There is a mountain, called Mount Kurama, which has a fair bit of spiritual significance (mostly due to Kurama Temple). As Wikipedia says:

  The philosopher Hayashi Razan lists one of the three greatest of the daitengu as Sōjōbō of Mount Kurama. The demons of Kurama and Atago are among the most famous tengu.

The Naruto Wiki mentions this as a possible source of the name:

  "Kurama" (九喇嘛) literally means 'nine lama'. Kishimoto was mainly inspired to create Kurama based on the character with the same name from the manga series Yū Yū Hakusho. The name may also reference Mount Kurama (鞍馬山), the sacred mountain said to be the home of the Tengu Sōjōbō who taught people ninjutsu and other Japanese martial arts.

The other one listed there, of course, is Kurama from Yū Yū Hakusho. This does appear to be cited, but the citation is to a book called the Second Artbook (this one, I think, pages 74-81), which I haven't been able to find online anywhere.

How it appears is that Yū Yū Hakusho chose this name in the early 1990s (probably from the name of the aforementioned mountain), then Naruto used this as inspiration for a similar character of their own.

Because of this choice from Naruto's mangaka, it seems likely that he also chose a similar character to use that name for. Kurama in Yū Yū was a yōko, it makes sense to reuse that name for a kitsune.

As for the original usage of the name Kurama in Yū Yū, one plausible explanation is that because of the name Kurama's connotation to the martial arts master Sōjōbō mentioned above, who possessed great wisdom and taught magic to Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

  Stories depict [the kitsune] as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. (Wikipedia)

However, this does not appeared to be cited to any specific source, so it is also highly plausible that there is no direct connection between the use of the name Kurama and the fox.


This song originally appeared in the episode where Chiyo & Sakura fight Sasori.

The name of the song is Reverse Situation.Sonetimes also read as Turn the Tables. ( Kesei Gyakuten.)

It is track number 26 in Naruto Shippuden original soundtrack (by Yasuharu Takanashi).Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack

It also has a remix version called Spin and Burst from the soundtrack of the movie "Boruto- Naruto the Movie".This is an amazing song as well.Boruto : Naruto the Movie Original Soundtrack


The chapter 525 titled "The Underwater Prison Impel Down" which started the arc out got released on 8th of December 2008. The first episode of the Game of Thrones TV series aired in 2011, so there's no chance it could reference anything from it.


Because some people like women with big breasts. As usual, anime exaggerates; it can't just have a woman with big breasts, it has to have a woman with ridiculously gigantic breasts.

This isn't purely a Japanese thing. Actually, I would argue that it came in origin from American media that were exported to Japan. In the US, large breasts are often considered more attractive. The supposed ideal of American young men's fantasies is 36D-24-36: 36 inches around the chest, cup size D, 24 inches around the waist, 36 inches around the hips (the "hourglass" shape). There are even articles using these three-sizes as a shorthand for the tyranny of societal beauty standards.

The epitome of this standard of beauty in American media is Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Women with large breasts are also common in American comics:

Anime and American comics both tend to exaggerate everything, so essentially they took a preference for large breasts and massively exaggerated it, to the point that characters have J-cup breasts. (US readers, keep in mind a Japanese J cup is an American H cup.)

Japan gets a ton of American media, so there have been ample opportunities for this American love of big boobs to seep into their culture. My theory is that it started during the US occupation with pinup posters brought over by the servicemen:

Then it was refreshed with every Hollywood movie that came in showing men lusting after women with big breasts.

Speaking of Jessica Rabbit, Cracked has an interesting theory on psychological and evolutionary reasons why animated women with ridiculously exaggerated boobs appeal to viewers. They're obviously a humor website and not a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so take it with a grain of salt.


Reanimation of Yondaime during Chunin exams

Remember the Orochimaru did not know of the Shiki Fuujin, he didn't know about not being able to summon the fourth. The Shiki Fuujin was kept highly confidential and was only ever used twice throughout the series.

Now for a more practical explanation, the author likely didn't think that far ahead, and caused The Third to be able to "cancel" the third summon. The Shiki Fuujin explanation was later applied an implied by certain events taking place.


If you are referring to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations then the manga has already been out for a while (May 9, 2016) and is on-going. an anime, as indicated by wikipedia, is scheduled in japan in April

A television adaptation is scheduled to start airing on TV Tokyo in April 2017.

this came from the cited source on Anime News Network which was posted December 17th, 2016.

TV Tokyo opened a website on Saturday to reveal the key visual, cast, and promotional video for the upcoming new Boruto anime series, titled Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. The television anime series will premiere in April.
Crunchyroll is streaming the promotional video on Twitter with English subtitles.


Who is the enemy fighting Hatchiyack in Dragon Ball Heroes manga chapter 5?

The character you seem to be referring to here is Majin Ozotto. You can read more about him here.


What actually determines abilities of "shifter"?

There are a lot of information in the Nine Titans article and the corresponding individual articles for each of the nine titans on the Attack on Titan Wikia. From my understanding the abilities are determined by which of the nine titans is inherited by the person.


For the meaning of the word "Re:" in the title, depends on the Anime

(there seems to be a lot of explanation in the comment section of your answer).

But the reason on why there's an influx of it being used is the fact that it currently sells when used in a light novel, manga, or anime title.

It's like how in gaming after DayZ was out, there was an influx of zombie survival games.
or if you want an Anime comparison, it's like how after Sword Art Online, "Trapped in another world" anime popped up each season (starting the 'isekai' genre craze).

I'm not saying that everything with the word "Re:" in it is a cash grab, it's not; but it's more of a marketing strategy.

The earliest usage (that I can find) of this is in Re: Cutie Honey (2004) and later Re: Hamatora (2014) which is an OVA, and a second season respectively. The most impactful usage of "Re:" though is in Re:Zero.


It says that Training and Competence is needed.
The competence of a mage defines if they can use a magic or not.
this manga excerpt somehow explains this.
In fairy Tail Volume 28 chapter 233,

"Those who are atuned to the flow of magic can process and use any magic in existence."

Fairy Tail's Plot entry in Wikipedia says that:

The fictional world of Earth-land is populated by wizards who coalesce into guilds to hone their magical abilities and apply them to paid job requests.

However this might be due to the status of Wizards in the Land, as we can also see townspeople who can't or maybe doesn't use magic
According to FairyTail Wikia: http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Mage

Mages (Madōshi), also known as Wizards, are individuals who can wield Magic of any kind.
Mages are wielders of Magic, using their Magic Power to cast spells and employ magical objects. They comprise only 10% of the living population of Earth Land, with the remaining 90% being either incapable or unwilling to use Magic.

Also, There is a note in the end of Fairytail's Wikipedia Entry:
In the references section, it is stated that,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Tail#References

According to the Fairy Tail Volume 2 Del Rey edition Translation Notes, General Notes, Wizard: So this translation has taken that as its inspiration and translated the word madôshi as "wizard". But madôshi's meaning is similar to certain Japanese words that have been borrowed by the English language, such as judo (the soft way) and kendo (the way of the sword). Madô is the way of magic, and madôshi are those who follow the way of magic. So although the word "wizard" is used in the original dialogue, a Japanese reader would be likely to think not of traditional Western wizards such as Merlin or Gandalf, but of martial artists.

Anyone Can learn Martial arts, but those who continue to learn and train can practically use it. There are also people who doens't want to.
In this answer to the question "What dictates who can use what magic in Fairy Tail?"

I think to be able to use a type of magic, one has to learn it. There are no requirements as to who can learn which magic.
In one particular episode, Mirajane teaches Natsu, Lucy and Happy the transformation magic and Natsu was able to transform into Lucy (even though that was not perfect, but that shows that you need to practice a particular type of magic).
And as have been mentioned in other answers that many characters are able to use more than one kind of magic.

And also Learning and WillPower

Magic has to be learned. When Erza was still a child, she was able to learn magic without actually practicing it. If you have knowledge of how to use a certain magic, you can use it. I guess it may depend on the user's willpower, or it may actually be inside them all along. By the way, there are a few characters who can use more than one type of magic like Ultear, Jellal, Zero/Brain, and Hades.

So to sum it up, one person might be able to learn Magic thru extensive training and practice of a certain particular kind of magic, has knowledge and understanding of it, Competence or Either he chooses to learn Magic or Not even if he/she is capable of it.


Is Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann actually Kamina?

I don't think there is any official source on this, but I would guess STTGL was made with image of Kamina in mind. Kamina was spiritual leader of Dai Gurren Dan and he was most influential person on all main characters, including Simon, Yoko, Viral and other. As that, they all see him as representation of power, freedom and determination. Fitting image for STTGL.

Also note, that at end of TTGL, it is said resurrection of dead people is (at least) morally wrong. So resurrecting Kamina, albeit temporarily, would go against believes of main characters.


Considering the story that happened until Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 101, Furuta's aim has been to become the head of CCG (and to marry Rize LOL).

The reason why he killed the CCG head was to become the successor and lead the Doves/CCG so that he can kill all the other ghouls (Aogiri/Anteiku) and in order to do that he needs the external support of V (just like how Danzo did all the dark stuff using the ANBU [Naruto]).

Also if you think of it logically, if Furuta killed Kaiko or any members of V organization, then he would then make an enemy of all the V members along with Kaneki and others. So Furuta is using both the Clowns and V to become the single KING !!


How/Why did Mai from the future Trunks, in Dragon Ball Super get young?

Pilaf gang made the wish just before Piccolo were killed by the androids.

Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga and both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super anime adaptations didn't cover that event IIRC, but Toyotaro did in a special chapter of his manga (in Vol. 2). According to Dragon Ball Wiki:

  In the future timeline, Future Android 17 and Future Android 18 are battling the future Dragon Team, and Future Goku is dead - having died from the Heart Virus. Future Bulma and Future Gohan are flying in a capsule ship and notice the Dragon Balls have been activated. Future Pilaf wishes for himself and the rest of his gang to be reverted to their youth - as babies, and Future Bulma arrives too late to stop them from making a wish. The Dragon Balls then drop down as stone, as Future Piccolo has died. Future Gohan screams in anguish at Future Piccolo's death. The baby Future Trunks and the baby Future Mai notice each other as baby Future Pilaf plans to escape.

