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How did the "silver devaluation" scheme work?
I need help understanding what is going on with the Trenni silver coin scheme plot that is mentioned throughout episodes 3-7 of Spice and Wolf season 1. Let me explain what I understand and hopefully get some clarity about these Spice and Wolf episode plots (also if someone can block out the impending spoilers that would be awesome, I don't know how to do it)
So our main protagonist Lawrence gets word that the Trenni silver coin currency is about to go up in its silver purity. This means that both the actual metal value of the Trenni silver coin and its representative value will go up.

 This all turns out to be wrong though, as Lawrence finds out the Trenni silver coins are actually becoming less pure and going down in value and what he was told was a lie. This plot then leads Lawrence to go over to the Milone trading company where somehow he hopes to make a profit off of telling the company this info.

Now this is where it gets complicated. How was the Milone trading company going to make money off of the devaluing currency and how was Medio involved with this?

In the anime the Milone Trading company,

 upon hearing the devaluing silver info from Lawrence, started stockpiling Trenni silver coins. Why are they trying to stockpile the silver coins if their price and purity is going down? Shouldn't they be trying to get rid of all of their Trenni silver coins if the value is decreasing?

Also it is mentioned that the Medio trading company is

 hiring people to give merchants the wrong info about how the Trenni silver coins are going up in value instead of actually going down. Lawrence was even told this lie. How does the Medio Trading company possibly gain any advantage from this?

Basically I am asking what is the economic plot in the episodes 3-7 of Spice and Wolf season 1, explained in little kid terms, so I can hopefully comprehend what is going on in the story and enjoy the anime even more. I am sorry for not being more economics-savvy with this, but if you understand the plot be much appreciated for some insight.

I actually haven't watched Spice Wolf yet but from what I've understood based on what you detailed out (correct me if I'm wrong), they were spreading rumors that the silver coins are going up on value probably because they would want to sell it for a higher cost, when actually, the value of it is really low. They'll sell it at a higher cost so they can gain more than they should. Example, I'd sell silver coins for a higher cost when I can actually buy it a lower cost, so I'd gain more. Hope I somehow made sense.

Ok, let's look at the situation more carefully. You have your Trenni silver coins, which have some % of silver in them. The market value of such a currency is bound to the amount of the noble metal in each coin. It's very simple and intuitive: silver is rare and valuable, so the more silver there is in a coin, the more is the value of that coin.
Now, we have a situation where the amount of silver in the coins is going to be decreased. What is going to happen? Well, the new Trenni coins (with less silver) will become less expensive than the old Trenni coins. That means, that it is profitable to save all the old coins you have.
By spreading the rumors that the amount of silver is going to increase, the Medio company is accomplishing two things at once. First, it makes people think that it's profitable to sell their coins now (because they think that after the new coins arrive, the value of the old ones will decrease). Second, it creates a possibility to make people selling their coins for even a lower price than they are now, simply because they want to get rid of the coins ASAP, before the price drops.
Also, if they already have some new coins, they can even trade them for a larger amount (say, 2 old ones for 1 new, people think the new ones are more valuable, remember) of old ones.
This lets the Medio company stock plenty of old silver coins, which as we know, in reality, will be worth more when the new ones are released. That's how they want to make the profit.
The Milone company, after getting the information from Lawrence, starts doing the same thing: buying Trenni coins to get a large stock of them before the new coins are released. After the new coins will be in play, people will, of course, know that they are really less valuable, and the value of Milone company's stock of old coins will increase further.
I hope the explanation wasn't too messy ;)

Weren't they talking about them getting some advantage over people fleeing the market too?

should also point out that there was a second part to the scheme which involved the company trading the Trenni silver coins they have stockpiled to the original country, since the purity was now lower a single older Trenni silver coin could be recycled and made into x number of newer Trenni silver coins, the company with the most coins could bargain with the country with their stockpile of coins for exclusive deals

This answer is not correct, and the coin valuation works the exact opposite way. All Trenni silver coins are worth the same amount, just like any other standardized currency. When the silver content is decreased, it causes the value of ALL Trenni silver coins to decrease. This means buying the coins at the current (higher) value is a bad investment, because they'll be worth less in the near future (worse exchange rates, higher prices, etc). That's why this question was asked in the first place, because it seems bad to stockpile them. Memor-X gave the correct answer in the comment before this.

@Azrael Your statement is only true for fiat currency (based on nothing) or currencies that are pegged to noble metal but not exactly made of one (i.e. gold standard paper money) . For currencies that are created from a noble metal itself, it's possible to have different value based on the purity. Maybe a mere peasant won't know that their old Trenni coins actually worth more than the new one, but an experienced trader would definitely know.

No, this is not correct, at least not in the that story's world. In S01E02, the person spreading misinformation makes it pretty clear: when purer new coins arrive, people can profit by exchanging old coins for new coins. So the logical move is to buy old coins now if the new coins are indeed purer and the value will appreciate. Lawrence himself also reaffirms this logic with Holo in private.

The comments on SingerOfTheFall's answer is on the right track but not quite got it yet.
Yes, when new coins of lower purity are introduced to circulation, all coins of that type will lose value. It's due to the people using the coins having less trust in said coins.
While that is the first step to understanding the scheme, it goes much deeper.
When Milone Trading company starts collecting the Trenni Silver Coins, they are not doing so because they want them to be recycled in exchange for exclusive deals. First, you have to think about why that particular country would be lowering the purity. It's because the country of Trenni doesn't have the silver to continue making coins of such high purity.
Yes, in the short view Trenni can make more coins, but this also means that outside of their own borders, the coin will be worthless. In addition, within their borders, the coin is not valued on how much silver is in it so much as it is by how much the government says it is worth.
For example, let's say you have one pure 1 gram gold coin. Let's also say these pure gold coins are the common currency in your country. That means even though it is just 1 gram of gold, the government can say that the 1 gram is worth 2 grams. This is something called seigniorage. Now, this only works to a certain degree, which depends on how much faith the people have in the coins purity and the government manufacturing the coins. So, it is in the country's best interest to keep purity high. However, when they decrease the purity, while it will make a lot of money really fast and put more in circulation, it does decrease the faith that the people have in the coin. Meaning that even with a small decrease in purity, you may see a drastic increase in how many coins any given item is worth due to people not having faith in the purity of the coins. Therein lies why it isn't a good idea to reduce the purity so drastically.
If the Government is reducing the purity, you can assume this means their funds are getting low. Meaning that they would be more than eager to trade exclusive deals for coins they can recycle. In that, the commenters were correct. But, think. If Trenni were to suddenly come into a large amount of silver they wouldn't have to recycle all these coins into lower value ones. They could slowly reintroduce them into circulation and therefore solve the problem of having such low funds. That is why this deal was so valuable and the land of Trenni would be willing to sacrifice quite a bit for the older coins.
Also, Milone's goal was not to trade for deals. No, instead they traded all the older higher purity coins for land, large area mining rights, tariff control, and other privileges generally held solely by the government. Meaning they could move their goods without paying tolls, resale the land at a higher price, and sell individual mining rights for a small area to smaller companies for a higher price per acre. For that matter, they could even further use the land and mining rights for future income by leasing the land and mining rights for certain areas in segments. Though it would be a little longer before you made your money back, you would in the long term have a potential to earn much more than you would just by selling it.
Now considering they were able to pay Lawrence back the next morning, I would assume they resold all or at least some of the privileges they acquired, which is the least risky way to play it since if they were to lease the land, there is no guarantee that people will be willing to lease it. That leads to the risk of actually losing money. It's my guess they sold the risky investments and kept the privileges that would lead to the saving money in the future as their portion of the profit.
Or there is a second option in which they could have kept all the assets and privileges they gained and gave Lawrence Trenni coins out of the Companies pocket based on the estimated value of the assets they'd acquired. That way, Milone Trading still has the potential gain from the mining rights and such.
And then there's yet another option where they sold just enough of the assets to make sure they hadn't suffered a loss in addition to the amount needed to pay Lawrence. This, in my opinion, would be the smartest play considering it would mean there is no risk of loss and their debts are settled. In addition, they would have the leftover assets to do what they wanted with them. In theory, this option is almost no risk with high potential gain.
Now to tackle why Medio would be spreading words of raising purities, and truthfully, compared to the rest of all this, it's quite simple. If the community believes the purity is going to raise, then they will begin getting rid of older coins and trying to acquire these newer "thought to be more valued" ones. This gives Medio to act as if they are a third uniformed party and give the people newer coins in exchange for older coins. Likely they had the same goal as Milone, this was just their way of collecting the coins. Unfortunately, the direction they chose to collect the coins also requires them scamming all the people that they tell into having the newer less pure ones. That part of it really is quite simple.

You wrote the coins will be "worthless", but I think you meant "worth less", because they will still have value. Maybe.

The old trenni silver will technically be worth more in silver value even though on the face it's still worth the same to the average layman. The Kingdom of Trenni was having financial difficulties keeping a treasury in the black and so they basically devalued their currency in silver value while attempting to maintain the trust of the Trenni to remain the same fiat value.
To make it as simple as possible the Government of Trenni was trying to print money to make up for financial shortcomings. The Milone Trading Company capitalized on this by stockpiling old Trenni coins, they didn't get nearly enough to make a huge profit on its face but they did get concessions by the Kingdom in exchange for the old coins with extra value which they could then melt down and reduce the silver content of.
100 old Trenni coins turned into 120 new Trenni coins ( as an example of what happened) with barely anyone being aware of the devaluation. In the meantime Milone got some concessions (like no taxes), a tidy profit (as did Lawrence), The Kingdom of Trenni got to refill their coffers for whatever they needed it for and 99% of the people kept their trust in the value of Trenni silvers which prevented an economic collapse.
Near the end of the series of Light Novels a similar problem comes up. A noble who owns a Silver, Gold and Copper mine and refineries decided to make his own currency which was much purer and release it against the existing coinage which were all less pure. Therefore his currency gave him enormous power by allowing him to supplant the economic hold over the region in question and he basically made himself Kingpin. People were trading existing Trenni and Lutes for his purer silver and gold at a profit. By taking the hit in the short term by trading pure coins for less pure existing ones he gave himself a stranglehold on the trust in currency in the region. If everyone is using your trusted coins and you control all manufacture of those coins you have all the power. And since there was less and less old coinage the trust in their valuation was nonexistent. It would be like trading US quarters (mostly made of copper) for pure silver new coins. You'd make a lot of money exchanging your quarters for the silver but eventually there'd be no quarters left and the guy you sold them to controls what coins are made and make more any time he wants and buy stuff for little cost on his part.
I hope that makes sense.

