Why do the Homunculi look the way they do?

This is my understanding of what defines the homunculus physical attributes.

Lust

Beautiful, desirable and a b****. The kind of woman that every man wants to get, but when they are in there, they soon realize that they don't want to be with her.

Gluttony

Fat, lazy, always hungry and quite stupid. Wants the girl but most likely won't get her because of his appearance, which is also why he always hangs around Lust and goes crazy when she is killed by Mustang.

Envy

Her actual form is very ugly. She envies everyone because they look better than her. This is the reason why she can change her appearance at will, as she wants to look better than others.

Greed

Wants everything, has possessions not friends. His ultimate shield is a variation of carbon (diamond). Teeth are jagged like that of a demon.

Wrath

Another word for anger. Uses his rage to fuel his determination and fighting ability, thus making him the ultimate warrior and leader.

Sloth

Large, strong, slow. However, easily bored and would rather not do anything physically taxing. He is also easily agitated hence the battle at the wall.

Pride

Feels he is superior in everything, appearance, abilities. Has a huge ego and will most likely try to kill anybody that makes him feel small. Hence why he is bound to a vessel of a 7-9 year old. Children of about that age are extremely prideful in personality, causing him to be slightly immature and think he is the best.

This is however my own interpretation of why they are like they are physically and personality wise.


Muse Asia is now streaming anime for free via YouTube in Asia
And There are about 120 shows offered on Crunchyroll in India with 160 on Netflix and about 30 through Amazon Prime. but crunchy roll is not working properly


I normally use Anime News Network by searching for a series i'm interested in and seeing if it has a licences for english, this can normally be found further down a page where it lists who does the translations and Voice Actors if it was dubbed. it would also list distributors and internet streamers (like Crunchyroll).

However there seems to be a list for upcoming home releases here, i can validate the Kill la Kill release with a recent Madman email advertising it's release in Australia. However credit should go to this comment as i actually didn't know about the list on Anime News Network.

with the list if you click on the DVD you want then scroll down to the encyclopedia link and scroll down the next page to "English companies" you can see who the distributors are and to what context their releases where (if they are iternet streaming, subtitled, if it has an English cast then it's been dubbed)


What anime is this guy from? He has brown hair and is wearing a school uniform

This is for sure the Anime Guilty Crown (ギルティクラウン). There is also a Manga of this Anime. Icyk already answered correct but his answer is low quality. I searched the other things up.

Information

Type: TV
Episodes: 22
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Oct 14, 2011 to Mar 23, 2012
Producers: Production I.G, Aniplex, FUNimation EntertainmentL, Movic, Fuji TV, Fuji Pacific Music Publishing
Genres: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Super Power
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

  The story takes place in Tokyo in 2039, after the outbreak of the
  "Apocalypse Virus" during what became known as the "Lost Christmas" of
  2029. Since then, Japan has been under the control of the multinational organization called GHQ.

  Ouma Shu is a 17 year-old boy who mistakenly obtains a rare and great
  power. He can use this power, "The Right Hand of the King," to extract
  "voids," or tools/weapons that are the manifestations of peoples'
  hearts.

  He has been rather shy since a childhood tragedy, but both his
  personality and life change forever when he meets a girl named
  Yuzuriha Inori, a member of the rebel group called "Funeral Parlor,"
  whose members seek the restoration of self-government in Japan via the
  ousting of GHQ.

from MyAnimeList

Character

The character you see in the picture is Shu Ouma (桜満 集). He is the main character of the Anime. At the beginning you can say he is introverted and just a normal high school student.

from ZeroChan

  One of the main protagonists of Guilty Crown, who's right hand holds a
  special power called "The Power of the King". This ability allows him
  to extract weapons from his friends known as a "Void" which is a
  manifestation of a person's personality.

  He is an unsociable 17-year-old young man who usually tends to stay
  out of people's way so as to not cause them any trouble. However, this
  changes when he meets a girl named Inori Yuzuriha. From that moment
  on, he must learn how to make friends because of his ability "The
  Power of King".

from MyAnimeList

Scene

The scene in your picture is in the opening of the Anime. It starts at 1:09 in this YouTube video.


Does Sakamoto know that Nano is a robot?

Sakamoto has had too many interactions with Nano to not be aware that she's a robot.

From an informal sense, the fact that Nano has a screw on her back is giveaway enough for Sakamoto that she's not a normal human being.  The fact that it spins often enough is evidence enough in the sense that Sakamoto has at least seen her act as a robot.

Additionally, when they first meet, her age (1 year old) belies her size, maturity and responsibilities around the house, in spite of the fact that Nano still acts a bit like a kid.  Sakamoto could infer that she's no normal human from that, too.

In spite of the fact that Sakamoto has never directly talked about Nano being a robot, he has a very gruff and overbearing manner of speech, him being older than everyone else.  He hasn't used honorifics with anyone, and has only provided the professor and Nano with nicknames, since...

   he calls his previous owner, Nakamura by her last name.


Why do all demon slayers have crows but Zenitsu has a sparrow?

It was never explained (though the manga is over already), but some people say it's a sparrow because of its symbol. Sparrows are often related to peace and happiness, away from worries and fear. It is a good sign to send to someone like Zenitsu, who is always scared and anxious.


Are Servants also given knowledge of future heroes?

In episode 4 of Fate/Zero anime, when Lancer identifies Saber as King of Knights, he says:

  No Heroic Spirit summoned by the Holy Grail could ever mistake that
  golden blade.

That's the only indicator I can think of that somewhat points to the answer for your question.

Furthermore, Lancer's true identity,

   Diarmuid Ua Duibhne,

is hero of a myth in the period between II and IV century, while Saber's true identity is

   King Arthur,

whose legend took place between late V and early VI century, which means that Lancer couldn't have known Saber's legend when he was alive.

After writing above, I looked at TYPE-MOON Wiki and found this:

  They [Servants] are not granted knowledge on other Heroes through the Grail, but
  rather from knowledge gained within the Throne of Heroes. Witnessing
  traits of other Servants can allow them to deduce their true names
  with the knowledge even if they are from incompatible eras.

   Aberrations like Saber, who is not part of the Throne of Heroes due to
 her circumstances, are able to identify those whose legends would have
 been known to them in life, such as Cú Chulainn, but cannot identify
 the legends of later Heroic Spirits like Gilles de Rais even after
 being directly named.

No source is offered for the first part, and if that's true, it would indeed contradict with Fate/stay night's Archer's case, since he is a complete heroic spirit who properly entered Throne of Heroes, yet other heroic spirits have no knowledge of him.


Where should I start reading the manga of Attack on Titan after season 4 (The Final season Pt.1)?

I did a little research and found out that the last episode of the Final season (season 4) of Attack on titan ends on chapter 116 of the manga. the next season (Attack on titan - The Final Season Pt.2) will probably start from chapter 117, so start reading from there.
But, for more convenience and understanding of the proper situation and the story, read chapters 115 and 116 as well, because there are some things, and certain scenes that they didn't include in the final episode, but can be seen in the manga.


Nanoha A's takes place six months after the original series, on December of the same year. The Book of Darkness was activated on midnight 3/4 July, as seen in the first episode of A's.

The conclusion is that the activation of the Book of Darkness and appearance of the Wolkenritter occurred just after the conclusion of the Jewel Seed incident.


Is the girl waiting at the train station in Spirited Away from Grave of the Fireflies?

I've tried searching around (in English) for people with this theory: I only managed to find one or two results that mentioned this when searching either for spirited away train station girl or spirited away train station setsuko.

That aside, the girl at the station doesn't obviously look like Setsuko. Setsuko generally looks rather small and (slightly) chubby, in a very childish way. (After all, Setsuko is only four-years-old or so.) This is the case even at the end of the film, where Seita and Setsuko look over Kobe in spirit form: the characters look the same age as they were at their deaths.

Meanwhile, the girl at the train station is somewhat taller and older in appearance. This girl also doesn't have Setsuko's hair (at least not overtly) and isn't wearing the sort of clothes we'd usually associate with Setsuko.

Absent such obvious markers, fan commentary, or any statements (e.g. in the form of art-book trivia) by the producers, I would conclude that this most likely isn't Setsuko.


A witch's "Labyrinth" is technically a separated space which the witch hides in, as such, it doesn't so much have a range. We see this numerous times - no matter how far they travel inside a witch's Labyrinth, the Puella Magi more often than not reappear where they entered.

In the case of the first witch whom Mami faced together with Madoka and Sayaka, in which Mami saved an office woman from falling, the three entered the Labyrinth when they were on a bridge. After the witch was defeated, they reappeared on the same bridge.
Charlotte's Labyrinth appeared outside the hospital where Kyousuke Kamijou was in. Sayaka and Kyubee traveled a fair way into it to reach where Charlotte was asleep and kept a watch on her progress. Mami and Madoka also did a lot of traveling to get to Charlotte's lair. Despite all that, all of them sans Mami returned to the same spot that Sayaka and Kyubee had entered.
Homura's Labyrinth was inside her Soul Gem and contained in an isolation field which we see isn't all that big despite it being the size of an entire city (though it did have a limit which would then loop back into the city). We can confirm this when the Puella Magi broke open the roof and there were 2 Incubators looking down.

The case of Walpurgis Night, however, is different. In the timeline before the anime, which Kyubee commented that Kriemhild Gretchen would finish destroying the world soon, Madoka is seen inside a Labyrinth where Homura was fighting Walpurgis Night. However, at the end of the series/second movie, the fight took place in the city without the materialization of a Labyrinth, we can make 2 hypotheses from this:

Walpurgis Night's Labyrinth is that of the storm cell that weather agencies picked up and warned people about.
Walpurgis Night gets more powerful with each jump Homura does due to it being a possible cause for Madoka's Fate. In its final fight, its Labyrinth probably wasn't needed since next to nothing could stop it. However, its power doesn't grow nearly as fast as Madoka's, which is why after enough jumps, Madoka could kill it with one shot.

As for how much control a witch has over the elements in the Labyrinth, they don't have much apart from the formation of elements that they use for their attacks (e.g. Sayaka's wheels). The Labyrinth is more of a reflection of the Magical Girl's mental landscape before she became a witch. We also know that a Labyrinth forms before the witch is fully born, which is also the case of Charlotte whose Labyrinth had formed but was still sleeping as a Grief Seed even when Mami and Madoka entered (we see Sayaka and Kyubee keeping a watch on it).