It's assumed that something similar happened offscreen in the main timeline.


What is the episode of Naruto where the Second Hokage compliments Naruto on his Sage Mode abilities?

There are two instances where Tobirama compliments Naruto.

The first instance is when they learn that only Senjutsu works on The Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki: Obito. In Episode 379, they discover about it and in episode 380, Tobirama compliments Naruto because he feels he is fighting beside his elder brother Hashirama.

In Episode 381, he compliments Naruto as he thinks he might be the only one to surpass Hashirama as the Hokage.


A dango is "a Japanese dumpling and sweet made from mochiko" according to Shawn Balestracci's Wikipedia link. Mochiko is mochi flour, which is made from pounded rice. The Wikipedia page lists several varieties; some of these are mentioned in the song, such as the "peaceful an dango" source.

The Clannad anime is kind of unclear about where the song and characters come from, but within the world of Clannad, it seems to be some kind of mascot merchandising franchise similar to Hello Kitty. Nagisa has a dango daikazoku pillow, for instance. IIRC, Tomoya mentions early on that the dango daikazoku is old and unfashionable, but Nagisa herself is somewhat unfashionable, so it fits her.

Dango are somewhat commonly mentioned in anime and are even part of a saying, hana yori dango, which means "dango over flowers" (i.e., put food over aesthetic pleasures like flowers) and was punned on as the title of a shoujo manga. (The manga title uses different kanji to write "dango" that can also be read as "otokonoko" or "boy"). The sense I get from other anime is that dango are a common snack among Japanese young people, so they would be attractive as a mascot character for children and teenagers, leading to the idea of the Dango Daikazoku.


What are some of the more popular and well-known film noir style anime series?

Film noir was originally a term used by French critics to describe Hollywood movies of the post-war 1940’s era (up through the 1950s) that portray a darker perspective upon life than was standard in classical Hollywood films and concentrate upon human depravity, failure, and despair. After 1960, films of similar nature that actively try to emulate the classic noir style (for better or worse) are deemed neo-noir. Both terms typicall imply use of a cinematic style with a particular way of lighting, positioning and moving the camera, and using retrospective voice-over narration

There are no anime series that can be considered truly film noir in genre as they typically use the style but not the motifs and cinematography, identified by the genre.

I believe the following series most closely resemble the noir/neo-noir-style style, story, and/or setting (some not completely) the following would probably fit:

Both Big O and Cowboy Bebop have characters being plagued by events in their past and fatalistically having to accept them. Big O uses the style of film noir a lot more and uses its premise as the basis of entangled plot. Cowboy Bebop, on the other hand, simply sticks to the premise and borrows its style from elsewhere.
Baccano! is like a blend of film noir and pulp fiction, where a bunch of seemingly unconnected stories slowly become connect into one overarching storyline, which is very typical of the pulp noir genre.
Ghost in a Shell and it's sequel are considered a marriage of noir visual, sci-fi, and animation, and sometimes included under the subgenre of noir called tech-noir, which includes movies such as Brazil and Blade Runner. "A Detective Story" from the Animatrix is considered to be another example of the above mentioned tech-noir genre.
Perfect Blue has the mystery setting, murder cases with no apparent suspect and a main character is being hunted, keeping the story on the edge. It also deals with amnesia, flashbacks, uncertainties of one's own memories.
Bodyguard of the Wind Though not as well -known, has all the motifs of a classic noir detective story. It opens with the disappearance of a train carrying a shipment gold along with its guards, but the story really starts with the son of one of those guards coming to the city where the train vanished to investigate. There he is met with the residents many of hiding their own secrets and mysteries, forcing him to slowly progress from one clue to the next, like a noir detective would do, to get to the bottom of everything.

These don't really fit the noir-style completely for one reason or another, but are heavily influenced by the noir genre:

The Skullman has a noir-ish atmosphere is given by the mystery which shrouds the strange murders in that alternate history of the end of WWII.
Speed Grapher has the noir atmosphere and art, but the story and characters aren't what you typically expect of the genre
Texhnolyze has plenty of elements from "noir" movies: dark lighting, flashbacks that disrupt the normal flow of the story, a corrupted society, a sort of "femme fatale" and a main character that seems to not fit the rest of the world. However, this is more of a sci-fi/cyberpunk anime with a dystopian setting.
Daughter of Twenty Faces is more of an action comedy that uses Edogwawa Rampo (a well-known Japanese noir writer) characters and the noir-style of mystery behind it's plot.


How does Orochimaru exist in all of his curse marks

Basically, your Voldemort analogy is right. He is able to put his Chakra into people through the curse mark.  This is basically putting a bit of himself in them.
 You find out later that doing so (as well as other things) has left him weakened. This is why he wants Sasuke's body to regain his full strength.


Is Heaven's Lost Property season 3 canceled or on hold?

The third season has indeed been cancelled; instead it was replaced with a movie that has just recently come out. This is described by this ANN news article.

Sora no Otoshimono Final: Eternal My Maser

Quick Plot Summary / Overview: The scene opens with the Zeus' destruction above Synapse, Tomoki calls for Nymph to return immediately; unfortunately Ikaros responds that Nymph isn't coming. Tomoki commands Ikaros to take him straight to Synapse as the Earth's surface deliberately vanishes. While flying towards Synapse, Ikaros tells Tomoki a story how long ago due to malfunction she was once ordered by a "boy" to attack Synapse out of desperation. Remarking a dying Sugata, Ikaros' body begins burning away because of a device installed within her whenever she approaches Synapse without permission. Having second thoughts, Tomoki orders Ikaros to go back but cannot since there is nowhere else to go to.

(Source: http://soranootoshimono.wikia.com/wiki/Heaven%27s_Lost_Property_Final:_Eternal_My_Master)


Did Hyung Min-woo Invent Temozarela, the Antagonist of the "Priest" Manhwa?

Temozarela is based off of the dark god Tchernobog from the Monolith game Blood, which the author admits is his inspiration for the basic setting of priest.


Which transformation gives more power, Super Saiyan Rage or Super Saiyan Blue Evolution?

That's a tough one, but as you can see in the Dragon Ball Super Card Game, Future Trunks in Super Sayan Rage mode has more power than Goku or Vegeta in Super Sayan Blue Evolution mode: http://www.dbs-cardgame.com/asia/cardlist/?search=true&category=428002&color=Blue
Also while fighting against Fused Zamasu, this state is shown to be able to power up even further, through the energy of humans across the Earth, gaining a massive boost in power. This power was able to destroy Fused Zamasu's body with ease.


Why does Kirito end up in the forest when he first enters Alfheim?

From Sword Art Online Volume 3 - Fairy Dance, Chapter 2 (emphasis mine):

  "[...]. Yggdrasil...she seems to be there. That place, you know
  it?"

  "Ah, this I know. Eh, eh, it's generally to the northeast, but quite a
  ways from here. If I were to convert it into real distance, it would be
  about fifty kilometers away."

  "Wow, that really is a long distance. That’s what, five times the
  diameter of Aincrad. Actually, why was I brought to this forest anyway?"

  Yui lowered her head for a moment at my question.

  "I think that your positional data was either damaged or confused with a nearby player, resulting in you ending up here. That’s just a guess, though."

In the screenshot, the pyramid like structure is the signature building of the Spriggan hometown. The blocky void above it is the glitch that "teleports" Kirito to the forest.

Yui raised two possibilities for the glitch:

Kirito's positional data was damaged

Since Kirito and Asuna was teleported to the sky outside Aincrad in SAO moments before the game shut down, and Kirito's character data from SAO was loaded in ALO, chances are that the positional data was also loaded, which sent him on a free fall nosediving trip into the forest 50 kilometers away from Yggdrasil.

While this matches the fact that ALO's map is much bigger than SAO (as seen in the above quote), it was quite a miracle that Kirito dropped right at the forest where Leafa was. As the map in ALO is much bigger, he might as well had ended up elsewhere in ALO.
Kirito's positional data was confused with a nearby player

Since Kirito and Suguha were accessing the game from the same IP address (which is quite common for IPv4 in real world), Kirito's positional data got glitched up and he was dropped in the forest where Suguha (Leafa) was, instead of the hometown of the Spriggan. The fact that he fell from the sky matches the fact that Leafa was having a mid-air fight.

I admit this is a bit stretching, but this is the closest I could relate a real life concept with the theory above to explain the proximity of Kirito and Leafa's position in the game and the timing when the glitch happened.

(Either way, I take it as an excuse for the story instead of general knowledge).


What is the song used when naruto asks iruka to be his dad for the marriage

After a little of searching, I think it is called Man of The World

link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwZRUDbS25o


Which parts of Franky's body have remained organic?

We know that because Franky couldn't reach his back when he first reconverted himself into a cyborg, that part still remains organic; and according to Senor Pink in chapter 775, Franky's back is still made of flesh after the timeskip.

Robin also managed to squeeze his privates at the end of the post-Enies Lobby arc in an attempt to get him to join, so these parts remained organic as well.

While his head is now partially robotic, as shown with his steel nose and the exposed circuitry from the injuries he suffered from his fight with Senor Pink, it can still bleed, showing that it remains at least partially organic.


Whats the name of the instrumental soundtrack at the start in Mardock Scramble:The First Compression?

The track that starts at 55 seconds into the movie and ends with the title card at 3:16 is called "Balot -The little girl in the huge city-".

It's the second track on the official soundtrack for the first movie and composed by Conish (コーニッシュ). (The first track on the OST is the one they used for the trailer)


What's the name of Kuchiki Rukia's real parents?

As Memor-X said

  i don't think it's stated, the wikia's earliest point in Rukia's history is her and Hisana arriving in Rukon 150 ago which would mean they died together, since it doesn't state that they came with their parents (given Hisana was finding it hard to care for Rukia and live in Rukon) chnaces are their parents died long before and during the Soul Society Arc Horiuchi Hironari says it's rare to be reunited with family members who died earlier which tends to generate family groups by those who die later

Rukia being an orphan is an integral point of her (and Renji's) back story, fitting into the general desperation and poverty of the Rukon district.

