The vessel to the Holy Grail, known as the Lesser Grail, is used to summon the Greater Grail, which resides in the cavern underneath Ryuudou Temple. It is the Greater Grail, which allows a magus to access the Root or re-obtain the Third Magic, so it stands to reason that it is also meant to grant the promised wish to Masters and Servants.
Up until the end of the Third Holy Grail War, the Lesser Grail was literately a cup, but during the Third War it was revealed how the ceremony could easily be interrupted, as the Lesser Grail was damaged before the war concluded. Since the Lesser Grail failed to function properly due to damage, it could not call forth the Greater Grail, and thus the ceremony was meaningless.
In preparation for the Fourth War, Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the head of the Einzbern Family, used the families expertise in the Thaumaturgical School of Alchemy to create a Homunculus to "cover" the Lesser Grail in a humanoid shape in order for it to be self-managed (i.e. be able to protect itself). This led to Irisviel being created.

Up until the third Grail War, the vessel for the Grail, also called the Lesser Grail (小聖杯, shouseihai), was a literal "cup". However, during the events of the third War, it was damaged in battle and the ceremony was interrupted; for that reason, it had to be made as something that could manage and protect itself.

Source: Holy Grail - Container
Because the Einzbern's seek victory over all else, both Irisviel and Illyasviel will slowly lose aspects of themselves as each servant is defeated.

As each servant dies, its energy would flow into her artificial body. When six servants die, her body would be destroyed and give birth to the Holy Grail. Thus, by having Homunculus participate in the war, the Einzbern master would never be able to make a wish even when they win.
[...]
As a vessel of the Grail, Illya's body can only take up to 4 servants and if she absorbs the fifth servant, she wouldn't function as a human any longer.

Source - Illyasviel von Einzbern - Vessel of the Grail
As seen in Fate/Zero, as Iris began to get weaker, Saber was necessitated to drive and carry her things, and she ultimately showed Saber how weak she had become by trying to squeeze her hand. The same happened to Ilya in Fate/Stay Night, where she was shown to get weaker and become bedridden.
After the Fourth War, Zouken Matou collected the fragments of the broken Lesser Grail (the Cup the appeared from Iris's body) and used them on Sakura through his worms

At the end of the Fourth War, Zouken acquired the fragments of the destroyed Grail. He combined the fragments with his Crest worms, which he put inside Sakura's body. Though she was incomplete, this turned her into a second Lesser Grail.

This would prevent Zouken from having to fight for possession of the vessel while taking care not to damage it. However, Sakura can be seen as the Black Grail1, as it is through her that Angra Mainyu could achieve its desire to be born. Ilya, having knowledge of Angra Mainyu and its corruption of the Greater Grail, was never manipulated by it, and thus remained a pure White Grail1
Because the Greater Grail is hidden, it stands to reason that anyone outside the Einzbern's and Zouken (and possibly the Tohsaka's, though I can't remember if Rin knew about the Greater Grail before Ilya's explanation in Heaven's Feel) wouldn't be able to have their wish "granted" if the vessel was destroyed, as they wouldn't know where the Greater Grail was. It's also hard to determine what would happen should someone try and use the Greater Grail without the Lesser Grail, as the only people to "use" the Greater Grail are Lesser Grails themselves (Sakura used it as a Prana Source during her fight with Rin in Heaven's Feel, and Ilya used the Third Magic to save Shirou in the True End of Heaven's Feel).
Also, depending on when the Vessel is destroyed, the Prana can build up from previous wars. Each war is supposed to take place roughly every 60 years, because this is how long it is needed for the Greater Grail to "recharge" to begin the next war. However, as the Vessel was destroyed in the Fourth War before the Greater Grail was used, there was a build up of Prana, allowing there to be only a 10 year gap between the Fourth and the Fifth wars.

1 This is just my terminology, as Ilya wore white when she was about to use the Greater Grail, while Sakura wore black when she accepted The Shadow.


To complement Anon153's answer, here's a relevant quotation from TYPE-MOON Wiki:

  Gilgamesh is one of the antagonists in each scenario of Fate/stay
  night. He first appears before the start of the Fifth Holy Grail War
  around Sakura's house. He identifies her as “the other Grail” and
  comes to tell her “Go die right now.” It is just a suggestion rather
  than a command, as he believes that the matter will develop into some
  sort of entertainment regardless of the situation. When questioned
  about the encounter, Sakura just claims that he was asking for
  directions and that “It was English” in order to hide the truth.

And source referenced is as follows (Citation Note 14):

  Fate/complete material III World material - FAQ with Nasu: General Questions about Fate, p.130
  Q: Prior to the start of the Holy Grail War, what was Gilgamesh doing around Sakura’s house?
  A: Yes. He came to tell Sakura to “Go die right now”. It is rather a suggestion than command. Regardless the situation, from the King’s perspective, this matter will develop into some sort of entertainment. As a result, what Gilgamesh said was not a command. Sakura’s reply “It was English” was a convenient excuse to hide the truth.


Tangelo Island is situated in the Orange Archipelago, a series of islands in the Pokémon world, located south of the Kanto region. Each of these islands is tropical and generally warm, and many of them are named after fruits—particularly oranges (its namesake) and other citrus fruits:

Valencia Island (Valencia oranges)
Tangelo Island (the tangelo)
Mikan Island (the Japanese name for satsuma oranges)
Sunburst Island (sunburst tangerines)
Mandarin Island, North and South (Mandarin oranges)
Kinnow Island (the kinnow)
Navel Island (navel oranges)
Seven Grapefruit Islands (the grapefruit)
Golden Islands (possibly the Shonan Gold)
Murcott Island (a type of tangor)
Trovita Island (a type of navel orange)
Fairchild Island (the Fairchild mango)
Shamouti Island (another name for the Jaffa orange)
Ascorbia Island (named after ascorbic acid, a common acid in citrus fruits)
Butwal Island (the Butwal lemon(unable to find a link on this))
Kumquat Island (the kumquat)
Rind Island (another name for a fruit peel)
Pummelo Island (alternate spelling of pomelo)
Tarroco Island (a misspelling of "tarocco", a variation of the blood orange)
Hamlin Island (the Hamlin orange)

(Note: All of the above islands also have Japanese names, such as "Bontan Island" that you pointed out, which are also largely related to citrus and citrus fruits. Additionally, there are a handful of unnamed islands, and a few named after the basic elements as well.)

Pinkan Island is another island in this area, whose name is derived from the Japanese word for "citrus" (柑 kan), and which grows berries by the name of Pinkan Berries.

However, aside from Pinkan Island, none of the others appear to grow fruits that are related to their name. It does not appear as if Tangelo grows tangelos and Navel Island grows navel oranges, for example. There may be fruits growing on these islands, like the Pinkan Berry, but there is not a trend for each of the islands that has determined the names of the islands.

In fact, like you pointed out, the Japanese and English names often diverge quite significantly; the reason they are able to do this is that each island is not specifically named after what grows there.


Why are crosses so popular in anime and manga?

One possible explanation could be that it looks foriegn or exotic, or "western". In Neon Genesis Evangelion, which uses the cross symbol pretty rampantly, one of the creators gave this explanation (from the Q&A "Amusing Himself to Death" with Tsurumaki):

  Can you explain the symbolism of the cross in Evangelion?

  KT: There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool. If we had known the show would get distributed in the US and Europe we might have rethought that choice.

(Emphasis is mine)

So it may not be that the cross means something different in Japan (most weddings take place in a Christian church, I believe), but that because it has an air of the exotic or mysterious.


When did Shanks get scarred by Blackbeard?

Marshall D. Teech (Aka Blackbeard)  was always a twisted and very calculating person, right from the start. He just never really showed his true personality to the rest of his crewmates, until he found the fruit he was looking for; he said so himself during his battle with Ace.

During Shanks conversation with Whitebeard, Shanks told Whitebeard the real truth about Blackbeard, when he stated that: "Blackbeard was quietly waiting for a chance. He didn't take the title of commander to be renowned, but rather to conceal himself."

Since Shanks and Whitebeard were on good terms, Shanks would most likely have visited Whitebeard a couple times previously, and apparently, during one of those visits, Blackbeard was able to catch Shanks off guard (which is still surprising, considering how adept Shanks is at Haki) and injured him.


How come sports anime never have tryouts?

Japan is very different from the US, and I've picked up on some of subtleties that by watching waaaay too much anime.

Japan

Japan is a socialist state, Asians are very communal, and from what I can tell, sports are not just sports, but also clubs.  Students join a single club, be it a sports club, or the epitomous occult club.  Oftentimes the captain of the club has final say on who can join, and we've seen in many anime that there is paperwork involved.  As stated in the comments above, sometimes even a stellar rookie doesn't have access to contribute, instead letting the older students play on the team and/or first string.

In Japan (probably many Asian cultures), the student would be worried about embarrassing his teammates if he was unable to contribute.  Once accepted by the team, if he or the team feels that he was especially under performing, social ostracization would kick in.  You've probably seen this in anime where people talk loudly behind their hand and say awful things.  This shaming would be an effect to make the under performing team member quit the team.  Shame is a big part of Asian culture, and not a big part of the American way, so it might be hard to wrap your head around how important it is to them.  I don't fully get it, but I can see that it exists.

The USA

Contrast that with the US, where individuality is encouraged, sports teams are not clubs, and students can usually join clubs and sports teams.  There's usually not paperwork to join, though a liability waiver might be signed.  As stated above, there's free reign to let awesome rookies perform, so it's highly desirable to find out who your best players are, and a tryout is one way to assess how good your incoming players are.

In the USA, you might join the sports team, go to practice, and participate in the background until you hit your breakout moment.  Since you're not in an anime (Netflix is working on that though), you might not find a breakout moment, and you might just be a small contributing member.  If the school or team is big enough, there might be a limited number of slots on the team, so tryouts would be in order.  I'd hazard a WAG that even though Asia is more populous, they have more (and smaller) schools, where here in the US, schools can get a lot bigger, thus triggering tryouts due to size more often.

Anime

In anime, the MC usually joins a non-performant or loser team (take Hinomaruzumou (MAL) for example), and then through plot armor, awesomesauce, friendship, and some tsundere, makes it a winning team.  That's not usually how reality works, East or West.  But that's what makes an entertaining anime.  In an anime like this, the club captain is usually trying to get the minimum number of members so that the club doesn't get cancelled, so tryouts would be counter productive.

