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Is Gaara able to control sand because of his mother or shukaku (the 1 tails)
The one thing that has always confused me about "cool headed" Gaara is how he became able to control sand.  During the ninja war, Gaara's father (Rasa) Originally thought that Gaara had completely given in to the Shikaku (1 tail) mainly because of the vast amount of sand that Gaara was controlling.

This leads me to believe that Sand manipulation is a characteristic trait of only the 1 tailed beast. However, if that were the case then Gaara should have lost the ability to manipulate Sand immediately after the Shikaku was extracted, but that wasn't the case.
Gaara's sand has also been known to protect him from all forms of danger, even when Gaara himself can't see the attack. This happens a lot in the Naruto series but during that same fight, his father stated that the sand was the proof of his mothers love.
(I'm not sure if this one part is actually true but a friend of mine told me that the sand is Gaara's mothers will and that's why he carries it around cause the sand is special) If that were also the case then Why can Gaara control normal sand too.
Its kinda confusing and I can't pinpoint how Gaara is actually able to manipulate sand.

Sand manipulation is not something limited to the Shikaku. Throughout the series we have seen several sand controllers.
One of the most notable applications of sand manipulation would be Kankurō's manipulation. Where he masks his puppet as another person, in chapter 42.
However, the Shikaku does help. Just as how the nine tails allows naruto to tap into it's chakra, the shikaku allows something of a similar sort. Which effectively allows Gaara to manipulate more sand.
So to answer your questions

Is Gaara able to control sand because of his mother or shukaku

No, as several others have also shown control of sand.

friend of mine told me that the sand is Gaara's mothers will and that's why he carries it around cause the sand is special

This is correct. Upon dieing his mother imbued the sand which Gaara carries along in the gourd with her will. This sand will protect Gaara regardless of his will, a technique also known as sand shield


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Is My Hero Academia: Illegals canon?
Recently I found about  My Hero Academia: Illegals. Is this manga supposed to be canon? Do events from it count for the main My Hero Academia storyline or something from it already appeared in the anime?

It is canon, according to MHA's English Translator.

Since a lot of people probably aren't familiar, this is a spinoff series to My Hero Academia. It takes place 4+ years before the events of MHA (they say Izuku is in elementary school), and features cameos by Eraser Head, Midnight, Tsukauchi, Ingenium, etc.
It's all canon.

Well, there is no official source about it. I mean Horikoshi (mangaka) never said it is canon however since he gave ok to the creation of this spin-off and if you consider cameos in it from original BnHA, you can say it's canon.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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Why was EVA Unit 01 Crucified?
One part, for me anyway, that stuck out was the crucifixion by the Mass-Production EVA Units of EVA Unit 01 in The End of Evangelion. I just can't see the reason why EVA Unit 01 was crucified when Third Impact occurred. What was hoped to be gained by crucifying a mech of all things?
What was the reason for EVA Unit 01's crucifixion? Was it to start Third Impact?
I have not read the manga behind Evangelion, so I know I am missing something.

It seems to be a necessary part of the ritual they are doing but the exact details of it and how it works are unknown.

SCENE: SEELE monoliths
  SEELE 09?:
  EVA-01 has been marked with the stigmata (sacred insignia).
  All (chanting):
  To restore the Tree of Life!
  SEELE 01:
  Our servants, the Eva series...
  (Keel appears) Their existence has all been for this one moment.
  (Eva series move to the positions of the Sephroticum and shine in circles around the cross of EVA-01)
Script

A reason for the stigmata could be that GNR/Lilith also has them later on in the movie through which she absorbs the souls. Since EVA-01 is made from the body of Lilith these could possibly be caused by inflicting them on the EVA.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Why All-For-One goes for a full frontal assault against All Might?
It was very strange to see All-For-One (who make possess large number of different quirks) choosing a brute-force way (all kind of power-ups to increase strength).
It feel like there should be amazing (almost unbeatable) combinations of quirks. As an example - Invisibility + Warp + Compression + Multiple hands.
You come to some place (invisible), open multiple warp gates, use your multiple hands to touch and compress all your enemies at the same time.
Gave over.

I wouldn't assume All for One necessarily intended to win. After all, he seemed aware that All Might have away One for All, so what's the point of fighting him at all?

He won against Nana Shimura, who also had One for All, and even though he couldnt beat All Might in their former battle, now All Might was injured, with One for All leftovers and he (One for All) obtained several new force increasing quirks. So I think he intended to win and personally I believe other kinds of attacks dont combine their power like quirks who increase strenght. He also was close to win, like Nomu and Tomura who he created were also close to win. In a way he won because he retired All Might, though All Might had a bigger win since he retired and imprisioned him and saved Bakugo

Remember that in that fight, AFO (All For One) wanted to take away everything All Might had been trying to protect, one by one, starting with his pride. AFO wanted to destroy All Might's image as the Peace symbol, bring fear into the hearts of the people and lose their hopes in him to create a breach in the society.


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Is Kabuto better than sakura in terms of Medical Ninjutsu?
I was thinking about who the best Medical Ninja in Naruto's generation would be, Sakura seems like the runner up mainly because she was the student of Lady tsunade but then Kabuto also seems just as good. He was praised by both Danzou and Orochimaru as one of the very best in Ninjutsu and he also has way more experience than Sakura.
I'm really interested in which of the 2 is actually better at medical Ninjutsu. Can anyone help?

It's purely opinion based.

It's opinion based, there is not definitive answer to that question.
Sakura surely is the best medical ninja in Konaha. It is even stated that she surpassed Shizune making her only second to Tsunade.

Interesting post for further readings, from where I got the images
As for kabuto, he is one of the greatest medical ninja that we’ve seen in Naruto. He was easily on par with Kakashi in Part 1, and after absorbing a DNA from various people in part 2, he became a lot stronger. He possessed amazing healing abilities, for which Orochimaru chose him as his student. Furthermore, Kabuto possessed the healing abilities of the great white snake, and also Karin, along with his own medical skills.
But if I had to say who's the best between both of them I would have to say Kabuto, he seems really talented and even Tsunade was surprised at how skilled he was and even said that Kabuto's "skill" (sharpness and jutsu sense) surpass those of hers at her prime. Sakura has shown alot of progress, but I can't really call her the best since we can't tell how much stronger she will get. As of right now my choice is Kabuto.


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Where do the Angels get their names from?
The names of the Angels are something to behold, truly. In some cases, the names for these Angels are an understatement for the power that these beasts carry with them to the battlefield. But another thing doesn't make sense to me, where do the names for the Angels come from? (Like Ramiel and Zeruel)
Does it work similarly to Pacific Rim, in the way that Tendo Choi names the Kaiju coming out of the breach? (i.e. "First Seen, First Named"?), or is it more of a religious prophecy tied to the Angel's order of appearance?

Seele has knowledge of when the Angels will appear based on the Dead Sea Scrolls. (That they have knowledge of the order of Angels from the Scrolls is indicated in an ep. 23 conversation. In an earlier episode, there is also an indication that Seele is expecting an Angel to appear at a certain time; I do not have access to the anime right now and cannot find the exact reference.) With this in mind, it is not surprising that the Dead Sea Scrolls also probably contain the names of the Angels.
It is unlikely that Seele was only provided with knowledge of the order of Angels and not their names. Note that Kaworu speaks of the descendants of Lilith in one of his conversations with Shinji. Lilith is the name of one of the first Angels, and as  Kaworu is an Angel, his usage of the name indicates that it probably is not just a name that Seele assigned, but rather, a real one.


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Are other pirates than the strawhats able to find raftel?
For now we know you need the four road porneglpyh to get the location of raftel.

Big Mom has one of them.
Another one is held by Kaido.
The third one is on the moving island Zou.
The location of the last is unknown.

So we could say Big Mom and Kaido have 1/4 information about the location of raftel. And we assume the don't share this information among each other. So they are pretty far from finding this island.
Ruffys crew is the only known to know 2 road porneglpyh (made a copy of Big Mom's and the one on Zou), so he has 2/4 of the information.
So Ruffys crew is at moment in the best position to find raftel. But: even if an other crew had all the road porneglpyh, they can't read them. How are they supposed to get the information that is written on these stones? Is Nico Robin the only way to get the location of raftel?

According to the plot, Nico Robin is hinted to be the only person alive that can read Poneglyphs. This is why the World Government declares her to be a high priority target. Source from Wikia
That being said, we've seen two other potential ways for Poneglyphs to be deciphered:

The Voice Of All Things is what Roger used to understand the Poneglyphs and reach Raftel. It is known to be an extremely rare ability, but we have already seen a couple of other characters exhibit it, including Luffy. However, the purpose of this ability isn't to read poneglyphs and even those with it may not be able to use it in the same way.
The Three Eyed Tribe is supposedly able to decipher Phoneglyphs with their third eye. This is why Big Mom had a daughter, Pudding, with a member of the tribe. However, it isn't clear if she will be able to activate this power, since she is a mixed type. We don't really have information on other members of this race, but considering what the World Government did to Ohara, it is possible the three eyes may no longer be around.

So the answer to your question is yes, based on the information we have so far, Robin is the only one who can decipher them. Hence it might be true that only the Strawhats can figure it out in the end. However, other pirates can always use underhanded means to get this information from her.


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Are all Summoning animals Immortal in a sense
The great toad sage was very young during the time of the sage of six paths (think about that for a second) and yet he is still alive, If I were to calculate his age, it would probably be a couple hundred eons.
The same thing goes for the great snake sage, who is also known to be quite old and is still a thing in the Boruto-verse.
Does this mean all Summoning animals can live for eternity if they don't die in battle? Or is it just a feat that can be achieved with sage mode.

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

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

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


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Is Himawari's Gentle Fist more powerful than the average Hyuga's
When Himawari was angry at Boruto, her gentle fist was shown to be powerful enough to knock both Naruto and Kurama out for several hours. Even Hinata was pretty surprised at this fact.

Does this imply that Himawari's ability to use gentle fist is more potently dangerous than the average Hyuga?

Tenketsu is more about accuracy than power. I think Himawari hit at the right chakra point, probably Naruto's weakest chakra point

True, that could be a possibility but she was actually aiming for Boruto, not Naruto.