As such, her parents have never been identified and most likely never will.


What exactly is the technique Madara uses to control Obito?

Madara tries to control Obito with his will. He is (or should be) able to do this to anyone who has Chakra Receivers on his body, created through his "Will Materialisation" technique. We had seen, in chapter 605, page 5, that Obito had these, since some emerged from his body (along with some branches created through Mokuton) when he awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan.

They were most likely, somehow, "attached" to his right side of the body, which was created by Madara from genetic material from Hashirama's living clone, which had a black rod which extended from its navel.

The technique of which Hashirama speaks, and the one Madara tried to make Obito use was the Rinne Tensei, the same technique Nagato used to revive the people he had killed when he invaded Konoha.

Obito and Madara had planned for this technique to be used to revive Madara, as he needed a living body to be the Jinchuuriki of the Juubi. Initially, even Nagato was supposed to use it to revive Madara, but as he used it in Konoha he passed away (the user of the technique loses his life when he performs this technique). Later, since Obito retrieved the Rinnegan, he was supposed to use it to revive Madara. However, since he had told Madara he had no intention of doing so, Madara was forced to control Obito with his will (through the Chakra Receivers on his body).


Is Kirby a baby in the original "Kirby: Right Back At Ya!"?

The babbling is present in both the English and original Japanese versions.  From skimming the first three episodes, Kirby's dialogue seems roughly the same. Other than the babbling, Kirby is able to repeat some words that others say to him. In the first episode, he is able to repeat the names of Tiff/Fūmu and Tuff/Bun in both the English and Japanese versions. In the third episode, however, Kirby repeats "sword beam" in the Japanese version only. The babbling is most likely not a product of the translation.


What is the symbolism behind depicting Kaga Ryosuke as a centaur when he uses his invisible dictionary?

The Centaur, in Greek mythology, is a creature related to both basal instincts and wisdom (lust, or in the context, perverseness). They are connected to the god Dionisius, god of carnal desires (sexual drive) and carousing.

From Monstruous.com:

  The wicked centaurs are the antithesis of the knight and the horseman. Instead of mastering or taming their instincts, these centaurs are ruled by them. They symbolize violent lust, adultery (...)

From Wikipedia article on Centaurs:

  Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents.

So the first symbolism of the centaur relates to the fact that Ryosuke is unleashing his perverted spirit energy.

The most famous centaur is Chiron, and according to Wikipedia again:

  Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind (...) A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher and tutor.

This could be connected to the fact that Ryosuke is displaying his great knowledge or wisdom, by assimilating the content of the dictionary.


What did Mikasa say when she was correcting Armin after Eren mastered the ODM gear?

This is the conversation in episode 3:

アルミン: 目で「どうだ！」って言っているよ。
ミカサ　: 違う。
アルミン: えっ？
ミカサ　: これで私と離れずにすんだと思って安心してる。

Literally, it translates to

Armin: (His; Eren's) eyes are telling "How's that!".
Mikasa: (You're) wrong.
Armin: Eh?
Mikasa: With this, (He; Eren's) relieved thinking that (he) doesn't have to be separated from me.
The word in (parentheses) is the omitted subject.

Mikasa's words is a response to the conversation in dining scene (which was slightly omitted in the anime)
From post no. 382 on 2chan,

When Mikasa told Eren, "You shouldn't aim to be a soldier anymore",
Eren, who couldn't dispute it, was staring at Mikasa annoyed while thinking "I understand even if you didn't say it!".
Mikasa misunderstood Eren's expression as "Looking from his staring, he hates to be separated from me".


Where could I buy the notebook that looks like the real Death Note?

Check out these links:

http://www.399animeshop.com/anime/death-note/death-note-book-replica-size.php
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/death-note-notebook

There are different types tho, one type with only the cover looking like the death note, the content is like a normal notebook. The other type is exact replica, figure out which one you want.


The black box is the portion of The World's systems that Harold Hoerwick designed before his death. CC Corp is, for unstated reasons, unable to ever modify or remove it without messing everything up (I'm being general on purpose). Every version of The World is built on this black box in some way.


In the Monogatari series, who is Araragi's true love? Hanekawa, Shinobu, or Senjougahara?

Let's go case by case:

Hanekawa: In Kizu, Araragi sees Hanekawa as a perfect being. Good grades, good ahem assets, being president etc. After talking with her he starts to love her. As for Hanekawa, I am pretty sure she likes Araragi from the start. Now, we already know how imperfect Hanekawa is. Even in the Kizu, she tries to "gain" Araragi by manipulating him (emotion-wise). The "chicken" scene in Kizu 3 is actually about this however because of the fanservice, people tend to miss this. So at the end of Kizu, both are in love with each other.

In Nekomonogatari, Araragi also sees how imperfect Hanekawa is. To understand this, you might want to check out Nekomonogatari Kuro episode 4. In the middle of the episode before fighting, there is a really good exchange between Hanekawa and Araragi. Yes, at that point Hanekawa is talking, not the sawari neko. Again you can understand it better by watching.

Anyways, because of that Araragi loses his interest over Hanekawa. However, Hanekawa still loves Araragi and finally admits that in Nekomonogatari: Shiro. She is rejected by Araragi thus finally Hanekawa can move on. So this is the basic summary of character development for Hanekawa-Araragi love. Now let's talk about Shinobu.

Shinobu: This is always a grey area for me. Because what he did to Shinobu, Araragi always feels bad for her. Shinobu, of course, is really mad about it too (End of Kizu). That is why she never talks in Neko: Kuro and Bake. I think the best place to start our character study is Nisemonogatari episode 4's famous/infamous bath scene. That is the first time we hear her voice (broadcast-wise). I highly recommend you to rewatch this scene. It tells a lot of things. However the basic idea is, "I am not forgiving you nor you should forgive me but let's move on from that". If you think about it, Shinobu had weeks to think over her situation after Kizu. From now on, they kinda became partner in crime. That "I am not forgiving you nor you should forgive me" becomes their base of this relationship.

I have to skip lots of arcs here because I really can't list all of them but because of their character developments through the Monogatari (for example time travel arc), they start to care each other. Actually, the time travel arc in Second Season gives us a good perspective. Even while not talking to Araragi, Shinobu still cares about him. Let's remember the end of Kizumonogatari: "If tomorrow you die, then tomorrow my life will end. If today you live, then today I will live on". Ironically, even Gaen-senpai, she knows everything, couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind their "taking care" relationship in Owari S2. Please also watch that scene.

So in the end, the relationship between Shinobu and Araragi is a complex one. It is not love as we know but they really care each other. Not in a romantic way. Now for the last entry, I don't have a good analysis but I will try to explain my points.

Hitagi: First of all Hitagi really falls in love with Araragi after helping her. That's obvious. This is happening in Bake, after Neko: Kuro, so Araragi isn't in love with Hanekawa. This is kinda my interpretation but I think Araragi falls in love way after they agreed on dating. Maybe it's really true love or maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome but we know for sure that they really love each other at the end of Owari S2. There is no real development I can talk like above however I believe Zoku Owari will give us a good explanation over this.


What are the sealing techniques used to contain the Tailed Beasts?

This answer is based upon events up to Chapter 644.

Following techniques have been used for sealing Tailed Beasts.

Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style) used by Namikaze Minato to seal yang-Kurama (Kyuubi) into infant Naruto (and yin-Kurama into himself).
Tekkō Fūin (Iron Armour Seal) used to seal Gyūki (Hachibi) into Bee (and Fukai, the previous Hachibi jinchuriki).
Fūinjutsu: Genryū Kyūfūjin (Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals) used by Akatsuki members to (extract and) seal their captured bijū into the Gedō Mazō.
Unnamed Fūinjutsu used by Chiyo to attach Shukaku (Ichibi) to Gaara's unborn body. The same technique was presumably used to attach Shukaku to the previous two jinchuriki.
Ten-tails sealing technique used by Uchiha Obito to seal the Juubi into himself.
Undisclosed Fūinjutsu used by Uchiha Obito to reseal various bijū into their resurrected former jinchuriki.
Kohaku no Jōhei bijū fūin (Amber Purifying Pot Tailed-beast sealing) used by the Third Raikage to seal Hachibi into the Kohaku no Jōhei.

Other jinchurikis probably got their bijūs through one of the above techniques, or other as yet undisclosed techniques.

There is not much evidence, direct or circumstantial, to suggest any kind of "compatibility requirement" between a bijū and its sealing technique, or in other words, it sounds plausible that a bijū could be sealed using more than one technique, and the same sealing technique could be used to seal various bijū (as seen in the above examples).


The Robotech Wikia has a list for SDF-1, SDF-2, SDF-3, SDF-4 and SDF-7. It includes a listing for SDF-M, but I don't think that was in the TV series (it's mentioned in the Robotech comics). Wikipedia also has a list of Robotech vehicles that has a lot of detailed information of 1-4.

SDF-1: Robotech TV series
SDF-2 Megalord: Robotech TV series (starting from episode 26)
SDF-3 Pioneer: First appeared in "Crystal Dreams" promo and in the Robotech II: The Sentinels series
SDF-4 Izumo/Liberator: Last episode of the original series
SDF-7: Robotech II: The Sentinels novels
SDF-M: Invid War: Aftermath comics

The SDF-7 was a Horizon Class T ship, so it's not like SDF-1.


How did Nunnally know that Lelouch did what he did for good?

This has something to do with the Geass. In episode 11 of Code Geass, Lelouch saw C.C.'s memories when he touched her. Though it wasn't the first time that he had touched her, seeing her memories was a first. It is left unclear under what circumstances does a memory leak like this one happens.

What happened to Nunnally was something similar. She saw his memories when she touched him. It is probably some anomaly related to the Geass.


Does Yukari ever change back from being an alpaca in Paca Plus?

Yes, Yukari does change back from an alpaca to a girl.

   The "curse of the alpaca" which was placed on Yukari is reversed by Kazuma accepting her and kissing her as an alpaca.


Are there any new/conflicting rules in the Death Note Movies?

In the last few episodes, one of the rules does actually say that if the number of death notes in the human world exceeds 6, the 7th note will have no effect until one of the other notes is destroyed or returned to the shinigami world.