In anime where the club is not in danger of being forcibly disbanded, the MC usually has some desirable trait to make the club captain try to recruit the MC, again bypassing any kind of a tryout.  I'm not a big sports anime fan, but every time I've seen a sports anime (or an anime with sports elements), it fits into either of these categories.

Sources: Watching too much anime, and therefore osmosis of Japanese culture.  Also, the comments above that should have been answers confirm my osmosis.


Just who knew Arturia was female when she was King?

According to Garden of Avalon, only Merlin, Uther (before he died), Ector (her foster father that raised her from the age of 5), Kay (her foster brother), and Guinevere once they married. Closer to the end of Artoria's kingdom, Guinevere reveals this to Lancelot as well once they start getting closer.

In the Camelot chapter in Fate/Grand Order, Agravain reveals that he found out about it when he discovered the affair.

While not explicitly stated anywhere I'm aware of, the circumstances of Mordred's conception/raising imply Morgan must have known as well.


Does Tobi control his teleportation consciously?

I'm thinking that it is voluntary, since he uses his Magekyou to do it, and it is the same technique as Kakashi's.

Also because he is able to quickly change between using (to dodge an attack) and not using it (to attack someone). Furthermore, Naruto headbutted him and he did not dodge it.

Later, Naruto hits him with a rasengan, breaking his mask and revealing his identity as Obito. Although he was 'trapped' (because of the Bijuu-dama) on the other dimension, if it were automatic, I'm guessing he wouldn't have been able to not dodge it, being fried by the Bijuu-dama 'back here'.

EDIT:
Although I say voluntary, it may be seen as semi-automatic (or even automatic, for that matter), in the sense that he does not actually think about it, but rather acts instinctively. However, I think it is triggered by his will, and not entirely automatic.


Which version of One Punch Man is more expanded, the webcomic or the manga?

The webcomic is the original.  The manga is the adaptation of the webcomic, and the anime is based on the manga.  The webcomic is noticeably further along.  The anime, including the most recently aired episode from season 2, does not even put us at chapter 50 of the webcomic.  The Garou arc ends in the webcomic at around Chapter 97, and currently extends to chapter 112.

The manga, however, begins to add a great deal more content not present in the webcomic at around the chapter 50 mark.  The basic idea is still the same, but a lot of additional fights and sub-storylines get added.

   There's a tournament story coming up that you can see several characters and scenes from in the season 2 opening.  No such thing exists in the webcomic, nor do many of the characters that appear in the tournament, including the characters that are the most important to the storyline.

So, yes, the manga is the more "fleshed out" version.  ONE cooperates with creating (or at least approving) the new storylines and expanded backstories that appear in the manga, but Murata adds his own little take and spin on things in the end. My understanding is that everything in the manga can be considered canon at this point.

Some people prefer the one over the other, that said.  There are two major points of contrast.

The webcomic has a crude simplicity to its art style.  There are a few scenes here and there were you can see the mangaka actually does have greater artistic skills than you might otherwise have come to believe.  This was the result of ONE originally not expecting it to take off in the way it did, and so approached it in a very relaxed style.  Some feel it adds to the charm, and at times accentuates the comedy and certain character attitudes in ways a more refined artistic style perhaps could not.  On the other hand, the manga is drawn by Murata, a highly skilled professional manga artist, capable of producing exquisitely detailed art. He approaches the task with a great deal of fun, often live-streaming as he draws new chapters. He was a fan of the webcomic who proposed the idea of him doing the art on a manga adaptation to ONE. Early in the manga there are scenes where he is clearly just reveling in the story and world and not worrying about forcing the story forward.
Pacing will be different. The manga version often drastically expands existing fights and backstories, or adds all new ones, while also introducing a whole host of additional monsters and heroes.  The Boros fight in the webcomic is much shorter than it is in the manga, and Saitama never gets launched to the moon in the webcomic, for example. Some enjoy getting all of these extra details, while others may wish it would just move on to the next plot point. You can expect the manga will stay in this more heavily detailed but slightly more meandering style, as it is done in part to try to stop the manga from catching up to the webcomic too quickly (the webcomic has had multiple long hiatuses in its history, including one that only ended this month).


Why doesn't Minato use Sage mode against the "Masked Man"?

In the 4th great ninja war Minato himself says that he can't use sage mode efficiently. This because it requires a lot of time to gather that much chakra, and he is not adept at using sage mode.


An action anime featuring guns about a boy and a girl who resolves a bus hijacking incident in one of the episodes

It sounds like Hidan no Aria (English title: Aria The Scarlet Ammo), except that the girl (Kanzaki H. Aria) has pink hair instead of blonde hair (her hair was originally blonde, though). Both of the protagonists are adept with guns, since they are students at Tokyo Butei High, where students are trained to become Butei (Armed Detective).

Episode 3 of the series features a bus hijacking incident, where the bus would be blown up if it were to slow down or stop. However, the part about leaning the bus with the weight of all the people on the bus does not occur in this series. Also, they were not stuck on the bus from the beginning, but they actually took on the mission to rescue everyone on the bus. They did get on the bus to search for the bomb, though.

The second half of episode 1 of the series features a scene where the two protagonists were inside a vaulting box inside a warehouse, when some remote controlled Segway mounted with guns came and shot at them. The male protagonist Tōyama Kinji (after activating Hysteria Mode, a special condition that runs in his family) shot into the muzzles of all the guns, causing all of them to explode.

Episode 4 and 5 is where the two protagonists found out that Mine Riko, one of their friends at school, was actually the culprit behind the previous incidents in episode 1 and 3. They had a few shootouts in the plane, and Riko escape from the plane by opening a hole on side of the plane with explosives and turning her clothes into a parachute.


Significance of Aang's left eye and hand lighting up

I haven't evidence for this answer however, I think that it's for illustrate both states of the Avatar Aang:

Aang as a human
Aang in it's Avatar state.


Why do we see these witches in Rebellion?

First off. when Homulily appears the Puella Magi were still inside Homura's Soul Gem which is still inside the Incubator's Isolation Field. the purpose of this field was to isolate Homura's Soul Gem from the rest of the universe to observe what happens to a Soul Gem before it shatters and taken by the Law of Cycles, hopefully understanding how the Law of Cycles works and ultimately control it to reinstate the Witch System for energy gathering (it being far superior to the current method of killing Wraiths as indicated by the Incubator at the end of series (after Madoka remade the Universe and Homura explained it to them))

Also Madoka was without her power. when she became aware of the Incubator's Plot she wanted to save Homura, however it was obviously a trap so her memories and power was given to 2 people, Sayaka and Nagisa. because Madoka sees and exists in the universe at all points in time it's hard to tell what happened in the universe while she was away however remember that it wasn't until the Puella Magi destroyed the Isolation Field and freed every did Madoka Kami descend.

with Nagisa and Sayaka, remember that Witches are Magical Girls who gave into despair. the result of Madoka's Wish, as the Law of Cycles, was to appear before a Magical Girl and allow them to die with hope, knowing they wont turn into the very thing they have been stopping in hurting they people they care about. Both Mami and The Incubators note that when the Law of Cycles takes a Magical Girl away their Soul Gem Shatters and we see this happen in the previous universe too, the same thing happens when they became a witch but instead the Soul Gem reforms into a Grief Seed.

Because Magical Girl's and Witches are the same and as the Incubators said

  since this country calls women who are still growing up shoujo (少女 girls), for girls who on the way of becoming majo (魔女 witches), it's logical to call them mahou shoujo (魔法少女 magical girls).

one can assume that the potential to become a Witch is always present which is why Madoka could become a Witch after making her contract and destroying Walpurgisnacht in one attack (since what was she despairing over? Everyone else but Homura was already gone) and how she has to take a Magical Girl away before they become a witch. because Sayaka and Nagisa worked with Madoka in this mission to save Homura it's possible Madoka may have helped them control their Witch form or they learned to do it themselves as preparation for this1, no one really knows what becomes of Magical Girls when in Madoka's Care in.

i do discount the theory that their Witch Forms was apart of the powers Madoka gave them as Sayaka and Nagisa gave this back to Madoka in the end yet in Homura's Universe Sayaka was about to summon Oktavia before Homura interfeared

1: after all, they are dealing with a race who could hide Homura's pending transformation from Madoka, and they are conniving little white shits!


Are Hollows defeated by humans who are not Quincies considered as destroyed or "purified"?

If killed by a Soul Reaper they go to Soul Society if they were actually good, so only the bad ones go to Hell. Quincy destroy them completely. Humans just kill them and send them to Hell. Only Soul Reapers purify them.

Not a source, but I watched all episodes of Bleach and finished the manga. At one point they are talking about how Chad's or Orihime's powers are special. Chad said something about his spiritual pressure doing something when he went to Hueco Mundo, and Hachigan was a Soul Reaper/Vizard with Orihime's power.

Captain Kurotsuchi also said it when he realized the Quincy were invading.


So after speaking with a friend...
The "recitals" were merely sessions by Bonaparte in which his picture books were read to the children in order to brainwash them. This was all part of his experiment.

According to Wikipedia:

  Bonaparta is held responsible for the eugenics experiment leading to the birth of the Liebert twins, and author of the storybooks used to indoctrinate the children of Rose Mansion (notably The Nameless Monster, from which Johan took his name and his mode of operation). Other books include The Big Eyed Man and the Big Mouthed Man, The God of Peace and The Quiet Village. His stories are full of metaphor and symbolism, often with monsters as important characters. Most also promote the idea that human nature contains the ability to become good or evil, although his works tend to denounce humanity rather than uplift it.


Why does Killua get upset when Gon says "being weak is so painful" in manga chapter 214?

TL;DR version

Killua cries because he remembers that his own weakness of fighting with the aim of running away will cause him to leave his best friend, Gon, to die.

Detailed version

Killua was born into the famous Zoldyck family of assassins. His family has already decided that he would be an assassin, and put him through harsh training for that purpose, right from childhood.

After meeting Gon during the Hunter exam, Killua decided that he wanted to be Gon's friend and lead a normal life, not be an assassin. As they spent time together during the later arcs, Gon's friendship became the most important thing for Killua. It was also his source of hope for escaping from the life his family had pre-decided for him.

Shortly before this incident in the question, Biscuit points out that Killua's weakness is he fights with the aim of running away, and further notes that it would cause Killua to leave Gon to die some day. This wasn't a mean taunt by an enemy, but an assessment of his weakness by his Nen teacher, and he probably realized that it was true.

