What does the seal on Meliodas's forehead mean? How did he get this seal?

SPOILER UP AHEAD!!!!!

   It is the symbol of the demon clan. Meliodas is a demon. This advancement is explained in the Manga. Although it is hinted throughout the series, but it is never really explicitly shown that he really isn't human until after the Kingdom Infiltration arc has ended. The Ten Commandments, a group of the most fearsome demons are revived. They were sealed 3000 years ago, yet Meliodas knows them all by their names. King confronted him claiming he was a demon. Although he didn't answer, it is obvious from the situation. That also accounts for his never aging body.The Ten Commandments know him well too. And Meliodas actually calls them his brothers in chapter 135. So, yeah, he is a demon. Later on in the manga, his past and identity is explicitly revealed to be one of the Ten Commandments.


A guy who can steal people's identity and power - what is this anime?

It could be DNA² you are talking about

The girl in question seems to be Tomoko and as soon as the villain Ryuji touches her, he changes to her I guess. I don't remember if the last line of sucking others life force. But the description brought back the scene from DNA². Check out episode 10 of the series and tell if it is the one you want. Hope this helps :D


Did Ultear know there was a different way to defeat master Hades?

Urtear did know for sure. She had been trying to deceive Gray all along. She told Gray that the Iced Shell was the only way because the spell traps the caster as a shell of ice for all eternity. She wanted him to die because she thought Gray was the one responsible for her mother not loving her which was not true at all.

Urtear knew more about Hades than any of the outsiders. She obviously had a plan to kill Hades herself but having Gray kill him would be killing two birds with a single stone.

But Gray realizes that after he over hears her and sees her trying to kill Juvia.


Is it possible to make such a clean cut?

I'm not sure if the Sceptics site would be a better fit for the "is this possible" portion of the question, but I'll give my attempt at an answer.

As stated by my comment, TV Tropes calls this Clean Cut (which it argues is sometimes related to Absurdly Sharp Blade). Given that their naming for this is very "straightforward" (i.e. this trope describes making very clean cuts with blades) compared to others (e.g. "idiot hair" or "ahoge") it seems reasonable to conclude that this trope is generally referred to as "Clean Cut".

It's not very clear whether or not this is possible in real life - this would most certainly depend on the sharpness of the blade, the thickness of the material in question, and the exact material being cut, among other things. For example, in my experience, it's much easier to cleanly chop reasonably sized vegetable segments (at least with carrots, onions, turnips, etc - vegetables that aren't of the leafy type) than to cut meat that way.

As per the now edited question: the vegetable here is a daikon, which is used in a lot of East Asian cooking. I'll need to look further to check the possibility of cutting daikon very neatly in that form. With this specific vegetable, a relatively clean cut (assuming good technique) seems possible, as per videos such as this one and this, but I'm not really sure.


Why didn't Asuna die in real life when she died in the game?

If you read the light novel, after the battle teleported them to another place just to have a talk with them:

I firmly closed my eyes and allowed my tears to flow before asking:
"...What about those who died? Both of us are already dead, yet we continue to exist here. Doesn't that mean you can return the other four thousand dead to the original world as well?"
Kayaba's expression didn't change. He closed the window, put his hands into his pockets, and then said:
"Life can't be recovered so easily. Their consciousness will never return. The dead will disappear— this fact remains true in every world. I created this place only because I wanted to talk with you two— one last time."

So everyone who died remains dead. Kirito and Asuna didn't die, simply because Kayaba intentionally teleported them somewhere else instead of letting them die.


Do other users of One for All live inside Midoriya somehow or are they just memories?

From what it looks like is that "One For All" is showing Midoriya the memories of each previous owner or clues that might help him. I believe that they are just memories not actually other people living inside him because if you look back at it all Might had a similar vision to him, but not to the same extent as Midoriya and the original owner never talked to all might he only talked to Midoriya.


Is Zangetsu restored after Ichigo gets his powers back?

If you're talking about before the Fullbring arc, Ichigo still has Zangetsu up until the point where he uses Mugetsu to incapacitate Aizen enough for Urahara to seal him. It's at that point that he loses his powers.

**MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD**

If you're talking about the Fullbring arc, that's a completely and wildly different side of the story that has no bearing on the past or the future of the general story. Manga filler.

If you're talking about after the Fullbring arc, then no. Squad Zero restore's Ichigo's powers to a completely different Zanpakutou. It's explained that Zangetsu is a "fake" Zanpakutou that resembles Yhwach that stems from Ichigo's ties to the Quincy bloodline.

Highly suggest you catch up on the manga. You're not that far behind, and it's coming to an end now.


How can Boruto handle a Chōōdama Rasengan?

The only strain Rasengan users show is from the chakra required to create it - It requires a LOT of chakra to create. Manipulating the chakra, while difficult to master, doesn't seem very draining. Even genin Naruto was able to spend entire days practicing the chakra manipulation part. Since we've seen Boruto make his own Rasengan, we know he understands the chakra manipulation part, so he can obviously handle using/attacking with it. He doesn't however have the completely bonkers reserve of Chakra that Naruto has, so he can't make the Giant Rasengan himself.

There's no reason to assume that the mechanics of the Rasengan change as it gets larger, so Boruto's own ability to manipulate chakra flow should be similarly applicable across all sizes of Rasengan.

I'd even wager that the manipulation part isn't particularly important, since we see Naruto give his friends Rasengans of their own to use during the Fourth Shinobi War, implying that it may be a completely self-sustaining jutsu so long as there is a chakra supply.


He hid the skill to avoid the attention and envy of other players.

  Weapon skills that didn’t have clear conditions for appearing are
  called extra skills. They were sometimes even called random
  conditions. An example would be Klein’s «Katana». But «Katana»
  wasn’t all that rare and appeared quite often as long as you kept
  training the Curved Sword skill.
  Most of the ten-plus extra skills that had been found up until now,
  «Katana» included, had at least ten people who used each of them. The
  only exceptions were my «Dual Blades» and one other man’s extra skill.
  These two were most likely limited to only one person, so they
  should be called «Unique Skill». I had hidden the existence of my
  unique skill up until now. But from today, the news that I was the
  second unique skill user would spread throughout the world. There
  was no way I could hide it after using it in front of so many people.
  ...
  Since then, I only trained it when there was nobody around. Even
  after I nearly mastered it, I rarely used it against monsters unless it
  was an emergency. Aside from using it to protect myself in a crisis, I
  simply didn’t like this kind of skill due to the attention it draws.
  I even thought that it would be better if another Dual Blades user
  appeared-
  I scratched the area around my ear and muttered.
  “…if it became known that I had such a rare skill, not only would
  people pester me for information…it might attract other kinds of
  problems too…”
  Klein nodded.
  “Online gamers get jealous easily. I wouldn’t since I’m an
  understanding guy, but there sure are plenty of envious People.

As we can see later his fears were wellfounded:

  Somehow they had found out about where I lived. As a result,
  swordsmen and information dealers had crowded around my house
  since early morning. I ended up having to go through the trouble of
  using a teleport crystal to escape.

Of note is that he wouldn't have hidden the skill if he had known how other players could unlock it.

  “I’m disappointed Kirito. You didn’t even tell me that you had
  such an awesome skill.”
  “I would have told you if I knew the conditions for its appearance.
  But I really couldn’t figure out how it happened.”
  I answered Klein’s complaint with a shrug.
  There wasn’t a shred of lie in what I said. About a year ago, I
  opened my skills window one day and found the name «Dual Blades»
  just sitting there. I really had no clue on what conditions made it
  appear.

The excerpts are from chapter 12 of the first light novel Aincrad (translations by Baka-Tsuki).


What is this anime about a guy with white hair and an infected(?) eye, who often cracks his index finger?

You should make up with your friend (friendship should triumph over quarrels). Then you can enjoy the rest of Tokyo Ghoul together again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhbS4-W-hpg


Is the weird transition after the fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow deliberate?

At that point in the anime they reached the manga storyline so they had to put in several fillers. http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/bleach here is the complete list of fillers so you can skip them and just go back to the storyline.


How did Japonism, if at all, affect manga/anime?

Short answer is no. Beyond making the world aware of the early, pre-war concept of manga, there is little to nothing to do with modern post-war manga. The influences are just a footnote in history in terms of European art movements.

Post-war manga we know as manga today is starkly different from  the prototypical  manga of the type, such a the compiled work of Hokusa Manga.


Why didn't Kenshin's master Hiko Seijuro fight Master Shishio?

Because Master Seijuro wasn't interested! He was, to put it bluntly, an introverted, misanthropic and somewhat lazy martial artist, who thought the world an unredeemable place, felt Kenshin a fool for wanting to improve society, and didn't care in the least to take down Shishio. (See particularly his interactions with Kenshin during episode 41, "The Ultimate Technique of the Hiten-Mitsurugi Style: Reunion with a Mentor, Seijuro Hiko".) To quote from the Kenshin wiki page on him:

  Kenshin describes his personality
  as "twisted, brusque and misanthropic" ...
  He dislikes the complications of socialization, and hearing of the
  ills of society, both of which he finds annoying, and to the latter's
  weight, ultimately incessant and depressing. In order to avoid having
  to work with people, he makes his living as a pottery artist alone on
  a mountain (a profession that he is reported to excel at). He also
  comes off as somewhat lazy, professing to have retrained Kenshin to
  save himself the bother of having to deal with Shishio, and later on,
  he complains about having to protect Kenshin's friends, after the
  latter insists him to do so (though he does).

It's only after much cajoling that he agrees to teach Kenshin what he needs to know to defeat Shishio (episode 43, "Between Life and Death: Master the Ultimate Technique, Amakakeru Ryu no Hikameki!"), but beyond that, the most he will agree to do is to (grudgingly) keep an eye on and protect his friends, while Kenshin does the actual hard work of fighting Shishio (episode 53, "The Giant Versus Superman: Like an Arrow Shot at a Time of Despair")!


Why didn't Kamesenin just chose to destroy the saiyan space ship when Vegeta and Nappa was on their way to earth?

TL;DR : God is not strong enough to destroy those ships, therefore Shenron isn't either.

