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Why are manga read from right to left? Has it always been so?
Why are manga read right to left? Has it always been so? Are there any exceptions?
(Flipped mangas are excused from this question.)

I don't think it's just manga. A lot of old Chinese texts were read right-left. A lot of which has carried on to today in many cultures.

This is related http://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/608/9508. Basically Chinese and Japanese characters are written from right to left and top to bottom, so the flow of the text stems from the flow of writing a single character. Imagine ending left after writing a word and then having to continue on the right, that would be quite impractical.

The traditional Japanese written language goes from right to left.
Books in Japan tend to start from the "right-most" side.  It's only natural that manga publications follow the same format.

Traditionally, Japanese is written in a format called tategaki (縦書き?),
which copies the traditional Chinese system. In this format, the
characters are written in columns going from top to bottom, with
columns ordered from right to left. After reaching the bottom of each
column, the reader continues at the top of the column to the left of
the current one.
Modern Japanese also uses another writing format, called yokogaki
(横書き?). This writing format is horizontal and reads from left to
right, just like English.
A book printed in tategaki opens from what a Westerner would call the
back, while a book printed in yokogaki opens from what traditionally
in Japan would have been considered the back.
—Wikipedia

Thank you. If possible, please also address my sub-questions. Are there any manga printed in yokogaki? Has it always been tategaki with manga?

@coleopterist Sometimes in manga there is text written left-to-right in horizontal lines (yokogaki), but the book itself is still "right-to-left oriented" (panels on the right are read first, the spine of the book is on the right). But if you're asking if there are any left-to-right oriented manga in Japan (panels on the left are read first, spine is on the left), I'm not sure.

@coleopterist I really don't know either.  I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a flipped manga and one that's originally printed left to right

Do writings in yokogaki start at the western beginning? Or do they start at the back of the book, just the same as with tategaki? (Assuming they keep the same page order,) wouldn't it become confusing to read from left to right, but to turn pages from right to left?

@PeterRaeves Modern books written in yokogaki read exactly like English books in terms of page order, orientation, line order, etc.

"Manga textbooks" for studying science and math are nice examples of what would be an exception. It's troublesome to keep the tategaki if you want to have some equations in them.


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Why did the location change to "Atlanta" from "Barcelona"?
In the original TV series, Yawara was supposed to compete in Barcelona Olympic Games. The special "Zutto Kimi no Koto ga" goes on where the TV series ends. In that special, the location changes to "Atlanta Olympics" without any explanation.
What is the reason for this unexplained sudden change?

The Yawara! manga was written starting in 1986 and lasted until 1993. In the manga, Yawara is actually meant to compete in the 1988 Seoul Olympics:

However, when it was adapted into an anime, which aired from 1989 (after the Seoul Olympics) until 1992, they kept the media contemporary (instead of dating it), they adjusted this to be the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. (Side note: This worked out well for them, as a competitor much like Yawara won in real life in Barcelona that year and received the nickname "Yawara-chan". The more you know!)
Zutto Kimi no Koto ga, however, was not released until 1996, two weeks before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, hence it was adjusted for this set of Olympic games instead.
It seems that, in each instance, the producers wanted to play somewhat on the publicity of the Olympic games, and by 1996 they were good enough to air their special only weeks ahead of the real thing. There is no in-universe reason for the change here, simply that she was competing at the "upcoming Olympics" in two different time periods (pre- and post-1992).

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How does Shiro get into the Deadman Wonderland?
We know that Deadman Wonderland is a brutal prison for convicted criminals.
And at various points in the show, it is revealed how each of the main characters ended up there. (what crime they were convicted of)
But how did Shiro get there? Is it ever revealed what Shiro did to end up in that prison?

We know that Shiro was Ganta's childhood friend. So that means that she started off outside in the normal world. But are there any clues to what brought her into Deadman Wonderland?

Even though Shiro and Ganta were childhood friends,

Shiro was used in experiments by the director (Hagire Rinichiro) and Ganta's mother. This was all before Deadman Wonderland was created, and when the director founded it, he created a special room for Shiro. Shiro wasn't imprisoned there, but lived there so that the experiments to create the "Wretched Egg" (Shiro's other personality) can continue, thus she was brought there by the director when Deadman Wonderland was created.

This was mentioned briefly in the Deadman Wonderland wiki.

That's interesting. I don't think that was ever revealed in the Anime. (Or if it was, it wasn't obvious...)

@Mysticial I don't think it was either, there was that bit where the director revealed what his real plans were and his relation to Shiro, but never mentioned that he brought Shiro to Deadman Wonderland.

That's because she was never bought into the facility.

Deadman Wonderland was originally the medical center in the flashbacks, but when it was destroyed by the Great Tokyo Earthquake, the prison was built over it.

 Deadman Wonderland was built specifically to contain Shiro's second, more sinister personality, the Wretched Egg, aka the original Deadman, the Red Man. At the heart of the facility is the Mother Goose System which was designed to transmit a lullaby that suppresses the Wretched Egg. This way you could say the heart of the facility exists to contain her, and that's why she's there.

Deadman Wonderland was built on ground zero of the Great Tokyo earthquake, also being the place where Shiro and Ganta lived during their childhood, to suppress poor Shiro with speakers, made partly of her own flesh and blood, aka the Mother Goose System. Shiro is the original sin, the original deadman, which Ganta was supposed to be.
I honestly doubt there will ever be any more shown in the anime, since key characters have been missing, but let's hope for a continuation.

Shiro was adopted by Hagire (the man who was the "boss" of the National Medical Center later Deadman Wonderland (after the earthquake). She was used as an experiment subject, so they did a lot of painful experiments on her. Later they build D.W. with its main goal to keep Shiro there (the Red man) and to collect every branch of sin. So with that Hagire can get rid of the MotherGoose system and can become like Shiro.

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What is the difference between yuri and shoujo-ai, yaoi and shounen-ai and ecchi and hentai anime genre?
Yuri and Shoujo-ai are anime themes which are related to girl-to-girl relationship, while yaoi and shounen-ai are related to boy-to-boy relationships. But what are their distinct difference? When can you call a specific girl-to-girl anime a yuri or shoujo-ai? When can you call a specific boy-to-boy anime a yaoi or shounen-ai?
Plus, what is the distinct difference of ecchi and hentai anime? I just know that they are both for adults only-theme anime. When can you call a specific anime an ecchi or hentai?

For Yuri vs. Shoujo-ai, according to Wikipedia:

Yuri focuses on the sexual or the emotional aspects of the relationship, or both, the latter of which sometimes being called shōjo-ai by western fans.

Also,

In North America, yuri has initially been used to denote only the most explicit end of the spectrum, deemed primarily as a variety of hentai. Following the pattern of shōnen-ai, a term already in use in North America to describe content involving non-sexual relationships between men, western fans coined the term shōjo-ai to describe yuri without explicit sex. In Japan the term shōjo-ai (少女愛?, lit. girl love) is not used with this meaning, and instead tends to denote pedophilia (actual or perceived), with a similar meaning to the term lolicon (Lolita complex). The western use of yuri has broadened in the 2000s, picking up connotations from the Japanese use.

To summarize, the way it is used depends on who you ask. In North America, shoujo-ai is generally less explicit/sexual, while in Japan it generally denotes pedophilia.
Yaoi vs. Shounen-ai:

The terms yaoi and shōnen-ai are sometimes used by Western fans to differentiate between the contents of the genre. In this case, yaoi is used to describe titles that contain largely sex scenes and other sexually explicit themes and shōnen-ai is used to describe titles that focus more on romance and do not include explicit sexual content, although they may include implicit sexual content.

Also,

Shōnen-ai originally connoted ephebophilia or pederasty in Japan, but from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, was used to describe a new genre of shōjo manga, primarily by the Year 24 Group, about beautiful boys in love. Characteristics of shōnen-ai include that they were exotic, often taking place in Europe, and idealistic.

The yaoi vs shounen-ai distinction is similar to the yuri vs shoujo-ai one.
For ecchi

The word is not only common in Japan, it is also used worldwide inside the fandom of Japanese media to describe sexual themes or undertones. While the word ecchi could mean anything from mild to insulting in Japanese language, it is used in Western culture to divide between pornography (hentai) and playful usage of sexualized imagery (ecchi). Works considered as ecchi do not show any sexual intercourse or primary sexual characteristics. Instead, it is up to the imagination of the viewer.

For hentai

[Hentai] is a Japanese word that, in the West, describes sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation—especially those of Japanese origin, such as anime, manga, and eroge.
The English use of hentai is more similar to the way the Japanese use the slang term エッチ (H or ecchi), which refers to any sexually explicit content or behaviour. The Japanese seldom use the term hentai to refer to pornography in Japan.
Adult anime, or hentai anime, is anime that relies primarily on sex. Adult manga, or hentai manga, is manga designed for purely pornographic purposes. Plot is still used to develop character and setting, but most of the time, the ultimate goal is to show scenes of sexuality with few exceptions.

For ecchi vs. hentai, the difference seems to be also mostly dependent on who you ask. In America, hentai and ecchi are generally synonymous, while in Japan, hentai is sexually explicit while ecchi is generally not.

Also note that "H" in Western usage more commonly is a shortening of "hentai" whereas in Japan it means "ecchi".

I am going to be extremely technical here. In its original context, shoujo ai/seinen ai focused on same-sex female/male relationships, either gay or straight (although the heterosexual emphasis is not as prevalent anymore) presented in a romantic way (think Shaun and Cory in Boy Meets World). But this definition has been modified over time, for American audiences, so that the focus is more on the LGBT aspects of the genre.
So in the west, shoujo ai and yuri are almost interchangeable. However, yuri focuses more on the sexual aspects of a strictly LGBT relationship. While shoujo ai is mainly (thanks to the American influence) focused on a lesbian romantic relationship, it may occasionally, in rare circumstances, focus on intimate straight same-sex relationships as well; best friends or sisters, etc. as long as the relationship is presented in a way that gives you the 'feels'.
Candy Boy is a good example of hetero-romantic shoujo ai (I am ignoring girl crushes in Candy Boy as that happens across multiple anime genres). Yuri/yaoi is more or less gay/lesbian ecchi/hentai (porn).