It would have been immensely painful for him to realize that his weakness would cause him to leave Gon to die, Gon being his best friend, the person who changed his life and gave him hope of leading a normal life. For that reason, he decided to protect Gon for 30 days, and then leave him forever.

When Gon says that "being weak is so painful", it resonates perfectly with Killua's own feelings, and so he cries too.


What are OVAs and how are they different from Specials?

Broadly, the two terms could be interchanged, although there are a few points of (almost) difference:

OVAs are generally released for home video (be that VHS, DVD, or whatever), whereas it's possible for a Special to be released as a television broadcast that is just separate from the rest of the show.
OVAs are often shorter than a normal episode of the show, while Specials are often as long or longer, although this definitely doesn't always hold.
Some OVAs are not associated with a show, so they aren't a "special episode" of anything. For example, the series Video Girl Ai was only ever released as a 6 episode straight-to-video OVA.


Do people still travel to and from Vers after Heaven's Fall?

We found out right at the beginning of episode 1 (around 0:22) that Asseylum herself left Vers just two months before the start of the show, at which point she is in Earth orbit (in Cruhteo's castle). Also, in episode 21, we see that Klancain (Cruhteo Jr.) has come from Vers to meet Slaine.

So transit from Earth-vicinity to Mars without the Hypergate surely must be possible, but this of course says nothing about how prevalent it is.

I suppose this also does tells us one more thing - the fastest mode of transit from Mars to Earth orbit must take somewhere under two months, which is considerably faster than all currently proposed ways of getting people to Mars.

If we want to look to marginally-less-canonical material: the second volume of the BDs came with a short manga titled "Aldnoah.Zero Extra Episode 01", which portrays Slaine's life right after the passing of his father, including his being taken in by Cruhteo.

Here, we learn that the Orbital Knights (or at least Cruhteo) and their retinue come to Vers every so often on business.

  Top left panel: Asseylum asks Cruhteo, "You had come to Vers?"; bottom right panel: Cruhteo replies, "I had a minor matter to attend to."


What is the equivalent of "seme" and "uke" in yuri culture?

If you use "uke" and "seme" to describe particpants in yuri relationships, I imagine you'll be understood, but it'd be very weird - male homosexual relationships and female homosexual relationships are conceptualized quite differently from one another in Japan, and uke/seme is only an element of the former. I don't think Memor-X's answer quite gets at this.

Here is a basic (and oversimplified) sketch of how homosexuality is conceptualized: in a relationship between two men, one of them needs to "be the woman". Hence, we have this deep dichotomy between "uke" ("the woman") and "seme" ("the man"). On the other hand, in a relationship between two women, there is no need for one of them to "be the man" - and so the uke/seme distinction does not arise as obviously. Indeed, there's this notion called リバ (~"riba", from "reversible") to describe a lesbian who is fluid with respect to her role in a sexual situation; I'm not aware of an equivalent term for men.

Why is there this asymmetry? The reasons are probably myriad; one obvious one derives from how penetrative sex works - one party must "attack" ("seme") and the other party must "receive" ("uke") - and penetrative sex is obviously more commonly an element of male homosexual relationships than female ones. In this respect, Euro-American and Japanese notions of male homosexuality are not entirely dissimilar.

But anyway, whatever the reason, the fact of the matter is that uke/seme terminology is by far more entrenched in the male homosexual community than the female homosexual community. And this distinction percolates from actual homosexual communities to the communities of people who consume media about homosexuality (yaoi/yuri). The Japanese-proficient reader may like to note the following:

The Japanese Wikipedia article on yuri does not reference the notion of "uke" or "seme".
dic.pixiv's article on yuri has explicit commentary about the ordering of names in a pairing (consider "MadoHomu" vs. "HomuMado") having nothing to do with uke/seme. (dic.pixiv is obviously not a "reliable source" in the WP:IRS sense, but I'd say it is reflective of the views and concerns of the community of people who consume yuri media.)
The glossary on the website of the "Lesbian Girls Club" in Osaka (with the wonderful domain name "lesbian.jp") only uses "uke" and "seme" as part of comparisons to related notions specific to lesbianism, like "tachi" and "neko" (as noted in makihige's answer).
But, things like dic.pixiv and other websites for fans of yuri media generally do not use the terms "tachi" and "neko". For reasons that are unclear to me, these terms, unlike "uke" and "seme", do not seem to have percolated from the lesbian community to fans of yuri media.

The basic takeaways are these:

Using "uke" and "seme" for female-female relationships is weird and not generally done.
That particular dichotomy is not really even a thing in the Japanese conception of lesbianism, though other dichotomies, like "tachi"/"neko", are things.
Consequently, in yuri media, "uke" and "seme" are, again, not really used.
However, "tachi" and "neko" are not really used by fans of yuri media either.

And so, the answer to OP's title question is basically this: not only is there not a one-to-one equivalent to "uke"/"seme"; there isn't even really any terminology at all that's used to dichotomize relationships in yuri media. Them's the breaks.


What philosophical concepts and/or authors are referenced in the series?

It's been a long time since I have watched the anime, but here's a quick rundown of some of the concepts I think the anime portrayed:

Absurdism

The resulting conflict, called the "Absurd," to find meaning and not being able to find any, at least, not in a humanely possible way. In other words, meaning can be logically found, but not be achieved. This concept is shown in Raul's mental breakdown as he slowly loses any possible source of meaning in his life. His adopted child, for example, could have been a source of meaning, but as he loses that and Pino, he began to create the Absurd and the way he resolves this is through suicide. The are other examples of the Absurd, more noticeable when they're talking about their Raison d'Etre. Others can handle the Absurd in a different way, particularly the Proxies because they're not (normal) humans, although those like Re-L was able to handle it as well in the end. The way Ergo Proxy portrayed Vincent's journey can also classify this work as an Absurdist Fiction.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

Mind-Body Problem

This is more broad and can be divided into two subcategories: dualism and monism or physicalism (also called Identity Theory). Dualism is where the mind is separate from the body and the latter is when the mind is the body. This issue is addressed when the robots begins to acquire sentience on their own. The Cogito virus, which seems to be immaterial, is what gives the robots in the series their free will, their "mind," similar to how dualism says that the mind is immaterial and separate from the body. Yet, the experiences each robot has is what makes them act different, which also depends on the body. The state of mind of an intimidating military robot is going to be different than that of Pino, where people are more likely to treat her like a child. This issue is also more notable between Ergo and Vincent.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind%E2%80%93body_problem

Social Contract

The anime briefly touched on this, but it's there. The legitimacy of Romedau's government is questioned. Cities can be created and destroyed easily by the Proxies, so it seems that the council is very powerless. More than that, no one voluntarily enters these cities. Rather, people are forced to exist inside them, either through artificial birth or through emigration (they were either to die in the harsh outside environment or live inside). In contrast, the commune outside of Romedeau works the opposite, in a way. Thus the problem: would you be willing to give up some of your freedom for comfort or would you rather have complete freedom?

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract

Existentialism

Very similar to absurdism. This problem is the question of where meaning comes from, if there is at all. It also deals with the issue of where existence came from, whether we existed without our bodies and how does it relate to our meaning. Existentialism on its own is too broad, however, but it seems to me that the anime touched on this as well.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

There's a lot of references on the other hand, so I'll only list a few:

Utilitarianism - Society should be guided so that everyone is equally happy. Thus everyone in Romedau is given meaning.

Transhumanism - There was a scene where a city is run completely by robots. This seems to be more of a jab on transhumanism rather than a support for it, as it shows there's no need for humans if everything is mechanized.

Divine Command Theory - Whatever the council says, it has to be good. Why? Because they said so.

Übermensch - Nietzsche's idea of a perfect human and how human propagation gives meaning. The proxies aren't perfect, but it somewhat alludes to it considering how obscenely powerful they seem to be and that their mission is to perpetuate human society, if I recall correctly.


There is no "specific power ranking" for the seven legendary swords, and as stated in the comments, a weapon is only as powerful as its wielder. Choujiro proved this when he defeated one of "new generation -seven legendary swordsmen" with a normal sword.

Apart from the fact that it was Shizumas first time attempting to use Samehada, it is important to note that

  Samhehada is the only living weapon among the seven legendary swords, and as such, it has its own consciousness and personality. Therefore its actions can affect the tide of battle. Samehada was already absorbing all their chakra using the "bloody mist absorption technique" but that only made it want more chakra.

Samehada is actually a greedy Glutton, that loves chakra more than anything else, and it takes a large amount of will power and experience to tame it. Unfortunately for Shizuma, he could not control Samehada and so it took over his body and started going on a rampage. At that point, Shizuma was not thinking straight and he was also at a disadvantage going against two "Jonin level" kids.

The loss was not because Hiramekarei is stronger or weaker but merely due to the circumstances in which the battle took place.


How did Madara Uchiha give his Rinnegan to Nagato?

Madara had activated Izanagi in his right eye. Using this forbidden jutsu, he came back to life after Hashirama killed him.

Because he used Izanagi, the light/sight of the right eye was removed. Because that's the price you have to pay when you use Izanagi or Izanami.

Madara had bit off a piece of Hashirama's flesh during the battle. After he came back alive, he went into hiding, planting a clone in his tomb. Then he surgically attached the flesh onto his body and waited.

Near the end of his natural life, he awoke the Rinnegan in both eyes. This awakening restored the sight in his right eye, a unique property of the Rinnegan.

Since he was nearing death and was unable to complete his plans, he transplanted his eyes to a Senju descendant, Nagato. The technique he used is not mentioned anywhere, but it would be a piece of cake for him, because of his intelligence and the help from Zetsu.


What does Tobi mean by "There lies truth in a single consciousness that has abandoned all individuality"?

I think he is referring to the Eye of The Moon Plan to unite the world under Infinite Tsukuyomi, thus being able to control every living creature, and to cease conflicts by removing any free will.

So looks like that with this line he is just supporting/justifying his idea again.


We can try to use mathematics here for a bit, which is definitely not a threatening way to start this answer.

This is a Mikasa figurine standing basically straight up, according to the wiki she is 176 cm tall (I'll do an imperial conversion of my final answer), in the picture she is 532 pixels tall, and the wire spools are 32 pixels in diameter, meaning the spools have a diameter of roughly 11 centimeters.
That feels a bit small to me, let's round that up to 20 centimeters and chalk the different measurement up to foreshortening.