Sources: Observations, Madoka Magica Trivia


Why should I skip the first episode of Gungrave?

The first episode is almost exactly like the eighteenth episode. What it does is confuse the viewer with out of context content in addition to spoiling a lot of the anime.

Many animes like to show an ambiguous later scene in the first episode, and then build towards that story line, like in Psycho-pass. Gungrave is an example of where this failed miserably. The episode is detailed to the point where it is just plain confusing and spoiled.

It's best to watch episode 1 after episode 17.


What was that thing Edward and Alphonse created when they attempted human transmutation?

According to FMA Wiki,

  In the manga, it is determined that resurrective Human Transmutation is impossible because a soul that has left the mortal coil has passed on into the afterlife and can never be called back by human means. The attempt will cause a rebound due to both the inherent lack of any particular substance able to match a human soul in value and the fact that the initiated transmutation is reaching for an unattainable goal. Of the known attempted Human Transmutations, the rebound has been the "taking" of parts of the initiator's body out of the living world and into the void of the flow.

In the original FMA anime (not FMAB), however,

  In the anime, the results of resurrective Human Transmutation are different. The anime declares that it is possible to bring dead humans back into the living world, but upon being revived, they generally become inhuman Homunculi with the physical appearance and memories of the humans they used to be. Using the Philosopher's Stone or a human life as the material to recall the soul, it is possible to bring back a human as a complete human. Al also implies that it may be possible to complete a preexisting homunculus. If this is done,which it theoretically could be with a Philosopher's stone,(allowing one to survive creating a homunculus and to attach a soul to it) it is unknown if the now complete homunculus will be a full human thus able to perform alchemy, age, and die easily, or not.

In the FMA anime,

  In the first anime series, the remains of the failed human transmutation that was Trisha takes on a larger role. After the brothers rush away from the scene looking for help, the deformed, living mass that was created manages to crawl away. Patiently waiting not far from the house is Dante, who feeds it the Red Stones necessary to give it a human form. The Homunculus Sloth is thus created, taking the appearance of Trisha Elric.

In volume 11 of the manga,

  In vol. 11, Hohenheim speaks to Pinako about the remains, asking if anything of it looked like Trisha, such as hair or eye color. Edward, who was eavesdropping around the corner, freezes and looks horrified as he listens. The next day, after Hohenheim has left, Edward asks Pinako to show him where she buried the remains and help him uncover them. The excavation seems to cause Edward great pain, as he frequently pauses to regain his breath or vomit between digging. When they unearth the remains, Edward discovers that it wasn't their mother that they had "resurrected" that night, as the hair color and bone structure differed from Trisha's.

So, the conclusion is that they created nothing but some organs that represent a human, in a vague humanely shape, but without the presence of any soul. This thing that they created died soon after in the absence of a soul.

In the 2003 anime, FMA, which is not entirely canon, this vague human shape has a future impact as it is recreated into a homunculus by feeding it a philosopher stone.

But, in the canon manga and FMAB anime (2009), no such events happen and the thing is buried.


Manga about a survival game where people in the game make friends with outsiders using cell phones

I'm quite sure it is Real Account.

Color spread from the first chapter:

Summary of the first chapter (written by yours truly, since I can't find any with enough details):

  The story revolves around the social network Real Account. The protagonist generally didn't associate much with his friends at school, rather, he spent most of the time on his phone on Real Account, in which he had thousands of followers. When he was fiddling with his phone as usual, he (or rather his consciousness) got sucked into the virtual world of Real Account. This marked the start of the death game, where if you died in the virtual world, you and your followers would die in reality, and if your number of followers reached 0, you would died. The mastermind then announced the first game, where people were allowed to unfollow whoever got trapped in the virtual world within 3 minutes. Except for his sister, who told him she would never unfollow him, all followers of the protagonist unfollowed him.


What is the OST at episode 156 of Naruto Shippuden at 4 minute mark?

This is an unreleased track. I found a version of it on YouTube titled "Peaceful", but it's incomplete and has sound effects in it. There might be other versions online, but I didn't find any others in a cursory search.

(To make things more confusing, there are at least a couple of other unreleased tracks that have been given names like "Peaceful" and "Peace" and "Peaceful theme" too...)


Why didn't wizards get magic deficiency syndrome in Edolas?

A proper answer doesn't seem to have been given in the series (even in the Manga), so the following is speculation based on what we know.

Edolas was the parallel universe where people could not use magic directly, but magic still existed in the form of Lacrimas. While Mystogan reversing the Anima at the end of that arc rendered it completely devoid of magic, it could be that the environment earlier did have enough Ethernano to not trigger the disease.

There are a couple of points in favor of this. First, Exceeds could stay there safely, despite having magic in their bodies. Secondly, the Fairy Tail mages from Earth Land could use their powers on taking the red 'X-Balls' from Mystogan. While we don't know much about them, it's much more likely that the pills allowed them to absorb Ethernano from the Edolas environment, than having enough Ethernano inside them to power all their magic use for the entire arc.

If the description of Face's effects is taken to be accurate, Edolas should currently be inhabitable for mages, much like Fiore would become if they are successfully activated.


At what age did Kakashi Hatake become a Jounin?

Kakashi became a Genin at the age of 5 and Chunin at 6.
Obito became a Genin at the age of 9 and Chunin at the age of 11.
It was around the time when Obito became Chunin that Kakashi was promoted to Jonin.
Obito then "died" at the age of 13, which was almost two years after his promotion to Chunin.
From this thread on narutoforums (emphasis mine):

It is impossible for both Kakashi and Obito to have been 13 during the Kakashi Gaiden, because there is at least a confirmed 4 year age difference between Kakashi and Obito when they were confirmed to both be Genin teammates during the Chuunin Exams. They entered the academy the same time, and they all graduated the academy together as teammates. Kakashi was at least 4 years younger than both of his teammates at all times. There is no possible way that Kakashi was a 13 year old Jonin during the Kakashi Gaiden.
At this idea that he was 13 isn't even supported in the databooks, either. It's time we all got our facts straight. If Obito died at 13, then Kakashi was most likely 9 during the Kakashi Gaiden. It is impossible for these two teammates to have ever been the same age.
Kakashi was 13 during the Kyuubi attack on Konoha. There is a 4 year difference between the events of the Kakashi Gaiden and the events of the night Naruto was born.

Also, from the talk page of Obito Uchiha on Naruto wiki

Obito-Kakashi timeline is based on the anime mostly and pre-chapter 599 manga/databook stuff. Kakashi graduated the academy as 5 years old, Rin and Obito as 9. Obito is 3 years 7 months older from Kakashi. They all took the same Chunin Exam, with Kakashi having managed to become a Chunin in it at the age of 6, while Obito age 10 failed. Obito trainer hard, took the next exams and became a Chunin at 11. Obito got crushed by boulders as 13 years old, that means Kakashi was 9-10 at the latest in the Gaiden. Kakashi is now 31 so Obito died as 34.

As for the youngest Jonin part, no one really knows how many official Jonin are there. If I remember correctly, Itachi wasn't officially declared as a Jonin. He got into the Anbu after he became a Chunin. So Kakashi might be the youngest Jonin. There is no definitive answer.

Edit (courtesy of @Merrice Henderson):
There is evidence that Kakashi made Jonin the same year that Obito and Rin made Chunin. This is an exert from Obito's wikia page:

Eager for Rin's attention, Obito trained relentlessly, eventually rising to the rank of chūnin himself. His excitement was short-lived as Kakashi soon afterwards became a jōnin, once again earning Rin's praise and Obito's resentment."

So, Obito was confirmed 11 when he became Chunin. If we go based on the theory that Kakashi is 4 years younger (which I am more inclined to believe), then he was 7 when he made Jonin. That would effectively make him the youngest Jonin of all time. If Kakashi was the same age as Obito and Rin, there are a few years that need to be accounted for, like:

"Who was he teamed with after graduation while Obito and Rin were still in the academy?"

"What happened to Kakashi's other teammates, or was he on hiatus for that time?"


The Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation needs only some of the DNA as it says in the wiki:

  Before this technique can be performed, the user must first acquire some of the DNA of the person they intend to reincarnate. Kabuto remarks that this basically amounts to grave-robbing, although blood stains or organs salvaged after the target's death also work.

So Kabuto found some DNA or some bloodstains and he was able to bring back Nagato. It's never explained how he brought all of his summonings.

But Tobi wanted his Rinnengan and to have it he needed to find his real body.

A little summary, about what happened and why Tobi wanted to find Nagato's real body.

  Tobi feels personally betrayed when he learns that Nagato gave his life to revive the villagers of Konoha, believing the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique should have been reserved exclusively for his Eye of the Moon Plan. He is also confused, believing Nagato to have been very firm in his convictions and thus not likely to give up so willingly. He tracks down Naruto not long after Nagato's death and asks him what he could have said to sway Nagato, but is unmoved by Naruto's claim that Nagato truly did desire peace. With Nagato gone, Tobi is forced to seek out his corpse and take his Rinnegan to fulfil his ultimate plans. When he finds Nagato smiling at him, he interprets it as Nagato continuing to mock him even in death.


I'm pretty sure this sound track does not actually have a name. You can find it by googling ~ BLEACH OST - Shiro Sagisu - BL_86.  I think BL_86 was the official title of this sound track.

Youtube video with soundtrack

Edit: Upon further diggin. BL_86 is the offical title of this soundtrack. It appears in Bleach 5th Anniversary Box CD 1.


A romance manga about a girl going deaf in her right ear

It should be "Kieta Hanbun, Nokotta Real" (Half Gone, Love Remains) oneshot from "Kiss to Koukai" by Mio Nanao.

  A broken school festival sign and a common love for music makes best
  buds out of Naru and Yamato. That is until Naru loses all hearing in
  her right ear and she keeps her condition from Yamato a secret...


This answer contains major unmarked spoilers if you've only seen the anime.