Part of the answer to this(which isn't as explicitly mentioned in the anime), is that when Milone sells the gathered silver Trenni to the government, they actually make the government pay more than the coins are worth. The government can do this because the resmelting the coins still gives more coins than was provoided+the extra fee. (Example, sell 10 coins for 11 coins. These 10 coins are then smelted into 13 new coins. That way, the company gets 1 coin in profit and the government gets 2).
This was however the lesser valuable trade(as shown by the initial sale profit being quite low). The real profit came from selling the coins in exchange for trade rigths and privileges(like no tariffs on wheat from the company holding this privilege). This second option doesn't require the government to shell out cash here and now(though they still lose in the long term), which is why it was so attractive. In this case, Milone then sold the wheat privilege to Medio, who actually traded fairly heavily in wheat, and from there made most of their overall profits.

To understand this plot you need to know that the monetary value for everything in the world, including the world of Spice and Wolf, follow the principle of supply and demand, and Trenni silver coin is no exception. When the demand suddenly increase but supply does not, its price would increase; and similarly, when supply increase but demand does not, its price would decrease. In the case of Trenni silver coin, its value is its purchasing power. However, since Trenni silver coin is issued in such a large quantity, it's very difficult to drastically change its value in a short time. Only nobels or large merchant guilds have the power or wealth to effectively influence its price.
The root cause for this plot is the royal house of Trenni's need for money. They decides to achieve that by devaluing the currency (or inflation). Basically, they milt the old coins, and by mixing other cheap metal, they use the same amount of silver to make more coins. Such actions if planed properly, could go unnoticed for a very long time. But since the noble cannot gather large amount of old coins due to its financial crisis, they need someone else to do it for them. Medio smelled the opportunity in this, because once they have collected enough, they are able to negotiate an exclusive right to this coin collection business, and monopoly = high profit.
However, rashly collecting coin of such a large amount is very expansive, and has the risk of attracting the attention of rival merchant guild. Thus, to reduce the cost and also keeping it a secret, Medios hired people like Zheren to spread the rumor that the silver coin's silver content will increase (basically saying that its purchase power will go up). Upon hearing this, other small business owner like Lawrence would prefer to hold on to their Trenni silver coin, thus the demand for that silver coin will increase, its supply will decrease, because there are less Trenni silver coin being used on market. Medios would then use the Trenni silver he has, exchange it to goods or other currencies.
At the right time, Medios could release the truth, that the silver coin is about to be devalued. Upon hearing this, those who stock piled Trenni silver would panic and seek to spend their silver to avoid losses, creating a sudden surge in Trenni silver coin entering the market. As the market is suddenly flooded with Trenni silver, its supply increase and demand decrease. In that short period of time, the silver coin will quickly loose purchase power. Perfect time for Medios to collect large amount of "cheap" Trenni silver coin, and negotiate the exclusive right with nobles.
Medios did this in a slow and hidden process, because if rival guild catches wind of it, his entire plan would be spoiled. Which is why Medios tries so hard to get rid of Lawrence - the whistleblower.
For Lawrence, with Holo's ability, he was able to tell that the silver content is actually decreasing, he made a contract with Milone trading before telling them the plot. Which allows Milone trading to collect large amount of silver coin in that  short window of time when the Trenni silver coin value decreases, and negotiated the exclusive right before Medios did.
In the end, not wanting his years of preparation went in vain, Medios purchased the right from Milone with a heavy price. Lawrence, received his share from that purchase.

When the silver coin in question has more silver in it, it is worth much more. So the current coin that everyone is using is about to increase in value. It is because the area is making more coins with less silver in them there, making anyone with the current coin want to keep it because the value will soon go up.
The kid who talks to our main protagonist tells him that the coin will decrease in value due to the area making a coin with more silver, which is the complete opposite of what will happen. So the people with the current coin who have this info will want to get rid of the current coin ASAP. So they will sell it to people for a low amount of money.
This is where that trading company comes in. They buy the coins that are really about to increase in value. So, in the end, they make a profit, and the traders given false info have been cheated out of a great deal of money.


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How does binding a soul to an armor suit allow the suit to move?
We know a couple of characters whose souls are bound to armor suits, e.g. Alphonse or Barry the Chopper. It was explicitly shown that the armor suits have nothing inside - which means they are just pieces of metal with an rune that binds the soul to the armor.

So how are they able to move at all, not to mention that they have significant physical strength and agility?

I think it's the soul that enable the suit to move and thus the armor get the soul owner's ability and technique, and in it's process they no longer feel fatigue, which explain why Alphonse never get tired when fighting.

You might turn your comment into an answer @AbieGiordano :)

In each case of a bonded soul, the blood is directly placed against the armor, allowing the iron in the hemoglobin to physically interact with the metal (and presumably any other material it would be bonded with)[1]. This means, basically, that the alchemic procedure allows the soul to interact with the metal as well.
When a blood seal is made, it is connected to a being, and must remain with only that being, as well as it must be connected. That means that if Al loses his arm, he cannot move it; however, if he picks up an iron pipe, he cannot move that at free will either, as it was not bonded to him initially. (Even at one point, he transmutes part of his body and can no longer manipulate it.)

(Note: Alphonse has no eyes lit up in his helmet because the helmet is separated.)
In the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, souls are that which contain a being's personality, thoughts, and memories, which is seen later in the series:

 For example: Kimblee's soul is able to connect with Pride from within; Hohenheim's many souls are spread around the land and are able to think and act with their energy; and Hohenheim was able to speak and interact with the emotions and arguments of every soul within him from the memories that soul kept.

Thus, we can connect the dots: Alphonse's soul is connected to the armor through the blood seal, and is able to act with his full set of memories; thus, Alphonse can use his memories and thoughts to move the armor at will.
The physical strength and agility comes from their ability to not be restrained by inner forces. (Imagine how much faster you could run if your body worked the same, but without bones and muscles weighing you down!) However, all the fighting skill and ability comes from things that soul has learned (both before getting that body, and after).

I think it's the soul that enables the suit to move, and thus the armor gets the soul's owner's ability and techniques.  Due to the binding process they no longer feel fatigue or pain, and they also no longer feel the need to sleep or rest, which explains why Alphonse never gets tired or feels physical pain when fighting.

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Japanese Characters double forename
I have seen quite a bit of anime and manga now, and I believe I haven't seen a single japanese character with a double forename.
Question: Is there any anime with characters having a "middle" name? Also possibly interesting is, where these Characters originate? Are they "foreign" or are there japanese characters with a middle name?
To clarify i don't mean a Title or Nickname like Aisaka "Tenori taiga" Taiga (逢坂大河) from Toradora.

What do you mean by "double forename"? Also, this might be more of a culture question than an anime/manga specific question.

I also don't know what a double forename is, but in any case this seems to be primarily a question about Japanese culture. Questions here need to be anime-specific; see this meta post.

True, I didn't have to use any anime or manga references in my answer.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about Japanese culture. Questions can involve some knowledge of culture, but all such questions still need to be specific to anime. For more information see Where should we draw the line with “culture” questions?.

@LoganM it was more oriented to anime... didn't get it to the audience that way it seems... i was asking specifically about why this does not appear in anime, i will jsut reformulate the question to more hit anime

It's weird because while your question does pertain to anime, the answer doesn't need the anime reference. Japanese Anime names don't have double surnames because Japan as a whole doesn't use it.

Characters with middle names typically have connections to foreign countries. Take Asuka in Evangelion for example.

Middle names are not in Japanese culture. Japanese people at birth are given a first and last name (or a surname and forename). In the rare occasions that you see someone with a middle name, it is usually one of the following two things. They are either of mixed descent, or a woman marrying a man, and using both her original surname as well as the spouse's surname.
With that said, double forenames don't exist in Japan and most other Pacific Asian countries.
And because Japan doesn't use double forenames, Japanese anime are also inclined not to use double forenames.
There are some series that have used double surnames though, but they were never full Japanese characters. The characters would be of foreign ethnicity and names would be English names written in kata kana.
Check this out for more detailed and historical information on
Japanese Names.

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Do Bluray releases contain more scenes than their DVD counterparts?
Most of the time I opt for the DVD Release because I can back it up easier (don't have a Bluray driver and unsure if my current programs work with Bluray) however in some cases I do get the Bluray release, this normally happens because it either comes with something extra (Blood C came with a calendar) or are limited editions (like most of the NISA ones, Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
In some of my NISA Limited Edition Anime and Puella Magi Madoka Magica Limited Edition they come with both the DVD and Bluray Release, when testing out my Bluray Player to make sure it could play US Bluray (because I had brought it for Fate/Zero) all I noticed was that the animation was much more smoother. (increase in)
Because I have a large backlog of anime I still haven't watched when I finish a series I move onto the next or I don't remember enough of the beginning of the series to notice any changes (in some cases even re-watching the DVDs have new scenes, in Madoka Magica I don't remember seeing a scene where Sayaka hold out her soul gem with a red background behind her in my first view of the series, second view was on TV)
So I am wondering, between a Bluray Release of an anime and it's DVD counterpart, does a bluray have more scenes in it or is it just the quality difference?

