Nagato to do what she did in Disappearance, being the only one to remember the over 15000 iterations.


What was the first anime to come out on Bluray/HDDVD?

I did some research, and it appears this won't be answered with a simple straight answer. This page has all the release dates for Blu-ray disc up-to-date, and this page (and this forum thread too) has all the HD DVD release dates up until the format was discontinued.

The first occurrence of anime in either format is The Ultimate Matrix Collection, released on HD DVD on May 22nd, 2007. This makes it to the list because The Animatrix is included in the collection. If this means the question is answered for you, then no need to read on. If you wanna try to find the first anime title released on its own, read on.

The second occurrence is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, released on Blu-ray disc on August 7th, 2007. It does have a page on MAL, but it may not be regarded as anime by everyone given that it is described on most places (including Wikipedia) as an "American computer-animated science fiction film".

After that come two titles, one in each format, released with very little time difference between them.
First, comes a 1987 movie, Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise, released on HD DVD on September 11th, 2007. It is also known by its Japanese title, Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa.
Just 14 days afterwards, comes Tekkon Kinkreet, released on Blu-ray disc on September 25th, 2007. And here's its MAL page.


When do "immortal" Devil Fruits respawn?

No, these fruits cannot create an immortal army, they are not designed with that in mind. Even after giving someone eternal youth, that is all he will get, he will just remain "young" forever. Anyone will still be able to kill the user in a fight, he may die to an accident etc. The same applies Yomi Yomi no Mi, you get another life but you are not immortal. Also, even if someone has the Yomi Yomi no mi, and his head gets cut there is no body to return, because he will die again immeditally.

Ope Ope no Mi respawns after the users death (the one who eat the fruit) because the person who gained eternal life has no "connection" with the fruit itself.


Because of the fight between All Might and All for One where All Might takes his big wound that causes him not being able to use his quirk at any time or lets say in a time limit, All for One also took serious wounds. Most visible one being his face. Yes because of this he is blind however thanks to an infrared vision quirk he can "see".


Can Asta create an Anti Magic Black Divider sword using the Demon Destroyer Sword instead of the Demon Slayer Sword?

I dont think so because if it were possible it would b too op plus it would have been listed in the manga already, but that is still a possibility.


How was Sayaka able to join Madoka in the Law of Cycles after her death?

Right after Madoka recreated the entire universe to accommodate with the Law of Cycles, why was everybody placed back in time right after the event where Sayaka gets killed in battle? Why were they placed specifically there in time?

I don't think it's quite accurate to view everybody as having been placed back where Sayaka gets killed in battle. In this rewritten universe where the Law of Cycles exists, the entirety of history plays out differently, probably diverging whenever the very first magical girl's Soul Gem turns dark. Every scene involving witches or Madoka personally probably plays out differently; it just so happens that we only get to see one particular scene from this new history of the world - the scene where Sayaka dies. Why? Well, it's an important scene, particularly given how that same scene was something of a bloodbath in episode 10's timeline 3. And plus, it helps us understand how the new universe works.

I find it more likely that everybody was "placed" back at the same instant that Madoka made her wish in the main timeline. (I don't have any strong evidence for this; it just seems to be the most parsimonious option.)

  Also, do all magical girls join the Law of Cycles after they die?

I'm guessing you haven't seen Rebellion.

   Rebellion strongly suggests that the answer is yes, based on Sayaka's comments at the beginning of the final segment (shortly after Homura turns witch). Magical girls do indeed become part of the Law of Cycles when they're touched by Madoka when their Soul Gems go dark.

  If they do, then what is the point? Madoka's wish was to erase all witches with her own hands, so anybody else in the Law of Cycles wouldn't have a job to carry out since Madoka would be doing it all herself.

Again, I'm guessing you haven't seen Rebellion, since in Rebellion, we learn that:

   At minimum, Sayaka and Charlotte/Nagisa both sort of exist in the same metaphysical space as Madoka. Sayaka herself notes that the two of them are sort of like "secretaries" to Madoka. They both play a key role in Madoka's scheme to extract Homura from the Incubators' barrier; it seems unlikely that Madoka would have been able to effect her scheme without their (or at least somebody's) assistance.


Would Ryuk have died if he had killed the SPK?

Rule LVIII:

1) By manipulating the death of a human that has influence over another human's life, that human's original life span can sometimes be lengthened.

2) If a god of death intentionally does the above manipulation to effectively lengthen a human's life span, the god of death will die, but even if a human does the same, the human will not die.

This seems pretty explicit to me.  Note that this seems to refer to killing with the death note but if a god of death kills by any other means he is given an "Extreme Level" punishment and then is executed.

What's love got to do with it? Nothing


Was this really the original American/English-language opening/intro to Sailor Moon? If so, why was it so heavily changed?

I'll preface this answer by admitting that I couldn't find any interviews in which DiC (the company responsible for the original English-language dub) explained why they changed the opening so much. I've nonetheless tried to provide the best explanation possible for why it was done.

Was this really the original American/English-language opening/intro to Sailor Moon?

Sure was, and for those who grew up with it, it's arguably just as iconic as (say) the original English-language Pokémon intro.

Why did they so heavily change the already perfect intro sequence and opening theme like that?

Because that was the done thing. Back in the 90s (and in fact, up until quite recently), it was common practice to "Westernise" imported shows as much as possible, to make them more familiar and relatable to Western audiences. This included replacing the Japanese intros and outros with brand new ones - in English, of course.
According to Wikipedia, the Sailor Moon intro was actually unusual for the time in that it kept the melody of the Japanese intro and just changed the lyrics. Most dubbed anime of the time just threw the intros out entirely and made new ones from scratch (see the Pokémon example above, and also Sonic X, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece... basically anything 4Kids got their hands on).

Wasn't the point of importing this very Japanese show to the West to keep the look, sound and atmosphere, rather than changing it all around?

Nope. The point of importing it was that it was insanely popular and it was going to make a lot of money. As noted above, keeping the Japanese atmosphere was not only not the point, it was the complete opposite of what actually happened, not just to Sailor Moon but to pretty much every anime that made its way to the US until about the late 2000s.

I'm not sure, but I believe that they didn't touch the show itself.

I'm afraid they did. Changes included:

Giving everyone American names instead of Japanese ones (Usagi Tsukino -> Serena, Ami Mizuno -> Amy Anderson, Mamoru -> Darien, etc.)
Adding "Sailor Says" segments to the end of every episode in which Serena gives the viewer life advice (example)
The removal of any hints of nudity or violence against children (and yes, probably the pantyshots)
Making Uranus and Neptune cousins and removing any romantic subtext between them
Making Zoicite a woman so their love for Kunzite/Malachite wouldn't be gay

And probably a whole load of others. Mind you, Sailor Moon got off pretty lightly compared to Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (from which the fight scenes in the original Power Rangers were taken; they threw literally everything else out and filmed their own plotlines with Western actors), and the three different anime that were torn apart, mashed together, and re-dubbed to create Robotech.

[Why would they] introduce characters from far into the series right away?

I can't answer that, but spoiler openings are ubiquitous in anime. Even the original Japanese intro(s) contained one or two spoilers.


Why was Shana naked after using Tenpa Josai?

One of Alastor's titles is the "Flame of Heaven." In the Shakugan no Shana movie, we see his true, summoned form as a massive creature completely covered in flames, with the form of a minotaur with large webbed-like wings.

Since Tenpa Jousai uses the body of the Flame Haze as a vessel to contain the existence of the Crimson God naturally anything surrounding the container would be consumed by the intenses flames. Yuji was holding Shana's hand when she activated the summoning and came out slightly charred, but survived with the help of the Azure sustained by the his own Power of Existence.

As for the towel/blanket, it could be something extracted from Yogasa, the black cloak/cape that Shana uses to store things, which is said to be an extension of Alastor.


What happened to the last two Bastard!! OVAs?

It appears that Bastard!! was discontinued due to issues with someone in charge of the series, and there was not enough interest or commitment to reviving it later on. According to AnimeNewsNetwork:

  Bastard!! was suppose [sic] to be eight episodes, but the creator was arrested during the making of the seventh episodes [sic] and was never continued.

I found this statement mirrored by some fan reviewers and forum threads, but unfortunately it does not seem that there are many reputable sources confirming it. This is partly because I was not able to track down who they referred to as the creator (since they are not referring to Kazushi Hagiwara, the manga's creator), and partly because the internet doesn't always have particularly good information on lesser-known events from the early 1990s.

However, I did find out that screenplay writer Hiroshi Yamaguchi[ja.wikipedia] retired some of his roles, including his role on the production committee, in 1992 (the year the Bastard!! OVAs were produced) and went to work with a smaller group before going independent in 2001. This may have contributed to the cancellation as well.

Lastly, based on reviews and threads talking about the OVAs, it seems they are not as in-depth and were never as popular as the manga. This may have been a contributing factor to the decision not to resume it with a more willing crew.


What is the reason behind the revenge of obito on the uchiha clan?

I don't remember exactly that well anymore, but Obito I know he impersonated Madara. Madara has left the leaf village. In episode 345 or episode 346 of Naruto Shippuuden it was already shown that Obito was "supposedly Madara". Madara then spoke through Obito and it was later said that Madara Uchiha was manipulating Obito. Maybe that's what this is about :)


Is there any in-universe reason why the Sailor Senshi aren't affected by the citywide energy drain?

You're correct that there is no sufficient reason for anyone other than Minako to have eluded the energy drain in this episode.  Good observation!