As you've seen in the series, certain titans have abilities, such as Annie's ability to harden certain points during combat, or the Armored Titan's ability to harden his entire body to smash through solid structures.
Eren too has an ability like this, and given the nature of the world, it's very valuable to control. It's called the 'Coordinate Ability', and has three separate sub-abilities currently revealed - Eren, however, has currently only demonstrated the first:

First and most noticeable of all, the Coordinate power grants the user the ability to control the Titans at will and make them follow virtually any order. [Ch. 50 (p. 35-44)]
Secondly, the Coordinate allows the user to erase or modify the memory of a single person or even those of entire countries if they are skilled enough. [Ch. 63 (p. 8), Ch. 64 (p. 37-38)]
Finally, the power allows the user to inherit the lost memories of mankind and those of the previous users, giving them omniscient-like knowledge about the world, such as the reason the Titans exist and how the Walls were created. [Ch. 64 (p. 39-42)]
Coordinate on the SnK Wiki

Furthermore, there is an answer to another question here which gives some more information on the ability itself.
The Titan Shifters that infiltrated the walls (Annie, Reiner, Bertolt) have the goal of finding and acquiring the coordinate ability, and this is the reason why Eren is kidnapped by the latter two around chapter 45.
Assuming a second kidnap ends successfully, it is unsure what the other shifters would do with Eren. Due to the fact they haven't attempted to gain his ability through eating him already, instead but opted for kidnap, it's likely that they'd prefer to keep Eren alive and attempt to either persuade or coerce him into cooperation with their cause. What plans they have for the coordinate ability after this point is also unrevealed at this time.


Do airbenders rely on an external source to bend or is it all internal

The way you define the difference between an external and an internal source, air benders usually rely on an external source (I'd call it bending material) - air - but true flight/levitation and some spirit-related abilities like spirit projection (that may or may not be counted as air bending techniques) do not since they rely on the spiritual energy of the bender and do not manipulate air but only the bender themself.

But this relates to what I would call bending material and you asked for the source. Unfortunately, we have very little lore regarding the source of air bending. We know water bending relies on the moon and the ocean and fire bending relies on the sun at least to some degree. avatar.fantom.com names "air" as the source of air bending, and "earth" as the source of earth bending. However, this is not backed by any reference or lore and it is unlikely that it is the (whole) truth since we have no confirmed lore to support this and the wiki only mentions "sun" as the source of fire bending but we know that a powerful comet can also fuel or enhance fire bending. It is unlikely that only water bending is rooted in the spirits - especially since air bending has a way deeper connection to the spirit in the first place.

So all in all, all bending styles have an external source to some degree even when we know close to nothing about the sources of air and earth bending and all bending styles require bending material for most of their techniques with the distinctiveness that fire bending is the only bending style that usually needs nothing but the benders own chi as bending material.


Was Goku using his full power against Kale?

Goku states when he goes SSJB that he's going to use "a little more power" (when I return home tonight I'll get the timestamp).

My take from this comment is that he did not go all out.

The only times he has gone all out, he also uses Kaioken in his SSJB form. Until we see him do so, I'd suggest he's holding back on power.

Edit: He actually says "Let out more power" at 17:38 of Episode 100. This is still useful as "more" is less than "most" or "all".

As to your second question, I'd say that this LSSJ (as was the name for it with Broly, which this is an homage to) transformation, cannot yet to be claimed to be stronger than SSJB. Yes, Kale walked straight through a SSJB Kamehameha, but she was completely taken out by Jiren from Universe 11 - admittedly she wasn't prepared for that hit, but it didn't look like Jiren was trying either. Once we see how Goku fighting serious fares against Jiren fighting serious, we can get an idea of how LSSJ and SSJB stack up.


That should be Uchiha Sasuke's Sword of Kusanagi, from the Naruto series:

However, I'm not sure whether or not the Uchiha crest is ever shown to be on the hilt of the sword in the series.


Is Mihawk stronger than one of the gorosei who holds the sword(since mihawk is titled strongest swordsman)?

We don't know because we don't know how strong that Gorosei is or (really) how strong Mihawk is.  Mihawk is likely a better swordsman than anyone in One Piece but that doesn't not mean he is stronger than that Gorosei in any other way.

There are several things to note:

Mihawk being the strongest swordsman is as much of a title as a
display of his ability. If there is a character who is a stronger
swordsman, it must be that his ability is underestimated or not known
to the world at large. Zoro won't be the strongest swordsman until
he can somehow be demonstrated as earning that mantel.  As it is Mihawk's
defining character trait and Zoro's dream, I doubt Oda has some mystery swordsman somewhere who is stronger with a sword.
Mihawk's title only refers to his ability with a sword. It is notable that Mihawk's only power seems to come from his reputation
and swordmanship. He has no known devil fruit, no shown Haki (though
he obviously has Armament), no gimmicks, and no crew.  I don't think
many people would doubt that Shanks is stronger and Shanks uses a
sword.  Shank's power, however, includes his crew and his insane
levels of Conquerors Haki.  If Gorosei must be a stronger fighter, he might
be stronger for other reasons than swordsmanship. That being said:
There is no reason to assume the Gorosei members must be all that strong. Maybe he was the strongest but got old. Maybe he was
never that strong but got there based on his intelligence.

(Also Whitebeard was the strongest man but Kaido is the strongest beast.  Maybe there is a stronger swordswoman somewhere? But that doesn't apply here... probably. Unless that Gorosei is a Celestial so is not to be downplayed to the level of mere "man"."


Why was Hideaki Anno picked to voice Jirou in The Wind Rises?

There was an interview with Anno on Youtube (which has unfortunately been taken down) where he mentions a few relevant things:

He had to audition for the part
Miyazaki joked that he'd give the part to Toshio Suzuki (ex-Ghibli) if Anno didn't get the part

He also said:

  It's my first time voicing a main character, so I figured it wasn't going to be easy. At first Miya-san told me that the character was quiet one and that there aren't lots of lines and I believed that. But after seeing the storyboard, I was surprised. There were ton of lines, songs, French, German. I felt like I was fooled.

In another interview (which was also taken down from Youtube) Miyazaki mentions during a meeting he got the idea of casting Anno and Suzuki seemed on-board with the idea, but the others weren't too keen. He said that when him and Suzuki were bouncing ideas off each other, Anno's name "just came up". It's no secret that Anno and Miyazaki go way back, so when he was asked to come in for an audition, Anno couldn't refused and he turned out to be perfect.

The youtube interviews were both taken down but there's more info:

In this thread
Asahi English article
Nausicaa.net


An old anime with a scene of a young man struggling to reach the top of a glass staircase

A simple googling of the terms "anime glass staircase" brought me to a discussion page on:

Video Girl Ai (1992)

The scene is from Episode 6, the last episode of the OVA, and the only thing not matching your descriptions is that the staircase is not spiral: it is straight.

Synopsis (ANN):

  Because Youta worried for another instead of dwelling on his own broken heart, he happened upon a very special video store that only the pure of heart can see. There, he buys what he thinks is a normal erotic video - until a girl climbs out of his television set. Her name is Ai, and thanks to a broken VCR, her personality is a little glitchy. Still, it's her job to help Youta feel better, and perhaps even help him get the girl of his dreams, even if Ai herself might be falling for him as well.


There's nothing to expect from the Task Force. Their main brains were L, Light and Near.

L proposed that Misa is the second Kira, but he was proved wrong because of the fake shot scene by Light's father. So inside the Task Force's mind, the claim that Misa is the second Kira became false, thus the claim of second Kira was probably forgotten too by the Task Force.

After Higuchi's capture part, L still didn't forget his claim about the second Kira and Kira = Light, because L wanted to test the truth of 13-day rules. Unfortunately he didn't live long.

Task Force is just a group of subordinates who receive the orders and execute the orders. They are not the leader of the team. They just follow their leader's instruction. They didn't have insight like L and Near, plus they believes in Light, so they just did their job according to Light's instructions. Even though Aizawa doubted Light after Near emerges, he still didn't have enough brain to prove Light = Kira, and he just had doubt, not confirmation.

As part of a team, Japanese values teamwork and harmony in a team, so they follow their leader. As for the guy who doubted Light, he chose to follow Near's instruction.


How much does Shalltear love Ainz? (All quotes from the source material)

Revision - I had already finished writing the documents a while back, but I now thought that giving a general overview would be good. Once you click on either the word Pastebin or Google Docs you’ll be redirected to the main page, which contains very relevant instructions, so please read it first. This will lead to a complete understanding of the heart of my answer to your question: Quotes from Drama CDs, Quotes from Side Stories, Quotes from light novels (volumes 1-4), Quotes from light novels (volume 11). After that, there are the final conclusions on Shalltear’s love for Ainz.

As a side note, I recently answered another question in this forum about Overlord’s translation, so I decided to also edit these files so that they include the comparison between the official translation and the fan translation in more detail.

If you just wait for a few days, I'll give you many pages worth of such sentences as well as a full analysis on Shalltear's love for Ainz. I'm linking my own Pastebin and Google Docs for that purpose. (Right now they're visibly empty, but it will take me very few days to gather enough material to create a very long document)

In the meantime, I will explain one of quotes from Bhavin as it's quite revealing. I'll also quote a conversation between Shalltear and a death knight from the side story "Emissary of the king" that the author wrote.

  この二人の対立は恋敵であることに起因している。
  アインズはアルべドとシャルティア、両者から惚れられていた。絶世の美女二人に愛される。これ を喜ばない男はいないだろう。

This sentence that Bhavin mentioned (from volume 2 of the light novels) is very beautiful.

この = These
二人 = two people
の = possessive marker
対立 = opposition
は = subject marker
恋敵 = rivals in love
であること = the fact that
に = from
起因している = originates

All together...

These two's opposition originates from the fact that they are rivals in love.

アインズ = Ainz
は = subject marker
アルべド = albedo
と = and
シャルティア = shalltear
両者 = both
から = from/by
惚れられていた = to be in love with

All together,

About Ainz, to be loved by both Albedo and Shalltear

絶世の美女 = peerless beauty
二人 = 2 people
に = from
愛される = loved
これ = this
を = grammar marker
喜ばない = not be happy
男 = man
は = subject marker
いない = doesn’t exist
だろう = most likely

All together,

Loved by two peerless beauties, to not be happy of this, most likely there doesn't exist a man.

The reason the sentence is so beautiful is because the author used a different kind of love each time, showing how complete Albedo and Shalltear's love for Ainz is.