It might be a fluke hha

I don't think gentle fists are supposed to be strong.She just hit a vital chakra point,that's all.

No; there's two things going on here, and one is a well-known thing if you've ever been a parent or near a young child.
The first thing that's going on is that Himawari was able to subconsiously activate the Byakugan out of anger.  This is not contested at all; she's seen with tears in her eyes as it activates due to her favorite stuffed animal being torn up.
The second thing is that, well...little children do not know how to control what strength they have, which can result in both surprise and significant pain at the point of attack.  This could be innocuous like a quick slap to the face; this could be worse like being kicked in the bread basket or lower.
The main thing at play here is that the fact that Himawari is so young and that Tenketsu is such a potent taijutsu that it caught both Naruto and Kurama so thoroughly off-guard it knocked them out.


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Can anyone give me a short, concise lore summary on One Piece?
I got into anime from watching Death Note; then moved on to My Hero Academia, during the hiatus between season 3 & 4, I'm looking for an anime to watch. I heard about One Piece from a friend; all I know about it so far are devil fruits(sort of?), but can anyone give me a short simple explanation on the show and its lore. Thanks!

Why close vote? The op just wants a short synopsis. There's nothing broad about that

Wikipedia provides some details for the synopsis, have you read it? Are there anything unclear from there?

One piece is a very long and interestingly annoying anime. I label it "interestingly annoying" because of the speed of the entire series. Unlike most other animes, One piece is very slow paced and a fight could usually take way too many episodes. If you aren't into really long and awesome animes then One piece Isn't for you. I say this because the anime is currently on 855 episodes but yet it hasn't reached half of its enitre story.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I'll briefly summarise the show from my perspective. The One piece anime revolves around Luffy, a boy who sets out to become the King of Pirates.
However, before he can reach his goal, he would have to assemble a very good pirate crew and then navigate his way to Raftel.
In order to get to Raftel, Luffy and his crew would need to find the map to Raftel, the problem thou is that the map can only be gotten from combinning Poneglyphs (ancient texts left by an ancient civilization).
Also, the World Government (a political organization made of majority of the world) rules pirates as threats to the world and so Pirates are kinda illegal. The World Government uses the Marines  by placing bounties on Pirates that prove themselves to be notorious. This makes it very difficult for Pirates to sail around freely. And so luffy must constantly fend off the Marines that try to capture him and his friends, while facing the difficulties of pirate rivalry.
And finally, the best part. Devil fruits. These mystical fruits give whomever eats them special abilities which vary from (1) being able to control elemental forces of nature like water, wind lightning and all those good stuff (Logia types) to (2) becoming an ancient or mythical creature (Mythical zoan type) to (3) having abilities other than the first and second. AKA paramecia type. However, whomever eats such fruits looses the ability to swim.
I hope this helps but then pls bear in mind, the One piece anime is way too broad to completely compress into a definitive short summary.

The Anime Scientist gives a good overview of the series' major points, but for a bit more depth, I though I'd break it down into the major 'arcs' (caution: significant spoilers ahead for anyone who isn't up to date). This also won't be short, because, well... One Piece is complicated :P
Disclaimer: For the hardcore fans - yes, I know there's heaps of stuff missing. I've tried to break the series down into the least amount of information so that it still flows and makes some kind of sense. For the people who are new to One Piece - there's also no way to convey the gravity of some of the really emotional moments, so if the first few spoiler blocks tickle your fancy, stop reading and go and enjoy the series. Then come back and tell me how much I forgot to include here :P
Pre-Grand Line

We meet Luffy, the main character of the series, who has set out to become the Pirate King, inspired by another pirate named Shanks (commonly referred to as 'Red-Haired' Shanks). He first meets Zoro, who has the goal of becoming the world's strongest swordsman (a title currently held by a man name Dracule Mihawk) and Zoro joins Luffy after he is rescued from the Marines (effectively the "police" of the One Piece world). We then meet Usopp (a notorious liar with exceptional sniping abilities), Sanji (who wants to find a mythical ocean called 'All Blue' where all the fish in the world can be found - he's also an exceptional chef) and Nami (who wants to draw a complete map of the world - her nautical navigation skills are second-to-none). With a crew of five, they head towards 'Reverse Mountain', which acts as the entry point to the Grand Line (a sea which is basically the equator of the world, but bordered by an area known as the 'Calm Belt' which is essentially impassable to sailing ships.

Twin Capes/Whiskey Peak

 After coming down reverse mountain, we meet Crocus, who is currently looking after a whale named Laboon, whose crew left him behind and then died. We also meet Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, members of an organisation called 'Baroque Works', who are trying to kill Laboon for food. After chasing them off, we arrive at Whiskey Peak, which is a front for Baroque Works to trap naive pirates, although Zoro beats up most of them. We discover that Miss Wednesday is actually a princess from the country of Arabasta named Vivi and has infiltrated Baroque Works to try and figure out what they play to do in her country. She joins the crew who promise to escort her back to Arabasta

Little Garden

 We next head to a prehistoric island called Little Garden where two giants (Dorry and Brogy) have been fighting for the last 100 years over a fishing contest. We also meet Mr. 3. and Miss Goldenweek, plus Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine (all Baroque Works agents) who try to sabotage the giants' fight but are thwarted by the crew. Nami also falls quite unwell to an insect bite and the crew decides she needs urgent medical treatment

Drum Island

 This winter island is ruled by a cruel dictator named Wapol who has banished all but 20 of the country's doctors (who only serve him and a select few citizens who must beg the king). It is also home to Chopper, who ultimately saves Nami from her infection and joins the crew as the doctor. We also meet Dr. Kureha (Chopper's mentor) and Dalton (who becomes the new king of Drum)

Arabasta

 We arrive in Vivi's country to discover that there is a serious drought and hasn't been any rain in several years. Vivi reveals that the head of Baroque Works is a pirate named Crocodile who is likely the mastermind behind an attempt to take the throne. Crocodile is also a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea (called the 'Shichibukai') - seven pirates who have permission from the World Government to basically deter other pirates. Luffy confronts Crocodile, but is initially defeated when he is stabbed through the stomach, although we discover that Crocodile is vulnerable when he gets wet (he has the Sand Devil Fruit, which means most physical attacks don't affect him). We also meet Miss All Sunday, the right hand (wo)man of Crocodile. Luffy recovers and eventually beats Crocodile, the rest of the crew thwart a bomb plot by Baroque Works and we learn about the Poneglyphs, indestructible engraved stones that contain the history of the world from an era known as the 'Void Century', which it is forbidden to study. As they are departing, Miss All Sunday (whose name is really Nico Robin) appears on their ship and joins the crew (Luffy saved her during the final showdown with Crocodile and now she was nowhere to go)

Sky Island

 Long story short: There's an island 10km up in the sky. The crew go there, discover a ton of gold, beat Enel (a self-proclaimed god who has the Ligtning Devil Fruit) discover another Poneglyph and learn that Gol D. Roger (the previous Pirate King) had travelled there before and was following the Poneglyphs (although he shouldn't have been able to read them)

Water 7

 Oh boy. I'm going to try and bullet point this one, but I'll still probably miss half the major events
 - The crew's ship (The Going Merry) is in bad condition and needs repairs
 - Some workers from Galley La Company assess the ship and determine it can't be fixed (the keel is damaged)
 - Franky (a cyborg who terrorises Water 7) steals the money they got from selling the gold they found on Sky Island
 - Luffy tells the crew the ship needs to be replaced
 - Usopp accuses Luffy of not caring about the ship and fights him, loses the fight and leaves the crew
 - Robin disappears and is then framed for the assassination attempt of Iceburg, the mayor of Water 7
 - We learn that some of the Galley La workers really belong to a secret division of the World Government known as 'CP-9' who are spies (think CIA/MI-6 etc.) and are trying to locate the plans to a super-weapon known as 'Pluton'
 - Robin (and Franky) are taken by CP-9 to Enies Lobby (a government island which is supposed to act like a courthouse)
 - The crew chase after Robin and Luffy beats up most of Enies Lobby
 - Having been previously beaten by Rob Lucci (strongest member of CP-9), Luffy realises his attacks need to get stronger, so we see 'Gear Second' for the first time. Essentially, he uses his Rubber Devil Fruit to make his heart pump faster and his attacks get way faster and a lot stronger
 - Robin admits that she willingly surrendered to CP-9 to protect the crew, because they wouldn't survive with the World Government as their enemy
 - Luffy tells Usopp (who has re-joined the party disguised as 'Soge King') to shoot and burn the World Government flag (an act of war) and then tells Robin he doesn't care who her enemies are
 - We see Luffy's 'Gear Third' where he inflates parts of his body to the size of a giant
 - The crew beat all of CP-9 and rescue Robin
 - The Going Merry arrives (we don't actually know how) and rescues the crew
 - The crew give Merry a Viking funeral and all of the fans collectively cry over the loss of a ship (yes, the series is that amazing)
 - Franky gifts the crew a new ship called 'Thousand Sunny' which he built after spending the stolen money on supplies
 - Franky joins the crew as the shipwright
 - Usopp apologises to Luffy and rejoins the crew

Thriller Bark

 We come across a ghost ship which has a living skeleton on it named Brook. Luffy immediately invites him to join the crew, but we learn that he doesn't have a shadow (it was stolen) and so he can't be in sunlight. It turns out that his shadow was stolen by a Shichibukai named Moria who rules over a massive pirate ship called Thriller Bark. We arrive at Thriller Bark, beat up Moria and recover everyone's shadows. It also turns out that Brook is part of the crew that Laboon (the whale at Twin Peaks that Crocus is looking after) is waiting for and Luffy tells him that he's still alive and waiting for them. After defeating Moria, another Shichibukai named Kuma shows up and threatens to kill Luffy. Using his Devil Fruit, he extracts all of the 'damage' that Luffy suffered during his fight with Moria and Zoro agrees to take it, in return for Luffy being spared, which very nearly kills Zoro.