I find no difference in the description of Guilty Crown DVD Vol 1 and Guilty Crown BD Vol 1 (both limited version) - it probably means the content of the disc and the extras are the same. This is the only one that I checked, though.

Yes and no, much like any other blue-ray content (e.g., movies).
When releasing the blue-ray version, the publishers will always want as many people as possible to buy it. To do it (especially if the Blue-ray release follows a TV release and a DVD release which means a lot of potential customers have already bought something), they need to somehow raise your interest to the blue ray. Since a Blue-ray disc provides much more space than, say, a DVD disk, that gives them a chance to interest you:

Higher quality video
Higher quality audio (e.g. lossless audio formats)
More audio tracks (original audio, dubbed audio, maybe an audio commentary from the authors, etc. etc.)
Additional bonus content (interviews, films about "how this was made", soundtrack, and so on)
Bonus scenes/director's cut.
Other merchandise (posters/books/artbooks/anything-else-you-can-imagine-just-pay-for-it).

For example, here is the Fate/Zero Blue-ray box, which costs a hell lot, and includes, among other stuff,

Extras: New bonus animation (written by Kinoko Nasu), Trailers, TV Spots, Textless Opening and Ending
Episodes: Episodes 1-13 with unaired new footage

However, I wouldn't say that "most of", or at least "a lot of" Blue-ray releases contain bonus scenes, but unfortunately I can't prove myself with any facts, because apparently there's no such statistics in the Internet.

Its Blu-Ray, not Blue-Ray.


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Which Full Metal Panic novels correlate to which Manga/Anime Series?
The original format for Full Metal Panic is novels. But which novels have been translated to manga form, and what chapters/series does each manga correspond to? And of those, which do the Anime series map to? Or is there much correlation at all?

Each manga series is their own retelling of the light novels. Currently there are 6 manga series that each tell their own story. Currently, there is the original, Overload, Comic Mission, Surplus, Sigma, Another, and most recently, Zero.
The original, titled Full Metal Panic! is the first manga of the series, by Retsu Tateo. This covers the first season of the anime. It follows it pretty closely with the anime, but there are some subtle differences. The series ends after the Tuatha de Danaan hijacking is resolved.
Overload does not follow any of the anime at all and was published as a type of side story that is not related to the anime or the light novels. Surplus is basically the (1 volume) sequel to Overload. None of this is canon, it's essentially an officially-published doujinshi.
Comic Mission is more of a light-hearted side story (by the same artist as the original), like Fumoffu, that deviates from the main mecha story. Each chapters is more or less a self contained short story. Certain stories like "Cinderella Panic" are from the light novel's side stories while other are original scenarios.
Sigma is a continuation of the anime, but illustrated by a different artist (Ueda Hiroshi). It begins around the same time as The Second Raid (Volume 4: Ending Day By Day). This manga parallels the light novels and picks up where TSR left off and deals with the events after it. This series is meant to be a continuation of the original manga.
Another is another story in the Full Metal Panic universe, set 11 years after the events in the original FMP series with Sosuke and Kaname, with a new protagonist, new heroine. Lina (short for: Adelina Aleksandrovna Kerenskaya) is an AS pilot for the PMC, known as DOMS (Dana O'Shee Military Service), which seems to be have been created by Tessa and run by Mao. The male protagonist, who looks like Sousuke, is Tatsuya Ichinose, he is the son of a Power Slave (PS) mechanic. PSes are AS made for civilian use, like construction.
The Zero series, scheduled to be released January of 2013, is a retelling of the light novel by Tetsuro Kasahara, the author of Rideback.  This series starts, like the light novel and anime, just before Sousuke gets the mission to guard Kaname. The only thing new (so far) about this series is the art.

This is a great mapping between anime/manga, but could you add a bit more detail on how these relate back to the light novels. Which novels are covered by which manga?

The original manga and Sigma follow the main plot of the light novels, while Comic Mission touches upon some of the side stories and adds in some original content. Another is another story all together and Overload/Surplus has nothing to do with the light novels.


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What is the difference between Tachikoma and Fuchikoma?
What is the difference between Tachikoma and Fuchikoma? The Tachikoma's design was inspired by the Fuchikoma (stated here), but what are the differences between them? How is a Tachikoma different from a Fuchikoma?

I retagged the question, because it's not SAC-only, as the Fuchikomas only appear in the graphic novel.

Now there's also Logikoma from Arise series. Maybe this question can be updated to also include info on them.

Actually, the Tachikoma was introduced because of license-issues - the Fuchikoma couldn't be used in the SAC.
The main difference is the design: While the Fuchikomas had only one lense, the Tachikomas have 4 independent "eyes". Also, the Tachikomas are a little bit taller than the Fuchikomas.

Also, the AI is a little bit improved, which leads to the fact, that Tachikomas are more human-like and also defend their human partners more. In SAC, it can be seen, that the Tachikomas don't mind risk and are happy most of the time, while the Fuchikomas were more serious.


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Is Komamura the only shinigami who has an animal-like appearance?
Is Komamura the only shinigami who has an animal-like appearance?

Yeah.. This really made me very curious.. I wonder what he was in his past life. A dog?

From the List of Shinigami, Komamura Sajin with his wolf/dog-like appearance is the only one, although:

 Yoroichi comes close, with her cat-form, that she "prefers" to be in.

how were you able to do that?

@Cyberson If you were referring to how I added the spoiler text, well, that's done using the >! markup. For future reference, you could read the formatting help or click on 'edit' to see the markup.


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Does Zetsu have a word soul?
This question contains spoilers! For early manga readers and anime viewers

 I wonder if Zetsu would be affected by the treasured tools of the Sage of the Six Paths. One idea is that White Zetsu and Black Zetsu have different word souls. However, would each White Zetsu clone have a different word soul?

Unless it is very explicit in the manga, you might want to explain a little bit about what a word soul is.

Well, in the wiki, it refers to this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotodama

You should make that clear in the question, because anyone who hasn't read that second wikipedia article won't really know what you're talking about.

In the light of Chapter 618, each Zetsu has his own soul, and thus, it is reasonable to expect that they have their own soul word.

 In Chapter 618, Orochimaru uses Edo Tensei to summon the previous four Hokage using four Zetsu's as sacrifice. Kabuto had previously explained that resurrecting the soul of a dead person with Edo Tensei requires sacrificing the soul of a living person.

Very good! I haven't thought about that!

I'm not sure you need a soul to sacrifice. I thought you only needed the body. You need to sacrifice a living body, where the summoned soul gets reincarnated. Isn't it like that?

@JNat Yeah, it is somewhat unclear, because Kabuto said that a "living person" becomes the vessel for the soul. However, the living person dies during the summoning, so I tend to think a living soul is required. That is the simplest explanation. If that is not true, Naruto could use Edo Tensei using his own shadow clones as a sacrifice, which would be ridiculous.

Thanks for the answer! So would they have the same soul word or different ones?

I think neither of them even has a soul, not to mention a soul word.

 White Zetsu is a clone made by cells from Hashirama. Black Zetsu is a manifestation of Madara's willpower. Neither of them, I believe, have a soul of their own.

For that reason, I don't think that they have a soul word, because it relies on the word to be recorded from the victim's soul.

But they talk ... How should they talk if they have no soul? Also, who should control them, if they have no soul?

Clones have no soul of their own. Mind isn't equal to soul in Naruto. Tobi controls them because that's what Madara, their creator ordered.

This is pure speculation, but I think that each clone has the same soul. White and black Zetsu have their own soul, but the clones possibly have the same soul like their originals.

 I think so, because Hashirama Senju was cloned by Madara, but it
 doesn't have its own soul (the soul was sealed by Hokage Sarutobi).

Thanks for the answer. So if the treasured tools were used to seal one White Zetsu, would it seal all of them? Considering that it uses the recorded word soul, that would have been a great way to end the war!

@ChetterHummin: I thought of this, too. Maybe, they just didn't know that or I'm wrong. Or it's a plothole ... However, it's not easy to seal the soul, the treasured tools that can be used for sealing are all used.

Shadow clones are unavailable for the sacrificial process, dude. They will simply dissapear the second they feel pain in the process. However this White Zetsus are special clones that will not dissapear no matter what damage they took, zetsus are special clones, as kisame said during his encounter with Killer Bee, Naruto, and Yamato. So basically the sacrifice needed in the ritual is a living and useable body, the one that exist and constant
As for Zetsus and their clones might or might not have a soul, I'm not sure about this one. They have their own mind, they talk very much, and they have a free will, yet they can be cultivated freely with Hashirama Living Clone.


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Where did Tobi get his left eye from?
Thinking back about Tobi's battle with Konan, he used Izanagi to escape from Konan's ultimate technique!
I searched through blogs and Narutopedia but couldn't get the source of his left eye, that he used to overcome Konan's ultimate technique.

Although it is not explicitly stated as such, he supposedly gathered several Sharingans during the Uchiha incident.
This "cupboard" in the room where he operated on Sasuke is probably where he preserves his "collection". He has been showed standing next to it on one or two other occasions.

Was he the one accompanied itachi in 'uchiha pursuit'

if yes then it is very much clarified ..

It is known that Itachi knew Tobi and his grudge for the Uchiha clan before he did the massacre. Also, it was essentially Danzo who ordered Itachi to massacre the clan. When Tobi meets Danzo during the Five Kage meeting, he remarks that they had not met since the Uchiha incident, which implies that Tobi was also somehow involved with it. We later learned that Danzo gathered 10 Sharingans during that massacre, so Tobi probably took the rest.

So here we have to look at Tobi's left eye. The one he used for izagani. I researched a bit into it and looked into Sharingan user eyes since it struck me as very familiar. I realized Madara's EMS looked very similar to it, and I decided to look up his brother's eyes since EMS is a combination. The bottom picture of the Sharingan eye is Madara's brother, Izuna Uchiha, eye. Taken that Madara saved Obito/Tobi, I believe that when Madara died, he took his eyes. However this is a theory, but the eyes are very similar.