恋敵 (koigataki) = it uses koi, which can only mean romantic love. They fell in love with Ainz in a romantic way, the way you would feel for your boyfriend /girlfriend. It is always 100% romantic.

惚れる (horeru) = to be in love with/to be infatuated with or consumed by (romantic.) The romantic feeling is very strong on all occasions. The usual translation would be to "fall in love with" but context should be taken into consideration. The next love word used makes it clear it means “to fall in love with” with a very strong feeling of infatuation as well.

愛される (aisareru) which means a very deep type of love (to be loved by.) The word "愛" is the standard word for love in Japanese. However, Japanese VERY rarely say this word, and some people go their whole life without saying it. So it has come to have quite a deep meaning, you will almost always see suki used in the place of ai. Unlike the other 2, this type of love doesn't necessarily have to be just romantic when referring to another person, though it's even rarer to use it for family or a friend.

So far, Albedo and Shalltear are the only floor masters that have shown the first 2 kinds of love. The third type of love should also include romantic love in their case.

Regarding the conversation I said I was going to quote, it is from the side story "Emissary of the King" that Maruyama wrote. Ainz sends one of his servants, a death knight, to ask the floor masters what it is they really desire. Shalltear is a bit skeptical at first.

  "Then… Is the reason you came to me first because I am the furthest away from Ainz-sama? Was it purely a matter of distance?"

  It wasn't like that. The Death Knight told her what his master had said, that "Shalltear is a very important person." The mood changed in an instant.   Something that felt like hot air roiled in front of him. There was no change in Shalltear — no. Her crimson pupils glowed like lava.

  "—Forgive me. I must have gone deaf for a moment, so I didn't hear what you said just now. Do forgive me. Could you please tell me  what Ainz-sama said, one more time?"

  It was hard to believe that undead, with their immunity to biological status effects, could go deaf. But he had no reason to deny Shalltear's request. So, he repeated himself.

  The corner of Shalltear's mouth turned up. "—Ha! Hahaha! Ahhh, if only Albedo was here to listen to this! Hahaha!" After having a good
  laugh, Shalltear continued asking the Death Knight  other questions.

  "Did Ainz-sama say anything about Albedo?" After hearing that Ainz hadn't mentioned anything, Shalltear was all smiles. ...  Conversations were like passing in basketball. If the exchange ended after only a couple of rounds, something was wrong. … Seeing Shalltear's discomfort, the Death Knight asked the final question, "What do you want?"

  Shalltear's smile was bewitchingly beautiful as she made her reply. "I want Ainz-sama's love. I don’t mean to say it only has to be me. After all, it's normal for a great man to claim many women for himself. It would be surprising if any woman could resist an absolutely amazing man like Ainz-sama. However, I want to be the first in his heart."

(Later, Ainz-sama’s servant goes back to Ainz and tells him what happened and what she desires.)

  "Very well. Then let me hear the answer to the last question."   As he heard Shalltear's answer, Ainz sagged like a puppet whose strings had been cut. "... Besides Ainz. Append that to the last question the next time you ask it. Understood?"

(Later, the death knight servant goes to Cocytus and asks)

  "What do you want… besides Ainz-sama." Cocytus seemed to grin at the addition. "…I. See. Someone. Asked. For. That. It. Must. Have been. Albedo. Or. Shalltear."

(Each servant wants a different thing: Aura wants magical beasts, Mare wants plants… On the other hand, Albedo and Shalltear love Ainz too much, and they may never get their wish granted.)


What happened to the Kyuubi's chakra after Orochimaru releases the Dead Demon Consuming Seal?

As of the current chapter (630), it is still not known if the Kyuubi's chakra was released from the Shinigami's stomach. It is possible that it is the gift that Minato is referring to when the kages and Sasuke's group are about to go to the battlefield.

From chapter 627, page 16


Sora Iro no Tane was a TV spot made for Nippon TV in 1993 to commemorate its 40th anniversary.

The creature is called "Nandarou" (lit. What is it?) and designed by Hayao Miyazaki himself.


As the English Wikipedia article states, Baccano [bakˈkaːno] is simply Italian for "ruckus, row, din".

As far as I remember the story is never set in Italy, however the Mafia-like organizations featured in the Anime are likely what makes the connection here and you will probably agree that there is quite a bit of "ruckus" going on,


Has Japan stopped producing anime based on western stories?

No. There are a number of recent Japanese anime based on Western stories. Some examples:

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo based on Alexandre Dumas, père's classic French novel, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, aired in 2004-5.
Romeo × Juliet loosely based on William Shakespeare's classical play, Romeo and Juliet, along with numerous references and characters from other Shakespearean plays aired in 2007.
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is an erotic, lesbian rendition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, aired in 1995.
Powerpuff Girls Z is a magical girl anime series based on the American animated television series The Powerpuff Girls, aired in 2006-7.
Deltora Quest based on the series of children's books of the same name, written by Australian author Emily Rodda, aired in 2007-8.


What's the song when Shiro is dying in the main chapel?

It's "Banner-Seal of Heterodoxy: The Son of Deus", the 4th track from "Ninja Resurrection (Original Soundtrack)". The preview of the OST can be listened on AllMusic.

According to the OP's comment,

  it's the 4th song from the link you mentioned! Banner-Seal of Heterodoxy: The Son of Deus.


How to summarize the whole SAO, Sword Art Online, franchise?

It's difficult to summarize the entire franchise (through season 2) in a single sentence, so I'll split it up by arcs, ignoring the small arcs. These may have slight spoilers, but I try to keep it limited to the introduction elements of each arc. It's not as short as Dimitri's, but it helped when I was convincing my friends to watch.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Season 1, Arc 1:

   A technology has been developed that allows users to fully insert themselves into a video game to the point where they cannot sense the outside world at all. During the first release and testing of this technology, the developer changes the program so that the players are trapped and the game becomes their life. In order to leave, they must beat the game but with one deadly twist: if they die in the game, they die in real life.

Season 1, Arc 2:

   At the end of season 1, the game is completed and most players are released, but some of the players have still not woken up from their game-induced coma. The main character from the first arc (Kirito) notices that Asuna (another teammate from the game) is one of those who hasn't woken. More games are created using the same immersion technology, and eventually a picture circulates for one of the more popular ones. In this picture, there appears to be a girl trapped in a cage. Kirito believes that girl to be Asuna and joins the game to save her.

Season 2, Arc 1:

   Another immersion game goes wrong. A player appears to have the ability to kill players in the game and to have them die in real life. Kirito, with his vast experience with these games, is asked to join the game to do reconnaissance and to try and stop the killer.

Season 2, Arc 2:

I really need to rewatch this one, and it's my favorite, so I don't want to spoil anything.


Why Trunks doesnt turn super saiyan rage in the Dragon Ball Heroes anime?

The only possible answer for this question is the writers decided he would use his Super Saiyan form.If you rewatch the Episode, Goku and Vegeta also turn Super Saiyan against him at the start despite witnessing his power and fighting him fused before. Plus, they weren't out of stamina or anything as Goku transformed to SSJB when Cumber tried to crush him and he follows it with Kaioken times 20. The transformation does exist within Dragon Ball Heroes. Hence, there is no other specific answer or logical reasoning why.


What's the difference between the FMA and FMA Brotherhood series?

There are a large number of differences between the two Fullmetal Alchemist anime, with far too many to list; therefore, I'll only cover the major ones.
To improve the flow of this answer, the following abbreviations will be used:
FMAM = Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)
FMA03 = Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (Anime)
FMAB = Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (Anime)
The reason for the difference is because FMA03 was created when FMAM was still in the early stages of its development. When an anime series is based on a manga that is still in development, the anime is eventually going to reach a point where it outpaces the manga, because anime episodes tend to be developed quicker than manga volumes. When this happens, either filler for the anime is created or changes to the anime's storyline and characters are made so that the anime can continue to be developed. The latter is what happened to FMA03. FMA03's storyline started to diverge from FMAM's storyline after around 10 episodes because, at that point, the anime was starting to outpace the manga.
On the other hand, FMAB was created when FMAM was nearing the end of its development. This allowed FMAB's storyline to be more faithful to FMAM's storyline because FMAB had a mostly-complete storyline to draw from FMAM.
The major differences between FMA03 and FMAB & FMAM are:
Storyline

 Although both stories follow Edward and Alphonse, the overarching story is considerably different between FMA03 and FMAB & FMAM. In FMAB & FMAM the main antagonist was a character referred to as Father, a being of incredible power who is capable of performing transmutation at will, and without regard for equivalent exchange. His ultimate goal in FMAB & FMAM is to steal the power of what he refers to as "God" and become a being of infinite power and knowledge.
 The main antagonist in FMA03 is Dante. Unlike Father, she is just a normal human being who created a Philosopher's Stone and has managed to live a long time by transferring her consciousness into the body of other human beings whenever she was nearing death. Dante's only motivation is to become immortal and live forever.

The Homunculi

 In FMA03, the Homunculi were the result of attempting to perform human transmutation and failing. They could only be killed by destroying their original body.
 In FMAB & FMAM, the Homunculi were created by Father, with each one representing a different aspect of his personality (Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride; the seven deadly sins). Each Homunculus is also powered by a Philosopher's Stone. Unlike FMA03's Homunculi, FMAB & FMAM's Homunculi do not have an "original" body that needs to be destroyed. Instead, either the Philosopher's Stone powering them needs to be destroyed or its power drained (normally through forcing them to regenerate  multiple times).
 Another difference is the identify of the Homunculi themselves, with some Homunculi from FMAB & FMAM not appearing in FMA03 at all and others having their name changed.
 Gluttony, Envy, Lust, and Greed have the same name and appearance in FMAB, FMAM, and FMA03.
 FMAB & FMAM's Wrath (King Bradley) is called Pride in FMA03.
 FMAB & FMAM's Pride (Selim Bradley) is not present in FMA03.
 FMA03's Wrath is unique to the series. He was the result of Izumi Curtis's attempt to revive her son.
 FMAB & FMAM's Sloth is not present in FMA03.
 FMA03's Sloth is unique to the series. She was the result of Ed and Al's attempt to bring back their mother.