Sabaody Archipelago

 Get the tissue box ready :(
 We first learn about the Celestial Dragons, who are the 'Nobles' of the world (they have human slaves, wear helmets so they don't have to breathe the same air as the 'lower classes' and can basically get away with any crime they like  - you get the idea). Harming one is major taboo which will lead to a Marine Admiral coming after you, so of course, Luffy punches one in the face. They manage to escape and meet Silvers Rayleigh, the right hand man to the previous Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. He reveals a ton of stuff about what happened when he was with Roger (including that they know what happened during the Void Century and what One Piece is) although Robin declines to hear about the Void Century (as Rayleigh puts it - "it's too soon and there's not much you could do about it as you are now") and Luffy yells at Usopp for asking what One Piece is (because that would "be a boring adventure"). One of the Marine Admirals (Kizaru) appears along with Kuma to apprehend Luffy for punching the Celestial Dragon and it quickly becomes clear that the crew can't win this fight. In the infamous anime episode 405 (I can't remember which manga chapter), Kuma uses his Devil Fruit ability to blast all 9 crew members off the island, separating them all over the world. Many tissues are required and the first time you experience this, it feels like your world has just been torn apart.

Separation

 With the crew separated, the series mostly follows Luffy for the next few arcs, but we do get occasional updates on the crew. This is out of order with how we learn about them, but it's easier to just put it all in one place
 - Zoro: Is on the island where Mihawk lives, who trains him
 - Nami: Is on a Sky Island called Weatheria, where she learns from the scientists living there
 - Usopp: Is on an island which is really a canivorous plant, he gets stronger by training with the only other inhabitant, Heracles'n
 - Sanji: Is on an island inhabited by only cross-dressers (the Japanese term is 'Okama')
 - Chopper: Is on an island with a primitive tribe and giant birds who are at war with each other, but the primitive tribe has some advanced medical techniques using local plants which Chopper learns about
 - Robin: Arrives on a bridge being built by slaves, but is rescued by the Revolutionary Army (we don't actually know a lot about what she does after that)
 - Franky: Is on an island called Bulgemore, which is where Vegapunk grew up and has his laboratory. He "accidentally"  blows it up by hitting the self-destruct button, but rebuilds himself and adds extra weapons to his body
 - Brook: Arrives on an island which is being attacked by another tribe, but is kidnapped and becomes a musical superstar known as 'Soul King'

Amazon Lily

 Luffy arrives on an island inhabited only by woman (men are forbidden there) which is ruled by another of the Shichibukai, Boa Hancock. After failing to be seduced by her (Luffy is kind of oblivious to women), she ends up falling in love with him and revealing that she and her sisters were previously slaves to the Celestial Dragons. Luffy then learns that his brother, Ace, has been captured and is sentenced to die soon. Hancock, who has previously been ignoring the Navy's summons to attend the execution, agrees to smuggle Luffy into Impel Down, the underwater prison where Ace is currently being held, before heading to Marineford, where the execution will take place.

Impel Down

 Hancock manages to get Luffy into the prison undetected and he makes his way down from the first floor (the lower levels house the more dangerous criminals). Along the way we pick up a few familiar faces, including Buggy (who we met at the start of the series), Mr. 2 and Mr. 3 (from Baroque Works), who help Luffy progress further. On level four, Luffy comes face-to-face with the warden of the prison, Magellan, who has the Poison Devil Fruit. Luffy loses the fight with him, is fatally poisoned and thrown in level five to die. Mr. 2 saves him and is then rescued by Ivankov, a member of the Revolutionary Army with the Hormone Devil Fruit who also happens to be the ruler of the island Sanji is currently on. He/she (Ivankov is an Okama, so the pronoun constantly changes) uses the hormones on Luffy, who agonises for several hours, before eventually (and miraculously) recovering from Magellan's poison. The group (including a number of Okama who were hiding with Ivankov) make their way down to level six, only to discover that Ace has already been handed over to the escort ship. Level six also houses Jinbe (a former Shichibukai) and Crocodile (who Luffy beat in Arabasta) who join the party and start heading back to the surface. On the way back up, we run into Blackbeard, the pirate who beat Ace and handed him over the Navy, who is there to try and break out dangerous criminals so that he can add them to his crew

Marineford (aka "The Whitebeard War")

 Luffy makes it to Marineford, where an all-out war breaks out. On our side are the Whitebeard Pirates (Ace is the Second Divison Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates), Whitebeard's allies and the escapees from Impel Down. On the Navy's side are about 100,000 marines; including the Fleet Commander (Sengoku), all 3 Admirals (Aokiji, Kizaru and Akainu), most of the Vice-Admirals plus 5/7 Shichibukai (Jinbe has defected and Crocodile's replacement, Blackbeard, is currently in Impel Down). We learn that Ace is actually the son of Gol D. Roger and he asked Garp (Luffy's grandfather and a Navy Vice-Admiral) to look after him. Luffy makes it to the execution platform and rescues Ace, but while they are retreating, Ace is killed by Akainu. Just after you've finished bawling your eyes out, Blackbeard arrives with the people he broke out of Impel Down, kills Whitebeard and then manages to steal his Devil Fruit (Blackbeard already has the Darkness Devil Fruit, so this theoretically shouldn't have been possible). Once you return from buying another box of tissues, Luffy and Jinbe (who are both critically injured) are rescued by Trafalgar Law (another pirate) who treats the both of them.

Sabo

 We flashback to 10 years earlier, when Luffy and Ace were growing up together. We learn that they both had another brother named Sabo who was the son of nobles (almost Celestial Dragons, but not quite, kind of one class level lower), but rejected that life as he found it morally questionable. Sabo appears to be killed by a Celestial Dragon and Luffy and Ace mourn him and vow to live their life without regrets in honour of him.

3D2Y

 After recovering from losing his brother, Luffy is convinced by Rayleigh to not immediately reunite with the crew, but instead spend some time training with him, so that the events aren't repeated. Luffy agrees to this and returns to Marineford, where he is photographed with 3D2Y on his right arm, a message for his scattered crew that instead of the original 3 days (when they were supposed to meet up on Sabaody), it should be two years instead. We end this stage with Luffy beginning his training with Rayleigh and the general consensus among the fan base is that this marks the end of the first half of the series. Yes, you heard that right, we're halfway at this point.

Sabaody Archipelago (Take 2)

 Two years later, the crew reunite, beat the crap out of people who were pretending to be them and then head off towards Fishman Island. We get a good indication of how much stronger everyone has become during the two-year training period and it basically demonstrates that they are now ready for the next stage of their journey

Fishman Island

 The story and fights are sadly a bit of a joke, but I suppose it demonstrates how ridiculously strong the crew have become. Essentially there's a rogue fishman pirate crew who want to take the throne and they get thwarted by Luffy's crew. Luffy lost a lot of blood during his fight though and noone in the crew has the same blood type as him. The fishmen, while grateful for being saved, refuse to provide their blood (it's sort of taboo, there's a lot of racial tension between humans and fishmen). Jinbe appears (he's a fishman) and offers his blood to save Luffy. As Luffy regains consciousness, he invites Jinbe to join the crew, who accepts, but says he has some things to take care of first. We then learn that the Princess (Shirahoshi) is considered to be one of the three "super-weapons" because she can communicate with Sea Kings (basically really big sea creatures). It turns out that Fishman Island was under the protection of Big Mom (one of the four pirate emperors - or 'Yonkou'), but Luffy ate all the chocolate that was tribute to her, so he challenges her to a fight (via Snail Phone) and Fishman Island is now under Luffy's protection

Punk Hazard

 After we leave Fishman Island, we enter the next stretch of the Grand Line, referred to as the 'New World', which is ruled by the Yonkou. After picking up a distress message, the crew head towards Punk Hazard to try and locate the people asking for help. The island is half snow and half on fire as it turns out that Aokiji and Akainu (Navy Admirals) fought after the Whitebeard War for who would be the new Fleet Admiral (Aokiji has the Ice Devil Fruit, Akainu has the Magma Devil Fruit) - Aokiji sadly lost. Turns out that Punk Hazard is being used by a mad scientist named Caeser Clown, who is trying to find a way to create giants (he's experimenting on kids). Trafalgar Law re-appears and forms an alliance with Luffy, and together they capture Caesar (he is capable of producing artificial Devil Fruits) as part of the plot to take down Doflamingo (one of the Shichibukai)

Dressrosa

 Having captured Caeser, we head to Dressrosa, which is the island that Doflamingo rules over. There are some really tough fights, but we get to see that everyone has gotten significantly stronger and Luffy manages to beat up Doflamingo. While we're there, we also learn that Sabo is still alive and is now a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army. He also wins a gladiator-style contest for which the prize is Ace's Fire Devil Fruit (they reappear when their user dies, we don't know much about it though) and subsequently eats it, gaining its abilities.

Zou

 This island is actually on the top of an elephant, which has been forced to walk the oceans as punishment for something we haven't been told of yet. It was recently ravaged by a member of Kaidou's crew (Kaidou is one of the Yonkou), but Luffy + co earn the trust of the inhabitants (the Mink Tribe) who share some significant information with them. The Log Pose (basically the compass they have been following), does not lead to Raftel, which is where One Piece supposedly is. It does lead to 'something' (we don't know what), but in order to find Raftel, you have to find four special Road Poneglyphs which detail specific locations and then find the center of those four spots. Sanji is kidnapped by Big Mom's crew, as his family has arranged for him to be married to one of Big Mom's daughters. The crew then decide to split up, with half going to Whole Cake Island (Big Mom's territory) and the other half going to Wano (a sumarai island controlled by Kaidou's crew)

Whole Cake Island

 Luffy, Nami, Chopper and Brook head to Whole Cake Island to rescue Sanji and steal a copy of the Road Poneglyph that Big Mom has. We learn that Sanji's family are all genetically enhanced to be strong fighters, but Sanji was rejected by his father because he only wanted to be a chef. The wedding is disrupted, Big Mom goes into a massive rampage after the cake is destroyed, Luffy wins one of the most brutal fights of the series so far and Sanji is rescued. However, for the first time, we don't end the arc with the 'villian' being defeated, as Big Mom is (basically) unscathed after the crew escape with help from Jinbe, who has cut his ties with Big Mom in order to join Luffy's crew.