For the same reason why Shenlong can not kill the Saiyans, he may not be able to destroy the ships.

On the Dragon Ball Wiki :

  Shenron can grant a wish within its powers as long as it does not kill, create love, repeat a wish he previously granted, surpasses its creator's power, and a few more restrictions.

We do not know the resistance of those ships, but we know two things

It was built with really higher technology than the one present on earth
It is strong enough  to resist a fall and crash from space

Considering those, we can assume that God, which is as strong as Piccolo at this moment of the manga, is not strong enough to destroy it


Why do light novels and manga have long titles?

The Anime Man explains this in his video.

TL;DR:

People get lazy to read the blurb of the novel (the short summary usually at the back of the book) to know what it's about, so a longer title will be more descriptive than titles like "Wish".
The LN industry is getting bigger, therefore everyone will eventually run out of titles to use (even movies there are some that have the same title which is not good), a longer title will make your LN unique and stand-out. Top selling LN in the first half of 2019 according to Oricon.


Why does Shiina always say "how shallow-minded"?

As stated in the wiki page you linked to, it's most likely because she's from an earlier era.

Also, being a trained assassin, she most likely views the actions of other characters as childish and foolish, so she just gives her honest opinion on the matter.


Is Yamsk 11 based on a real life location?

According to the Russian Full Metal Panic wiki's Yamsk-11 article (Янск-11, see reference), it says that Yamsk-11 is here: 60° 8' 10.66" N 153° 54' 20.60" E (East Siberia). "Yamsk-11" is not the name of the city, but a postal code for mail delivery. There is a city, Yamsk, 63 km to the south of "Yamsk-11". It was common practice in USSR to give a postal code name with a number for closed towns. Apparently, there was a town at those coordinates that's been closed. For another example of this, see Wikipedia's page for Arzamas-16 or Chelyabinsk-65/40.

So looks like there is a real location but not sure if it has anything in common with the fictional "Yamsk 11" in FMP (but who knows), and the name "Yamsk 11" is a postal code from the USSR days.


Why is the anime of Akame ga Kill so different from the manga?

I come with an answer from Polymanga 2015 in Switzerland when the author was there. You can verify it here: Polymanga 2015

The following question was asked and the author answered:

  At the beginning of the anime, the manga was already written but in the end the anime exceeded the manga. That's the reason why I want to change the story because the people who had already seen the anime know the end and they will find the manga boring.

It's not his words exactly (I don't remember exactly) but it's the general idea of what he wanted to say.

And after that, he adds:

  The end of the anime was fantastic. But the end of the manga will be more fantastic.

For the ones who didn't see the end, let's go see it;)


What are the transformed crew symbolizing?

They're all a bit based on the arts of Okamoto Taro mixed with some unique traits; like Brook based on the screamer, Nami on some Taro statue, Momonosuke (Samurai Dude xD) based on fantasy, since Momo in Japanese means peach xD, and for Chopper I can't remember xD.

The Sunny also is probably based on Taro arts, as the figurehead is a representation of the Sun Tower of Osaka as you can see here:


What happened to Hampnie Hambart in Episode 3?

It's hard to know for sure, but it makes sense why he would die if we accept Hampnie Hambart's own theory for what God is doing. He believes that God thinks he is granting humans their wishes. In that case, Hampnie Hambart's own wish, to die happy with his family, was granted. Until that point, he was unable to die because it would go against his wish. However, once those conditions were met, he could die just as any other human.

As for his wounds not being very severe, this is a matter of how you interpret the scene. My personal guess he was probably at the level that an ordinary human would die, but being immortal himself, he could withstand more than the average human. Another possibility is that after his conditions were met, his wish being his own death, God granted him that wish right away. What exactly the group does to him isn't depicted much so we can't know for sure whether it would kill a normal person. There may be more information in the light novels, but I haven't read them.

Of course, we don't really know what God is doing (at least not yet), so there could be a different explanation, but this makes sense given all that we know so far by episode 3 of the anime.


What is the reading order for Yoshiki Tonogai's different manga series?

The order in which they were written is how they are supposed to be read: Doubt, then Judge, and finally Secret.

From Yoshiki Tonogai's Wiki:

  Doubt, which was completed in February, 2009, and released in the U.S via Yen Press in April 2013 and July 2013. He is also the artist and writer of Judge, the sequel to Doubt, and Secret, the third in the Doubt series, all connected by the recurring appearance of the iconic Rabbit mask from Doubt.


Is there a nen user that could've defeated Meruem (the king)?

Just from the point of the show, it is clear that the only character with a chance of beating Meruem in 1v1 is....

   Adult Gon Pitou admitted that the insane power up may even challenge Meruem and thus sacrificed herself.You should find this reddit pretty interesting. Reddit: Adult Gon vs Meruem

Other characters with a chance/broken abilities are:

Chrollo Lucifer: The leader of phantom troupe with a most broken ability. There is no limit to the power of Chrollo and hence he will be the first in this list. Given the right circumstances and planning, he is sure to make an impact.
Zeno Zoldyck: At least as powerful as Netero, the head of master assassins Zoldyck is surely VERY powerful and capable of standing up to Meruem.

However once, Meruem absorbed Pouf and Youpi, I doubt anyone could have beaten him in the HxH universe.

From another answer,

  When it comes to a fight between Nen users, pure power doesn't mean everything. One may have an ability than can overpower a type of opponent.

Other then the anime, there have been host of new characters recently shown for the dark continent arc that can have an impact.

  There are indications Maha Zoldyck is more powerful than Zeno or Netero. He definitely was at some point but is Zeno's grandfather. Like many other characters we don't actually have enough data to say. – kaine
  I didn't remember Maha from the show. Haven't read the manga before the HxH_2011, I couldn't honestly comment on it, since Maha does not appear during the Yorkshin arc in the 2011 anime. However Wikia makes an interesting comment on him and he may well defeat Meruem if he was on his peak

    Maha is the only known Enhancer in the Zoldyck family. In his youth he was incredibly powerful, to the point that Isaac Netero, once considered the strongest fighter in the world, received praise just for surviving a fight against him: he was, in fact, the only person that far to challenge Maha and live to tell the tale. It is unknown if his strength has waned with old age.


How did Ei Sei's mother, the Queen Mother, escape/get rescued from Zhao?

According to Ryo Fui's ranked biography in Shiji, both the Queen Mother and Ei Sei were returned to Qin by Zhao even before Sei's father became king, though I think conflicting accounts were given in other biographies in Shiji as to when and how they got back to Qin, let alone other historical records. The mangaka didn't follow the canonical history closely (who the hell is this Hou Ken dude?) nor present the stories as logically, so the story of the manga Kingdom shouldn't be taken seriously.

Regardless of proper history,

   Remember that the Queen Mother is a Zhao woman and that after the escape of Ei Sei, an heir to the throne, there really is no point in keeping her as a hostage, and Ruo Fui could have bribed or persuaded the Zhao officials to send his lover the Queen Mother back anyways. In any case, Sei would still have rescued her because it would be against the norm and bad for his reputation to ditch the Queen Mother in poverty in Zhao*. By killing the Queen Mother, Zhao would gain nothing but give Qin a moral high ground in invading Zhao. If the explanation in this paragraph is confusing or misleading, forget about it and just take my words in the first paragraph for it.
 * I think the mangaka screwed up here, because the Queen Mother was a daughter of a prominent family, thus was unlikely to have lived in that condition.


What are the rules of the Shinobi Code of Conduct?

There are a few more indeed.

  Rule #04. "A shinobi must always put the mission first."
  Rule #25. "A shinobi must never show their tears.
  Rule #??. "A shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings."
  Rule #??. "A shinobi must follow their commander's instructions."
  Rule #??. "A shinobi must prepare before it is too late to."
  Rule #??. "A shinobi must never show any weakness."

There also seem to be war-specific rules

  During the Warring States Period, one of the rules forbade shinobi from revealing their surnames for fear of retaliation outside of combat.

as seen in the Wikia.


What meaning is there behind the World Martial Arts Tournament logo?

Budou (武道) is a Japanese term describing Japanese martial arts. Budou consists of the kanji "bu" (武, ぶ), meaning "war" or "martial," and dou (道, どう), meaning "path" or "way."

The tournament is called the 天下一武道会, "Tenkaichi Budoukai," which can literally mean: "(Best) Martial Arts on Earth (Under the Sky) Tournament."


His full name is Toshinori Yagi which is a Japanese name as you said and according to wiki his birthplace is Tokyo.

Other evidences are:

His mentor, Nana Shimura, is also Japanese.
All Might also go to  U.A. High School and his homeroom teacher was Gran Torino.


In session 23 at 14:45, is Ein hacking or is Ed?

If I'm remembering this correctly, I'm pretty sure that it was Ein doing the heavy lifting:

Anyone who hooked into this website got brainwashed (Ein had saved Jet from this by biting him), so I guess they figured if a Dog's brainwaves were used, the website won't be able to brainwash them. So it's Ein that's doing the controlling (you can see him twitching and moving) and it looks like everyone else was just monitoring his progress:

When the site comes up, Jet says "Ed, that's absolute perfection!", thinking that this was Ed's doing, but then it pans to Ed in front of her computer confused, and she wasn't typing on the keyboard at all while all these windows were opening/closing on the website.

Also, from the bebop wikia page about Ein

  In order to avoid having a human member of the Bebop crew be enlisted into the radical religious cult, S.C.R.A.T.C.H., Ein is put into the headgear that is used to link to the cult's website. Within seconds of being logged into their virtual lobby, Ein himself hacks into the underground portions of the site.


Who were the first and second persons to use Mangekyou Sharingan?

The first one is Obito, then known as Madara Uchiha.
The second one is Shisui Uchiha, a very good friend of Itachi. Shisui gave one of his eyes to Itachi, the other one was stolen by Danzo.


How is a tengu born in "Kamisama Hajimemashita"?

Tengu reproduction is not explained in the manga, but Julietta Suzuki hadn't invented them. They are supernatural beings from the Japanese (shinto and buddhist) mythology, having both human and avian features.