Hohenheim

 In FMA03, Hohenheim is just a normal human being who was originally Dante's lover; however, he eventually left her due to no longer sharing her desire to have immortality at any cost. Like Dante, he created a Philosopher's Stone and gained a long life by transferring his consciousness into another person's body. His role in the anime is very minor, and he becomes trapped on the other side of the Gate after a confrontation with Dante that ended in failure.
 In FMAB & FMAM, Hohenheim was a human Philosopher's Stone with a seemingly infinite supply of power. Although he was originally a slave, he was granted his near-immortality by Father well before the events of the series took place. Hohenheim is more significant in FMAB & FMAM, facing off against Father at the end of the series. Unlike FMA03's Hohenheim, he dies at the end of FMAB & FMAM after finally exhausting the power of his Philosopher's Stone.

The Gate

 The Gate is the largest major change in the series. In FMAB & FMAM, the Gate is the source of all alchemy and also seems to be a source of infinite knowledge. The Gate is also guarded by a being commonly referred to as Truth, and who is responsible for taking the required tolls from alchemists who perform human transmutation. Those who are capable of performing alchemy have their own gate, and if that gate should be removed (by sacrificing it to Truth), they will no longer be able to perform alchemy.
 In FMA03, the Gate is still the source of alchemy, but it also serves as a portal between the world of Fullmetal Alchemist and Earth. Furthermore, the Gate derives its powers from the souls of those who have died on Earth and is what powers the transmutations performed by alchemists.


What is Marisa doing underground with a device on her back?

It is probably referencing to a Touhou game which will be later adapted into an anime in the series.

A lot of the openings for "Memories of Phantasm" incorporate scenes from later episodes. For example, the opening of the first episode has scenes which later appeared in the next 3 episodes.

This scene:

Was in episode 2.

In the 5 openings so far there's lots of sneak previews of what appears to be references to other Touhou games: for example, Subterranean Animism and  Imperishable Night.

The scene with Marisa with a measurement devise on her back is almost certainly another reference Subterranean Animism to as the three characters shown - Nitori, Patchouli and Alice - are Marisa's partner's in the game. It is also underground which is where Subterranean Animism is set.

Furthermore in the game, the protagonists are given a device that Yukari made:

  But others got worried, and wanted them to go down into the Underworld, with a device Yukari Yakumo made so they could talk even underground.


Please help me identify my childhood manga about a boy fighting in a tournament

I think it's Ranma 1/2

  On a training journey in the Bayankala Mountain Range in the Qinghai Province of China, Ranma Saotome and his father Genma fall into the cursed springs at Jusenkyo (呪泉郷). When someone falls into a cursed spring, they take the physical form of whatever drowned there hundreds or thousands of years ago whenever they come into contact with cold water. The curse will revert when exposed to hot water until their next cold water exposure. Genma falls into the spring of a drowned panda while Ranma falls into the spring of a drowned girl.


If Konoha was all about the Will of Fire, team work and never leaving behind comrades in need, why was Sakumo Hatake punished so bad?

It wasn't the fact that Sakumo chose to save his comrades that lead to his disgrace. His decision to abandoned the mission caused the mission to fail, which was supposedly very critical for Konoha for it to succeed. His allies (Konoha and those who he saved) blamed him for the loss, which lead to his suicide.

This is covered in Naruto Chapter 240.


In chapter 47 of the manga, it is mentioned that

A Shinigami is capable of reproduction, such beings possessing groins.

However, Shinigami are also capable of asexual reproduction, as explained in volume 9.

  Shinigami can asexually reproduce by creating fragments of themselves and create a being. These beings, rather then be a replicate of the parent, can spawn off their own personality


What does Touma say to the "Replica" Sorcerer with the Obsidian Blade?

Manga volume 11, chapter 64, page 15

The full quote was:

  "That’s right, it's a promise. This promise is to protect Misaka Mikoto and the world around her. This is my agreement with a certain nameless person who fell in love with her so quickly."

He explains this to Shirai Kuroko regarding his promise with Etzali from Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 08.

source: Touma's quotes on Toaru Majutsu no Index Wikia


They definitely change over time but this is most probably done either not intentionally or for the style. Unlike his hair, I doubt that it expresses any underlying meaning.
For example, in darker scenes the color can be bright crimson or even scarlet but in some scenes (for example, Root A opening) it is light red and even close to pink.


Tetra's avatar's gender: which one is it?

It is intentionally ambiguous, which has caused it to be handled differently across the franchise.

What's your avatar's gender?

Official database: "Off-limits"
Light novel: "Tetra-chan", looks female
Anime: "Tetra-chan", looks female
NAL mobile game: "Male", looks female

Why's it important to put baby in a corner?


How would you write Light Yagami's name in the Death Note?

Remember that the Death Note is very specific about using the original spelling for a name.

  So which of "Tsuki" or "Raito" can kill him?

The only one that matters, 月 or "tsuki". Early in the manga he makes a point about the pronunciation for this very reason.

  Would "Light" in English work?

no. The original spelling is required.

The following will work:

夜神月

The following will not work:

夜神
月
ヤガミライト
Yagami Raito
Yagami Light
Light


Why was Rukia's head covered when she was escorted to/from the Repentance Cell?

Covering a prisoners head is a good way to "dehumanize" them and it's a good way to try to prevent riots and escapes since people don't know who the prisoner is and the prisoner themselves cant see.


I've got a fair bit of experience in the indie VN developer scene.
From that I can say there is no general answer as the prices you have to pay and also the possible profit vary very greatly, thus I will try to give a detailed and restricted example there:

Costs

As a note here: The prices vary greatly depending on the artist in question. They can be as low as 50% of the amount I'm mentioning and up to 200% of it!

Graphics

One thing of note here: The prices will vary greatly for different styles the artists use. Thus if cell-shading, soft-shading or semi-realism is used.
        (semi-realism being most often the most expensive one and can have costs of up to +100% compared to the others).

BGs
        The price here most often depends on how complex the BG in question is and sometimes even what resolution it will be for.
        Usually you can count on 30-50 USD per BG.
CGs
        These have the greatest price range as I've seen artists take 30-250 USD here. Normally you have 1 simple BG included and 1-2 characters.
        You pay an additional amount per additional character on screen (either fixed amount like +30 USD or +50% total cost) and for each variation
        you want (most often between 10-20 USD). On average I daresay it is 50 USD per simple CG that you need to calc in.

Note: Most often the CG artist is also the sprite artist. Although the BG for the CG is often made by a BG artist. Additionally a title screen
              is often counted as a CG.
GUI
        The GUI adaptions often cost much and range from 50-400 USD depending on the artist and how much you want it to differ from the default of the engine you are using.
Sprites
        The prices here vary greatly with what you want: Thus how much is visible of the character (head only, hip up, or full body) and how many sets
        of clothes, poses and expressions you want.
        Usually I pay 50 dollars base for 1 full body sprite (including 1 set of clothes, 1-2 expressions and 1 pose). For each additional
        set of clothes I pay 10-15 USD and for each expression 2-10 USD and for each pose 10-15 USD.

Thus for 1 sprite with 2 sets of clothes, 4 expressions and 2 poses I usually pay: 106 USD

Sounds

Sound Effects
            Most of the time you can use free sound effects (even for commercial games). IF you need to have custom ones it most often costs
            around 10-30 USD.
Music
            Music varies greatly in terms of price and quality. Usually the componists have prices set for 1 minute tracks each.
            The ranges for this are between 30 USD and 150 USD. I myself am usually only talking with componists who want 30 USD per track.
Voice over
        This varies greatly and it didn't come up often so far for me. But from what I know this usually ends up in a payment per line spoken.
        For a relatively small intro I got a price estimate of about 400 USD (so its one of the biggest cost parts).

Editor / Writers

Editors and writers usually want to be paid on a per word base which can vary a bit. A normal price I dare say for editing is about 0,2 USD
            per word. Not sure about writers as I never had to hire one, but I would dare say its very probably the same or double the price.

Programmers

Here I have to say....I hope you only want easy "default" things out of the VN. Experience wise most "programmers" for VNs can't do
            really complex things (or don't want to do them). The prices here vary greatly and I've seen things from 20 USD for a minigame up to
            200 USD for a dating sim, ... .

As a note here also: Many VN engines have tutorials and also free examples for different genres of VNs that can be easily modified, so
            if you have time and are an easy learner you don't need to hire a programmer too often.

Profit

This varies greatly on how you want to publish your work. One example would be via kickstarter or similar crowd funding services. Here an average income is about 3000 USD for a VN (although one has to say some rare get WAY over 10K out of it while many others fail to even make 100 USD).

If you want to sell your VN on online sites the profit will probably be very small (except maybe Steam but I have no data on them). Most VNs have price ranges
    between 5 and 15 USD there and sell between 0 and 20 times. With the exception of studios who are widely known or have good luck. These have price ranges up to 25
    USD and often sell their product 100-150 times on a single online shop.

The costs for the engine you want to use I didn't put in, as there are many free engines around.

Then lets put things together:

Lets say you want to create a VN that has 10 CGs + 1 title, 3 tracks of music (1 title, 1 menu and 1 ingame music) and you have 3 sprites (full body, 2 sets of clothes, 4 expressions and 2 poses each). Furthermore you use 10 backgrounds. The VN has about 10k words and you hire an editor and a writer.  So the total cost would be:

BGs 500
CGs 550
Sprites 318
Music 90
Editor+Writer 400
-----------------
Total cost: 1858 USD


Does "Saint Seiya Omega" series have a prequel?

The only thing which comes between Elision and Omega is the movie
Saint Seiya: The Heaven Chapter - Overture. The Lost Canvas is a prequel.

However, according to Wikipedia, it is an anime-original story separate from the original continuity, and you aren't assumed to have watched all the previous series. As far as I know, Mars only appears in Omega, so there are definitely some unexplained points which might get answered in flashbacks or might remain forever unexplained.


What do I have to watch before watching "Reflection"?