The steel wire is coiled up inside of these circular containers, and here's where we'll get really mathy. I'm talking integral calculation mathy.

We're not going to bother with that though, instead we'll use this handy website that has a tool where you can just input the values.

It needs some values though, tape thickness (or in our case steel wire thickness) and the internal diameter of the spool/roll.
The above diagram suggests a tiny inner diameter, just a small gear, so let's estimate that at 1cm, and the wire thickness also at 1cm.

Let's insert those values (multiplied by 10 because millimeters are expected):

That's a range of just over three meters (or 10.29 feet), clearly wrong considering what we've seen in the show. Our estimates for internal diameter and wire thickness were already very generous though, and we "rounded up" the external diameter to 20cm.

Basically, the small drums we see can't realistically house the amount of cable we're seeing on the show. (Sorry)

But there's also no official source that specifies a maximum range I could find (otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with all of this, I assure you).

Maybe have a look at the longest shot they make in the show/manga and assume that that's about the furthest range? Though it might be hard to gauge the actual distance
(I don't recall any specific grappling shot falling short of its intended target (due to range), that would obviously be a far more helpful piece of information though.)


It is true that the default color for the ceros is red, but this color is usually used by normal Hollows or Menos.

But there is a o lot of Arrancars and Espada that use a different color of Cero, it is not just Ulquiorra, see this page here.

  Most Cero are a crimson color when used by Hollows, Visored or
  Arrancar. While most Cero are commonly crimson, several Arrancar have
  shown various colors.

It also says:

  The power, force, speed, and blast area of the Cero is dependent on
  the strength, spiritual power, and sometimes skill of the user

So, the color does not influence directly to the power of the Cero. In fact, the color changes depending on the user's personality and style. Ulquiorra's cero maybe stronger, but it is not related to the green color, but in Ulquiorra himself.


What characters are these scantily-clad guys cosplaying as?

The anime is from Kill la Kill made by trigger studio.

The guy on the left is Inumata in his nudist beach costume:

The guy on the right is Mikisugi in his nudist beach costume:


No. Not at all. No way. Just because he had a ki silhouette instead of a ki flame does not mean he suddenly got some new power especially the ki of the gods.


Has the State Alchemist pocket watch ever been shown to be of use in a transmutation?

It is somewhat difficult to answer this with complete certainty without analysing every single transmutation that appears in Fullmetal Alchemist. However, I will give an answer based on my memory and impressions of the series.

In the manga-based continuity, the watch appears to serve largely as a marker of identity; there is never any comment about the watch's powers. We never see the watch invoked or made reference to as a source of power when State Alchemists transmute substances.

I do not know the 2003 series as well, but my impression is that while the claim that the watch amplifies transmutations is reasonable, we are never actually shown an instance where it is explicitly used in a transmutation. It is entirely possible that the State Alchemists we see are drawing from the watch's power anyway, when they attempt transmutations, but we do not ever directly see it.

The current revision of the FMA Wikia appears to support my conclusion:

  Although the manga does not describe the pocketwatch as anything more than official proof that the carrier is a State Alchemist, the 2003 anime suggests that each pocketwatch is an alchemical amplifier. The 2003 anime also depicts the watch's silver chain as extendable, as in the instance when the Strong Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong uses it to tie up a target.

In particular, were there actually an instance where the watch is explicitly used, I would expect there to be a note of it here, seeing how rare such an instance would be in the course of the anime.

Skimming over the early Lior arc in the manga, incidentally, I cannot find any instance where Cornello takes Edward's watch from him. The watch also does not appear in this part. (I was only able to tell that Edward had his watch because I could see the chain.) This also does not occur in FMA:B.

As might be expected then, the section of the Lior arc in the 2003 anime where Cornello takes Edward's watch is not in the manga-continuity. (This is after Ed and Al have escaped from the fight. Cornello turns a mob on them, and they are captured again. The watch is then taken.)


Why did Kirito toss the sword away in episode 17 of the second season?

It's because the sword was overburdening Kirito and since he can't put it into his inventory, he had to make a choice of either letting it go so he can make the jump onto Tonkii or going down with it:
From the (previously translated) light novel (Sword Art Online Volume 8, Early and Late, Caliber, page 308):

At that point, I noticed one terrible fact.
I couldn't jump.
To be more exact, in my arms was a heavy load the «Holy Sword Excaliber», so jumping five meters wouldn't be possible. Just by standing, my boots already bit into the ice.


In Season One, ep66 "The Evolution Solution" Ash and his gang are going to Prof. Westwood, who programmed the Pokedex, once he sees Togepi he says "Now that's interesting Pokemon" after Misty asks "You mean Togepi" he says "I've never seen another Pokemon quite like that". although this may lead to a plot-hole as with Ash's Pokedex had been upgraded to know Togepi, as in the question, it may not be so much a problem since the Pokedex itself said "there's not much data" to imply that Prof. Westwood though he didn't have much data but may have heard about species like Togepi and insert that little information he heard and the Pokedex Associate the information to Togepi.

Anyway, to the question, Prof. Westwood soon tells Misty "Yeah, and I'm updating all my research materials about the rarest legendary Pokemon!", so it is safe to say that is exactly the new Pokedex Ash received before going to Johto since Westwood said itself that he is currently in updating his materials as the early upgrade Ash gets not to contain expensive data on Gen2 Pokemon and only after that update Westwood worked on the next Pokedex Generation. (support @f1Krazy comment)

And the evidence for that (although it's in the Advance series its still evidence that Westwood discovered new information) is in Advanced Challenge ep4 "The Princess And The Togepi" the Pokedex has much larger information about Togepi than the first Pokedex.


So far in the series, we have not had any instances where seastone was directly broken apart, whether with brute force or with a weapon like a sword. In cases where characters like Robin or Ace were restrained with seastone handcuffs, they were unlocked using the keys. Whether it can be done remains an open question, as we have seen both Zoro and Mihawk cut through other extremely solid objects in the past.

However, the mineral itself is not indestructible even though it is said to be as hard as a diamond. This is evident because the Marines are able to shape it into a variety of items like handcuffs, prison bars, weapons (like Smoker's sword) and even use it to coat the bottom of ships to escape Sea Kings. You can find the other limitations we know about seastone in the wikia.

In the latest manga chapters, we come to know that seastone may have originated

   in Wano, and that there exist craftsmen with expertise in working with the mineral.


What half episode specials follow Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood?

The specials are

The Blind Alchemist

  Edward and Alphonse visit an alchemist who supposedly performed a successful Human Transmutation.

Simple People

  After Winry meets Riza, she decides to pierce her ears because it "looks good", while Riza, having seen Winry's hair, grows hers longer for the same very simple reason.

The Tale of Teacher

  A story of Izumi's "alchemy" survival training in the North region.  This is followed by how Izumi first ran into Sig Curtis, possibly in North City.

Yet Another Man's Battlefield

  While in the military academy, Mustang and Hughes befriend an Ishvalan. Unfortunately, they'll soon have to become mortal enemies.

Of them only the second one contains a little bit of content of the relationship between Winry and Ed but it is set before the main events of the series.

  In addition the story never goes to mention what happened to their granny. I’m guessing she died? It seems like she never got to see ed and Al back in their original bodies.

That is not the case. Her wiki entry states that

  She is the sole parental figure of the younger generation to see the arrival of Ed and Winry's children.


In One Piece, does a Devil Fruit reappear after the user dies?

Taken from the One Piece Wiki on Devil Fruits:

  When a Devil Fruit user dies, their ability is reborn into another fruit of the same kind. Instead of growing from a plant, the ability simply regenerates inside the closest appropriate fruit, as seen when Smiley "died" and the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl transplanted itself into a nearby apple. Another characteristic of a Devil Fruit's growth is that the stem becomes noticably curlier than it was when the fruit was not endowed with the ability.

So, in other words, the Devil Fruit "respawns" when the user that had it dies.


What were the filler episodes of Maison Ikkoku?

I did a similar list back in 2003 when I was watching the series for the second time through. I had read the manga before that, though I don't remember whether I took it into consideration when making the list. In general the anime follows the manga very accurately - if we ignore some blatant filler such as episode 32 (Yotsuya's egg; IIRC even its drawing style differs, so maybe the animators were using it for practice).

Your list corresponds to the B and C ratings in my list; B doesn't advance the main story but still e.g. develops the characters, whereas C is a pure filler episode. Except for a couple of episodes, our lists are similar.

It's interesting to notice that after episode 70 there are no filler episodes, and also on average the ratio of content to filler episodes is much better than in many other anime series. :)

A: Important part of the story
B: Could be skipped but is still worth watching
C: Totally irrevelant

01 A    + + +
02 A    + + +
03 A    + + +
04 A    + + +
05 A    + + +
06 A    + + +
07 A    + + +
08 A    + + +
09 A    + + +
10 A    + + +
11 B    + +
12 A    + + +
13 A    + + +
14 A    + + +
15 A    + + +
16 A    + + +
17 A    + + +
18 A    + + +
19 A    + + +
20 B    + +
21 B    + +
22 A    + + +
23 A    + + +
24 A    + + +
25 A    + + +
26 A    + + +
27 A    + + +
28 B    + +
29 C    +
30 A    + + +
31 A    + + +
32 C    +        not in manga
33 B    + +
34 A    + + +
35 A    + + +
36 C    +
37 C    +
38 A    + + +
39 A    + + +
40 A    + + +
41 B    + +
42 A    + + +
43 A    + + +
44 C    +
45 A    + + +
46 C    +        not in manga
47 B    + +
48 A    + + +
49 A    + + +
50 C    +
51 C    +
52 A    + + +
53 A    + + +
54 A    + + +
55 A    + + +
56 A    + + +
57 A    + + +
58 A    + + +
59 A    + + +
60 A    + + +
61 A    + + +
62 A    + + +
63 A    + + +
64 A    + + +
65 A    + + +
66 A    + + +
67 A    + + +
68 C    +
69 B    + +
70 A    + + +
71 A    + + +
72 A    + + +
73 A    + + +
74 A    + + +
75 A    + + +
76 A    + + +
77 A    + + +
78 A    + + +
79 A    + + +
80 A    + + +
81 A    + + +
82 A    + + +
83 A    + + +
84 A    + + +
85 A    + + +
86 A    + + +
87 A    + + +
88 A    + + +
89 A    + + +
90 A    + + +
91 A    + + +
92 A    + + +
93 A    + + +
94 A    + + +
95 A    + + +
96 A    + + +


Which my hero academia volume should i start if i want to read season 2?