Wano

 This is where the series is currently up to and I've only read about 10 or so chapters of it, so I can't really summarise what happens. It's shaping up to be quite interesting, but as thing always are with One Piece, there's no telling what will happen. If you've read this far without getting bored, I highly recommend reading and watching the actual series!


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Reincarnated as a Slime -- Are the alphabets in the end credits real?
The end credits for the anime series That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime have a unique trait which I am trying to understand.  Here is a capture from the end credits of episode 2:

(The end credits of episode 1 are actually the opening credits which had not been played up until the end. The opening credits are entirely in Japanese except with an overlay of the series' English title.)
The image captures a transition between the first alphabet shown and the second.  Each of the first two alphabets lasts for less than a second, when finally Japanese shows up for a few seconds.  Originally I thought the first language was Thai or Georgian or some similar-appearing language.  Now that I have done the screen capture, I'm pretty sure that neither of the first two are real writing systems.  Are they?
If not, is there some in game reason to show the credits in three alphabets? I get that theirs is a multicultural world, but so is ours, and we typically stick to one language in credits.
(I guess I should qualify that.  A number of different anime series will show multiple languages during the credits, but not transition between them.  If a Korean staff is being credited, that portion will be in Korean, If Filipino staff then that portion will be in English or Spanish, etc.)

Looks like an original alphabet, possibly based on runic alphabet. However, it is a complete alphabet with known transliteration.
解読マリィ@happymaryheart tweeted his work on the complete transliteration of the alphabet.

Based on transliteration samples he tweeted, it's basically either:

English words, or
Romanization of Japanese words

As for why the credits are shown in three alphabets... it's actually only shown in two alphabets: this runic alphabet and Japanese/English. The runes are shown for the first time, then they shrink before being replaced by the original words.
As for why it's done this way... I haven't done any researches for this, but I'd speculate on artistic impression, or perhaps it's actually the only alphabet in their universe...


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What happened to Kushina's soul
During the 9 tails attack on the hidden leaf, Minato along with Kushina performed the death reaper sealing jutsu and sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto. Its been known that those who perform this forbidden sealing jutsu sacrifice both their lives and souls to the death reaper. However, Minato said he would also seal part of Kushina inside Naruto (which he actually did).
Does this mean that half of Kushina's soul was sealed in Naruto while the death reaper took the remaining half? Or were both hers and Minato's taken by the death reaper.

Kushina didn't perform the jutsu. The only thing she did was to subdue the Kyūbi with her chains and when he broke free shield Naruto with her body.

Nothing special happened to Kushina's soul, she died from having Kurama extracted from her body and the wounds inflicted during the battle with Kurama.
Minato used the Death Reaper on himself to seal away the half of Kurama that he had stored in himself. The other half got sealed in Naruto and Minato infused the Eight Trigrams Sealing jutsu with his own and Kushina's chakra.
Here you can find the scene where Kushina tells Naruto that Minato had infused her chakra into the seal: https://youtu.be/D3tJoGr6pp4?t=68

It's not very clear.
There are many instances in Naruto when the souls come to the rescue-Dan coming to save Tsunade vs Madara,Obito coming back to help Kakashi and so on.
The only possible explanation of these souls flying about is that they probably get a chance to go back to the real life once and help their friend out,or so as it seems.
Now,Kushina only helped Naruto to subdue Kurama(as the comment says).Kushina was not sealed inside of Naruto.If she had been,Kurama would have already sensed her presence.She came back from the afterlife to help Naruto.
If this doesn't even help,then it's probably a translation issue which mixes up the real meanings.But Kushina was DEFINITELY NOT sealed inside Naruto.

I thouhgt part of her chakra was put into the seal that was used to seal Kurama in Naruto. That's why she appeared when he was trying to "tame" him. Just like how Minato sealed his own chakra in there to re-seal Kurama after the seal would have been broken (fight against Pain)

I don't remember any instances of Kushina being sealed in Naruto.Minato was only there because he had the other part of Kurama,so maybe somehow(unclear)he could have helped Naruto.

Minato sealed part of both Kushina's and his own chakra into Naruto when they sealed Kurama in him. http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kushina_Uzumaki Check the last paragraph about her background: "Minato then sealed the rest of their remaining chakra into Naruto." Also, Minato has the other half of Kurama sealed in him but that can't be the reason why Minato appeared to help Naruto since he sealed himself with the Death Reaper Seal after that and there is no escape from 'that dimension' so to say.

What dimension?It's afterlife bruh.Anything can happen.The Wikia is not always correct too.Its purely based on self interpretation.Its not official,it has been written by someone else

I just called it a dimension because I didn't know what else to call it. :-p Also, it's not just afterlife because those that have been sealed with the death reaper seal cannot be summoned with Edo Tensei. Otherwise Kabuto would have definitely used the hokages in the 4th Great Ninja War. I will check for references regarding the sealing of Minato's and Kushina's chakra in Naruto's seal later since I don't have a lot of time atm.

Found it, Kushina literally says it herself: https://youtu.be/D3tJoGr6pp4?t=68


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Can normal titans dig the ground?
I know normal titans are not intelligent but in one of the episodes of season 1 we see that they can learn to climb the trees in order to reach the scouts.
So why none of them tried digging a tunnel in the ground to pass the walls?

1. Can normal titans dig the ground?
Yes, they can. In Season 2 Episode 10 we see

 Ymir digging herself out of the ground as a pure titan.

2. So why none of them tried digging a tunnel in the ground to pass the walls?
In Season 1 Episode 25 at around 15 minutes the intermission cards state the following (synopsis):

 Once a miner tried to dig under wall Sheena. At some point, however,
 the ground was so hard that his shovel broke. He wondered if the
 people were surrounded by walls not only above the ground, but below
 the ground, too.

 The next day the miner disappeared and was no longer findable. Unsure
 what to do, his friend eventually went to the Garrison, and told them
 the whole Story. The Military Police and the Garrison
 organized a large-scale search party. But they never found a trace of
 the miner, nor even the pit he'd dug. And one day, his friend also
 vanished, never to be seen again.

From this we can conclude that titans cannot get past the walls through digging.


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What is real identity of Kagari?
Who is Kagari Shiina? What is her real identity? She looked so much similar to Kurisu Makise. Is she her daughter? Steins;Gate 0 ended without revealing her true identity, so I am curious.

Kagari is Mayuri's adopted daughter from 2036, in the Beta World Line (Divergence 1.129848%). She time traveled with Suzuha into the past, but got separated in 1998.
She is a war orphan and her true name is not known due to her family registry being destroyed.

Thanks for your response. I also didn't knew that those numbers were divergence percentage, so thanks for mentioning that too. Although, how do you know that the family registry was destroyed? Was it in any episode or manga chapter?

This is from the visual novel.

If this is based off the visual novel, you're missing some pretty vital details about how the visual novel handled Kagari's identity, like how she was literally the vessel for Kurisu's memories in one timeline. I think her "identity" is more broad than simply her origins. And of course, it's important to note that the plot of the anime and visual novel diverge significantly in Steins;Gate 0 (as compared to Steins;Gate, where the anime and VN basically follow the same plot, with only a few minor differences).


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Who writes the Dragon Ball Heroes anime?
So, it's known Akira Toriyama doesnt write the Dragon Ball Heroes directly or indirectly (such as he did with Dragon Ball Super), so, if it isnt Akira Toriyama who makes it, who is or are the persons behind it? is it someone who worked in Dragon Ball movies or animes (Dragon Ball GT or whatever) before, or is/are they completely new writers?

According to Wikipedia, the writer for episodes 1-5 of Dragon Ball Heroes is Atsuhiro Tomioka. The writer for episode 6 is apparently still TBA. However, I can't find what source they're citing for this information.
He has previously been involved with Dragon Ball Super, having written the script for 22 episodes, according to Anime News Network.

Only info I could dig up is that Tadayoshi Yamamuro is listed as "Director" on MyAnimeList. It seems he's had a large contributing part to Heroes as he's also listed as "Character Design", "Storyboard", and "Chief Animation Director" for the series as well.

the storyline is written by the creators of the arcade game but oda has input it's mainly written by the fans though cause its main purpose is fan service if an idea is voiced loud enough it will likely go into the anime

Could you provide more concrete evidence like e.g. sources/references for this answer? Especially the fan service part, like where/how did they collect the idea from the fans? As of now, this looks more like a speculation/theory, not a fact.


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Why is the Uzumaki clan symbol more like a trademark in Konoha
Almost every Ninja's cloth (mostly Jounin and chunin gear) have the Uzumaki clan (red-swirly circlish spiral) on their backs and I've been wondering why for a while now.
The clan sybol can be seen on the shoulders and the back of the Jonin Flak jacket.

Since the Uchiha and Senjuu clan founded the hidden leaf, one would expect that at least one of those clans symbol would be the trademark of the hidden leaf or maybe even a combination of the 2 clans symbol.
But rather they chose a clan that is affiliated with the land of eddies to be their symbol? What was the reasoning behind this.

The Uzumaki, being descendants of Asura Ōtsutsuki, also shared distant blood relation with the Senju clan. Through the years, the Uzumaki and Senju kept close ties, with members at times marrying between clans, as with Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki. Following the founding of Konohagakure at the end of the Warring States Period, the Senju chose to symbolise their clans' friendship by adding the Uzumaki's emblem to Konoha's flak jackets. Konoha and the Uzumaki's own Uzushiogakure remained close allies over the following decades, with the Uzumaki providing fūinjutsu (among other things) to Konoha whenever there was a need.

Wiki


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Can Cumber transform into a super saiyan in the anime?
Someone pointed in Youtube that Cumber might be unable to transform into a super saiyan. Is this so? We see he transform in Oozaru, an orange Oozaru many including myself have assumed to be the golden oozaru (saiyan + oozaru transformation) but he never transforms first into a super saiyan for later turning into an oozaru, and whe he turns back to human form after Fu made the artificial moon disappear, he doesnt retain his supposed super saiyan transformation. Could it be that his oozaru form is not the golden oozaru form but the regular oozaru form and that he can't transform into a supersaiyan?

I don't know about the Orange Great Ape form but in the fifth episode which is the most recent he was able to transform into Super Saiyan Three before he fought against Super Saiyan 4 Vegito, so he at least has SS1 and SS2.