Here is a total list of the deceased to this point in One Piece:

NOTE THERE ARE SPOILERS CONTAINED BELOW READ AT OWN RISK

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

          Joy Boy

K

                   Koshin

L

M

                     Mr. 7

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

   Vander Decken

W

Y

Z


How were the walls in Attack on Titan built?

Spoilers from the manga.

After the king's sanctum incident (ch50~65)

   (when Rod Reiss tried to make Historia eat Eren),

it is disclosed that

   The First King used his Coordinate power (control over titans) to force those titans to use their hardening power to shape up the walls, then used his Memory power to wipe the memories from the pre-wall era from humanity.

Why did he

   leave hibernating titans inside the walls

is unknown.

   he also created the Wallist Church to help him oversee the walls safety.


What is the difference between all of the Sharingans?

Sharingan is a dojutsu, and a kekkai genkai that can be accessed (naturally) only by the Uchiha clan when an Uchiha experiences strong emotions. The design of the Sharingan is having 3 tomoe.

Two basic abilites that the Sharingan offers are -

Dōsatsugan - The techniques being copying jutsu, seeing chakra, and advanced eye movement to detect anything.
Saimingan - Genjutsu, taking complete control over a person's body. (Even tailed beasts can be controlled), and also the user of the Sharingan is able to predict an attacker's attacks by careful observation.

The other two powerful and forbidden jutsus are - Izanagi and Izanami. Izanagi allows the user to warp reality and switch between illusion and reality, allowing the user to escape death is certain cases. Izanami traps the victim in an infinite loop of illusion. Each of these leads to the user going completely blind in one eye, each time he uses either of the techniques (Although Madara retained his vision due to him awakening the Rinnegan).

The Sharingan can be evolved into Mangekyō Sharingan by experiencing the trauma of loss, although the repeated use of the Mangekyō will render the user blind. To overcome this, the user can transplant the Mangekyō Sharingan of a sibling into his, thus awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. The design of the Mangekyō is unique and specific to a person, and the Eternal Mangekyō merges the designs of the two Mangekyōs.

In addition to the abilities that the usual Sharingan offers, the Mangekyō also offers a wide range of abilities specific to users, like

the Susanoo (common technique) - gigantic, humanoid avatar made of the user's chakra which surrounds them and fights on their behalf.
Amaterasu in the case of Itachi - black flames that cannot be extinguished at all, and it is the highest form of Katon.
Tsukuyomi, in the case of Itachi - a very powerful genjutsu technique,requires eye contact and traps the target in genjutsu which feels like an eternity for the user but it lasts only a second in the real world.
Kamui, in the case of Obito and Kakashi - a powerful space time technique, allows the user to teleport anywhere (also to the unique Kamui's dimension) and allows the user to be intangible (the user teleporting himself into the dimension partially) and also the Kamui can synchronise with another space–time ninjutsu, granting the user access to the synchronised technique's dimension (in the case of Kaguya and Obito).
And in Uchiha Shishui's case, the Kotoamatsukami, an extremely powerful genjutsu technique, that manipulates the victim's thoughts completely without anyone, including the target, having the slightest idea that they were being controlled.
The Choku tomoe, in the cases of Madara and Sasuke, grants them fluidity in their movements when fighting.
Kagutsuchi, in the case of Sasuke, applies shape transformation to the flames of Ametarasu.

The Sharingan, Mangekyō, and the Eternal Mangekyō can be transplanted to another non-Uchiha, but would not be very efficient as it would demand a great deal of chakra and it could not be deactivated. (Which is why Kakashi wears an eye patch)

Sources -

Naruto Wikia - Sharingan

Naruto Wikia - Mangekyō Sharingan

Myself, a huge Naruto fan.


Well Mugiwara no ichimi has no first mate but according to One Piece Yellow: Grand Elements, Roronoa Zoro is referred to as being "like the vice captain". Bartolomeo has also referred to Zoro as the first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates, although, by his own admission, that was just an assumption based on his personal views of the crew.

link here https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/First_Mate


In the opening scene, why does Hiratsuka-sensei get held up by some policemen?

Maybe it's because of illegal parking at the bridge. If i remember it correctly, Hiratsuka sensei brought Hikigaya there to talk about the service club, i think it's between ep. 6-8, (because Hikigaya and Yukino had an argument/ misunderstanding) there was a sign that says parking is not allowed at the bridge.


In Chapter 85, Garou was declared as a Dragon-level threat.


Based on the quotients of the production minutes over number of works and given the context that these numbers are referring to increasing numbers of theatrical anime releases, I believe the term "production minutes" is referring to the length of each anime.

For example, in 2000, 31 theatrical anime were released, each being an average of 61.29 minutes, while in 2014, 74 theatrical anime were released, each being an average of 65.05 minutes.


It's unknown exactly how did he die, but here's what we can find. His wiki page says:

   Hashirama died shortly after the founding of Konoha in one of the many
 wars that were raging during this revolutionary era, but not before
 passing on the title of Hokage to Tobirama.1

However, if we head to the Konohagakure wiki page, we will find a more specific note:

   Hashirama died during the First Shinobi World War, necessitating his
 brother Tobirama Senju replace him as Second Hokage.1 Tobirama would
 also die during the war, appointing his pupil Hiruzen Sarutobi as his
 successor before sacrificing himself to ensure his pupils' escape from
 Kumogakure's ninja.2

Now, here's what we know about the First Shinobi War (emphasis mine):

   The First Shinobi War was the first of the great wars that involved the majority of
 shinobi villages and countries. The war started not long after the system of one shinobi
 village per country was established by the founding of Konohagakure. To try and
 maintain a balance of power, the First Hokage divided the tailed beasts among the
 other five villages3 when he began his peace talks with them.

So it indeed looks like he died in the First Shinobi War, which is not too surprising, considering that

   his brother - the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju - died in the same war2, in which other Kages and Tailed Beasts were involved.

1 Character Databook 1, page 116
2 chapter 481 pages 4-10
3 chapter 404 page 14


As of now, there's no official answer, but at least older than 4200 years.

Summarizing from the Wikia about Fairy Clan:

  Longevity: The average lifespan of a Fairy is between 1000 to 1500 years. They do not appear to physically age and they never suffer from illness.

Now, comparing the known fairies' age:

Invisible: ?
Cisca: ?
Dahlia: ? (former, 2nd king/queen)
Melik: ?
Elaine: ±1000
Ende: 1000+
Puora: 1000+
Helbram: ±1300 (deceased)
King: 1300+ (current king)
Gloxinia: ±1400 (former, 1st king)
Gerheade: ±4200

Although most of them are mentioned in between 1000-1500 range, Gerheade is an exception, and she's not even a king.

Thus, assuming there's nothing that prevents their natural aging (e.g. Elaine, Helbram), and since they don't suffer any illness, fairy king should even be possible to live more than 5000 years.


The reasons Law told Ceasar:

  I'm looking into research that the government is carrying out. This facility should contain valuable traces of research that is still going on to this day.

(chapter 666, page 5)

Ceasar's exact reaction was:

  I don't see how I can trust you, but I suppose your proposition can't hurt

(chapter 666, page 6)

So Law's story checked out, he didn't seem like a threat, and even though he wasn't trusted, Ceasar thought he would benefit from keeping Law around.


What is the population ratio of humans and pokemon?

I don't think there is any specific information about this in the Pokémon anime, manga, or games, but the ratio of humans to Pokémon in the Pokémon world is likely similar to the ratio of humans to other animals in the real world. The estimates listed below are from this article: How Many Wild Animals Are There. The author admitted the estimates are not very good, but I could not find a better source.

Land Birds: 1 * 1011 to 4 * 1011
Land Mammals: 1011 to 1012
Land Reptiles: 1011 to 1012
Land Amphibians: 1011 to 1013
Fish: 1013 to 1015
Humans: 7 * 109

From these, we can get a rough calculation of the ratio of other animals to humans (and thus Pokémon to humans) by summing the different groups of animals (using the higher estimates) and dividing by the number of humans:

1.0124 * 1015 animals / 7 * 109 humans = 144,628 animals per human.

This number should give a general idea of the ratio between humans and animals, but should in no way be taken as accurate. And note that if I added arthropods into the sum, then the ratio would be greater by several orders of magnitude. I didn't do so because bug Pokémon are much larger than their real world counterparts and their populations probably would not be comparable as a result.

Links of interest:

Lists of organisms by population
About how big is the bird population? Has it gone down because of global warming or pollution?


That's because the Gedo Mazou itself was extracted as well (and sealed on the new moon on the other dimension).

Spoiler

 Click the image for a larger version

 We can see the Gedo Mazo getting caught up in the Rikudo Chibaku Tensei, while Madara getting spit out.

Madara didn't have the Gedo Mazou in him to provide life force when all of the Bijuu were extracted.


Why does Shanks sacrifice his arm to save Luffy?

Okay, so as you know that Shanks was once a crew mate of Gol D Roger mentioned by Rayleigh himself when Luffy meets him. According to what was shown in flashback, Shanks tells Rayleigh about Luffy when he accidentally meets him on the Sabondy Archipelago.

Shanks had great respect towards Gol D Roger, and hearing the same words from Luffy and with the same enthusiasm, he could see a part of Roger in Luffy. The feeling what Shanks would have got can be proved by what was shown in Loguetown where Luffy said the same thing sitting in the bar. Even Raoul (the man who owns the bar) thought that Gol D Roger was back when he heard those words from Luffy. That could be one of the reasons.

Another reason is that he considered Luffy as a friend and he always said this:

  Listen up… You can pour drinks on me, you can throw food at me… You
  can even spit on me. I’ll just laugh that stuff off. But… Good reason
  or not… Nobody hurts a friend of mine.

So he could not withstand Luffy getting killed in front of his eyes.
This was the answer for your question in the heading.

Now the reason for not using haki was that Luffy is a hammer, hence cannot swim in water. Luffy was already drowning and it would be late if he went and used haki to send the sea king away and then go and save Luffy!


What is the current serialization status of D.Gray-Man?