According to the BNHA wiki for Season 1 of the anime and Chapter 21 of the manga, since Season 1 has 13 episodes, Season 2 starts with episode 14, and Page 18 of Chapter 21 is where episode 14 starts from.
Therefore, you should probably start reading from Chapter 21, or if you don't care about skipping the one page, you can just start at Chapter 22.
Volume 3 starts with Chapter 18, so you can start there too.


Is this proof than Piccolo is stronger than Trunks and Goten in DBZ?

I think it is established at the end of Cell Saga Piccolo was stronger than ssj1(Android 17/18), but weaker than ssj1+ or Cell. Piccolo with his intense training techniques would have only grown stronger.

Since Goten and Trunks are shown only capable of going till ssj1 while unfused we can conclude that Piccolo is stronger then them. The Buutenks avatar switching to Piccollo may or may not be the conclusive evidence you wish it to be, but majority of DB Community believes Piccolo was stronger than unfused Goten/Trunks.

Further on this point, seperately the kids struggled against Android 18 2 vs 1. We didn't get to see the full fight but it can be assumed Piccolo is still stronger than Android 18 and hence the base ssj1 Kids.


What happened to Juuzawa Juu at the end?

When the Three Musketeers arrived at the scene, standing in front of Shiraishi's dead body, Kirishima observed that

  Not many people believe in divine retribution. That's because God is a lazy fellow. However, he does a good job every once in a while.

Therefore, it was clear that the truck turned away from Juuzawa and crushed the nearby Shiraishi into a bloody pulp. Juuzawa was left intact (or not fatally wounded) after the accident.

The anime explicitly stated at the conclusion of the second episode that Ochibana knew Juuzawa was in danger only because of their bond from their previous lives.


Something that I completely forgot. During Sasuke's battle with Deidara, Sasuke mentioned that using his Sharingan he can see chakra, so even Obito should be able to do the same, when Sasuke concentrated his chakra on his left eye, Obito could see it, thus he dodged it. He need not be in Sage Mode to accomplish that.


Why did Majitani's surrender not count in his Trick Tower fight with Kurapika?

I don't know about the anime, but in the manga, Bendot explicitly said, they would fight until one of them surrenders or dies.

In Kurapikkas fight they agreed to fight to the death. The rest is as you said. He wasn't dead, so the fight was not over. But Kurapika heard the surrender of Majitani, so he refused to kill him.


Dimension in Naruto where they get stabbed forever

The character who did that was Itachi, Sasuke's brother.

The name of the move was Tsukuyomi.


I don't think this as been addressed in the anime, but I imagine gods have to fight off things to stay alive and uncorrupted. Remember that purple painful skin after a god touches a monster? Well, that needs to be avoided.

Without a weapon (regalia), if fast enough, a god can just run away or dodge attacks to avoid any danger. Yato was pretty strong on his own and his opponents were surprised by his personal abilities on multiple occasions.

But it is a god's duty to protect the human world (Near Shore) from the creatures of Far Shore, and only running away makes them pretty useless for this cause. Bad creatures will be left to trouble people and other gods, which might result in bad reputation, and furthermore additional hostility from gods and humans. People's prayers would not be answered (at least those involving bad creatures) and remember that "supergod commitee" which got pretty pissed off at one point and tried to destroy a fellow god for doing what they thought was wrong without investigating too much. Wouldn't wanna risk that.


Disclaimer: This is just my speculation but I will try to support it with facts.

The history of humankind is full of war. As time progressed, we learned that waging wars, i.e. killing our enemies is not always the best way to get what we want. Waging war is expensive, and we learned that negotiating and coming into agreement is far cheaper and results in less bloodshed.

Gunzou is a rational thinker. He is a tactician too. He knows from history that killing your enemy after you have defeated them is not really a good choice. The moment Gunzou was successful in charging the super gravity cannon and aiming it at Takao, he already achieved victory and defeated Takao. However, he decided, as per the reason I previously mentioned, to spare her. Sure he may have made a bad choice and Takao might come for revenge. But as you have watched in that episode, Iona and the crew were against overwhelming odds, and yet they still managed to achieve victory. This indicates to us, and to Takao probably, that she really stands no chance against Gunzou.

Sparing Takao also aligns with Gunzou's belief. He believes that there is a possibility of humans and the Fleet of the Fog coexisting in peace. The wikia says:

  He's also one of the few people in the world that sees the possibility of the "Fleet of Fog" and humans coexisting (relatively) peacefully.

It is a step towards the future that he was hoping for.


What is the significance of the flowers that are placed on a student's desk after they leave Black class?

Yes, they are actual flowers. And according to this tweet from the anime's
official Twitter account, the hanakotoba (花言葉, literally "flower
words") that are hidden behind each flower have some relevance to each
character.

  See also:
  What is the relation between the flowers and the heroines in ED sequence of Photokano?

So far, the names of the flowers and their implied meanings have been stated
in the manga or by the anime staff in response to viewer questions.

Otoya Takechi

ヤマユリ (yamayuri, lit. "mountain lily") / 「人生の楽しみ」
(pleasure of life) 1

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user KENPEI /
CC BY-SA 3.0

Kouko Kaminaga

彼岸花1 2 (red spider lily)

「また会う日を楽しみに」1 2 (looking forward to
seeing you again)
「悲しい思い出」2 (sad memories)

Photo by Flickr user kenji mori / CC BY 2.0

Haruki Sagae

バーベナ (verbena) / 「家族の愛」 (family's love) 3

Photo by Flickr user TANAKA Juuyoh / CC BY 2.0

Shiena Kenmochi

アザミ (thistle) / 「復讐」 (revenge) 4

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Qwert1234 /
CC BY-SA 3.0

Chitaru Namatame

赤バラ (red rose) / 「愛情」 (love) 4

Hitsugi Kirigaya

白バラ (white rose) / 「無邪気」 (innocent [childlike]) 4

Suzu Shutou

赤いチューリップ (red tulip) / 「恋の宣言」 (declaration of love)
5

Mahiru/Shinya Banba

ヒルガオ (hirugao, Japanese bindweed) / 「絆」 (bond
[human ties]) 6

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user KENPEI /
CC BY-SA 3.0
ヨルガオ (yorugao, moonflower) / 「妖艶」 (seductive) 6

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user KENPEI /
CC BY-SA 3.0

Isuke Inukai

赤いカーネーション (red carnation) / 「愛を信じる」 (believe in
love) 6

Sumireko Hanabusa

アイスランドポピー (Iceland poppy) / 「慰め」 (comfort
[consolation]) 7

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user David.Monniaux /
CC BY-SA 3.0

References

1. 悪魔のリドル (2), ISBN 978-4-04-121056-7
2. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/460430373109788672 from
the Q&A after episode 4
3. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/462962907437735936 from
the Q&A after episode 5
4. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/468363714454773761 from
the Q&A after episode 7
5. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/470574398374551552 from
the Q&A after episode 8
6. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/475654677640384512 from
the Q&A after episode 10
7. https://twitter.com/akumariddleQA/status/478499435496747008 from
the Q&A after episode 11


In Redial, the Yuno is the Yuno of the third timeline, she inherited the memories of the Yuno from the first timeline. This is explained by Deus that despite the alteration of the third timeline by God Yuki, the persistence of Yuno towards Yuki transcended the timelines.

Combined with the calling of Murmur and that odd feeling she had (love for Yuki), she arrived and freed Murmur, obtaining first timeline's Yuno's memories from Murmur 1.


Did the animators make a mistake with Nami's glove after she stabbed Usopp at Arlong Park?

This incident occurs during anime episodes 33 and 34. Nami does not wear a glove on her right hand at any point.

See the stills from these episodes below.

Scene 1: Nami "stabs" Usopp at Arlong Park

Nami pretends to stab Usopp.

Scene 2: Nami returns to her room

Nami has bandages on her left hand when she returns to her room.

Scene 3: Nami meets Luffy's crew

Nami has a glove on her left hand when she meets Luffy's crew.

Scene 4: Nami visits Nojiko

Nami still has the glove on her left hand when she visits Nojiko.


Why is Kanata Age called a traitor in Kuusen Madoushi?

Well... no one knows, not as of the end of episode one, anyway. According to the first episode, while everyone else was escaping, something happened with Kanata. Nothing else was revealed other than that, so it's basically all speculation until they reveal it.


Why didn't Sasuke use Amaterasu on Kaguya?

Given she be the first to wield chakra, Kaguya can absorb any technique; including the Amaterasu

  As the first person to ever wield chakra, she can absorb any technique that she encounters

However, towards the beginning of Naruto's and Sasuke's battle with Kaguya, Sasuke did use the Amaterasu on Kaguya to distract her

  To create an opening, Naruto convinced Sasuke to attack Kaguya with Amaterasu, which allowed him to get close to her and use his Sexy: Reverse Harem Technique. The technique was successful in distracting Kaguya long enough for Naruto to strike her

You can see this occurrence on Youtube


What song is playing in DBS episode 130 at 4:22? (UI Goku vs Jiren)

The song is 究極の聖戦 (kyūkyoku no battle in romaji[1] or Ultimate Battle in english). There are two versions of this song:

The one performed by Akira Kushida (the version Shazam found)
The one without vocals (the version you are looking for)

According to Anison, the version without vocals is named 究極の聖戦 (カラオケ) (where "カラオケ" means "karaoke").

I searched on YouTube that exact term and found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2caRnjXP0

1. J-Talk translates "聖戦" as "seisen" but many sources use "battle" instead. I have no idea which one is correct.


How and why is Emilia connected to Satella (the Witch of Envy) and the Witch Cult?

Not revealed yet. But it could be a time travel/timeline story.
Each time Subaru dies, it’s actually a parallel timeline. Satella is Emilia from one of them... except in the future. Where Subaru did everything "right" but died.
Not knowing the truth, Emilia travelled back in time, so she can "save" Subaru from death by making him come back from death, unknowingly creating the situation leading to his death.


Was Broly able to transform into Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball Z?

Broly wasn't a canon character and Super Saiyan 4 isn't a canon transformation, so the idea of Broly being a canon Super Saiyan 4 is kind of madness.