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Does Nosferatu Zodd help Gatsu in the manga?
I've just watched the Berserk 1997 series and now I'm watching the 3 part (movie?) from 2012. In the 1997 anime series,

 When Gatsu sword is broken fighting with Boscogne, Nosferatu Zodd gives Gatsu a weapon to continue fighting.

In the 2012 anime,

 Nosferatu Zodd doesnt appear and Gatsu wins the fight on its own

I was wondering how it is the story regarding this in the manga? It's like in the 1997 anime or it's like in the 2012?

In The Battle of Doldrey Chapter 5,

Zodd throws down a weapon from somewhere up high, which Guts picked up after Griffith yelled at him to take it.

Also, a quick search on the wiki and looking at the notes on Boscogn's character page will tell the same answer.


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What happens to a Titan Shifter if they die without being eaten?
The question is very vague, so let me clear up some of the confusion and haze.
In the entirety of AoT, it is known that, to inherit the powers of a Titan Shifter, the chosen one must eat the current holder, absorbing their spinal fluid as they do so, as is the curse of Ymir. But what happens to the Titan abilities should the current Titan Shifter be killed in different circumstances, besides being eaten by the Inheritor of said power?
What if the Titan Shifter is killed in combat by being blindsided on the battlefield, for instance? Or dies under mysterious circumstances? Is the power still retained by the holder's corpse, or does the power "drain" away when they die?

The answer to this question can be found in Chapter 88:

Or, to quote the wiki:

 If an individual with the power of the Titans dies before it can be transferred, the power will be passed on to the first Baby among the Subjects of Ymir, who is born directly after the said inheritor's death, regardless of distance or relation to the previous inheritor.

As you can see,

 as long as there are Eldians remaining in the AoT world, the power of the Titans will never vanish.

Woah. Didn't expect an answer so quickly.

You're welcome :)


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Did Kaji know that he was going to die in Episode 21?
In Episode 21 of the Anime, Kaji is (supposedly) killed by an unknown third party in a drainage tunnel somewhere in Tokyo 3. Just before he died, he proclaimed to the shooter that they were late with a smile on face, and a shot is heard when the screen fades to black.
Now, I know that Kaji was a agent working for multiple firms, as well as serving his own interests, primarily working for SEELE and NERV as double agents for each respective organization, which means that he worked in areas like black ops and espionage, "retrieving" information for the parties concerned in secret.
This meant that he uncovered some information that either or both parties were very cautious about, and would ultimately mean that the respective party would go through excessive means to stop the leak.
My question is this, when Kaji stole the information from all parties concerned, did he know before hand that he was going to die very, very soon?

He knew that he was going to die but it was not directly due to his espionage.
Freeing the kidnapped Fuyutsuki is the most likely cause of his death according to the dialogue in episode 21.

Misato:         Hello, I am away right now. Please leave your message
                  after the beep.
  Ryouji:        My last job...
  ...
  Fuyutsuki:      It's you.
  Ryouji:         It's been a while.
  Fuyutsuki:      This action will result in your death.
  Ryouji:         All I wish is to get closer to the truth...
                  within me.
Script


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How to tell apart Japanese and non-Japanese characters in-universe and out-of-universe?
Anime characters are almost always drawn with... "anime" facial features. Eyes are big and round, every color is allowed for eyes and hair (not to mention hairstyle), etc.
Since there are anime series starring both Japanese and non-Japanese characters, how can one distinguish them? I'm asking both in-universe and out-of-universe.
Comments and answers to this question claim that Western characters tend to be drawn with big noses, square jaws, blond hair, wide mouth, etc. But to me it seems not always the case! For example, in Yu-Gi-Oh, Bandit Keith has some of these features, but Pegasus Crawford has not, and they are both supposed to be American. Naruto, Jonouchi etc are blond and Japanese. Most characters in Escaflowne have a long nose regardless of their origin.
For even more blatant examples, let's compare Lelouch Lamperouge and Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass:

or Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa and Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic:

Same big round eyes. Same pointy chin. Very similar noses. And, for the two girls, crazy hair color. (Similar comparsions can be done for Light Yagami an L from Death Note, and for many others).
I'd say that, at least out-of-universe, the viewer is expected to tell them apart only from their names (or, in case of biracial characters, from the double surname, e.g. Asuka Langley-Sohryu, Kallen Stadtfeld-Kozuki) and from dialogue (e.g. a character declare his/her origin). But I wonder: am I missing something? Are there subtle physical traits that the viewer is supposed to use to get their origin before they declare it?
Theoretically, there shouln't be the need to tell them apart: a character (like a real person) is defined by his/her actions, not from his/her ethnicity. But in-universe, characters seem to always recognize at a glance if another character is Japanese or not. For example, in an episode of Full Metal Panic, Sosuke asks to free first the Japanese girl (Kaname), then the Western one (Tessa), as it is obvious to everyone who is who. In Code Geass, the distinction beween Britannians and Japanese is an important plot point, and people doesn't seem to need to know the name of a character to tell if he/she is Britannian or Japanese.
So is there some kind of artistic convention? A physical equivalent to a translation convention? E.g. when we audience know that Suzaku is Japanese and Lelouch isn't, should we assume that in-universe they HAVE different facial traits? (or, in the case of Kallen: after she says that she is half-Britannian half-Japanese, are we supposed to imagine her with some "mix" of features so that other characters can identify her as both Britannian and Japanese?)

Considering this question was asked: Which nationality is All Might?, I don't think there's a sure-fire to know...

might be worth looking into whether there are speech pattern differences that express these distinctions (especially in the case where there is no obvious physical distinction)

@HotelCalifornia: if there are, are they comprehensible by non-Japanese? and they would be probably lost in translation when dubbed. Life is not always "easy" like changing Willie from Scottish to Sardinian :)

@teem porary I'm not really sure what you're getting at when you say life isn't "easy." It's highly likely that such distinctions, if present, would not be understood by people who don't speak the language. In any case, I think it should be assumed that certain things (especially speech patterns) will be lost in translation. Case in point, the decision of some translators to render kansai-ben as a "country" accent loses out on most of the original nuance. All that seems to be beside the point though, as your question (as posted) seems to be about what distinctions there are, and only about...

(cont)... translating the distinctions as an afterthought. If you intended that to be more of a focus, I'd suggest editing your question to make that more clear.

Ayase Eri from Love Live is half-Russian half-Japanese. This is shown by her saying хорошо multiple times during the series.

You can't really. It's up to the character designer / artist if they want to give the characters visually distinct race traits, but they're not obligated to and many times they don't, as you noted with Code Geass. The most reliable way to tell if a character is Japanese (without being explicitly told they are) is their name.
It's best to take things on a case by case basis and use common sense to parse the information the show gives you. If a show is set in Japan, you can safely infer most of the cast will be Japanese regardless of what they look like. If you notice most of the cast look how Japanese people in real life typically look, you can infer that when a blond haired blue eyed character appears, they aren't Japanese. Again, these are assumptions you make based on the context of the show, not universal rules.
The only universal assumption to make is that visuals in anime are arbitrary and are not obligated to obey any general rules set up for interpreting them.


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Why is it assumed that people who just got out of SAO would not dive in to another game?
In-universe and in commentary here in the Matrix (err, The Real World), people often say something to the effect of "Well, SAO players wouldn't be interested in jumping back into a VMMO that quick", for example in this answer that says

During this period of time, I would assume that it's unlikely for any
  SAO survivor to play another VRMMO when they had just been through a
  life and death experience.

I think there are a few reasons why some people would be unaffected, or even happy to jump back into the game:
Feel neutral/unaffected

Their experience in the game wasn't bad. Some people just chilled out and were probably "bored to death", but didn't otherwise have a terrible experience.

Good Experience and wants more

In episode 1, Kirito mentions that he was very excited about the game while playing the beta, was happy to be back, and felt at home in the game.  He, and many players, are substantially more powerful in the game world than in the real world.  This can give anything between a buzz and an addictive high that players would want more of.
Not all the players live close enough to meet up IRL like the main cast, so some players might want to meet up with people they spent 2 years of their life with.  Aside from Don Ruffles, the players all know the real faces and mannerisms of the people they played with, and would thus be closer than people could be from message boards and current MMORPGs.

Why is it therefore assumed that most players would feel that the NerveGear, or even the AmuShpere, are anethma?

It is not impossible that some of the SAO prisoners might still be interested in gaming right after escaping the game, but remember that they had absolutely no choice in whether or not they could play the game and, moreover, would die in real life if they died in the game. This alone already produces the potential for players to be wary about using NerveGear or the AmuSphere again right away. (Rationally, they might know that people such as Suguha were able to play other games safely, but it is possible for that belief to coexist with a personal distaste for the gaming equipment.)
I will try to address some of the specific scenarios you brought up.

Their experience in the game wasn't bad. Some people just chilled out and were probably "bored to death", but didn't otherwise have a terrible experience.

I have played a couple roguelikes here and there, which have a permadeath mechanism. One of them, Unreal World, which is a survival simulation game, tends to get boring after I have a stable food and shelter situation. Trying out dangerous, exciting things is out of the question if I want to survive, since I might get killed.
In real life, when I get bored, I can just quit the game. But if I were trapped in Unreal World the way Kirito is trapped in SAO, I would end up boring myself to death, having nothing to do other than sit in my house and occasionally fish. I would be incredibly unhappy. If I were rescued from that situation, I would probably be more interested in catching up on all of other things I wasn't able to do while trapped in a simulation of Iron Age Finland. It's not hard to imagine other players feeling this way.

He, and many players, are substantially more powerful in the game world than in the real world. This can give anything between a buzz and an addictive high that players would want more of.

I can do a lot of things in video games that I can't do in real life, such as killing dangerous monsters with my bare hands. I take these risks because it's understood that I will probably end up dying rather than beating the game and because I can always start over. It's exciting. If I were trapped in the game, however, I would be a lot less interested in doing these things when my actual life would literally be on the line in these fights. Between that and literally being imprisoned in the game, that someone enjoyed SAO doesn't mean that he won't be leery of VMMO games after coming out.
Keep in mind that in addition to dealing with the psychological trauma of being imprisoned in SAO, players also have to deal with the physical and social effects of having been away and lying in hospital beds for two years. Kirito is very weak after he gets out of SAO, and he and his friends also have to attend special schools. This is all very time-consuming. After coming out, the majority of players probably wouldn't have the time or the motivation for serious gaming.