According to this article dated July 4th, 2015 on Anime News Network (which I believe is a reliable source):

  Jump Square Crown will launch on July 17. The new magazine will publish Katsura Hoshino's D.Gray-man and Yasuhiro Nightow's Blood Blockade Battlefront Back 2 Back.

So D. Gray-Man is going to be serialized again, but it is going to be serialized as a quarterly manga, so it will be something like 4 chapters a year of about 100 pages each

Edit:- D Gray Man Chapter 219 has been released, 53 pages of content excluding the announcement, Color page etc.


Indra has MS, a strong MS at that. What you're having confused is that Sasuke's EMS and Indra's MS look the same, because after awakening his EMS, Sasuke was able to use Indra's chakra (being his reincarnate).


Alluka's power can grant any wish.
In return, Alluka will request (After granting said wish) 3 requests, with their difficulties adjusted to how complicated/strong the wish is. (Not sure how to word this)

If three requests are granted, you may wish again. If three requests are denied, people die. The number of people increases as I've said before. The people who die, die by order of closeness to the target. (Minimum 2 people)

Thus, if they were to harness Alluka's power, it would be mindboggingly useful, and would make the Zoldick family as strong as they can only imagine.
But if someone were to abuse it and fail the requests, the results would be devastating for them. (And Illuka believed that Killua wanted to bear the requests of his wish)

Illumi also believed there are rules they are unaware of, and only Killua knows of, and again, he is correct, and this would make anticipating and controlling Alluka much harder. Thus, he intended to destroy her.


Why always "skirt-flipping" fan-service's (mini-skirt blowing up.)?

I have made some research and this is what i got (and sorry about my grammar )

So it called Panchira (パンチラ) refers to a brief glimpse of a woman's underwear.

  Panchira (パンチラ) refers to a brief glimpse of a woman's underwear. The
  term carries risqué connotations similar to the word 'upskirt' in
  English usage. The word is a portmanteau of "panty" (パンティー pantī) and
  chira, the Japanese sound symbolism representing a glance or
  glimpse. It differs from the more general term "upskirt" in that
  panchira specifies the presence of underpants (the absence of which
  would more accurately be described as ノーパン; nōpan).

Origins

  Traditionally, Japanese women did not wear underwear. On December 16,
  1932, there was a fire in the Tokyo Shirokiya department store. Legend
  has it that some of the female staff tried to use their kimonos to
  cover their privates as they climbed down ropes from the higher
  floors, and accidentally fell to their deaths. Japanese newspapers
  began agitating for women to start wearing 'drawers' (ズローズ zurōzu),
  but seemingly had little impact at the time. In a 1934 survey by a
  Fukuoka newspaper, 90% of the women surveyed were still not wearing
  'drawers' a year and a half after the fire.2

  As noted below, the development of panchira in Japanese popular
  culture has been analyzed by a number of American and Japanese
  writers. Many observers link the phenomenon to the Westernization of
  Japan following World War II.7 During the occupation, fashions,
  ideas, and media previously unavailable were accessed by the local
  population, leading to a slight relaxing of earlier taboos.
  Western-style clothing (including women's underwear) gained popularity
  in the post-war period, reinforced through numerous media outlets —
  magazines, newspapers, films, journals, and comics.

  At least one Japanese source traces the beginnings of panchira to the
  release of The Seven Year Itch in 1955.[8] The media coverage
  surrounding Marilyn Monroe's iconic scene fueled the emerging Japanese
  craze. According to architectural historian Shoichi Inoue, the
  practice of "scoring" a glimpse up young women's skirts became
  extremely popular around this period; "Magazines of the time have
  articles telling the best places where panties could be viewed".[9]
  Inoue also writes that actress Mitsuyo Asaka spurred the popularity of
  the word 'chirarizumu' (チラリズム 'the thrill of catching a brief glimpse
  of a women's nether regions') by parting her kimono to show off her
  legs in her stage shows in the late 1950s.[10]

  In 1969, the Japanese oil company Maruzen Sekiyū released a television
  commercial featuring Rosa Ogawa in a short mini-skirt that gets blown
  up by the wind with her forming her lips into an 'O' in surprise. This
  led to children imitating her line "Oh! Mōretsu" (Oh！モーレツ, too much,
  radical), and a fad for sukāto-mekuri (スカート捲り flipping up of a girl's
  skirt).[11] Ogawa subsequently appeared in a TV show Oh Sore Miyo (Oh!
  それ見よ, literally "look at that," but actually a pun on 'O Sole Mio,' a
  neapolitan song 'my sunshine') that again featured scenes of her
  mini-skirt blowing up.

Anime/Manga

For anime/manga culture,  it's 'partially' answered from this question.

Where did the anime trope of Clothing Damage / Clothes being torn originate?

it was from this manga, Shameless School

Wiki Explanation

  Harenchi Gakuen (ハレンチ学園, lit. "Shameless School") is a Japanese media
  franchise created by Go Nagai. Harenchi Gakuen was one of the manga
  serialized in the very first issue of Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly
  Shōnen Jump. The series was the first big success for Go Nagai. It is
  also considered as the first modern erotic manga, sometimes considered
  the first hentai manga, though Nagai never used explicit sexual
  situations in the original run of the manga.

And from the same wiki, it was written

  By the late 1960s, panchira had
  spread to the mainstream comic industry, as fledgling manga artists
  such as Go Nagai began exploring sexual imagery in boys' comics
  (shōnen manga).[12] Adult manga magazines had existed since 1956 (e.g.
  Weekly Manga Times), but it is significant to note the introduction of
  sexual imagery into boys manga. Millegan argues that the ecchi genre
  of the 1970s rose to fill a void left by the decline of Osaka's
  lending library network:[13]

and i read an article about Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump came under fire for running a busty spread on Yuragi-sō no Yūna-san (Yūna of Yuragi Manor). The illustration sparked conversations about ecchi works in a magazine that is largely seen as reading material for kids under 14 years of age.

Summary

From what i could tell, the originate of "skirt-flipping" is from short mini-skirt that gets blown up by the wind ). There is a book with titles, Perversion and Modern Japan: Psychoanalysis, Literature, Culture that explain about this topic, but i couldn't copy the reference's, since its licensed. You could read the book online Here

References

Perversion and Modern Japan: Psychoanalysis, Literature, Culture
Panchira (パンチラ)


Because he is NOT suicidal....

Simply because Hisoka has never challenged anyone that are physically stronger than him despite the fact of it's availability. i.e. Uvogin, Franklin, Silva and Biscuit. People who's raw power are way above his. Therefore his attacks are meaningless unless he has more than just bungee gum in his arsenal. Razor has the same build as the characters I mentioned, and is capable of destructive power well above Hisoka's defenses as well(Shown in their volleyball game). Meaning Hisoka does not have the ability YET to pierce through their defenses, unless he has an extremely hax ability.

Rationale: His fight with these people would look the same as Uvogin's and Kurapica's. Unless he has an ability like Chain Jail, there is just no way he could harm them, because they are physically and nen wise more powerful than he is. If he is stronger or atleast at the same level, then that volleyball(not full power) catch wouldn't have broken his fingers. Imagine what Uvogin's fist would do.

Fight Availability:
Silva - Hisoka can pay the assassin to kill him, and we have a fight.
Buscuit - A dozen opportunities and he does not take it.
Razor - He could've attacked him on the spot after the game.
Franklin - a simple duel between teammates
Uvogin - same reason as Franklin

My thoughts are that Hisoka targets potentially cerebral fights, i.e. people who could give him that must not have that much overwhelming power Chrollo, Killua, Illumi, Ging and Gon.

Also, just to add. Chrollo as evidenced by his fight with the 2 main heads of the Zaoldyecks, did not show any feat basic nen wise that could pierce through Zeno's and Silva's defenses, which is why he used a specialized dagger. Which means in pure combat without Hatsus both he and Hisoka are not in Zeno's and Silva's level and therefore Razor. The only factor that both Zeno and Silva were being careful in their fight with Chrollo is that Chrollo has the advantage of many unknown abilities. Which one of them could possibly be hax, like an ability to put some1 in a cage regardless of their power. Or teleport like we've seen Chrollo did once.


Can English people (American Writers) produce anime shows and write manga?

Yes. an example of this of an English Book becoming an anime is Deltora Quest

  The Deltora Quest series is the collective title for three distinct series of children's fantasy books, written by Australian author Emily Rodda. It follows the adventures of three companions as they journey across the fictitious land of Deltora, endeavoring to recover the seven gems stolen from the magical Belt of Deltora and defeat allies of the evil Shadow Lord.

under Adaptations it says

  A 65 part Deltora Quest anime series of the first eight books began its broadcast season in Japan on January 6, 2007. Rodda chose this option because she and her kids "love Japanese anime, and want any adaptation of Deltora to be cool".

this is backed up by it being on the anime's entry on Wikipedia under Production

  The series was produced by Genco and the animation production at OLM and SKY Perfect Well Think. Rodda was originally approached with many film offers, but it was only this studio that promised to not change the story. The first episode was aired on January 6, 2007 in Japan.

  ...