The tengu described by the mangaka are very much like the ones in folklore. They live on a mountain in which human rules not apply and they maintain their purity, so probably the folklore can be applied here.
There are various explanations in folklore on how tengu are created, the most common are:

Tengu hatch from giant eggs. There are apparently bird tengu (crows) nesting in the mountains where tengu live.
A tengu soul/spirit possessing an unborn child. The spirit is created when a person dies who is not wicked enough to go to Hell, but not fit for Heaven either.

Kurama Shinjirou, one of the supporting characters is referred to as the Soujoubou's son who is the king of the mountain. There is nothing said about his mother, so probably Soujoubou shapeshifted into a crow to find a mate and Kurama was indeed hatched from an egg. He has nice wings too :)


Does Makoto Shinkai concentrates on a "distant love" theme for his works?

Yes I think he do. According to interview with ANN, He would like to emphasize on losing someone and may be the influence of Miyazaki's work

Question: Your previous films have had simple themes and complex emotions; what
would you say is the overarching theme of Hoshi o Ou Kodomo?
MS: It's very difficult to put the theme into one word— if it wasn't I
wouldn't have made a two-hour movie! But if you want me to just say
it, I guess that would be how to overcome a sense of deep loss, the
loss of another person.


Why did Erza challenge that many monsters at the Pandemonium?

During the Phantom Lord arc, Erza herself mentioned that Fairy Tail is not concerned about competition with other guilds. As Natsu told Sting during the Chariot competition, they entered the Grand Magic Games for their comrades, and to prove that Fairy Tail will keep going forward. They wanted to win the Games to regain their guild's lost respect.

   As such, the Pandemonium contest was more than just winning 10 points for Erza. If she had only challenged 51 monsters, it was possible that she would get to battle mostly the weaker monsters, and someone else might beat the S-rank and A-rank monsters.

That would not earn them any respect, but people would just consider that she was lucky. Erza did not want to take that chance.

Also, Fairy Tail from 7 years ago was known for going overboard and doing things rashly. Doing it differently now would not convince people that Fairy Tail is back, but only create a perception that they have become weaker and are lacking in confidence.


How are the Divergence Number and world line related?

In Steins;Gate there is an important thing called Attractor Field. An Attractor field is a number of world lines that may be slightly different from each other in small details, but provide the same end result.

Each attractor field is "made of" a number of World lines, in some range. For example, the Alpha Attractor Field contains world lines with the divergence from 0% to 0.99%, the Beta Attractor has world lines from 1% to 1.99% and so on.

Thus, the divergence meter is not showing some relative value, but rather an absolute value which is used to determine the Attractor field that the current World Line belongs to.

Source.


How can saiyans have Freezer army-like armor when they first met Freezer?

As per the release of the Broly movie, this is not a continuity error.

   The Saiyans actually served King Cold before Freeza took over the empire. This scene is King Cold introducing Freeza to them as Freeza is beginning his reign. Thus, we can easily conclude that the Saiyans acquired this armor from King Cold when the army was still known as the Cold Force.


What are these charts and what are they for?

It looks like an inbetweening timing chart, very similar to the ones given in an example on a web page titled Timing Charts by Brian Lemay:

The chart in your question looks to be an example of what the is described in the picture above as a "halves slo-in" and "halves slo-out".

The chart shows how the inbetween frames that fill the gaps between key frames (like the one below the chart in your question) should be drawn.  The chart gives two alternatives, one using 5 inbetween frames between key frames on the left, and the other using 4 inbetween frames between them.

Using the alternative on the left, the chart is telling the inbetweener to first draw frame number 5.  This frame would be drawn halfway between two key frames, the one numbered 1 and 7 on the chart.  The inbetweener would then draw frames 4 and 6, the former halfway between frames 1 and 5 and the later halfway between 5 and 7.  Then frame 3 would be drawn, halfway between 1 and 4, and then frame 2. halfway between 1 and 3.  A similar process would be followed to draw frames 9, 8, 10, 11, and 13 in that order.

Since the frames are displayed at a constant rate (probably "on twos" at 12 frames per second) the illusion of movement created by the animation would start off slow, speed up and then slow down again.  The total running time for the animated sequence would be (if done on twos) 1 second.


Almost every symbol, transmutation circle, and array in FmA;B have meanings behind them, even the ones who only appear on screen for a few seconds, like Riza's tattoo (here's a link to a really good analysis of it and here's a video where I talk a bit more about it). All the gates shown also have personal meanings to the characters (I also talk about that a bit in the video). Most of the symbols are based on basic alchemy and I found out a lot of things by simply googeling "alchemy symbols"; so yes, I would say that it is totally possible to make your own circles by combining the diffrent symbols.


What does the position of "theme song assistance"(?) entail?

主題歌協力 is a honorific title, but the real position behind this is music producer (as seen on your linked website). The former can virtually be changed for the latter when seen.

The music producer position entails the following:

choosing adequate staff for the envisioned song, i.e. pick up everyone, from the studio to writers, composers, singers, and even the supporting staff.
planning the schedule for all this staff. In parallel, they also oversee the schedule advancement for albums jacket covers and promotional videos. There are also cases where they plan out live events.
managing the staff for the song, i.e. making meetings with everyone, exchange ideas about the envisioned song, adjusting details for the creation and recording of the song, and managing conflicts that may arise.
last but not least, budget management for the song publication and staff involved.

As for the reasons to why you only saw Sotomura be credited as theme song collaborator:

music producers are often also the lyrics writer and/or composer for the song, so they are credited instead as such in openings.
Sotomura is a music producer "only", meaning he needs a title position of his own in order to appear in the credits. Other music producers "only" usually appear in full staff rolls (i.e. that include full production staff), but are not credited in OPs.
A music producer can appear on the OP/ED credits on request from the artists involved in it, but seeing the number of appearances for Sotomura, it is more likely that directives were made between Sony and the animation studios to quote Sotomura in the OPs.


Much like this question, this is most likely to be part of the Transfer Student Uniform trope that features in a few anime.

TVTropes page

  New Transfer Students in places where school uniforms are a cultural default setting often wear their old ones until the school can provide them with a new one. In fiction, this shows the newcomer or outsider. When they get the current school uniform, this indicates they've been assimilated. If the student is meant to be a Fish out of Water, they will keep their old uniform throughout the series. In Japanese media, even rebels don't choose to abandon uniforms entirely; in American media they will do this even if the new school doesn't have uniforms. Compare the Non-Uniform Uniform.

Thanks to @Jon_Lin


Why does every major bad guy end up being a good guy later?

Maybe because there actually isn't any "bad guy" in this world from the start. Somebody becomes bad because of certain incidents happened to them in the past. Nobody is evil at the time when they are just born in this world.

If you cut the fillers and the battles in the Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, you will see the story of this anime actually is very deep, closely related to our everyday life. It always tries to unify people in some way.

You will surely remember how Nagato ended the chain of hatred, or how Zabuza kept his faith on Naruto. You will see there is no actual "villain" in Naruto. Every "villain" character (Madara, Sasuke, Obito, ...) has a good reason to behave like how they do.
When someone tries to do things the way they want, but couldn't make it, they try to help those who have the same goal like him/her. That's how they become good.

It's actually like how Sossli1 says in one of his videos on YouTube

"Those in need of a shoulder to cry on seek those who experienced it".


Why was Yui's Heart the only SAO item to work in Alfheim Online?

I'm going to answer this from a programmer's perspective.

When writing a video game, everything is built in layers, starting with simple IO (mouse, keyboard, sound, video), then a physics engine is integrated, and then base game mechanics added.

Finally, the game itself is written on top of all this software.

All of Kirito's items would be part of the SAO game itself, and would be unrecognized item codes in another game.

However, Yui is a more integral part of the game engine, her program would exist in a earlier layer of the game. When the game was stripped down from SAO in order to make ALfheim, Yui's layer would have been left intact, allowing her to exist.

It is the same with Kirito's stats, they are more integral than the game items, and are programmed first.
(The fact that his stats transferred actually shows how sloppy & lazy of a rewrite ALfheim was)

Side note: In a game as advanced as SAO or ALfheim, it is possible that items are created as needed by the engine (the Cardinal), every game would have its own set of items, with unique IDs.


Is there a Japanese opening/intro for "Golden Boy" (「ゴールデンボーイ」)?

From what I can gather, that is indeed the original opening. (Sorry, don't have the actual japanese release.)
According to ANN , the song is called Golden Boy and is by Joyo Katayanagi.

As to why it might seem a bit odd, well first off, the series came out in the mid-90s. While not standard, the stlye isn't exactly out of place for the time period.

Second off, keep in mind that the series never aired on TV, at least not at first. In stead it's an OVA (original video animation) and was first released on VHS and laserdisc. As such, it didn't really need to adhere to the usual TV-anime formats when it came to openings and such. As it was already guaranteed to have your attention, it pretty much just had to set the mood.

Also, it seems that the german release did get an opening with some lyrics. The song is called My Golden Boy by Computerjockeys. It's pretty much a remix of the original song with added english lyrics. The animation is still the same, tough.


Manga with supernatural settings and two brothers trying to find their parents' killer

Found it through here... Figures I post something and then find a tagline and remember it was mostly based on Irish mythology.  The manga is called AR∀GO.  The spear was Brionac not the Spear of Longinus. Here is the summary for it:

  The story centers around two twins, Arago and Yuan, whose parents were slaughtered by monsters. Years later, the vengeful Arago crosses paths with Yuan, who has since become a police officer, just as blood begins to flow again in the streets of London.


What's the song when Gaara cries out in episode 297?

It's an unreleased soundtrack called "A Mother's love". I've linked the name to a youtube video of it.


How could the machine in Gantz manipulate life and death?

According to gantz.wikia.com:

The black spheres known as Gantz, are objects with seemingly impossible abilities, mass produced in a factory in Germany, using alien military technology. This technology was sent to Earth by a species to help them fight off another alien species that had previously tried to invade them. Each Gantz sphere has a person inside, which the Room of Truth reveals was just a random person duplicated about to provide an interface. The alien broadcast only contained military technology, the point system and other aspects created by humans.
When [the people in the Room of Truth are] asked about souls, they were told the soul is just data, stored somewhere when they died, and would be reincarnated as someone else later on.