Your points seem to consider only the SAO game itself, and not the looming threat of death that was hanging over the players at all times. While the game world was fantastic, and people were much more powerful than in real life, being forced to play and having their real brains fried on death in-game really tilts the scales in the other direction.
Through the course of that arc, we've seen countless people die facing monsters and bosses, and others taking their own lives due to many of their close friends dying. Even the people not on the front lines needed to make a living, which either meant trade jobs, or dungeon farming. Assuming the dungeons they targeted were risk-free enough due to level advantage, it would still become a very monotonous and routine life. This could have significant mental effects since they were trapped for over 2 years, forced out from their real lives where they had various obligations and people to go back to.
Kirito's comments in the first episode are before it becomes a death game, so they have to be seen in that light. As for point 2, there would be a number of ways to contact the players IRL without needing a VR game (it isn't unrealistic to assume video calling software like Skype have much better features then), but yes the 'physical meeting' can only be replicated inside a virtual environment. Another thing to consider, though it doesn't really help the argument directly, SAO was released only in Japan, and we see that all the survivors are brought together by the Government for the post-game treatment, and those still in school are all transferred to the same special school.
So yeah, the trauma was sufficient to argue that no player would be happy to get back into the game after what they went through. Kirito himself dives back into ALO solely because of Asuna, and he is shown hesitating before picking the NerveGear back up.
They may eventually come to terms with it and play other games, but SAO had affected their lives very significantly.


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Why Goku and Vegeta didnt use Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken and Super Saiyan Blue Evolution to defeat Broly?
So in the new Dragon Ball Super Broly movie,

 Goku and Vegeta try to defeat Broly by fighting together in Super Saiyan Blue, but they dont use Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken and Super Saiyan Blue Evolution like they did to try to defeat Jiren

Why Goku and Vegeta didnt use Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken and Super Saiyan Blue Evolution to defeat Broly?

The SSJB + Kaioken Transformation and the SSBE transformation were introduced by Toei and not Toriyama. Although the movie is being produced by Toei, they probably have less influence on the movie unlike the show.Secondly(Note: This is a personal opinion), the movie is mainly focused around SSJB Gogeta defeating Broly. Hence, having Goku/ Vegeta use SSJB +Kaioken and SSBE would in a way disturb the flow of the movie. In the sense, it has been revealed that Gogeta is slowly going to ascend from transformation to transformation and fight Broly. Having the two additional transformations would disrupt this flow and at the same time might overscale Broly a little too high. Plus, if you look back at Goku/ Vegeta vs Merged Zamasu, Goku doesn't really go Kaioken at all in the Goku Black arc(Despite being overpowered)(Except the 1 time to break out of Merged Zamasu's hold). Then we see Vegito Blue in action.

as far as, we were aware. we have seen nothing indicating that we will see blue evolution in the movie that's does not mean we won't see it because it's unlikely TOI have released all the information regarding the movie and not shown anything regarding super safe through evolution. so, we'll taking about whether or not reprise this transformation in the future dragon ball or be aiming for something else entirely to compete with those whose potential ultra instinct transformation we all know at some point you will get back but before we begin a quick in past fight of dragon ball super. Goku fought with Jiren in super Saiyan blue and kaiken but all in vain and finally he used ultra instinct with this he was nearer/definitely to Jiren defeat. in all the series and movies the new villain is stronger than previuos one. I know you all are thinking ,Jiren is not a enemy but he is main thread to universe 7. this shows broly is much stronger there will no need of SSB or SSB kioken

Some people have released scripts of the movie, they could watch it in a special event or something like that in Japan. If what they said it's true, it's confirmed blue evolution and kaioken wont be in the movie. It could be due to they were transformations created for the anime and not created by Akira Toriyama, but nobody confirmed that. If that's the case, in every story where Akira has full input over the story we wont see these transformations, unless he changes his mind and decides to incorporate elements he didnt create into his storytelling (like he did with Broly, for example)

The reason for Kaioken not being used is because both Goku and Vegeta mastered SSB. That's why you see red flames and a dark blue aura around both Goku and Vegeta and even Gogeta, so since they mastered that form there's no need for Kaioken to be added, just like when Goku mastered Super Saiyan he didn't need to use Kaioken to boost his power level with his mastery of that form he's stronger now than with Kaioken added.


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Which was the power level of Broly when he was a kid, 10,000 or 920?
So there is an unofficial summary of the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie from apparently someone who watched it in Japan in an exclusive event, and there it claims Broly when he was a kid had a power level of 920 (stated in the movie). But in the Dragon Ball wikia, they state the new Broly (the Broly from the new movie) had a power level of 10,000 when he was born (as stated by the old non canon movie IIRC). Which was the power level of Broly when he was a kid, 10,000 or 920?

So, you're really asking if his power level was over 9,000, right?

I have not watched the new movie, but if in the new movie they have stated that his power is 920 when he was a kid, then that is his "true" power level.
The old DBZ movies were never considered "canon", since we can not fit them anywhere in the storyline. The Broly movie was not even directed by Toriyama as you can see here, so it is kind of a "spin off" series, events that happened here had no impact on the DBZ storyline.
Regarding Super, things are a different. The first two movies "Battle of Gods" and "Resurrection of Freiza" were showed in the anime itself, although there were some differences between the anime and the movie. The Broly movie is direct continuation to the anime story line, since it picks up after the conclusion of The Tournament of Power. Furthermore the movie is written by Toriyama which kind of establishes it as part of the canon now.
So to answer the question, his power level is 920. The Broly in the new movie is a new character (which is based on the popularity of the old one) that is part of the canon storyline.

 When Paragus scans Broly's power level, it is shown to be 920. However, there is supposedly a scene in the movie where a Saiyan Personnel's on attempting to scan Broly's power level receives abnormal readings and one of the scouter even breaks due to his fluctuating power level. You can read about it in the plot summary here.You should completely disregard all information with regard to Broly from any of the previous series while watching the new movie as Broly has been written as a completely different character and this character is canon to the original series.

The New Broly movie states his power level as over 100,000 as an adult.  That doesn't mean it's 100,000.  It just means its more than 100,000.  In comparison to his father, which was 4,200 (4,200 was supposedly impressive to Chirai).


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How did Finral transport Yami into the cave?
It is said that Finral can only use his spatial magic to open portals to places that he has already been. Is there some kind of exception to this?
In episode 34, Finral opens a portal to a cave where Asta is fighting members of a certain organization. This allows Yami to assist Asta, but it seems very strange that he would have been into this random cave.

I checked the corresponding manga chapter #47, where Yami mentions that Noelle contacted HQ about the situation and they were dispatched because they were the ones closest to that town.
I think the teleportation in this case was short-ranged, done in order to block Licht's attack and save Asta. So they must have already entered the cave for it to be in Finral's line of sight.
It is indeed unlikely that Finral would have visited the cave before, but it seems plausible that Finral might have visited the town before, since it is near to their base. So they could have teleported to the town and then made their way to the cave on foot.

This seems completely plausible.


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How powerful is Carrot's Sulong, when compared among the Strawhats?
My order of strawhats power would be something like this:
Zoro(I feel he is more powerful than the protogonist), Luffy, Sanji, Brook, Robin, Franky, Chopper, God(Ussop), Nami. (Power in the sense, I would say how quick/fast one can finish the battle).
So, when compared to them where would carrot's sulong stand. Also correct me if my order is wrong about strawhats.
I follow only anime, and I don't remember seeing Luffy as powerful as Zoro. At least he toys around for quite a long and then yeah somehow(when you get bored of the fight) he wins the fight.

I doubt anyone can give you an exact answer since there is no concrete way we can rank the SH in term of power. Sanji,Zoro and Luffy are considered to be the "strong trio"  and by extension of that we can consider them the "three strongest members". Where Carrot fits in, we can only argue about.

In terms of the Straw Hats ranking, the 2 extremes are already known; Luffy is the strongest (cause he is the captain) and Usopp is the weakest (Oda said so himself  in the ONE PIECE 10th Treasures (2007) where he states that "Usopp has been and will be the weakest in strawhats.") The link to the interviews can be found in this thread.
I'm definitely sure for a fact, that Carrot is normally way stronger than Ussopp, Nami, and Robin, and I'll give reasons for that.
Members of the Mink Tribe have formidable physical abilities, which are far superior to normal humans, this stands to reason that Carrot is naturally stronger than Robin, Nami and Usopp (all of who are average in strength [and are the 3 weakest in the straw Hat team based on power])
When the Sulong transformation is used, along with her altered appearances, Carrots strength and speed also vastly increase. At that point she is probably stronger than Chopper and Brook.
As for the remaining members of the Straw Hat team, It will be very difficult to precisely conclude their exact ranking with respect to the Sulong transformation. (Mainly because there isn't sufficient information on her transformation.)

My personal ranking of the Straw Hats is as follows: Luffy is first, Jimbei is second strongest, Sanji and Zoro are a tie for third (cause they are super rivals and it seems to me that they are almost equal in strength), Franky is the fourth strongest, followed by Brook, Chopper, Robin, Nami and then God Usopp. But then again since we haven't been told the exact ranking from Oda himself, we can only speculate based on the information we have.

Hope that helps.


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What is Mugen chewing?

What is Mugen chewing always sometimes he chews small sticks, some other times he chews long stems with leaves. Is that Japanese style? and what is that plant name?

Anime characters chewing on a blade of grass/toothpick is considered a trope in anime and is usually attributed to the delinquent types.

Sometimes a character will suck or chew on something as a form of
  characterization. These range from toothpicks and blades of straw or
  grass to lollipops and cigarettes.
In anime, having a piece of straw in one's mouth is a common depiction
  of a banchou, or juvenile delinquent gang-leader character.

Some other characters that have been noted to conform to this trope:

Tetsuya Kusakabe from  Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, a delinquent character.