It is possible that the energy drain only applied to humans, which could exclude the cats. It's possible that the energy drain was localized, whereas only the blackout was citywide.  In that case, as long as the girls and Mamoru had not happened to be standing within the range of where the civilians were drained of energy, they could be excluded (along with all other civilians also out of range); it was not specifically stated that the energy drain happened to every single Tokyoite.  But they did seem to be in rather close proximity to people who'd collapsed.  If the girls had been transformed into senshi form at the time of the drain, we could hypothesize that as senshi they have a higher strength tolerance than regular humans and thereby could retain some energy even if an equal amount had been drained from them, but 1) they were not in transformed form at the time, and 2) even if they had been, in the Crystal canon, Mamoru dresses up as Tuxedo Kamen but he does not transform into it magically as an alter ego in the same way as the senshi do (which he had been able to do in the classic anime series), so Mamoru retaining consciousness would still be unexplained.  It cannot be on account of their transformation brooches possessing a special power because Mamoru doesn't own any transformation item.

This does not make sense as a trope of the mahou shoujo genre.  Sailor Moon was the first mahou shoujo series which combined sentai (team fighting, such as Power Rangers, usually involving saving the world and protecting civilians from aliens/monsters) with mahou shoujo (which previously had not commonly involved any need to save the world; the classic magical girls used their powers for nichijou [daily life] activities such as disguise, Good Samaritan action, or to carry on a secret career).  If other mahou shoujo series that involve team fighting, such as Pretty Cure, jump the shark in the same way as this episode, then it is following suit from the influence of Sailor Moon, which pioneered the combined sentai-with-mahou-shoujo style of mahou shoujo.  In other words, this was not a trope in mahou shoujo prior to Sailor Moon, so Sailor Moon needs to have an in-universe explanation for this that cannot be chalked up to a trope.


Why are so many names based on folklore and such

Kishimoto is just a fan of Japanese culture and mythology. He's used loads of references, from Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susano'o, to Izanami, Izanagi and Kotoamatsukami, to the trio of Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru, to the Sword of Totsuka and the Mirror of Yata, among many others.

Many other mangaka have inspirations as well, not necessarily from Japanese culture, but from various other sources. A good example is One Piece, with many references. An example would be Usopp - taken from the Japanese word for lie (uso), Aesop (whose fable about the Boy who cried Wolf is the exact situation he's in when he's first introduced), and Pincocchio, as Usopp has a very long nose, like Pinocchio's, which grows longer whenever he tells a lie.


What is this anime movie from the 90s where the protagonist in a jet fights an enemy mech?

I'm almost certain this is the 1993 OAV Super Dimension Century Orguss 02

Details escape me, but there is indeed a gigantic mecha near the end that the protoagnists needed to stop. The hero was injured and couldn't see, so his friend (the aforementioned blue haired girl) helped him see by linking him to her eyes using tendrils that come out of her head. That's her in the eye-catch below:


Technically, everything you list isn't a background in the sense used in traditional hand-drawn animation. A background is a static image, and anything moving is on a separate layer. One shot may have several layers. Flower petals are animated just like characters, for example, on their own layer(s).

I think what you mean are environment shots.

However, this gets more complicated with CGI. The examples you cite of water droplets are made with CGI; they're not hand-drawn (that's partly how the camera can tilt so effectively). Similarly, the reflection is made by taking the hand-drawn animation and placing it on the CGI-based water surface.

The time lapse you show is a trick of reversing the traditional layering. The foreground layer is made up of environmental objects like trees, while the sky is a fully animated layer. Someone's drawing those clouds and that sun, every frame, and it's just being placed on a layer behind the one containing the trees.

If by "AE" you mean After Effects, the Japanese animation industry generally uses software that's been built for specifically for the anime industry, like RETAS Pro. Some are integrated into the workflow, while others are standalone. But if an effect is being generated on the computer, it's generally classified as CGI, like the water droplets, regardless of the tool being used.


Who are the people that the Beast Titan turned into titans?

The new titans inside wall Rose are the villagers of Ragako. The wiki linked makes this explicit, although the information comes from the Unnamed Final Arc.

   According to Zeke, after having infiltrated Wall Rose, himself, Pieck, and a small group of Marleyan soldiers locate Ragako and choose to target it. The soldiers release a gas diffused with Zeke's spinal fluid and the wind quickly blows it as a fog over the village. Once the subjects of Ymir that inhabit the village inhale this gas, they are paralyzed and etched with a coordinate. Zeke screams, making the paths transform the villagers and allowing him to impose his will on their Pure Titans due to their connection with his Beast Titan.1

In the anime, this is more implied than spelled out. There are a number of pieces of evidence, the most significant of which are; the village is empty, but the horses remain. The village is destroyed, but no blood or bodies are found. And that the trapped Titan looks like Connie's mother.


Were the lure towns in Wall Maria evacuated?

As the Wiki specifies (my apologies; I'm too lazy to look up specific manga chapters page by page):

  Shiganshina District was the first city to fall when Wall Maria was
  breached, leading to a massive slaughter and prompting humanity to
  abandon the entire perimeter and the remaining cities along the Wall
  as they attempted to consolidate their losses. After the fall of Wall
  Maria, humanity was pushed into Wall Rose.

So yes, they are empty. Probably not as damaged as Shiganshina but considering most of the loss in human lives was due the insufficiency of evacuation vacancies, it's fair to say, people might have met a slower and more prolongued, but equally bloody, end as those in Shiganshina.


Anime where the protagonist has a long lost friend who loves him

From what I read here, this is probably Deadman Wonderland

Ganta is the only survivor after a mysterious man in red slaughters a classroom full of teenagers. He's framed for the carnage, sentenced to die, and locked away in the most twisted prison ever built: Deadman Wonderland. And then it gets worse.
At Deadman Wonderland, convicts are forced into brutal deathmatches for the amusement of the masses, the cheers of the crowd drowning out the screams of the dismembered. Even when Ganta befriends Shiro, an unusual female inmate, his dark fate crushes all hope —until he discovers the strange ability to wield his spilled blood as a weapon. Ganta learns his new skill might be related to the murderous man in red and uncovers disturbing secrets that could expose those who stole his freedom. He's determined to see justice served —but first he'll have to fight for his life in a prison that holds a million ways to die.

From MyAnimeList


How and why is Subaru connected to the Witch (Satella)?

Satella The Jealous Witch is in love with Subaru. Why though is not known to the current arc of the latest source arc 6 (web) may change in the official version (Published book).

The first time we supposed to see her was supposed to be in the current anime arc which is arc 3 it is not shown during the anime but every time Subaru dies he is transported (symbolizes by the arm grabbing him) to a new timeline while that happen he is transported first to a void places (for depiction look at opening 1 where the places is covered with smokes symbolizing the witches miasma which may explain why the smell grew thicker everytime he re-spawn).

He saw an image of a girl which became clearer every loop. not only thus images pop up the more significant changes that you would observe in the anime (if they didn't cut it) he will hear the whisper of Satella saying 'I Love You' in every attempt of a reveal.(episode 20)

The fact that he say 'I love Emilia' during the Rem scene will put on perspective why Emilia was killed during his attempt to reveal the power


My take on this is that his "mystic" form is just him unleashing all his power without turning into a SSJ which puts some strain on his body / wastes some energy.

Basically even if he could go SSJ3 there is no need for that because he can bring all of that energy out in this "mystic" form without any side effects. So no matter how strong he becomes with this he does not need to transform (regarding the normal Saiyan transformation).

Now regarding the "god" transformation (if he ever reaches it), I'm not sure. Since we have a new kind of ki involved maybe he can not bring that out without transforming into a SSG but that is even more based on speculation.

In the end, Mystic form > all other normal SSJ forms because it enables him to draw out all energy without any side effects.


Are some translated anime needlessly subbed twice?

Some of it may depend on the region/country which the original translation was created and where the second company's region is. In the U.S., translations are derivative works, which are copyrighted separately themselves but cannot be produced without the consent of the original work's copyright holder.

And because the reason for doing the translation and distribution (be it streaming or physical media) is to localize for a region's consumers, there's usually no reason to need a new translation but it ultimately depends on the original copyright holder. Sometimes, simulcast streams have translations that were done under a heavier time constraint, even if the scripts are shared to the translators before the original airing of episodes. There's less supervision in some of these cases and the original copyright holder (e.g. the Japanese Studio) may not have the same control they'll have if they work directly with an editor or a script director for the licensor (e.g. the streaming company or distributor). At the same time, the original license holder may ask that another translation be used instead of the licensor creating their own new translation, though I'm not sure how often that ends up happening.

I don't have any numbers or citations to give you an idea of how many streamed translations end up being re-used by other distributors, but they would either pay a licensing fee to the translation's copyright holder (be it the streaming company or a translation service), or they could just buy it. The original copyright holder, though, would most definitely have some say about this when the license to distribute is hashed out. If the original copyright holder is OK with reusing another translation, then that's probably what usually ends up happening. Otherwise, the studio may demand a new translation with more direct input.

Note that translations, even on physical media getting reused isn't uncommon, especially with distributors for different regions but the same language (U.K., U.S., Australia, etc). Also note that some studios get new translations made for the same property on newer releases (e.g. ADV's Neon Genesis Evangelion's perfect collection vs platinum collection).


How do 3D objects coincide with traditional 2D animation?

The bike can be animated in a 3D model editor application and overlayed upon the ready 2D frames. It doesn't really matter which application both come from, since they can all export frames to static images. 3D editors have motion direction, of course, or else we would not see much 3D movies. And you can not add anything else aside from the main 3D mesh with applied texture, so that the background will be transparent upon frame export.  You know how they have those "layers" in Photoshop? Well, that is it. One of them comes from 2D app, the other from 3D. Nothing special.

Images taken from this Autodesk 3ds Max™ tutorial showing how not much of a rocket science it is to create 3D scenes with transparency (click images for full resolution):

The image with transparent background and white shadow with gradual transparency changing, after exporting from a 3D editor, can be imported into a 2D editor (such as Adobe Photoshop) and be laid over some colored rectangles like this:

We also have sites like GraphicDesign on StackExchange Questions and Answers sites network that ask questions on similar topics with such illustrations:

You say "traditional animation", but that really means collaging paper elements on a table, taking a shot of the scene and later on gluing together the resulting frames into a cinema roll. You must want to know about the modern day way, so that is what I described above.