Shounen-ai and shoujo-ai in manga are often used when there's hugging and dates and kisses only which may mean that it is not mature themed as compared to yaoi and yuri which usually contains sexual themes.
Ecchi usually comes with romance and consensual sex which means that the manga/anime is likely to be focused on the storyline.
Hentai usually comes with rape and sexual kinks, forced sex which means that the storyline would be more focused on the sexual acts

The distinction between shounen ai and yaoi, shoujo air and yuri originates fron Western fandom, as clearly mentioned in the other answer. Hentai doesn't always come with rape, but it describes works with explicit sexual scenes in general, and yes, it mostly focuses on the sexual act.

Basically what everyone has been saying.
Yuri is love between women in manga and anime: Shojo-ai is a platonic relationship between young girls.
Yaoi is boy-boy love, romantic or sexual relationships: Shonen-ai was used to describe a new genre of shojo manga about innocent relationships.

If it's what everyone else has been saying, why post it again?

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Do the events in the last episode violate John Titor's explaination of the Grandfather Paradox?
According to "John Titor" in Episode 2, even if you go back in time and kill your own grandfather, you would continue to exist, because the you that killed your grandfather comes from a world line where your grandfather wasn't murdered.

 In the last episode, after they save Kurisu, Suzuha is returned to the future, because in the Steins Gate timeline the time machine is never created, so she can't come to the past. But doesn't this violate her explanation of the Grandfather Paradox? Since according to her explanation, she'd remain in the present, instead of returning to the future.

Yeah, these time-travel shows scare me. If I had to guess, the only thing that matters is which of the timelines the focus of the show follows. Obviously it hops from timeline to timeline with each jump.

because in the Steins Gate timeline the time machine is never created, so she can't come to the past Where is that stated? Maybe it's because of the sub, but if I'm not mistaken, she just wants to go back.

@looper There's no reason to create the time machine in that timeline, because the events that lead to it's creation never occurred.

@Krazer: But still, I don't see that she needs to go back.

@looper I agree, but while she shouldn't have disappeared, viewers might not understand why if she remains in the new timeline.

Wait, John Titor?  Now I really want to watch this show. :)

This is how John Titor sums up the Grandfather Paradox and its effects in the Steins;Gate universe (from the episode 2 English dub):

Someone else: Aren't you worried that by being here you're creating some kind of a paradox?
John Titor: Ah, the so-called "Grandfather Paradox"? It doesn't exist. It's possible to meet your past self. You'll simply change world lines if you do.

The anime doesn't really touch on it; the details of the time machines that John Titor uses are not really revealed. They're touched upon by the mechanics of the show, but never detailed in dialog, which could lead us to assume that this is a plot hole. As someone else put it, "The wrong explanation ... probably makes more sense on the surface than what the truth is."[1]
However, the Steins;Gate visual novel goes a bit more in-depth. Firstly, Titor explains that these events make perfect sense:

 "Cause and effect will be reconfigured. The me sitting here will disappear, since I'd probably be living peacefully in 2036." – Suzuha

Additionally, Okarin determines a bit more about the mechanics of the time travel:

 By the way, about what will happen if I meet the "me" that already returned once-- in other words, the me that stabbed Kurisu to death, I already asked Suzuha beforehand.

 The conclusion is that "we won't meet."

 The world line where I already killed Kurisu is minutely different from where we're time traveling to.

 Meaning time travel slightly changes the world line divergence ratio.

 Though of course, that value is still within the error range of the attractor field, so it can't make any concrete changes.

In my opinion, this explanation is a bit wishy-washy, but it's canon; essentially, he's saying:

 Using the time machine creates a slightly different world line, so there will not be conflicts in repeated time travel attempts. (It "overwrites" the previous attempt.) But then, the two world lines merge within the attractor field again.

In essence, we can more-or-less explain the events (using one last spoiler tag) in the following way:

 Suzuha disappeared because, even though she existed on a slightly separated world line, when she traveled back to the future, the two lines would again merge and her existence would be overwritten by the Steins Gate world line.

I would conclude, then, that the events that took place in the last episode do not violate the Grandfather Paradox. There is sufficient evidence to show that the world line's future has been altered in such a way as to justify the events.


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Who is this man whose face appears randomly?
Throughout Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, there's a picture (not animated) of a bald man's face that appears randomly (often as a censor). Who is he and what is his relation to the show (or their creators)? Does he randomly appear in other Studio SHAFT shows?

He is Kosaku Maeda, and his nickname  is MAEDAX, he was the voice actor for several minor parts in the show (including playing himself, credited as MAEDAX) and also worked on the manga.
Here is his picture on Anime news network.

He is the mangaka's assistant, Maeda-kun.
From the TVTropes page Manga: Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei:

Fan Disservice: Some fanservice scenes can be a little awkward when they're censored by the face of Maeda-kun, Koji Kumeta's assistant, who sometimes is even facepalming disapprovingly. Shame on you.

Found the answer in a number of blog posts on the topic. Quoted TVTropes page above. Let me see if I can find a more reliable source.


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What male characters are in Touhou?
Touhou Project has a lot of characters, but the vast majority of them are female. Even though Gensokyo has plenty of men, for whatever reason they are very rarely relevant to the story. To the best of my knowledge, none of the men have appeared in the games (excluding non-humanoid characters like Unzan), but they do appear in manga side-stories and other canon works.
Can someone provide a list of the major (named characters, characters with significant impact on the plot, etc.) canon male characters in Touhou Project? I'm mostly interested in human or humanoid characters.

As far as I know, Rinnosuke Morichika is the only male character that is significant to the plot. He's the main character of the Curiosities of Lotus Asia (official) story compilation, which focuses on his life as the proprietor of Kourindou, a store that sells antiquities from the Outside World.
Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Youmu Konpaku, Remilia Scarlet, Yukari Yakumo, Sakuya Izayoi and many other Touhou characters are mentioned in those stories, which is why I'd say it's relevant.
You could also count Youki Konpaku (Youmu's predecessor at Hakugyokurou) and Marisa's father as other important male characters, but I don't recall those characters ever being developed. They were mentioned in order to develop Youmu and Marisa's characters.
Edit: If you want an extensive list of male gods/human/humanoid characters and you don't care whether they're relevant or not:

Bishamonten: an actual god in Buddhist mythology, worshipped by Byakuren Hijiri
The Two Gateguards of the Lunar Capital
Iwakasa: one of the guys who was told to dispose of the Hourai Elixir
Lord Tsukuyomi: founder of the Lunar Capital
Mizue no Uranoshimako
Myouren Hijiri: Byakuren's brother
Shirou Sendai: a man who brought good fortune to every business he would visit, mentioned in Wild and Horned Hermit
Taisui Xingjun: tried to cause a disaster to Gensokyo in a dream Hong Meiling had
Tenma: chief of the Tengu at Youkai Mountain
Unshou: a mysterious fisherman who appears in Wild and Horned Hermit

See also Category:Males on the Touhou wiki.


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Couldn't Kabuto have un-summoned Itachi?
I know that the Kotoamatsukami rendered Itachi free of Kabuto's control over his will. But he was still bound to the Edo Tensei, since he was released when the technique was cancelled.
So, couldn't Kabuto simply have un-summoned Itachi?
We have, in other situations (namely in chapter 514, with Deidara), seen that Kabuto can un-summon shinobi at will, an empty coffin appearing and 'reclaiming' the summoned. Were these other situations somewhat different from the situations with Itachi? Or did Kabuto have to completely undo the technique, even if he just wanted to un-summon a single shinobi?

Some interesting theories re. this at http://www.narutoforums.com/archive/index.php/t-860802.html

He probably needs to control them in order for them to enter the coffin. Not sure though.

The most plausible explanation is that the un-summoning with the empty coffin popping-up is only possible when the summoned is under the caster's control. Itachi broke free of Kabuto's control with the Kotoamatsukami, but he never broke free of the Edo Tensei itself (unlike what Deidara's answer suggests). This is why he could not be un-summoned (with the coffin), but was freed when the jutsu was undone.
Still, Kabuto could've undone the technique altogether, at the cost of un-summoning every shinobi he had summoned. However, this could mean a complete turnaround in the war. Anyway, Kabuto, most likely, did not think a complete release of the jutsu was needed, since was arrogant and confident that he could beat Itachi.

Important note: He could not.

It sounds very likely that when Kotoamatsukami freed Itachi from Kabuto's control, he could no longer unsummon Itachi. If he could, he would do it and then resummon him (which he has done previously with others), and this time, Itachi could not free himself from Kabuto's control.
Later, when Itachi forced Kabuto to release the Edo Tensei, he presumably "reattached" himself to it somehow, because as per his/Shisui's principles, he didn't want to stick around and be hailed as a hero.


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Who is Domo-kun?
Who is Domo-kun? Is he an anime character or a manga character? I often see him in anime stores so I wonder if Domo-kun is an anime character or a manga character?

Dōmo-kun is the official character or mascot for the Japanese broadcasting channel Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK). According to Wikipedia, he was created in 1998 and named after a pun on "Hello there!":

Domo-kun first appeared in short stop-motion sketches on 22 December 1998 to mark the 10th anniversary of NHK's satellite broadcasting. The name "Domo" was acquired during the second episode of his show, in which a TV announcer said "dōmo, konnichiwa" (どうも、こんにちは?), which is a greeting that can be translated as "Well, hello there!", but which can also be interpreted as "Hello, Domo", and thus is a convenient pun (dajare).

His concept was created by Tsuneo Gōda to be a mascot. He appeared only in stop-motion animation originally, so it's hard to classify him as either "anime" or "manga". However, there was a (reportedly terrible) English-only manga of the character, called Domo: The Manga, published in the USA and Canada.
As a final note, and as you may or may not know, there has been a whole world of memes created from Dōmo-kun (including the Grues on Uncyclopedia). You can read more at Know Your Meme (Warning: NSFW).