You'd do a bit better with more evidence than just a picture.  There's nothing to suggest that this isn't an error in how the manga itself was drawn, and I don't think that this particular scene when animated indicated this specific tomoe pattern.

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


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How does Mikoto know about the Sisters before the Sister's Arc?
Misaka Mikoto seems to know about the sisters before the Sister's-arc, as she says both in the prologue of the first LN and the Railgun-manga:

Have you heard how my DNA map was supposedly analyzed and military Sisters were created based on it?

How did Mikoto know about the Sisters back then? She found out during the Sisters Arc (which happened later) that the Sisters exist and the rumor just spread then, too (at least it seems to me). How could she tell Touma about them?

Something I noticed is that Railgun episodes are not in chronological order according to the actual Index series. For example, some episodes in Railgun season 2 are actually supposed to take place before some of the episodes in Railgun season 1.

After Mikoto meets Nunotaba Shinobu, she starts investigating her and finds her connection with the 7th Medical Research Center, who were researching her DNA map to create an army of level 5 clones.
This is covered in the Railgun manga and Railgun S anime.
Initially she thought the Sisters project was abandoned because the clones would only be Level 3 (thus not realizing the plan for an army of Level 5 clones), but it's not until later that she realizes the Sisters were utilized for the Level 6 Shift project.

The quote you have provided comes from the first of the light novels, which take place on July 19.

It was July 19th.
  The fault lay in that date. Because summer vacation would start the next day...

The Railgun version of the Sisters arc extends from August 10 to August 22, according to the wiki.
So Misaka had heard rumours about the Sisters for weeks, at least, before coming face-to-face with one.
The full version of your quote goes:

“Hah. Don’t make me laugh. What is all this about the ‘brain of god’? Have you heard about the supposed military Sisters created based on an analysis of my DNA map? It seems to me these lucrative side effects are more important than that objective.”

If you read the Railgun manga version of that encounter, you will see that Misaka has an expression on her face like 'Really? People actually believe that?'
Given how distressed she was when she found out the Sisters were real, I think it is safe to assume this was a rumour that she heard but dismissed as ridiculous.
Considering that the Sisters had been operating outside for some time, it is hardly inconceivable that rumours of their existence had sprouted.
EDIT: Rereading the third novel led me to this quote:

However, recently there had been a rumor spreading throughout Academy City that her DNA map had been used to create military Sisters. It wasn’t that rare an occurrence. Mikoto was one of the seven Level 5s and a scholarship student at the prestigious powers development school of
  Tokiwadai Middle School. There had been countless baseless rumors like that about her. That was why she had not believed the rumor.
Or perhaps she had simply not wanted to believe it.

Railgun S starts shortly before Index and continues through the different arcs just from Misaka's point of view. Railgun however is the prelude to Index and most of it takes place way before Index. Later on it catches up and things start happening at similar moments in time. Because both Railgun and Railgun S happen at similar points in time and move at a similar pace in stands to reason that they are happening at the same time. Events will happen in Railgun, than the sister's arc in Railgun S, and than back to some of the other events in Railgun and so on and so forth.

The question is awfully outdated and wrong and since I have read the manga now, I know that it has nothing to do with the anime. I'll rephrase the question so it's clear what I wanted to know.

You should probably just ask a new question next time, instead of completely editing another one to ask a new question.


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Why do the eyes of a bounded soul glow?
If I didn't miss one, all souls that were bound to armors have glowing eyes.

Why do their eyes glow? It must somehow be connected to the bounded soul, as they stop glowing if the heads lose connection to the rest of the armor, but how? And can they still see, if the head is loose?
Source of the images: Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki

Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/q/3547/274 ... Also, note that this is not wholly true: It is later revealed that Slicer is in fact two people; the second does not have eyes at all. (It seems to only affect helmets.)

@Eric yeah, I also noticed that. But still, it seems like he can see something ...

Yes, he can, as the soul is basically combined with the armor to form one cohesive unit. (Take a look at this question. It's not an exact explanation, but you have to give some credit to creative liberty.)

In many cultures, the eyes are regarded as the doorway/path to your soul. Therefore, in many ways, eyes are often manipulated to show the will/emotions/drive of the creature in question (and by creature, I include animals, aliens, humans, anime-pseudo-beings and all other lifeforms that are shown with eyes).
In contrast, what does not have eyes, we often perceive as dead. Even creatures that are presented without eyes, often carry a bandage og other device covering the area where the eyes would normally be shown.
To give life and passion to a character in a show, they have to be designed with eyes or other seemingly visual-oriented details.
Also notice: Often bigger eyes are pictured as more passionate, while small/tiny eyes are often used to convey negative traits.


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Why does text in anime read horizontally?
It is my understanding that Japanese text is written top-to-bottom.  I think the Japanese manga also follow this format:

That was a quick Google search so not even sure it is real.
However, watching Anime, I've noticed that the text seems to be horizontal.  Why is that?

Japanese can be written either horizontally or vertically. Vertical writing is known as tategaki (縦書き) and is notably used in manga. When writing vertically, columns of text are read top-to-bottom, right-to-left, which is why manga panels are also read this way. Horizontal writing is called yokogaki (横書き) and is written left-to-right, top-to-bottom exactly as English text is. There's also an obsolete form, migi yokogaki (右横書き), which is read horizontally but right-to-left; this is only used in a couple of series for stylistic reasons. The orientation of the characters in all of these styles of writing is the same.
Both styles can be found in anime. I think it is probably true that horizontal writing is more common than vertical writing, but it depends on the format of the writing. In general, horizontal writing is the more modern style, which was adopted during the Meiji era to conform to western styles of writing. Traditionally Japanese is written vertically (this tradition originates in China as do most Japanese linguistic traditions). The Meiji era is also when the Japanese language was really standardized (before that it was basically a collection of regional dialects), so naturally this was a time when a lot of changes were made to the language and partial adoption of horizontal writing is just one of them.
In terms of usage, vertical writing is used in newspapers, novels, calligraphy, and manga, while horizontal writing is used for academic writing, computer text, and many other everyday tasks. The text you see in anime is usually fairly representative of what direction it would typically be written in Japan. Likewise, in manga, text other than dialogue (e.g. on signs) often appears both horizontally and vertically. For anime, when there is flashing text on the screen not part of any signs (e.g. in Bakemonogatari), these are more frequently horizontal, probably because television screens are oriented horizontally (landscape), but there are examples of vertical writing in such cases as well.
Here's an example from Monogatari Series Second Season (episode 7) with both tategaki and migi yokogaki writing. The sign on the left is written vertically, while the ones on the right is horizontal but right-to-left.

Here's an example of flashing text from the same episode, written with ordinary yokogaki (left-to-right) writing:

It might also be worth noting that around the time of the Meiji Restoration, the practice of writing horizontally right-to-left also existed (thought it quickly died out thereafter). The only place I've seen this used extensively in anime is in the Monogatari series, where all horizontal typography that's part of the environment (e.g. signboards, books, etc.) is right-to-left.

@senshin Yes, that's true. It's mentioned in the wiki link I provided, but I couldn't think of any examples of it so I didn't mention it. But now that you mention it I have seen it in the Monogatari series.

The right-to-left writing was not actually a horizontal writing per se; it was only a special case of vertical writing with one character on each line.

@Asa How can you tell the difference between the two?

@LoganM Well, you would definitely notice siht ekil etirw I fi wouldn't you? Besides, r-to-l has already been phased out. Newspapers and documents switched from 1-letter vertical (r-to-l) to l-to-r from 1946 to early 50s, during American occupation following WW2. Nowadays r-to-l only occurs in limited contexts, such as: 1) when you want to have classical-style looks (the case in Bakemonogatari), 2) when you do traditional calligraphy, 3) when you write on the side of a right-facing vehicle. (You write on vehicles front-to-back.)

@Asa Yes, I can tell the difference between ordinary r-to-l and l-to-r writing in Japanese, but I can't tell the difference between r-to-l on a single line and vertical writing with a single line in the same way that I can't tell if English text is being written bottom-to-top or top-to-bottom when it's on a single line. Anyway, the anime senshin was talking about is Bakemonogatari which you mention as an example of r-to-l writing, so I think we all agree. I don't know of any other examples of r-to-l writing. It's questionable whether it even deserves a mention but I added it for completeness.

@LoganM Yes, what you get with "single-character vertical" is 100% equivalent to what you might call "r-to-l horizontal". In fact, you could argue that the very concept of writing a Japanese text horizontally was absent. Only when we look back at those "single-character vertical" writings, we perceive them as "r-to-l horizontal".

@LoganM: Yes, single-line right-to-left does deserve a mention - in real life in Japan (and, though a bit less often, in China), big horizontal panels that represent something traditional (a traditional restaurant, a shrine) are usually written that way. (and if you want an example in anime, then the Akabeko sign in Rurouni Kenshin qualifies).

Thanks for the answer, it was very informative.  I probably should have clarified but I was originally thinking of text that appeared in credits, titles, and non-in-show elements.

@snailboat You have a point. Your example corresponds to pattern 3) of what I wrote earlier, but that would be better described as a special case of horizontal writing, which might go either left or right depending on the side of the vehicle, if you think about its symmetry. (Additional note: The long vowel marker is a modern invention for borrowed words from foreign languages.)

I remember seeing migi yokogaki in Steel Angel Kurumi, which is set in the Tousha era (1912-1926). As in Bakemonogatari, you tend to see it on horizontal signs, like those above the stall at a festival.

I was originally thinking of text that appeared in credits, titles, and non-in-show elements.