  Deltora Quest was originally licensed in North America by Geneon as one of their final licenses, but shut down before doing anything with the series. The series was then rescued by Dentsu's newly established North American branch, and they produced an English version of the series in association with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia and recorded at their Calgary-based Blue Water Studios.

and since the anime only started being aired in the west in May 2010 this is an instance of an english written book being made into a japanese anime. while not American Emily Rodda is Australian and thus English

however making an "english anime" and dubbing it in japanese we have 2 close examples to this

Avatar

  The series is presented in a style that combines anime with American cartoons and relies on the imagery of East-and-South Asian, Inuit, and New World societies.

however i don't know if it was ever subbed in Japan, though if not the possibility that it could be exists as Japan does localize western movies like Toy Story (it all depends on the licensing). i included this because fan still debate if this is anime or not where it was created in english
a better example however is RWBY

  RWBY (/ˈruːbi/, like "ruby") is an American anime-style web series and media franchise created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth.

unlike Avatar we know it's been localized in Japan having been dubbed in Japanese

  The series has also been dubbed in Japan and broadcast by Tokyo MX, in partnership with Warner Bros. Japan.

and also it's spawned a manga too which unlike Avatar's comics, was produced in Japan

  The November 2015 issue of Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine announced that Dogs manga author Shirow Miwa would be illustrating a manga adaptation of RWBY, which debuted in the December 2015 issue on November 19, 2015

however as кяαzєя pointed out this is rare. aside from the costs of the license to reproduce and distribute dubbing also increases the costs over subbing because of hiring Seiyuu and as we see with RWBY it had the backing of major companies like Wanner Brothers who do operate in Japan to (you'll see alot of Disney stuff gets localized because Disney operates in Japan too)

however, just like кяαzєя said there is always the doujinshi route. admittedly in the west (to my knowledge) it's not entirely the same where there are large conventions centered around presenting and selling doujinshi however as doujinshi (manga and light novel wise) are really just self-published work and self-publishing books has been made easier1 with the internet and digital distribution

1: some publishers like Amazon which facilitated self-published works have been trying to regain the control traditional publishes had since with self-publishing, traditional publishers doesn't have nearly as much control over gaining profits and intellectual propriety rights as they used to


Is Levi Ackerman of Asian descent, like Mikasa?

He is not. Ackerman and Asians are unrelated. Mikasa is Asian from her mother's side and Ackerman from her father.


What exactly the demons gain from their "contracts", and how do they "level up" from executing contracts?

Demon Contract Reward
Quoted from High School DxD novel Volume One.

The job goes like this:
First we are summoned, and then we make a contract with them.
After that, we fulfill their wishes.
As a price, we receive an award fitting for the particular wish they made.
It can be money, an object, and even their life.
Well lately, there aren’t any contractors who would use their life to make a wish. Even if there was a person like that, if the price they gave doesn’t match up to the wish they wish for, then the wish won’t be granted. According to Buchou, “People’s values aren’t equal”.

So what demons gets from a contract differs depending on the contract. They can get anything, depending on the agreement.
Level Up
As for "level up", I'm not sure what kind of level up you mean, but what has been shown in the story so far is that a demon can get recognized as said by Rias (also from Volume One).

Since this only increases the number of servants, it doesn’t increase the number of powerful devils. So the devils added a new rule. Chances or opportunities were given to powerful reincarnated devils, in other words devils that were reincarnated from humans. Reincarnated ones are given peerage as well if they are powerful. Because of that there are lots of devils in human’s society. There are also devils like myself who came to human’s society as well. Ise, you may not have noticed but you probably passed devils a couple of times while walking.”

The exact mechanic behind it is not clear, but what was clear is that Rating Games is one of the methods to "level up" since it is easy to get recognized if you can proof your strength. This is also the method used by Issei.
As for whether doing contract jobs with humans can get a demon recognized and "level up" it is not clear but it probably is possible though might take much longer time.


What are these three references from episode 9?

Fujiya (不二家) and Ginza Cozy Corner (銀座コージーコーナー), Japanese pastry/cake shop franchises
Kenshiro, from Fist of the North Star, for the Big Dipper
Shoko-tan, for her cicada-based fashion


Before Mikami committed suicide, was he still having faith in Kira?

He had a lot of faith in Kira. So much so that he was even willing to sacrifice himself because he considered Kira as "god". Like Kira, he also has a strong sense of justice to punish evil.

During the warehouse scene, he had complete faith in Kira's plan. He was 100% sure that Kira would succeed and reign as the "God of the New World". But as all viewers who have finished Death Note know, Near outsmarted Kira.

Near asked one of his colleagues, Gevanni, to replace the Death Note in Mikami's locker. Because Mikami had a very predictable schedule pattern, this in turn, was also the downfall of Kira.

Seeing Near outsmart him, Kira snapped and began to disown Mikami.
Showing his incapability to turn the situation, Mikami began to doubt Kira... that he was just indeed, Human.

Fun fact: Mikami's death is very different in the manga. In the anime, he was shown to stab himself with a pen and died of blood loss. In the manga, he was imprisoned and then suddenly died. Matsuda began to suspect that Near killed Mikami.

TL;DR: Mikami had 100% trust in Kira before the warehouse scene. Kira snapping out/disowning him/being unable to turn the situation made him lose faith in Kira.


Are 3DCG-based animes cheaper to produce?

I don't know if 3DCG is cheaper, but we can compare differences in 2D and 3D process to identify possible savings.

First, lots of the anime creation process is same. Directing, writing, character design, screenplay, dubbing, marketing are all same. So there are no savings there.

Second, 3DCG has bigger up-front cost, because you have to create the 3D models. This is especially problematic for characters, if it is main focus of the show. It is less a problem for mechanical stuff and backgrounds, because they are easier to model and many shows already use 3D for those.

Third, the animation. Animating mechanical things is easy because you have low number of moving parts and their order of freedom is low. Humanoids on the other hand are hard to animate and even harder if you want the movement to seem natural. And the complexity goes up as character interact between each other and environment.

So if the show is primarily animating mechanical things moving around then there is big chance of saving some money. If the show is about characters and their interaction, then I guess there is no much saving and the primary purpose of using 3DCG is to maintain consistency.


Why does "Shokugeki no Soma" get so many full colored chapters?

I think that they come from this digital magazine, which is done by Shueisha Inc.. So that means, it is done by neither the artist nor the author. I also think that it might just be because of the anime gaining popularity that they are trying to bolster the manga also. That's my two cents at least.


When and How did Luffy get the Scar under his eye?

He did get it the way you described. In Chapter One of the Manga he stab himself with a dagger in the eye to prove himself.

It's the same story in the anime. Although as noted in the comments from Bálint its missing from every anime series except in the TV special titled "Episode of Luffy"


There's actually a fencing style based entirely on the drawing of the sword called Iaijutsu. For a reference, the Ukyo Tachibana character from the game, "Samurai Shodown" uses this technique, drawing the sword as a form of attack and re-sheathing the blade all in one move. There is also Iaido, "a modern Japanese martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard or saya, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard." Though in practice, the Iaido isn't a super fast movement. But again, the emphasis is on the sheathed sword being a starting point, so in order to perform another move, the sword has to be re-sheathed.

The Iaijutsu article mentions that there is two postures for executing the technique, the standing position or the kneeling position, but both involve the sword being sheathed and using the drawing of the sword as a strike. Obviously, there's no real world instance of someone doing this as fast as Flora, but the technique is that the starting point of the strike is from a sheathed sword.

Other well known users of this technique (though not necessarily the only technique that is used):

Goemon (Lupin III)
Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
Ginkaku Uneri (Katanagatari)
Honoka (The Third)


In Danganronpa, how can a classroom trial be called if there is no corpse?

As of this moment, in both Danganronpa games and the anime adaptation of the first game, in the case the body is hidden or disposed in a way it is impossible for three witnesses to find it...

   There are no rules about how such thing would be dealt with. No such scenario happens, and no person seems to ever plan to go to such lenghts and question Monokuma about the rules for such situations, leaving us only with speculation on how this specifc situation would be dealt with.


Is it impossible for Sarada to get an Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan?

It is definitely not ideal to give Sarada Sasuke's eyes for an Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan while he's alive. It is possible that she gains it while Sasuke is about to die (kind of like how Kakashi got the Sharingan from Obito). Another way would be to have a genetic clone (which would satisfy the condition of close blood ties) awaken a Mangekyou Sharingan and transplant it to Sarada. (Although the latter is highly improbable)


Turns out, Gilgamesh doesn't actually kill Archer. Yes, he skewers him with multiple weapons, but that apparently isn't enough to off him. When you see Archer disappear after being skewered, that's him changing to spirit form, rather than him dying and dematerializing altogether.

Kind of an unsatisfying explanation, but it is what it is.


An anime with a scene where the protagonist fights against biological dolls

This sounds a lot like a scene in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Ponytail-san would be Batou. Those are his cyborg eyes, not glasses.


Who is that in Dark Twist Square and how are they related to Gen Urobuchi's work?

That's M. Night Shyamalan, a film director and screenwriter known for making films with supernatural plots and twist endings. Some examples of films he has created are The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Last Airbender. There are a lot of memes about his signature plot twists.

(Incidentally, I became first aware of M. Night Shyamalan memes from LittleKuriboh's Spoof Movie no Jutsu~, an abridged parody of the first Naruto movie.)

As far as I know, the only connection between Gen Urobuchi and M. Night Shyamalan is the plot twists thing, and nothing more than that.


Why weren't Hikari and Takeru with the 2nd generation Digi-destined in Digimon Tri?

Now that the last movie has been released, we learn that

   Daisuke and the second generation DigiDestined discovered Yggdrasil's plans quickly, and were quickly dispatched of at the orders of Himekawa.  As it turns out, Mr. Nishijima placed them in the Digital World at Himekawa's orders.

During the events of the final move, we learn that

   They are in the Digital World, in a life-support chamber room of sorts.  It is not entirely clear if they were on the verge of death, or if they were deliberately hidden there, but it is implied that they did sustain some physical injuries.  They are transmitted back to the real world as a dying act by Nishijima, since the room they were in blew up after they had been transmitted.

Unfortunately, they don't feature much at all during this movie series.


What are the differences between types of anime?

There isn't much to add to your concise classification, really.

Shōjo

The word itself (少女) is used to refer to a young woman, approximately 8-17 years old. Right as you might think, Shōjo manga and anime have them as target audience. Shōjo isn't limited to any particular style or styles, it's only defined by the target demographic.
Shōnen

This kanji (少年) is used to refer to boys from elementary school to grade school age. Shōnen manga and anime are obviously designed for them as target audience.
Seinen

Seinen manga and anime are designed for male audience too, but this subset of manga and anime is made for people of older age, usually from 18 to 30, but the real audience can be even older than this with some manga. Such manga and amine usually emphasise the story and the character's personalities instead of action.
Josei

Josei manga and anime are for women aged between ~15 and ~45. They tend to be about everyday experiences of women living in Japan.

There are also sub-types of anime/manga, which tend to be more specific, for example, mahō shōjo is a sub-type of shōjo that focuses on young girl heroes with supernatural abilities (magic girls, right...).

Source: various wiki articles.