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What happened to Kintoki Sakata?
In the beginning of the 3rd season of Gintama,

Gintoki was suspiciously missing and was replaced by a blonde haired version of himself named Kintoki.

Later in the series it was explained why Kintoki was created and what had transpired after that which arrived to the point of the beginning of the 3rd season, but what happened to Kintoki after that? Does he just disappear or is there more information in the Gintama manga?

you know that Gintama is a comedy anime and does not have a stable plot right?

@shnisaka Sure, but up to that point he was the main character, and he simply disappeared, as in by the next episode it was as if he never existed. Stuff like that happens regularly in this show to side-characters, but for someone who took up most of the opening sequence?

The Anime Gintama has a lot of side stories. Kintoki Skata is one of those characters in those side stories. The reason why the main focus was on him was because he looks like Gintoki and he also carries the same name except that his name starts with K not G. There is no more information about him yet in the manga. However, there is a possibility that he might return in the future releases of the mange.
If you are interested in Kintoki, then you can read more about him in this wiki

He returns in the Silver Soul Arc to help activate with Tama and other robots the
"Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Gengai Cannon" to fire against the Altana Liberation army which was ocuppying the planet. Apparently he dies, though Hiraga Gengai says he's going to rebuild him along with Tama.
https://gintama.fandom.com/wiki/Sakata_Kintoki


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Why are people so eager to grab Shisui's eyes even though it activates rarely?
Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan casts the mind-control genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami, but it activates only once in a decade. Why are people so eager to grab his eyes?

Several big spoilers ahead.
Three people have been showed to be eager to grab Shisui's eye, namely Danzo, Tobi and Kabuto. Besides that, they have one other thing in common:

 They all have access to Senju Hashirama's cells, which significantly reduces the reactivation time of Shisui's eye. Hence, these people could put it to practical use without the undesirable restriction.

Danzo's case actually shows this reduction of the reactivation time. He had stolen Shisui's right eye shortly before the Uchiha incident, and had Orochimaru implant Hashirama's cells into his body. He was able to activate Shisui's eye twice in a day, first during the five Kage meeting and later towards the end of his battle with Sasuke.

Tobi is later revealed to be Uchiha Obito. The right half of his body, destroyed during the Kannabi bridge battle, was repaired/replaced by Madara with Hashirama's cells.

Kabuto had access to Hashirama's cells due to both working under Orochimaru previously and through Yamato whom he had captured during the fourth shinobi world war. Shisui's left eye emerges during the war from Naruto's mouth due to Itachi's setup. Kabuto also hears Itachi talk about the use of Hashirama's cells to reduce Kotoamatsukami's reactivation time. He hoped to grab it for his own use.

I wonder how did Sishui himself used it. Not very useful eyes that only activate once in a decade, or perhaps because they were naturally his they didn't take as long? I don't know.

I think it is the second. Given that he died at the age of less than 20, if the restriction applied to him, he would have used each eye once. That is hardly enough to give his eyes their legendary status.


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Anime that is based from a western movie
There are a lot of western movies that are based from anime, such as Dragonball Evolution, Tekken, Blood the Last Vampire (based on Blood+), and Street Fighter. The Matrix movie is also strongly influenced by Ghost in the Shell and the action scenes were drew upon their admiration for Ninja Scroll and Akira.
So my question is, was there an anime produced based on a western movie or series (not on western literature or novel, so movies that are based on novel are excluded) ?

Not movies, but both Powerpuff Girls and Transformers have anime spin offs.

The two Little Witch Academia productions from Trigger are quite blatantly inspired by Harry Potter; despite Harry Potter being a novel series, I think it deserves a mention.

Off the top of my head, there's Highlander: The Search for Vengeance. It was produced by Madhouse and written by David Abramowitz, who worked on the Highlander TV series. Obviously, it's based on the Highlander movie and TV series in the west.

Another interesting example (though not quite what OP was looking for) is Heroman, written by Stan Lee and animated by Bones.

I am not sure if you comics are counted as Literature or not, but there are anime adaptations of several marvel comics like X Men, Iron Man,  Wolverine
Similarly TMNT also was adapted into anime/OVA named Mutant Ninja Turtles: Superman Legend
Also the Video Game Dragon Age was adapted into an anime movie called Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker


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Where did the Dog-people come from?
In Dragon-ball there are numerous dog-people, one of which is the king of the world

There were other dog-people in the anime episode Plight of the children.  One of the orphans was a dog person, and one of the police was a dog person.
Where did they all come from?  Did someone, one day, breed with a dog, thus spawning this race of Dog-people?

I think they are alien. Because in dragon ball universe earth is full of too many alien species.

In Dragon Ball universe Animals are different form our earth animals. Some of then can talk and even walk on two legs.Take Puar and Oolong as an example. Its never explained that why some dogs on Dragon Ball universe act like normal dog and some act as human. Not only for the case of dog, there are other animals too which behave in the same way.
Here is a link for the different species of animal appears in Dragon Ball Universe.
Its my own assumption that they can be alien on Dragon Ball universe from different planet. But there is no official words.
Or it may be a plot hole that some animals talk and some can't.

My personal theory is that it stems from the first wish made on the Dragon Balls - somewhere in the manga, it eludes to a dog that gathered them up, and wished to be ruler of the world.

Dragon Ball was originally based of Son Wukong the monkey king. The story involves several animals walking and talking like humans (of course including the monkey king, Son Wukong).

That is due to it starting as a non serious manga for kids. It doesn't have any more meaning or interest that a comical one. For all respects these creatures are considered humans (note that Oolong and Puar are different).


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What is the origin of the title "Ghost in the Shell"?
The anime series Ghost in the Shell has a Japanese name which can be transliterated as "Mobile Armored Riot Police"; from Wikipedia:

Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊 Kōkaku Kidōtai?, literally "Mobile Armored Riot Police")

It's clear to me that the English name of "Ghost in the Shell" is far, well, cooler than "Mobile Armored Riot Police". But why was this particular name chosen? What are its origins, and what significance does it have in the series (if any)?

Within the show, the word  "Ghost" is used to refer to someone's consciousness while a "shell" is the cybernetic body, much like the situation with Major Kusanagi. The Wikipedia page Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell has a lot of insightful concepts to add to this:
Referring to the Laughing Man and Puppet Master:

Yet, as those criminals are revealed to have more depth than was at first apparent, the various protagonists are left with disturbing questions: "What exactly is the definition of 'human' in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a synthetic form?", "What exactly is the 'ghost' —the essence— in the cybernetic 'shell'?", "Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical?", etc.

More specifically with the original film, there's this article:

The director has the main character state “Who am I?” The Major, the Main character, wonders if she is a real person or a program. "Major Motoko Kusanagi barely exist in her original human form, retaining only a small portion of organic grey matter inside an almost totally robotic, titanium body or"shell." (Dan Dinello, page 276, Anime and philosophy) The title of the anime supports this, “Ghost in the Shell” likely refers to the phrase “A shadow of your former self.” The main character has a cybernetic mind and body, which leads her to question her existence, whether or not she is still alive. If one states that the difference between a human and a machine is that the human has a soul, what then, is a cyborg, such as the Major? “

A lot of these concepts and themes are tackled within the manga/anime.
See also, the in universe origins of the terms "Ghost" and "Shell". I don't know if these terms were invented by Masamune Shirow or if he borrowed them from SF tropes.

Masamune Shirow has stated that he had always wanted the title of his manga to be Ghost in the Shell, even in Japan, but his original publishers preferred Mobile Armored Riot Police. He had chosen "Ghost in the Shell" in homage to Arthur Koestler's The Ghost in the Machine, from which he also drew inspiration.
Shell rather than Machine because, well, system shell is becoming the second body for many of us even today.

I am not sure how the name got to the staff of Ghost in the Shell, the user Anatoly Roschenya says that Masamune Shirow wanted to pay homage to Arthur Koestler's book "The Ghost in the Machine".
The phrase "Ghost in the machine" comes from the famous/infamous philosopher Gilbert Ryle in his work "The Concept of Mind". The phrase is meant to describe the dualism of Rene Descartes and how he tried to find the relationship between the mind and the body, the mind being the ghost and body being the machine, this being "the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine". Ryle criticized this position for thinking that the two are of the same category. If these two are not in the same category, then trying to find a relationship between the two as if they were must fail.

I don't know much about this anime, but when I first read the title: "ghost in the shell", I thought it was referring to the shell (application) of a computer; And the full meaning was something like some form of ghost (hacker) that was illegally accessing to the shell

The title is derived from Gilbert Ryle's concept of the ghost in the machine, from his book "The Concept of Mind". It is disappointing that the writers draw upon Koestler instead of Ryle, as Ryle described and outlined the theory eloquently summarised above. Koestler simply expanded upon it by explaining how this occurs in a modern context.
Sorry, but this "shell of his former self" line of enquiry is nonsense. A rudimentary understanding of Ryle's work alone would allow viewers to hone in on the concepts Shirow was toying with: humanity, the permeance of the soul (if such a thing exists), where it would lie and how impacted it is by the vessel that contains it. Would a human soul be the same as one that exists in the future and is subject to interference from external influences such as technological advances?

This is already mentioned in an answer from 2019, albeit without the unnecessary rudeness.


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What are the ninja clans?
In Naruto, a number of "ninja clans" are referenced. Those include Uchiha and Hyuga. Those two both have kekkai genkais. It seems as though ninja clans are just families with kekkai genkais, but I'm wondering if that is every explained or specified anywhere. Also, what are the known ninja clans (if that won't be too long a list)?

A clan is a family which shares a common characteristic, not necessarily kekkei genkai. The Uzumaki clan was well known for their prowess in fuinjutsu and strong life force, which are not kekkei genkai. Hmm, well, maybe they are.