Very well. Credits and titles.
Yokogaki (horizontal) titles are more common in anime, most likely due to the fact that TV screens are horizontal. For the case of Oreimo, the title on the light novel cover was tategaki (because the book is in tategaki writing) but was changed to yokogaki in the anime while retaining the font.

Nothing prevents anybody from opting for a tategaki anime title, however. An example can be seen in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but you can see that the layout is pretty tight.

Same thing with credits. Yokogaki is more common, but you can find tategaki credits from time to time. For example, ED of Nichijou as seen below. It's all a matter of layout and aesthetics.


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Is there an audio commentary for Ghost In The Shell series and movies?
I'd like to know if there are audio commentaries from the creators of GITS series and movies. Of all the things I've seen GITS has the most unexplained moments, so I'd like to find out what those things could mean. I'm also interested in commentary for the new Arise series.
I also think asking a bunch of separate questions might not be the best idea, so I'd like to find out some answers by myself listening to the commentary track(s).

Asking a bunch of separate questions is this site's raison d'être.

@coleopterist well, I'm not sure if it'll be worth it, but I'll try and write down everything I'd like to know the next time I'm rewatching the whole thing and see if something might be interesting for others. You know, there's a close reason for questions that won't probably help any future visitors, so I'm just trying to avoid that.

I don't know all versions, but at least in my DVD-Box (SAC), there were only some interviews with the team, no direct commentaries.

I found a page that lists Blu-Ray sets you can buy for SAC, and those contain audio commentaries. That indicates that there are audio commentaries, but I'm not sure if they can be gotten not on the Blu-Ray set. As far as I can tell, there is no audio commentary for Arise, but considering that it hasn't been released on any sort of disc form, that might change.
On Wikipedia, it says about the original Ghost in the Shell film that:

Manga Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray on November 24, 2009; this version contains the original film and the remastering, but omits the audio commentary and face-to-face interview with Oshii which was listed on its box.

But from what I can tell, the 2004 DVD release and the 2007 Blu-Ray releases have the commentary, and the 2004 special edition also included things like character dossiers and a creator's biography.

Arise hasn't been fully released yet, maybe they'll add commentary in future when there are more episodes.

That's what I figured.


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In the real world, can a network of compromised computers break encryption in parallel?
In the Bloody Monday Manga, in Chapter 3, the protagonist hacks several computers and uses P2P technology as a front to force them to decrypt a certain file.
Can this also be applied in the real world, and has such an event actually happened before?

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about computers/technology. Even though this happened in a manga, asking whether it's possible IRL is outside of the scope of this site.

Short answer
Yes.
Long answer
With a malware infested P2P network, what you are working on is called a botnet.

A botnet is a collection of computers that are under the control of a person or group, usually facilitated by malware. These computers are often used to take part in DDoS attacks and spamming.

It's pretty much illegal to have a botnet in the vast majority of the world, but assuming you had one... yes, it's very possible. There have been cases where botnets (like several game "Anti Cheat" systems such as PunkBuster; anyone who is banned is forced to be actively ignored by every member of the botnet system, and they will relay it on to everyone else) have been used for massively expensive computations in parallel to do things such as mine bitcoins.
Parallel processing isn't just restricted to botnets, however. "Cloud Computing" is a form of parallel processing. As are programs for highly intensive research, requiring a supercomputer (such as folding@home). Without this, we wouldn't have MapReduce, the algorithm behind Google Search, either.
Misconceptions
Like every piece of Anime or Manga, there'll always be something overlooked.

Parallel processing is explainable with batteries in parallel, but overlook substantial amounts of detail such as concurrency and scalability.
Limewire's known for turning your PC into a living colony of viruses. There's no "Single Virus" that created a botnet from it.
"P2P" does not mean warez and torrent sites/programs, however much the media may be trying to push that. It's a system for distributed computing that just happens to be a great way to share data with low bandwidth.


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When was the start of the multiple story-line?
According to Photokano, Yosuga no Sora and Amagami-SS (series that adapted from Visual Novel) are animated as multiple story-lines in one series. When did this trend begin, and which anime might be earliest version?

Short answer: Amagami SS was probably the first anime of this type.
Long answer: First, let's get some terminology down. Anime in which multiple storylines without shared continuity are released as a single production are typically referred to as "omnibus" anime. Omnibus anime are typically (though not necessarily always) adapted from visual novels or other computer games, which lend themselves well to separate continuities,* and typically have each continuity correspond to the protagonist's relationship with a particular person.
To clarify what "omnibus" means, let me point out some anime that are not considered omnibus by this definition.

Clannad is not an omnibus anime because there is a single continuity. Everything Tomoya (the protagonist) experiences during Kotomi's arc (episodes 10-14) stays with him (and everyone else) from episode 15 onwards.
Amnesia is not an omnibus anime even though the timeline gets reset every few episodes, since the protagonist remembers what happened to her before each reset.

With this definition of "omnibus" in place, the question, then, is: which was the first omnibus anime?
There is strong evidence from the archives of /a/ that the term "omnibus" only began to be used in this sense starting in July 2010. This is the same month that Amagami began airing. A perusal of those discussions strongly suggests that the omnibus format was a novel innovation in anime at the time. Furthermore, I cannot find any references to omnibus-style anime existing prior to Amagami SS. Taken together, all this evidence leads me to believe that Amagami SS was the first omnibus anime.
Aside: as Logan M noted in a comment, omnibus-style manga have existed for a long time. Amagami SS's use of the omnibus format was novel only for its medium, not for Japanese popular media in general or anything like that.
*For example, most visual novels tagged "Multiple Endings" on VNDB (including Amagami) have separate continuities. There's a lot of them.

Why wouldn't the first Higurashi anime not be multiple story lines in a single show?

@JonLin There is an in-universe reason for the different arcs in Higurashi. I'd rather not spoil it here for those who haven't finished the series. The backstories in the different arcs are also a bit different, though most of it remains the same. Personally, I think Higurashi could go either way, but Amagami SS is the first one that is clearly omnibus.


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What exactly happens to a Titan's body after it is killed?
I just started watching the anime and I haven't read much of the manga so I don't know if it is explained further on.
We all know a Titan's body gives off extreme heat, from an encounter Eren had with the Colossal Titan and an episode where they learned this in class.
In episode 6, when Mikasa killed a Titan, we saw the body still giving off heat..

..and a few minutes later it was pretty badly burnt, unrecognizable in fact.

Later in episode 7 when Eren in his Titan form attacks another and beats it to a pulp, we see that the process has somewhat accelerated? At first I thought the body eventually burned away but this one was different than the first. All of the Titan's flesh was gone.

So, what exactly happens to a Titan's body structure after it is killed? Does the heat burn it up now that it cannot regenerate or what?

In episode 15, "Special Operations Squad: Prelude to the Counterattack, Part 2" where Zoe Hange has those 2 captured titans (which she named "Sawney" and "Bean"), she mentions that the Titans seem unusually light for how large they are, and that a severed arm of one of the titans weighed nothing, which allows such large bodies to move so quickly with great agility.
Though, at least so far in the anime and manga, there's no explanation to their physiology or what exactly happens after they die, it's probably the case that their solid state is being maintained by their mysterious "power source" and that once the source of power is gone (and thus cannot regenerate), their physical bodies (sans skeleton) return to the form of some type of gas.
So, to summarize this completely unsubstantiated speculation:

Titan's bodies are actually made up of some type of gaseous substance that weighs nothing
While alive, with its "power source", the gaseous substance takes on the form of solid flesh-like material, but still incredibly light
Without this "power source", the flesh returns to the gaseous state and evaporates.
This may or may not have to do with the extremely high body temperature that the titans have.

I watched up to 18 and the gaseous substance theory seems spot on, it would also explain somewhat how the colossal titan is able to appear out of thin air. Nice answer.

@iKlsR: Actually, it should be rather obvious how the colossal and the armored actually appear out of thin air, after all you saw to this point :). Think about it a little.

so does that explain why there isn't regular people corpses mixed in with the titan corpses as they die? Or are there? which regular people corpses are there?

If i remember correctly, the titans just puke out the human corpses

Because Titans are so big and they move with such speed and force they are constantly producing enough heat to burn flesh (remember when Hanji touched Eren's arm when he tried to pick up the spoon and it scalded her after a second?) So when the Titans die, they stop regenerating and the heat begins to damage the flesh resulting in them burning.
At least I assume so, it makes sense they are always repairing their bodies and they're so hot they can burn people. Plus, in the last episode of the anime,

 Eren bursts into flames increasing his body temperature to such a degree his Titan form is in overdrive, making him essentially a "Super Titan", but if you notice, he doesn't regenerate at all in this form because he's so hot his regeneration can't keep the damage at bay.

Just a guess, but it would fit the idea of the anime.

Titans actually get their power from sunlight. Major Zoe Hange says this as when she deprives them of light they seem to deactivate and can't do anything.
Annie didn't want to go into the dark because she couldn't transform in the dark area, and also Eren when he kept biting his hand but there was no sunlight, he couldn't transform. Light shines when the titan shifters change, and the light seems to come from the sky so my guess is that it is sunlight.
Also the nape seems to be a solar panel because when cut the titans go out like light. Blow out a candle and see what happens smoke goes out; the titans seem to be hard light manifestations.
So in conclusion titans are like fire and the nape is like were they get their source. Titans fade away when they die like smoke.


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Why are the 'things' that are created from human transmutation so randomly generated?
This has been bugging me for a while but why are the 'things' that are created from human transmutation (Which has been stated is impossible) so randomly generated.
Ed and Al set out to transmute their dead mother but turns out to create some weird thing which was later identified to be some random male with black hair.

If anything why doesn't the end result of the transmutation be something more similar to what they initially wanted to revive? Why male not female? Why black hair not brown hair?
Additionally, what are they actually, other than failed outcomes of human transmutation?