Killua was joking. By saying to Gon about Bisky's promise, the only thing he meant was at that moment as he felt that Aluka needs him more than Gon, 'cause his family was hunting for Aluka. So he wants to devote his time to protect Aluka.


Can you protect People with the Death Note by writing their name in it?

The death note cannot lengthen a person's life span by setting a date of death for that person after their current date of death.  In this case the person would just die as they would if their name was not written.  This is from "How to Use LVII".

I was wrong on one account originially.  If you write a person's name in the death note and do not edit it for 6 minutes and 40 seconds (400 seconds as that is how long you can edit it), then he is immune from other death notes.  This is due to "How to Use XV" which states that if the same name is in two death notes, the first filled in will take effect.  This can only protect for 23 days as the person will die by then anyways.  It appears that this can be circumvented by editing it every 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

You can, however, do the following.  If you know Dusk is trying to kill Dawn, you can write Dusk will "be killed by Dawn after failing to even scratch her with his attacks". This means he must die of either a heart attack because the cause of death could not happen (could not reasonably get to Dawn or Dawn killing Dusk is impossible) or will be killed by Dawn with hurting her.  In any case you need Dusk's name and you are extending Dawn's life by killing Dusk with the death note which humans (not Shinigami) can intentionally do.


Rather then a company published manga, can a self-published manga become an adapted anime?

There are a few anime adaptations of doujins and Artist CGs, like Z-Ton's "A Beautiful Greed" and Maron Maron's "Yareruko! Densha Ecchi", both of these are NSFW. Also that short anime "Getsuyoubi no Tawawa" was based on illustrations Himura Kiseki posted on pixiv that later got released as compilations on Comiket, so this is a doujin as well. Those are the only ones that come to mind at the moment but I'm pretty sure there should be a few more. It doesn't happen that often though, it's more of an exception to the norm.


It is unknown officially whether they're real or fake. As you mentioned, Mint's father, Darno, has these ears as well:

The reasons why Darno has these do not appear to be stated, nor are they very elaborate for Mint. It is believed that they are fake due to her losing them later in the series. From the Galaxy Angel Wiki:

  She is notable for having a pair of rabbit ears above her human ears, a trait shared by her entire family and the family pet. They can move depending on her emotions and can flap rapidly for flight. Although generally considered real, they were shown to most likely be fake in the third season, after an ordeal with a duck helmet completely removed her hair and rabbit ears, while leaving her real ears attached.

So, while they are considered to be fake for the reason stated above, it has never been officially revealed one way or another.


In short
According to wiki:

The exterior of the Moon is barren, covered with craters and canyons.
It has a weak gravity, but is still able to maintain a breathable
atmosphere
.

Since it has breathable atmosphere, so that's why Naruto didn't used any technique or something else. Which conclude that the Moon from shinobi world is far more different than the real moon which we know.
For more information regarding this you can see this link.


What's this song in Code Geass episode 5?

According to the video posted, the song seems to loop at 15 seconds.

If you listen to the song carefully, it sounds like it's just a piano playing, and the tune is something similar to C -> A -> B -> G -> A -> F -> G -> E, where it plays one note, then it skips a note and plays the next before going back up to the missed note, and the whole process is repeated.

Now, the song doesn't sound overly complex, so it may have been the reason why it is not included in the OST, regardless of how iconic it is or how many times it's played.

Another possible reason is that this tune has actually been used in some other work outside the anime beforehand. As a result, the production company may have been allowed to use only 15 seconds in the anime as background music, but is forbidden from putting it on soundtracks. My sketchy memory only recalls two other instances where this song is played: when Lelouch is around Nunnaly and when Kallen sees her mother on Refrain. I don't remember the song being any different in those cases, so its exclusion from the OST may have been a licensing issue (allow 15 seconds of the song to be used any number of times, but not allow the song to be reproduced in licensed soundtracks).


Hataraku Saibou - does the cell have cells in their bodys'?

No, the cells do not have little people running around inside of them. You seem to be accusing the show of making a homunculus argument, a fallacy whereby a concept is explained recursively with itself, but this isn't the case. Importantly, these humanoid cells are not an explanation for what is going on inside the human body. Instead, the cells are an example of personification, whereby animals, ideas, or something else (in this case, cells) are given human characteristics. These humanoid characters are a representation of the thing itself. Of course, in the context of the story these human appearances are important and necessary, but there is no reason to assume the analogy goes so far as for the cells to have little people inside of them.
To illustrate the anatomy of cells, and how they don't have little people inside of them, here are pictures of an erythrocyte and a neutrophil, which is what the two main characters are:
Erythrocyte

Neutrophil

The two humanoid main characters represent the two types of cells above. A cell is the basic unit of life, and is not composed of itself (cells aren't made up of cells). Cells have organelles, cytoplasm, membranes, etc. We shouldn't confuse the personification in this story such that we believe the cell characters are exactly equivalent to human beings and thus end up with a recursive homunculus argument.
Full disclosure: I have only seen the first season of this show. However, you haven't provided any details that would make me think my answer is wrong. Such pertinent details might include, but wouldn't be limited to, a scene in the show where it shows little people inside of one of the characters.


Which episode of Sailor Moon is this scene of Usagi in a bath towel from?

This was in episode 123 in Sailor Moon S (Super). This is played around the beginning when Chibiusa wonders about Hotaru and Usagi and her are washing up before bedtime.


Danganronpa - What is supposed to happen if there are 2 or 3 players left?

The main antagonist of the anime, who also controls

 Monokuma (the robot bear), has a fetish for despair.

It is exactly why

 she imprisoned those 14 students, to make them feel despair, and enjoy it.

In fact that's why she created the rule that

If you murder one of your classmates and not get caught as the culprit, you can escape.

So that the classmates who had an attachment to the victim will mourn his/her death, and the ones who became friends with the culprit, will feel guilty.

 It is never exactly stated what would happen if only 2 or 3, or even only 1 will remain (at the end 7 or 8 students remain), but judging by the main villain's (whom I will be shortening to MV from now on) tendencies and love for despair, she would probably (remember there is no exact proof what she would do, so I used the word probably)

 A) not let any of the remaining 1/2/3 student/s go, unless they either murder each other, or will remain in the school for the rest of their life, feeling eternal despair.

 B) kill them, because she will either get bored of them or she will be annoyed by how optimistic they are about life, since the whole point of locking them in school was to enjoy people's despair, and when their despair becomes repetitive, or they don't feel any despair, she's forced to kill/get rid of them.

Note:

Danganronpa was originally a video game series. The anime was released in order to commercialize the first video game of the series, which the plot of the anime is based on.

Because the video game is long, whereas the anime is only 12 episodes, it's rushed and left out a lot of details from the video game.

 Also, in the second game it's revealed that the MV did in fact had a back-up plan for when she would get bored or annoyed of the 14 students she's currently watching. In the anime, she made other schools, and she imprisoned other students as well, in order to watch them despair once she would have had enough of the current students.


What determines if someone going to Heaven or Hell?

I've been wondering the same myself for some time, and have come to the conclusion that there isn't really a rule as to how to judge the various guests. Every arbiter judges as he or she pleases.

Ginti, for instance, cast Harada into the void because he was about to betray Mayu, pushing her to her death. Ginti didn't care that Harada had a change of heart and tried to save her; he would've pushed her in cold blood anyways, had she not decided to jump on her own.

Decim, on the other hand, focused more on the actual result, rather than what might have happened. If we look back to episode 1: Takashi (the husband) was sent for reincarnation, despite him betraying his wife (he eventually played to win, after all). Takashi even tried to attack his own wife, only to be stopped by Decim.

Later on, Decim's (in)actions drastically change his style of judgement. In episode 4, Decim doesn't even try to stop Misaki (the TV show hostess) as she repeatedly smashes Yousuke's (the NEET) skull into the screen, probably because the game was still in progress then.

Finally, we have Tatsumi (the fallen detective) and Shimada (the boy whose sister was raped) during episodes 8 and 9. Like before, Decim stops Shimada from attacking Tatsumi after the game's end. Only this time, he provides Shimada with an opportunity to torture Tatsumi. Had Decim performed his judgement the same way he did in episode 1, Shimada would probably not have been cast into the void.

As for episode 3 (not 2), Mai (aka Chisato) didn't exactly lie to Shigeru; not intentionally, at least. At first she didn't remember who she was and as the game progressed, she remembered Shigeru, Chisato, and Mai. Only, she believed she was Chisato, and it wasn't until after the game had ended, that she remembered who she really was. As soon as she remembered, she tried to tell Shigeru the truth, but he interrupted her, saying he already knew.

In the end, there is no real determining factor to the judgements. Every arbiter judges as he or she pleases, and their judgement can change dramatically over time, as seen with the stark contrast between episode 1 and episode 9.


Primarily opinionated question the way its phrased. However Light did rational this in several moments when he planned to hide his notebook.

He followed a line of thought that even if someone found the notebook, he could easily say he was researching the deaths for his planning to follow his father in law enforcement. Same can be said for his Internet or browser history.

Even if you can pinpoint Light searching for criminals before their deaths, it doesn't conclusively prove that he is indeed Kira and not some over enthusiastic student that just wants to research criminals. Remember Light doesn't immediately kills criminals but spreads them out randomly and kills on average similar number of people. While he may be researching more of them.

The show is all about the main detectives L, M and N somehow intuitively guessing that Light is Kira but conclusively proving he is indeed Kira is what makes the story interesting!

Finally, as I've said before multiple times. When you watch a fictional story you've to accept that the author might've tried his best to stop plot holes, but at the end of the day they will exist. The death note and shinigami don't exist. Overthinking things and creating plotholes will reduce the enjoyment of the genre. You've to assume some things that the author does and listen to the story he/she wants to tell

Cheers~


Is it possible to transfer Shinigami powers accidentally?

The transfer of powers has to be intentional because otherwise the shinigami won't be able to stab anybody without losing their powers. Ichigo was stabbed by Kenpachi later in the Soul Society arc, and that did not give him the latter's powers.


There are 220 episodes in Naruto original anime series, which has been completed. Then Naruto Shippuden, which has 500 episodes in total. The series finished airing on the 23rd of March, 2017.