Broly is a character from the movies, in which there is no hint that he or anyone else can become a Super Saiyan 4, and SS4 is from GT and there was no mention of Broly in GT. If he went SS4 in some game, then in the canon of that game he is able to, but otherwise I would say no, there is no reason to think Broly could be a SS4, as even his normal Super Saiyan form is in fact pretty weird and not particularly similar to the main characters' Super Saiyan transformations.


We never see his size limit, but he can grow himself to the size of Tenrou Island

Another angle from manga

Makarov size compared to a ship


I can't remember the title of this manga. I read only the first chapter

Yakuza girl

  Senguu Fumihiro is a young boy that made a promise to his dying grandmother to find a good wife for himself. With this intention he enrolls in a prestigious school but on the first day his world turns upside down when all the students begin to kill each other and one of them even turns into a monster. He is saved by a girl named "Akari", sent to protect him by one of the factions that rule the school.


What are the origins of alchemy in Fullmetal Alchemist?

It was never fully explained, when and how alchemy was "invented", but it's known that Xerxes was one of the first countries to know alchemy. It already existed when the dwarf in the flask was created, as he was created using alchemy. The creation of the dwarf in the flask just increased the knowledge because it knew much about alchemy and helped the alchemists gaining knowledge.


What is the reference being made by saying "I did this at a serious seminar once"?

The 進研ゼミ (Shinkenzemi) is a one of the most famous distance learning service for minors in Japan.

'真剣' and '進研', both read as 'shinken.'

'真剣' meaning "seriousness"

'ゼミ' is short for "seminar."

'進' means "progress/advancement".

'研' means "sharpen/polish/study."

This is a parody that use similar sounding Japanese characters.

  あ、これ進研ゼミでやったことがある

  I did this at the Shinkenzemi once.

Much like McDonald's and MacRonald's in English.


Why is there no reanimated Uchiha fighting in fourth shinobi war?

Both of your notions are correct:

It is the dead person's DNA that is needed for the reanimation (alias Edo Tensei).[1]
There is good reason to assume Kabuto did not reincarnate most of the Uchiha clan members, because he was unable to obtain their DNAs:

"Kabuto mentions his desire to reincarnate certain shinobi [including] Shisui Uchiha";[2] and his ally in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tobi (SPOILER:

   alias Obito Uchiha,

), was in possession of their DNA,[3] but – being forced by Kabuto into this alliance in the first place[4] – did not let him use it.[3]  Controlling more Uchiha shinobi could have made Kabuto too powerful with respect to the possibility of him turning against Tobi.

However, Kabuto did summon Itachi Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, as well as (only in the anime) Inabi Uchiha[5] and used them in his war efforts.[6]

As @AyaseEri points out, we can not exclude the possibility that Kabuto has managed to reincarnate the other Uchihas after all and it was just not shown.

But definitely also factor in @ElPsyKongroo's answer below  on why that's very unlikely!

References

[1]

  Before this technique can be performed, the user must first acquire some of the DNA of the person they intend to reincarnate.

—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Summoning:_Impure_World_Reincarnation#Usage

[2]
—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Summoning:_Impure_World_Reincarnation#cite_ref-Fivetwenty_1-5

[3]

  Kabuto could not find [Shisui Uchiha's] body. He suggested that one of Shisui's eyes that was crushed by Danzō Shimura, whose corpse was in Tobi's possession, would be sufficient. […] Tobi threatened him not to push his luck.

—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Summoning:_Impure_World_Reincarnation#cite_ref-Fivetwenty_1-5

[4]

  Kabuto [uses] the Impure World Reincarnation to revive five deceased Akatsuki members, which he offers to use to help Tobi in the approaching war. […] When Tobi contemplates refusing, Kabuto summons the real Madara Uchiha, forcing Tobi to agree.

—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kabuto_Yakushi#Fourth_Shinobi_World_War:_Countdown

[5]
—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Summoning:_Impure_World_Reincarnation#Kabuto_Yakushi

[6]
—http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Fourth_Shinobi_World_War
Search the page for the (indeed numerous) occurrences of "Uchiha".


Why does Yhwach/Juhach call Ichigo that?

Yhwach is Ichigo's father in spiritual meaning. He was the first Quincy and he has the ability to give a part of his power to others. By giving that power, the other person would turn into a Quincy as well. Long story short, those Quincies married, and had offsprings. Since Yhwach was the one who made them Quincy, it can be said that Yhwach is the one who created them.

It was said that the name Yhwach is taken from the name of Israelites God, Yahweh. In Abrahamic religions, God is said to have created man from dust and made them according to his image. In Christian and Catholic belief, man are said to be children of God.

The same thing is applied to Yhwach's case. Since he was the one who created the Quincy, all Quincies can be said to be his children, that is in spiritual sense. Since Ichigo's mother was a Quincy, Ichigo too is Yhwach's son.


Is Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku a remake?

No, Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku is simply the second season of the show Oregairu, and not a remake of the first.

While both are adapted from the original manga, the current two seasons of the anime are chronologically ordered, following directly on from one another.
This is clear after comparing the episode synopses of both season 1 and season 2 on their corresponding MyAnimeList pages.

There may well be some similarities in the two seasons, as shows often provide throwbacks or other references to earlier works, but since the plot itself continues on, this isn't enough to classify it as a remake.


Why has nobody been able to summon Exodia before Yugi?

Two reasons: Rarity and plot.

Exodia is supposedly the strongest monster and summoning him means you win. In normal circumstances, summoning Exodia is very hard, and decks that can are hard to pull it off: You draw a starting hand of 5 cards out of a minimum deck of 40 cards. This means you need to draw 5 specific cards in the entire deck, which is roughly 0,00000152 or a 0,000152% chance to pull it off in the starting hand.

Decks that can achieve win safely by turn 1 need to resort in some sort of tutoring and drawing out those 5 pieces. Cards that used to help were Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity, the first drawing 2 cards (a 2:1 ratio) and the second drawing 3 but forcing you to discard 2 (1:1 ratio), yet they were both way too powerful and eventually got banned, forcing Exodia to be a random winning condition for certain rare decks.

And that's only if you actually OWN those 5 pieces. The Rare hunter owns counterfeits, and the other owners of the cards opt for other ways to use them, such as Exodia Necross.

The difficulty alone is why Yugi was most likely the first person in the future world known for summoning Exodia.

The other fact is that it is a plot point. Yugi needs to become notorious in the card game community by being essentially a rising star that is strong enough of a challenge for many. This draws more people towards Yugi, like Seto Kaiba (who was considered the strongest duelist), Pegasus and pretty much everyone else that challenges him in the series.


What is the extent of Bartolomeo's Devil Fruit power?

Wikia claims it is unknown at this point whether the barriers have a damage limit and I agree on this. There has been no proof yet of something that could damage the barriers. So as of writing (chapter 788) it would seem that the barrier would indeed be indestructible.
The strongest things we have seen the barrier block are:

King Elizabello II's King punch, which could allegedly take down an entire fortress. (chapter 709)
Hakuba's slashes (chapter 773)
Gladius' full body rupture (chapter 773)
The Birdcage (chapter 788)
Chinjao's Haki imbued drill (chapter 788)

The only limitations we have seen so far are:

It cannot block sound (chapter 742)
It has a surface area limit (chapter 754 and 757)
Only one barrier can be produced at the same time. (chapter 773)

As of now it does not seem like he would be able to block the slowbeam from Foxy, as that would consist of pure waves similar to sound or light. On the other hand, the beam from Franky would probably be blocked. Similar to King Elizabello II's King punch, it also seems that he would be able to block Whitebeard's shock wave.

Additionally, Oda has answered this question himself on the Volume 77, Chapter 773 SBS, saying Bartolomeo's barriers are indeed limited to one at the time and have a maximum capacity of 50.000 Bari-Bari or 500 Pickle-Pori-Pori-Bari-Bari's.

Reader: Oda-san, hello~. About Bartolomeo, he said something about how his barriers have a limit or whatever, so how many Bari-Bari's worth is its maximum capacity?                                               P.N. Hoichael Jackson
Oda: Great question. There is in fact a limit to the space his barriers can cover, as well as how many barriers he can put up at a time. He can only hold up one barrier at a time, and they say that this one barrier can cover up to 50 thousand Bari-Bari's!! Amazing! 1 Bari-Bari equates to roughly 100x that of 1 Bori-Bari-Bari, so in other words, his barrier capacity is just about 500 Pickle-Pori-Pori-Bari-Bari's.
(Translator's Note: Bari, Bori, and Pori are all Japanese sound effects that roughly translate to 'crunching'.)


What is a biodroid in Ghost in the Shell?

As the name suggests, a bioroid is an android, but built with human body parts-- except that they don't have a human brain.

The Major is a cyberized human, and an android is the least human of the three.


I checked a million of his songs (some of which were very suicidal), and the answer for now many times Len died was 97.


What is the Giant Straw hat in episode 885?

There is no answer to this question right now, you can only guess what it means and you will find plenty of theories on the Internet.

My favourite theory is that this room contains an item which morphs into the greatest threat for the Tenryuubito. Why do I think there is something that is changing shape according to the threat? Why would the Government (World Leaders - I guess the black silhouette is one of them) contain a bloody straw hat? It only makes sense for me at this point that something is showing the Tenryuubito greatest fear.

I also think it is working like Shirley's predictions: no one knows if its a good or bad omen.

But there are plenty of theories on the Internet.


How can Gon be so tough physically when he’s just a child?

It may be to highlight the fact that he grew up in the mountains where everything he did was a form of training he did unknowingly. This could explain his insane stamina, speed  and perception of the environment, all before he learned to open the gate, or learn nen.

Other that that, I guess you could say it's some genetic benefit?  Because his father was the only other person in the entire island who single-handedly caught the giant fish, and at the age of 7 no less! Besides it may also be the quirk of someone with enhancement type nen.


Are the events in Ishbal based on or inspired by the Holocaust?

Hiromu Arakawa, the mangaka, states that she was not influenced greatly by any specific country, but rather a collection of European countries during the Industrial Revolution, as stated in the answers to this question, sourced back to an interview in Newtype USA, January 2006.

While I'm sure Arakawa took inspiration from her own country's history, too, the fact that she was inspired by Europe at all makes a convincing argument already.

With that said, I think it's fair to say that there is a decent amount of evidence specifically toward the extermination of Ishval being inspired by the Holocaust. In the question I linked above, there's a few other points that tie Amestris to Germany, but I think there's a few specific points to consider.