Essentially, human transmutation was depicted to be impossible to do.
The reason why it doesn't look what they intended it to look like is because they just screwed up that hard.
What they ended up with was something kinda sorta vaguely human, but only barely.
From looking at the picture you've posted, a lot of the pieces of a human are there, but they're not all correctly done and they're not all in the right place. It really doesn't look that random to me; if anything, it looks like a predictable (while still major) screw-up.

"It really doesn't look that random to me" but something else occured when the gold-teeth doctor was transmutated at the end of BH.

@ZoltánSchmidt That's because Pride and Mustang knew almost nothing about Human Transmutation, and Mustang was there against his will; it makes sense that the two of them would not be able to produce something remotely human.


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How do summoning jutsus work?
Let's have a back drop on the story, the Third Hokage shows Jiraya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru his summoning technique. This intrigues Jiraya and he too tries to perform the jutsu without making a blood seal with an animal. As a result he is teleported to Mount Myoboku, where the Toads live. He trains there for some time.
Here lies my first question, until later into his training Jiraya had not made a blood seal with the toads, so how did he get to mount Myoboku to undergo his trainings? The reverse kuchiyose should only work when there is a blood seal with the animal. Going to Mount Myoboku on foot is a long and tiresome journey, so this possibility too is cancelled out. So, in order to go to Mound Myoboku did he use the kuchiyose no jutsu every time?
My other question is what decides which animal a shinobi is to bond with? There is a wide range of creatures that one can choose from, but certainly there must be some sort of compatibility to be worried about. What made Jiraya decide a toad summon would be best for Naruto?
Has anything that can substantiate the above points been mentioned in the manga?

That part which you describe is 100% filler. It was never described in the manga, nor any mentioning how Jiraiya got his blood contract.

Nope, it isn't explained at all.
The background you described is 100% filler and was never described in the manga, so using the Summoning Jutsu without a blood pact doesn't necessarily teleport you randomly.
As for which animal is suitable for which. Jiraiya seemingly decided to give Naruto the frog contract because he had the contract himself, (not to mention that Naruto's father, Minato, also had a blood contract with frogs).
I don't think there's a requirement of any sort, but that's just guessing. The entire technique is cloaked in mystery.
See my answer on this other question: How to summon a different animal using Kuchiyose?

I think using Kuchiyose just transports you to the animal you have an affinity for if you have not already signed a pact

@AmithKK: We don't know. It never happened in canon Naruto, only in a filler.

The summoning jutsu is similar to time-space ninjutsu in that it connects two dimensions together for instant travel. For this to happen one must make a blood contract with a summons. How this takes place is unknown and unexplained, but it was stated that jariya found the hidden entrance to mount Myoboku and trained there. It can be assumed that after his training he acquired a contract with the toads. He then made a contract for minato and later naruto. Other people may have been able to make contracts like this as well as orochimaru was seen finding the entrance to the cave of the snakes. How tsunade made a contract with the slugs is unknown (and wether there is more than one slug).
On the question of compatibility there does seem to be conscious decision when picking a summons, however it does not inhibit a signing of a contract. Jariya happened to have fire which worked well with the toads oil and naruto happened to develope wind nature which happened to work well with the toads water but this was found out some 2.5 years later after he signed the contract. And minato seemingly had no natures yet he still has a contract. I would say that it strongly influences a decision to make a contract seal but does not dictate a sealing.
And on the basis of jariya's movements between mount Myoboku and the real world it can be assumed that he made a contract upon his first stumbling upon the mountain, and from the on used the reverse summoning to go back for his training over the years.

Just like how every shinobi has a unique nature for Ninjutsu. All shinobi have unique summonings.
Not ALL summonings need contracts, in Sasukes and Madaras case they can summon animals without contracts. Sasuke simply placed his hawk under genjutsu and bound the hawk to servitude probably after finding it in an unknown location. Jugo probably lead him to it.
Madara found the Nine Tails during his journey around the 5 Great Nations. And put it under a simple genjutsu bounding it to a contract for summoning.
Maybe sasukes summoning isnt genjutsu bound but his summoning can't talk AT ALL. Only kishi could explain.

You make several claims which you present as facts. Do you have any proof of your assumptions?

Why do you think it was a simple Genjutsu?


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What convinced Saber to destroy the Holy Grail in the Unlimited Blade Works movie?
I've been watching Fate Stay Night and Unlimited Blade Works (movie). Haven't seen the manga yet.
In Fate Stay Night, Saber is determined to obtain the Holy Grail. After many experiences with Shirou, he convinces her that it is pointless, and so she accepts to destroy it. Shirou convinced her mainly because he wanted her to stay and have a normal life.
In the Unlimited Blade Works movie, there's no hint of major affection from Shirou towards Saber (who seems to be more interested in Rin). In fact, so many things happen so quickly that Saber even ends up as Rin's servant (so Shirou's relationship with her was like... null).
When the Grail is being summoned by Gilgamesh in Unlimited Blade Works, Saber doesn't even hesitate about destroying the Grail.
So in the Unlimited Blade Works movie, exactly what convinced Saber to destroy it?
I didn't really get UBW's plot very well though. I'm not sure if there was something especially wrong with that Grail that made it useless for Saber. Was there?

Just so you know, the original source is a visual novel, not a manga. I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know how accurately they followed the VN (or even which of the two UBW endings was adapted), but Saber's actions do make sense in the VN IIRC.

@LoganM: Oh, I see. Maybe they did address it but I just wasn't paying attention. I'll check it out, thanks!

Sorry, I might have misunderstood you. Did you mean the Unlimited Blade Works movie, or the UBW route from the Visual Novel? I thought you were talking about the movie, (which I don't know about) but rereading your post I'm not sure anymore.

@LoganM: I did mean the movie. Sorry, I'll clear it up.

That's frigging' great.  Even titles need spoiler tags...

@Sung not really, the only questions i can find which have a "spoiler tag" in the title has it at the end in which case if the title is a spoiler wouldn't do anything, and i think almost every other time if a "spoiler tag" is in the title it gets edited out later. Anyway if you don't want to read question titles for a series you don't want to be spoiled about, add that series to Preferences > Ignored Tags and set it to hide the questions.

@Memor-X Thanks for your kind instructions ;)

In the movie, as Rin was carrying Shinji out, she told Saber to destroy the Holy Grail "cocoon" (Shinji was too weak and incompatible to be able to contain the Grail, so this "cocoon" is the result of it manifesting).
Saber she was hesitant because Rin was still there, but she knew that if the cocoon were to explode the cursed contents would destroy everything it touched. So destroying the cocoon would be natural to her in this situation.
The movie plays out almost exactly as the visual novel scenario, with a few bits and pieces cut out for time. E.g., Saber tries to cross the pond of corrupted mud to save Rin, but Rin uses a Command Seal to prevent her from doing so (because she would be corrupted by the cursed mud if she touched it).
About the corruption of the Grail:
The contents of the Grail was corrupted during the Third Fuyuki Grail War, which allowed for the summoning of non-Heroic Spirits such as Rider and Caster. Any wish made upon this upon the Grail's corrupted contents would come with destruction. The Lesser Grail, the container meant to hold the contents of the Holy Grail was destroyed in the previous Grail War (the Fourth, by Saber, commanded by Shirou's foster father Kiritsugu using his command seal).

I believe in all cases a command seal was necessary for her to attack the grail. In Fate she specifically says Shirou must command her, since acquisition of the grail was basically the entire purpose of a servant in general and her in particular. As such she could not willingly attack it. Kiritsugu was forced to use two seals to make her attack, as she resisted because she did not understand the danger and evil in the grail.


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About Hanekawa, Golden weeks and possession occurences
I'm rewatching the first season of Bakemonogatari and it still confuses me how Hanekawa (in episode 10) was already known to be possessed by Black Hanekawa. I'm not sure about the timeline of this either, because burial of a roadkill white cat happens during the first season's episode and it doesn't look like it was a flashback moment. It also looks like in that same episode (1 year after the flashback?), the possession symptoms reappear in form of headaches, so I'm confused about when this all happens.
Black Hanekawa says in a flashback "If this stress is not dealt with within a year..." and then she gets suppressed by Shinobu. Does that mean a year has passed?
When does the possession begin and when does that flashback scene happen?
How many repeated possession occurrences are in the anime now?

Have you watched Nekomonogatari (Black)? If not, do so. Parts of the Tsubasa Cat arc in Bakemonogatari are flashbacks, and parts aren't, and it isn't really made clear which are which in Bakemonogatari, but many of the scenes are shown again in Neko (Black), which makes it more clear how this all plays out chronologically. (Note that you should watch Nisemonogatari before Nekomonogatari (Black).)

I've watched it all and re-watching everything again, but the timeline doesn't seem to clear up very well for me :\

If I recall correctly, I considered the scene you talk about indeed a flashback. Would that solve it?

There were 3 cases when Hanekawa was possessed.

 1. During Golden week after the events of Kizumonogatari but before the events of the first season. The events are animated in Nekomonogatari (Black) / Tsubasa Family and there is a flashback to this in first season, i.e. Tsubasa Cat arc (although slightly different, because Nekomonogatari wasn't written yet). The cause was Hanekawa's stress from her family life. It is also during this time the cat is buried. This is resolved by Shinobu draining her energy.

 2. After the events of Nadeko Snake, Black Hanekawa appears again as part of the Tsubasa Cat arc in the first season. This time the stress is caused by Hanekawa's unrequited love for Araragi. No cat burial happens. Again, this is solved by having Shinobu drain her energy.

 3. During Nekomonogatari (White) / Tsubasa Tiger, Black Hanekawa appears for the last time, but this time not caused by stress but as an oddity created as an ally for Hanekawa. This is after Tsukihi Phoenix and before Mayoi Jiangshi. After those events, Black Hanekawa disappears by being absorbed into Hanekawa.

The timeline is pretty clear, but I think the first season might be slightly confusing, because there is flashback to the events of Golden Week, but those are slightly different because those events weren't fully written yet.