You can stream and watch anime from anime-planet or some other anime streaming sites. Some of them may charge you, some of them may not. Best way to watch Shippuden is on Crunchy Roll.

There are 700 manga chapters and an extra 10 chapters in the Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet manga, which is set several years ahead of the final chapter (volume 72) of Naruto.

With the conclusion of Naruto, we now have its spin-off/sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. This is currently airing on Crunchy Roll and is 18 canon episodes in as I am writing this. Also the manga is available to read for all the purists.


Can you end up with a different type of magic than taught?

In Fairy Tail, there are many types of magic, not just elemental or dragon slayer magic. If you read/watch the arcs dealing with the history of the world and the Fairy Tale guild, you'll see Mavis and the founders/masters of the various guilds and many others discovering, inventing or developing new magic. In the various other arcs, you'll also see things like Natsu learning transformation magic or being able to absorb lightning, not just fire. So while someone may show affinity for a certain type of magic, that doesn't mean they can't do/learn others.
(BTW even in Naruto, all they had were affinities for certain elements. They could still learn techniques/jutsu from other elements, it was just easier to learn jutsu falling under their own affinities and less of a power drain to use. Kakashi even mentioned that while most shinobi only had one or two affinities, by the time you were a jounin you should be able to use jutsu from all the elements.)
However, if you need certain types of training to perform certain types of magic, you are not likely to suddenly be able to do it without that training. Also, in the Fairy Tale world, you could only get dragon slayer magic by training under a dragon of that element or artificially (like Laxus in the beginning) from a dragon crystal.


What happened to Kaiki in Monogatari Series?

To sum it up pretty simply,

   Kaiki lived from his attack. How he lived, and what he's been up to after that point, we don't really know.

Chronologically, Hanamonogatari is the last story in the entire Monogatari series. So, what we see there is about all we get, unfortunately.

Edit (7 April 2016): It seems there is now a "fourth season" of Monogatari novels. I don't personally know yet where these novels fall chronologically, but it's possible that more information about what happened to Kaiki could be contained in these novels.


The blue one is Aki Hasumi from the otoge visual novel for PS Vita called Root∞REXX.
Link to item

The red one is Kiriya Etou from the Kiniro no Corda anime and manga series.
Link to item


I really don't get 2 things from what you have said:

Why do those points make you believe that Ash's Charizard is his worst Pokemon? Ash had lots of downhills and uphills with his Pokemon.  Charizard is one of them.  In fact, you forget that Charizard is the one beating Gary at the Johto League, his Blastoise which has a big advantage on Charizard.  The fact that he lost against Harrison, is simply due the fact that even in the anime Level system exists - there will be always stronger trainers and stronger Pokemon. Some of your points are not even well explained, some make sense, so it makes me hard to understand your conclusion. (especially the last point, we saw Charizard lifting Ash already couple of times along the series).

Ok, let's say that you right, did you ever saw Ash along the series releasing his Pokemon because they are weak? Let's not say that he should be.  The fact is, he doesn't. Hence, he releases his strong Pokemon than his weak Pokemon. To add to the this point, Ash not only won't release Charizard ever but rather than release, he left him in Charicific Valley to train, while 'till this point Ash usually released his Pokemon, he actually wanted Charizard only to train and get him back when needed later on.

At any rate, I will answer the question with kinda the obvious reason - Charizard considered in the Pokemon Brand as main mascot figure (yeah even than Blastoise and Vynasaur), even 'till these days he's still considered, this fact led the anime production even returning him in the BW series - one of the reason to give Ash Charizard is because of the fact that Charizard is Mascot and the fact that his character based originally on Red in the first game, which we know by 2nd games generation as he had Charizard. But even if it's not for this reason, fact is that as long Charizard will be recognise as Pokemon Brand mascot, we will see more of him in the anime, and there's no reason for the production to make as release him or what so ever, since we know Charizard and Ash connection, and Ash won't release him because he is weak (as you may claim).
Wikipedia - Charizard Reception


Can a ghoul's skin be pierced by earthly weapons?

First of all, Suzuya did not use just any knives, he used a bikaku quinque in the form of knives, the Scorpion 1/56. Thus, since they are made from kagune, these knives can pierce ghoul skin and thus cut Kurona and Nashiro.

  Scorpion 1/56 (サソリ1/56, Sasori 1/56) is a bikaku quinque that takes the form of a switchblade. They are currently wielded by Juuzou Suzuya. It is a set of totally 56 blades which can be used both as a melee and ranged weapon.

The CCG do use regular guns and other modern weaponry, but they are loaded with  Q bullets, which are also manufactured from Kagune, thus, they can harm ghouls.

  Q bullets are bullets with a melted down kagune coating; however, because the material can only be acquired by ghouls, the coating itself is moderately thin.

Therefore, in both instances, weaponry manufactured from kagune are used, which is the only known material to be able to harm ghouls without the use of RC suppressants. Now for the true answer to the question. Can a ghoul be harmed by earthly weapons?

Yes, yes they can, but only under certain conditions.

One cause is Rc suppressants, which effectively makes the ghouls human. Furthermore, this is available in gas form as shown by the Aogiri raid on Cochlea in Episode 4 of Tokyo Ghoul √A. Thus, under certain conditions, ghouls can be harmed by conventional weapons, so it is not odd for them to use such weapons. However, there has not been a single instance where conventional weapons worked in combat without RC suppressants.

  Rc suppressants (Rc抑制液, Rc yokuseieki) are a drug used to suppress the activity of the Kakuhou. They are primarily used by the Commission of Counter Ghoul on Ghoul prisoners, for the purpose of keeping them weakened or for interrogation. It slows regeneration, impairs the Kagune, and makes their bodies vulnerable to mundane items such as knives or needles.

But of course, as stated by lentinant, a strong enough force would most likely be sufficient to pierce the skin and hurt the ghouls, but kagune-based weapons are used most likely out of their effectiveness and swiftness in piercing ghoul skin than other more expensive and large impractical weapons such as a railgun or AMRs as stated by Ryan, which are bulky and hard to maneuver against a speedy ghoul that would rush towards a sniper if there was no infantry to guard against the ghouls, these infantry would of course have to use weapons that are reliable in close combat, such as swords and knives, which need to be made of kagune to pierce the ghoul skin.

A good measurement for close combat in ghouls is Nishiki's skin scrape, which seems to only have reached the hypodermis as the blood vessels and muscle tissue can be seen. This scrape was a result of Kaneki throwing him up about 5 metres (using the van beside kaneki as about 2 metres as measurement) in about 1 second in this video at 0.48, that would mean an acceleration of about 15ms^-2 after accounting for gravity, which means 885N of force since Nishiki is 59kg, implying a pressure of 354kPa is needed to pierce the skin assuming the scrape is a square 5cm in length. This force is 3 times the pressure of the atmosphere, which clearly is difficult to exert from a human, thus, kagune based weapons are opted for by the CCG in close combat.


Why didn’t the heroes try to use Eri to rewind Nighteye to prevent him from dying?

There are multiple reasons behind this:

Quirk. As @Kerkhof & @ConMan said, she can't control her powers and could do more harm then good. We still don't know the extent of her quirk so she could turn in into a baby in 3 seconds if she loses control maybe.

Eri's state. After the fight with Chisaki, she is seen in a deep sleep/"coma" like state and they could do nothing to wake her up so she could'nt help even if she wanted to.

Time. We see in chapter 161 that Night-Eye dies moments after they are all rushed to the nearest hospital so even if Eri was conscious and healthy and even if they were able to find a way to use Eri's powers to help Night-Eye, it would've been a race against time and there were no assurances that they could do it.
Trauma: Everyone in knew how much Eri suffered. And how she blamed herself for everything. Seeing this people decided not to tell Eri about Night-Eye's Death. Because she is too small to understand/process all this. She might have even started hating herself or go berserk.(context: Anime)


Who is the fourth person on Minoru's team?

You are mistaken about your initial information: the students were not split into groups of four but into groups of two to four (see screnshot below). That means each team could have either 2, 3 or 4 members.

So Minaro's team could have (and actually did have) 3 members.


Do the novels explain the sudden "hair change" near the end of Gosick?

There was a Q&A session with the anime director on the Twitter regarding the last episode of GOSICK in July 2011, and one of the question was about the changing in hair color:

  @namimi_sanjyo: アニメ版GOSICKの質問をいただいてます。少しお答えしますね。お付き合いよろしくです。
  「最終回でヴィクトリカの髪が銀髪になったのはストレスからなのか？それとも自ら脱色したか？」です。
  hyankhさん　GNT_0000さん　からいただきました。続く #gosick

  @namimi_sanjyo: ずばり！銀髪になったのは演出意図です。って答えじゃないかｗ
  コルデリアやブライアンの死のショックで自然と色が抜けたのですが、
  彼女の心象を表すためにも色を変えました。
  ヴィクトリカは金色の妖精でもあり、
  その金色でなくなることは妖精ではなくなった事も意味しました。
  ショックぐらいで色が変わるはずがないと思うでしょうが、私の中でヴィクトリカは妖精でした。
  いにしえの生き物です！
  その彼女が力を失い人間になっていく過程（命乞いをするとか）が、あの逃亡中におこったのです！
  その表現として髪の色も変わったと思って下さいませ。 #gosick

Rough translation

  @namimi_sanjyo: [...] "Was the reason for Victorique's hair color changing to silver due to the stress? Or was it losing color naturally? [...]

  @namimi_sanjyo: [...]. The color naturally lost due to the shock from Cordelia and Brian's death, but it's also changed to express her mind. Since Victorique is also "The Golden Fairy", her hair not being golden means that she is not "The Fairy" anymore. While I don't think that it's possible for hair to change color due to shock, she is still a "Fairy" in my mind. An ancient creature! The process (begging to die) when she lost the power and became a human being happened while running away! Please think that as the expression by the change of her hair color.

Ironically, as it has been mentioned by looper & кяαzєя, Marie Antoinette syndrome actually exists. Also unfortunately, I failed to locate the tweets directly. Either they have been deleted or not indexed.

Source: Otanews (Japanese)