Older animation techniques require the use of celluloid sheets, which are transparent sheets of plastic, to make the things simple. Are you familiar with the term cel-shading? Well, this is where the modern day 3D animation technique comes from − the older days method of drawing the outline of objects on a cel sheet. It goes something like this: You draw the black outline and the fill inside areas with colored paint. Then you place it above the scene image and move around or swap for other cels with different character poses.

There are a number of techniques used to overlay 3D objects onto ready frames of anything else, used by all sorts of "magicians" in their shows. You could ask google how they did it before computers and find out something new.


Tsuzurahara Miyu, apparently.

Incidentally, AnimeNewsNetwork tends to have very comprehensive listings of voice actors and staff, so that's always a good place to check if you have a question like this in the future.


Why did Shouko use hearing aids even though she's deaf?

Shouko uses hearing aids because she's deaf. They're meant to assist anyone with hearing loss of specific kinds to allow them to better identify sounds.

If you're looking for a clue, in the first chapter of her introduction, she plainly tells the classroom that she's deaf.

Picture taken from Chapter 1 of Koe no Katachi, available for free from Crunchyroll.


Is there any relation between hair style and character's personalities?

Yes, there can be some common traits that similarly haired characters share. Of course this is not a definitive guide  to a character's personality and there will be many counterexamples.

Here are a couple of hairstyles and their common personalities:

Short hair is often seen on tomboys or alternativly 'average' characters. This is presumably so that they seem boyish or have a hairstyle that is not very exciting.

Kanbaru Sugura , Monogatari Series - a sporty fujioshi who is perhaps more boyish than the main , male, lead
Ranmaru Rindou, Binbougami ga! - a female delinquent who was brought up in a dojo like a male
Yuki Nagato , The Melancholy off Haruhi Suzimiya - emotionless
Kumin Tsuyuri - Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! - a member of the club who naps a lot.. And not much else

Twintails are often childlike or are childhood friends, this is because twintails are uncommon among older women, but more popular with young girls and society has associated the two:

Lingyin Huang - Infinite Stratos, a childish childhood friend
Azusa Nakano - K-on! , a new (childish) member of the light music club
Yuno Gasai, Future diary, a childhood friend of the main character with simple motivations.

Drill hair is usually a sign that a character is either wealthy or refined. This is probably because rich characters tend to be braggarts.

Selnia Iori Flameheart - ladies vs butlers - from a rich family
Mami Tomoe - Puella Madoka Magi Magicka - an experienced magical girl with refined taste
Akira Kogami - Lucky Star - drills?
Celestia Ludenberg - Dangan Ronpa - from a prestigious family

And let's not forget the dudes. If you see this delinquent hairstyle, you can almost certainly categorise that character:

Mondo Owada - Dangan Ronpa, Member of a biker gang
Kazu, Redline - a rebel race driver
Eikichi Onizuka, Shonan Junai Gumi

I could go on and on, There are quite a number of examples
including the somewhat well-known hair antennae linked earlier

But I think this should answer your question - Yes there can be a relationship between a character and their hairstyle, but its not a solid rule.

Also you should bear in mind that hairstyle trends will have changed throughout time - what was once in is now out and visa versa.

You don't see many girls like this in anime today:

Amano Ai - Video Girl Ai -


By "regenerated" you mean like Sasuke could get his rinnegan back after Boruto stabbed it out then no, But if you mean if kid Kakashi had a Sharingan, and then got his eye slashed then yes. What I mean is that if an eye is slashed and not stabbed out, a strong medical ninjutsu specialist could heal it.


Why can’t Madara use Amaterasu or Kamui?

Madara can't use Kamui, because that was Obito Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan ability, used by Kakashi after the transplant (after part I). He could only use it because he took Kakashi's Sharingan and used it to access Obito's pocket dimension to retrieve the Rinnegan.

Itachi - Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, Susanoo
Sasuke - Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, Amaterasu, Susanoo
Obito - Kamui, Susanoo
Madara - Susanoo
Izuna - Not mentioned in the series
Shisui -  Kotoamatsukami, Susanoo
Indra - Susanoo, Amaterasu

Madara can't use Amaterasu, because in my opinion, it's an ability that only runs in Sasuke and Itachi's family, seeing as they were the only ones to show this ability in the series.

All Mangekyou Sharingan users can use the Izanagi and Izanami ability.


Why does the Blue Sonnet soundtrack predate the anime by seven years?

Because Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET is actually an image album, not a soundtrack album. They are not related to the OVA.
The Japanese Wikipedia categorized it as an image album.

Image Album

Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET (1982)
Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET II
BLUE SONNET III Ballade
BLUE SONNET IV DESERT CITY

According to a Japanese blog article by joelover, for image albums, quoting a book by Joe Hisashi,

The image album precedes the soundtrack. The clues are the illustrations and words that convey the image of the work. The image album is created based on these images.
(Quoted from I am - Faraway Music Road - by Joe Hisaishi, 1992, p. 37)

Compared to the soundtrack,

A soundtrack often refers to the actual music used in a play. Recently, the term OST (Original Sound Track) is also used to indicate that it is the music accompanying a play.

So, Rock Symphony BLUE SONNET and its subsequent image albums are original audio works made specifically to capture the image of the world of Blue Sonnet series.
In conclusion, the OVA was made to adapt the manga series, but the image albums were made to expand the story instead. They are not related to each other, both production-wise and purpose-wise.

For direct comparison, taken from Joe Hisashi's own works for Ghibli production, Princess Mononoke has both image album and soundtrack album:

Princess Mononoke Image Album
Princess Mononoke Soundtrack

See also:

Wikipedia - Image song


What are these rank represent in the Gate OP scene?

Those are ranks of the JSDF's Ground Self-Defense Force. These are the ranks of the member's of Itami's Third Recon Team, briefly shown in the first OP.

From Wikepedia:

陸士長 (Rikushichō) Leading Private
3等陸曹 (Santō rikusō) Sergeant
2等陸曹 (Nitō rikusō) Sergeant First Class
(left to right) 陸曹長 (Rikusōchō) Sergeant Major and 1等陸曹 (Ittō rikusō) Master Sergeant
2等陸尉 (Nitō rikui) First Lieutenant


Why is Gotenks never seen going Super Saiyan 2, only 3?

Daizenshuu #7 (Special Attack Index, pp. 124) states that Gotenks is able to go SSJ2. Fortunately I got a Japanese scan from a website, you can compare it with the translation.

[Read it from right to left]
- I covered the Gotenks' part with the red box. Those are the special attacks/moves he can perform.
- While in the blue box, it states "~SSJ2" and "~SSJ3" which means he can perform those too.
- You can visit here to look for translation for this page. FYI, do Crtl+F and type in "gotenks" in the search box on the top right corner to search for Gotenks.

You can briefly see SSJ2 Gotenks in both manga and anime. Gotenks never uses the form in combat, instead he bypasses it to ascend to SSJ3. (Source)

It is unclear that Hybrid Saiyans may become Super Saiyan faster than pure-blooded Saiyan or possess a naturally greater potential than their Saiyan parents. But, Gohan become Super Saiyan at the age of 11 (9 in manga). While Trunks and Goten were able to make the transformation to Super Saiyan at a far younger age than their fathers, at the age of 8 and 7 respectively. You can refer more from one of my answer about this topic here. If the statements above are true, it is likely that Hybrid Saiyans can achieve any form of SSJ faster than pure-blooded Saiyans.


Are the visualizations in the anime from the Light Novels?

I can't speak for those situations in particular I think this is probably an artistic choice by SHAFT. Having interesting things going on in the background makes the long dialogue sections more bearable for viewers and helps break up long sections in the same room.

I'm not up to date with the light novels, but I have reached Kanbaru's story. Here's a translation of the passage where Araragi appears at her house (Suruga Monkey).

  Her futon was left spread out on the floor, clothes (including panties) were strewn all around, as were books of all sort, textbooks, novels and manga, some open and some closed. It almost seemed like her storehouse, with cardboard boxes piled up into mounds in the corners. The worst atrocity was the garbage casually left not in garbage bags but just on a random tatami, or sometimes, to the best of her ability, shoved into the plastic bags from the neighborhood convenience store and then left lying around. Rather, it seemed as though the concept of a container for housing garbage was entirely foreign to the room.
  Even with its expansive 12 tatami space.Not even a single space to start going in from.

  "Sorry that it's a little messy"

While not Nisemonogatari, this is Shaft's depiction of Kanbaru's room in Bakemonogatari:

SHAFT moved the focus from garbage onto books, and expanded the size of the room tremendously (but SHAFT does like to do that with rooms).

Here's a video I found on youtube of a 12 tatami mat room . So it's quite big, but not quite as large as SHAFT depicts. Using some size guides, I worked out that 12 Tatami Mats is roughly 18.36 square metres.

SHAFT also animates kanbaru opening several doors, including one which causes a landfall of books to land on Araragi.

  "I know now's not the time, but can I ask you for a favor."
  "Sure. Say anything you want. I wouldn't refuse a request from you, Araragi-senpai."
  "One hour, actually, half an hour's fine... Just give me some time to clean up this room. And a big garbage bag."
  It's not like I'm a clean freak, I don't really even keep my room that clean, but this was just too horrible, one could even call it cruel. Kanbaru stood and started at me with a puzzled look on her face, as if she didn't even understand what I had just said, however, without any particular reason to refuse, she simply said "OK" and left to get a garbage bag.
  Fast forward.
  I suppose.
  Of course, the disastrous wreckage that was Kanbaru's room wasn't so soft that much could be done about it in a mere half an hour. And in any case, this still being the room of a girl who I didn't know that well, there were areas that I could and couldn't ethically, or rather morally, touch. So, I gathered up the garbage and organized (simply sorted by size, as there weren't even any bookshelves in Kanbaru's room) the various books and magazines in an admittedly random way, cleaning the square room into more of a circle. The room was at least at a state where I could look at it after the futon was folded and stowed in the closet and clothes folded and placed in a corner. At the very least, there was space for Kanbaru and I to sit and face each other.