It seems the Gantz clones/duplicates a physical body and then uses the "data" of a soul from the original human to put them in the new body.


Why was Light only targeting Japanese criminals when he was in the US?

Notice the "keep killing Japanese criminals" part; this seems to suggest that (mostly) Japanese criminals were being killed by Kira during the time right before this incident. L had already previously established that Kira was operating from Japan on live TV. Any aberrations in killing behavior during Light's time in the States would appear highly suspicious to Near, who already distrusted the Japanese Kira investigation team at the time. Light could just be getting paranoid and probably wanted to reinforce the idea that Kira is operating from Japan during his visit.


(Possible Spoilers) In Hortensia Saga, why can't the princess just return to the castle?

From what transpired of the last episode (episode 3). The church seems to have been taking control of the power by basically controlling her brother. At the moment, the standing of the church is no super clear and we don't really know if they are involved in any of this.
From the characters point of view:

When the king was alive and the country was strong, he got killed
Since her brother took throne and followed the church nothing has happened to him.

It wouldn't be wrong to imagine that by going back and taking the throne, she could either: do what the church says and stay alive or follow her father footsteps and probably get killed too.
I think it's a pretty smart move to wait few years and see the direction the country is taking before making any public claim to the throne. Also being close to somebody who can raise a small army and control lands opens up a lot of options.
Judging by her past decisions, all this thinking has probably been done by the old man. I am convinced that, if she was given the opportunity, she would rush to the castle to ensure the well-being of her brother.


Was there any difference between the 6 Pains, besides their abilities?

To be honest, I felt that the way a ninja uses and handles his/her power makes them stronger. I really can't comment whether there were any difference of power among the six Rinnegan users.

Why do I say this?

Recall the incident between Sasuke and Itachi's fight. Sasuke used his Sharingan very efficiently when he fought against Itachi.

So bottom line: it totally depends on how a wielder wields the weapon.


No, Mest Gryder did not have a Fairy Tail Guild mark. And neither did he need one. As his ability which allowed him to infiltrate to begin with can also cover for the lack of a guild mark. Allowing him to be a Fairy Tail member, without a Fairy Tail mark.

  Doranbolt, a member of the Magic councel, used Memory Control to deceive everyone in Fairy Tail into believing he was a member of their guild named Mest Gryder.

Edit

Is it a speculation? Mainly yes but do consider the following. His power allows him to make everybody think he is a guild member. To obtain a real guild emblem he would need to go to Makarov and ask for one. Which at that time already should think that he is a member of fairy tail. Which would make it weird for him to ask for a guild mark.


All characters on the show are based on historical figures. Furuta Sasuke is in fact Furuta Oribe but he will only change his name later in life.
Same goes for Sen no Soeki who will become famous under the name of Sen no Rikyu.


I believe you are right on the mark that the maxim is "Life must be protected."

From what I remember, the theme is pretty consistent throughout the entire series, but the overarching idea tied to the maxim is that all life is valuable, regardless of species.

It's a bit philosophical for an anime about aliens that hijack human bodies and blend in so they can eat other humans while no one is looking, but bear with me.

One way that the series plays into this maxim is by seemingly asking "Who is really a monster?", as in "Who really deserves to live/die?"

  After the initial brutality of the Parasites, some of them start to realize that the best way to continue their existence is to co-exist with the humans. However, most humans oppose this idea completely, due to first impressions and not-so-peaceful Parasites. This idea comes to a climax in episode 21 where the presumed Parasite mayoral candidate Hirokawa condemns humans for not being able to live alongside Parasites and is shot to death. Only after this is it revealed that Hirokawa was fully human the entire time.

Another scene that depicts Parasites as not complete monsters is in Episode 18,

  when Reiko sacrifices herself to save her son.

The other way that this maxim is used throughout the series is the idea of survival.

That is, the Parasites simply seek to survive, and

  as mentioned above, seek to cooperate with humans, though they are rejected entirely and effectively forced into hiding, lest they be hunted, as seen in Episodes 19-20.


What are those lines under some anime characters eyes supposed to be / mean?

I was wondering what it represents? I've been researching and I could not find any information or reason regarding what they are exactly or why they are placed underneath the eyes. This, however, seems to be an anime-only thing and, possibly, an artistic style or preference, unique to the one who drew them. Below is the cover for the first light volume, which do not have those lines.

Is it supposed to be like having dark circles under the eyes like some people in real life or something else? No, they are not dark circles under the eyes. Dark circles under the eyes are different, and can be seen clearly. An example is from Watamote.

They are also not underlashes as both characters also have them and they are drawn separately. So far, I think the only way we'll know is if the one who drew them reveals the reason and purpose for placing those lines.


Did Danzo use Shuisui's eye to become Hokage?

Danzō, rather than using the sharingan's ability, used the Daimyō's indecisive characteristic to his advantage - knowing he would side with whoever convinced him the most.

  The Fire Daimyō has a fickle and indecisive nature and is easily swayed in his decisions through biases as well as external influences. When situations call for fast, important decisions, he makes his advisers do the whole work: the one who convinces him most is the "winner"

Danzō convinced  the Daimyō that Kakashi, who was initially considered for becoming the 6th Hokage, maintained the same ideology that put Konoha in it's current state of crisis.

  However, Danzō points out that the teachings that were passed down to Kakashi were the cause of Konoha's problems and current crisis. The Konoha Crush, the frequent confrontations with Akatsuki, the defection of Sasuke Uchiha, and the destruction of Konoha's infrastructure, all stemmed from the ideology that kindness and unity would lead to peace. Danzō believed the ideology simply made Konoha appear weak and left them exposed to attacks

The Daimyō believed and agreed with Danzō

  The daimyō, persuaded by Danzō's words and reasoning, appointed Danzō as the Sixth Hokage Candidate, just in time for the Five Kage Summit.


There's two side effects. The first is immediately noticeable: he cannot control his own body when he is controlling someone else's. This results in his body slumping over awkwardly.

The second effect is less obvious.  The more he uses his ability, the more memories he loses. This is likely due to the sheer amount of the brain all of these abilities are taking up.

This second effect can be seen gradually increasing as he forgets his mission, his friends, and eventually everything in the last episode.

It seems reasonable that he gets two negative side-effects like this since his ability lets him control people's bodies and steal abilities.


What game is Subaru playing with the girls?

The card game is Sevens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevens_(card_game)

Basically the object of the game is to get rid of all your cards.
You can get rid of a card by putting it above a lower valued card of the same suit, or above a higher valued card.

To start, a seven must be played. The next person can then play another seven (creating a new row) or place an eight or a six on the existing seven. You must pass if you cannot do anything.

The "Holding up a game" that they're blaming one of the characters for, is when you decide to not play certain card(s) because you know you can block someone else off. For example, if he doesn't play the 5 or 8 of hearts, noone can play a four or lower, or a 9 or higher.

A common tactic is holding the lowest/highest of a suit that you have, because you don't need to put down any cards below/above that.

This video might be better for explaining

I've played it myself with relatives at home in Ireland, but I'm not sure where it originates.


The main concept of Ultra Instinct, is cutting down reaction time significantly. We know this based on Whis's comments while training Goku and Vegeta. Also, Vados's comment during Goku vs Kefla.It was also stated by Vados, that Jiren's reaction time is near to perfect. We can conclude the same based on the last comment she made when Hit attacked Jiren after Jiren defeated Goku. She said that most warriors are open immediately after fighting an enemy and Jiren didn't even have that weakness and he reacted immediately to block hit. We also see Jiren being able to dodge the first Kick from Ultra Instinct Goku.We also see in the Ultra Instinct state, Goku was doing fairly well with Jiren despite Jiren's physical power being significantly higher compared to Goku's. So in other words, the transformation made Goku's reaction time better than Jiren which is why Jiren had trouble landing attacks.  However, Jiren's reaction time is extremely good enough to easily react to Hit's time skip and his attack which Goku couldn't that easily.I believe every God Tier fighter , ie God's of destructions and Jiren have require very minimal time to react and hence have UI mastered down to an extent. However, it is not to the same extent as that of Whis and the other angels and Goku has possibly mastered the dodging part, to the same extent as Whis.  The reason why I believe Jiren hasn't perfected it as much as Goku has is because of something said by Whis during the UI Goku vs Kefla fight . Whis said that Goku's attacks were pretty weak and this was even after he powered up. During his fight against Jiren, we know Jiren in terms of raw power is comparable to a God of Destruction's power. Hence if Jiren's reaction time was better than Goku's or even equal to Goku's, he wouldn't even have struggled a little against UI Goku.This brings me to my conclusion that Jiren has not mastered self movement. I believe he has a reaction time which is very comparable to that of a God. However, Goku is ahead of him with regard to that. Jiren's raw power on the other hand, is superior to Goku and comparable to Beerus and the other Gods.


Can Crunchyroll's translations (subtitles, dubs, manga) be considered official translations?

Since Crunchyroll has a license from the copyright owner, the content (including cuts / edited video, subtitles, translations, overlay text, dubbing) available is considered official.

Even though Crunchyroll does the translation, the translation is owned by the  anime studio. Also, sometimes the studio chooses how some terms are translated.


Is there a continuation to the "Oblivion Island" movie?

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find anything related to it. Even its own website (the English version at least) doesn't mention anything like that. It could be that the movie, despite receiving several awards, simply wasn't profitable enough to warrant a sequel.

http://www.oblivionisland.com/


How did Kanade get access to Angel Player?

From the Wikia:

  Some time after the creation of the Angel Player program, a student by the name of Kanade Tachibana discovered the program and became the first user of the program. She used the program to create Guard Skills to battle against the SSS.

(emphasis mine)

The exact details of the acquisition process is not revealed, however it is believed that Kanade found the program by herself. Considering that she has an English manual, it could be that she found it with one of the computers in the computer room, or bought it in the Afterlife.


Are Kale and Caulifla truly sisters or Kale call Caulifla "sister" in an affective way?

No, i don't think they are sisters, as Calulifa said she just recruited Kale. When she first met Cabba, he asked who she was and Caulifla said she is also a saiyan.
Also if he was her sister Cabba should at least have heard of her since he knows Renso well.