Ikki Takeda from History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, who was formerly a member of a gang called Ragnarök.

Mifune from Soul Eater, who's personality is described like this:
Often stoic in nature and staunch in attitude, Mifune tends be somewhat quiet in situations that do not directly involve him and remains mostly serious as well as being straight-forward..

Ash's Treecko from  Pokémon, described as cool, calm, collected and serious.

Wikia, on Mugen:
Rude, lewd, vulgar, conceited, temperamental, and unhinged - Mugen is something of an antihero.
Thus, it can be inferred that the "blade of grass in mouth" trope is a type of characterization that mostly represents a serious/delinquent sort of character.

The plant isn't usually of significance and isn't the same in every case unless explicitly stated. In a Japanese page that describes Ikki Takeda from the second image above, the following is written with respect to the blade of grass.

常に葉っぱを口でくわえて...

which translates to "Always with a leaf in his mouth...", indicating that he's not chewing on any special plant.
As for what Mugen is chewing in the particular image posted, I'd guess it's bamboo.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Why did Warren need to invent communication lacrimas?
When members of fairy tail were traveling to defend magic council members they were communicating through lacrimas to the guild, and during the Phantom Lord arc Mira used a lacrima to contact Laxus, so why did they need to "invent" what were basically cell phones when they already had lacrimas to communicate over long distances.

A reason could be that the usual Lacrima crystal, which is shaped like a crystal ball, looks a bit bulky.
Why did they need to "invent" what were basically cell phones when they already had lacrimas to communicate over long distances? The Miniature Communication Lacrima invented by Warren which, as you pointed out, is shaped like cell phones are much smaller in size but has the same functionality. This makes it easier to carry around.


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Is Gintama ending or not?
I came across this Kotaku article called "Gintama Manga Isn't Ending Yet Because Its Creator Screwed Up", and I'm not really clear on what's going on.
So apparently, Gintama was originally going to end in Weekly Jump on September 15, 2018. But now it seems like it's not ending, and it's moving to Jump Giga instead? What happened there? Could someone explain?

It's mentioned here:
Apparently, the author miscalculated in trying to estimate on when the series will end. He mentioned that in Jump, mangaka have to notify the editorial department 6 months in advance before the date that the manga is expected to end.
However, he seemed to have realized after informing the editorial department that he could not fit everything he needed for a proper ending in the remaining chapters. Since informing the editorial department of the projected ending is probably absolute, meaning he can't take back what he said on the predicted date that it will end and there is most likely another manga that was already scheduled to replace Gintama in Weekly Jump since he already informed them that he will end the manga, it was transferred to Jump Giga from Weekly Jump.
Is Gintama ending or not? Based on this information, no, it's not yet ending.


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When does *The Miracle of Endymion* occur?
I'm currently rewatching A Certain Magical Index (including II) and A Certain Scientific Railgun (including S) in order by anime release date. Thus I've rewatched Miracle after II but before S. I remember S included a retelling of the strongest vs weakest plot from the original Index season, so this order doesn't in general match in-universe chronology. My attempt to place when Miracle occurs depends on the following facts:

Uiharu is surprised to learn of a wheelchair-using Kuroko's early discharge from hospital, suggesting this predates her wheeling Kuroko during the Daihaseisai. In particular, Miracle would seem to slot between the Tree Diagram Remnant and Daihasei Festival arcs. (Because I haven't read the manga and don't remember S well, I'm familiar only with the Index arc for this festival.)
When Index asks Touma what Endymion is, he mentions it's been visible before, including when she holds a grocery bag while standing next to him. This flashback is to footage from the end of the first II opening. This doesn't contradict the above placement of Miracle, although it does require said footage to occur early in (or before) II.

But there is an important subtlety:

The movie retcons several scenes from the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime
  to somehow fit the obvious elevator in the timeline. Toaru Kagaku no
  Railgun S would later insert the elevator into scenes where they were
  supposed to appear as shown in the movie.

In particular, the aforementioned flashbacks are doctored; for example, the II opening doesn't include Endymion.
My reading of all this is that Miracle occurs when I've suggested, but results in some retcons of certain scenes as appropriate. Am I right, or is the retconning more radical than that? If so, the timing of Uiharu learning of Kuroko's discharge could shift.

When Index asks Touma what Endymion is, he mentions it's been visible before, including when she holds a grocery bag while standing next to him. This flashback is to footage from the end of the first II opening. This doesn't contradict the above placement of Miracle, although it does require said footage to occur early in (or before) II.
In particular, the aforementioned flashbacks are doctored; for example, the II opening doesn't include Endymion.

This is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek gag. Index is breaking the 4th wall a bit by pointing out how strange it is this space elevator was never pointed out before despite being under construction all this time in the background (because in real life it hadn't been conceived of yet so obviously it wouldn't be in the story back then), and Touma casually retcons it into existence with a few flashbacks where it's been inserted into a few scenes.
This is a way of acknowledging the awkwardness with which its inserted into the canon and timeline of the series and allowing the story of the movie to progress onward without further attention paid to it.
So, in answer to your original question, the timing is as you've sleuthed it out to be. It's meant to take place between the tree diagram arc and the festival arc, and they playfully retconned some scenes to make it fit into the timeline despite a lack of evidence for its prior existence. The commentary tracks on the movie also confirm this is the case.

Thank you. I'd be grateful if you could quote or summarise the relevant part(s) of the commentary, or link to it or a transcript thereof.


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Is Tarble canon?
There is this Dragon Ball family tree been shared in Dragon Ball related websites, which shows the name "Tarble" (ターブル - Tāburu)) in japanese. Is this official? Has Tarble been canonized? IIRC a brother of Vegita was mentioned in Battle of Gods but nobody said his name

 Tarble has been confirmed to be canon on the source you included in your question. You can view the text/ translation with regard to the same here.

Tarble is now canon.
He was mentioned in the Broly movie that just released. Not by name, but Raditz Nappa and the remaining Saiyans asked Vegeta if he had a brother and he said yes, implying that he didn’t care too much about him or know him. And wondered what happened to him. Right after Nappa asked about Raditz' younger brother (Kakkarot).

So Akira had already made them mention Tarble in the original Battle of Gods cut for the ritual but he didn’t know where he was. Indicating that The Special for Tarble was canon and hinted that they may have taught him how to go Super Saiyan (you don’t need Super Saiyan for the ritual, Pan wasn’t one) But Tarble is and will always be canon. Dragon Ball Z tries not to follow the story of Dragon Ball (Japan) too much. The special is called Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!. Came out in 2008. So official it’s not even dubbed.

As far as the official Dragon Ball continuity is concerned, Tarble is non-canon.
Tarble is mentioned in the movie adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, but was not mentioned at all in the episodes of Dragon Ball Super that covered the events of the movie.
Whether or not he will be mentioned in the new movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, remains to be seen. The movie officially releases in Japan on December 14th.

Note:  The character has been confirmed to be canon recently.

Tarble is canon since 2008
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! is a canon film because the story concept was by Akira toriyama and Tarble himself was made by Akira so yes he is canon
except akira somewhere mentioned that the film is not canon then its something else


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Does Gogeta have a new transformation in Dragon Ball Super Broly?
This frame from Gogeta is seen in Dragon Ball Super Broly.

As we know several canon and filler transformations have been shown surpassing regular Super Saiyan Blue in the anime / manga

Ultra Instinct Omen
Super Saiyan Blue Evolution
Mastered Super Saiyan Blue
Mastered Super Saiyan Blue Power stressed
Mastered Ultra Instinct

Being Gogeta a fusion of Goku and Vegeta, one would think he should be able to access to some of them, combine them or use a new transformation. Is this state regular super saiyan blue, one of the former super saiyan blue upgrades mentioned above or a new transformation?  Does Gogeta have a new transformation in Dragon Ball Super Broly?

The Dragon Ball Super movie has a completely different art style compared to the anime. This is similar in comparison to what was said about the Super Saiyan Blue forms used by Goku and Vegeta.  There was a lot of speculation that Goku and Vegeta were supposedly using a new version of Super Saiyan Blue, possibly Mastered Super Saiyan Blue against Broly. However, it was just the regular Super Saiyan Blue transformation with a new art style where the hair color seems to look darker.The transformation Gogeta is using here is clearly Super Saiyan Blue. We see this based on the color of his hair. The different art styles and the superior animations in the movie compared to the series, makes it appear that way. Even Xenoverse 2 just put out a trailer with Super Saiyan Blue Gogeta.  Also Note: According to new arc of DBS in the manga, Goku tells Vegeta that he hasn't been able to use Ultra Instinct even once after the tournament of power, plus, MUI has silver hair and UI Omen has the special aura with regular hair and Gogeta clearly has Blue hair here. Secondly, the hair for the SSBE transformation is a lot darker. You can look at this photograph here, of SSJB and SSBE side by side.While the manga had the concept of the "Mastered Super Saiyan Blue" being a unique transformation, the anime doesn't. However, I think it is more or less implied that Goku and Vegeta would have perfected their use of Super Saiyan Blue by now considering the fact that Goku can effortlessly stack Kaioken * 20 on top of it and has even ascended to levels far beyond SSJB. Vegeta too has broken past the limitations of SSJB to unlock a new form. It is more or less implied Goku, Vegeta would have mastered the Super Saiyan transformations by now. However, there is no indication or change in the transformation Nevertheles, there is definitely evidence according to Spoilers that Gogeta fights Broly in Base, SSJ and Super Saiyan Blue. Hence, the form being used here is Super Saiyan Blue.

Firstly, regarding the picture in this thread, could it not be gogeta combining 'Super Saiyan Blue Evolution' with " SSJB Kaioken x 20"? In the fight sequence before this you see gogeta potentially using SSBE as he avoids brolys blast and then see flashes of red in his aura when he attacks.
In an unrelated comment, when Goku transforms into SSJB you see a flash of MUI. This could mean the form may be accessible in the anime later down the line.
That's my two cents on it anyway!


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Does handwritten speech indicate anything?
I'm reading the manga for Fate Stay Night, and there's a part on page 15 of chapter 1 where the speech bubbles are handwritten and rather than in the normal manga font. As you can see, this is only for speech, not for the other text boxes, and is only on this page.