The Naruto wiki page on clans has a good explanation of what a clan is, plus a list of all the known clans. To sum up, it goes something like this:
First, it is important to notice that the kanji used is 一族 (read Ichizoku), which literally means family. So, clans are families or groups of shinobi that constitute a basic unit of a village. The Senju and Uchiha clans were the first known clans to form an alliance to create a village, which was an example followed by many clans.
As you referred, belonging to a clan is usually defined by genetics/blood, which is of the utmost importance in the usage of kekkei genkai. Also, clans pass down from generation to generation said kekkei genkai or other jutsu which are a specialty to the clan, which shinobi unaffiliated to any clan do not seem to do with their regular jutsu. Some clans are extensive and composed of several families, while others are just composed of a nuclear family.
List of known clans:
- Aburame clan - Konohagakure
- Akimichi clan - Konohagakure
- Amagiri clan - Yumegakure (Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive game only)
- Fuuma clan - Amegakure
- Another Fuuma clan - Otogakure
- Hagoromo clan - No village (pre-village era)
- Hirasaka clan - Yumegakure (Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive game only)
- Hōzuki clan - Kirigakure
- Hyūga clan - Konohagakure
- Inuzuka clan - Konohagakure
- Jūgo's clan - Unknown village/no affiliation (Jūgo is the only known member)
- Kaguya clan - Unknown village/no affiliation
- Kamizuru clan - Iwagakure (anime only)
- Kedōin clan - Unknown village/no affiliation (anime only)
- Kohaku clan - Had their own village in the Fire Country, associated with Konohagakure (anime only)
- Kubisaku clan - Unknown village, located in the Land of Neck (anime only)
- Kurama clan - Konohagakure (anime only)
- Nara clan - Konohagakure
- Rinha clan - Unknown village/no affiliation (Naruto Shippūden 3D: The New Era game only)
- Ryū clan - No village (pre-village era, Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles game only)
- Sarutobi clan - Konohagakure
- Senju clan - Konohagakure
- Shiin clan - Otogakure (anime only)
- Shirogane clan - Sunagakure (Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2 game only)
- Tenro clan - Yumegakure (Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive game only)
- Tsuchigumo clan - Tsuchigumo Village (anime only)
- Uchiha clan - Konohagakure
- Uzumaki clan - Uzushiogakure
- Wagarashi family - Land of Tea (anime and Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 game only)
- Wasabi family - Land of Tea (anime only)
- Watari ninja - Unknown village/no affiliation (anime only)
- Yamanaka clan - Konohagakure
- Yotsuki clan - Kumogakure
- Yuki clan - No village, Land of Water


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Was the continuation of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle ending in manga shown in Kobato?
In Kobato Episode 20: "...The Travellers", Kobato met Syaoran, Fye, Kurogane and Mokona (all of them looked more mature for me and I think Kurogane and Fye both grew hair). Since Sakura wasn't with them, is it safe to assume that this episode is somehow a sneak peek of the continuation of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle ending in the manga showing their continuous journey?
Where,

 the epilogue ends with Syaoran deciding to go on a journey in order to try and find a way for the soul of clone Syaoran (who is his own father) to be restored to a body, Sakura has revealed that she had a dream which has given her a vision of the future so she can not go on the journey. Apparently in order to escape from the final prison of Fei Wong Reed, Syaoran gave up something. Syaoran gave up being able to settle down in one place so now he's traveling endlessly with Kurogane and Fye (who both decided to go with him) and of course Mokona (their transportation medium).

In episode 20 of Kobato, when Kobato mentions that Syaoran and his companions have been traveling for a long time and Syaoran says,

 "but it's a not journey with a destination. I guess you could say our destination is to continue travelling." When Kobato asks if it's undecided where they are going, he replies, "It would be difficult to decide. For one thing, we don't know how long we can stay in one place. But, I have someone waiting for me."

So it's definitely after the end of the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle epilogue published in October 2009, (Episode 20 of Kobato aired in March 2010):

 Syaoran is on his journey and they've been doing this for some considerable amount of time.  Where Syaoran went to look for a world where the clones can live, Sakura stayed in Clow because of her dream that she'd only cause sadness if she went with Syaoran, thus she is the one "waiting for me".

As far as I know, the October 7th epilogue was the last of the story, as a way to sort of tie up the loose ends. Kobato's crossover generated a lot of speculation about maybe getting more Tsubasa out of CLAMP, but they announced in 2009 that the epilogue will be the end. There hasn't been any official news about the manga or continuing the story since. Though it wouldn't be surprising to see more crossovers with Syaoran, Fye, and Kurogane continuing their journey in future CLAMP productions.


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What is the role of mangaka assistants?
Several mangaka have assistants to help them with producing their manga. Do these assistants perform a standard set of well-defined tasks (similar to a movie's assistant director), or does each mangaka decide what their assistant does?

Mangaka often use assistants to help them complete drawing the manga within schedule. The mangaka decides the number of assistants and their roles in the manga production. The assistants may help the mangaka in a number of ways, such as:

Filling up the artwork details (such as screentones, hair, clothing, special effects) after the mangaka has drawn the basics.
Drawing the time-consuming elements, such as scene backgrounds and crowds, allowing the mangaka to focus more on the plot and character development.
Drawing specific things. For example, Go Nagai mangaka employed an assistant to draw helicopters and military vehicles.
Cleaning up any artwork that goes out of the panels. Mikio Ikemoto helps Masashi Kishimoto with this, among other things, in producing Naruto.
Being the mangaka's sounding board for ideas, but the assistants almost never help with the plot itself.

Some mangaka do not employ any assistants at all choosing to do everything themselves.

References

Mangaka on Virtual Japan
Mangaka Assistants on Wikipedia
Assistants on Bakuman Wiki
Who creates Naruto? on LeafNinja.com


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Was Tomoyo in love with Sakura?
While I was browsing for different anime in different genre, I came across with Yuri genre and then found a list where anime that contain yuri genre. I was shocked to see Cardcaptor Sakura on the list as anime with yuri as an additional element. I have watched Cardcaptor Sakura a lot of times but I haven't read it's manga. The only thing that comes on mind that could be the yuri element was Sakura and Tomoyo's relationship as best friends (and their mothers'). If I'm not mistaken, since I've watched Cardcaptor Sakura a lot of times when I was still a kid, there were no solid implications that Tomoyo had romantic feelings towards Sakura, meaning you can only sense friendship in their relationship (or it was something I overlooked or I didn't give deep meaning to it). Though, I'm not really sure in the manga since I've never read it. So, is there any truth to this and if it has (in anime or manga), please show reference to justify it (in any episode or chapter).

According to the Yuricon list which is where Wikipedia sited CCS as a reference: "This is a great work, one of CLAMP’s best manga ever. And yuri undertones are everywhere! Especially between Tomoyo & Sakura."

I don't know if she ever said it flat-out, and beyond that, I'm not sure it can be proven.

@JonLin, was there any event or certain scene where it was shown?

Yes, Tomoyo was in love with Sakura.  But also, Tomoyo's mother was in love with Sakura's mother.  You can see it in the way Tomoyo's mother is extremely jealous and competitive with Sakura's father.  They intentionally meant the daughters' relationship to sort of echo the mothers' relationship.

On the TV Tropes page, Tomoyo is listed as a Token Yuri Girl:

Tomoyo Daidouji in Card Captor Sakura, though it was toned down a bit in the anime. The manga actually had her telling Sakura that she loves her in that way, though it went right over the heroine's head.

So it seems that it's toned down in the anime (I didn't seem like anything other than best friends and maybe borderline infatuation in the anime), but blatant in the manga. Also noted in the CSS wiki:

While Tomoyo is in love with Sakura, she notes that she is happy to be able to be with Sakura and does not require Sakura to love her back.

According to this blog post (contains lots of other instances), it happened in Volume 2, Chapter 2:

I also would say yes, but I am digging this out of the past to add some insight that it is portrayed (especially in the manga) as being a far more complex emotion than a typical "in love with" scenario.
One of the predominant themes of Clamp's works is that love has many different forms and is not limited to typical boundaries.  Reflect on how many other extra-ordinary relationships and love-type affections exist in the story: Rika x her sensei (age), Touya and Yuki (gender), Mizuki x Eriol (age), Sonomi x Nadeshiko (gender, family), Fujitaka x Nadeshiko (age), Mei-lin x Syaoran (family)...
If you read other Clamp works, you will see this is one of their most common themes:
(SPOILER ALERT)

 Suki (large age gap), Chobits (AI-human), X (fate), Wish (angel-human), and others - unrequited love, secret or forbidden love, love between different humanoid species...

It is apparent that all have some rather extraordinary love stories, and explore some pretty deep topics on the nature of love and the spectrum of its manifestations.  Furthermore, if you look into historic Japanese literature, the theme of different kinds of love has deep roots in the cultural literature - consider Samurai/battlefield love, for example.
I would not categorize Tomoyo as a typical yuri girl, however, as was said above.  Are her feelings romantic for Sakura?  Certainly.  Do her love feelings also incorporate strong elements of hero admiration, deep friendship, and a family bond?  Absolutely.  Are we given the impression that there is an element of sexual attraction?  Not really.  We don't see her blushing when Sakura is changing in front of her, long lingering touches, or heart pounding with physical proximity - like we do see with several other love attractions within the same series.
Granted, at their age, sexuality might be barely nascent.  But typical "yuri girls" are almost invariably associated with sexual attraction regardless of age, frequently exhibiting signs of physical attraction, or even overt sexual overtures of one type or another.  Is it within the yuri spectrum?  I would say yes, but it's not what I would consider typical.
Also note that Tomoyo's mother Sonomi had a very similar adoration for her own cousin Nadeshiko (although hers was to the point of extreme jealousy!) and then quite obviously eventually did have a sexual relationship with Tomoyo's father (whom we never see).  It is not all that uncommon for an early "crush" of a later-heterosexual female to be another female, while they are figuring out how to process these budding complex emotions.

I can't remember what episode of the anime it was but it was toward the end of the Clow Card saga.  I remember it was when Sakura and Li was over at Tomoyo's house.  Sakura was in the bathroom changing into one of Tomoyo's latest costumes.  While Li was shyly looking towards the area where Sakura was, Tomoyo said something to li.  Then, while looking into her cup she said something on the lines of, "It's better to keep some things in the heart."