Regarding a definite proof there isn't one and most likely there will never be one. Usually, through story telling we are almost always told if some characters are blood related, so if no such info comes out in DBS the conclusion is obvious.


It seems that the prime minister had acquired a modest amount of military backing and/or created task forces that the governing body (and section 9) were unaware of.

Similar to the clone army in Star Wars, Sifo-Dyas believed he had commissioned the secret army "for the Republic" to be held in reserve for the coming conflict. Neither the ruling party nor the Jedi council were aware of "their" army.

Exerpt from wiki:

  "During the refugee crisis, she is arrested under charges of treason
  for requesting United Nations intervention in the crisis, though this
  action on the part of the Ruling Party chairman was not sanctioned
  by either party, or electorate - her escape from custody and the aid
  of Section 9 prevented this secret coup d'état from becoming a
  reality, and also then sent a clear signal to the American Empire that
  Japan prefers a Stand-alone status within the international community.

  This demonstration of capability, and the calling in of favours owed
  at the height of the crisis increased her ability to control Japan in
  the wake thereof. She also demonstrated that she held clout from a
  military stand-point: The JASDF was her tool of choice for reminding
  the contending land and sea force commanders where Japan's true
  military prowess was to be found, from both a domestic and military
  stand-point. Kayabuki displayed great wisdom by selecting Daisuke
  Aramaki and Major Kusanagi as personal advisors that prevented
  potentially cataclysmic events during the beginning of her
  premiership."

The bottom line is that she used the state's military forces (the two jets that buzzed the American sub), to protect the state, from the state, all without the state even knowing. Refusing to contribute to genocide against the refugees (and possible future citizens), the JASDF branch she called was obviously led by a patriot* who backed the State, rather than the Leadership.

Edit: *Actually, it is unclear as to whether or not the JASDF commander knew that Kayabuki had been arrested and was being fired. I like to believe in "true patriots" standing up for what's right, but it's also possible that the JASDF commander was simply not aware of Takakura's actions and would have refused Kayabuki's order, if he'd known. Since Kayabuki was being fired but wasn't fired yet (publicly), he also may have just been "following orders". The JASDF excercise is called a "favor", which leans toward the commander knowing the details of the situation and voluntarily following Kayabuki's order.


How is Akai Ito the sister game to Aoishiro?

I imagine the most significant of your mentioned connections is that they are created by the same developer - Success.

Having similar themes and a similar art style is definitely enough to warrant the title of sister games.

As a Western example, Bastion and Transistor are also sister games - They share no common story, but are similar in artistic style, development company, musician and artist.

The term sister in sister-game is broad and stems from sister cities & sister companies. The latter of which shares no more than the same parent company. Sister cities are broad, officially approved, long-term partnerships between two communities - but they do not have to be culturally alike or share many traits.

The requirements for shows to have an implicit connection is low, and can be justified by being in the same broad universe, parallel universe, etc. It's mainly a production choice.


Does anybody recognize this anime with a military parade?

This is from the third ED of Xam'd: Lost Memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mU1MbPWyf8

The figure in the center is Toujirou Kakisu.


What does the Valis symbol in Danmachi look like?

It looks exactly like how it is described. Similar to the Yen symbol ¥.


Am I missing an entry in the Higurashi series?

Although it's not said anywhere officially, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is widely considered to be When They Cry 2.

Contrary to Jon Lin's answer, "When They Cry" is not purely an English licensing name. It may be used for the licensing name, but it is actually relevant to the original creation.

The creator of the original sound novels, Ryuukishi07, uses this name and numbers to distinguish/count the works in the "When They Cry" series.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - When They Cry
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai - When They Cry 2* (the title in question, see further below)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni - When They Cry 3
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru - When They Cry 4

These titles can be seen on the official cover art as proof. I've linked pictures of these covers to the related titles above.

However, interestingly enough, "When They Cry 2" is quite odd. It does not appear on the cover of the sound novels, manga, PS2 version, DS version, novels, or drama CDs. The (original/Japanese release) anime DVD cases and boxes don't even mention "When They Cry"

However, despite this lack of "When They Cry 2", even the Japanese somehow know that 2 = Higurashi Kai, as seen in this Yahoo Chiebukuro question where both answerers reply that 2 = Higurashi Kai.

Additionally, a fanmade Japanese Umineko wiki site's FAQ page mentions the following definitions:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei - When They Cry 2+
Umineko no Naku Koro ni Tsubasa - When They Cry 4+

So it seems that Higurashi Kai was not defined as 2 anywhere officially, but it has been accepted as such by both Japanese and Western fans due to either Umineko being called 3 or the Higurashi Kai anime being dubbed as 2. Who knows where Ryuukishi07 got the idea from. If I stumble upon an official Kai work using When They Cry 2 somewhere, I'll be sure to update this post.


Shouldn't the biju be allowed free if Naruto really wants to help them?

You don't have to be a Jinchuuriki to befriend a Bijuu. According to Naruto, he wants to partner up with all the Bijuu, even though not all of them are sealed inside of him.

He can't really change his situation with Kurama since extracting Kurama from him will mean the he would die, however Naruto means that Shinobi and Bijuu can be allies/friends like Shinobi and other Shinobi.


Does removing Potara earrings of a fused character nullifies the fusion?

No, removing the earrings does NOT nullify the fusion.

Source - http://universaldragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Potara_Earrings

Quote from the wiki -

  The earrings have the ability to fuse two people into a single entity, substantially enhancing the abilities of both individuals. The resulting fusion lasts forever, even if the fused being removes the earrings. However, there is one instance where the Potara Fusion will be nullified and restore the fused being back to their original forms, which is when they are sucked into an environment that would not support it (as seen with Vegito being absorbed inside Buu).

Edit: I've found a quote of Elder Kaioshin, stating that the Potara earrings are meant to be eternal-lasting.

  Context: Elder Kaioshin gives the Potara to Goku Elder Kaioshin: “Here! Put
  this Potara on your left ear! [ ] Put the other one on Gohan’s ear.
  Just by doing that, you two will be able to merge together! Like with
  Fusion.” Goku: “Huh! Re-really!?” Elder Kaioshin: “Of course. And
  what’s more, the effect is greater than with Fusion! This has been the
  trump card treasure of the Kaioshins since long ago.”

source - Chapter: 501 (DBZ 307), P6.2-6

  Context: Goku asks how long Potara-based fusion lasts
  Elder Kaioshin: "The Potara don't have such a weakness. It's eternal! You'll never return to normal again!"

source - Chapter: 501 (DBZ 307), P11.6

Edit 2 -
As jphager2 has mentioned in the comments below, after using the Potara Earrings, they can then be removed & re-used to fuse 2 new people, we've never been given information about the possibility of 2 fusions being able to fuse, and the only information I can find on it is speculation.


Do the Madoka OST CDs have sensible musical notation printed on them?

It might be readable if there was some difference between the minims and crotchets and quavers, but due to the lack of time signature and bar lines, I would say that the design on these discs is just that, a design. Also, as senshin commented, it doesn't seem to resemble anything from the Madoka soundtrack anyway.


How do characters in Naruto train to use elemental jutsus besides the wind nature?

There were other episodes that explains better how the different chakras works, specially in the original Naruto. Obviously the training would be very different for others elements.

Here are some references

  Naruto chapter 321, pages 4-5
  Naruto chapter 315, page 13
  Thir dDatabook, page 236
  Naruto chapter 315, page 15
  Third Databook, page 214
  Naruto chapter 375, page 11
  Fourth Databook, page 249
  Naruto chapter 689, page 5
  Naruto chapter 316, page 9
  Naruto chapter 207,page 8
  Naruto chapter 316, pages 4-7
  Naruto: Shippūden episode 55
  Naruto chapter 361, page 13
  Third Databook, pages 274-275

The way to understand how elements works would be understanding their properties, because it explains a lot about the compatibility and the way for creating new techniques.

Simple examples of training for other elements are creating a wall, cut or broke things, etc. Techniques that you see in one element could be imitate in another, but the difference you'll see it in a battle.


He seems disgusted by everybody that competes with fighting spirit, or with beliefs of friendship, for the team goals, self awareness, etc. It seems (as his point of view) that he rides a bike for the pure joy of win and all the other thoughts are superfluous to him.

In some of the later episodes, he shows empathy for the second climber of the Hakone Academy (Manami), because of this reason and Onoda in the image you showed is trying to reach his team to help them in the future obstacle (the next climbing zone), and he seems to enjoy himself, smiling at full throttle, because riding is fun, and that's gross!


It is mentioned in the "Kimetsu No Yaiba Manga : Chapter 6" that :
He utilizes the Water Breathing: Fourth Form - Striking Tide to slice the 'threads' that he smelled, and successfully defeats the demons .
Though it's not mentioned anywhere, what I assume is by the time he completed final selection , he had defeated many demons as well as cut the rock with the help of his smell and breathing technique. So , even when he was asked to choose the ore , he chose to use the sense of smell as he didn't have any other parameter or knowledge to do so .  So he chose smelling similar to his past actions.


I don't think there's a reason beyond the "Cool" factor.

はがね (Hagane) translates to "Steel" or "Metal", so I don't see a real reason.

Fullmetal, refers to objects that are completely made of metal, that they aren't hollow or are composed of other, non-metallic materials.


Why didn't Boruto teleport to the animal world?

The episode you are referring to when Jiraya was teleported to Mount Myōboku, Tales of a Gutsy Ninja ~Jiraiya Ninja Scroll~ Part 1 is actually a filler episode, so I'm not sure if teleporting to the animal's home after performing the Summoning Technique without a blood contract should be considered canon.

  In the anime, it was shown that if a user attempts to summon an animal without first signing a contract, the user will be teleported to the home of the animal they have a natural affinity for

On the other side, nothing happened when Boruto performed the Summoning Technique because, not only did he not have a blood contract, he also did not use the hand signs required to perform a summon

  However in Boruto's case, he neither used a blood sacrifice nor did the necessary hand seals.

Without the hand signs or blood sacrifice, Boruto just kind of slapped his hand on the ground.