Disclaimer: i have yet to see Reflection myself. the information provided is what i have looked up on the Wikia

it's advisable to watch the first and second movies. while they are sorta retelling of the Original Series and A's there are some design and story elements changed. while to my understanding the first movie is much the same in the second movie

   Lindy uses Durandal instead of Chrono and the Book of Darkness's Defense Program is revealed to be called NachtWal having it's own will and new forms not shown in A's, this changes the battle between it and the Mages (Nanoha and Fate) from A's up until Hayate reprograms the Book of Darkness renaming it Reinforce where afterwards it mainly follows what happens in A's

this separates the movies from the original 2 series (primary continuity) in their own continuity (movie continuity)

  it is part of the movie continuity, continuing with the history and designs in The MOVIE 2nd A's. However, as the primary continuity has zero coverage about what has happened between the early spring and winter of 0067, the story of Reflection may somehow be seen as a re-telling or supplement of this blank period.

Source: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection (2nd Paragraph)

as such chronologically there should be no appearances of characters from StrikerS, ViVid, ViVid Strike and Force

also while the plot for Reflection takes some ques from the Nanoha PSP Games, The Battle of Aces and The Gears of Destiny, it adds original storylines and characters as such isn't a requirement to play or understand their plot.


How did Nagato learn about how to create the Paths?

Obito was responsible for the creation of Akatsuki in it's current state. he manipulated Nagato and those around him and formed the ideas and ideals he needed in Nagato's head. After Yahiko, Nagato's friend and initial leader of Akatsuki died, Nagato gave in to Obito's temptation and it's reasonable to assume Madara explained how the Rinnegan works for Obito to help him resurrect Madara better.


Why Katsuki Bakugo was so mean with Midoriya when he didnt have any quirk?

Katsuki Bakugo throughout all of My Hero Academia has a superiority complex, this is made evident by his lavish demands of not only Midoriya but also his friend group at the start. It's quite simple to tell he has this characteristic, as he is portrayed as being egotistical, arrogant and narcissistic. This kind of behavior has two spectrum's too it in character development winning or losing at the start he's higher in the pecking order thus he strikes down anyone as to show his superiority and fuel his own narcissistic traits. He specifically picks on Midoriya as he wants the admiration of his peers as being the strongest, if he picked on someone else it would be almost like saying they were stronger and he wouldn't potentially gain there admiration. Another take would be that Midoriya being born quirkless is actually kind of rare as there is always the potential for him to suddenly activate a quirk at any time, this unknown factor is a reason for katsuki to be unsure of if he's at the top of the pyramid, thus he bully's him to make sure he also believes he will never be strong.

This question as a whole is interesting because I believe there is a strong psychological meaning behind all of this that adds a whole dynamic to there relationship throghout the story so far.


Who narrated episode 1 of Durarara!!×2 Ten?

http://durarara.wikia.com/wiki/Durarara!!_x2_Ten_Episode_01

the above wiki link states that it was "Rio Kamichika". The link below is her page. enjoy.

http://durarara.wikia.com/wiki/Rio_Kamichika


Why didn't Boa Hancock's attack affect Luffy?

From the One Piece wiki page on Mero Mero no Mi (Hancock's Devil's Fruit):

  The Mero Mero no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows a range of attacks which use emotions of lust or perversion to transform opponents into stone.

Luffy did not have any lustful feelings towards Hancock, so her Mero Mero Mellow attack had no effect on him.


Shiritori

Here's an article about it on Wikipedia and here's the NGNL version from episode 6. Players take turns saying a noun which begins with the final kana (i.e. syllable) in the previous word, words cannot be repeated, first person to take too long or say a word ending in ん (the n sound) loses since no word in japanese starts with that sound. In their version of the game there is the materialization component which is if the thing you say is present it disappears and if it isn't it is created. i.e. in the game Sora says mantoru (mantle) which causes the mantle of the planet to vanish or biichi (beach) which creates a seascape.


Is there a Naming Scheme for the Abyssal Ships?

There is definitely some pattern to the naming of these ships. The enemy ship classes are named in Iroha order corresponding to the first 18 characters of the Iroha, a classic Japanese poem which uses all 47 classical hiragana* (excluding ん but including ゑ and ゐ) once. This is an old-fashioned way of ordering hiragana (modern Japanese usually uses Gojūon ordering). It can be used to label things in order without resorting to numbers, similar to how one might use letters A, B, C, etc. For example, the series Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei uses the same ordering for classrooms, though in modern day Japan classrooms would usually be labelled by letters. The main difference between this and other ordering systems is that Iroha order feels more authentically Japanese and old-fashioned than the other options.

A table illustrates the relationship between the numbers and the kana. From the wiki

 Ship Class           Normal #           Elite #          Flagship #
Destroyer I-class       501                514              564
Destroyer Ro-class      502                515              552
Destroyer Ha-class      503                516              553
Destroyer Ni-class      504                514
Light Cruiser Ho-class  505                515              554
...

You can see that the numbers are ascending, particularly in the leftmost column. I'm not sure the right columns are correct since there's some repetitions, but it would be a lot more work to check everything than it's worth doing here. Anyway, at least the normal numbers very clearly count up from 500, while the class kana progress in the Iroha.

That still doesn't explain how the ships themselves are ordered, though it does say how they're named once you know the ordering. The ordering of types is pretty clear. All the Destroyers come before Light Cruisers, which are before the Torpedo Cruisers, etc. For the most part, it goes from smaller to larger ships. It's not exactly the same as the order here for your available ship types (for instance, battleships come after carriers, rather than before), but it's similar.

How the ships are ordered within each type is a bit less clear. I think that most enemy vessel classes are based on a class of ship available to you. For example, Battleship Ru-class seems to be based on the Nagato-class, while the faster but less armored Battleship Ta-class has more similarities with the Kongou-class battleships, and the Aviation Battleship Re-class is based on the Fusou-class aviation battleships. The order there is compatible with the order in the Ship List, in that Nagato-class comes before Kongou-class, which comes before Fusou-class (at least prior to any remodeling).

I suspect for the other types of ships, there's a similar relationship, but I don't actually know which enemy class corresponds to which of your classes, and some don't seem to match well at all. I'm not even sure the creators really put that much thought into it. If there is a nice correspondence, I suspect someone has compiled this somewhere before, if possibly only in Japanese. However, I didn't immediately find it while searching, and it's a tangential enough that I'm not sure it needs to be stated here. Even if there isn't an exact correspondence, it's clear that the enemy ships are numbered in a way that at least makes sense when you compare it to your ship list.

Anyway, at the end of the day, there's no real meaning to the individual names. In terms of literal interpretation, they could have just as well used "A-class", "B-class", etc. (nevermind that those have a different meaning in English). The use of Iroha order here is consistent with the general mood of KanColle as a semi-historical game. It probably isn't worth reading much more into it than that.

 Note that the ship classes are actually written in Katakana, e.g. 駆逐イ級 rather than 駆逐い級. This doesn't really change anything significant, and one can just as well write the Iroha in Hiragana or Katakana. In this context, it's similar to writing in italics in English. There's a bit more to it than that, but the subtleties between Hiragana and Katakana use in this sort of context aren't really worth going into here.


Can somebody please tell me who this figure is and where it is from?

That would be Leila Malcal from Code Geass: Akito of the Exiled

Aside from her attire which as you can see above matches what give it away is her hairstyle which has two egg shaped buns that are usually held up with gold coloured braces


Why are the male love-interests of shoujo often portrayed to be top scorers?

In stories—regardless of the medium—the main characters invariably have at least one stellar or likeable quality. They might be really smart (id est, top scorers), highly talented, very popular, really funny, or simply very hard-working. If a protagonist does not have such a quality, s/he will develop it as the story goes along. This is simply the way feel-good story structures work and shoujo and shounen are all about feeling good.

Shoujo's target audience is girls and therefore the male protagonists are often one or more of rich, good-looking, successful, talented, funny, etc., etc.; all qualities that girls typically like in boys. They are not always top-scorers: for e.g., in Kimi ni Todoke, it is Sadako who is specifically shown to be really smart while Kazehaya is more of the popular nice guy, or IOW, he is based off a different archetype. You won't normally find the female lead falling for a loser male in shoujo; that is more likely to happen only in josei.

Asian cultures do tend to place more importance on academics than Western cultures. I expect that the fact that there is also no real equivalent to anime and manga which are set in schools is also a factor on why traits such as academic excellence don't register as much. That said, novels such as Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables do use academic performance as a character attribute or plot point. It is no surprise that Montgomery's book has been adapted into an anime, Akage no Anne.


How closely does the Initial D anime follow the manga?

Altough the series stays pretty loyal to the story as told in the manga, there are a few exceptions. But these don't influence the story that much. One of the biggest factors affecting this is that a lot of the story in the manga got cut out.

  We Initial D fans love those little details. It's a shame they had to cut out so much in order to fit one race in each episode. Watching Fifth Stage almost feels like watching an extended version of Battle Stage... And for that reason, it's strongly recommended to read the manga after watching the anime. That way, you don't miss all the details from the original storyline. - ID fan forum

As to where to how much it covers, Fifth Stage episode 4 ends at Chapter 499. (I stopped reading at chapter 501, so I ain't too sure how far the rest of this season covers.) I do know that the new season Initial D final stage will cover the left-over chapters, making this series fully covered by the anime.

With this said, there is a ton of manga-exclusive content: like I said, a lot has been cut-out in the anime. There is also some unique anime content (fillers) in the series. A few I remember would be Initial D Episode's 13, 22, and 23.

There might be some more but I couldn't find a source to confirm this.


What is this 90's anime with a dragon and a sorcerer?

The show you are looking for is called Orphen , also known as Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

It was aired in 1999

Main character is a sorcerer -

Friend turning into a dragon -

  Krylancelo Finrandi once attended the most prestigious school of sorcery on Kiesalhima continent, the Tower of Fang. He was sent there as a young child from an orphanage, along with another orphan girl called Azalie. Throughout the years, the two were very close, with Azalie becoming more and more powerful and Krylancelo looking up to her as a sister/mother figure and a best friend. It isn't until one day, Azalie's thirst for knowledge and extracurricular experimentation backfire, and she is horribly transfigured into a hideous creature, a dragon-like beast that departs the Tower in an animal fury, leaving Krylancelo behind

Milkshake scene:

About 7 minutes into the first episode, the main character spills his milkshake/icecream/parfait thing:

He then magics it back together again


Who is this guy that appear in Charlotte's OP?