In the animated version, it shows an area where Kanbaru fit perfectly (implying it was the only free area). Kanbaru and Araragi play in the books throwing them around and jumping into the sea of novels.

So, I'm not sure about those particular cases - but SHAFT does take significant artistic control over the work - adding scenes, emphasizing certain characteristics & generally filling the work out to fit an animated form. As you can see from the passages the novels aren't description-heavy. They are dialogue-heavy though, so I imagine that SHAFT has done these things themselves.


The link in the comment was correct.

Number four in Japan is considered bad luck.
This is because both four and death are pronounced the same way - shi. (source)


Why didn't anybody recognize the Z fighters at the Cell games?

Common people in DBZ don't generally outright celebrate people unless they are constantly bombarded in the mainstream media. Like Mr. Satan for example. He was always on television and groomed to be a hero by himself and his cohorts. He used his money from winning the tournament (no Z warriors participated) as machinery for his hype. The Z warriors don't have such interest.


Where did the other survivors come from?

The war involved WMDs which destabilised the earth's magnetic core leading to massive earthquakes and tsunamis which led to the sinking of most major land masses and general planetary destruction. Some small islands (islets) did survive and survivors flocked to them.

The two belligerents of the war were the Peace Union and the West with the former being the aggressive warmongers who used said WMDs and the latter the more peaceful bunch. Industria and High Harbour are the respective post-apocalyptic remnants of these two powers which retain their ideologies.

The anime is based on Alexander Key's 1970 novel, The Incredible Tide. The linked wiki page has a decent synopsis of the story.


is the legendary super saiyan 3 in the Dragon Ball Heroes manga?

No. The character only appears in the Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2 Game. In the "Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory mission" manga, Broly appears as an antagonist under the command of Genome, however in his Super Saiyan 4 state.


Why didn't Naruto's arm grow by itself like Madara or Kaguya?

Naruto lost his Sage of Six Paths (SOSP) power after his fight with Sasuke. It was mainly due to the fact that he lost the chakras of all the bijuus (tailed beasts) that he had. So, as a result of losing the power of SOSP, he also lost the ability to heal.

Naruto actually 'lost' his SOSP after using a tremendous amount of chakra to seal away kaguya. So after the fight with Sasuke, he must almost have depleted it.

Coming back to the point, while fighting Madara Uchiha and Kaguya, he still had his powers and abilities (levitation, the truth orbs, healing, etc.) It was when he actually sealed Kaguya with the help of Sasuke, did he use up his SOSP powers/chakra. So, he lost the truth orbs, the SOSP cloak, ability to heal, etc.

Now, why did Sasuke not lose his rinnegan? That was because, Indra's chakra is needed to only awaken the rinnegan, and not to maintain it.

So, the reason why Naruto could not heal his own arm was because he lost his
powers when he sealed Kaguya, but could use levitation , etc. before sealing Kaguya, that is, while facing her and Madara.


Why does Naruto’s anime and manga have huge differences?

Yes, there are indeed some differences, but to call it a separated version? I think not.
In most anime, 1 episode tries to cover around 2-5 chapters of the manga. Quite often there is too much information or things going on in the chapters to properly cover in 1 episode of ~19 minutes. This means they have to 'cut down' some of the manga's content.
Cutting the content as such often leads to lacking some build up, or additional information. Which, especially if you did read the manga before, makes it feel like a whole different story. Or a lacking story.
Besides these differences, Naruto also features quite a few fillers. As Aki Tanaka mentioned in the comments as well: Which episodes of the Naruto anime are core plot and which are filler?
However, those fillers can be considered as additional content, as this does not replace content. But more about that is explained in Why make filler episodes?


Why did Colonel Mustang lose his sense of sight and not his arm or body?

The Truth is a cruel, cruel thing. It takes away the part of the body that "fits" the person best, to provide the cruelest irony.
When Father is speaking to the sacrifices, he says why each one (less Hohenheim) lost what they did. Edward lost his ability to stand on his own; Alphonse lost his only way to feel warmth; Izumi could no longer bear children after trying to bring back her own. (Edward's also fits nicely with the phrase, "I would give an arm and a leg to ...")
Unlike the others, Mustang is somewhat more metaphorical. Mustang had his sights set on being Führer, and so he lost his ability to see.

Here is the quote in full:

The Truth can be such a cruel thing. The two brothers who wanted to feel their mother's warmth once more: Their attempt to bring the dead back to life cost one of them the leg on which he stood, as well as the only family he had left. The other lost his entire body to have it replaced by a suit of armor that could feel nothing. The woman who sought to bring back her only baby was given a body that would never again bear children. And then, the man who looked to change his nation had his eyesight taken from him, and now he can no longer see his future. Humans who would dare to play God must pay a steep price for their arrogance.
  — Father, Brotherhood Episode 59, 15:47


How far ahead is planning done before a manga is released?

This answer began as a comment, but quickly grew to large.

I'm purely speculating here, but generally most writers would probably have  chief events planned from the start, and fill in the gaps as they go. By chief I mean turning points that are essential to the story overall. When I say planned I mean they already know what they want to happen, and how to achieve it, or at least have a general idea, and perhaps are leaving the implementation details up for later.

As a case example, from the beginning Eiichiro Oda already had the ending of One Piece planned out. To this day he hasn't changed this plan, but out of enjoyment of writing the series he continues to fill the gap from commencement to terminus. (See: One Piece#Production - Wikipedia)

That said, nothing would stop a mangaka from totally changing his/her plans and writing something altogether new at any moment. If I remember correctly, Akira Toriyama had no plans for Vegeta to have any more appearances in the manga Dragonball Z after his defeat on Earth. But when he saw the great positive reaction from fans he kept him in for the rest of the series. Toriyama's original plan is not exactly known, but in the least it had to be modified greatly to accommodate the new character.

Another factor would probably be the publishing agencies themselves. Obviously they want to capitalize, and so most often, more is more. If a manga series is doing very well, they'll probably want to extend it, and so many writers are pushed to write beyond there original plans. Continuing with the Dragonball Z example, we can see just that. Toriyama planned to end his work at the defeat of Cell, but was urged on by publishers to continue, which lead to the true climax, Buu.

Also, censorship could play a part in some cases. If something written by an author goes against the standards of either society or the publisher, it would have to be modified, and even a small change can have great consequences later on. This of course must take into account creative control, which is an author-by-author process depending on the details of any given contract.

Again, all of this is nothing more than pure speculation that uses nothing but perceivable events as evidence. As I find more resources and evidence I'll add it. Perhaps to try to formalize this as it stands, I'd just agree with kuwaly, and say that it's all up in the air. Writers, publishers, public reaction, political correctness and just about anything else could alter the course of any writer's storyline at any point. I doubt any manga ever turns out exactly like the first draft.


Manga where the female protagonist has amnesia

I believe it is called Otome x Ranbu

  She is your stereotypical airhead school girl, with one exception, she
  has amnesia. She recently transferred into a new school where things
  work different, mainly magic. She is Mochiduki Tsubomi, and she
  doesn’t remember anything before she transferred. Enter yet another
  transfer student – the beautiful yet arrogant bishojo, Izayoi Yukiji.
  She’s after Tsubomi, but why? What does Yukiji want? What mystery does
  Tsubomi hold?


Tezuka's 1949 manga, Metropolis, features Michi, a synthesised human with a gender switch which can turn it from a boy into a girl and vice versa which is used as a plot device.

Tezuka's 1953 manga, Ribbon no Kishi (Princess Knight) features a reverse trap with a girl pretending to be a guy:

Taking place in a medieval European-like fairy-tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of young Princess Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne (as women are not eligible to do so). This deception begins as soon as she is born, as her father the King announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumon, is an evil man who would repress the people if he were to become king, and because of this the King will go to any length to prevent him from taking over.

Similarly, The Rose of Versailles (1972) is another that has a girl,  pretending to be a guy, Oscar François de Jarjayes.
For a "straight" trap, 1973's Ara Waga Tono! appears to be the first to fit the bill.

This is a slapstick romance, where girls and boys clash in a ‘modern’ co-ed high school. There is a lot of romantic intrigue, quite a bit of gender-bending and some teenage angst when adults Just Don’t Understand. (source: goldbird)

Then there's 1974's Oira Sukeban:

Oira Sukeban (おいら女蛮?), sometimes called Sukeban Boy, is a Japanese manga created by Go Nagai in 1974. It is a comedy with several erotic touches, where the protagonist Banji Suke (or Sukeban) has to disguise himself as a girl in order to be able to attend an all-female school. As Suke Ban is a rebellious boy, this situation creates several comedic troubles.
The manga was adapted to an OVA in 1992 and was released by ADV Films in the US under the name Delinquent in Drag.

But my guess is that the trope really took off only after the publication and airing of Ranma ½ in the late 80s.

The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts. As a result of an accident during a training journey, he is cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy.
Ranma ½ had a comedic formula and a sex changing main character, who often willfully changes into a girl to advance his goals. The series also contains many other characters, whose intricate relationships with each other, unusual characteristics and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once the characters are firmly introduced and settled into the series.


Why are the protagonists generally seated by the window?

While backbenchers are common throughout the world, windows seats are similarly favoured by just about everybody in most situations. People want and prefer window seats be they in classrooms, trains, or aeroplanes. In anime, these seats additionally facilitate a few things (some of which have been covered in other answers):

The character can look out of the window to act bored.
The character can look out of the window to see other characters outside.
The character can easily exit the classroom by way of the window.
The character can easily enter the classroom by way of the window.
It reduces some of the artwork. When focussing on the character, the artist will not need to bother drawing and animating additional characters on either side. He can simply focus on the main character and draw a window or a wall as background. This saves time and money.

That said, I think that there's a mild case of confirmation bias in the question. There are plenty of anime where the protagonist is not seated by the window. Offhand, I can name Makunouchi Ippo in Hajime no Ippo, most characters in Lucky Star, the characters in Hidamari Sketch, and so on.