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Why does Kimura Kaere always threaten to sue people?
At the beginning of her first appearance, Itoshiki Sensei explains about how foreigners always threaten to sue other people over the tiniest thing. And in a later episode Kimura Kaere often says she'll sue surrounding people after accidentally(?) flashing her panties, or anything that can be considered sexual harassment. Is this something like a parody about how Japanese see a foreigner? Or is this just simply her character?

I'm pretty sure it's a foreign stereotype (mostly of the U.S.), that people over there will sue over anything.
From ANN:

Kaere Kimura, a half-Japanese, half-foreign girl from abroad, who embodies all stereotypes about foreigners.

She also has other stereotypical traits of foreigners and continually talks about how things are done in her country, which seem to get stranger and stranger as the show goes on. It's never revealed which country she is from though (and this is a running gag).
Her boisterous personality is also designed to contrast with the other side of her split personality, who is shy and quiet.


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Why do Yuko's poems always end in 'Mogami River'?
Several times during the anime, Yūko Aioi ends her short haikus with 'Mogami River'.
I've read on the Wikipedia page for Mogami River that Matsuo Bashō used it in at least one of his poems, but I can't much written about it, so it seems to me to be not a well-known feature of his poems.
Is this the correct reason for the inclusion of the line, or is there an alternative reason?

(I couldn't find an image with subtitles, so hopefully this is a correct example)

Matsuo Basho wrote several hokku as he traveled along the Mogami River (Mogamigawa) in the 15th century. It's not a feature of his poems, but rather the subject of them (it's a lovely boat ride).

It's a lot easier to do 5-7-5 and reference nature when you have a final line of length 5 (mo+ga+mi+ga+wa) that you stick in to every poem because Yuuko can't think of a whole haiku (was my takeaway).

@MarkS. I guess you could post that as an answer, since it looks legit for a comedy series.

According to this academic site, while it is not a kigo (season word), the mogami river is well known in Japanese haiku.
I imagine Yuuko has trouble thinking of an entire 5-7-5 poem, and so she just reuses this famous line for that reason.


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Why are people who haven't done anything wrong taken into custody?
I watched the first two episodes, and the anime was really interesting. Why are people who have a high number on the psycho-pass shot? In episode one, the victim was shot because she had a huge number on the psycho-pass. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Crime Coefficient is a measure of a target's probability/propensity to commit a crime. The MWPSB uses it as a measurement to determine if a target is a latent criminal or otherwise.
It is calculated and determined by the stress level (Hue), and other biological readings of a person via cymatic scan through the Sibyl System.
Level of Crime Coefficient

Under 100 - Suspect is not a target for enforcement action. The trigger of Dominator will be locked.
100 to 300 - Suspect is classified as a latent criminal and is a target for enforcement action. Dominator is set to Non-lethal Paralyzer mode. Suspect can then be knocked out using the Dominator.
Over 300 - Suspect poses a serious threat to the society. Lethal force is authorized. Dominator will automatically switch to Lethal Eliminator. Suspect that is hit by Lethal Eliminator will bloat and explode.

Source

Make sure to check your crime coefficient!
Unhappily my coefficient is of 420 so I no longer belong to this world.

I also got 420. Wonder if it's set to show the same result to everyone.

@user1306322 or perhaps we are just way over the board, but I don't think so I did with a different name and got it below 200.

I got 298 with my real name. So close to being executed. I wonder how in the world can that software determine my crime coefficient with only my name?

And anyone got a coefficient below 100? Is that possible with this sfotware? And, just like Sibyl, can the software determine the crime coefficient of itself? 420, probably? +1 for Kirito Kamui if he can force this software to do the same as what he forced Sibyl to do before his death.

When a person's criminal rating reaches a certain point (a high number, somewhere in the range 200~400) and they are not yet considered criminal, it's still counted as "dangerous" or "very likely to become criminal soon", and so they are taken away for hospitalization and psychological treatment.
In the first episodes, a woman suffers a trauma caused by criminal actions around her. Her criminal rating spikes to a dangerously high value, at some point she even holds a weapon in her hands, which is as close to becoming a criminal as it gets. Naturally, she would fall into "dangerous, but not yet criminal" category.
Sometimes people are shot on place if the risk is too high. Sometimes a detective makes a different decision, like apprehend such a person and take them into custody, or just leave them. You should see the rest of the series to find out more on that.


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How do the cards work?
I've seen these cards in several series now including Arcana Famaglia, and more recently in Nobunaga the Fool, where Da Vince shows Jeanne du Arc a set of cards after which she draws one. And Da Vince makes some sort of prophesy.
So what is the thing they do with the cards called. And how exactly does it work ?

You're probably talking about Tarot cards.
Tarot cards are occult magic cards used for telling fortunes and predicting someone's future and upcoming events in life. Mystics and magicians use them as part of their image. It's not exclusive to anime, you can see them in real life, western cartoons, movies and tv series. They're kind of like Magic orbs/crystals and Ouija boards.


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Why is Misato Tachibana always shooting Koujirou Sasahara?
Whenever Sasahara does something mildly inappropriate in Tachibana's presence, such as playing video games under the desk or reading a manga while he's supposed to be working on some sort of school assignment, Tachibana reacts out of proportion and unleashes a barrage of deadly firepower, but he doesn't even react to that. What's this supposed to mean?

I think you're trying a bit too hard to find deep meaning in Nichijou - it's one of those shows where things just are, often without rhyme or reason. How come nobody is ever curious about Nano's screw? Why is Hakase a genius? What's the deal with the flowing-noodles joint? And seriously, go-soccer? That's surreal comedy for you.

@senshin there are gags that are obviously ridiculous and too surreal to have a meaning, but some are hyperbolized reactions which do seem to make sense.

That is because Tachibana is a Tsundere, she even got her own slang term of it due to her extreme tsundere attitude, called GUNdere.

Misato Tachibana is a peach haired high school girl who generally acts cold towards Koujirou whenever he does anything that reminds her of how she likes him, or simply doing anything at all. She is a member of the Kendo club.
Misato's feelings usually materialize as assault with various guns and heavy weaponry that come out of nowhere, which Koujirou miraculously survives despite being injured, and just turns white with the dust. In reality Misato has feelings for Koujirou, but due to her tsundere attitude, she constantly denies her feelings and shoots Koujirou. She somehow manages to always trace everything back to Koujirou in conversations, even when he wasn't involved in it, leading her to wildly deny accusations, such as marriage and children, that nobody said. - Wiki


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Why weren't CP9 at the battle in Marineford Arc?
I'm just curious as to why weren't the CP9 members present at marine ford during the Whitebeard war.
They are also a part of marines and are even the strongest Soru users so is there any specific reason as to why they weren't there?

The reason is simple: they are no longer under the World Government, and have been declared as fugitives. The side story CP9's Independent Report covers what the CP9 members did after the Enies Lobby arc. This side story was carried as a mini-series on cover pages of One Piece manga chapters 491 to 528.
Bruno used his Air Door to save the CP9 members from the Buster Call. On returning to the destroyed island after the Marine attack, Bruno and Jabra notice the Government forces are looking for them. Suspecting that Spandam plans to capture them, they flee the island to St. Poplar.
Rob Lucci sustained severe injuries in the fight against Luffy, so the other CP9 members work in St. Poplar to pay for his treatment. After Lucci's treatment, they defeat the Candy Pirates who attacked St. Poplar, and return to their hometown.
In the meantime, Spandam presumably blamed them for the Enies Lobby debacle and got them declared as fugitives. He sent Marine pursuers, led by Captain Very Good, to capture them. CP9 defeat the pursuers and set sail to high seas, after Rob Lucci tells Spandam over a Den Den Mushi that they would return.

and why are they (Spandam & Lucci ) working together as CP 0 then ? i doubt they will be buddy-buddy after Enies Lobby fiasco

@NamikazeSheena I agree, they are probably working together for some selfish purposes (like Crocodile joined Luffy temporarily during Marineford Arc), or maybe Spandam has "changed" (like Helmeppo working with Coby under Garp). It hasn't been revealed yet, but I would expect Oda to carry another side-story if they will play any important role in future.

@MaskedMan or someone stronger put them on leash (Like how crocodile controlling Baroque Works)


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Why are there so many cross-over episodes of One Piece and Toriko?
I've noticed that there has been many cross-over episodes involving One Piece and Toriko.
In fact, Toriko's first episode has One Piece characters in it.
Is there any kind of connection between both of the two series?

Some possible reasons:

The manga each is based on are run in the same magazine.
The anime are aired on the same TV channel in Japan on the same day.
The anime are made by the same company.

Sources:
anime info: http://www.mahou.org/Showtime/?o=ET
manga info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Shounen_Jump#Series

For celebrating the start of Toriko anime, a Special Collaboration with One Piece was made. A 1 hour special serving as Episode 1 of Toriko and Episode 492 for One Piece.
Year later at the 1st anniversary of Toriko and because of the success of the first collaboration, a second Toriko x One Piece Collaboration Special was announced. A 1 hour special serving as Episode 51 of Toriko and Episode 542 of One Piece.
A third collaboration special crossover was aired on April 7th, 2013, titled Dream 9 Toriko x One Piece x Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special. A 1 hour special featuring characters from Toriko, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z and serving as Episode 99 of Toriko and Episode 590 of One Piece.
Source: Here

There are so many collaborations between Toriko and One Piece because both manga-ka, Eechiro Oda and Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro are very good friends and rivals and they decided to make a crossover seens both manga are serialized on the Shonen Jump :D


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What are the differences between Anime and Manga?
I have often wondered, what are the differences between anime and manga? Furthermore, what are the differences between these two and what would be called "cartoons" to the rest of us?
Is this purely down to where in the world it's made or other cultural differences, or is there more to it?