After the point you mentioned the content is basically entirely filler starting with episode 26 (the beginning of season 2 of the anime). Other than the final arc (episodes 43-49) which provides some conclusion to the anime, it is episodic content. The final arc is anime-original and quite a bit different from the manga.

A few of the episodes of the anime are based on interlude manga chapters, but they're still episodic and don't forward the plot. These episodes were expanded quite a bit from the manga chapters which were comedic interludes that did not forward the story significantly. Episodes 26, 38, 39, and 40 are the only examples of this I know of, though it's been a while since I've read the manga or watched the anime so I might have missed one. These episodes still have a lot of anime-original content, so if you don't like the filler at all you probably won't enjoy these regardless of whether they're based on the manga.

So, in short, if you want the continuation of the GetBackers story, the only real option is to read the manga. The anime episode 25 corresponds roughly to chapter 83, the end of the "Return to Infinity Fortress" arc. The anime does have a bit of manga content after that point, but I doubt it would be worth watching if all you want is the story and you don't enjoy the filler episodes at all.


What's the story behind the item Celty is looking for?

Shinra's father stole Celty's head when she was asleep, and gave it to Yagiri Pharmaceuticals.  Celty wants her head back because it houses her memories.


Make sure to see the full anime, if you have seen it till the final episode and you still can't discover why you can read my answer

   Because Myne is royalty, she didn't betray him for a mere 800 coins, but she was trying to mock of him from the beginning, it has been showed that she is the second princess to the throne, so it is basically just making fun of the degraded hero, proof : https://shield-hero.fandom.com/wiki/Malty_S_Melromarc you can find here position as queen


What did Madoka wish for in the original timeline?

She wished the cat in the opening (named Amy) to be saved from being run over by a car. This is revealed in the Drama CD 1.

More info about wishes in the series: https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Wish_theories#.E2.9C.94.C2.A0Timeline_1_-_Save_that_cat.21

More info about the Drama CD 1: https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Drama_CD_1


What volumes of the Campione LN correspond to the anime?

I know you're not here given that you've been away for 8 months but still:

The anime is such a mess...

Episode 1: volume 3

Episode 12: Original

The rest: It goes from volume 1 to volume 6 chapter 5

Notes: The Athena and Voban arcs are almost faithful to to the light novel. Perseus is semi-faithful. Ena has lots and lots of original content.

I read the light novels and saw the anime


Was it ever explained why Vegito split back into Goku and Vegeta in Buu's body?

The reason behind the splitting back was never explained in the anime.

In episode 273, The Innards Of Buu, after Goku and Vegeta splits back into their former selves, Goku asks:

  "Why'd we separate once we let the barrier down?"

To which, Vegeta has no idea about.

In the original manga, however, Goku tells that it must have been the "bad air" inside Buu.

This was confirmed in the Daizenshuu.

Daizenshuu 4, pg 163, entry for Potara Earrings:

  Special Characteristics: To use them, the two people who will merge simply each take one of the two earrings and put in on their left or right ear, respectively. Furthermore, after merging the power is greater than with Fusion. However, the two people will automatically merge as soon as the earrings are put on, and in principle will be unable to ever split up again, so caution is needed when handling them. The merged person will only split up when touched by the air inside Majin Buu’s body. Also, while with Fusion the post-merged clothing is the native dress of the people of Planet Metamor, when merging with the Potara not only are the two people’s bodies mixed together, but their clothing is as well. In addition, pathetically enough the East Kaioshin and his attendant Kibito merged together without knowing a thing about Potara fusion.

UPDATE:

According to Episode 66 of Dragon Ball Super, the official explanation as to why the splitting occured, is given by Gowasu:

  Goku asks Gowasu how come he and Vegeta split before when he was told the effects of Potara are permanent, and Gowasu explains that those who fuse that are not Supreme Kai will only stay fused for one hour.


How is the voice quality of a seiyuu classified?

Well I don´t think they actually classify the quality of each voice. Why do I think so?

Most seiyuu are picked after they either send in some records or do a vocal audition, or they have done voice overs/acting before and are scouted this way.

When a company wants some voice acting done, they usually keep in mind the characters that have to be voiced. Most of the time characters have a specific personality and they want a voice to best represent this personality. For example, let's look at Mizuhara Kaoru, the seiyuu who voiced Kusakabe Misao in Lucky Star. She has a melodic yet playful voice which can represent the character as one of the best. To even better grasp this concept, think of Naruto being voiced with Kusakabe Misao's voice. This would not match the personality the character has to represent.

So if there were to be a classification for seiyuu, it would differ per character. So there are no known "standard classifications" for seiyuu.


At what point does the 2003 series and Manga/Brotherhood series start to diverge?

tl;dr: there is no exact point where the stories go "different ways". Depending on how strict you are with the plot divergence, there are several candidates.
Minor differences
There are differences even at the beginning. For instance:

 In the Lior arc, we see an failed "resurrection" of Rose's boyfriend in 2003 that was created from some birds, whereas this never shows up in the manga. Al never even attempts the state alchemist qualifying exam in the manga, and the train and Shou Tucker incidents happen after Ed becomes a state alchemist. Roy finds the brothers because of reports of there having been skilled alchemists, not because of a letter.

There are also slight differences in character details (e.g. being a minority, Rose is darker in 2003). 2003 also has some  blatantly non-manga content at the beginning (e.g. episode 4).
When do major differences start to appear?
Looking at the Wikipedia chapter and 2003 episode, we have several candidates:

Ep. 7 (chapter 6, or ep. 5 of Brotherhood)

 In the manga continuity, it is specifically stated that Shou Tucker is killed. He is arrested, not killed in the original anime, and he shows up later.

Ep. 11:

 The Tringhams appear later in the anime so they can't just be regarded as "filler" material. But they're not in the manga continuity.

Ep. 14, 15 (thus, ch. 8/vol. 2, or ep. 4-5 of FMA:B)

 Grand is killed very early on in the manga, and only appears in Ishval flashbacks. Moreover the details about Ishval (which isn't discussed until chapter 58) and Scar are different.

Episode 21 (thus, ch. 11, or ep. 7 of FMA:B)

 Scar makes no such appearance in the manga, and the role of his brother is different. The events at Laboratory 5 are different.

Ep. 25, where the 2003 plot completely diverges (so ep. 10 of FMA:B or ch. 15).

 The details of Hughes' death are different. The homunculi are different in the manga continuity.

FMA:B and the manga plots seem unrecognisable from a 2003 perspective by around ep. 12-14 or vol. 8. However, important differences will have come up before that even though most of the events might be recognisable to someone who saw 2003. There's no single point before which everything is identical and everything afterwards is not. Moreover, some details in later chapters (e.g. the Elrics' childhood, in ep. 3 vs. part of vol. 5) are covered relatively early on in 2003, so there's going to be some duplication unless you specifically avoid those chapters.
Recommendations
If you want to be aware of all small deviations, starting from the first chapter/episode of the respective adaptation is best. If small differences aren't much issue and you want to reduce the amount you read/watch, vol. 2, ep. 4 (FMA:B), or ep. 10 (2003) seems like a decent points, although opinions will vary. Keep in mind that later plot will still be similar or even identical. If you skip stuff, it may be useful to read summaries and make sure you know the chronology of the adaptation in question.
Incidentally, The Sacred Star of Milos should not require much manga knowledge. I did not watch Conqueror of Shamballa closely, but my impression of it was that it required knowledge of the 2003 ending (ep. 48 onwards).


Her wikia page says:

  She also has seven scars on her back that greatly resemble the stars emblazoned in Goku Uniforms. The origin of these scars is unknown, but they are likely a result of her fusion with Life Fibers.

It's very likely that this was a side effect of fusing with Life Fibers at early age.


Why did Saber reveal to Shirou and Rin that she has participated in the previous war?

Because there's nothing to gleam from the fact that she was summoned previously, infact in the Visual Novel she doesn't say that she was summoned in the previous War but was "summoned once before", she doesn't mention that she was in the previous Holy Grail War until later on the 4th day where she and Shirou talk to one another before going to be where Shirou finds out she made it to the war's finale and questions his worth as a Master to her (since within the first night Saber had been in 3 fights and was badly injured in 2)

Also, Rin mentions when Saber says she was summoned previously that it was quite rare. given what we know about the previous Wars with the exception of 3 no hero has been properly summoned twice under the Fuyuki System, the exceptions are

The Hassan-i-Sabbah, AKA Assassin, as all 19 leaders of the Hashshashin share the same name and the name of the sect is the etymological root of the word "assassin" with the class name itself thus acts as the catalyst to summon the members of the organization.  Type-Moon Wikia: Hassan-i-Sabbah
Arturia because

   She isn't a clone of a Hero from the Throne of Heroes like every other Servant summoned

and Gilgamesh because

   he was never unsummoned in the 4th war, Angra Mainyu's corruption unnaturally boosted his Independent Action Class Skill to the point he could stay in the world indefinitely

I am not including the Looped Holy Grail War which is featured in Fate/Hollow Atarxia as

   is it a representation of the 3rd War with 5th war Servants acting as stand-ins for the Servants of the 3rd War and some Masters being based off from 3rd war, such as the Edelfelt sisters who look like Rin and Sakura

In Fate/Strange Fake Jack the Ripper is summoned as a Berserker for the False Holy Grail War in Snow Field and is a male (made sane by the Mad Enchantment Class Skill) but in Fate/Apocrypha Jack the Ripper is a young girl summoned as Assassin for the Black Faction.

Also, everyone who knew her identity she presumes had died as at the time she hadn't seen Kotomine nor know that Gilgamesh was still around and finally, given the normal procedure in the Holy Grail Wars to kill Masters to ensure they can't contract another Servant later on, with Gilgamesh being the only other Servant left to confront her she would assume Iskander and Waver are dead (however we know Waver is still alive)

As for your comment

  Servants being summoned twice and retaining their memories was unheard of

Yes it's unheard of, mainly because every Hero summoned is not the real Hero but a clone as such they should not have memories of a previous war as the clone who has these memories is lost at the end. the bellow image and link explains it quite well

Soruce: Heroic Spirit - Accession

If this was not the case then Servants who become corrupted by the Grail particularly those in the Heaven's Feel Route would be corrupted in the Throne as well.

   the Reason why Arturia isn't a clone is because she made a contract with the world prior her death to become a Heroic Spirit in exchnage for the Holy Grail, thus she wasn't summoned from the Thone of Heroes as the bllow image shows  we however do not know what her corruption had done when she returned to her original time however if Fate/Hollow Ataraxia is any hope she is still her usual self just with a corrupt side to her as a second personality


Changing his weight at will implies being able to lower it to close to nothing too. That is probably the technique he uses to reach dozens of meters in a single jump before increasing it greatly again to fall back with mighty power.