How much of an influence/reference/relation Love Hina and Shakespeare was to Nisekoi?

I'm not that familiar with Nisekoi, but I don't find any of the similarities you mention very striking.

Childhood marriage promises are very common in anime.
The first four things you mention that make Naru and Chitoge similar are all pretty standard tsundere traits. Tsundere as varied as Asuka Langley Soryu, Nagi Sanzenin, and Kirino Kousaka all share those traits with Naru and Chitoge. I acknowledge there is some visual similarity even beyond the hair antennae, but Chitoge also looks pretty similar to MM's Mio Isurugi, aside from the difference in build. Mio is even somewhat of a tsundere, to boot. And it's just a natural part of a story about a childhood marriage promise that the main heroine is probably the one who made the promise.
You acknowledge that all male shounen heroes are the same person.

All of these are standard clichés for shounen romantic comedy. Some of them were popularized by Love Hina, and some have been around since Urusei Yatsura or even earlier. The reviews quoted here all call out Nisekoi for being full clichés, bolstering my case that the similarities are just part of the genre.

Also, in this interview, Nisekoi's creator, Naoshi Komi, says his biggest influence is not Love Hina, but One Piece.


The song playing in My Hero Academia season 3 episode 14 at 4:10

just to make sure was this when the class were being told about special moves?

The next music after that point (beginning 4:25) is 'Kibasen'
Hopefully this is the piece you were looking for.


How were the Giant Hornets actually defeated?

I don't think it was ever stated how exactly they were wiped out, but we do know that it wasn't a WMD (no damage to the surrounding land), it wasn't the fiend that killed them (death feedback), and that the fiend stopped their arrows and disarmed them. It's also possible the fiend prevented the Giant Hornet soldiers from attacking any of the Robber Fly and that's why none of them were killed. Being unable to fight back, all the Robber Fly soldiers had to do was slaughter them all.

That could also be the reason Kiroumaru was the sole survivor of the battle, in order to bring suspicion onto him from the humans. The Robber Fly could have purposely let him live.


There is only one sort of moving Den Den Mushi.
The only place where you see then is in the Tenth movie

Self-Propelled Visual Den Den Mushi
Shiki has a variant of the Visual Den Den Mushi called the
Self-Propelled Visual Den Den Mushi (自走式映像転送電伝虫 Jisō-shiki Eizō Tensō
Den-den Mushi?). As the name implies they are able to move and look
around. They also appear to be close to the same size as the larger
variant of the Visual Den Den Mushi and have attachments that allow
them to project what they can see to a monitor.

The Den Den mushi are normal snails untill people attach the phones to them.
This is taken from SBS 41(Q&A with author)

D: In Chapter 367, Sanji-kun destroys the Den Den Mushi. That's so
mean!!! The Den Den Mushi didn't do anything wrong! Even a Den Den
Mushi would cry if that happened to it! It cries when it hurts! It
cries because its heart hurts even more than its body! So let's
apologize to it, shall we? P.N. Naoko
O: Oh, well, you see... OK, I
admit, I may have created that impression, but it's okay. On the right
is a wild Den Den Mushi. It has the ability to communicate with its
species through radio (thought) waves. Humans attach buttons and
receivers to them so they can contact specific other Den Den Mushi.
So, you can destroy the receiver without hurting the Den Den Mushi.


What are all of Rin's cats that have names?

Rin names her cats after famous people.

These are the ones I know of (collected from TVTropes, the Little Busters! Wiki, Wikipedia, and other sources):

Dorj (a nickname of Asashōryū Akinori):

Gates (Bill Gates): Unknown appearance.
Fabre (Jean-Henri Fabre): A rather chubby cat.
Einstein (Albert Einstein): Unknown appearance.
Lennon (John Lennon), on the right:

Tezuka (Osamu Tezuka): A shiny, blue (female) cat.
Schumacher (Michael Schumacher): Unknown appearance.
Hitler (Adolf Hitler): A spotted cat.
Audrey (Audrey Hepburn, I think): Unknown appearance.
Jackie (Jackie Chan): Unknown appearance.
Aristotle (no first name): Unknown appearance.
Isoroku (Isoroku Yamamoto): A small, grey kitten.
Cobain (Kurt Cobain): Unknown appearance.
Fedor (Fedor Emelianenko): Unknown appearance.
Hokusai (Katsushika Hokusai): Unknown appearance.
Yusaku, or Matsuda (Yusaku Matsuda): Unknown appearance.

However, you will notice how many are labelled "unknown" above; these are ones whose appearance I'm unsure of. These appear to be all of the cats she's named, but as she does not always name them directly or identify which one is which, determining their actual appearance is not always possible*.

* If I discover more appearances, I will add them upon discovery.


Why are there no new chapters of Naruto Gaiden?

Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring is a sequel mini-series of the original Naruto manga, part of the Naruto Project. The Naruto Project is a special project to celebrate 15 years of the Naruto series.
The Naruto Gaiden acts as a prelude for Boruto: Naruto the Movie.
In Japanese literature, a gaiden (外伝) means side story or tale.

The use of gaiden is commonly used in popular Japanese fiction to refer to a spin-off of a previously published work that is neither officially considered a sequel nor a prequel. However, some gaiden are retold stories in the perspective of a different character, similar to that of a flashback.
Wikipedia

Therefore gaiden is generally consists of only a few chapters.
The unexplained elements in the series might (most probably will) be elucidated in the upcoming series.


How many official super saiyan transformations are there already?

Super Saiyan
Ascended Saiyan(Super Saiyan 2)
Super Saiyan 3
Super Saiyan 4(Not canon)
Legendary Super Saiyan (Not canon)
Super Saiyan rage(Future trunks)
Super Saiyan Berserker(Kale's transformation)
Super Saiyan God
Super Saiyan Blue
Super Saiyan Rose

// Additional

Mystic/ Ultimate Gohan ( I wouldn't call it an actual super saiyan transformation.)
Ultra Instinct Goku (His new aura seemed to indicate it was a new transformation).


Onizuka is making a reference to Kenshiro from "Fist of the North Star".
In the English translation of the manga, this was added as a note.

Kenshiro's fiancée is called Yuria.


Why Kumoko stops using this particular skill later on?

These are big spoilers, but if you don't mind them:

   The Parallel Wills have separated from her main body and are each trying to take over the consciousness of the Queen Taratects. The Queens have a link with the lower ranked Taratects that can grant them control over the lower ones, Kumoko used this link to "upload" the Parallel Wills into the Queens and try to take control of them. It's proving quite difficult since the Queens are themselves being controlled by Ariel (Origin Taratect) through a similar link, one of the consciousness uploads itself into Ariel and tries to take over as well, which is how she finds out about Kumoko.


What happen at the end of the third Madoka Magica movie?

Ok, let me try to answer this the best I can. I've watched the movie twice: in a theatre in Paris and the subbed camrip that's been going around.

although Madoka wish in the second movie, which prevented the birth of any witch, both in the past and in the future. Why then Homura becomes a Witch?

Madoka's wish wasn't exactly that. She wished to erase all the witches, past, present and future with her own hands. The bolded part being the interesting one. Not only did it mean the wish couldn't have any unfortunate fulfilling that wasn't what she wanted, it meant she would have to do the work herself. Which is also the only reason it invokes a paradox that forces her existence into a concept. Either way, the point is, Madoka takes the despair out of the Soul Gems of Magical Girls as they are about to become witches. The natural tainting process of the Soul Gem still exists and the girls would still become witches if she wasn't there to take their souls to wherever and let them have a dignified death.
Only in Homura's case this time, she wasn't there. To expand upon it, what the Incubators do is use their super advanced alien science to freeze Homura's Soul Gem at a borderline state. She's about to become a witch, but she's still a magical girl. Let's say for the sake of an analogy that her Soul Gem was 99.99% tainted. That's where they froze her at. Because that's the point at which Madoka would come in and save her from becoming a witch as she did to everyone throughout the series and they wanted to capture Madoka. So, frozen at this state, the Soul Gem couldn't break and impose a witch barrier over some part of this world (which is still a separate dimension of its own), so it created a barrier of sorts inside itself. Basically, the first part of the movie was spent inside Homura's Soul Gem. Note that at this point, the world they're in may be akin to a witch barrier, but Homura isn't a witch, as the barrier was created by what is still her Soul Gem.
After the whole ordeal that culminates with her realizing she's the one who created the barrier, Homura is confronted by Kyubey, who tells her about what exactly had happened with her and what their plans for Madoka were. There, she decides to become a witch inside the barrier so she can be killed by Mami and Kyouko there and ensuring Madoka will never come for her. Note that this Homura inside the Soul Gem is basically her soul, so being killed inside it is the same as destroying her Soul Gem. Now she purposely brings upon her more despair and suffering by accepting she won't be able to meet Madoka again and successfully becomes a witch inside the Soul Gem. This is a separate world of its own, one that Madoka can't see nor reach (which is still kinda of a moot point anyway since Madoka is trapped inside it without any memories of who she even is), which is why it was possible for that to happen. The Homura in the outside world, her physical body, is not yet a witch, since any developments in the inside won't affect the outside thanks to Kyubey's filter.
TL;DR - Homura doesn't become a witch in the outside world, she becomes one inside her own Soul Gem, which is a separate dimension from the one Madoka can see and interact with.

I get an idea, but I'm not pretty sure about it. In the ending we see Homura feeding QB with her soul gem.

We do? I'm pretty sure that's not what happens so... By ending, are you referring to the post-ending credits? Since that's the only thing I think could have been mistaken by that. But we never see that. All we see is Kyubey appearing, Homura bringing up her Soul Gem, perspective change, her legs doing some sort of dance, perspective change, her dancing with a beaten-up Kyubey in the background. If what you're saying does happen at any point, please specify.

When Homura says to Sayaka and Madoka that one day they will be enemies, is she referring to the fact that without suffering sooner or later the universe will run out of energy and Madoka and Sayaka will have to stop her?