At the teddy bear shop with Eriol and Li, Tomoyo told Sakura that all she wants is for the person she loves to be happy, so the person she loves doesn't have to love her back. Sakura told her that she was sure Tomoyo's beloved was very happy.

Yes, Tomoyo loves Sakura. She said it herself. She had costumes made for Sakura, filmed Sakura constantly (not just during showdowns, but also a ton of casual moments where Sakura was just talking to Tomoyo), and was always by her side. I think it proves a point that she didn't need to film her, dress her up, and tag along everywhere Sakura went, to show her love/infatuation for her - but she did.
Tomoyo loves Sakura - and there is nothing anyone can do to convince me otherwise.


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Is "Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club" from Saki a real-life organization?
According to MyAnimeList (see Producers section), AnimeNewsNetwork, CrunchyRoll, and a number of less reputable sites, an organization called "Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club" took part in the production of the Saki anime. For anyone not familiar with Saki, it follows the Mahjong club from Kiyosumi high school as they compete to be the best in the nation. The websites listed all included "Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club" under production, which is unusual for in-universe organizations.
First, can anyone confirm that this is legitimate and not just an elaborate trolling attempt (e.g. by screencapping the credits)? And if so, what does the organization do? Is it a real high school mahjong club which was used as inspiration for Saki, or were they involved in some aspect of the production process, or were they just thrown in as a sort of shout-out, or something else?

It's not too uncommon for anime production committees to be named after something in the show. In Saki's case, it is named after the high school where the show takes place. This does not mean that a real life group from the school (if it even is a real school or club at said school) has anything to do with the creation of the show.
Essentially, the production committee is the rightholder to the series rather than a person or group who had a hand in creating the series (Source: a JETRO pdf about the anime industry, specifically page 4). It can consist of all the companies involved in an anime - the animation studio, TV channel, merchandise creators - who want to see the show succeed because it will benefit them (Source: an ANN feature about the anime industry).
Rather than list all of these companies, it is easier to give them one name, and arguably more entertaining to the viewers if it references something in the series. When the production committee isn't named after something in the series, it is usually just called "Series Name Production Committee" - in your case, it would've been called "Saki Production Committee".
Here are examples from a few other shows:

Seitokai Yakuindomo: Ousai Academy Student Council Room(the show is about Ousai Academy's student council)

Steins;Gate: Future Gadget Lab(the show is about a some eccentrics and scientists who are part of a group called Future Gadget Lab)

Tamako Market: Usagiyama Shopping District(the show is about the people working and living in Usagiyama Shopping District)

"Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club" is the name on the production committee (製作, seisaku) for the series:


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How is Kyousuke able to teleport Andy?
In the anime Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke, Andy Hinomiya is an esper who negates the power of all other espers. Yuugiri cannot read his mind, Kyousuke can't hypnotize him, telekinetic attacks are ineffectual against him. So how is it possible for Kyousuke to teleport him in episode 3? They're walking away and he snaps his fingers and the entire group teleports away. Is it that Andy really isn't completely immune to ESP? Or is the teleportation a side-effect of an ESP power so it isn't negated?
To clarify the side-effect thing, You Fujiura's ESP can effect sound waves, though the ESP itself can be negated by Andy, the actual sound that the ESP creates (or deadens) can be heard by Andy (episode 2).

I haven't seen the series, hence the following question. Are the esper powers on constantly or do they have to be turned on?

@ChetterHummin Active powers aren't always on, but Andy's negate power seems to be latent, as it makes espers around him feel ill when he gets too close to them, and until it was explained to him that he had an ESP negating power, he didn't even know he had it.

Is there a distance restriction for this negation ability to work?

@ChetterHummin Don't know many details about it. It would seem so because when Andy got close to other espers, they felt ill, but Kyousuke was next to him when they all were teleported. The show is still pretty new, I thought either I missed something or this question will just have to wait until the season is over.

@ChetterHummin yes there is indeed also a area limit to his ability( which increases if he stresses/gets mad ) but as terra samson said in his answer below he indeed got his negator amulet in episode 2. which he is forced to always keep on him

Andy's wearing the limiter he got in episode 2.  As long as it is active, esp powers can be used around him, such as when he was teleported right after he got it.

That's because Andy's limiter was on when Hyoubu teleported him in episode 3. When his limiter is on, Andy's power is limited. Look here:

In fact, Andy's power could negate teleportation power too. As we saw in episode 5, Magi asked Andy to turn his limiter on, so he could teleport him.
Also, here is the position of Andy's limiter when it's on.


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Was Majin Buu able to turn people into physically anything?
Majin Buu has a beam where he can turn people into chocolate or assortments of candy. In one episode he turns an old man into a carton of milk. In another he turns a village of people into a white clay? like substance to make a house. Does this mean he is able to turn people into physically anything, say for example.. a gun or money?

It's not clearly explained in neither manga nor anime, but my understanding of this ability is that he can turn anything (remember he turning rocks into candies?) into lifeless stuff, so turning people into monkeys might be too much for him.
I mistook monkey for money. Since gun and money are lifeless stuff, I would say yes.
PS. People turned into lifeless stuff may still be conscious depending on how strong they are, for example, the fusion of Goku and Vegeta was turned into a candy yet still can fight, and Uub was turned into a chocolate by his own beam yet still can turn himself back.

It seems at first that the technique is simply a magic trick with no limit or explanation. But I think it's much deeper than that.
What is ki?
Ki is the raw essence of energy in a body, and when a body has exactly no ki left, the body dies and the soul, essence, mind, whatever you want to call it, is sent to otherworld. All attacks require ki, heck even raising your arm requires a slight amount of ki. "Ki attacks" are attacks in which damage is not physical, but energy is shot from the body at an opponent or obstacle. Majin Buu's "magic transform beam" is no more mystical than any other attack, it's what he does with this ki that matters.
Ki control outside the body
Goku showed in many, many instances that he can control a ki attack long after it has left his body, and this is what Majin Buu does in this attack. Instead of the Kamehameha or other ki attack which is designed to deal a powerful impact, Majin Buu is clever enough to attack the opponent's ki directly, and ultimately drain their body of all ki, rendering them lifeless. He can at this point shape the remaining matter however he wants, but I don't believe it has any flavor, just an appearance.
How to defend against Buu's attack
When Buu uses this attack on common humans, he only needs to use a small amount of ki to wipe them out. For a whole crowd of people, I don't suspect that Buu even feels the energy usage. However, when he does this against a more powerful opponent, he must put more ki into the attack than the fighter has in total. This is still no real problem for Buu, as nobody can contest his ki... until Vegito comes to "PLAY, PLAY, PLAAAY!". Vegito's unimaginable ki was strong enough so that when Buu used his attack, it only drained a significant amount of ki from Vegito, leaving him very much alive if only a bit...compromised. He has enough energy leftover, plus Goku's ability to work around any disadvantage, to put up a strong fight even as a piece of candy, forcing Buu to reverse the effects.
How'd he do that?
Now, Buu clearly underestimated Vegito and didn't put even half of his energy into that attack. Maybe with full power he could have succeeded in leaving both Goku and Vegeta lifeless and edible. But my question is, did he have to use the same amount of energy to revert Vegito to human, or did he get the original energy back, like performing the technique backwards? I don't fully understand this, and if he actually gave energy to Vegito, I don't get why he would do that as a response to getting his ass whooped by candy. This is a hole in my logic, and I can't defend it. This is just my best theory. Hope it inspired creative analysis, and hail Son-Goku.


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Why is the series "Trigun" titled as such?
I recently learned of the series Trigun and, though I haven't started watching it yet, it seems quite interesting.
However, I'm curious about its title. "Tri-" seems to indicate "three", so I'd say the title meant either "three guns", or "gun with three parts" (like three barrels). However, I've only managed to find images of the main character holding one gun, or occasionally two, and nothing sticks out about them having three of anything.
Without spoiling too much of the plot's sensitive points, can someone explain why the series is called Trigun?

It's not related to the number of barrels of a gun, but the number of guns Vash has.
1st: Is the silver 45 named 45 LONG COLT AGL FACTORY. This is the one we all see him carry.
2nd:

 the hidden gun inside his arm that we see in Episode 12 This hidden gun also gets upgraded into a machine gun in episode 19.

3rd:

 the transformation of his arm into the Angel Arm that we see in Episode 16


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What does chakra physically act like?
Chakra sometimes appears physically, as opposed to just being used as the power source for jutsus. Some examples of this are when the Hyuugas are using the Gentle Fist technique or when Naruto is using the Kyuubi chakra. In the first example, the chakra is sometimes used to block things, such as in Neji's Rotation jutsu, while Naruto's chakra has the appearance of fire and has at least once actually burned Sakura. Is there any set rule to how chakra acts physically or what it can or cannot do when not being used as the energy source for a specific jutsu?

Normaly ninja's should only be able to use their chakra to cast jutsu, there is practicly no limit to what they can do with this

Normal chakra is a form of energy all living individuals naturally produce to some degree. Contained in the "chakra coils" that mainly surround and connect to each chakra-producing organ, the energy circulates throughout the body in a network called the "chakra circulatory system" (similar to the cardiovascular system)

It seems only highly trained people can use chakra so that it is visible .

Certain groups, such as ninja, have learned to generate more chakra and release it outside their bodies through their "chakra points" (tenketsu) in order to perform special techniques (jutsu). Chakra is not normally visible to the human eye, though chakra can be seen in situations where a person releases as much of their chakra as possible. This is rarely seen due to the restrictions of certain chakra points (Eight Gates), limiting the amount of chakra an individual can release at a single given time. Chakra can also be visible when doing specific techniques (such as the Rasengan) which take a high degree of chakra control to perform.

For a pretty detaild explaination about chakra you can check the naruto wiki right here


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When does specialization in training begin?
In Naruto, during the training at the Academy in Konoha before a person becomes a genin, the work shown seems to be basic and focusing on nonspecializing skills like throwing a kunai. When they become genin, however, people seem to already know specialized skills such as Kiba or Shikamaru's abilities. When does training for this occur?