While falling, he could also lower his weight again to the weight of a feather and use the large surface of his body to glide sideways to reach any fleeing enemy. This is what a falcon in free fall does, precisely reaching his moving target with the fine tuning of his wings.

Using this, he can reach great velocities he would otherwise never reach with his legs only, running after his opponent in a more "traditional" wrestling style.


Why do some works [anime, manga, novels] have a trailing dot?

The punctuation symbol  。 is called a 句点 (kuten). Although it often functions like the English period (a.k.a. full stop), it is not identical, and is used as the punctuation mark for a question sentence far more often than the ? symbol is (the question mark is called 疑問符 [gimonfu] or はてな [hatena]. Historically, Japanese did not have the question mark, so although it exists in Japan now, it is not used in Japanese academic writing). In horizontal writing, the kuten is placed in the same position as a period would be in English: at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the preceding character.

Wikipedia explains that

  Starting in the 1980s, advertising copy writers began incorporating full stops in titles and other advertising. In the 1990s, the group Morning Musume (モーニング娘。) began using a full stop in its name, starting a fad for this usage.

Other cases include

バクマン。 (Bakuman) manga by  Ooba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi
いいひと。 (Ii Hito) manga by Takahashi Shin
野ブタ。をプロデュース (Nobuta wo Produce) live-action TV drama

As you can see, "Bakuman" is not a full sentence by itself, and "Nobuta. Wo Produce" intentionally slices a single phrase into two fragments by the placement of the kuten (Nobuta is the nickname of a main character that the protagonist decides to "produce," meaning to make-over Pygmalion-style.  Grammatically, you cannot make "Wo Produce" into its own sentence), so these are both examples of a kuten that should not be interpreted as a period for ending a sentence. The kuten can be utilized as a sentence ender, but it is often used for style without any grammatical meaning. Similarly, some series titles make use of other Japanese typographic symbols for style such as　, ＊, ☆, ♪, and ♯ (for example, うたの☆プリンスさまっ♪ [Uta no Prince-sama] and おジャ魔女どれみ♯ [Oja Majo DoReMi Sharp] and the choice of a star to be read as the letter A in ST☆RISH, an idol group in the former).


How many classes of dangerous beast are there in Akame ga Kill?

The less dangerous to the more dangerous

Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Supreme level
Ultra level

I put here an image from the french manga :


Kadath is another world loosely based on the Dream-world from a series of HP Lovecraft short stories. It's the world in which Souten no Celenaria, Sekien no Inganock, and Hikari no Valusia take place and the origin of the steam-based technologies seen within the series.

I don't know the specifics as I have not played Celenaria, but from what I understand it's a parallel world that is connected to Earth/Seikyou via a portal in the North Pole, hence only being accessible by airships, and being an apparently dangerous journey.

As for the level of technology, I don't believe they have space travel, but Kadath is where airships were invented, and they do have floating fortresses and other higher technology marvels, especially after the Infinite Mist around Inganock cleared, and the breakthoughs of the Phenomenon Equation Experiment were shared, allowing development of crack engines and other technologies based on the Equation.


Can I play a PAL copy of Code geass on my US player?

With PC's, if my memory serves me correctly when it comes to DVD Playback they are pre-set with the local DVD region. this can be changed but only 5 times which isn't ideal.

I don't play movies on my PS4 but the PS3 when it came to DVD/Bluray Playback they were pre-set to play local DVDs/Bluray of the country it was made in (ie. NTSC PS3 will play Region 1 DVDs and Region A Bluray. a PAL PS3 in Australia will play Region 4 DVDs and Region B Bluray while a PS3 in the UK (to my knowledge) will play Region 2 DVDs and Region B Bluray).

When it comes to importing anime from another country you have 2 options.

Use a local distributor - in your case since you live in the US RightStuf would be one of your best bets. you could try NISA's store but they only sell anime they have brought the licences for and Rightstuf sells this aswell.
Get a Region Free DVD/Bluray Player - these are DVD/Bluray players which can have their DVD/Bluray Regions chnaged at any time, generally these also allow you to set the DVD Region to 0 (Region Free/Worldwide) but with Bluray there is no equivalent.

I brought a Laser BLU-BD10803D 3D DVD Blu-Ray Player from eBay and with it i just input a code while in the menu and i can change the DVD and Bluray Regions and it serves me well. problem is the listing is no longer on eBay but a search on ebay will bring up others. you just need to make you you read into the item carefully as some will say multi-region but it'll only be for one format (a couple i see in that search only do DVDs and are pre-set to Bluray Region A)

Getting a new DVD/Bluray Player which is multi-region isn't cheap. this one while it would cost me US $169.00 it also costs US $127.20 for international shipping to the total cost may vary.

if you're invested in having a DVD/Bluray collection of anime then the price you pay for a multi-region DVD Player is a worthy investment since then you can buy DVDs/Bluray no matter the country. this then means the Anime you have on order will still be of use to you and you can just order Anime not based off where it's coming from but availability, customer service, bonus content, etc.

Stream - I add this option in just to complete the answer. you can stream Anime through the internet using This list of Legal sites and in most cases you don't have to worry about regions. my problem with this option is

some sites can still block you using Geo-Blocking (the act of restricting site access based on where your IP is) such as with Funimation, some Youtube Chanels. Crunchyroll doesn't do this to my knowledge
you don't actually own any of the anime and are at the mercy of the site's uptime so if the site goes down for maintenace or what ever reason your out of luck. worst case scenario is that the site shuts down for good, then where is your anime collection?
You are also at the mercy of your internet connection. weather it's working or not, if you have a data limit when you may have breached it, connection speeds etc.

the upsides to streaming is that Anime tends to be streamed before it's available on Bluray/DVD and the anime isn't taking up physical room but my personal opinion is that this don't outweigh the risks.....also there is a kind of glee when you go to show off how you've replaced your Bedroom's normal walls with those made up entire of anime DVD/Bluray, like this

the above image is NOT my collection but that of a random image i found on google which came from this photobucket account


The 7th witches power is the the power to forget everything about the witches.

Miyamura's Sister ran away from her and escaped so was not affected. She's hasn't returned to the school since.

Yamada's power reversed the power and everyone else forgot about him and the witches.

The president was not affected because the student council president is the only student who may be immune to the witches' powers.

There's some fan speculation that the presidents are people who have Yamada's power, or have had.


Is there some source as to what Taiga did during the skipped year in the last episode of Toradora?

I found a perfect answer to this question on Reddit (edited to make it a bit more presentable):

  It's for two reasons I know of:

  It completes her character arc. The entire reason she was such a mess at the beginning of the show and the whole reason she needed to learn through Ryuuji how to have basic interactions with other people without being a rude, condescending, violent bitch is because of her wrecked home life and broken upbringing. By the end of the show, she's matured a lot. When Ryuuji inadvertently damages his own home life in the last 2 episodes, Taiga watches him get up and fix it in a matter of days. It only makes sense for Taiga to decide at this point that she has to come full circle: She has to go face the issues that started all of her problems now that she's mature enough to do so. She has to go home and mend her relationship with her mother and step-siblings, and she does.
  Two, because it symbolizes equality in her relationship with Ryuuji. Throughout the show, their relationship is actually rather unhealthy, as Ami points out a number of times in the later episodes. Ryuuji is doting on Taiga and doing a lot of things for her that she should be doing for herself. Their relationship is more of a father/daughter relationship than one of equals (Ami also says this directly once). This is unhealthy for Ryuuji, too, as it feeds into his "I have to take care of everything and everyone" mindset, one he got from his own home life. Taiga leaves to fix her own shit, demonstrating her independence from Ryuuji as a capable person of her own, and Ryuuji accepts and respects her decision despite it hurting him, demonstrating that he acknowledges Taiga is an equal to him and not someone he needs to do everything for.
  The scene after the end credits, which you've hopefully watched by now, is almost between two new people. It's one of mature, equal people who truly understand each other.

It is never explicitly mentioned in the Light Novel or the anime as to what exactly she did during this time period. However, her note to Ryuuji:

As translated in this answer reads:

  Ryuuji, I... always thought that there was no way anybody would ever love me. But maybe I was just running away [from my problems?]. I blamed my lack of confidence on my parents... on my situation. But even so, you loved me the way I was. I'll be proud of myself...

  Because I want to love you, Ryuuji.

  Aisaka Taiga"

Which does imply that she went to spend time with her family to change herself and become a self-dependent person as stated on Reddit.


What is Arisa's status at the end of Guilty Crown?

Arisa can be seen outside of the collapsing GHQ building at around 20:23 of episode 22.

Screenshot courtesy of Hakase

It is not known how she got out of the collapsing GHQ building with the bullet wound she got from the UN Military Forces at 18:15, though. My guess is that she got rescued by the UN Forces, probably as an act of humanity.


In Zoku Owarimonogatari, why mirrored Sodachi's respected mathematician is Gauss?

Good question! Euler and Gauss are widely recognized as being the 2 most influential mathematicians in history. The greatest contrast between these 2 is that Euler worked on anything and everything, and published A LOT. In contrast, Gauss was more of a quality over quantity type of guy. He kept to a few topics and spent a lot of time improving his theorems and proofs before publishing anything.

Wikipedia on Euler:

  Euler worked in almost all areas of mathematics, such as geometry, infinitesimal calculus, trigonometry, algebra, and number theory, as well as continuum physics, lunar theory and other areas of physics. He is a seminal figure in the history of mathematics; if printed, his works, many of which are of fundamental interest, would occupy between 60 and 80 quarto volumes.[25] Euler's name is associated with a large number of topics.