That point is pretty much up in the air, specially her words toward Sayaka. What she says to Madoka is easier to interpret, though. She asks her about her ideals, if she thinks the world is more important than the happiness of one people. Basically "selflessness vs selfishness". And Madoka answers with the former. What this conversation shows is that Homura is fully aware her actions were selfish ones, but won't back down on them since it's what she's always wished for. Madoka's answer, though, goes against the very thing she won't back down from, which means their ideals at the moment are complete opposites, so if Madoka ever understands the situation and comes to want to realize her ideal, it'd only be natural they would become enemies. Which will eventually happen, since it's very doubtful Homura will be able to keep the world as is without either Madoka or Sayaka getting at least part of their memories back. Heck, things were already turning out that way with Madoka and would have if Homura didn't hug her into submission.

Before proceeding, please have in mind that while everything before this paragraph are things I'm nearly certain of having interpreted correctly, this isn't but a theory of mine:

Back to the Sayaka conversation, that's one of the issues I have with this movie, in that Sayaka's question regarding destroying the world came out of absolute nowhere and Homura's answer made no sense at all, considering she says "Once all wraiths are defeated". And since we know from the series the wraiths are the new embodiment of grief and despair in a witch-less world, and that hope and despair can never triumph over one another since the Madoka world is a zero sum game, that makes absolutely no sense at all. So I've thought a lot about that until now and I think a possible (even if not obvious as the one for the Madoka conversation) interpretation is that Homura implying the wraiths will eventually be eliminated means she is, herself, trying to become the embodiment of despair. That way, she'd become a true counterpart to Madoka, who's the embodiment of hope, and the balance would be restored.


What is the name of the song playing at 01:15 of Magi, ep 25?

Well after going through a whole lot of songs in a playlist on YouTube, I finally found it. The song is called "Warrior Ships" here.

Sadly, I could not find any information on the song that I could add to this answer such as who composed it or wrote it.

PS: I am not sure whether it is "20 Warrior Ships" or just "Warrior Ships". I had no idea, to be perfectly honest, but this is definitely it.


Need help on finding the most depressing anime I've ever seen

There's a good chance you're looking for Aoi Bungaku (lit. "Blue Literature"). It's a collection of 6 classic Japanese novels adapted as an anime by Madhouse in 2009. As the name suggests, the stories are mostly quite depressing, though there is some variation between them.

Most of the events you mentioned occur in No Longer Human, the first novel adapted (episodes 1-4), by Dazai Osamu, who later committed suicide. It's about a man named Oba Yozo, who is incapable of interacting normally with other people and always puts on a facade. Over the course of the novel (and the anime), he lives several lives, moving from one position (and woman) to another fairly quickly, and is never content with his life. Just this story was recompiled into a movie release, though I guess from your description you probably saw the TV version.


Do people in soul society remember their life in the "living" world?

Yes, they do. In Episode 4, we see a soul of a boy trapped in a parakeet. Later in the series, when Ichigo, Chad, Uryuu and Inoue enter Soul Society, they meet with him again (in human form), and he remembers them.

It is unclear whether or not they lose their memory after long spans of time spent on Soul Society.


Miyuki-senpai is from Daiya no Ace. The anime is centered around Sawamura (MC) and Miyuki's relationships as pitcher-catcher (the author said so). Sawamura wants Miyuki to acknowledge him as a capable pitcher, yet his rival on the same team, Furuya, as the ace, made Miyuki pay attention to him more. Sawamura struggled to make the best battery with Miyuki, hence 'notice me senpai'.


Why is Cassano called the "Devil of the Right Arm"?

Even though Horyang made a name for himself as the "devil of the right arm", he stopped climbing the tower after reaching the 20th floor (as he explains in chapter 122, page 28). Cassano, who appeared later, rode on Horyang's fame and borrowed his fearsome "title". People mistook Cassano for the real "devil of the right arm"; some people, including Koon's party, are searching for this newly appeared "devil of the right arm".


Are all Summoning animals Immortal in a sense

The summoned animals live for a long period of time with respect to the human world, but that amount of lifespan is usual in their world (like toads in Mount Myoboku).

  Mount Myōboku has records of its population in a list, and the name of a Mount Myōboku toad stays there until it dies.[7]

I found the above in the wiki page of Mount Myoboku. So its safe to assume that toads do die and are not immortal. They just live very long.


Why didn't Jinbe and Ace wear prisoner uniforms?

Jimbei was officially a Shichibukai until he verbally told to Sengoku at Marineford that he is resigning. He was imprisoned just because he didn't follow World Government orders. So there is no reason why he should be wearing prison uniform as he was not a convict.

As for Ace, I think kaine must be right. It must be like when Gol. D Rodger was not in uniform when executed. A likely minor courtesy afforded those waiting execution could be the right to wear their own clothes for their final hours.


What are Archer's twin swords based off of?

The swords that Archer used were replicas of real swords with the same names, which he made because he was greatly impressed by the originals. The original swords really existed (in real life), and were crafted by Gan Jiang and Mo Ye (pls refer to the wiki for the full text, I'll only put a piece of it here):

  Gan Jiang (Chinese: 干將; pinyin: Gān Jiàng) and Mo Ye (Chinese: 莫邪;
  pinyin: Mò Yé) were a swordsmith couple who lived during the Spring
  and Autumn Period of Chinese history. A pair of swords were forged by
  and named after them.

  According to the historical text Wuyue Chunqiu, King Helü of Wu
  ordered Gan Jiang and Mo Ye to forge a pair of swords for him.
  However, the blast furnace failed to melt the metal. Mo Ye suggested
  that there was insufficient human qi in the furnace so the couple cut
  their hair and nails and cast them into the furnace, while 300
  children helped to blow air into the bellows.[citation needed] In
  another account, Mo Ye sacrificed herself to increase human qi by
  throwing herself into the furnace. The desired result was achieved
  after three years and the two swords were named after the couple. Gan
  Jiang kept the Ganjiang Sword for himself and presented the Moye Sword
  to the king. The king was angered when he discovered Gan Jiang had
  kept one of the swords so he had Gan Jiang killed.

However, the legend doesn't really describe the appearance of the swords, so we can't say if Archer's replicas look the same or not.


Yes this is done by the animators on purpose I believe. It's so the viewers can see the full extent of the facial expressions of the person behind the net. This actually happens very often in Haikyuu. If you notice the net isn't faded out over his whole head it's just faded out over his face. This makes sense because his hair doesn't really matter to the context or anything, but his facial expressions can tell us a lot. I don't think this makes it that unrealistic.


Was Rin's death the only reason which has led Obito to start Fourth Great War?

Rin's death was just the final spark to make Obito start the Fourth Great War. His hatred towards "evil" shinobis, current world and the desire to fix the world were evident from a long while (him always trying to compete with Kakashi to get stronger and save his allies). He was searching for a way to bring "peace" to everyone which is when Madara came in, in the times of despair Madara presented him a hope of "Infinite Tsukuyomi" which to the strong desires of Obito looked like the perfect solution. I won't just call it manipulation, for that time, the goals of Madara and Obito were quite similar and it was more of an agreement than just manipulation. Madara found the perfect candidate to carry his will, Obito found the perfect solution he deemed "correct" in his twisted, despaired mind.


What is Himeka Akishino's relation to Eita in Oreshura?

I've only watched the anime, but it's very clear that Himeka is delusional. She calls herself the "Burning Princess Saint Dragon Lady of Dawn"... and she came up with the story of Eita and her being lovers in a past life herself. It's obviously just a fabrication that she uses to support her advances on Eita.


Why does Kaneki's perception of taste change?

The ghoul DNA "infected" his whole body (look at his eyes) so it´s not too far fetched it changed the tongue as well.

Apart from physical change there is also a mental change. There is a phenomenon where patients who obtained an organ transplant notice effects on what they like or dislike, e.g. if the donor was a pianist the patient might like listening to piano more than before or even want to learn it. Kaneki's tongue could still have the same structure as before but different associations to food based on his digestive system.


What's the song in Bleach episode 119 from 17:15?

It's "Torn apart", the 20th track of Bleach Original Soundtrack 2 album by Shiro Sagisu.


What is the BGM where Pilaf starts escaping from the fortress in episode 32?

You can find it here (unless i heard bad and its a different song :P)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7bVjtScRtQ

The name of the song is  Koroshi-ya Tao Paipai ("killer tao paipai")


What song is playing when Kakashi explains the terms of the bell test in episode 2?

This is the very first track of the Shippuden OST. The title of the track is Shippuden, found on OST 1


Why did Sinon act strangely when Kirito grabbed her tail?

The following is quoted from Sword Art Online Book 8: Early and Late, page 221

  The triangular ears and tail unique to the Cait Sith race were of
  course organs human don’t have, however, they could sense the feeling
  using an unknown mechanism. Being grabbed hard by a player who
  wasn’t aware of the fact would cause a «super weird feeling»——
  Silica’s explanation——for that reason, the reaction was always very
  amusing.

This quote actually shows us a few things:

Why Kirito pulled her tail in the first place: it's "amusing"
What it feels like: "a super weird feeling" cause by sensentations from an organ humans don't normally have - similar to the wings in ALO, I might add
Why Silica looks at her tail in the YouTube clip: calling it a "super weird feeling" was her description, so she clearly knows how it feels. In other words, it's likely that someone (possibly Kirito, since he seems to enjoy it so much) has done the same thing to her.

I've added the picture of this scene from the light novel just for reference.


Does the phone attached on the microwave need network to send D-mails in the past in Steins Gate?

I think the D-mail actually alters the timeline into the one that has received the message. It doesn't send at that present time but it is sent in the past.

The sending of the message actually becomes the change between the timelines.

But this makes me wonder how the pager thing worked? Different timelines, different technologies. I mean what was the sender number in that message received by the pager? Is that really possible?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT : (after OP comment)
The answer is NO,the D-mail does not require network to be sent.