The leader of the time was labelled as a Fuhrer.

Not sure there's much more to say here. Hitler and Bradley share a title and a mustache.

During the flashbacks, the most prominent feature of the Amestrian army is their eyes.

It's quite clear that there is emphasis put on the non-Ishvalan Amestrians being very similar to the Aryan race that was dominant during the Holocaust.

Ishval differs from Amestris greatly in its religious views.

Aside from their ways of living being similar to those of the Amish, the largest difference between them and the "regular" Amestrians is the fact that they believe in the creator Ishval. In the Holocaust, Hitler's motivation was a duality of both targeting their bloodlines as well as their faith.

However, the Holocaust is a very sensitive topic.

I think part of the reason Arakawa denies being inspired by this is that she does not want to take a political stance on the issue. As soon as she admits to being inspired by such a sensitive issue, she opens herself up to all kinds of criticism and alienation from specific groups, mostly notably those of Jewish faith or descent.

Answer the question already! Was the Ishvalan Extermination inspired by the Holocaust?

There is no straight answer! Sorry! If you believe what Arakawa has said publicly, then no, it wasn't. She does not admit to taking inspiration from any particular country or event, just the feel of the European countries during the Industrial Revolution as well as the 20th century development.

However, if you'd rather look past the word of God, I think there is ample evidence to suggest that there were aspects of the Holocaust and WWII Germany that were imported into Fullmetal Alchemist, with Ishval and the Extermination being two of them.


Why does Grisha Yeager have to love someone?

Probably "love" means have a child.  Mold the child's thinking and the child inherit the attacking titan with the same ideals of them. Maybe if he doesn't pass the power, the power would be lost and some new baby would inherited the power. It could also mean that in the past, maybe the attacking titan was lost during a fight and then a new born inherited the power. Which could explain how Marley only had 7/9 powers,  Padaris had 1/9, the attacking titan was lost, and somehow Kruger was given that power. Pretty much no one knew that Kruger had Yrmi's blood in him.  Maybe that caused a problem and made history repeat itself.
There are different translations, I recall only to get married start a new family, and continue the mission to find the royal family and their power. I thinks that the family was just to fit in better, and child to pass the power.


How does the One piece Bounty system work?

You can find a lot of information on the wikia page for Bounties. I'd suggest you read through it for specifics, but I've quoted the important bits from it below.

The assignment of bounties:

  Normally, a bounty is issued by a government official or by the Marines. The idea is to tempt others into aiding the capture of the criminal so they can be brought to justice quickly.

As for the value of the bounty:

  The amount of a bounty is determined in response to the perceived threat level of the criminal in question; the greater the threat to the world, the greater the bounty. In the eyes of a pirate, high bounties are thus usually seen as a sign of strength. After all, having been assigned a bounty means that the World Government as well as the Marines acknowledge the threat of the person to whom it is assigned.

As you can see, this becomes pretty subjective, and can lead to inaccurate bounties. And we've seen this happen plenty of times, where an initially low bounty was later increased due to a proper assessment of the threat level. A clear example is Chopper, who still has a low bounty of 100 because his monster form is thought to be another being entirely.

We've also seen in Arlong's case that he was bribing the local marines to suppress his true threat level, and was relatively free to do acts of piracy despite having an active bounty.

One should also keep in mind the influence of the World Government on this, because they could assign a high bounty simply because of threat to them, rather than to civilians. This is the case with Nico Robin's initial bounty as a kid, and the actions taken against Ohara.

My theory on the relation with media is that it goes both ways. In the cases where Marines were present at the incident, their testimonies would be used to determine the new bounty. In other cases, they may find out the events later through the media, and update their bounties based on the gravity of the incident. (For example, what happens in Wholecake Island arc). There doesn't seem to be any proper confirmation of the system though.

Of course, it is certain that the media is used to circulate the bounties once they're set, since we've seen the 'News Coo' being the source of pirates learning about new bounties.

What warrants a decrease in bounty?

  Bounties, once issued, are usually only retracted when the criminal is captured, killed, or is known to have otherwise died. A change in lifestyle will not affect the bounty. A bounty can last for over a hundred years if the criminal is not proven to be dead.

So the only viable way for a living pirate to have their bounty waived seems to be becoming a Shichibukai or their underling:

  Aside from death or capture, bounties may be retracted if the criminal can prove themselves an asset to either the Marines or World Government. This is the case with the Shichibukai, who are considered allies of the World Government and have their bounties retracted; this extends to any criminal serving as a subordinate to the Shichibukai, such as Caesar Clown.

An interesting point the wiki mentions is the existence of a court of law:

  A bounty may be removed by a court of law, as Jango's was during his mini-series. Jango's case was further aided by the pleas of the Marine Fullbody during the case. This later allowed him to enlist in the Marines under the command of Hina.

A last case wherein bounty isn't reduced, but the criminals aren't captured, is when they are made slaves. Since their bounties are active, they can still be captured once freed from slavery though.

Can a pirate with bounty turn in another pirate?

We don't have enough incidents regarding this to generalize, but it stands to reason that normal pirates cannot. As mentioned before, Shichibukai are considered allies of the Marines, so they may be permitted to despite being pirates.

In addition, turning in pirates is one way to prove oneself an ally of the Marines. We've seen two cases of this - Blackbeard and Trafalgar Law.

Blackbeard captures and turns over Ace, in order to be made into a Shichibukai. However, he didn't have much of a name then, and it is unclear whether he had a bounty.

Law on the other hand, is a better example. He had a 200,000,000 bounty when he was introduced as a rookie on Sabaody (Chapter 498). He then becomes a Shichibukai during the time skip, and his new bounty is revealed to be 440,000,000 (Chapter 659). He achieves the status by delivering the hearts of a hundred pirates to the Marine HQ. Considering how bounties are "Dead or Alive", I'd say this counts as turning them in. After the events of Dressarosa arc, he's no longer a Shichibukai and his bounty is increased to 500,000,000 (Chapter 801), while making him wanted by the Marines again.

So I'd say the most logical explanation is that one needs to be have allied / neutral access to the Marines. This could be because they're already a  Shichibukai, or because they are negotiating to become one, or because they have a backdoor through corrupt Marine officials (like what Arlong did).

At the end of the day, if one has an active, non-frozen bounty, then the rules imply that Marines would capture them. So it is unlikely that pirates would turn in other pirates as a normal act.


Is Might Gai the strongest Taijutsu user?

The picture you posted is actually a mistranslation, I have the official English release from Viz manga where Madara says "Of all those who have fought me over the years, there's no one who surpass you at taijutsu!"

Madara says that Gai is the strongest taijutsu user he has ever faced, and he has faced Hashirama Senju repeatedly in the past in life or death fights, while the latter was in Sage Mode, which pretty much puts you out of everyone else's league immediately.

Before he was resurrected people thought Hashirama and Madara's prowess were just legends, which makes sense when you think about how easily Madara defeated all five kages, in theory the top shinobi of each village, in practice some of the top shinobi of each village.

When you consider that Madara gets his powers from being the reincarnation of Indra, and having absorbed Ashura's chakra to awaken the Rinnegan, and since fighting the Kages he has become the jinchuriki of the ten tails, making him vastly more powerful again.

But even in this Godly state, Gai's kick is almost enough to kill him, shattering his ribs and arm on one side and making him cough up blood before his healing steps in.

Gai is the strongest taijutsu user ever, almost without a doubt, his only potential rivals being Madara, Naruto and Sasuke, depending on what they can do with the Sage's chakra. When you consider that Gai is just a normal ninja who isn't a jinchuriki, or a reincarnation of the Sage's children, yet those are the only people who can compare to him, he really is incredibly impressive.


Is there any meaning behind Kirino's octopus plushie?

I believe the octopus plushie wasn't in the novels, so I don't think it has much significance. It seems to be something that was added as a visual leitmotif for Kirino in the anime, like her whale slippers, which were often used to identify Kirino in shots focusing on the feet. (Apparently she likes sea creatures.) When you see that octopus plushie, you know the scene is taking place in Kirino's room, just like when you see those whale slippers, you know those legs are Kirino's legs. The plushie is used like this in the opening animation a few times too.
In-universe, the novel describes Kirino's room like this:

The interior wasn't much different from my [Kyousuke's] room, except with a more reddish coloring.
However, the big difference is that it has a computer desk.
It suits my image of Kirino well, not being the individualist, but quite modern.

It sounds extremely boring, and that's probably the point—all of Kirino's unique possessions are hidden in her otaku closet. But since so many scenes of the anime take place in her room, the animators probably wanted to decorate it a little, while keeping the decorations consistent with Kirino's character. Many teenage girls have stuffed animals, so it makes sense that Kirino would have some, since she tries to portray herself as normal except better. Having them lets her keep "not being the individualist" because they keep the room from looking abnormally dull while she keeps the dangerous stuff sealed in the otaku closet.
As for why the animators chose that very specific-looking octopus design (or those very specific-looking whale slippers), they probably just wanted a unique-looking design that would fit with the image they built of Kirino's aesthetic tastes.


I think nothing is mentioned in the manga about this. According to the anime (second episode), Zoro was blackmailed by Helmeppo to surrender for 1 month otherwise he will ask his father to execute the family. Zoro agrees on the condition that the family will not be harmed.


What is Idepon in Shirobako a reference to?

It's a reference to an Anime of the early Real Robot genre called Space Runaway Ideon.

Space Runaway Ideon (伝説巨神イデオン Densetsu Kyojin Ideon, lit. Legendary Giant Ideon, also The Ideon) is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his most famous work, Mobile Suit Gundam.
[...] At one time it was rated #10 among the greatest anime series as compiled by famous anime magazine Animage (counting popularity, influence, and opinion). On the other hand, the series has never been very popular, even among Japanese mecha fans.
Space Runaway Ideon is a predecessor-of-sorts to Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion and deals with many of the same issues.
[...] Space Runaway Ideon shares a number of similarities to Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam series. As well as similar initial fates for both series (cancellation followed by films – though Ideon never became a long-running franchise as Gundam did), there are several broad similarities in the make-up of the characters and some reused plot devices. [...]
Wikipedia: Space Runaway Ideon


Can multiple people/animal eat a single Devil Fruit?