Other font styles (like bolded font) are used to indicate things like intense speaking, but it's not clear if this is supposed to indicate something like that. Is it? If not, why is just that dialogue handwritten?

I don't know any context of this, and I haven't read any non-english manga, but I suspect it's either: quiet muttering to oneself (like … *what* in the *world* …) or indicates a peculiar speech cadence, intonation or accent like the "kansai dialect" trope or unintended drunkenly tone changes.

I read the VIZ translations and from what I can understand, the handwritten speech denotes 'drowned-out' dialogues. During this time, the character, Emiya, seems to be in an internal monologue. This is meant to tell the reader that the focus or the important parts were not on his 'drowned-out' (the handwritten ones) dialogues but rather on his internal monologue.
This is also seen in an anime where the character is thinking to himself/herself. The scene around the character would have its volume lowered down (but still hearable) to give focus to what the character is thinking.

Why is it set as a spoiler?

@kuwaly Because some people probably have not yet read the manga :)

I don't think it's necessary to set a random page from chapter one that came out 12 years ago as a spoiler.

@kuwaly Okay, noted.


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Why didn't Naruto use Summoning Jutsu in Chuunin Exam?
They mention nothing about Summoning Jutsu in the exam and Naruto learned this jutsu before the exam.
Even if Gamabunta would not want to fight for Naruto, why didn't he at least try to use that jutsu?
Did I miss something? Did they actually say that Summoning was not allowed in the exam?

Naruto's Chuunin exam participation was shown in a non-canon episode where he  fought konohamaru. Eventually he used Sage mode and got disqualified from the chuunin exam. Other than that, I really don't think that it's not allowed to use any summoning jutsu during the chuunin exam.

@SahanDeSilva At what point is it specified that OP is talking about the filler Chuunin Exam and not the original Chuunin Exam arc? Judging by his question and context, it seems implied that he's referring to the original Chuunin Exam arc from the original series.

@JunKang Extremely sorry for my misunderstanding as I was confused with Genin and Chuunin exams. I had a confusion with regards to the original Chuunin exam arc as I remembered it as the genin exam. Anyway, I was just wondering.. Can't we consider Tenten's weapons summoning jutsu?

@SahanDeSilva No, Tenten's weapons are not considered summons, because she stores the weapons herself into her scrolls using a Sealing Jutsu. She may "summon" her weapons from her scrolls, but that's not entirely accurate. She's simply undoing her seals from the scrolls to "summon" her weapons. So calling her technique Summoning Jutsu would be innaccurate.

@JunKang Agreed. What about Orochimaru summoning his snakes? :D

@SahanDeSilva Orochimaru summoning his little snakes or turning his body to snake are not what I refer to. My question refers to Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Summoning Jutsu from contract with animal, mostly needing blood to perform the jutsu

@SahanDeSilva If you want to ask more questions, create a new question. This isn't what the comment section is for.

@Albert Even Orochimaru used summoning jutsu to summon snakes. He has blood contract with snakes just like Naruto having contracts with toads (though it isn't shown in any anime series as far as I can remember)

@SahanDeSilva for the big Snake (forgot her name, Manda?) yes it's Summoning. But when little snakes just went out out of his arm, or when his arm itself turned into snake, we don't know for sure if that's Summoning jutsu.

Firstly, lets make a correction. Naruto learned the Summoning Jutsu, not before the exam, but only before the third round, prior to his fight with Neji. So he would have only had one opportunity to use the Jutsu during the exams, during his fight with Neji.
It is never EXPLICITLY stated, as far as I know, why Naruto didn't use Summoning Jutsu to summon Gamabunta during the fight, but let me give you a different perspective. Why would he want to summon Gamabunta in his fight against Neji?

He had a personal reason to fight Neji. He probably wanted to beat Neji on his own, 1v1, to prove his point to Neji. Probably wouldn't feel great to beat Neji because he had a giant frog step on him.
It would have been impractical. Gamabunta is HUGE. Gamabunta would probably have filled the entirety of the stadium they fought in. Even if Gamabunta did fight, he sure as hell wouldn't have been able to do so without destroying the stadium to hit a single tiny human target.
Like you mentioned, Gamabunta probably wouldn't have even wanted to fight for Naruto. The only reason he fought with Naruto against Gaara later is because he knew about the One Tail Beast and Gamakichi convinced him to.
Naruto had literally only used the technique once successfully in his training with Jiraiya, under threat of falling to his death. He probably didn't have confidence he could use it again. This is evidenced by the fact that in his fight with Gaara later, he only successfully summoned Gamabunta again because he was about to die, failing the first time by summoning Gamakichi. Naruto isn't able to reliably summon Gamabunta for quite a while in the series, summoning Gamakichi and Gamatatsu on multiple occasions.

Even during the first time he summoned Gamabunta, he had to borrow some chakra from the Kyubi. I'd guess that at that point, he neither had the control nor the chakra reserves (his own reserves) to do a proper summoning.

@TheGamer007 I thought of that as well, but decided to keep it out of my answer because, during his fight with Neji, Naruto does at one point tap into the Kyuubi's chakra. Which mean's he MAY have been able to use its chakra to successfully summon. So the lack of chakra doesn't really qualify as a reason for Naruto not to try.

Fair point. Well spotted


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Does Sebastian have feelings for Ciel?
The title is a bit misleading, because I am not talking about love.
I have watched the two seasons (and haven't read the manga).
In the second season, Sebastian hints that he "feels" degraded since he has to be a butler just to get Ciel's delicious soul. But since I've read the second season isn't canon. I doubted it.
I was wondering if this is actually true or if he has feelings towards Ciel. As in he is loyal towards Ciel and would never betray him. Some kind of friendship or something like that if you know what I mean.
Sebastian is never "pissed off" by orders from Ciel or anything and always smiles. Something I wouldn't expect from a devil.

It is intentionally vague, so this question is more asking for opinion
You can decide if you think they are friends or if you think he is proud to have cultivated a tasty contract

This answer is coming from somebody who has only seen Black Butler animated and is completely ignorant of the manga, so this answer may not be completely accurate.
Does Sebastian care for Ciel? Well, he cares for Ciel's life, he cares for Ciel's resolve, and he cares for Ciel becoming a tasty meal for him. Does he see Ciel as a friend? Probably not.
In Book of the Atlantic, Madam Red tells Sebastian that he is practically like family to Ciel, in which Sebastian responds by saying "I would never presume to think of myself as family, that would be inappropriate. No, I am merely one hell of a butler." I assume that the same would go for friendship. This is further backed up in episode 15 of the first season, where Agni refers to Sebastian as a friend, and Sebastian is caught off guard, explaining that nobody had ever referred to him as such. I doubt that Sebastian sees any friendship between him and Ciel, at least nothing beyond master and servant or contractor and contractee.
You mentioned that Sebastian is always loyal to Ciel, and this is because it is a part of their contract. Sebastian is ordered to protect and never betray Ciel, along with never lying to him, and following his orders to their completion.
When Ciel and Sebastian's past together is revealed in Book of the Atlantic, you can see that Sebastian is initially very annoyed with Ciel, which makes sense considering that he is a demon having to play the role of a butler for a bratty little boy. But over time, I believe Sebastian grows to tolerate Ciel in the same way that Ciel tolerates him. They'd been together for three years and spent a lot of time training each other to be the perfect earl and butler. So while they may not be friends, they've been together long enough to not really mind each other.
I think it's also very important to note that while Sebastian only wants Ciel, Ciel needs Sebastian. I believe it is a lot more likely for Ciel to care for Sebastian than it is for Sebastian to care for Ciel considering that Sebastian has been Ciel's primary caretaker since his parents' death. However, while more likely, it isn't a very high chance that he actually does. Had Ciel actually gained those feelings towards Sebastian, I would imagine that Sebastian would have considered him too weak to complete his goal, and therefore eat his soul right then and there. I mean, what kind of earl would desire a friendship with a mere servant?
This is only my take on things, so it may not be entirely right. I believe the relationship between Ciel and Sebastian is very much up for personal interpretation, anyway!

I do believe that Sebastian has feelings for Ciel. My reasoning is because he decides to save Ciel, instead of letting him die. Also, I have noticed that Sebastian is never frustrated by Ciel, in any of the chapters. He is also taking better care of Ciel than he is required. So I guess he has some sort of feelings for Ciel.

Do I think Sebastian has feelings for Ciel? In a way, yes, because if you watch seasons 1, 2, the Book of Murders, and the Book of Circus, you can see they have a connection that no one else has.
Throughout Black Butler, Ciel is always smiling when someone compliments Sebastian and Sebastian never turns down an order from Ciel nor does he hate it, he just finds it amusing. And on top of all of that, Ciel loves playing little games with Sebastian as well as does Sebastian love doing that to Ciel.
But some of y'all say that Sebastian is a demon. If he doesn't feel human emotions, then why does he love cats and shower them with affection? It tells me that yes, he is a demon and we saw in the Book of Atlantic how he really was, but then he changed. Also, the undertaker found it shocking and weird for a demon to be treating his master like how Sebastian treats Ciel. If you watch the Book of Atlantic, you would have seen the undertaker wanting to find out why Sebastian is so attached to Ciel and the grim reapers also found it weird too, and on top of all that, Claude, a season 2 demon also found it weird why he is risking his life for his food and why he is so attached.
We still didn't got an answer from Sebastian, then there's only Sebastian that can touch Ciel and calm him down. The Book of Circus will show you more about this. So Sebastian has some type of love for Ciel that we can't understand.


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What relation does Image Synthesis from the third game, have to Grathmelding from the first game?
What relation does Image Synthesis from the third game, have to Grathmelding from the first game?
Because the Meld~ songs of the third game all say "Glassmerk", at the beginning, and sound like the first game's song for Grathmelding, and "Glassmerk" is the Japanese version of "Grathmeld".

They have no relationship: Grathmelding was developed in Sol Ciel long after the Grathnode Inferia, so there is no way it could have spread to the other regons. Image Synthesis is just typical synthesis, and the synthesis music for it only has these titles as a callback to AT1, similarly to how the world map themes ("Green Lands" and "Azure Lands") from both games sound quite similar to each other.