On their cases, each clan specializes their own techniques, and teaches those to their young. The training for those actually occurs after they are genin (usually). There are, of course, some exceptions. Such as Sasuke learning the Fireball technique when he was very young.
Naruto didn't learn any specialized technique before the Rasengan (sure, he had the shadow clones he learned from a forbidden scroll, but that's hardly specialized).
Basically, it happens after they graduate from the academy, sometimes slightly before.


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What technique is used to draw the lifelike backgrounds in the movie Ponyo?
In the movie Ponyo, the backgrounds (the clouds, pictured below) are not done in a typical anime style. Instead, they are much more lifelike and 3D.

What is the technique used to do this? Is this used in other films or series?

Hmm, I'd say borderline off-topic in favour of graphic design

@MadaraUchiha I'd agree it's a bit close to the edge, but I didn't worry about that too much as it's specific to this movie (and, more generally, Miyazaki productions). It's also not "How do I do this?" but rather "What did this anime artist used to achieve said effect?" I'd be open to a meta or chat discussion about it, though.

Well, since we haven't had any close votes, I'd say people agree with you. Carry on :)

You might found this interesting, it's a real-time demonstration of the man who painted "Totoro" backgrounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1bCIkKQm0U

Those are good old hand-drawn backgrounds. Here's a part of an interview with Suzuki Toshio, executive producer and former president of Studio Ghibli (emphasis mine):

During this decade CG [computer graphics, - singerofthefall] came up and we realized that it enables us to
  make expressions richer when using it as supplement of regular cel [sic!]
  animation. On the other hand a new problem appeared. The progress of
  computing tech is so fast that it isn't easy to catch up. If a movie
  at one point is made by the highest tech, it will become outdated
  soon. There is one more point. We tried CG on Howl’s. For example, the
  legs of the castle were made by CG. However, it didn't seem very
  natural to me and I told Miyazaki that his skill was better than that
  of a computer. He accepted it and quit using CG after that. Hence the
  latter half of Howl’s doesn't include any CG. We now know CG has both
  its plus and minus sides. So the theme of this movie is as the story:
  simple. The visual effects are simple as well, while on the other hand
  it needs very hard working because of the drawing all it by hand.

It is also mentioned here:

Miyazaki, whose films include "Princess Mononoke," "Howl's Moving
  Castle" and "My Neighbor Totoro," has used computer animation to
  embellish hand-drawn images. But before "Ponyo" went into production,
  he shut down the computer-graphics department at his Studio Ghibli,
  opting to work solely in hand-drawn images.

And finally, from this article:

He insisted he still uses a pencil to draw his animated characters and
  backgrounds: “Currently computer graphics are used a great deal,” he
  noted, “but it can be excessive. I think [animation] needs the pencil,
  needs man’s hands drawing.”

I would recommend you to check some of Makoto Shinkai's works (if you haven't seen them before) the quality of the animation and backgrounds there is stunning.
Update:
There is an artbook called "The Art of Ponyo", which contains sketches hand-drawn by Miyazaki. I don't own it, but you can take a look at it's reviews here, here and here. The book includes both pencil and watercolor drawings, including characters, backgrounds, etc:

Usually I use poster paint to create the backgrounds; then I color the
  base in a pale color, adding subtle hues and shading on top of it.
  This time, with Ponyo, I added things like tints or detailed
  expressions with colored pencil on top of what I drew with poster
  paint...

This seems to cover most of the basics, but doesn't touch on what the technique is beyond the hand sketches. Is it pencil crayons, crayons, or maybe a specific type of painting (watercolor, acrylic)?

@Eric, I've updated the answer, hope it helps. There isn't much information about the production of the movie in the Internet (at least in English, maybe there is some in Japanese, but I don't know Japanese), so that's about all I was able to find.

Good advice! I found a quote from the book which you may want to add to your answer: "Usually I use poster paint to create the backgrounds; then I color the base in a pale color, adding subtle hues and shading on top of it. This time, with Ponyo, I added things like tints or detailed expressions with colored pencil on top of what I drew with poster paint..."

@Eric, nice quote, thanks :P added it to the answer.

The bit about inclusion/exclusion CG is more relevant about moving objects, the OP asks about backgrounds.


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What is the origin of this facial expression with one's tongue sticking out?
I've seen this expression probably a dozen times in anime and manga. There are many variants, but they all have the character's tongue sticking up out of the side of their mouth. Their eyes are also typically big and sometimes in the shape of a backwards の character, or sometimes winking. Here are a few examples, though there are many more:
Bakemonogatari:

Clannad:

Tonari no Kashiwagi-san:

What is the origin of these expressions? Are they referring to a particular art style or character?

All of these faces are direct parodies of Fujiya's forever 6 year old mascot, Peko-chan:

Peko-chan was created in the 1950s is probably the most recognized character in the Japanese confectionery world.
In Japan, showing one's tongue can be used to express one's feeling embarrassed at making a mistake. It's often times meant to be childish and regarded as cute. There are no solid references connecting the behavior to Fujiya's mascot, but some believe the behavior is popularized by children imitating Peko-chan.

For me, the Clannad and the Tonari no Kashiwagi-san pictures at least shows more an attitude of "tasty!" / "it's good!" expression: the tongue sticking out is just one licking its lips to get all the remaining gravy / taste, and this is enhanced by the hand gesture showing appreciation.
These are quite universal body expressions.


text:
Where did the name "Kurama" originate?
On both Naruto and Yu-Yu Hakusho, Kurama is the name of a powerful demon fox.
Does this have some meaning in Japanese mythology or folklore? Or did Yu-Yu Hakusho's author made it up, and Naruto's author "inspired" from it?

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

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

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

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

The other one listed there, of course, is Kurama from Yū Yū Hakusho. This does appear to be cited, but the citation is to a book called the Second Artbook (this one, I think, pages 74-81), which I haven't been able to find online anywhere.
How it appears is that Yū Yū Hakusho chose this name in the early 1990s (probably from the name of the aforementioned mountain), then Naruto used this as inspiration for a similar character of their own.
Because of this choice from Naruto's mangaka, it seems likely that he also chose a similar character to use that name for. Kurama in Yū Yū was a yōko, it makes sense to reuse that name for a kitsune.
As for the original usage of the name Kurama in Yū Yū, one plausible explanation is that because of the name Kurama's connotation to the martial arts master Sōjōbō mentioned above, who possessed great wisdom and taught magic to Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

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

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

Why a fox though? The mountain is nice and all, but both of them refer to a Yoko (demon fox), is there a specific reason?

@MadaraUchiha That specific "coincidence" is not mentioned anywhere online, which makes me doubt that the Second Artbook mentions it, either. But I've tried to cover this best I can in the answer above. Hopefully it's satisfactory. ;)


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Which episodes of Bleach are filler?
I want to watch Bleach, but the anime has a lot of filler content not in the manga. I'd rather not watch the filler content and only watch the episodes which are directly related to the plot. To be clear, I'm defining a filler episode as one which is not based on any story in the manga or based on extra manga chapters which have nothing to do with the overarching story.
Which episodes are filler?

The following episodes are anime-original content which you should skip if you aren't interested in filler. Some of the other episodes include original elements or reference events from filler episodes, but these do not impact the story in the long run so you can safely ignore them. The ones based on manga omake are noted as such.
Compactly, the fillers are: 33, 50, 64-109, 128-137, 147-149, 168-189, 204-205, 213-214, 227-266, 287, 298-299, 303-305, 311-342, 355. In more detail:

Episode 33 Miracle! The Mysterious New Hero (奇跡！謎の新ヒーロー) (based on "Karakura Heros" Omake 1)
Episode 50 The Reviving Lion (よみがえる獅子) (based on "Karakura Heros" Omake 2)
Episodes 64-109 Bount Arc
Episodes 128-137 Stolen Hogyoku arc
Episodes 147-149 Forest of Menos Subarc
Episodes 168-189 Captain Shuusuke Amagai Arc
Episode 204 Ichigo's Stomach-cutting Persuasion Strategy (一護の切腹説得大作戦☆)
Episode 205 Thump! A Kemari Tournament Filled with Hollows (ドキ！虚だらけの蹴鞠大会)
Episodes 213-214 Karakuraizer Mini-arc (based on sketches from volume 29)
Episode 227 Wonderful Error (ワンダフル・エラー) (based on Omake 0.8 "A Wonderful Error", 0.side-A "The Sand", and 0.side-B "The Rotator")
Episode 228 Summer! Sea! Swimsuit Festival!! (夏だ！海だ！水着祭!!) (based on Omake BLEACH on the BEACH!!)
Episode 229 Cry of the Soul? The Rug Shinigami is Born! (魂の叫び？ヅラ死神誕生！)
Episodes 230-265 Zanpakutou Unknown Tales arc
Episode 266 Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra, Resume (一護ＶＳウルキオラ、再開!) (recap episode)
Episode 287 Side Story...Ichigo and the Magic Lamp (外伝！一護と魔法のランプ)
Episode 298 Film! Festival! Shinigami Film Festival! (映画だ！祭りだ！死神映画祭！)
Episode 299 Theatre Opening Commemoration! The Hell Verse: Prologue (劇場公開記念！地獄編・序章) (adapts "Imaginary Number 01: The Unforgivens" Omake)
Episode 303 Real World and Shinigami! The New Year Special! (現世も死神も！お正月スペシャル！)
Episode 304 Another Side Story! This Time's Enemy Is a Monster!? (外伝再び！今度の敵はモンスター！？)
Episode 305 Delusion Roars! Hisagi, Towards the Hot Springs Inn! (妄想爆走！檜佐木、温泉旅館へ！)
Episodes 311-316 Miscellaneous Fillers (none of these are based on manga chapters so I've grouped them together)
Episodes 317-342 Gotei 13 Arc
Episode 355 Shinigami at War! New Year in Seireitei Special! (死神参戦！瀞霊廷もお正月ＳＰ！)

The series ends with episode 366, at which point you can pick up from manga chapter 480 if you so choose.
The sources for this are scattered across a number of sites, but of particular note are Bleach Wiki, Wikipedia's list of Bleach episodes, and this MAL forum post. However, all had at least some errors so I've had to check on various other websites as well.