On Gauss:

  Carl Gauss was an ardent perfectionist and a hard worker. He was never a prolific writer, refusing to publish work which he did not consider complete and above criticism. This was in keeping with his personal motto pauca sed matura ("few, but ripe").

So yeah this is probably why the "mirrored" Sodachi prefers Gauss over Euler.


What is the little doll on top of Tomoko's phone?

That guy is apparently from the Wii game Opoona where you play a character called "Opoona" that's short and has a number of facial expressions (and one of them has a ball over their head), though they don't always have such a sour look on their faces.

Some ascii art of Opoona with the Yaruo face that Krazer mentioned:


It was never mentioned exactly how many equipment she has, but according to Fairy Tail Wiki:

Erza owns over 100 different types of armor, and over 200
different types of weapons.

A part of this equipment is stored in other dimension and the other part is placed at her room, as mentioned in the section The Knight (name of Erza's requip skill):

This Magic allows the user to store weapons and armors in pocket
dimensions and summon them during battle.
[...]
there is a limit to how much the pocket dimension can store, and as a
result, she leaves some of her armors in her room in Fairy Hills.

And answering your second question, Erza is an user of requip magic, in other words, she can summon weapons and armors during the battles, but she does not create them.
Here or here you can see the list of all weapons and armors that already appeared in the manga/anime.


Why do Maeda Jun productions so frequently feature baseball?

The two reasons I can come up with is that Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan, and therefore is a common troupe in anime and Maeda Jun just uses it a lot, in order to provide a filler and some comedy in a show.

The second reason is advertisement for Yokohama DeNA BayStars, where they collaborate on the baseball episodes, where some characters are based on or named after the DeNA team members. But, I can only be sure for that for Charlotte, not the other anime you have mentioned.

  This entire anime is done in collaboration with DeNA Baystars, which is a baseball team in Yokohama, Japan. The characters are even named after the team members.


What's the song used when previewing the next episode of Fairy Tail?

The track that you're referring to is a bit unclear.

The pre-2014 preview music is different from the 2014+ preview music, and the music at the very beginning of 2014 episode 15 (the track before the theme song itself) is different from those two.

However, I notice that the track that plays immediately after the theme song in 2014 episode 15 is the same one as the one that plays during the 2014+ previews.

If this is the track that you are referring to, then the name of the song is

"Fairy Tail Main Theme 2014 (FAIRY TAIL メインテーマ 2014)"

(The Katakana as Romaji is "mein teimu" i.e. "main theme").

It is track 1 on disk 1 of the album "Fairy Tail Sound Collection" by Yasuharu Takanashi (the fifth original soundtrack for Fairy Tail if you don't count the movie soundtrack).

I believe that I have supplied enough information for you to look up the track. I am hesitant to link to a Youtube video because I have noticed that Fairy Tail OST videos get taken down due to copyright violations very quickly and frequently so I don't want to provide an invalid link.


Which Naruto episode shows a flashback of a kid stealing bread?

That boy was Zaku. The flashback is shown during his fight against Shino in episode 40.


It's most likely a matter of different character designers over the different generations of the franchise. The original design was created by Game Freak's (original game's designers) character development team and finalized by artist Ken Sugimori. The games themselves had changes in Pikachu's designs, which were in turn mirrored by the anime:

 "Green and Red", 1996

 "Blue", 1996

 "Yellow", 1998

 "Gold", 1999

 "Ruby and Sapphire", 2002

 "Diamond and Pearl", 2006

 "Platinum", 2008

 "HeartGold and SoulSilver", 2009

Ken Sugimori is also one of the character designers for the first TV series from 1997. In 2002, Pokemon Advance had Sayuri Ichiishi as the character designer. And in 2006, Pocket Monsters and 2010's Black and White has Toshiya Yamada in charge of character designs.

 from the "Advance" generation


Why did King Bradley allow the Elric brothers, Hughes, and Armstrong to continue investigating the military?

This wouldn't work, for a number of reasons.
Ordering them not to investigate
If Bradley orders them to stop their investigation without cause, it could only mean two things:

Bradley doesn't want them to discover something, implying he is somehow involved with or related to their findings at the Fifth Laboratory.
Bradley is an idiot.

Since I don't think anyone present would accept the second explanation, it clearly implicates Bradley as being involved with the homunculi somehow. I doubt this would stop Mustang since he aims to become Fuhrer, and exposing the current one could help him achieve that goal. The Elric brothers would likely just be even more motivated as well.
Killing them
If Bradley killed them, it would indeed stop their investigation in its tracks, since everyone who knew about it would be dead. There might be some gossip about the Fuhrer inexplicably killing military officers, but it would probably quiet down eventually.
However,

He cannot kill Ed or Al since they are important sacrifices for the homunculi's plot to

 turn Amestris into a philosopher's stone.

He can't kill Mustang either since he's a potential candidate for the above plot.

He could kill Hughes and anyone else present, but that would just add fuel to the fire for Mustang and the Elric brothers, increasing the chances that they will discover his real motives.
For these reasons, he decided to allow them to continue their investigation in the hopes that they will be thrown off of the trail and not suspect that he is involved.


When/Why did Nagi move out of her mansion and into the apartments in the anime?

All of the events leading to Nagi moving out to the Violet Mansion (the apartment building) happens during the Golden Week arc, which is not (yet?) animated.

In chapter 220, on the trip during the Golden Week, Aika delivers a mail from Mikado to Hayate:

   Mikado sets a new condition of inheritance, which is to defeat Hayate and either retrieve or destroy the King's Jewel that he is currently carrying. This King's Jewel was given to Hayate by Mikado in chapter 14, during his first visit to the main mansion.

In chapter 244 to 248

   Hayate and Athena meets again. Athena is possessed by King Midas, and King Midas wants the King's Jewel that Hayate carries to re-enter the Garden Palace and obtain god's power. To save Athena, they must break the "agreement" between Athena and King Midas which allows King Midas to possess her, and the only (safe) way to do it is to destroy Hayate's King's Jewel.

On the last day on the trip to Mykonos during Golden Week. In chapter 252:

   Hayate was troubled over whether to destroy the King's Jewel he has to save Athena, or to keep it to protect Nagi's inheritance. Nagi, seeing Hayate troubled face, decided to break the King's Jewel herself, henceforth loses her rights to the inheritance. She decides to abandon the money that has protected her so far and entrust herself to Hayate to protect her.

In chapter 268 to 270 (after Golden Week arc)

   They are now back from the trip to Mykonos. Having lost the rights to the Sanzen'in family's inheritance, Nagi has to move out of the mansion in a week. After a series of events, Klaus shows Hayate the apartment building called Violet Mansion, which was given to him by Nagi's mother due to a misunderstanding. Klaus decides it is time to return it to Nagi. Nagi later moves into the apartment building starting from chapter 277.


Why do first episodes of anime sometimes use content from several chapters into the manga or novel?

It's going to be tough answering this for all possibilities, and if there's any information on why Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear in particular did it then it will be hard to find and in Japanese, but as a broad answer it's because any anime adaptation will have two audiences:

The people who are familiar with the original work; and

The people who aren't.

The people who already know the original work usually already have an emotional investment in the show, and are likely to watch it up until it proves itself a bad adaptation. Of course, as you've already found, this can happen quite quickly if you have certain expectations of the show that aren't immediately met, but fans will tend to stick around for at least a little bit.
The people who don't know the original work need a reason to be interested, and the production group responsible for making it may choose to start the story in media res if they think the pacing of the original work's start is too slow, or awkward, or otherwise isn't going to draw the audience in enough. This can be particularly important for a seasonal show that might only have 13 episodes and no guarantee of a second season, because the people making the anime are going to want to (a) have the audience interested enough in the show to stick it out to the end of the season, and (b) make the season finale exciting enough to generate hype for a potential second season. That second part might mean that they're going to have to jump quite heavily through the source material to get to some kind of epic climax, and so working backwards they may not have the luxury of spending a lot of episodes covering the entire introduction of the setting and characters.
Is it the right decision? It's hard to say. Plenty of shows just play it straight with the source material, and others do their own thing. It just happens that KKKB has gone for this particular choice, for whatever reason.


What does the title "Aldnoah.Zero" mean?

I believe Aldnoah refers to the power/energy itself. "Aldnoah.Zero" or "Aldnoah Zero" is never named or stated in-series. It could just be meant as a cool title, but I like to imagine it refers to the Terrans who fight without Aldnoah or other Versian weapons/technology. ;)


Why bring a knife to a gun fight? Well, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Kunais are one of the many tools shinobi have at their disposal. While it may seem like a useless weapon at first glance, there have been instances in the series in which the use of a kunai have been proven quite useful.

Close Range
If I remember correctly, Kunais are used a lot during close range combat. While up close, it would be easier to thrust a kunai than to attempt to perform a justu.

During the Kakashi vs Zabuza fight on the bridge, Kakashi used kunais to stab and incapacitate Zabuza’s arms to prevent him from performing hand seals.

Long Range
Kunais have also been shown to used as long range weapons.

A common tactic is to attach a paper bomb and throw it into a crown of enemies. You can hinder with enemy without the cost of chakra.

While performing stealth missions, it’s better to take out enemies with a small dagger than a giant fireball.

Minato was also known for throwing kunais that had his seal to allow him to perform his teleportation justu.


Is it common for Japanese school kids to live alone IRL?

I wouldn't call it common, based on the data I've found, but the situation commonly portrayed in anime, manga and light novels are not unheard of in real life.
According to this study, those aged 15-19 that live alone comprises only about 5% of the population. It's worth nothing that the graph peaks at the age ranges of 20-24 and 80-84. So while there are indeed students living alone in real life, it's not as common as anime, manga or light novels make it to be.
There are also some discussion about this on different sites, some who've had Japanese friends who live alone. Here are some links if you'd like to read about their experiences. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3


The song played on Boku no Hero Academia in episode 55 (S3E17) about Todoroki vs Ninjas fight part 2

I found it randomly when it switched to scene from AfO fight
its:
The Power of Endeavor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=887nqfBTRaw