I've never noticed that shot, but I'm just going to say that's the main character, Yuu.
That shot is probably foreshadowing what he went through in the latter half of the anime, such when

   Yuu went to gather the different abilities, but eventually drowned in all those powers and lost his mind. Even going off against military forces as far as I remember, and possibly killing people as well.


In the Made in Abyss manga, why does Bondrewd sometimes refer to Prushka with the formal "anata" and sometimes with the intimate "kimi"?

It depends on the context of when the words were used. Kimi is considered more familiar than anata, but depending on context, there are several different connotations:

A leader might use it to a subordinate, especially when asserting authority
When the two people are not emotionally close, and it is not a leader to subordinate situation, then it is considered rude or condescending
Two people who are quite close may use it as a closer way of addressing each other, sort of like calling your friends, "pal" or "bro." I think this connotation might be reserved for use between peers, like friends or lovers, but I'm not sure on that.

Kimi is also considered more masculine speech, though I have heard women in anime use it on occasion. Anata, meanwhile, is a more neutral way of saying "you".

Given its Bondrewd to Prushka, I think his use of kimi is more likely to be him being condescending or ordering her around. He may have then switched to anata when he felt like being more polite, or having the appearance of being more polite.  She is his adopted daughter, so he might say anata sometimes when he wants to appear nice. His use of kimi to everyone else is almost certainly as leader to subordinate, or just to generally be condescending.


What is this anime where the girl wears a ribbon wrapping her hair like double helix and wears black dress?

Google reverse image search says Elemental Gelade, and the girl is called Reverie Metherlence.

A brief description from Wikipedia:

  The fantasy adventure is a tale of a group of five who are on a journey to Edel Garden, the birthplace of mystical beings called Edel Raids who are described as "living weapons".


How can reincarnated souls be summoned using Edo Tensei?

As I've mentioned in the comments, there seems to be several fallacies in the base assumptions taken in the question. However, to answer the questions just based on the information in the Narutoverse, we've to see what exactly do Resurrection and Reincarnation means.

The translation of the Resurrection and Reincarnation techniques is quite similar in usage.

  The Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation binds the soul of a deceased person to a living vessel, restoring them as they were when they were alive in order to do their summoner's bidding. Naruto Pedia: Edo Tensei

Edo Tensei is a summoning technique that summons a "soul" residing in the pure land. Thus the so called "Resurrection" is a reincarnation of a soul binded to the impure land through its DNA marker and a sacrifice.

  Reincarnation is a process through which the chakra and will of a deceased individual are reborn in a new living vessel, referred to as a "reincarnate". Narutopedia:Reincarnation

Hence though the souls, i.e. the actual individuals would go to the pure land in the Narutoverse, their Chakras and Will would be "inherited"  by individuals in the next generation. These individuals would hence be their "reincarnate". In a single generation their can only be one Reincarante of an individual.

It is important to note, through the Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation technique, both "reincarnation" and "resurrection" can be found; the sacrificed body is reincarnated into the body of the summoned shinobi, while the reincarnated shinobi is resurrected from the dead.

Tl;Dr In the Narutoverse, both techniques are independent of each other. Through Edo Tensei souls residing in the pure land can be summoned, irrespective of the fact that their reincarnate exists in the current world.


Why do some Sharingan eyes have unique Mangekyou abilities?

Each Mangekyo is given a different eye pattern, and a different ability. Mangekyo literally translates to kaleidoscope, where each time you look you see a different, symmetric shape.

Itachi had access to Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi
Sasuke used Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi, which allowed him to shape and control his Amaterasu
Obito has Kamui. Obito also uses "throw-away" Sharingan eyes for Izanagi.
Shisui has a different one, the Kotoamatsukami.
Madara's ,Izuna's, and Indra's eye techniques were not revealed.
Kakashi has Kamui as well, since it's technically Obito's eye.
Danzo can use Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, since he has his eye. It's unknown if he can also any other Mangekyo Sharingan abilities with it (like Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi).

Also

Susano'o is achieved once you control both of the techniques in your eyes, regardless of what they are. That's the reason Kakashi (And Obito) for instance cannot ever achieve a Susano'o individually, but could when

   Obito's spirit possessed Kakashi and gave him both Mangekyo Sharingan

Which technique you gain isn't "predetermined". You cannot discern it before you gain the Mangekyo and it seems to be random, however it may be linked to an individual's personality and skill set - Itachi was incredibly skilled with Genjutsu, and gained the Tsukuyomi. Sasuke was shown to be very skilled with Fire Release jutsu and for much of the anime had a burning hatred inside of him, which may be why he gained incredible control over his Amaterasu. This is pure speculation however.

Many people have been speculating that Madara had to have the Tsukuyomi due to his use of Genjutsu on Oonoki, however all Sharingan users, whether or not they have the Mangekyo, can cast Genjutsu simply via eye-contact. The strength of this varies with the strength of the user, but with how powerful Madara is, his Genjutsu: Sharingan approaching Tsukuyomi levels of strength would not be unreasonable.

Additionally, Izanagi and Izanami are both jutsu that can be used by simple Sharingan users, without need of a Mangekyo or Senju DNA.

Ref: http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Sharingan , http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Mangeky%C5%8D_Sharingan


What is the One Piece's "Episode of Nami" categorized as?

Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friends is a TV Special of the One Piece anime. It aired after Episode 560.

(From the One Piece wiki Episode of Nami)

It is the 5th TV special to be aired. The list of TV specials so far:

Adventure in the Ocean's Navel
Open Upon the Great Sea! A Father's Huge, HUGE Dream!
"Protect! The Last Great Performance"
The Detective Memoirs of Chief Straw Hat Luffy
Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friends
Episode of Luffy: Adventure on Hand Island


What is so dangerous about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?

My answer is only opinion based but i think it has to do with the fact that nothing is there besides white emptiness. The "danger" comes from the psychological nature, as a solo person would eventually go crazy without any object reference. Everywhere around you is just an endless whiteness so that most likely takes a huge effect to your mental state.

Anyway that is the only reason that comes to my mind.


The whereabouts of Dr. Jaeger are revealed in chapter 62. To give you an idea how far ahead that is, the latest episode (25) plays out during chapter 33, so you are basically halfway through.

   Eren has eaten his own father. This event happened somewhere during the time-skip of the second chapter, so Dr. Jaeger has basically been dead for most of the series.


A song that plays in Tokyo Ghoul:re episode 10 on 1:30

There isn't an official ost, or at least i dont think so, but this is as close as i can get: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Qxdt0qi6U
hopefully its close enough


Looking for an old anime about two (android?) girls in search of a heart

This sounds like Mahoromatic 2 (Something more beautiful), the second season of the series which involves battle androids (dressed as Maids in the case of these 2) and spans 14 episodes.

From the Wikipedia entry for Minawa, the orange-haired younger android:

  Minawa is first introduced in Mahoromatic ~Something More Beautiful~. Clumsy and anemic, she ends up living with Mahoro and Suguru and going to school under the pretext of being Mahoro's younger sister. She has a habit of apologizing for everything she does, even if she has done nothing wrong. She claims to be a runaway member of The Management, but is later revealed to have been sent to gather information on VESPER's battle android Mahoro after being promised a heart in return. Mahoro, however, convinces her that the fact that she can cry means she already has a heart.

The original series aired in 2001, but the one with Minawa, the orange-haired girl aired in 2002. The first series didn't have Minawa in it.

Episode 10:

   Where the enemy android from The Management tells Minawa that it's time for her to hold up her end of the bargain, so she kidnaps Suguru (the male lead) and takes him to the laboratory (where the large cylindrical room is). Mahoro comes to save him but is captured, then Minawa has a change of heart and frees everyone but gets shot in the process.Mahoro then goes crazy and destroys everythingAnd the episode ends in a huge fire fight (looking down into the bottom of the cylindrical room which is on fire)

The ending of the 2nd season:

   Is pretty violent as a culmination of both Mahoro's lifespan ending and the final battle. It's also pretty sad as well as controversial for an ending.


Is Kashin Koji actually someone who has appeared in Naruto before?

Sure, there are coincidences that Kashin Koji and Jiraiya could be the same, but you also have to realize that Jiraiya died and there was no way he was surviving after the fight with Pain.

Pain finished him and that was the end of Jiraiya, now where the Rasengan and the toad summoning comes into place, it could be very possible that he might have been a relative of Jiraya, but as it looks, we won't find out until we get more information.


Does anyone know the name of the song played in these scenes from Dagashi Kashi?

Fuyu no Ame is the first song, it is from the second season soundtrack.


How can Racer travel great distance in short amount of time?

There's no evidence that might suggest he travels at amazing speed. As you said he just tricks people, that's his power.
However, it is also mentioned he always wanted to be the fastest and trained for that purpose so it would make sense for him to be fast.
We know he's asked to retrieve Jellal but we don't know if he's super fast doing it. The dude might just be the fastest one in Oration Six so that's why he's asked.


Why is Takatoshi Tsuda still in second year?

anime and manga are sometimes like that, they want to add certain features for example onsen or hot spring but people don't exactly go to hot springs in summer, same as how they don't go to the beach in winter.

This might not be right but hope this helps


Why does Tokoyami's quirk Dark Shadow goes out of control?

I think they explained it well in that episode. When it's in the dark, dark shadow gets stronger but it's harder to control. The dark plus Tokoyami negative emotions contributed to dark shadow growing stronger and getting out of control. Light in the other hand, makes it weaker and easier to control. It's also mentioned in this wikia

  According to Mezo, Fumikage's negative emotions (such as regret and indignation) probably intensify Dark Shadow, making it more unruly and possibly making Dark Shadow stronger as a result, albeit at the cost of Fumikage losing control; Fumikage himself stated that his anger causes him to lose control of Dark Shadow.

http://bokunoheroacademia.wikia.com/wiki/Fumikage_Tokoyami


Korean manhwa about a guy who cannot fight, but ends up winning every fight he is in

Edit: The series is Transfer Student Storm Bringer.

The girl in this series has pink hair, and the guy has brown hair.

Maybe you are looking for Angel Densetsu.

In the manga, the main character becomes the top fighter of his school due to luck/accident. As a result, many people from other schools come to challenge him to test his abilities, but he wins by luck as always.

He is totally a complete wuss with no experience in fighting, and he is just ugly.