There are several sources online that show which episodes are filler and which are canonical. Here is a link to one that I know for sure covers all of Bleach, they also have other anime as well.
http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/bleach
Following are the filler episode numbers that you need to skip:-
33, 50, 64-108, 128-137, 147-149, 168-189, 204-205, 213-214, 227-265, 287, 298-299, 303-305, 311-341, 355
List of filler episodes, by arc:

033 Karakura Heroes Omake 1
050 Karakura Heroes Omake 2
064-108 Bount arc
128-137 Stolen Hogyoku arc
147-149 Rukia side story. Plot&Character designs by Kubo
168-189 New Captain arc
204-205 Random one-episode fillers
213-214 Karakura Riser Omake
227-265 Zanpakutou Rebellion arc. Character designs by Kubo.
266 Hueco Mundo Recap
287 Magic Lamp Gaiden
298 Hell Chapter Movie Promotion
299 Hell Chapter Movie Prologue
303-305 *Random one-episode fillers
311-316 *Random one-episode fillers
317-341 *Gotei 13 Invasion arc
355 New Year Special


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What are the names of all the Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion?
In the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime, there are about 20 Angels. There's some in Sadamoto's Evangelion manga as well, then some different ones in Rebuild of Evangelion, and there are others in the other official media (light novels, etc.).
What are all the Angels and their names?

There are some Angels which appear in multiple canons, and some which appear only in just one, or even none. To be clear, the various canons are listed at the bottom in a reference list.
Main Angels
These Angels appear only in the primary canons:

Adam[NGE, M]
Arael[NGE, M]
Armisael[NGE, M]
Bardiel[NGE, RB, M]
Gaghiel[NGE, M]
Ireul[NGE]
Israfel[NGE, M]
Leliel[NGE]
Lilin[NGE, M]
Lilith[NGE, RB, M]
Matarael[NGE]
Ramiel[NGE, RB, M]
Sachiel[NGE, RB, M]
Sahaquiel[NGE, RB, M]
Sandalphon[NGE]
"Seventh Angel"[RB]
Shamshel[NGE, RB, M]
Tabris[NGE, RB, M] Not known as "Tabris" in Rebuild
"Third Angel"[RB]
"Twelfth Angel"[RB]
Zeruel[NGE, RB, M]

Secondary Angels
These Angels are not part of the main continuities:

Barakijal[NWP]
Iblis[NWP]
Insubstantial Angel[2I]
An unnamed Angel[2I]
Shateiel[C]
Turel[C]
Diemay Angel Fan-made for a Gainax contest

Canon list

NGE - Neon Genesis Evangelion (anime)
RB - Rebuild of Evangelion (movie series)
M - Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga)
2I - Second Impression (video game)
NWP - RPG: The NERV White Paper (trading card game)
C - No canon, concept only

Further reading

Angels - Evangelion Wiki
List of Angels - EvaGeeks


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How are "A Certain Magical Index" and "A Certain Scientific Railgun" connected?
According to MAL, the former is the parent story of the latter, that appears described as a side story. However, I find no reference to these questions:
Do both stories take place in the same universe?
Are they somewhat dependent on each other?
If so, in which order should the series be watched?

There's definitely some major inconsistencies in the Anime. The scene where Touma first meets Misaka is completely different between the two.

While there are slight differences (as expected with different adaptations), there's nothing drastic that affects the continuity. E.g., in the novel Touma "slaps" away Mikoto's railgun, but in the manga he "catches" it. In the novel, the first hit that Touma lands on the Accelerator is a slap to his hand, but the Railgun manga he hits him square in the face.

Chronologically, Railgun comes first. Then near the middle of Railgun (the Level Upper Arc), the events and timeline start to converge with Index.
For an example, in episode 17 of the Railgun anime, Komoe-sensei mentions how she likes all her students, even the ones that blow up her roof, which is probably a reference to when Index used Dragon's Breath (episode 6 of Index).
The manga gives a better frame of reference, since it gives a exact date (July 16th).
So the events in Railgun begin 4 days before the Index novel (July 20th), where Touma first meets Index. Touma meets Mikoto on the eve of July 19th.
According to the TV Tropes:

The anime, however, violates this by adapting events from Volume 8 of the novels into the anime's first episode. As it stands, Chapters 18 to 39 occur around the time of Volume 3 in the novels, Chapter 40 is around volume 5, Chapters 41-42 and around volume 8 and Chapters 43-current take place around volume 9.

Adding onto кяαzєя's answer, a good resource that specifies the chronology of Index and Railgun in much more detail is the Baka-Tsuki Unified Index Calendar, which is an fan-compiled calendar of all events in the Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise.
As of January 2018, the calendar includes the following source materials, up to the specified issue (with the latest in-universe date specified in parentheses):

(Light Novel) A Certain Magical Index: NT volume 19 (Dec. 12)
(Manga) A Certain Magical Index: chapter 123 (~Oct. 7)
(Manga) A Certain Scientific Railgun: chapter 100 (~Oct. 14)
(Manga) A Certain Scientific Accelerator: chapter 42 (~Sep. 10)
(Manga) Astral Buddy: chapter 7 (~Sep. 28)
(Anime) A Certain Magical Index: II episode 24 (Oct. 3)
(Anime) A Certain Scientific Railgun: S episode 24 (Sep. 2)

The calendar is frequently updated.

Railgun is a non-canon spinoff using the characters and setting of Index.
by that definition:

I guess they take place in alternate universes.
They are indepedent besides setting and characters.
Watching both seasons of Index before Railgun is in my opinion for the better.

Just want to expand on their independence - You can watch only Index and it will make sense. You can also watch only Railgun and it will also make sense. I don't think any parts of their stories rely on the other's stories. Personally, I don't really enjoy Index, but I think Railgun is great. I know people who think the opposite. If you don't like one, you don't need to watch the other for fear of not understanding something in the one you like.

Thing about Index is that the parts of the novels that people really praise (God´s Right Seat, English Civil War and World War 3 arcs aswell as New Testament) havent been animated yet.

Everything from the characters to plot in the Railgun series is canon to the main Index series, as the story was made by the author of the novels. This includes the Saten cameos appearance in the novels and "Capacity Down" used on Accelerator in Volume 19 of the novels. This also works the other way with Railgun series. Everything that happens in the Railgun happen in the Railgun, hence why Eri and Harumi-sensei's students being cured are canon.

Being written by the same person doesn´t make it canon. Fate/Apocrypha is partially being written by Kinoku Nasu but it´s still not canon and instead an alternate universe. Even if they use props like the Capacity Down that were featured in Railgun, that doesn´t make Railgun canon.

@ChristianAurigFrøkjær In Fate/complete material IV, Nasu mentions that Fate/Apocrypha is extra-canon. Kara no Kyoukai and Tsukihime are explicitly mentioned by the Nasu to be parallel worlds. In Fate/complete material III, it's confirmed that Tsukihime shares the same universe as Fate, stating that the end of Tsukihime happens at the beginning of Fate/stay night. While they are separate, all series in the Nasu-verse are considered canon to one another, one could presumptively travel to each, if they could use Second Magic...


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Why does the color of the Kazekage's garb change?
In the beginning of Naruto, the Kazekage wears blue clothing:

When Gaara becomes Kazekage, the color changes to green:

Is this ever explained, either by the show or by one of the creators?

As of episode 305 of Naruto: Shippuden, this does not appear to have any official word, either by the creators or in the story.
It seems that, for some reason, the garb was initially portrayed as blue in the anime. However, the official cover of volume 49 of the manga portrays it as green (the Kazekage is in the top left here, of course):

As you can see, the Mizukage should be the one who has the blue garb; this appears to be an error in the anime. However, as you noticed, it was corrected in Naruto: Shippuden episode 199 and forward.[Naruto Wiki]

This is probably because Mei (the Mizukage) has the blue hat (water is most commonly associated with the color blue), so they changed Gaara's hat to green (2 blue hats would've looked weird...)


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What is the contract between Calcifer and Howl?
In Howl's moving castle, there's a fire demon named Calcifer who heats the wizard Howl's hearth. He tells Sophie that he has a contract with Howl which binds him to the hearth. He also says that he'd help Sophie if she broke the contract between him and Howl.
What exactly is the contract between Calcifer and Howl? What's the source of this contract?

As stated on his MyAnimeList page:

Calcifer is a fallen star who was caught by Howl. He didn't want to
die, so he struck a deal with the wizard. Calcifer got Howl's heart
and a prolonged life, and Howl received full access to all of
Calcifer's considerable powers.
As it turns out, neither of them liked it after a while, but it
couldn't be broken by people who were part of the contract. When
Sophie Hatter comes to Howl's moving castle, Calcifer recognizes that
she is under a curse thanks to the Witch of Waste and that Sophie has
considerable powers of her own of which she is unaware. To break his
own curse, Calcifer offers to lift the curse placed on Sophie once she
manages to break Calcifer's contract with Howl.

Clacifer is also bound to the hearth, and cannot leave it because of the contract. He also can not explicitly talk about the contract, so he instead gives Sophie hints about it when she agrees to help him break the contract.

If I remember clearly, he wasn't talking about the contract because of the nature of the spell - he couldn't. SingerOfgTheFall, thanks for clarification!


text:
What happens to Tien after the episode - "Tien goes all out"?
In the anime TV series of Dragonball Z, what happens to Tien after the attack he does on Nappa? He hasn't been shown after that. Does he die in his attempt to give all his energy into that attack?

Taken from the wiki.
It's just above the "Biography" part. There is also a more descriptive part about it in the "Biography" part.