Yes, based on the description in the wiki, which is also from the manga, the quirk of Twice can copy any person along with its abilities, albeit it would be weaker and less powerful than the original.

If I recall correctly, Midoriya has not yet been copied by Twice so we have no way to find out if there is an exception to his ability, like with Monoma.


How did Eren transform into a Titan without causing self-injury (Season 4, Ep. 5)?

you see his hand is already bleeding before he shakes reiner's hand and goes boom. he was just waiting to activate his power


Why does Wei WuXian look like Mo XuanYu?

I think it was the animator's decision. All we know is when Wei Ying made comments about Mo Xuan Yu's body, he noted that Mo Xuan Yu was shorter than him in his previous life and that he was handsome as well.

There was no note on that in the novel. In the novel, he was extremely surprised when Lan Zhan was able to recognize him, so actually according to the story, they aren't supposed to look alike at all.


With what I have seen in the anime, this should sum up all the rules and factors.

The objective is to capture the king.
The game is played on a single color 9x9 board.
The game starts with a empty board
The players take turns placing stones, limited to the first 3 rows of the board on your side of the field
After all the pieces are placed, the players take turns moving a piece.
The pieces can be stacked on top of each other (the 3rd dimension) up to 3 pieces.
Certain pieces are stronger than others. Therefore, not all setups can beat certain counters.
Each player has 24 pieces in total.

The pieces used in this game are as following

Pawn
Spy
Cannon
Fortress
Musketeer
Knight
General

The exact conditions for victory are too blurry to confirm, but the rules for victory seem pretty similar to chess, which would equal to trying to checkmate the king. The placement and tactics used in the game are pretty similar to shogi. As for the initial placement, it's pretty similar to checkers. For the combat side of the game, it also seems to have a slide of Stratego in it, as some pieces are stronger than others, and there potentially are pieces that can only be beaten by certain other pieces.

This is all I managed to find out.


What's the correct order in which to watch the Yu-Gi-Oh! seasons/episodes?

As Peter Raeves points out in the comments, a useful listing is available at Wikipedia's List of Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes article. In brief:

Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (the first series, not the "zeroth" series), which is 224 episodes / 5 seasons in length. At any point after episode 144, you can, if you'd like, watch the Pyramid of Light movie.
If you'd like, watch Capsule Monsters, which is 12 episodes in length. This mini-series was created exclusively for US release (so I guess it's "non-canon" if you care about that), but it's pretty enjoyable nonetheless. It is best to watch it after episode 198 of Duel Monsters as it takes places between 198 and 199. Also since this comment was written another Yu-Gi-Oh! movie Dark Side of Dimensions has been released which takes place 6 months after the end of Duel Monsters. So be sure to watch that before starting GX.
Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, which is 180 episodes / 4 seasons in length. Note that you'll have to hunt for subtitled episodes if you want to watch the fourth (and final) season of GX - it was never dubbed.
Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which is 154 episodes / 5 seasons in length. At any point after episode 86, you can, if you'd like, watch the Bonds Beyond Time movie. Note that large segment of seasons 4 and 5 were never dubbed. Again, you'll have to hunt for subtitled episodes if you want to watch these in their entirety. There is also a special ("Shinka suru Kettou! Stardust VS Red Demons") that was never dubbed.
Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (series 1), which is 73 episodes / 3 seasons in length. There is also a special (the one featuring Kouhei Uchimura) that was never dubbed.
Watch Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (series 2), which is 73 episodes / 3 seasons in length. Since this series only just ended in Japan (Mar 2014), dubbing is still in progress. As of this writing (13 Jun 2014), it looks like the first 40 episodes have been dubbed, with more coming out at a rate of one per week. Once you've caught up with this, you'll be up-to-date with the dubs.
If you don't mind watching subs, start watching Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, which is ongoing as of Apr 2014. Konami has licensed it for dubbing, but the dubs presumably won't start until the dubs for ZEXAL series 2 are complete.

I didn't mention the "zeroth" series (the one released in 1998) anywhere in there because it's sort of orthogonal to the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise. As such, you can watch it at any point, though I would recommend watching it just before or after you watch the first series (just to see the contrasting ways in which the two series evolved). The "zeroth" series is 27 episodes in length, and was never dubbed, so you'll have to hunt down subtitles. Note also that a short film (titled just "Yu-Gi-Oh!") was produced, which you might want to watch after you've finished the "zeroth" series.


What music was Kaori "playing" in the roof of the hospital in episode 21?

It is "Saint-Saëns, Camille Introduction + Rondo Capriccioso". It was also used in Episode 4, when Kousei and Kaori perform together for the first time.

I believe the segment we hear here begins around the time that Kaori starts playing the violin again after stopping for Kousei. If you remember, she encouraged him to start again. We hear a lot of Kaori's and Kousei's thoughts during this time, where she wants to join him in the journey to being a musician. To struggle together no matter how dark the road ahead is. She is most likely trying to bring back Kousei's memory of the struggle they faced together on that stage, and encourage him again to continue.

Here is a version of it on YouTube.


Why do Terminal Services employees need to work in human-Giftia pairs?

It is possible that this sort of pairing is for the preservation of human life. Once a Giftia becomes a Wanderer they start to act on instinct alone which sometime leads to violent confrontation.

In the pairs the human is referred to as the "spotter" and the Giftia is the "Marksman". The Giftia are as close to humans as SAI Corp has been able to make with the current technology but they are not human. If one reads Isla's character bio its states that she "often has difficulty understanding how social situations work" this minor flaw could potentially cause a team of two Giftia's to miss a Wanderer if it's in the beginning stages.

The human is because overall the human will have more experience with human/android interaction so they will be able to pick up on the subtle signs that could start showing when a Giftia's time is almost up.

Also having the Giftia there can provide a buffer in between the human and Wanderer, granted the Giftia is still limited whereas the limiting functions on the Wanderer are off. Terminal Services would probably rather have a Giftia injured in a retrieval rather than a human.

This is a potential reason for the pairing of the two but I could be wrong, not much is stated as to why the pair has to be like that. ref from Plastic Memories Wikia


How did the Kaguya clan come into existence?

The when and how the clan came to be are fairly unclear through out the series. But we can make a guess as to when very roughly.
According to this timeline, Gamamaru was born in 984 BK (before nine tails attack). Which was said to be the same generation as Hagoromo, the first son of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Meaning that the creation would be in one of the years to follow
The clan was named after the first known user of the Tomogoroshi no haikotsu. As their power, the Shikotsumayaku was a derivative power of it.
This derivative power was obtained through descendants of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, indirectly making her the creator of the Kaguya clan.


Why have they been delaying Kizumonogatari for so long?

There's no doubt to the popularity of the Monogatari series that fans are clamoring for Kizu, but since it was delayed by production AND the immense popularity of Madoka Magika, what's probably happening now is that Kizumonogatari is likely being planned to be released towards the end of the franchises finale, as a reflective issue.

No source for info, just an observation and estimation. Tsukimonogatari marks the beginning of the end of the series, the final arc so it should be within this year that we hear news about it.


Any important information I need to know if I'm skipping the filler episodes of Bleach?

Feel free to look past the information given in the filler episodes. In Bleach, some of the filler episodes are original to the anime and some are adapted from the manga. Regardless of the source, crucial information isn't given in these episodes, I promise. If any information is referenced it's unimportant to the main plot and can usually be understood through context. If not, the confusion will be brief and fleeting. (Understanding these few moments is not worth the wasted time on the filler episodes.)

To be more specific to your situation, there aren't that many filler episodes before episode 111 anyway except the Bount Arc. It's mentioned a few times afterwards, but not in a way that will confuse you. (You'll understand through context that they were a group of people that attacked the Soul Society.) Some characters are introduced, like "the people with Kon" but as I'm sure you've noticed, they don't do much. You'll get the gist just by watching the non-filler episodes. Watch out though, as you get further into Bleach, you'll be skipping more and more episodes.


Is it ever stated who the disappearing applicant was?

405 entered the test. 1 was injured. So the 404 was correct. The hunter test is one of survival and cunning etc. the one Hisoka "Disarmed" could not continue with both arms gone.

Essentially he failed the test when he bumped into Hisoka and not apologizing. Perhaps if he had sensed his surroundings a little better, like a real hunter, the 404 would have been a 405.


Does Wendy eat air to help her with her power?

Yes, Carla said so (From Fairy Tail chapter 136, "Coffin")

Natsu : The "Sky Dragon Slayer". What does she eat?
Carla : Air
Natsu : Is it delicious?
Carla : Yes...


Did Kurama become a whole after the last war?

Yes.

During the war, Black Zetsu absorbs Minato's half of Kurama -- Minato tries to revive Naruto (from whom the other half was just extracted by Madara), but Zetsu steals it, and that is how the Gedo Statue becomes complete. Here is that particular scene on YouTube.

After the war, the "whole" Kurama goes back inside Naruto.


I think this link might help
naruto wiki.
Here it is said that it is yet unclear if there is an exam.
There is a mention of a Jounin Exam in Kurama Clan Arc (episodes 203 to 207),
and that they are apointed.
This info only counts for Naruto anime btw.


Does Reiner suffer from split personality or DID?

In a sense, yes.

Reiner's psychological issues resemble those of dissociative identity disorder, in which a person's identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personality states, producing behavior changes and lapses in memory

Reiner's DID type personally started shortly after the untimely death of his old comrade. Reiner began taking on some of their personality and entwining it with his own over time.

 Following Marcel's death, Reiner began incorporating elements from his personality into his own. He became more decisive and assertive, even willing to threaten Annie and Bertolt to ensure they followed his orders, yet also deeply caring and genuinely desiring to protect them
 [...]
 By the time he joined the 104th Training Corps, Reiner had completely incorporated Marcel's personality into his own

Source


How did Tobi suck in Foo using Kamui without touching him?