From the One Piece wiki:

  Only one bite is needed for the user to gain the power of a Devil Fruit, after which the Devil Fruit becomes a simple, useless, disgusting fruit

So I would say that the answer is no. Only one person/animal gets the ability.


What other Beaters were there in Sword Art Online?

It would depend on your definition of "Beater." While they are not specifically referred to as "beaters," their actions and hidden ulterior motives would likely label them as such.

If you define it as Beta players who take advantage of their inside knowledge from the closed beta for their own benefit, then there are at least two.

Diavel, attempted to manipulate a certain transaction to ensure that Kirito played a support role during the Floor 1 boss encounter, so he could get the last kill bonus
Coper, tried to use a monster to PK Kirito, so that he could get a certain quest item
Morte, from SAO Progressive, Vol. 2, one of the Beta players that completed the "War of Elves'" quest (one of three people, including Kirito), has a hidden agenda...

Not all Beta players have ulterior motives.

Argo, an information broker that provides the "Strategy Guide by Area". The guide is distributed in NPC shops and provided many resourceful information about the game.

But all in all, the term "Beater" is just a derogatory term non-Beta players use for Beta players that don't share their knowledge and keep information to themselves. Non-Beta players are jealous of the knowledge Beta players have and seek to ostracize them, so the Beta players either have no choice but to share what they know or be forced to play by themselves.


Who is the Mother of Meliodas, Estarossa, and Zeldris?

In my opinion, it's the supreme deity. Zeldris has a goddess symbol on his sword and Estarossa was a member of the archangels.


How much of the normal process of doing alchemy can be circumvented by seeing Truth?

From my understanding, all that seeing Truth does is allow one to create an Alchemy Array with their own body (as opposed to drawing it). it should be noted that in the 2003 Anime1 that even though Ed could have been doing circle free Alchemy from the moment after he and Al tried to being their mother back he still used circles. his first discovery that he didn't need them was when Gracia was giving birth and his second attempt was during the State Alchemist Exams

Mustang knows all the finer details of his alchemy because he had to learn it all from himself just from the Tattoo Riza has on her back which was placed there by her father, and further simplified it to be a smaller circle

  Flame Alchemy is the brainchild of the master alchemist Berthold Hawkeye, who had spent several years perfecting it before his death from illness in 1905. Believing it to be the greatest and most powerful form of alchemy possible, Hawkeye refused to pass on the knowledge to Roy, who was his apprentice at the time, and instead entrusted the secrets of his search for knowledge to his young daughter Riza - tattooing the perfected array onto her back as the only physical record of its existence. The full array appears to consist of a circle corralling an inverted hexagram made up of a large air triangle and a large earth triangle, both splitting into identical pairs as they intersect, with a fire triangle at the center, pointing upward toward a flame. Below the hexagram is an image of a salamander. Outside the circle is a pair of entwined basilisks and the text of the "Libera Me" responsory repeated multiple times. After Roy gains Riza's trust and takes the Flame Alchemy knowledge for himself, he modifies the symbol somewhat for his gloves (removing the text and the basilisks in favor of a simplified circle).

Source: Roy Mustang - Flame Alchemy (4th Paragraph)

while the Omake being canon can be questioned, logically Ed could just as well do the exact same with Mustang's gloves as they are a simplified form but he wont have the finer control that Mustang has and will most like just cause very big explosions...or blow himself up.

Outside from using the gloves, Ed would still need to know the kind of Array to use to subconsciously alter his internal array and the procedure needed to utilize it. as for understanding the Array Ed has demonstrated in Lab 5 that he is quite knowledgeable (understanding the one to create the philosophers stone and altering it to be more efficient) which one can assume the ability to understand array's he's never seen before comes from the knowledge he gained from The Gate and Truth (as knowledge on Homunculi would have came from books he already read, after learning about Winry's parents Ed says he read about them in a book), as such looking at Berthold Hawkeye's array he may in fact be able to understand it quicker than Mustang. though at it's current state with the important aspects for it having been destroyed by Riza's request Ed would probably need to study in order to figure out what is needed to complete it

1: Brotherhood skips a lot of Ed's early years but i do remember events from the 2003 anime being the same as the manga (ie, Bald, Nina being chimeratized and killed by Scar, Barry the Chopper) so it stand to reason that up until Yuswel it is more or less the same


Why is there a war in "Fireball" and "Fireball Charming"?

There's some explanation in the Japanese Wikipedia, but the portion is unsourced, and we can't tell if this is backed by any official stuff. Quoted and translated below.

  On a planet which may or may not be Earth, where dolphins, monkeys, birds and other wildlife and natural environment has already vanished, humans have let robots run the government. However, the robots soon turned to aristocracy, to which humans resisted; and now, the war between the human military and robot aristocrats has been going on for 20000 years.


Whose hands are these in Assassination Classroom chapter 179?

The poster and the scene afterward featuring Kayano strongly implies the female hand is hers.

It would sense that the person she was holding hands with someone that wasn't present at the old classroom building at the time, assuming that all the vignettes were happening more or less in real time.

The most likely conclusion would be that the male hand belongs to Nagisa.

After being questioned by Hara, Kayano didn't deny that they weren't together, and only mentions that he's focusing on his teaching career.

The anime skips this scene so there is no decisive conclusion, only speculation.


Does Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail) have something in common with Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)?

I have read that Oda and Mashima are good friends. However, not only has Mashima never been Oda's assistant, but he has never been an assistant to any mangaka. The resemblance of their artwork is due to something they share in common: Toriyama worship and obsession with Dragon Ball. More details on this blog post.


What is the relation between the female protagonists of these two manga series?

There's no apparent relation between the Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru and Natsu no Arashi manga series—they were published in different magazines and have different authors (Natsu no Arashi is by Jin Kobayashi, the author of School Rumble). From what I can tell, the stories are completely different too. (I've only seen one episode of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, and never anything of Natsu no Arashi.) But the anime versions of both shows are produced by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbou, as their Wikipedia pages point out. That's probably what the TVTropes page was referring to.

I'm not really sure how that makes Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru a spiritual successor to Natsu no Arashi—look at Shinbou's filmography and you could claim that, say, The Soul Taker was the spiritual successor to Twilight of the Dark Master, or Denpa Onna was the spiritual successor to Arakawa Under the Bridge, on the basis that Shinbou directed one and then later directed the other. On the other hand, the otherwise unrelated Pani Poni Dash and Negima?! do share a lot of stylistic similarities, so perhaps it's something like that.


Did Alicia really wear a wedding scarf at the end of Senjou no Valkyria (Valkyria Chronicles)?

That picture of Alicia and Welkin is from OVA 9, or the epilogue from the story.

It's a screenshot of this OVA where the summery can be found on the official wikia page from Valkyria Chronicles here

It's marked as episode #35 at the bottem of the page


Does Satan even understand Yuri's dream of peace?

No. He does not understand her dream at all. But you have to see things from his point of view.

He is a demon that cannot live in Assiah because nothing can host him for too long. So differently from Mephisto, he cannot understand / study Assiah at all.

From his poing of view, being in Gehenna for all eternity, the concept of peace as we humans understand it is just too alien.

We can infer that he was in love with Yuri, but he took what she told him in the few months / years they co-existed and applied his own interpretation.


Did Kakashi eventually surpass Itachi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru?

Taijutsu

Jiraiya got the Frog Kumite, Tsunade has brutal strength, so it is clear here that in terms of Taijutsu, Kakashi is not as strong as those two. As for Orochimaru and Itachi, they don't use taijutsu much so it can be said that Kakashi could be on the same level or better.

Ninjutsu

Kakashi is the renowned Copy Ninja, the one who has copied over 1.000 jutsus. In term of Jutsu knowledge, it can be said he is on par with Orochimaru if not greater. Tsunade is not that great in ninjutsu other that ninjutsu for healing purposes. Jiraiya has great ninjutsus but if we talk about the jutsu element, Kakashi can perform 4 basic elements (Katon: Goukaku, Suiton: Suiryuudan, Doton: Doryuuheki, Raiton: Raikiri). He was also able to learn Rasengan, which was rated as an A rank jutsu. Meaning that it is very hard to learn. Itachi, being an Uchiha, would be able to copy jutsu the same way Kakashi did. So they can be said on the same level. However, it is not known whether Itachi can use 4 elements like Kakashi did. Itachi for sure can use fire jutsus as demonstrated during his fight against Sasuke. Kakashi learned to use Susano'o after Obito transferred his remaining chakra to him upon his death. So here, Kakashi can be said has surpassed the other 4 in this.

Chakra

Kakashi is very well known as having a low reserves of chakra. He commented that Naruto has about 4 times of his. And considering that Naruto-Sasuke-Sakura was like the new Sannin of Konoha, it can be said that Jiraiya has about the same or greater level of chakra than Naruto. Orochimaru as we know is a chakra monster, same with Tsunade. Itachi is pretty much on the same level as Kakashi in term of chakra reserves, except that being an Uchiha, he gets less strain than Kakashi in using the Sharingan.

Genjutsu

Kakashi is better in Genjutsu than Jiraiya, except of course, when Jiraiya used the help of Fukasaku and his wife (the frog sennins) to cast sound genjutsu. He should be better than Tsunade and Orochimaru too since he has the Sharingan. He, however, is far weaker than Itachi.

Based on this, we can say that overall, Kakashi hasn't surpassed the other 4. He's just pretty much on the same level, or a bit under the other 4.


AkaKill! Theatre (アカ斬る！劇場) is a short-animation on the official site for a limited time period and it was broadcasted immediately after each episode aired on the TV.
The story mainly reflects the corresponding main episode in a comical way, so there will be no spoiler for future episodes.


Why was Railgun chosen for the Sisters project and not Kakine Teitoku?

if I remember correctly the electric powers allowed the clones to form "the misaka network", so they can learn from the previous battles and get stronger over time.

  ref: clip from To aru Kagaku no Railgun S


A song in Boku no Hero Academia season 3 episode 45 at 9:50

The Threat of Offense and Defense (脅威との攻防 Kyōi to no kōbō)

As another user pointed out, it has actually been played at least twice before!

season 1 episode 10 at around 10:50
season 2 episode 3 when showing everyone on the minefield


What was the source of inspiration behind the character Sasuke in Naruto?

According to Sasuke Uchiha article on Wikipedia, Sasuke's name comes from Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictional ninja featured in Japanese children's stories. Kishimoto also once said that Sasuke's character was influenced by Hiei from YuYu Hakusho.