During Dragon Ball Z, he is seen striving to become a powerful warrior, and still hopes to surpass Goku one day. He valiantly fights and defeats a Saibaman when the Saiyans arrive, and does battle with Nappa, during which Chiaotzu sacrifices himself in vain, causing Tien to put all his effort into one final attack, which fails. Tien dies a hero's death, but is revived later by Porunga. When the conflict with the Androids comes into full swing, Tien puts his life on the line numerous times when assisting his friends against the mechanical demons, most notably when using his life-force to hold Semi-Perfect Cell at bay, nearly sacrificing his own life to allow Android 16 and Android 18 to escape, thus saving the Earth from certain destruction. After the defeat of Cell, Tien goes off to continue his training. When Super Buu threatens Earth's existence seven years later, he arrives just in time to save Gohan from certain death. However, he is knocked out when Buu's severed legs reanimate and kick him, and later perishes when the Earth is destroyed.


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What exactly is "Paradise"?
In the Wolf's Rain anime, the goal of all the wolves is to reach a vague, nebulous goal called "Paradise". While there's a bunch of descriptions about what it looks like or where it is, what exactly is "Paradise"? Did they reach it at the end of the series? Was it just a pre-programmed, innate goal that's implanted that doesn't really exist?

Paradise seems to be largely related to many religions' interpretation of Paradise, a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless.[Wikipedia]
The wolves' Paradise is a place which, to them, is a final goal they wish to reach, and appears to be very closely linked to them. As one prophecy reads, "When the world ends, Paradise will open, but only the wolves know how to find it."[Wolf's Rain Wiki] However, it is speculated that Paradise is a place which cannot be found, but must be built.

 The goal of opening Paradise is achieved at the end of the series.  Cheza is the one who will lead the wolves to paradise, but in the final episode her death opens it, as the seeds that created her spill out and sprout when rain falls. In the same episode, Paradise is seen as a beautiful meadow filled with Lunar Flowers. However, after a short time, Lord Darcia's cursed wolf eye poisons Paradise, seen as a dark fluid leaking out of the eye and the white centre of the flowers darkening. The wolves never enter this paradise, instead being seen as true humans at a modern city. What can be concluded is that Paradise cannot be found, but it can be built.[Wolf's Rain Wiki]


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Did all the townsfolk know that Yuki is a wolf?
In the movie Wolf Children, Yuki is one of the two wolf children who's very temperamental and kind of a tomboy. When they move out to the rural village Hana, the mother, makes her kids promise not to change into a wolf in front of other people. But shortly after there is a scene when there were guests from the village over and Yuki keeps changing between a little girl and a dog in front of the guests:

This happened right in front of the two guests but they didn't say anything. Did the townspeople already know that Yuki and Ami were wolves but didn't say anything to be nice?

 Souhei from school was able to figure it out. Saying that she smelled of an animal.

Probably no.
Nothing in the movie tells us that the people knew but decided to say nothing. If this was the case, I think there would be more details in the movie telling it.
Furthermore, if you imagine normal people, thinking that someone can transform into a wolf is not the first idea you will get. So even if you see a dog with some cloth just after seeing a little girl with similar clothes, you are not going to think "hey, the girl transformed into a dog/wolf !" or if you think/say it, it's only to make a joke, because you cannot imagine it to be true.
The goal of this scene is to give the spectator this feeling of "it was so close, the townsfolk nearly discovered the truth" which makes it a funny scene. Also, it explains that being the mother of such children is no easy, because there are probably many times when someone was nearly about to discover the truth.


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What are the types of jutsus that exist in Naruto?
There seem to be a number of different types of jutsus that exist in Naruto. These include ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. What are all of the types of jutsus and what do they do?

DISCLAIMER: I've never seen or read anything Naruto.
This questions seems rather simple to me, so perhaps you're looking for a specific angle? There is a good ammount of info on Jutsu on Narutopedia. Here I will try to quote that article in brief summaries.
What is Jutsu?

Jutsu ... are the mystical arts a ninja will utilise in battle. To use a technique, the ninja will need to use their chakra. To perform a technique, the ninja will bring out and release the two energies of chakra. By forming hand seals, the ninja is able to manifest the desired technique. Because of the extensive number of hand seals and different combinations, there are thousands of potential techniques to be discovered.
  -- Jutsu, Narutopedia

What are the different types of Jutsu?
There are three principal types of jutsu:

Ninjutsu ...a term referring to almost any technique which allows the user to do something that they otherwise would be incapable of doing, including the usage of weapons.
  More info: Ninjutsu, Narutopedia
Genjutsu are techniques that are employed in the same fashion as ninjutsu... However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of genjutsu are illusory; instead of attacking the victim's body, like taijutsu or ninjutsu, genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses.
  More info: Genjutsu, Narutopedia
Taijutsu a basic form of techniques ... refers to any techniques involving the martial arts or the optimisation of natural human abilities. Taijutsu is executed by directly accessing the user's physical and mental energies, relying on the stamina and strength gained through training. It typically does not require chakra, though chakra may be used to enhance its techniques. Taijutsu generally requires no hand seals to perform, occasionally making use of certain stances or poses, and are much quicker to use than ninjutsu or genjutsu. Taijutsu is simply put: hand-to-hand combat.
  More info: Taijutsu, Narutopedia

-- Jutsu, Narutopedia

There are several sub-types including:

Barrier Ninjutsu ...the incorporation of barriers into techniques.
Bukijutsu ...techniques that entail the use of any handheld weapons in combat, whether the users be shinobi or samurai.
Chakra Absorption Techniques ...techniques that allow the user to absorb another individual's chakra.
Chakra Flow ...the flowing of chakra through an object as well as any technique that increases the potency of a weapon by flowing chakra through it..
Clone Techniques ...techniques that create a copy of the user or objects used by them.
Collaboration Techniques ...techniques which entails powerful techniques that are actually comprised of at least two or more pre-existing techniques.
Fūinjutsu ...a type of jutsu that seal objects, living beings, chakra, along with a wide variety of other things within another object.
Hiden ...techniques are passed down orally from generation to generation in certain regions or clans.
Juinjutsu ...techniques used to bring someone under the control of the user.
Kenjutsu ...techniques that entail the use of swords, whether the users be shinobi or samurai.
Kinjutsu ...techniques that have been banned from being taught or used.
Medical Ninjutsu ...a branch of ninjutsu associated with healing...
Nintaijutsu ...a combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu, the Raikage uses nintaijutsu by first surrounding himself with his Lightning Release Armour.
Reincarnation Ninjutsu ...techniques that usually require or accomplish the transfer of life force between people.
Senjutsu ...a specialised field of techniques that allows the user to sense and then gather the natural energy ... around a person.
Shurikenjutsu ...techniques that entail the throwing of shuriken, kunai, senbon or any other of a number of bladed, hand-held weapons.
Space–Time Ninjutsu ...techniques that allow the users to manipulate the space–time continuum.
Tailed Beast Skill a unique ability or trait used by tailed beasts.

-- Jutsu, Narutopedia

I hoped this helped! :)

Lol....i think i have missed too much of the show...anyways +1.

There are three main types of jutsu:

ninjutsu, the ability to do things one otherwise could not. (Usage of weapons, etc.)
genjutsu, an ability requiring chakra and hand seals, used to perform an illusion on an enemy in order to trick them or disrupt their senses.
taijutsu, abilities governed by learnable techniques such as martial arts and using the physical and mental energy of the body.

There are also several more "sub-jutsu" that are basically subsets or subcategories of the three above:

barrier ninjutsu, the use of barriers for protection, trapping an enemy, and so on.
bukijutsu, the use of handheld weapons in combat, such as (but not limited to) shuriken.
chakra absorption techniques, the ability to absorb another's (usually an opponent's) chakra.
chakra flow, the use of chakra flow through objects such as weapons.
clone techniques, the use of clones (either of the user or of weapons/objects he may have), generally for purposes of distraction.
collaboration techniques, the use of two or more techniques (usually by multiple users) to combine chakra into a greater power.
fūinjutsu, techniques used to either seal or unseal objects, opponents, chakra, and so on.
hiden, techniques which are not of a specific type but rather are those passed secretly between generations in specific regions or clans.
juinjutsu, the use of cursed seals to take over another's body.
kenjutsu, the use of swords. (Often combined with other jutsu.)
kinjutsu, banned techniques.
medical ninjutsu, techniques used to heal one's own, or another's, body.
nintaijutsu, the combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu used by the third and fourth Raikage.
reincarnation ninjutsu, techniques used to transfer life force between subjects. (Similar, but not the same as, kinjutsu.)
senjutsu, the use of the energy in nature with one's own chakra for much greater (and varied) effect.
shurikenjutsu, the throwing of bladed hand-held weapons.
space–time ninjutsu, techniques which warp space–time; this allows, for example, teleportation between locations.
tailed beast skill, any technique used by a tailed beast.

This is a fairly extensive list, but you can take a look at the reference list which also lists something called "blood limit types", which are inherited rather than learned.

I assume the "blood limit types" are a reference to kekkei genkais.

@kuwaly Kekkei tōta and dōjutsu as well, but yes.


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How can one overcome the power of Geass?
In Code Geass R2 episode 49: "The Grip of Damocles"

 Lelouch confronts Nunnally, who reveals she has regained her sight by overcoming the power of geass that was cast by her father King Charles..

through will power.
What kind of will power would it take for her to overcome her father's geass? Did she has to take intensive training or such to do so? How can one overcome the power of geass that was cast on him/her without the usage of Jeremiah Gottwald's geass canceller? Or the geass would automatically be cancelled upon the caster's death?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicWillpower

According to this wiki page (emphasis mine):

There is only one instance of a person overcoming the effects of Geass, which is the case of Nunnally - Lelouch attributes this to a very strong degree of will power, which may have been helped along by Charles being dead by then, though there is no mention of her recovering the lost memories of her mother's death, which was Charles' "primary" ability.

It is also said that (emphasis mine, again)

Charles' Geass in the anime allowed him to freely alter an individual's memories at will, and also seal the Geass of others, as well as physical abilities such as eyesight, though there are ways to break these seals, such as contact with an Immortal or sheer willpower, though the latter may have only been possible thanks to his death.

So it isn't explicitly stated, but as @Kreiri has mentioned in his comment, the heroic willpower trope also has it's place here.