This can't be possible since Tobi must materialize and touch his opponent in case he wants to absorb him. This is a mistake that was made by the animators. See the quote below from narutopedia:

  Occasionally, in the anime, when Tobi goes to absorb his opponent he does not touch them, this is a mistake that the animators made as in the manga there is always bodily contact. A notable occasion of this is when Tobi fights Danzō's bodyguards, he does not have any physical contact with Fū when he absorbs him.


I think she is neither of them, not Sadist nor Masochist (or maybe bother of them at the same time, depends on how we look at it). But she is crazy (I really mean mentally crazy) let me explain to you why.

What junko really loves isn't really hurting or being hurt, what she loves is the feeling of dispair, whether she is the one feeling it or making others feeling it. So if making  someone or herself feel despair goes through hurting them or being hurt, then she won't hesitate to do so. But as I said , she is crazy, because she has a paradox that keeps looping in her mind. The paradox is that she want others to feel despair, but she also wants to feel despair as well, because her feeling despair makes her happy, but the problem is that in order to feel despair, she has to for exemple kill a loved one, but if we think about it if you love someone enough, then you don't kill him, but she would kill just for the sake of that despair. And the worse of all, is that even if you want to punish her for what she has done, you can't, because she would feel joy out of being in despair if you were to punish her. So she is a lost case, a crazy one at it.

So her mind is obcessed with despair not necessarily with masochism or sadism, she is just completely out of her mind.


What is the song at the end of episode 6 of "Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple"?

I think that they used the instrumental song : Koike Joanna - Catch your dreams (Karaoke Version)

And they added the lyrics on a little part of that Karaoke Version, that they repeated.

You can find it here : http://www.ost-center.com/ost/anime/shijou-saikyou-no-deshi-kenichi-ed2-single-catch-your-dream-ost-7262.html


Why did Kaneki's hair turn back to its original colour?

My interpretation was that it was purely symbolic. I saw the white hair as a change in his personality, a sort of draining of his "color" or original personality. When his hair changes back, we see some of his old self coming back.
Keep in mind that writers don't necessarily make those sorts of decisions with medical backing. Pure symbolism is often a very large factor.


Are "Guren no Tsuki" and "Honoo no Kokuin" set in the same continuity?

Guren no Tsuki (Garo Animation 2) so Eastern and locate in Japan

Honoo no Kokuin (Garo Animation 1) so Western & locate in somewhere not Japan or Eastern Country

Number doesn't tell about sequel, it telling about second production


Why are next episode previews suddenly moved from TV to online?

To promote the incoming anime.

Apparently, Animeism (a late-night Japanese anime programming block on MBS) -- and to the extent of anime produced by MBS -- has a routine of cutting entirely/shortening next episode's previews by 15 seconds to promote incoming anime when it's nearing the end.

In this case, since Kill la Kill's next episode's previews were 15 seconds long, they were entirely cut and replaced by PVs for Riddle Story of the Devil since episode 19 out of 24 (refer to the Wikipedia's list on block B2). Also, since they had worked on next episode's previews, they would be wasted if they hadn't shown them somewhere (e.g. official site).

Another example is Hozuki's Coolheadedness which had 30-seconds next episode's previews. In that case, they're shortened to 15 seconds then continue with Knights of Sidonia's 15-seconds PV.

Lastly, even for non-Animeism anime, but produced by MBS like Magi, it's also affected. Their 15-seconds next episode's previews got entirely cut to show 15-seconds PV for Haikyu!!

  previews resumed in the later episodes!

This is just a theory since I don't have enough information to make a conclusion, but if it's not simulcasted or otherwise on streaming sites which had more flexibility in time arrangement, then the next preview could be added manually from the official site.

Source:

matome blog (Japanese)
Yahoo! Chiebukuro (Japanese): 1, 2


Is there any scene in Naruto where the destruction of the Uzumaki clan was shown?

No, there's no scene. Uzushiogakure was destroyed by some of the world's nations banding together out of the fear that it was too powerful.


Is the Fruit of Grisaia an actual fruit?

According to this interview with Front Wing Producer, President, and CEO, Ryuuichirou Yamakawa:

  山川　絵画の画法でモノトーンで書く手法を「グリザイユ」というのですが、これを少し、いじって『グリザイアの果実』つまり「灰色の果実」という意味が込められています

The word "grisaia" is a corruption of the French term used in art, "grisaille," a method of painting in monochrome or near-monochrome, typically to resemble the appearance of marble sculptures. So literally it's meant to be "the gray-colored fruit" or something like that.

The fruits refer "guilt" the heroines bear, as described by the story synopsis of the game:

  ──その学園は、少女達の果樹園だった。
  外敵から隔離された学園にやってきたのは、生きる目的をなくした一人の少年。
  守るべき物を見失い、後悔と贖罪のみに費やされる人生の中で、その少年に残されたのは首に繋がれた太い鎖と、野良犬にも劣る安い命。
  そして少年は、その学園で少女達と出会い、新たな希望を見つけ出す。

  ──その少女は、生まれてきたことが既に間違いだった
  逆らった罪──
  ──生きながらの死
  誰も守ってなんかくれない──
  ──そして生き残った罰。

  そこは、少女達の果樹園。
  彼女達は、後悔の樹に実った懺悔の果実。そんな少女達に、俺はいったい何が出来る…？
  それは、一人の少年が夢見た永遠の希望──

  That academy – used to be the orchard of young girls.
  A lonely boy, who lost his purpose to live, came to that isolated-from-the-foreign-enemies academy.
  Lose sight of things that should be protected, he spends his life in living day by day with regret and atonement. His life is cheaper than a stray dog when that heavy cangue still around his neck.
  And then at that academy, the boy finds out his new hope in encountering with these girls.

  ──That girl, who being born was already a mistake.
  Who defied the sin──
  ──Who died though she’s living.
  Who no one will protect── [Note: translation corrected]
  ──and who being punished for surviving.

  That place is the girls’ orchard.
  The trees of regret bear the fruit of repentance of those girls. What on earth can I do for these girls...?
  That is the eternal hope which the lonely boy dreamt...

Each heroine is represented by a fruit:

Yumiko = grape
Suou = cherry
Michiru = lemon
Irisu = strawberry
Sachi = apple


What was the purpose of turning Eldians into titans in the anime season 2?

Well, I'm still reading the manga, but moreover, I can say that there are some reasons behind all this. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me as I'm still reading the manga.
If you have only viewed the anime:

You can see how the scouts wasted their time by identifying if there is any breach in the wall. They were all confused about the appearance of the Titans from nowhere and they were under the false impression that people have evacuated safely from the village without any harm.

If you don't mind spoilers, these are the reasons he might have done so, as per manga:
I'll explain the drawbacks you mentioned above:

He risked losing Reiner/Berthold powers if they would be eaten by titans

Since the titans were made from the spinal fluid from Zeke, they will always listen to the beast titan/Zeke. So they will not eat Reiner and Bertholdt unless Zeke says so. And why would he do that, because all three are there for the only one reason to get back the founding titan.

He wouldn't confirm that way if Eren's titan is the one they are looking for

The main goal to invade the Paradis Island was to get back the founding titan (Eren is the current holder), so basically they were kidnapping Eren, even if you feel Zeke's action doesn't comply with the goal, he might have done that to misguide the scouts.

He leaked important information to Recon Squad that Titans are transformed people (Hange figured it out)

He wanted them to know what is actually happening outside the walls (Especially about the war). As the Fritz king bloodline falsely spread the rumours that there is no humanity outside the walls. So basically he wanted to let them know, that you've been told wrong about everything. Later in the manga Zeke, reveals his true colours and agrees to help Paradis Island to defeat Marley so that New Eldia can be built.

The last sentence from above might not be correct, because Hanje suspects that Zeke is brainwashing Eren and have different plans, acting as a double agent, because Eren turned against Military. Later he also turns Levi's subordinates into Titans (As they drank wine with Zeke's spinal fluid which was imported from Marley), so his goal was to kill Levi in this, as he thinks Levi will not fight his comrades (after converting them to Titan), which he later realises that he was wrong after getting captured by Levi again.


What happened with Iwao Kuroiwa and Yukinori Shinohara after the battle against Yoshimura?

I'm not sure about anime, but in manga, Iwao Kuroiwa

   lost his left arm, which was replaced by prosthesis.

and Yukinori Shinohara

   suffered brain damage due to heavy blood loss, and ended up in vegetable state.

In short, both characters are alive, but battle with Owl led to consequences of varying severity.


What is the song playing in My Hero Academia season 3 episode 19 at about 7:25?

Mysterious - Soundtrack from My Hero Academia season 1

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BuBZVTG4pU


What "thing" were Taiga and Ryuuji talking about in Episode 1?

The "something" is referred to love. Only, person who can see it are the whole bunch of people wanted to have it. because that's the way its meant to be. its what said at start and end of the super duper series. However, somehow it links to the conversation ryuji had with kushieda , about the ghost and UFOs on the beach house.As, Kushieda wanted to see how ghost looks like. It might be referred to the love we have for those who surround us. as in case of Taiga and Ryuji, the whole time the thought themselves as friends and never realised that was the love which don't let them move away from each other.And at last only they were able to see it as they both craved for it for their life. Both of them missed the love from their family. and found each other.
the ending was very satisfying and letting me down too. As Kushieda and Ami chan, both developed the feeling of love and affection to Ryuji. While kushieda thought taiga needed him more and she was feeling guilty of being trying to steal Ryuji from her if she confesses her love towards ryuji while, Ami was the most mature girl in the school , who believed that Ryuji and Taiga both love each other. And she can't have Ryuji because trying will only give her pain just like Kushieda.
The biggest sacrifice was made by Kushieda, she was betrayed by both his love and Best friend. While, I felt super bad for Ami too as she was badmouthing like taiga but she is always helpful to both Ryuji and Taiga. Honestly, Kushieda able to confess her feelings to both ryuji and Taiga in end episode - Confession. But Ami never able too, she only kept it to herself. And that was very painful.
Don't wait for Season 2, as the story was never meant for next season. Its complete on its own.Also, don't forget to watch the real ending after the finishing song in the series.