Anime is a cartoon whereas Manga is a comic.

What are you even doing on this Stack site?

The following is mostly copied from my answer on Scifi to a very similar question.
Anime and Manga are two different storytelling media. They both originate in Japan, and are closely related, but are ultimately two different things. The confusion between the two arises mostly because it's often the case that the same story will have both an anime and a manga version. The terminology will vary a little bit depending on whether the person you talk to is a Japanese person or a westerner; I'll try to point out where this happens.

Anime (アニメ, a shortened form of アニメーション, which is literally "animation" when written as a loanword in Japanese) are Japanese animated cartoon videos. These air on television or are released to home video. Producing an anime is a large undertaking, and requires the work of an animation studio with a large number of people.
There is some debate as to whether non-Japanese cartoons qualify as anime. A Japanese person would say that any cartoons at all can be included as anime, including western series like Avatar: The Last Airbender or Spongebob Squarepants. The word "anime" in Japanese is almost exactly equivalent to "cartoon" in English. Most people outside Japan use the term solely to refer to Japanese-origin series, or at least those which are inspired significantly by Japanese anime (so Avatar might count, but Spongebob certainly wouldn't).

 An image from the Saint Seiya anime

Manga (漫画, which could be literally read as "whimsical drawings") are Japanese comics. Unlike anime, they're typically black and white. Manga are often used as the basis for anime, but not every anime is from a manga and most manga are never made into anime. Manga usually only require a small number of people to produce, at minimum a mangaka (who is the author, illustrator, and all other major roles) and an editor. Unlike western comic books, most manga are read right-to-left.
As with anime, Japanese fans wouldn't have much problem labeling comics from other countries as manga. In the English-speaking world, it's more complicated. OEL Manga (Original English Language Manga) is now a standard term for comics like Megatokyo which are inspired by manga but produced in English-speaking countries. There's also manhwa (Korean origin comics) and manhua (Chinese origin comics), both of which heavily borrow from manga. Japanese people would usually label all of these as Manga, but English-speakers will usually make the distinction.

 A couple of panels from the Saint Seiya manga

As for what differentiates anime from cartoons, I'd suggest you look at What differentiates anime from regular cartoons?. There's no universal answer, and different people have different approaches for defining anime. Here's a summary of the answers there:
Some people (I suspect most) choose to define anime as just "cartoons originating in Japan" in which case there's no fundamental difference between anime and cartoons. The only differences are in terms of what are more common tropes, plot points, etc. Anime does often tend to be somewhat more mature than western cartoons, if only because there is a significant fraction that is produced for consumption by adults (whereas the vast majority of western animation is not primarily marketed to adults).
However, there are also stylistic differences between most western cartoons and most Japanese anime, and some people like to include non-Japanese works which are strongly inspired by Japanese art styles and storytelling, e.g. the Avatar series. This is a trickier business since it becomes very subjective as to what exactly qualifies as anime, so most professional anime organizations (e.g. Anime News Network) stick to the first definition and prefer to call these works "anime-inspired" or some other similar terms.

Anime, is the Japanese word for "Animation"
Manga, is the Japanese word for "comic" although, people call them "graphic novels" all of a sudden
Though, most people, like myself, refer to "anime" and "manga" as "Japanese animation" and "Japanese comic", which, that is not what it means unless you added the Japanese word for "Japanese" in front of it... which would be highly confusing.... so anime and manga ;D
and also, the words "anime" and "manga" are both singular and plural. just for your future reference ^^
You can tell a manga apart from a comic because, the begining is at we consider the end. They read just so, "right-to-left"


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Different Eden of the East series?
So about 6-8 months ago I watched Eden of the east on Netflix and I really enjoyed it. It felt really original and I was totally hooked. I soon after watched the movies.
So today on "Source Fed nerd - Anime Club" they reviewed the anime and one of the hosts (Meg Turney) said something about that Eden of the East had different series.
I've watched:

Eden of the East (11 episodes)(Higashi no Eden)
Eden of the East the Movie I: The King of Eden (Higashi no Eden Gekijoban I: The King of Eden)
Eden of the East: Paradise Lost (Higashi no Eden Gekijôban II: Paradise Lost)

So the question is, what different Eden of the East, Seasons / Series / Movies are there?

That's basically all of it - the 11-episode TV series, and then the two movies. There's also a recap movie for the TV series called Air Communication, but there's no sense in watching it if you already watched the TV series.
In general, when you have questions about what anime exist for a given franchise, a good approach is to search for one of the anime on AniDB (e.g. AniDB's page for Eden of the East), and look at the "relation graph" for that anime (here's the one for Eden of the East). This shows all anime that are related in some way or another to the anime you were looking at. The relation graphs get kind of messy for huge universes like Gundam (see graph), but for most franchises, the relation graphs are quite useful.

Thanks so much, not just for the answer regarding my question but AniDB is new to me, look amazing! Good Answer!

+1 for sharing the site which also lists it resources which makes up for the fact it does not list the distributors

I would say that Air Communication is still worth watching even if you've watched the TV series, because it has audio commentary from the Eden club members that clarifies a lot of details about the events of the first series, and you get to learn a bit more about the Eden club members themselves.


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Are the martial art techniques in Kenichi real?
I've been wondering for a while are all the martial arts and martial art techniques in this series real? I used to be a former karate student, so I do know that the karate techniques used in the beginning 200~ chapters are legit.
As the series progressed, however, the karate techniques started to become a lot more complex and I have never even heard of them before.
Then they also started deviating from the standard martial arts and introduced some like pencak silat (which I never knew existed before).
If there are some fake styles or techniques, which ones are there*?
*Please don't use unreal fights to disprove. For example, when Akisame fought against that other master and they proceeded to counter-throw each others counter-throw, ultimately leaving them suspended in midair for half the chapter. The technique of a counter throw is real, but the manga just used it unrealistically.

Pencak Silat is a Martial Art used by Malay Clan which include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few more country nearby... I am one of the Silat Practitioner...

Check this for a list of the martial arts used in Kenichi.
Some of the martial arts are of course just fictional or adapted, like Nyakwondo (a combination of cat moves and Tae Kwon Do) and even Furinji's own style. However, majority of the martial arts in the manga/anime is still legitimate and--based on personal experience as a former wrestling competitor in university days--relatively accurate.
Also, I won't rightly consider "fake" some of the variations, as martial arts in real life are mostly just variation of one another. Kung Fu alone is credited for inspiring at least a couple of major styles, and die-hard practitioners and fans alike will call fake on these other inspired arts. However, I must admit that Kenichi deserves an amazing suspension of disbelief with some of them.
Also, a bit out-of-topic:

 I personally find it amusing that you're a karate practitioner and you don't know prior to Kenichi about Pencak Silat when it's one of the most murderous martial arts in the world. While most martial arts are developed in defense, the likes of Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and Pencak Silat are meant to utterly disable, maim, and outright kill opponents.

 Granted, Silat is a huge discipline, but the Pencak variant is the recognized national martial art of Indonesia and it's been shown to be highly effective (a movie even had tons of people using it, including the "regular" street mook), not to mention Hayato Furinji himself had some issues with the art's complexity.

Haha, I am American and watch UFC :D . I only know of a few styles, especially those beneficial in televised cage fights.

That's expected. As a wrestling practitioner and having a small foray into MMA, I must admit that--save Sambo or Pankration and the basics of Karate and such--much of Kenichi is not applicable in cage fighting.

I know the Furinji style is his own style, but how about moves like seikuken? Is that completely fabricated or is it real? I've noticed the Neji from Naruto also uses the same technique. As for things like Nyakwondo, I would just label that as an adaptation, not really a fake style.

I wouldn't necessarily call Seikuken as a move but more of a method. Given that it's a state of mind, I'd say it's about as real as a kiai's energy boost: it's there, but there's no properly documented and accepted way to say if it exists. However, I personally believe it exists, the same way I believe that kiai boosts one strength a short time, or that Qi/Chi/Ki exists, or that there is real Nen: they're all states of mind that aid oneself in a fight. Also, the closest thing I've ever seen to Seikuken is Shaolin Kung Fu's Empty Stance. Google it. :)

Pencak Silat is real, I believe they use it in the Middle East. Penetration and command sumo are real styles too, I believe. Lucha libre obviously is real, but some of the moves are somewhat unrealistic, but that's just like their personal fighting style or adaptation.

Pencak Silat is from South East Asia

I have only read a little into the manga, but finished the anime, and I'd say ballpark 80%-90% of it is a legit martial art. My background includes karate, muay thai, krav maga, and gracie jiu jitsu.
It just occasionally hollywoods the living hell out of it - like the saikuken (in the anime, the 1st fist uses it) being some magical wall of defense. The real equivalent in probably just knowing your range and understanding just how little you have to move to dodge sometimes - a boxer/kickboxer's slip of a punch is a good example of real "saikuken". You only have to move your head 4 inches to dodge a straight punch to the face.
The whole Ki-attack thing and Siegfried just using an innate, musical understanding of rhythm as an un-trained fighting method are ridiculous.
The 2nd fist and some long haired dude who worked for Kisara and whose name I don't remember are also legit, but pretty out there - for a fighter to perform well from pure talent (2nd Fist) or to only learn by getting in fights frequently over and over again (forgotten name) are both possible but extraordinarily unlikely.
In short, most of it, at least where the anime covers is legit, and the portion that isn't legit is usually vaguely based on something real, and just hollywooded up for aesthetics or variety.

Pencak silat is a Malaysian martial art (Featured in the The Raid movie). Lucha Libre is Mexican wrestling (best reference is Rey Mysterio IRL).
As to the anime, I have to agree that 80-90% of it is based on real life martial arts. Judging how Kenichi performed and trained, he is equivalent to our MMA fighters following the rule of Krav Maga (survival)

From WIkipedia, pencak silat is an umbrella term for a class of related Indonesian martial arts