If the manga above is not what you are looking for, try taking a look at the manga listed below. They also have the same trait as Angel Densetsu where the protagonists are just wusses and win by luck.

Ocha ni Gosu
Gorio
Legend of the Strongest Man, Kurosawa
Bari Haken
Transfer Student Storm Bringer (The girl in this series has pink hair, and the guy has brown hair)


There are 2 things to keep in mind there.
1.) Where did Bardock go (or more when) and
2.) The canonity of the films.

Where did Bardock go or more when:

When Freezer hit Bardock with his attack he was displaced in time a thousand years into the past. And single handedly disposed of a member of freezers species by turning super saiyan. Chilled though survived the encounter at least long enough to speak out a warning about a super saiyan.

So there is no real inconsistency if we take this into account. Saiyan myth says 1000 years ago a super saiyan appeared and Freezer fears this LEGEND. Bardock was a super saiyan 1000 years ago and put fear into chilled about a super saiyan.

So in total: No inconsistency there, aside from the flashback in the series where the super saiyan is shown as someone in a more ape like form than a normal humanoid.

Canonity:

The films are almost never considered to be part of the main canon and thus are often ignored in the series. For example the Broly films....no info from them ever show up in any of the series aside from super now using a broly like transformation for an universe 6 Saiyan.

Exceptions exist of course like 2 films being integrated (and remade) in dragonball super, but before that the events inside were largely ignored by the main series (and often raised a few questions about abilities,... if they would have not been ignored).


There is a short sequel released alongside the first BD.
Wataru Watari, Oregairu's author, confirmed via a tweet that a six-episode bonus novel titled My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU -Shin (New) will be released alongside the first volume of the BD. The BD's release was on September 25, 2020. Furthermore,

...the bonus novel will be a completely new orthodox sequel story to tell "new days."


Nagato was not born with the Rinnegan. It was implanted into him by the real Uchiha Madara before his (Madara's) death.

Uchiha Madara activated his Rinnegan at an old age, so he made a plan by which he could be revived using the Rinnegan's Rinne Tensei jutsu after Akatsuki captured all the Bijuu into the Gedo Mazo. He could then proceed with the Moon's Eye Plan.

He implanted his Rinnegan into Nagato, without Nagato realising it, and then made Uchiha Obito assume his identity as the fake Madara, so that Obito could both collect the Bijuus using the Akatsuki, and control Nagato to use the Rinne Tensei to revive Madara.

Source: Naruto Manga Chapter 606. I don't want to paste screenshots here, since the entire story is described fully in that single chapter.


What are the names written on the back of Yuri Nazarov's photograph?

Your guesses are correct. Some of the Cyrillic letters here are written in a strange way: nobody writes ш ("sh") on the second line in this way. The letter и on the third line  has an underline that doesn't really belong. Abstracting away such gratuitous elements, I think the fourth line is "Миша" (Misha, a masculine name) in which the two middle letters are distorted with extraneous pen strokes. The full text for completeness:

  Иванов
  Наташа
  Юрий
  Миша
  Балкутск 1951

Presumably, the photograph depicts one female (Наташа) and two males (Юрий, Миша), with "Иванов" being their last/family name. (Actually, in Russian the family name would be written in plural form, i.e., "Ивановы"). Балкутск being the town where the photo is taken in 1951.


Why is a fleet of two aircraft carriers, two torpedo cruisers, one battleship and one destroyer an impossible fleet?

If you're willing to impose a certain level of realism on the show, then such a fleet would indeed be absurd by WWII-era naval warfare standards.

In WWII, the biggest source of firepower for a navy was large ships, primarily battleships and aircraft carriers. Such ships required a huge amount of resources to operate - Kaga, Zuikaku, and Kongou each had well over a thousand personnel on-board. They could be used effectively in a variety of situations, from naval combat, to blockades, to bombarding enemy troops anywhere near water.

But, such large ships had a fatal weakness, which had been known since the 19th century: torpedoes. A battleship could easily sink weak enemy boats from a long distance away. For example, Kongou's 356 mm guns had a maximum range of 35 km (the effective range was somewhat lower, but still quite far). However, if the enemy forces had a large number of small boats, each armed with torpedoes, it would be difficult for the battleship to take down all of these with its relatively slow weaponry. Certainly, it could hit some of them, but with enough numbers it wouldn't be able to take them all down effectively. Aircraft carriers fare a bit better in this respect, but they too had to worry about any sort of armored torpedo-carrying vessel or submarine, and enemy fire could prevent aircraft from launching or landing, which would basically cripple their offensive capabilities.

With enough ships, the enemy forces could easily advance to within the effective range of torpedo fire (which depended on the model of torpedo, but was around 4-8 km for one common torpedo used by the U.S. Navy). It would not take long to deal heavy damage to the large ship, possibly even sinking it. Small enemy vessels (such as cruisers) could also quickly approach to get in range of their own guns, at which point the main advantage of battleships and aircraft carriers (long range) is lost. If this seems like a poor strategy, keep in mind that torpedo boats could be very small (at some points even converted merchant/fishing vessels were used for this purpose), and operated by only a few people, yet a small number of them would pose a serious threat to much larger battleships and aircraft carriers. Thus, the big ships need some way to deal with smaller ships approaching them too quickly for the large ship to deal with.

This is the reason destroyers were invented. Destroyers were relatively heavily armored (given their small size), highly mobile small ships which were primarily used for short-range tactical combat and to escort larger ships. While torpedo-boats and other swarms of small ships could out-maneuver large ships with enough numbers, they weren't a threat if you could intercept them before they got in firing range and take them out. A destroyer like Fubuki would generally only be used in combat against other naval forces. Their medium-caliber guns could still easily outrange (maximum range of over 18 km) torpedoes, and would be a threat to approaching cruisers as well. A destroyer only required around 200 personnel, and more than just destroying enemy torpedo boats, they were generally pretty versatile: they could be used for holding tactical positions, reconnaissance, torpedoing enemy ships, attacking enemy submarines (essentially just underwater torpedo boats), and anti-air attacks, depending on the needs of the mission and the available equipment. Even in the worst case scenerio that the destroyer sinks, this still buys time for the (much more important) large ships to escape, fight back, or wait for reinforcements.

Generally, any larger ship during WWII would be escorted by at least one destroyer. Especially important ships might get more than one destroyer escort. So, for a fleet of 2 aircraft carriers, one battleship, and 2 light cruisers (Kitakami and Ooi are described as torpedo cruisers, but this is just a type of light cruiser armed primarily with torpedoes), we'd expect at least 5 or so destroyers, and possibly even more. For a real-life example, the Japanese fleet at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons had the following numbers, which were reasonably typical for a battle of this size:

3 carriers
1 seaplane tender (essentially a light carrier)
2 battleships
16 cruisers
25 destroyers (more than the above 22 ships combined in raw number)
Several smaller/non-combat boats

A fleet of 2 carriers, 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, and 1 destroyer is rather absurd in comparison; it's putting far too many resources in the large ships, and not enough into protecting them. A swarm of small ships would pose big problems for a fleet like this. While such a fleet would have excellent offensive capability given the number of ships, they wouldn't have especially good defensive capabilities, and would be an attractive target for enemy attacks (basically a glass cannon).

In addition, the flagship was the most important ship in any operation. The commanding officer of the operation was on the flagship, and crippling or sinking the flagship would not only damage enemy morale, but also their communications and strategy. Making a ship that was designed to be relatively expendable, like a destroyer, would be a bad idea. The enemy forces would likely all target the destroyer, and the fleet would be in serious trouble if it sank, usually forced to retreat.

Typically, the flagship was one of the largest ships in any given operation, being difficult to sink, well-defended, and powerful enough to boost the morale of other ships in the operation. A small ship being the flagship would probably have problems with respect as well as being an easy target. While there were a couple cases where a destroyer was used as the flagship for an operation, these were generally only in cases that the whole fleet consisted of only destroyers, or when the original flagship was too heavily damaged to continue (such as in the Battle of Guadalcanal).

With all that said, none of this really applies very well to the Kancolle universe, at least in the game. Destroyers had a predominantly tactical, defensive role, but the game's battle system doesn't do much to emulate this. In game, most of the advantages of destroyers (evasion and speed) aren't particularly unique to them; one can replace destroyers with larger ships without much loss. This will incur larger ammunition and fuel costs, but it isn't necessarily a bad strategy or one that the enemy forces will have any way to exploit.

Indeed, once one progresses far enough in the game, even more unbalanced fleets become commonplace. Later missions require more and more firepower, which is increasingly hard to meet with weaker ships like destroyers and cruisers. The game is also generous enough with resources that the fuel and ammunition consumption become relatively unimportant. Since the number of ships you can bring to a battle is limited (as are your enemy's, preventing any kind of swarming strategy), it's often better for high-level missions to only deploy battleships and carriers. If you're well prepared, it's relatively rare that such large ships will take any serious damage, and with some strategy there's essentially no risk of them sinking. If anything, the single destroyer would be the weak link defensively, and unlike in the real world, where losing a single destroyer in an otherwise good battle would be seen as a big victory, in the game you can't afford to throw away experienced destroyers regularly.

Making the destroyer your flagship would offer it some protection, since in-game flagships can't be sunk, but if it reaches a heavily damaged level (which is quite plausible) you'll be forced to retreat. There are other benefits for the flagship, such as increased leveling and a chance to have attacks hit other ships instead. There are strategic benefits to both large and small ships being flagship, but in any case it's not crazy to make a weak ship like a destroyer the fleet's flagship.

I suspect there's no good in-universe reason to consider this strategy crazy or impossible, at least based on what we know now about battles in the Kancolle universe. In the game, it wouldn't really be at all, given the right circumstances. The anime hasn't presented us with any explanation, and it has an original story (since the game has almost no story), so we can't really find any answer there. But in the context of actual WWII-era naval battles, it would indeed be a crazy, illogical decision to make a fleet like this, and there are no historical examples of such a fleet.


Is there a reason Gotou and Menthuthuyoupi look so similar?

I am just referencing nhahtdh's comment as the answer since it seems he does not want to post it as an answer.

But the reason that there could be similar character design in two different animes could be due to:

  Author Influence
  Limit in number of designs(birthday paradox)
  Tracing(unlikely)